Rachel's Doctor's Appointment

Rachel had a really good doctor's appointment today. She is in excellent health, and she was pretty cooperative too. Her vital statistics are as follows:

Weight: 30 lbs. 4 oz. (85th percentile)
Height: 35 inches (80th percentile)
Head Circumference: 19 inches (75th percentile)

So she's pretty well balanced.

She didn't get any shots today. I was surprised. I thought she had them coming today, but she is not due for anything until she's 4. She doesn't realize it, but she is very happy about that. She did get a finger stick to check her hemoglobin (which is fine). I indicated that she can be kind of a picky eater, so they wanted to make sure she was getting enough iron, which she is. She was fine with the finger stick, but about halfway through the process of getting the blood she started to realize that it was uncomfortable. But all was well in the end as she got a sticker and a lollipop.

Busy and Exciting Weekend

Gabi's first solid food

Rachel's birthday party
Am I a little too proud of my cake?

The presents

Rachel is enjoying her cake (especially the oreos)

Gabi with Aunt Trish (looking a bit startled)

Gabi sitting up by herself (kind of)

Rachel with a charming expression

Happy 2nd Birthday to Rachel!

Today Rachel turns 2 years old. Happy birthday sweetie!


People often ask me how Rachel is with Gabi. The answer, super sweet. Here is a picture of the girls together watching Baby Signing Time.

Don't forget that Rachel's two-year-old doctor's appointment is next Monday. Check back here for her vital statistics.

Gabi's Doctor's Appointment

Well nobody was right. The reason is because my poll had a flaw. I failed to factor in ½ ounces. Gabi's vital statistics are as follows:

Weight: 12 lbs. 15.5 oz. (25 percentile)
Height: 23¼ inches (12 percentile)
Head Circumference: 15½ inches (10 percentile)

The doctor said that if he didn't already know it, there is nothing to indicate that Gabi was premature. She is in excellent condition.

One problem we are having is that she is not sleeping as well as she used to. One thing is that her little nose gets stuffy over night. We are addressing that by putting a cool mist humidifier in her (our) room. The doctor thinks that she is also hungry, so he thinks it's time to start her on cereal, just at night. So you can expect to see a video here soon of Gabi's first cereal escapade.

Gabi had 3 vaccinations today, one oral, and two shots. She was a pretty good little trooper.


We received a care package from my sister-in-law in Argentina. She sent Jeff and I jerseys of the Argentina National Fútbol (soccer) team. She sent Gabi a uniform of the Argentine Fútbol team River. She said Rachel's present was coming later. Rachel already has an Argentine Fútbol jersey. Here is Gabi in her uniform. She's pretty sporting, don't you think. It's a little too big for her, but that's okay, it will just fit her longer!


Tomorrow is Rachel's 2nd birthday. Her doctor's appointment is next Monday. Go ahead and vote on my poll for her weight.

Gabi is 4 months old

Yesterday Gabi turned 4 months old. Amazing! She is really doing well. She doesn't have her 4 month old check up until next Monday, though, so you'll have to wait for a little while to get her vital statistics. It's just as well, because now you can take this opportunity to vote on the poll to the right. I will just say that she has really grown a lot this past month and a half! I'm not going to be the first person to vote, though, so you can't get an idea from what I think.

New Students

I just started teaching a new family of piano students. I teach four of them, mom and three kiddos. But we're doing things a bit differently. Instead of paying cash, they are bartering for lessons. Services rendered include babysitting, cleaning, and preparing meals. AWESOME! Don't get me wrong - I like cash, but there is also great value in those services.

Rachel is going through a very interesting phase right now, and it has to do with clothes. She is very opinionated about what clothes she wears, and when she is done wearing them, off they come! This morning she wanted to wear some pajama bottoms and a pink sweater. Very cute. She went outside with some bubbles to play with, and came in a few minutes later wearing just her diaper.

Inspired, I suppose, by the piano lessons, Rachel sat down at the piano and started practicing herself.

Sure enough, outside on the patio, at the bottom of the stairs, were Rachel's discarded clothes.

Meanwhile, sweet little Gabi slept.

Busy Season

I am about to embark on a busy season. I just hope I have a little time to breathe!

I just started a training program to teach Kindermusik. I can do it on my own time, but it consists of 15 modules, and they say if I spend 3-4 hours per week I can finish it in 8 to 10 weeks. So that's my goal. I hope to be done by early December, and start classes in January.

My Barbershop Chorus (Pride of Kentucky Chorus, a.k.a POKY) will soon be competing in the International Competition. In 2008 we won our region, so we qualified for Internationals. That is coming up in October. In preparation for that we have, in addition to our regular weekly rehearsal, several extra coaching sessions and a weekend retreat where we can put in the extra time needed to prepare.

And if that were not enough, I have a 1½ week job working for some event at the Fairground. Last year I worked doing parking for the Ryder Cup that they held at Valhalla. The same company called me and asked me if I wanted to work another event, and I said yes. I'll be really busy, but it's just for a short time. So you probably won't be able to reach me from Sept. 30 to Oct. 9.

Oh yeah, and don't forget that Gabi turns 4 months old this Tuesday, so she is due for her 4 month check up, and Rachel turns 2 years old the following Tuesday, so she is due for her 2 year check up. So stay tuned for an update on their vital statistics.

Gabi sleeping. I remember when Rachel used to do that.

Rachel is learning how to take off her clothes. She spends more time running around the house in her birthday suit!

Vacation (con't)

Let me start by easing your concern. Rachel slept better on Saturday night and on Sunday night. Mama and Daddy were happy about that!

Saturday at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base

Sunday seeing the sights of Kirtland, Ohio

in front of the Kirtland Temple

in front of the Newel K. Whitney store
The restoration of this landmark won an award from Ronald Reagan (during his presidency) for its excellence.

Rachel in the "Little Red Schoolhouse"

It's not really related to the tour exactly, but one of my most favorite parts of the tour was when one of the senior missionaries who was giving us the tour told us (in reference to Rachel) to let her wander and have fun. He said that his director had given them instructions that everything in these historic homes was repairable or replaceable, but that you couldn't repair a child's broken heart. That made me feel so much better because it took off the pressure from me of trying to make an almost 2 year old behave like an adult. I was able to relax and enjoy the rest of the tour much more. I will add that while Rachel did wander in and around the displays, and touch many things that were behind ropes, she didn't break anything.

Monday at the Johnson Farm in Hiram, Ohio

We traveled in style, thanks to our friends and family. Jeff's mom let us drive her minivan, so we had plenty of space, Monica let us borrow her portable DVD player so Rachel and Gabi could stay entertained. So thanks to everybody. We had a good time. (But I'm glad to be home!)

Rachel travels home in style!

Notice that she has in Jeff's ear buds listening to his MP3 player.

Vacation

Vacationing with little kids shouldn't really be called a vacation at all. It's work! We are currently spending Labor Day weekend in Kirtland, Ohio. We left home yesterday after Jeff got home from work, and drove as far as Dayton. We stayed at a hotel, then spent the morning at the National Museum of the US Air Force at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Then we drove up to Kirtland, where I now sit in my hotel room, waiting, hoping, praying that Rachel will go to sleep.

Notice that I indicated that we stayed at a hotel in Dayton. I did not say we slept at a hotel. The only person who slept was Gabi. She slept great (like a baby, if you will). Rachel, not so much. She finally fell asleep around midnight after what seemed like hours, decades, eternities of fighting, screaming, tantrumming (I just made up that word, but I'll bet you know what it means). Then she woke up again at 3:00 with more screaming. She finally went to sleep for real at around 6:00. Then she woke up for real at 9:00. So tonight I had another plan. I just didn't put her to bed. We strolled around the hotel, flirted with other people here. (Rachel is developing quite a little strut. She puts her shoulders and her hips into it.) It is now just after 11:00. We just recently put her down, and while she is not asleep yet, she is behaving somewhat reasonably. She has to be so tired, but she can be stubborn.

As I type this she is starting to get a bit upset, and crying like she wants out of the 'pack and play' we brought with us. Still, it is nothing compared to what it was last night, and I still have hope that she will eventually fall asleep in her own bed.

We took some cute pictures of Rachel at the museum. I'll post them after we get home. I will also provide an update regarding our success at getting any sleep tonight. Stay tuned.