McDonald's

Several months ago, when Gabi was only about 2 months old, I had taken the girls to the library for Story Time. It was raining that day, so afterward I thought we could go to McDonald's for lunch, and Rachel could play on the playground there. It was a bad idea. I spent the whole time worrying about Rachel inside that playground. I couldn't see her because the playground is made up of plastic tubes that you can't see through. There were the occasional windows, but that wasn't nearly enough for me. Rachel climbed in and disappeared, and I worried, and worried. Finally I asked a mother to watch Gabi for me and I ventured into the tubes and found Rachel, got her out, and we went home. Two things, 1st of all, Rachel was fine, but I was worried, 2nd of all, those playgrounds are not built for adults to fit in comfortably. I left thinking I would never go back.

Turns out never only lasted about 4 months. Yesterday morning we dropped the girls off at Jeff's mom's house and Jeff and I went to the temple. We went to pick up the girls, and ended up staying the rest of the day at their house. Trish and her 3 kids were there too. That evening Jeff's mom was going to take Trish's kids to McDonald's and to a movie (Planet 51). We decided not to go to the movie because I'm not sure Rachel will sit through a 2 hour movie, and make the purchase of a ticket worthwhile. We did go with them to McDonald's, though. This time Jeff was with me, so I was much more at ease to have Rachel play on the playground. She had a GREAT time. After everyone else left to go to the movie we stayed and Rachel played. She ran around, climbed, and was extremely happy. So were Jeff and I, because she wore her little self right out, and went to bed like a dream last night.

So maybe it was because Rachel is a few months older, and she can handle herself better now, or maybe she was fine all along the first time, but I didn't really give her a chance, but anyway, I think we might find ourselves back at McDonald's again after all.

Rachel with Ronald McDonald

Gabi with Ronald McDonald

I tried to get a picture of them both, but it didn't work out as well.

A Nice Day

We had an awesome day today. Nothing particularly interesting happened, but there was just a general sense of happiness and pleasantness that we enjoyed. No tantrums, no fussing, just sweetness and happiness. Gabi took a nice long nap in the morning, Rachel took a nice long nap in the afternoon, Gabi took a short nap in the afternoon. I even caught a few Zs myself. All too often I think about the difficult times, but in fairness to all, I have to say that I have two wonderful little girls. And a wonderful husband.

Yesterday both girls looked so cute in their corderoy jumpers, and pink shirts, I just had to get a picture. Unfortunately Rachel was not happy about wearing socks, so she has kind of teary eyes, but I thought I would post a few of the pictures I took. My favorite is the one where they are looking at each other.

New (Old) Toy

We pulled Rachel's old exersaucer out of storage, and it became Gabi's new exersaucer. Rachel still thought it was a lot of fun. Gabi enjoyed it for quite a while. We also put some of the bulkier toys that we had around the house in storage to make room for it.

Gabi's 6 month check-up

Today was Gabi's 6 month check-up. The doctor was very impressed with her progress. She is completely caught up, her developmental milestones are right on target for a 6 month old, which she is. She can pass objects from one hand to the other, she turns her head when she hears my voice, and yesterday she started creeping backwards. I think crawling can't be too far in the future.

Here are Gabi's vital statistics:
height: 26" (55th%)
weight: 15 lbs. 15.5 oz. (50th%)


She has really shot up in height - almost 3" in the past 2 months. I have noticed that Gabi's toes are starting to push against her footie pajamas. You know what that means - either I need to start cutting off the toes of the pajamas, or switch to 6-9 month sized clothes. I decided to go ahead and switch to 6-9 month clothes. When I was in the hospital my mother-in-law went through Rachel's clothes, and put away the things that were too small. So after lunch I started packing up Gabi's old 3-6 month clothes, and going through Rachel's old stuff to pass down to Gabi. I hate going through the clothes, because Rachel loves it so much. She jumped right in and started helping - pulling out the clothes from the bags, trying things on. It was a good thing, though, because it turns out that we had gotten a bag of hand-me-down clothes from somebody while I was in the hospital, I don't know who, and it turns out there were several things in it that were perfect for Rachel. She found a pair of Dora and Boots pajamas, which she put on right away (it was not a problem because she didn't have any clothes on except for her diaper). She really liked them.

Here is Rachel training Scout. She is wearing her newly found pajamas with a sticker that Gabi got for her at the pediatrician's office.

Today Gabi is 6 months old

Wow! It has been six months already. Am I the only one for whom time is flying so rapidly? Anyway, Gabi is six months old. She is so cute and is doing extremely well. She has been able to roll over for quite some time, but doesn't do it too often. Last night, however, we were able to catch her in the act on film, so for your viewing pleasure, I present to you Gabi rolling over.



Yesterday evening I noticed that Rachel was feeling a bit warm, so I checked her temperature, and sure enough, she had a low grade fever (about 101.8º). I gave her some medicine to bring down the fever, gave her a bath, gave her plenty of fluids. Other than a while when she was kind of droopy, her behavior has been completely normal, including her appetite, so I am not too worried, yet. I'm hoping that it is nothing and she gets better very soon. Meanwhile, I can't for the life of me figure out how she could possibly have gotten sick. It's not like she goes outside and plays in the leaves in nothing but her diaper or anything. Oh, wait, maybe she does.

The Latest

Gabi is getting pretty skilled at holding the bottle by herself. As of yesterday (or maybe it was the day before) she can now even get it to her mouth on her own. Once it comes out she can't get it back, but she is definitely making progress!

Not wanting to be left out, Rachel wanted to share a few of the words she knows. She can say a lot more than just what is demonstrated here, but it was early in the morning (for her anyway), so I just got a few favorites.

I think Gabi will be getting mobile in the not too far distant future. She can roll over, but she doesn't do it much. What she is doing is rotating. When I put her down for tummy time, it doesn't take her long to rotate 180º.

Gabi has her six-month check-up coming up next week on Tuesday, so I'm putting up a poll so you can guess her weight. I'll try to not have a flaw in the poll this time.

One of Gabi's favorite things to do is to sit up. Unfortunately she can't quite do it by herself for too long, so I need to have plenty of padding to protect her from when she inevitably falls. Even when she is in her bouncy seat, she pulls herself into a sitting position. She completely pulls her head and shoulders off the seat, and will often rest somewhat on one arm.


When I was in Nashville my sister Faline put together matching outfits for all of us to wear as we sang together in the Family Chorus. Here is Rachel modeling the earrings that went with the outfit.

The Dog Trainer

Rachel is working on becoming a dog trainer. She asks to give Scout a treat, but first she commands him to "sit, stay." At first Scout just tried to steal the treat out of her hand, but with a little help, she is getting him to obey. She likes to get him to dance too, but what she is really doing is dancing herself as an example, and I have to tell Scout to dance. It's fun to watch.

When I was in Nashville I got to see my sister Faline and her daughter Malauna. They presented me (or rather Rachel and Gabi) with gifts from all of the kids of Faline. So thank you Milaka, Cortney, Shanda, Keturah, Malauna, Conan, Colle, Colter and Carson. Faline mistakenly gave just her daughters credit, but she corrected herself to make sure that the boys got credit too. Anyway, Rachel and Gabi got adorable outfits. They are not identical, but they are sure close, and they are sure beautiful.

It's been too long!

Wow! It has been too long since I have last posted. I'm so ashamed! But I'm back, and with a plethora of stories to share.

We have just had a fun Halloween. We went to the Trunk or Treat Halloween Party at church. Rachel caught on quickly to say "Trick or Treat" and she got candy. Except she just said "Trick." As far as I've been able to see she didn't trick anyone, and she got plenty of candy, so she's happy. She wasn't real excited about her costume (a pirate), so she just trick or treated in a Halloween tee shirt. The shirt in the picture is not the shirt she wore trick or treating. It had a picture of a cat and said something about how she is a Halloween princess.


Gabi is sporting a hand-me-down Halloween sleeper. She dressed up like a zebra for the big day. She got plenty of candy too. In order for her to eat it, though, I need to eat it, then she gets it when she nurses. So I'm only eating her candy for her own good.


Gabi is starting to hold her own bottle. She isn't quite as adept at it as Rachel was at her age, but in my opinion that is understandable because she only takes a bottle a couple of times each day, so she doesn't have as much practice, but she is still pretty cute with it.


When Rachel saw I was taking pictures of Gabi, she wanted in on the action. She is "ham"ming it up by saying "cheese." Ham and cheese. Hey, that would make a good sandwich!


I have got to share this story about Rachel. On Saturday morning I went in to Rachel's room to see about getting her out of bed. She was still sound asleep, and completely naked. She is becoming quite proficient at removing her clothes, including her diaper. I decided to go ahead and wake her up and get her on the potty before any accident might occur. But it was too late, the deed had been done. Oh well, not the first time, and not the last time. Anyway, I washed all of her bedding and stuff. Fast forward to Saturday night. Remember she was all sugered up after eating a bunch of Halloween candy, and she decided she didn't want to wear a regular diaper, but wanted a swim diaper instead. I wasn't keen on that idea because I learned through sad experience that swim diapers are not as absorbent as regular diapers. (Don't ask.) Anyway, I put my foot down and insisted that she wear a regular diaper, but I put a swim diaper over it. Then, at Rachel's request, I put her swimming suit on too. Yes, as pajamas. Why not? It actually is a great idea because she likes wearing a swim suit as pajamas, and it prevents her from taking off her diaper, thus reducing the risk of bed wetting. So we did it again tonight. This time she only wore her regular diaper and her swim suit. The swim diaper was not needed. It's what we like to call synergy. Rachel's happy, I'm happy, and the bed is dry.

Rachel had been doing so well using the potty. Not every time, but usually 2 or 3 times a day she would use the potty. Then we went to Nashville. Getting her out of her routine ended her potty progress. We came home, and she completely, and I mean COMPLETELY lost interest in the potty. Oh well, we'll try again later. Then this morning I was feeding Gabi her cereal. Rachel had just finished her breakfast (in her birthday suit), and was wandering around. She came over and said to Jeff "pah ee" and signed "potty." Jeff was very quick to recognize what was going on and immediately took her upstairs to the potty where she successfully used the potty for the first time in a week and a half. So Rachel got a sticker on her potty chart, and so did Jeff. Kudos to him for how quickly he recognized what she wanted and responded. As far as I remember, it is probably the first time Rachel has requested to use the potty. In the past I have just asked her if she wanted to go, and she cooperated.

Well, I guess that is enough about life in the bathroom at the Gosnell house. What can I say, these are the things that fill my life these days.