I can't keep up with her! (part 2)

Rachel is all over everything. She is fast, she is mobile, I think she might have some super powers. So in my attempt to get her to hold still, I made a purchase. When Dad and Harriet came to visit in May, they bought for Rachel an inflatable pool. Rachel has enjoyed it a lot, but I decided to expand its use. I bought 100 little balls and put them in the pool (without water) and put Rachel in with them. She loves it. I have bought myself about 10 minutes of time. I love it. I can put them in with the water too, but that requires more supervision.

Scout loves them too, but unfortunately he has a propensity to bite the balls and puncture them. I guess when he has ruined enough of them I can buy some more. I am in a catch-22. If I leave toys out for Scout to chew on, Rachel chews on them too. When I don't leave toys out for Scout to chew on, he chews on Rachel's toys. It's totally worth it, though. Scout and Rachel love each other.

Ten Months Old

Today Rachel celebrated her 10-month-old birthday. She celebrated it by not hardly taking any nap at all, but she ended up going down for the night (at least so far) at 7:00. It is possible that she will wake up at 4:30 in the morning (but I really, really, really hope not!).

Update the following morning - dateline - July 23, 2008: Rachel did not wake up until 7:45 am. Yes, that is over 12 hours. You know how when you change a diaper that is barely wet, you think, "well that was a wasted diaper!"? Well, the diaper that served Rachel's needs last night gave its full measure of devotion. It gave until it hurt. It was the opposite of a wasted diaper! I am very grateful to that particular diaper that served faithfully and true to the very end. (Get it? The end?)

So yesterday we were outside. I was harvesting green beans and tomatoes from the garden. Rachel was playing in the dirt. As we were coming inside, I had Rachel in my arm, and in the same hand I was carrying my bountiful harvest. I went to open the storm door, and with my other arm occupied, Rachel took advantage of the situation, and fast as lightening, grabbed one of the cherry tomatoes and popped it into her mouth, and chomped down. Out of her mouth squirted seeds and tomato juice. Since the damage was done, I went ahead and helped her eat the rest of the tomato. The skin was a little tough, so she only ate the inside. She seemed to enjoy it.

Here she is with the tomato seeds on her shirt:


Rachel also tasted her first pickle this past weekend. She really enjoyed it. She ate the juicy part of one and a half dill pickle spears. (No skin.) Needless to say, that was a poop to remember!

Good News and Bad News

A couple of days ago (Wednesday) I took Scout in for a haircut. For the first time, Rachel threw a temper tantrum when I put her in the car seat. That whole day every time I put her in the car seat, she threw a fit. It was my first chance to practice my disciplining techniques on her. A good firm "no" a couple of times, and now she seems to be past that phase.

That same day Rachel demonstrated her superior intellect by approaching the top of the stairs, and by herself she turned herself around to go down. What a genius.

Rock Band
Last Friday Jeff, Rachel and I went swimming at the Smith's house. After we were done we went to Paul and Andrea's to pick up some tickets to a concert that we are going to tonight (Video Games Live). Since we were over there anyway, we decided to play a little Rock Band. It was fun. Turns out I am a very talented fake guitar player!


Tomatoes
Today I harvested my first real, genuine, authentic, full-sized tomato. I used it to touch up and flavor Jeff's ham sandwich that I made him for his lunch. We also have a few other tomatoes in various degrees of ripeness.


The blackberries are another story. Our blackberries are ripening up okay, but since there are not too many, the birds are getting them almost as fast as they ripen. There are a few for us, but not much chance of make any blackberry jelly using my crop alone. (Actually there weren't enough even if the birds had left them alone.) The seven that are left are still going to be delicious!


Hip Hop
Apparently Rachel is expressing interest in the hip hop culture. Here she is with her pants sagging.


Before long the pants were off altogether. I guess that is the downside of wearing clothes that are too big. The upside is that at least she can wear them for more than one month!

Rachel and Scout - Best Friends Forever

Rachel and Scout really are best friends. They play so well together (most of the time). Too bad I am not faster with my camera, because a lot of interaction between them I have been unable to capture. For example, one day the Delgado's were over for piano lessons. Samantha saw this, as did I, but I couldn't take a picture. Scout was sitting innocently in front of the couch, when Rachel crawled over and pulled herself up on him, then pulled him down to the floor where they rolled around together. It was pretty funny.

Rachel is pretty much eating table food (finely chopped). She likes it more than the baby food in jars. She picks is up and either shoves it in her mouth,
or throws it on the floor (with Scout's approval).
Here are some more pictures of Rachel and Scout playing together.

Rachel went to Scout's kennel to see if he was there. Nope, nobody's home.
Next time I come to visit, you'd better be there!
Just hanging around together.
Scout taught Rachel how to go out the doggy door. Mama does not approve!
They are both interested in the same things. I'm just not sure what those things are. Interesting note about this picture. I had put Rachel's pants back on her after I changed her diaper, but somehow by the time this picture was taken, they were off and wadded on the floor (I'm sure an omen of things to come.)

A(nother) New Tooth!

Rachel is growing her 2nd tooth. Her first tooth was the lower left central incisor. Her new tooth is the lower right central incisor. It is just barely poking through her gums.

We first noticed it on Friday night. We could see it, but we could not feel it. Amazingly on Saturday morning we could feel it too.

So far there are no opposing teeth, so biting is not a problem, but biting food is still a bit of a challenge. She manages, though.

Rachel

Yesterday Andrea and Jonas came over. Jonas and Rachel enjoyed performing duets on the keyboard.


I bought for Rachel a new toy to help her learn to walk. It is a little car that can either be a sit-on toy, or a walk-behind toy.


Rachel likes it both ways.


In preparation for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, Rachel is practicing her dismount. She likes the "head first dismount." I give her a 10 for style.


Andrea brought Rachel a set of keys which made the perfect addition to her new car.


And then she crawled up the stairs and on to other adventures.

Whatever you do, don't get jealous!

Yesterday I ate my first tomato out of my 2008 garden. It was absolutely delicious. It was a cherry tomato, so it was not big at all. I washed it off (took a picture of it) and popped it into my mouth. I cannot find the words to convey the ecstasy I felt.

Then I thought, oh yeah, I should probably take pictures of the garden while I am at it.

More cherry tomatoes to be harvested (and eaten) soon:
Teeny tiny cucumbers:
Blackberries that used to be greenberries, but are now redberries and will soon be blackberries:

Lots of New and Exciting Stuff

This is a catch-up (catsup?) post. There are a lot of new and exciting developments happening in our little home these days.

My New Profession
So about 10 years ago I started a course on Piano Tuning. I finished the first seven of ten lessons reasonably promptly, but for some reason (which I do not recall) I didn't finish the last three. Well, a couple of months ago Jeff's grandparents bought a used piano that had not been tuned in some time, and Grandma asked me about getting it tuned. I told her that I could do it myself for really cheap (namely free). That spurred me on to finishing the course. Since it had been so long I called the school and they told me that for $20 I could reinstate my course and finish the last three lessons, which I did. I received in the mail last Thursday my diploma. So now I am a Piano Tuner.


The Fourth of July
(disclaimer: If you do not want to read a poop story, please do not read this next section. You have been warned!)
Rachel's first 4th of July celebration was pretty exciting. She started the day by pulling another poopie prank. This time Daddy was the intended victim. I personally think that this proves that she likes me best, because the prank she pulled on Jeff was worse than the infamous poopie sock incident that I was stuck with. I was downtown cleaning an office when I got a phone call.

Jeff: Guess what Rachel did.
Noelle: What?
Jeff: I was at my computer, and Rachel was playing on the floor. I looked over and saw that she had halfway taken off her diaper. I thought, that's not right, so I went over to her and saw that she had pooped all over the floor. And she was playing in it. She had poop all over the carpet, and squished in her hands.
Noelle: Eeww! (aside: sorry about your luck! glad I'm not there!)

So Jeff put her in the bath and cleaned up the mess as best he could. Holly, I think we need to borrow your carpet cleaner!

Don't worry, no pictures.

More (festive) Fourth of July
We went over to Holly's house for a big 4th of July party. When I got there (early) Holly was cleaning up her own mess. Jericho had spilled laundry detergent on the carpet. It seems like soap should be a good thing to spill on the carpet. Doesn't that make things cleaner? There was a great turnout at the party. We ate Mexican Food, and when it got dark we lit (legal) fireworks.

Holly had warned me that there would be no hamburgers and hotdogs at this party. (She knew from a previous encounter how I like those traditional foods for summer parties - ie Derby Party.) So for lunch Jeff, Rachel and I had Sloppy Joes. (Sloppy Joes are just a variation of a hamburger.) We didn't have any hamburger buns (or so I thought), so I served them in hotdog buns. Turns out they taste the same that way. As it happened, we did have hamburger buns, but they were still frozen. So the big question, which is more patriotic, hamburgers, hotdogs, sloppy joes, potato chips or cheetos?


Exciting Developmental Milestones for Rachel
Rachel is growing up too fast! She has pretty much mastered climbing downstairs. The only thing left to perfect on the stairs is her approach to the descent. She comes in head first, and I still have to turn her around. Once she is feet first, she is pretty secure coming down.

Today we were having yogurt (actually just she was having yogurt), and she ate with a spoon (almost completely) by herself. I put the yogurt on the spoon and handed it to her, then she put it in her mouth. Sometimes she even got the yogurt off, but sometimes I had to help her with that.

Ryder Cup

This year Louisville, KY has the opportunity to host the Ryder Cup. For those who are golf illiterate, that is a big-time tournament. Think a Super Bowl or World Series caliber athletic event.

I sing with the Pride of Kentucky Chorus, which is a women's barbershop chorus. Our chorus has a fund raising opportunity in conjunction with the Ryder Cup. We are selling 450 chances to win two premium tickets to the Ryder Cup Finals on September 21 for $50.

The package, worth $3,800 includes:

• Two premium tickets for September 21 Ryder Cup Finals.
  
• Complimentary breakfast and lunch buffet
• Open bar
  
• Preferred off-site parking with shuttle service
• Climate-controlled hospitality venue
• Premium restroom facilities
• Business center... and more!!

If you are interested in purchasing a raffle ticket, click on this link, which will take you to a site where you can learn more about the raffle, and buy a ticket. Only 450 chances will be sold.

What goes up must come down.

Two weeks ago exactly Rachel started climbing up the stairs. Less than a week later she was able to climb the entire flight of stairs on her own. Her next trick was to climb almost to the top, then just hang out. Maybe go down a little, then go back up a little. She just didn't want to arrive. So we started working on going down. We experimented with a lot of different approaches. Crawling backwards, sliding down on her seat, rolling down sideways (she came up with that one - I tried to discourage it). She finally settled on the crawling backwards approach. It is very disconcerting to watch. She sits down, then works her legs out from under her, then goes backwards. Today she went all the way down by herself. I stood there constantly ready to catch her because she looked several times like she would fall, but she didn't. She went all the way on her own. I am not quite ready to let her have free and unfettered access to the stairs at all times, but she is definitely making progress.

Michelle came over to hang out for a bit before going to work out. Rachel got to show off what a big girl she is.


Here is another favorite picture. Let me give a little introductory information. It is Sunday morning. Jeff is at a home teaching appointment, so I'm on my own. I had worked overnight, so I am operating on very little sleep. I am trying to get ready early so that I can make it to choir practice. I'm feeding Rachel her lunch. Wisely I am feeding her with only her diaper on. Introduce carrots into the picture, and this is what you get.


There is easily much more carrots on her than in her. I gave up after about four spoonfuls.