Snow - after a fashion

It snowed overnight. Okay, it wasn't much, compared to other places, but it was the most snow we've had this winter so far. There was like an inch or so on the ground this morning. It was kind of a birthday present for Jeff. He has been wanting snow, and while it wasn't much, it was better than nothing, and it happened on Jeff's birthday.

Rachel enjoyed playing in the snow a little. She couldn't (wouldn't) keep her mittens on, so we didn't stay outside for very long, but she enjoyed walking around in the snow.


Scout, as always, enjoyed the snow. He especially enjoyed barking at the meter reader next door.

Quite a day

This morning at around 5:00 I was awake, but far (very far) from being ready to get up. I heard Rachel, and it sounded like she was throwing up. Sure enough, she was. Since her bedding was now dirty, and I figured she could use a little snuggling, I brought her to bed with me. Unfortunately, she was not done throwing up. My shirt, the sheets and the comforter all caught it.

At 8:30 I called the pediatrician, and they said they could see her at 10:15. I used that time to put my bedding in the wash, but my washing machine isn't big enough to accommodate the comforter. I called Jeff's mom to see if I could borrow her washer to clean the comforter. She said of course, so after I went to the doctor we went there. But wait, let's not skip any good parts. While I was at the doctor Rachel erupted more (a lot more). She threw up all over my shirt, over her own shirt and jeans, not to mention the floor and the counter top as I tried to get her to the sink. Yeah, kind of a mess.

So I went to Grandma's house, and left Rachel there while I ran to the grocery store to get some pedialyte. It took a while to get the comforter washed and dried, and during that time Rachel had a major case of diarrhea. It was pretty bad. It got all over her jeans, her socks, the carpet. Luckily Grandma is always prepared , more prepared than mama, and she happened to have a clean outfit for Rachel to wear.

The crazy thing is that during all of this, Rachel really hasn't acted sick at all. She is more or less of the same temperament as she always is. Maybe just slightly more clingy, but barely noticeable.

I am pretty much beat after today, so I'm following Rachel's example, and going straight to bed.

Rachel goes to the gym

Allow me to preface this post with the disclaimer that I cut Rachel's hair a couple of days ago, and didn't do a very good job. As my Dad said to me after I gave him a haircut when I was in high school, "the difference between a good haircut and a bad haircut is about 2 or 3 weeks." Hopefully Rachel's haircut will look a little better after a while.

So I took Rachel to the gym today. There is a gymnastics school that has "open gym" time for an hour several times a week. I like to take Rachel there because she gets so bored at home, it is too cold to go to the park, and we don't have any interesting outside toys that are weather appropriate in our backyard. So I'm always looking for something to do with her.

Rachel really likes playing there. It usually takes her a while to get into it. She just kind of stands around and stares for a little while, but then she starts really having fun. In fact today she did not want to leave. She didn't cry or fuss or anything, she just kept trying to play.

Here are some pictures I took of Rachel at the gym today.


I was pretty impressed that Rachel could hang on the rings so well. I couldn't decide which picture I liked better, so I posted both of them. The look of desperation on her face, like she was hanging on for dear life, I thought it was great.
I can't believe that I forgot to not turn the camera sideways to take a movie, since I can't rotate it. Maybe Jeff can fix it later. Anyway, here she is on a car on a track.

I had to add this cute video of Rachel playing. She's so smart.

Rachel the Pianist

Climbing onto the bench for a 15½ month old is no small task.

Hanging in there.
In place, and nearly ready to go.

A good example of reading the music, and not relying on looking at your fingers. (Some of my students could learn from this picture.)

Practicing with a good attitude! (But not such good technique.)

Putting it all together

My sweet, innocent little angel

When will I learn?

Rachel is pretty good most of the time about entertaining herself. The problem is that said entertainment generally involves property destruction.

Have I ever mentioned her affinity for climbing?

Those two traits don't give me much peace.

So I was doing something, and Rachel was entertaining herself. I heard a noise that forced me to check up on her.

She had climbed up on to the table and was pouring out an entire bag of Honey Bunches of Oats, scattering them with her feet, and eating them.

Scout was enthusiastically cleaning up everything on the floor.


Somebody, please hurry and tell me that two is easier than one.

Ultrasound Appointment

I have an appointment for my ultrasound. It is February 5. If you haven't done so already, please feel free to vote (see the poll on the side) if our little baby is a boy or a girl.

A couple of pictures of Rachel

Rachel hanging out with Daddy.

Rachel practicing the piano.

Another doctor's appointment

I went to my doctor today for another appointment. Everything was fine. I heard the heartbeat again. Next month I will have an ultrasound and find out if it is a boy or a girl. My doctor wants me to have a Level 2 ultrasound, which is more informative than a regular ultrasound. That means that I have to go to a different office, and I am waiting for them to call me to schedule the appointment. It will probably be the last week of January or the first week of February. I will post a poll for you to vote if it is a boy or a girl.

Baby got some brand new shoes

It's been a while since I've written anything interesting, meaning stuff about Rachel. Well, Rachel got two new pairs of shoes. I bought them at Wal-mart. I bought her some new dress shoes, and some new sneakers. Wanna see them?

Sneakers - from the top

Sneakers - from the side

Sneakers - from the other side

Dress shoes - from the top

Dress shoes - from the side

So I was kind of disappointed in the selection at Wal-mart for sneakers. The girl's sneakers were all white and pink with little sparkly jewels and stuff on them. I didn't want that for sneakers, they were more dressy and fancy than the dress shoes. So the sneakers I ended up buying were actually boy sneakers, although in my opinion they are very gender neutral. Now before you go giving me a hard time about pink and sparkly for a little girl, bear in mind that these are sneakers, also known as play shoes. You know, they get muddy and yucky. Besides, there is pink on the dress shoes. Anyway, I though they were cute.

Of course new shoes for Rachel was not enough for her. She would rather wear my sneakers, or at least my sneaker.

Check out that belly!

I guess she figured my shoe was big enough for both of her feet.

I took this personality test today.

Your result for The Brutally Honest Personality Test...

Pushover - ISFJ

27% Extraversion, 20% Intuition, 37% Thinking, 60% Judging

Hah. Nice one. How does it feel to know that you're barely unique? Of all the personality types you could have had, you ended up with the most common in all of America. In a group of 100 Americans, 12.8 of them will be just like you.


I bet you feel sorry for that one person missing 20% of his body. I bet you want to help him out, don't you? Cause that's what you like to do, isn't it? Help people. You don't want to save the world. You just want to help people out.

Sound pretty good so far? Sorry, but you're just plain pathetic. You let people walk all over you all the time, because everyone knows that you just can't say "no." When you get time, email me your contact details. It's always good to know where I can find another helping hand.

What the heck is your problem? GET A LIFE! Stop cleaning other people's houses and go out and have a bit of fun every now and then. Sure, you feel responsible for doing what needs to be done, but sometimes it's just not you who needs to do it.

You're dependable, predictable and practicaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...

Whoops, that was me falling asleep on the keyboard. You're just not the most fun person. I wouldn't worry too much about it. You can go hang out with your other 12.8 mates, helping out at the soup kitchen together. Woohoo!

Take The Brutally Honest Personality Test at HelloQuizzy