CRASH!

Last night after we had put Rachel to bed, I was talking to my sister Luella via Skype. All of the sudden we heard a "crash" and then Rachel crying. I don't know exactly what happened, but Rachel somehow fell. I'm not sure how bad of a fall it was, but she was definitely hurt. We got her settled back down and back in bed, and it wasn't too much longer after that that she fell asleep.

When Rachel woke up this morning I saw that she had a red mark on her cheek, and the beginning of some bruising under her eye. I called the pediatrician's office, and they told me a few things to look out for. She has been fine all morning, so I'm pretty sure that after all is said and done, she is fine, but I'm pretty sure she'll have a black eye.

Here's a picture from this morning, but if it gets worse looking (and I'm pretty sure it will) I'll post another picture.

In other news, Rachel hasn't figured out which end is up.

Meanwhile, Gabi is spending her free time learning to play the piano.

Happy Anniversary

Today is a very special anniversary for me. One year ago today the saga of my 3 months of bed rest began. I can't believe it has been a whole year. I guess I can believe it, since it's true.

In honor of this day, Rachel and Gabi decided to conspire to deprive me of rest, and both girls were awake before 6:30 a.m. To make matters worse, I hadn't slept very well last night. It all worked out fine, because both girls proceeded to crash at about 9:30. Gabi woke up at about 11:30, and Rachel woke up at about 12:00. So after all was said and done, I had a peaceful morning (although we were going to go to the library for story time, but since they were asleep, we didn't go).

So anyway, happy anniversary to me. (And what I wouldn't give for a week of bed rest now!)

Quick funny story about Rachel. She found a couple of 2 lb dumbbells. She brought them upstairs and proceeded to do a little weight lifting. She counted out her reps as follows. Four, five, sick, eight, nine, eight, four, five sick, sen, eight, nine, ten. I wished so bad I was video taping her, but if I would have pulled out the camera she would have stopped, and I was really enjoying watching her.

Gabi is 9 months old (yesterday)

It is hard to believe that Gabi is 9 months old. It is amazing how time has flown by. Today she had her 9 month check-up. If I weren't so frazzled and discombobulated all of the time, I would have remembered to post a poll where you could guess Gabi's weight now that she is 9 months. I guess I'll just tell you. So here are Gabi's vital statistics:

height: 27½" (50%)
weight: 19 lbs. 1.5 oz. (55%)
head circumference: 17¼" (50%)

She is healthy and strong. Her iron is slightly low, so I need to give her vitamins with iron. Otherwise, she is doing a good job. The doctor wants me to make sure she gets plenty of practice with a sippy cup, and let her stand up holding on to the couch or something.

"You want me using a sippy cup Doc? No problema!"

Gabi enjoys the snow. We got another 6" or so yesterday.

After playing in the snow, Rachel enjoyed playing in a box. It was warmer in there than outside.

I Need Help

I am not a very creative person, so I really need some ideas from all of you (smart, clever and creative) friends. With all of this snow, we are pretty much stuck inside of the house. Rachel will play outside for a little while, but Gabi is too little to play outside, so I just hold her the whole time, so I can't really play with Rachel. So we are mostly inside. We are all bored. I can handle it, but Rachel is feeling it. I need some ideas for ways to keep her entertained, while still keeping Gabi out of trouble. I got the idea of making some puppets, so I'll try that, but I would love to hear some other ideas too.

Anyone?

Odds and Ends

This morning at about 3:30 I woke up with a little girl standing next to my bed. Normally we put up a baby gate in Rachel's doorway, but she fell asleep without it last night, so we didn't bother putting it up. Anyway, she woke up and came downstairs to our room. I let her climb in bed with us and sleep there the rest of the night. I haven't slept with Rachel since she was just a little baby. These days if she is in bed with us, she is the biggest wiggle-bug, and won't sleep, but she fell asleep quickly, and slept great until morning. Truth be told, I enjoyed having her to cuddle with.

On Friday we had a plumbing emergency. I was giving the girls a bath in the morning, and when I went to turn off the water, it wouldn't turn off. I turned off the water supply to the house and called the plumber. They came pretty quickly, and replaced the cartridge (whatever that is) in the faucet, so now we are all better. It was pretty crazy, though. Ah, the joys of home ownership!

We primarily celebrated Valentine's Day on Saturday. We went out to lunch (to avoid the dinner rush). We had $30 worth of gift cards to O'Charley's. My meal was great, but Jeff's had some problems. First he sent back his steak because he asked for it to be medium, but it was served rare. When they brought it back, it was still pretty rare, so he sent it back again. When it came out the second time the steak was fine, but the manager, who brought out the steak, saw that his fish was also not cooked completely. Anyway, to make it better, they comped Jeff's meal, plus they gave us another $20 in gift cards. After all was said and done, both our meals were good, plus we get another basically free trip to O'Charley's. Not bad!

Sorry I don't have any cute pictures to post at this time. I'll make it up to you soon!

Oatmeal Cookies

I made oatmeal cookies today. (Actually I just made the dough, I'll bake them later.) Rachel helped out, and was introduced today to the joys of licking the beaters.

Snow Snow and More Snow

Yesterday we finally got the snow storm we've been waiting for. In our house we believe we should get at least one snow storm each winter. And a snow storm needs to have more than just a covering of snow on the ground, it has to be at least 4 inches or more. Well, yesterday did it. It started snowing late at night on Monday, then continued to snow all morning on Tuesday. By the end of it we probably had about 6 inches of snow on the ground. We all enjoyed some snow playing time in the afternoon.

Rachel making a snow angel

Mommy and Gabi

Rachel

Rachel
Daddy and Gabi
Gabi
Scout had fun too
Daddy is clearing the sidewalk. Rachel and Scout are helping.

This afternoon, after Rachel's nap, I decided to get a couple of things done that I figured a sleepy Rachel would cooperate with better than a completely awake Rachel. I cut her fingernails and her bangs. They were both getting too long. I was right. I had complete success. Of course, the gum I gave her probably helped a bit with the haircut.

Water Dish

Gabi is getting around quite a bit these days. In fact, today she made her way to Scout's (that's the dog) water dish. What is it about water dishes that attracts little babies?

Rachel was enjoying her lunch, but expressed concern when she saw Gabi splashing in the water. She said "mess," then she got down from her chair, and came over to Gabi and said "Gabi mess." She sure knew what she was talking about.

We are starting to enjoy some success with Rachel's move to the big girl bed. She is doing a better job of staying in bed, and falling asleep in bed, so that's definitely good. For a while there I was starting to have some doubts, but I feel better about it now.

Counting

We went to the library this morning for story time. As we left the house and were walking down the stairs, Rachel counted the steps. Starting from the 1st one she said "four, five sick, eight, eight, eight." Seriously, not bad for a 2-year-old.

I can't believe it

Less than one month ago, Gabi was relatively immobile. What a difference a month can make! She is now crawling a LOT! She can move pretty fast too. So we needed to modify our child-proofing situation. We used to have only one baby gate, and it was actively employed preventing Rachel from accessing the freezer downstairs. (She likes climbing on top of it to get to the food there, and she likes to open it to get at the food there. We used to have freezer pops in it, but now there is mostly just frozen milk for Gabi in there. Rachel can't really tell the difference, so she regularly brings me a bag of milk, hoping that it is a freezer pop. Which it isn't.) Anyway, when we moved Rachel into her "big girl bed" we needed to put a baby gate in the doorway so that she would stay in her room. I was moving the baby gate back and forth. I was rescued by a piano student of mine who offered me 2 baby gates. Now I have one blocking the freezer, one blocking the doorway to her bedroom, and the third is blocking access to the downstairs to protect Gabi from falling down. Yesterday Gabi tried to climb up the stairs, but she didn't have much success. Nevertheless, I suppose I need to get a fourth baby gate also.


This afternoon Gabi was pulling on her car seat. I put my foot on it to stabilize it, so she wouldn't pull it onto herself, and get hurt. Before I knew it she had pulled herself onto her feet. I was caught off guard. I didn't expect her to pull herself up so soon. Anyway, I was able to capture it on film. After I started filming, it took her a while to pull herself up, but she sure did it!



This is a picture of Rachel doing the hand gestures to a song that she is singing. I think it might be "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." It is a game that she plays on the computer.