Pictures from the Ward Christmas Party

Jeff created a website that has the pictures of the little kids (or big kids) with Santa. Here is the link to his site: http://www.machtyn.com/Church/2008_Ward_Christmas_Party-01.htm

For instructions on how to get your picture, go to his blog. http://machtyn.blogspot.com/

Please share this information with people who may not read my blog (although why not I can't imagine!) or Jeff's blog. He is also going to try to get this information onto the ward bulletin.

Enjoy, and happy New Year!

It's not funny (or at least I'm not supposed to laugh)

When Jeff and I got married, I told him that I was kind of tired of eating pizza. It's not that I don't like it, but I certainly don't want it as often as I used to. Well, now I am more tired of thinking of different dinners to prepare than I am of pizza, so I'm okay with eating pizza more often now.

So I bought a pizza at Walmart yesterday (Saturday) to fix for dinner (it's not delivery, it's digiorno). I cut up a piece for Rachel in really small pieces for her to feed herself, and at first I put them on a little plate for her, but then I decided that to avoid having a plate full of pizza end up on the floor, I should put the pieces directly on the tray of her high chair, which I did, but I left the little plate there. The plate is kind of half plate, half bowl. Rachel picked it up and put it on her head. It was (not) funny. Jeff laughed. (Shame on him!)

Tonight we had beef stew with mashed potatoes. I put that in the same kind of plate. She ate it pretty well (and had it all over her hands and face). As she was finishing it up she decided to swing the plate all around. I had to wrestle it out of her hands to avoid a really big mess. Scout (the dog) is pretty good at cleaning up Rachel's dinner droppings (and breakfast dropping and lunch droppings), but I suspect that beef stew with mashed potatoes was more of a challenge than even Scout could handle.

New Subject

I got a phone call on Christmas Eve (a.k.a. my birthday) from my nephew Cortney. After effusively wishing me a happy birthday he told me that he and his family are being relocated by his company from Utah to South Carolina, and that they were leaving the day after Christmas. Since they were passing by so close, they decided to drop in. So tonight I had the pleasure of passing a few hours with Cortney and his wife Misty, and their kids Cashton, Parker and Quinley. We played Guitar Hero World Tour. Cortney is a triple threat. He played the drums, did the vocals, and played the fake guitar much better than I can. We made a great band all together. I'm sure that we will be on tour any time now.

(I'm mad that I forgot to take pictures when they were here!)

Busy Week

Merry Christmas
I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas. We sure did. We probably don't have many more Christmases ahead of us when we can sleep so late. Rachel didn't wake up until 8:45. We opened our presents and had some breakfast. Then we went to Jeff's parents' house where we ate some more and opened more presents. We were able to talk to Jeff's sister Michelle who is currently serving a full-time mission in Argentina, and we also were able to video chat with some of Jeff's other siblings. We played games, we watched a movie, and we more or less sat around and did nothing. It was great!

I made pajama bottoms as Christmas gifts for Jeff, Rachel and myself. This was my first experiment with sewing with no supervision, although Jeff's mom helped me get started with the first pair. Here are the final results. Please hold your applause until all of the models have been presented.


My favorite present was actually a gift from Jeff's sister Michelle to Rachel, an Argentine national team fútbol (soccer) jersey. AWESOME!!!!!!! She is going to wear it every day, even to church, until she outgrows it, and by then, maybe her little brother or sister will be able to wear it.


Rachel's Vital Statistics
Today I took Rachel to the doctor for her 15 month shots. After I arrived I learned that it was just one shot. (Good!) I was prepared with a lollipop to give her immediately afterward to minimize the crying. It worked like a charm. They also weighed and measured her.

weight: 23 lbs. 3.5 oz. (65-70 percentile)
height: 31 ¼ inches (75 percentile)

The weight thing surprised me, because a week and a half ago I took her to the doctor because of her ear infection, and she weighed a little over 24 lbs. That means she lost nearly a pound. What's up with that? She eats like a horse! Maybe it's all that time she spends on the Wii Fit.

From my sister Teddie from our family blog

I am copying this post from my sister Teddie about me on my birthday for your entertainment and pleasure. Teddie is a great writer, but I cannot attest to the truthfulness of this entire post as I was too young to remember most of it.

We've gotta hand it to Noelle

She risked having her birthday forgotten year after year by being born on December 24th. The first time we older brothers and sisters saw her was on Christmas Day through the first floor window of Mom's hospital room. We were all standing outside on the lawn watching Mom open her presents that Dad brought for her. I was sixteen by then (now don't anybody go and do any math, you hear?) and Lamona and I were old enough to go inside and visit (in those days you had to be 14), but we were on babysitting duty for those that weren't.

It matters not that she was/is one of the cutest little girls ever born. Frankly, she did not like being a cute little girl. When, on Sunday mornings I would insist on doing her long, thick, dark brown hair, to capitalize on said cuteness, she would pout, looking mad and miserable until time to go to church. I hope she has forgiven me by now, even though I am not sorry. She was still cute, even when she was mad.

(photo courtesy of my sister Luella)

She distinguished herself early on as somebody not to be messed with, small size, gender and cuteness notwithstanding. When she was five, we, the Bateman family, were headed back to camp after yet another long day at the Hill Cumorah Pageant meetings and rehearsal. There was this sixteen year old kid, who also thought Noelle was cute, who did what all boys do when they want attention from a girl. He teased her by bopping her on the head repeatedly with his Book of Mormon while walking behind her. He got her attention all right, but not in the way he probably hoped. Instead of reacting by whining and charmingly telling him to stop it, she turned, grabbed him around the lower legs and leaned into him, causing him to fall over backward, Book of Mormon and all, over a strategically placed piece of seating equipment. So, Jeff, now you know who to call if ever anyone gets on your nerves. Noelle's your woman.

Happy Birthday Noelle, and have a great birthday and Christmas!

With Love, from Teddie.

15 Months Old

Today Rachel is 15 months old. Okay, this month flew by! I think I'm ready to call it official, and say that "dog" is her first word. Today she said "dah" while she did the sign for dog. She also says "mama" and "dada" but I'm still not sure she really means it when she says it.

I am happy to report that Rachel is over her ear infection. Finally last Friday she started acting like herself again. Prior to that all she wanted to do was to have me or Jeff hold her, and sleep. I encouraged the sleeping, and was happy to join her, but it did make it difficult to get anything done.

Today we went to Grandma's house and made and decorated cookies. We got some good pictures, but they are on Grandma's camera, so I don't have them yet. I'll post them later.

Today was cold, cold, COLD, COLD! It's crazy because last Friday it was in the 60s. Last night we watched the temperature drop to 7 degrees, and this morning it was 5 degrees. I know for the northerners that's nothing, but we were really cold. It is supposed to snow tomorrow, but then it's supposed to warm up again. That is my only real complaint about the weather here, that the temperature in the winter bounces around so much. If it would get cold and stay that way I would get used to it, but when it is a balmy 60 degrees one day, and then 5 degrees two days later, it is tough to get acclimated.

Last Saturday Jeff threw a surprise birthday party for me. I was completely surprised too. I had no idea. His mom lured me to her house telling me that the grandkids were all coming over to make cookies, but it was just a ploy. The funny thing is that I really try to be on time to places, and I was going to arrive too early for the party, so they had to slow me down by sending me to the store to pick up some chocolate sprinkles. I still beat a lot of the attendees there. I got some great gifts. Jeff gave me Guitar Hero World Tour. (I rock!) Jeff's mom gave me a Wii Fit. I'm really excited to use it too. It's fun. I'm only a little worried that as I gain weight with this whole pregnancy thing, it is going to mock me. There is no way of explaining pregnancy to it.

I'm sorry there are no pictures on this post at this time. I'll try to get around to remedying that.

Poor Rachel's Almanac

Rachel has had a rough past few days. I felt last week that she had a fever, but I didn't take her temperature until Saturday. It was 102.5. So we started giving her baby Tylenol. Early Sunday morning she was feeling very warm again, and I took her temperature and it was 103.6. She stayed home from church with Jeff. I went to church to sing in the choir and to play a piano duet, and then I came home. Jeff went to church after that so he could fulfill his calling.

That afternoon we went to Jeff's parent's house, along with Brian and Amber, to decorate their Christmas tree. Rachel played an important role. She was able to excel as her job in that project really played to her strength. She got to take the ornaments out of the box and hand them to people. That is her favorite past time, emptying boxes. She did her job with great professionalism.


On Monday morning Rachel's temperature got to 104.5. I took her to the doctor and it turns out that she has an ear infection. So we got a prescription for an antibiotic.

While it is really sad that Rachel is sick, I have to admit that I am taking advantage of her excessive sleeping with a little extra napping of my own.


Here are some more pictures from our decorating of the Christmas tree on Sunday with Jeff's parents:

Jeff getting the lights on

Everybody's getting in on the action

Amber

Brian

Rachel distributing ornaments

Rachel in her garland halo

Brian and Amber under the mistletoe

Brian and Amber in the classic "we're pregnant" pose

Noelle and Jeff in the classic "we're pregnant" pose. (I admit, I'm still trying to suck in my gut. Am I fooling anybody?)

Rachel loves the Christmas tree

Rachel's Long Reach

Keeping things out of Rachel's reach is getting harder and harder. She can stand on her tippy toes, and climb on things to reach practically everything.

We have a plate of brownies that were leftover from a Christmas Party we went to.

Yeah, she reached them.

And liked them.

A lot.

Doctor's Appointment

I had an appointment with my doctor today. I was looking forward to it because I have been feeling a little disconnected and worried that this whole pregnancy thing wasn't really true. Well, she found a heartbeat, and since it was below my belly button, I'm pretty sure it wasn't mine. Of course, as long as it is inside my body it is mine, right? So I guess I now have two hearts. No wonder I'm so nice.

Jeff came to the appointment with me. When he heard the heartbeat he teared up a little. I can relate. I did the same thing when I heard it for the first time.

When she was listening to the heart beat, the doctor also said that she heard the baby kick. I heard what she was talking about, but I don't think I would have recognized it as a kick. I sure didn't feel anything.

They weighed me. I didn't even gain one pound. The truth is, though, the clothes I was wearing today are lighter weight than what I wore last month, so I probably did gain a little. Next month I'll wear heavier clothes, and then they'll get mad at me for gaining too much weight.

So I guess I am more or less officially past the risky time (nearly 13 weeks), so I guess I don't have to keep the pregnancy a secret anymore.

Rachel Spinning

It took me longer than I meant for it, to get around to posting a video of Rachel spinning on Jeff's chair, but finally here it is.

Don't Tell

Okay, if you are going to read this post, you have to promise me that you will never tell Rachel about it. I don't want to embarrass her. Of course if she embarrasses me enough times I might change my mind, but for now, no telling.

We we were hanging out downstairs lying on the bed watching the First Presidency Christmas Devotional on the computer last night. It was getting to be time for Rachel to go to bed, so I took off all of her clothes except for her diaper in anticipation of dragging myself off the bed to get her ready for bed. I was taking my sweet time, though, and Rachel got bored hanging out with us and went upstairs to play with Scout. She crawled into his kennel, but her diaper snagged on the latch, and as she tried to free herself, the diaper tore so that one side came loose. Rachel was not happy about her situation, and when I went upstairs to find out what the problem was she was crying a little, so I didn't take a picture of her in the kennel, but after I freed her and got her out I had to take a picture because it was so funny.


Today I tuned the piano of a friend of mine, and Rachel came with me. My friend has a daughter and two little boys, and another little boy on the way. Her daughter, who is the oldest, is no longer super cooperative with getting her hair done, so she took advantage of Rachel head full of hair while I was working and gave her this cute do. (Hopefully this cute picture will make up for my misdeed of sharing a picture of Rachel's bare bum.)


Last note: Jeff has some Wii Fits for sale if anybody has that on their Christmas wish list.