My sweet little girl

I have to share this experience I had this morning with Rachel. I was laying on the sofa, with Rachel sitting on my arm, reading her a story. (These are Rachel's favorite books. [Thanks Lisa.] Could it be the dogs on every page? Could it be the very short content of each page?)

Anyway, as we finished the books, Rachel pulled up my shirt to play with my belly and my belly button. I'm not sure which she likes better. I told her "There's a baby in there. Be soft with the baby."

Rachel started stroking my belly, and then she said "ahhhh" and laid her head down on my belly. It was so sweet, and so cute.

Winter Storm 2009 (Part II)

So it snowed overnight Monday, then pretty much all day Tuesday and Tuesday night there was freezing rain. At around 6:30 a.m. I heard the battery back-ups all start beeping, so I got Jeff up and we both turned off our computers (expecting to be without electricity). Then I went to the bathroom where I switched on the light, and it came on. So we were without electricity for no more than 5 minutes or so. Good! We went back to bed. Jeff had already heard from his work that he didn't need to come into the office, so we just had a relaxing morning.

The freezing rain caused many (many) branches to break under the weight of the ice, so all night long and into the day we heard and saw many falling branches.

Rachel and Scout enjoyed looking out the window at all the snow and ice.


At around 8:00 or so the freezing rain changed back to snow, and we got another 3 or 4 inches of snow. At around 11:30 it all stopped. Now it's just cold. Not horrible, but definitely cold.

I went outside to take some pictures of the frozen landscape. Enjoy.


After Rachel woke up from her nap we decided to brave the cold and make a trip to the grocery store. First I had to clear off my car.

This is Jeff's car before snow removal.


Here's the top of my car to give an idea of how much snow we got.


Unfortunately a lot of people are without electricity. Fortunately we have been spared. Hopefully we will continue to have power.

Snowday!

Today was a snow day. It snowed pretty good, but what made it significant was that after the snow came frozen rain. And more frozen rain. All day long. Even Jeff was given the day off (kind of - he worked from home for about 5 hours).

Rachel found various ways of entertaining herself. Here's my favorite. (I should probably avoid photographic evidence of what a bad mom I am, but it was funny, so what can I say?)


You might be wondering what she's doing. She's blowing bubbles in Scout's water dish. I can't guarantee that there was no consumption of the water, but I promise her primary goal here was to blow bubbles. She's getting ready to spend the summer at the pool.

In spite of the freezing rain, we bundled up to play outside in the snow (and ice) for a while. Rachel seemed to get a kick out of walking through the snow, even though she had a pretty hard time navigating it on her own. She would fall through the ice, then her foot would get stuck under the ice layer and she would fall down. Over and over again. But she was having fun.


I thought that for such a wintry day, some nice beef stew with mashed potatoes would hit the spot. Rachel really enjoyed it. Yes, that's mashed potatoes in her hair.

Rachel is 16 Months Old (yesterday)

Yesterday was Rachel's 16 month birthday. It was pretty much uneventful. She spent the day hanging out in Scout's kennel reading the Reader's Digest, or with Scout.


Today was slightly more eventful. Rachel had a momentous event. She walked down the stairs facing forward. She was holding my hand with one of her hands, and the railing supports with the other, but it was the first time she had ever descended forward. I was surprised because it was a set of stairs she never goes down by herself. It is the stairs going outside into the back yard. In the past I have always carried her down, but today she was very grown up about it.

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.