An eventful weekend!

It has been a pretty busy week so far. Rachel and I have been out and about. Matt has been working Wednesday through Saturday shifts, so he doesn't get to have as much fun with us on Saturdays. Saturday started out with me taking Rachel and Mika (our dog) to my parents so I could then continue on with Mika to the vet. She checked out perfectly fine (as expected) and then we raced home to drop her off. I went to a faculty meeting at Hillsborough Community College (my new job) and learned some more stuff that I was clueless about. I now feel a little more informed and more prepared for my first class on Tuesday. Just a side note: I am so glad I am not going to back to teaching high school. Back on track. I then went back to my parent's house and hung out. Lauren and the cousins came over and then we all tried to go to JcPenny to get some grandkids pictures taken for my Mom. We have still a relatively small window of opportunity for Rachel to be happy for pictures. The twins were everywhere and wouldn't sit still. The studio had no toys to distract them with. We tried to get even one picture taken for about 20 minutes and had absolutely no luck. So, we gave up and Grandma bought the girls each a new outfit. What a disaster with the pictures, but we will try again in the near future. So, we came home really tired, wet (we have had some good storms lately), and defeated. A few hours later we celebrated my brother's birthday and tried to watch the latest James Bond movie to have no luck with two different DVDs. Rachel got solidish food for the first time last night. I was going to wait another month before giving her solids, but then I put together her high chair on Thursday so I think that got me excited to give her solids. The rice cereal was incredibly soupy and hardly qualifies as a solid. She did really well with it and ate about 1 tablespoon of it. Since it was so runny, it made a little mess. I do not have any pictures to give you yet because they are on my Mom's camera. I do have plenty of just plain cute pictures though.

She is in her Hollywood shirt and some jean shorts that her "Great-grandma T" got her. They are a little big so they kind of look like capris or boy shorts.

Sucking happily on her thumb

Rachel looks just like her mother in this picture. Eyes closed, but smiling.

I really like her highchair. It came with the toy you see. It snaps into the tray so she can't shove it off.

All of these pictures reminds me of the wonderful reason that I am glad I am not going back to work at the high school. Rachel is such a great addition to our family and I love being around her all day. She is happy or sleeping 95% of the time which leaves very little grumpy time. I love seeing these smiles and hearing her laugh and just talk. She is the best!