One more on the way

No, I am not talking about a baby. I noticed yet another tooth coming in. It is her bottom left one and I couldn't see if the right one was poking through yet, but I am sure it will be soon to follow. I had no idea her teeth would come in so quickly and seems like all at once. Fortunately, she has been slowly getting better and away from the whiny girl she was on Christmas.

where to start...

These pictures are out of order (of course), but I really don't have the time to rearrange them.

Rachel with one of her new toys from Grandma and Grandpa Schaefer. She can actually push down and make it spin herself.

Matt had given her a bath before church yesterday morning and I was blow drying my hair. I must have stepped out to get her clothes and I found this when I came back in the room. She thought it was great!

Matt's grandma's (Nana) birthday is on Christmas, so they had a party for her that evening. This is Rachel with her Aunt Suzanne and soon to be Aunt Sara (Brett and Sara are getting married in March!)

Her Grandma and Grandpa Schaefer got her some stacking/nesting cups and she caught on really quick to knock them down once we stacked them.

Yes, you may have seen this on Lauren and George's blog. Yes, it is Hannah and Kate's toy. We figured since Kate is a scaredy cat (spelling?) that Rachel would use it instead. She loved it and Uncle George pushed her around the house in it! She has yet to show any signs of fear for toys or people.

Rachel on Christmas. I know, no cute Christmasy outfit for her.

Rachel with Great-Grandma.
Still likes to play with her feet.

Just before the Christmas eve service at church. This dress it not a Christmas dress, but it had red on it and was one of the only dresses that fit her. We got some tights for her too, but it wasn't all that cold anyway. I thought she looked cute either way!

Christmas morning. We did nothing special. Woke up at the same time, ate the same breakfast, napped at the same time, and then headed over to my parent's house around 11:30 to open presents and eat a yummy lunch.

Do you see the two front teeth? How could you miss those things? Well, I am pleased to say that I notice two more teeth coming in next to those. She is cutting her incisor teeth. That makes 6 teeth in my almost 9 month old. Whew!

Rachel and Mommy at the Lantz's Christmas Eve Chinese dinner. She took a slight interest in the tree.

They have a big rocking horse that Kate is also afraid of, so Rachel takes her place.

So, Rachel got tons of toys, books, and clothes for Christmas. The stack of gifts around all three of the girls was enormous, but it just meant more gifts for me to open. Just kidding. Hopefully, she will be more into it next year and distracted from being crabby. This year, Matt and I decided we should have dressed her up as the Grinch because she was a Grouch. She has been very not herself the past few weeks and I think she might have gone through a growth spurt (her overalls are not even close to fitting anymore), teething, and getting ready to do some new stuff. She is not crawling yet or even close to going forward, but she will move backwards.

Matt got his bowflex dumbbells, a stand for them, and an adjustable bench on Craigslist for a great deal. Matt has done some work around the house for me and we have decided to paint the kitchen a blue-gray color (nothing too dark as we do not get a lot of light in that room). So, Santa was good to all of use this year. Most importantly, God has been really good to us this year, but even if he hadn't of been, I would hope our family would still be praising Him.

Last night, we got to visit some friends who live in Idaho. They have been visiting every Christmas since they moved and we look forward to our annual hang out each year. Today will be filled with clean up of the house. Sounds like fun...

Making Progress!

Yesterday was my last bootcamp exercise class at 5:15am! I was excited to see what kind of improvements I had made and quite honestly, I wasn't expecting a lot out of me. The class was great, it pushed me to do more than I thought I could and am really glad I did it. My mile run (ugh) started at 9 min 7 sec (so slow) and last week, we did a practice run and I did it in 8 min 57 sec. I was trying to keep up with the fast girls, but this time seemed really slow for how fast I thought I was running. I was slightly discouraged. My mile yesterday took me 8 min 20 sec to complete. It turns out on that last run, it was actually longer than 1 mile, which made me feel better about my time. I made it the entire 3 minutes on the wall sit. I only made it 1 min 5 sec last time. In one minute, I did 20 push-ups on my toes and 30-something on my knees. I also increased my sit-up count by 9 to put me at 38 in one minute. I lost a few pounds and 1.5% of my body fat! I would really like to do the class again, but it is kind of expensive so ...... I am really enjoying going to the gym again and Matt and I are thinking about running together. Of course, we do not have a jogging stroller so I started looking on Craig's list. This would make 3 strollers though and I just do not have the space. If you aren't really active, I encourage to start before the new year! I have no pictures of the little porker (no, not me)!

All about food!

Rachel loves to eat! She is getting better at picking up and sometimes getting food to her mouth. I realized that I had been cutting the pieces too small for her to pick up. So, I started making sticks/strips with foods (if possible) and she was able to pick those up and mash them up in her mouth. She had waffle strips for breakfast (no syrup, what a mess) and as you can see from the pictures and video, noodles with spinach for lunch. The last two are from today and she was eating chicken alfredo.

Cheerios still don't really make it to her mouth, but I am hoping within a month, she will be feeding herself. As far as crawling goes, that doesn't exist in her mind. When on her belly, she reaches for toys and things she wants and seems like she wants to get to them, but has no idea how to move. Sometimes she will scoot herself backwards, which of course only puts more distance between her and the desired object. Honestly, I like her immobile. If you haven't seen these pictures from Lauren's blog, they are of all three girls watching baby einstein before bed. It was too cute!

All I Want For Christmas is...

Rachel will be getting her Christmas wish. Hopefully, they will be here by Christmas. Can you see them? Her top two teeth have been coming in for a few weeks now. They take forever and make her look so much older, but add to her cuteness!

What about the rest of the family? Matt is saving his money to buy some Bowflex dumbbells. I have to admit that I wasn't really excited about them first, but now that I hav done the bootcamp class at the gym, I know a lot of good uses for them. So, I wouldn't be upset if he got them. What about me? I don't want small stuff, I would rather save my money for big things...like a Honda Odyssey, new kitchen (which I got) things like that. Well, perhaps my Odyssey is in sight for 2010. I told Matt that for my Christmas gift, I would like him to get a few things done for me around the house. No money spent. We have all of the supplies. I just want them to get done. He put up the crown molding in the kitchen for my birthday. It took him 20 minutes and he got to have Josiah around to help. What a terrible time they had together! I was elated. When I tell him of my Christmas wishes, he looks at me like ugh...I can't believe you want that. I think it is an easy gift. He knows what I want, instead of wasting money on a gift he guesses I might like, but I probably won't. And it fits perfectly in the budget! What more could he ask for. Again, didn't look too thrilled, so maybe Santa can find some elves that are willing.

What is it about the carrot that she loves it more than the others?

A few days ago, I did major cleaning in Rachel's room. I was switching back matresses with Katie (in preparation for baby Charlie to arrive) and decided I would take the opportunity to take down her bumper pads since our pediatrician usually tells you to take them down at the 9 month appointment. Well, her crib doesn't look as cute, but things must change. She loves sleeping with a blanket and Aunt Lauren gave her this pink one out of the abundance of their supply! She also has a little elephant that one of her uncles gave her that stays in her crib too. She always wakes up in a different direction than when I put her down, but is on the same end of the crib. Sometimes she sleeps on her back, sometimes on her belly. Maybe she is like her mama and just doesn't care a whole lot!

It's Finals Week!

We haven't been doing anything too interesting in the past week. I got to visit a new baby! Some friends from church were induced on Thursday and had a beautiful baby boy named Tucker. I dropped Rachel off with Mike, Toby, and Nana (she came into town this past week and has become a snowbird) and got to the hospital as they were getting ready to leave. They were kind enough to hang out for a little bit and then of course the baby wanted to eat so I got more time. After having Rachel, I have a new appreciation and excitement for newborns! I also had dinner over with Mike, Toby, and Nana and enjoyed spending some time with them. On Saturday, Lauren, Rachel, and I went to a craft boutique at a friend's house that was to help support a missionary family. They had a lot of cute stuff, but my budget saved me from spending much money! I got some Christmas desserts to give to her Sunday school teachers. We then hung out with some friends from Sunday school and I fell asleep during the first 15 minutes of the movie we were watching. That reminded me of being pregnant. I always fell asleep around 7, no matter what I was doing. On Sunday, Matt had to work down in Bradenton for some event, so Rachel and I made it to church again by ourselves the second week in a row. Daddy or not, this family still goes to church each Sunday. Unfortunately, I didn't hear but 5 minutes of the sermon when I got paged because Rachel was inconsolable. Fortunately, I knew that she was just tired and was able to get her to sleep. We hung out at the Lantz's afterwards and I always enjoy that time with them. What a sweet family my sister has! Monday, we made a trip to Wal-mart. Today, I give me final at HCC. I am hoping to get it graded (it is scantron, but I can still give partial-credit) and get my final grades and everything turned in tonight so I don't have to come back up another day. I have really enjoyed my semester at HCC, but am defnintely looking forward to my month long break. I have a few things I really want to get accomplished while I don't have to worry about work. I have done a little bit of Christmas shopping and am going to wrap the first gift today. It is for my favorite nieces! I think they are going to love it. The weather turned a little chilly this week and I was thinking that Rachel doesn't have much cold weather stuff to wear. My friend Katie was telling me about this JcPenny coupon that she sometimes gets where you get $10 off a $10 purchase. What a great deal! I got one in the mail yesterday and was super excited that I could go get Rachel an outfit for a few dollars or potentially free. Lauren and I will be hitting the mall this week! Don't worry Matt, I only plan on buying that one outfit (unless there is some awesome clearance stuff). Here are some pictures of Rachel:

This girl loves her sippy cup.

Munching on some Cheerios. Too bad she doesn't know how to feed herself yet.

She loves this birdbath so much!

Story time before bed. She will tolerate being on her tummy, so I take the opportunity to read books to her.

One last thing: I have 10 pictures for you.

It is amazing what one month can do!