Rachel Has Learned A Lot!

This past week, Rachel has changed so much. I am really seeing the big girl in her, well as much as a big girl as she can be at 10 months. She did turn 10 months on Saturday, which was an interesting day altogether. Lauren and I had our second garage sale and it was great! With both sales combinen, I made about $90 and got rid of so much crap. Yea! Besides, I enjoyed hanging out with other women on those Saturdays. We managed to watch all three girls by ourselves and have the garage sale at the same time. That was not an easy task because we were pretty busy for 4 hours straight as far as people go.

Rachel learned how to clap, but she doesn't do it at the appropriate time yet. You usually have to show her how to clap and then she will do it afterwards. She seems very proud of herself, but has trouble remembering how to do it or is just being lazy. She can also wave somewhat too. On Sunday, I found her standing in her crib. I was shocked and slightly nervous because we still hadn't lowered her crib from when she was a newborn. There was no reason because she couldn't move. Matt and DJ lowered it that day. She has become quite capable of getting around, but not in the typical crawling mode. She rolls and really trys to crawl. She will go from sitting to the crawling position. I have seen her sit and then go into the crawling position, then sit and then to crawling position. By doing this, she slowly makes her way forward, which is more than she can do on her belly. Who knows if she will ever do a normal crawl. She is pulling up more, but still has some problems. She can getting into a sitting position from laying on the floor. Needless to say, she is all over the place and enjoys moving around in her crib much more than sleeping for her naps. AHHHH... I can hear her right now making noise. Because of this, she is always getting limbs stuck in the crib slats. I am almost tempted to put the bumper pads back on. I had been having her sleep in the pack n play so she can't get stuck. I hope she gets over this soon. She is pretty much on complete whole milk bottles. I know most people don't switch until a year, but I have made up my mind on this and have slowly introduced the whole milk in and she is doing great with it. Last night, she had an entire whole milk bottle and did fine. I have about 10 oz of breastmilk left that I will keep mixing in, but after that, we are on normal cow's milk. I am giving her vitamins and making sure she is still eating foods with iron and fat in it. This little girl ate a Nutri Grain bar, 5 bits of pancake and about 4-5 oz of oatmeal and applesauce mixed for breakfast one morning along with 6 oz of milk. She has an appetite. I hope she has her Daddy's metabolism later in life.

I made Rachel and I pancakes one morning. Hers had banana in it and mind had chocolate chips. How fitting! So, in this picture, she is eating her banana pancake.

Where is Rachel in this picture? One of two places: either I put her to bed and this is the aftermath of her playtime or she managed to get herself over by Matt's dresser, which is off to the left in the picture.

She enjoys brushing her teeth. I brush for about 30-45 seconds and then let her chew on the toothbrush. She really enjoys trying to suck the fruity toothpaste off the second I put the toothbrush in her mouth.

The blur she is holding is the toothpaste tube.

So Happy!

Why am I so happy? Because Katie and Josiah had their baby and now I have a snuggly little newborn to hold and love on! Sure, there have been plenty of new babies around, but none that I will get to see at least once a week and whose parents will let me hold her for an hour while she sleeps. I know that will stop soon too, but for now I am going to spoil sweet Lydia. I know you are dying to see a picture of her, and I have plenty, but I am only going to post one. Katie will post some soon enough along with the story of her arrival. It is funny how I don't even remember holding Rachel when she was just born, but I guess that was because I had just pushed her out and I was more relieved and exhausted than in the mood to hold her. She was probably only an hour old in this picture. She had no diaper on and her little butt was so squishy, come to think of it, she is kind of squishy in general. (I mean that in a good way)

On a not-so-exciting note, it took me about 3 hours total to grade my tests from Thursday. I just finished them up Tuesday morning. Ugh. I have been sleeping terrible again. I thought that since I was off the steriod from last week that I would be sleeping better, but that only lasted one night. Matt continues to work on the house next door and has gotten a few rooms painted. Lauren and I had our garage sale this past Saturday and didn't sell enough stuff. While we made some money and did get rid of many things, it didn't look like much because we started out with just so much junk. So, we will be doing another sale at Lauren's house this Saturday. Jill and I took a class at the gym last night called Body Combat. It was new to me and we felt so stupid the whole time. It has some tae kwon do moves in it and other stuff like that. I was always off beat and worked harder at not peeing on myself because of all the jumping/bouncing than on the actual moves. I wish my bladder was as strong as it was before I had Rachel. Speaking of Rachel, she is still not crawling, but has pulled up on me a few times. She is really trying, but still mostly does her Rocky move (picture below). That move has to be harder than crawling, so I don't get it.

I didn't even have to pose her.

I don't know what happened to this girl's hair, but thought it was worthy of a picture or two.

One last thing: Happy Birthday Dad! We love you!

What a Weekend!

Many, many months ago, I talked about Katie and I making letters for Rachel's room. Well, about 8-9 months later, they are finally on the wall. I had originally put them up with sticky-tac, but I think due to the walls being plaster and the humidity, I would find another letter had fallen each day. So, I took them all down and decided they would just have to be nailed up there. I also found some wood picture frames at Wal-mart for $3 a piece. I bought them and spray painted them white and put some of our pictures from Sears in them. Her room doesn't look so bare now.
I kept joking that by the time I actually got around to hanging up her name, there would be a different name to hang on the wall for our next kid. So happy to have that done.

Standing and playing at her Leap Frog table.

Rachel is getting really good at putting food in her mouth, especially Cheerios! Out of about 20 or so Cheerios, she only missed 2 times. Woohoo!

There is little progress on the crawling front, but as you can see, she can get on her knees. Another weird thing she does it actually get up on her hands and toes, as if she is going to do a push-up. She is very interested in getting things that are out of her reach and will go forward from a sitting position as if she is going to crawl to them. However, it usually ends in a nose dive. She is rolling around a lot more and is rarely in the same spot that I leave her in.

If you didn't hear, I started feeling bad on Thursday night during class. I went to my normal doctor on Friday with just some sinus stuff. Took an Allegra on Friday and woke up Saturday morning with a swollen upper lip. I went to my parent's house to get ready for the garage sale and had a somewhat high fever the whole day. My face kept getting bigger around my nose. I finally went home around 5, planning to go to the walk-in clinic instead of church the next day. I was laying around miserable and checked out the hours to the clinic and saw they were open until 8. I was miserable enough that I went that instant. Matt took me and fortunately, there was only one other person in the waiting room. I was very embarassed at how I looked. They took some blood to check for a staph infection and it turns out I have cellulitis, and of course, it had to be on my face. Ugh. I was given a prescription for 2 antibiotics, 1 steriod, and an ointment for my nose. I picked them up as soon as I could so I could start feeling better quickly. My wonderful mother-in-law told me I could also take my leftover pain killers from having Rachel and those things have been the BEST. Early Sunday morning, my fever broke and I was feeling a lot better, minus the huge face. It is getting smaller, but not as fast I would like. The swelling puts a lot of pressure on my upper teeth and gums, making it really painful. I am going back to school tomorrow, so hopefully it will go down ever more. (Matt did take two pictures of my face, but they will not be appearing on the blog)

Matt has been working on the house next door some more. He somehow managed to recruit some friends to help him paint and tear down wallpaper. We have good friends! The sale should be finalized in a few weeks and up for rent a little bit after that.

We Signed a Contract!

About one month ago, we noticed the neighbors next door moving their belongings. It turns out, they were being foreclosed on. The couple who was holding the mortgage came over one day and introduced themselves. They are a very nice, older couple and had never seen the home before. We chatted for a little bit and I told them that Matt might be interested in buying it. We met with them several more times to talk about it and Matt finally signed the contract this past Sunday. We are buying the house next door. It is ugly and needs some love that only Matt will be providing. I went in the house once and had to leave after a few minutes because of the overwhelming dog smell. He tore out the carpets this morning and borrowed a candle, so hopefully the smell will be gone soon. We complained about the way the yard was kept and the stupid racecars and trailers that sat around the driveway. Now the last two things are gone and we get to help the yard a little bit. I can't wait to cut down some trees! We should be closing on it within the next few weeks. Matt hopes to get it in rentable condition soon after we close, so we can start making some money on it. The mortgage is low and we are getting a good deal on it. We are both excited about taking our first step as buying investment properties. Thankfully, this is a small one. The best thing about it is that it is right next door, so no extra gas in the truck, he can come home and eat and go to bed too! We can keep an eye on our property and get to pick our neighbors.

I am keeping busy with the gym 4-5 times a week and hanging out with friends. Katie is still pregnant, but we are going to try to fix that by walking at Busch Gardens tomorrow. School is going well, but is tiring teaching that second class. Fortunately, we usually get out of class 30 minutes early, so I am not getting home too late.

Rachel is doing the same, except she has a runny nose AGAIN. When does it stop? However, she is still her happy self as long as you don't try to suction or wipe her nose. We are in the process of dropping her last nap. I have been letting her wake up close to 7:30 in the morning and then keep her up 15 minutes longer after her first nap. I also let her sleep as long as she wants for her second nap. That way, she is nice and happy for about 3 hours before bedtime. It works out well or seems to be for right now.

This girl does know how to make a mess. I don't know what happened to the leap frog table, but she didn't seem to hurt herself or care.

Pictures are Here!

Matt finally brought the camera back after I asked him where it was, so I have pictures for you. Since the doctor said Rachel needed to get moving, I have been a good mommy and worked with her a lot. She is rolling all over the place, which she was never interested in before. Also, if I hold her feet, she will get on her knees and rock a little. Sometimes she will push off the ground like she is in a plank (for those of you who work out). Very funny to watch. I have also put the legs to her Leapfrog table on. She likes to stand at things and play, especially the swing. The only problem is that she needs helping getting up and must be watch carefully while standing there because she hasn't figured out how to stabilize herself with her legs if she starts to fall.

We got to visit another new baby! I love doing this! Matt's long time friend Todd and fiance Melissa had their baby boy Wednesday night. We waited hours to visit and even Rachel was there. She got to stay awake for about 30 minutes from like 10-10:30, but then put her in her stroller to go back to sleep (which she did). They are doing well, but Melissa is in a lot pain from her C-section incision. During the long wait, we had a 18 month old there to entertain us by dancing and holding a pretend microphone and mouthing words while listening to Elvis songs. It was so funny and cute! I shouldn't say this, but I look forward to all of the cute things Rachel will do like that.

She enjoys playing by the wall that is line up with all of her toys. She has access to everything and knows how to make a mess.

Christmas tree fire...The falling thing on fire is actually a Christmas tree on a zipline that start by the roof of the Winter's house. They shot it with roman candles to light it. I am surprised it worked and the fire department did not pay them a visit.

Rachel's Doctor Appointment

All is well with the little one, except for the fact that she cannot crawl, cruise, or pull up on anything. If she doesn't start doing those within 6 weeks, we have to go back to the doctor for a checkup. Everything else is just fine. No ear infection, didn't seem concerned about the runny nose. Here are the stats:

Weight: 20 lbs 4 oz (80th percentile)
Height: 29 inches (90th percentile)
Head Circumference: 17.5 in (55th percentile)

I have been debating on switching her to the big girl carseat and decided that I should wait until after this appointment to see how tall she is. She has one more inch before I should switch. I think I might wait a few more weeks because there are still times where I like keeping her in the carseat for quick trips to the grocery store and such. The last time I mentioned giving her cow's milk. I started noticing her bottom getting red the next day and linked it to the milk. The only reason I linked it so quickly is because Kate got a bad diaper rash from switching to cow's milk. So, I stopped and it has gone away. I think I will try again in a few more weeks.

I am starting school tonight. On the last post, I mentioned a few things that I needed to get done in preparation. Well, I haven't gotten 2 out of the 3 done. I probably would have, but the files I need to access are in a different version of Word than the one we have at home, so I can't view them from home. I think I will just go in early today and plan before class.

On a better note, I have made a new resolve to lose weight and get back in the gym regularly after working out for 2 hours on Saturday and feeling great afterwards. I went clothes shopping on Sunday with a friend (Jill) and was very unhappy after spending 2.5 hours and buying 3 shirts. Ugh...So, I am getting serious. Don't offer me desserts...Please... I also have a new workout buddy Jill and am happy to have someone to go with in the evenings. On the nights I teach, I am going to try to go in the mornings (hopefully with Katie and her baby arrives!)

The Christmas tree bonfire was a great success and I did get some video and pictures, but Matt took the camera somewhere and I don't know what he did with it. Therefore, this post will have no pictures. If you are upset, blame Matt.

9 months old today!

Rachel is 9 months old and I cannot believe how fast the time flies. I see more and more of a toddler in her, except for the fact that she cannot move. I had a dream last night that I put her on the floor and she crawled perfectly to a toy. Then she stood up and walked great too! If you know Rachel and her slowness to move, you are having a good laugh right now. We go for her 9 month checkup this Tuesday. All is well with her. I have stopped breastfeeding since all of those teeth are hurting me. I have adopted Lauren's method of feeding, so the breastpump is getting more use than ever. I have plently of frozen milk, so I haven't had to buy anything yet. I also started adding 1 tablespoon of whole milk to her bottle. She seems to be doing fine with it. I am hoping that by the time the breastmilk runs out, she will be ready to be on cow's milk completely. No expensive formula for me to buy. She is talking a lot more and likes to escalate her babbling to an almost scream at the end. She does it over and over again. She has learn how to play little games. For example, at Matt's parent's house, we would sit her up on the bed. She would immediately stiffen up and fall backwards. Like 20 times in a row. We all had a good laugh.

I am starting class on Tuesday. The only preparation I need to do is copy someone's online class, enter in homework due dates, and do some planning for the first few sections. Should take maybe one hour. The good thing is that I will be teaching the same class back to back so no extra planning, but twice the paycheck! Matt and Josiah are doing their annual Christmas tree burning this Saturday. I am not quite sure what they have planned, but know they have a lot of trees. I will be sure to bring the camera and get some pictures and maybe video next week.

Another change in our household is that we are down one member. Our faithful and loyal dog, Mika, was put on Craig's list a few weeks ago. I thought it was going to take awhile to find her a new home, but the inquiries kept coming. She is a great dog, but too much for me to clean up after. Also, we aren't home a lot and she needs to get exercise and attention. After visiting a few homes that we didn't feel comfortable with, we found her a great home in St. Petersburg. We are very happy with her new owners. Matt even bought them each a McDonald's hamburger on the way over to eat together. I did shed a tear, which shows you I loved her, but I had had enough of the mess she made and care she required.

I don't have too many pictures...I have been slacking in that department.

Her signature "curl" is getting ridiculously long. I am about to starting pulling it back with a ponytail holder.

Her new laptop and keys