Winter

Rachel is growing so fast...as winter approaches it was time to pull out the new pajamas with feet. She looks mighty cute in them and she just squeals with delight to wear them. She is very chatty. She says all sorts of words, but we love to hear her say "thank you." It just comes accross so sweet and innocent. We are looking forward to Christmas, we will get the opportunity to see all of our parents, and Rachel will enjoy it and understand it a little bit.

Another month past!

I can't believe I let a month pass before posting again. Rachel has grown so much in the past month. She is in her repetative stage...she tries to repeat everything we do and say. It is not always clear, but she tries very hard. She makes us smile so much. We are entering the discipline stage as she is coming close to 15 months. In the past if she was touching something she was not supposed to we would say "no-no" and slap her hand. Last night Rachel was touching the T.V and she knows she is not allowed too. Her daddy said, "Rachel, that is a no-no" and Rachel stepped away from the T.V and slapped her own hand. We could not help but laugh which is the worst thing you can do when trying to discipline. For the most part she is very obediant, except when it comes to the dog food. Rachel just can not seem to leave it alone. She grabs it by the handfulls and quickly stuffs it in her mouth and then runs off to her room so she won't be caught. Now she goes in her room and shuts the door as if that will keep me out. She also enjoys to play with water outside of her bathtime. She has repeatedly thrown not only her stuffed animals but Sebastians as well in the toilet. So we now shut every door but her bedroom door. And she likes to put her feet in the Sebastians water bowl. I think she will grow to like pedicures. We are looking forward to the holdiays, taking some time off and seeing family. I kind of hope it snows a little bit this winter so she can play. She loves to be outside, maybe next summer she will get a small playground in the back yard....we'll see how much adventure her dad is up for.

50's Flashback

Even though it is fall we just can not help but dress Rachel in pretty pastels...and who could blame us in the pretty pink poodle dress from Mimi. Rachel has added a new word to her vocabulary, it is PUPPY. It is not as clear as BABY, but she tries very hard.

School Days and 1st words!

Rachel has graduated to the toddler class at Daycare. She is quite smaller than the other toddlers, but from what we hear: she can "hold" her own. She has brand new teachers and they just love her as we all do. She said her 1st her word the day of her 13th month "birthday". It was BABY. She saw a picture of her self on the fireplace mantel of when she was 6 weeks old. The picture made her smile, so I pulled it down and let her look at it closely. She pointed to the sweet face and said "baby" just as clear as could be. Does that mean she is vain? :-) Of course not, she just knows how cute she is.

NFL Season is Here!!!

It is football time and Rachel is ready. She is all geared up and ready to root for the Tennessee Titans. She even got to help her daddy draft for his Fantasy Football team.

She is WALKING!!!

Rachel began walking on the day of her birthday! What a suprise and treat that was. She is very slow and very wobbley, but on the go. Sometimes she gets tired of going slow and drops to her knees to crawl, but she is walking more and more. She just has the best and brightest smile when she walks because she is so proud of herself.

Because 1 Picture is never enough

It was at this point, we knew she was out of control!

Rachel's Birthday

Can you believe a year has gone by? Rachel will be 1 years old on August 16th. We had a small party with her cousins on the 12th. She loved her chocolate cake as you can tell. She went straight from the table to the kitchen sink where she was successfully hosed down. However, we are still finding reminants of chocolate in the oddest of places....like her nostrils. We are so proud of our chocolate covered cupcake. She is almost walking all by herself. She will walk holding your hand and stand alone and maybe take a small step. Any day now she will just take off.

Iowa

Rachel and the family spent a week in Iowa visiting Mimi and Boppa. We took her to the zoo, she liked the seals, the lions, the giraffes, and the regular birds you can see anywhere. She also spent an afternoon at the park having a picnic. She still does not like the grass, so she was great at not leaving the blanket.

Happy 4th of July

Rachel is sporting this years hottest summer look in her brilliantly colorful Ms Independant freedom dress. She was all the rave at church this Sunday, and in her acceptance speach of the cutest 4th of July baby ever...she just wants World Peace! All joking aside, I just can not help but to buy these frilly things that I swore I never would, and I hate it that she will most likely only have 1 oppertunity to wear it.

10 Months and counting

The countdown to her 1st birthday has begun. She is growing so fast. She is so close to just breaking out in a new vocabulary that extends beyond dada and mama. She mimicks many sounds as Matthew and I speak, and she watches our lips very closely. I am so curious to know what her 1st word will be (other tham mama/dada of course)! The nursery at chuch just loves her. We went to pick her up after service and they did not want to let her go. They say she is the sweetest and cuddliest baby they have ever been around. One teacher said she wants one just like her. I said I would take 5 more like her.

Florida Anyone?

Rachel decided she wanted to go to Florida with mom, so she climbed into her suitcase and found she fit perfectly. Unfortunatly she did not get to go, security at DFW really frowns upon that :-). Florida was nice except for the high winds and rains from Tropical Storm Alberto. I missed Rachel terribly, and I know she missed me.

Sebastian

Sebastian is our 9 year old dog. He is a miniture schnauzer and for 8 years was #1 in the Johnson household. He is curious about Rachel and most likely a little jealous, but over all USUALLY leaves her alone. We will see how that changes when she is walking. He is fun, cute, and has a great personality. You heard me "personality" Yes...we believe dogs have those.

Meal Time!

Rachel is a messy eater. She has 3 teeth on the bottom and two coming in on the top. With theses 5 new friends she can successfully grab the spoon with her teeth and hold on to it. Is it just us....or is she cute no matter what? :-)

Summer Fun

Only because this picture is so cute...Rachel loves her bathing suit and matching flip flops from Aunt Lisa. Getting her in the two piece was one challenge, getting her to be in cold water is another!

Hard to believe I let so much time go by without an update on our precious little girl Rachel.
She is 9 months now and an absolute treasure. She is crawling all over the place, smiling, giggling, and now pulling herself up. It is obvious she is ready to take off walking. Due to her excessive ear infections she had to have tubes placed in her ears. Not a fun experience for Mom and Dad, but she was great and such a trooper. She had a nice Easter in Memphis and got to see her Gran and Grandad Johnson. As you can see from her picture she looked so cute in her lavender Easter dress, but did not enjoy the feeling of grass underneath her.
Matthew and I are doing great, staying busy, and having fun.

Ahoy!!

Here is our little sailor girl...we just love this picture. Amazingly enough her eyes are still blue. Only time will tell if they change or not. She has been so much fun. Our favorite game is trying to make her giggle or teach her to clap her hands. She always smiles when we begin to sing "if your happy and you know it." Summer is coming upon us quickly which means it is time to go shopping! We love buying adorable outfits for her, and one of her best colors is lavender.

It is the end of February already, Rachel celebrated her 6 month birthday on the 16th. She has grown so much. We are all doing great. We are looking forward to Spring so Rachel can spend sometime outside on the green grass before summer hits and it gets too hot.

Work is crazy, but good we are both excelling in our jobs and enjoying it. Rachel watched her 1st Superbowl this year. She was dressed in her Steelers Colors...and it paid off! She loves to watch football with her daddy.

Rachel

She is 5 months old now! She is doing great, she makes us smile all the time. She enjoyes daycare, she smiles at everyone. Everyone there, the staff, and other parents; all call her the "happy baby" because she smiles constantly. She is so easy going and quiet. We took her shopping to Dillards and the sales woman complimented her behavior because she was just riding in her stroller looking around not making a sound unlike the other babies or children screaming. One woman complimented the shape of her head, we had never heard that one before :-)

She is rolling all over the place now, and is very close to sitting up. She can sit up on her own for short spurts of time but usually rolls over to her side when she looses her balance. She is eating rice/bannana cereal. She seems to like it and it is helped fill her tummy for a good long night sleep.

Johnson Family Resolutions for 2006

1. Have fun with eachother, we are enjoying Rachel so much. In our wildest dreams it could never be better. We are fascinated with how much she grows, changes and learns.

2. Keep up with birthdays and anniversaries better. Time flies so fast special days get around us and we are always a few days to a week behind. It just dawned on Andrea on January 20th...that this is January...we will blame it on too many sleepless nights.

3. To keep this blog updated!