WOW!

Let me start out by saying that as Matthew and I had the flu we encouraged Rachel to take on some independant roles to try and take care of herself as much as a 2 year old can since Mommy and Daddy could not get out of bed. This has led to a whole new independance that we have caused. Rachel had carried her trainer potty to the bathroom sink, climbed on top, put toothpaste on her toothbrush and was trying to turn on the water when I caught her. Thank goodness she is still too small to reach the faucet. Fascinated by her desire for hygiene I turned on the water for her and stepped out the room to let the dog go outside...and I return to this. She had cupped her hands to bathe herself. Her face, hair, and shirt were completely soaked. She just smiled and said "I did it!" I just love her! She makes me smile.

Eye Luv Ewe

Here is a short video clip of Rachel telling Mommy "I love you" with handmotions....

Growing Up

She is growing so fast. She is now 2 1/2 years old. We have discovered that she can count to 6 in Spanish. It amazes us how much she knows to have only been on earth 2 1/2 years and only talking for 1 year. Her mind just continues to abosrb and her mouth continues to repeat. She and Sebastian have become good friends. He lets her pet him and hug him a little bit. He will even rub his cold wet nose on her cheek which she finds hillarious. Easter is around the corner...watch fore new pics.

Family Fun

The four of us spent 5 days in Mena Arkansas at a cabin way up in the Ouichita Mountains. No phone, no internet, no people, just us...and there is nothing around! It was much needed, it was on a beautiful 450 acres of woods, ponds, and wild life. Rachel kept calling it a forrest, and when she saw deer she asked if Santa Claus was here as well. Sebastian enjoyed running around with no leash and an endless amount of new smells to inspect.

I would highly recommend these cabins. There are 3 on this 450 acres, all very nice and large with full furnishings of everything you can think of including a hot tub! Here is the link, check it out. http://www.meadowpinecabins.com/ We stayed in Doc's Place, very cozy for just us but there are larger cabins for bigger groups.

Our cabin had a "bear" motif as you can see. Rachel loved this statue, most likely because they could see eye to eye!

Happy New Year 2008!

We begin a new year and await new adventures! One of which will be potty training for Rachel. She will be 2 1/2 in February so it is time to get cracken. She will tell me she needs to go potty, and we rush to the bathroom but nothing happens. This takes place several times, and then she potties in her diaper. Gotta love it!

Merry Christmas....I think

Rachel was so excited to go see Santa, she did a great job waiting in the long line, not messing up her hair, not getting her clothes dirty. Even as she watched other kids laugh, play and cry she just kept saying ....Santa..lap..Santa...lap. So we thought for sure she would enjoy it. Wow we were wrong! She freaked out and froze solid. She would not look at anyone, her eyes were held tightly shut and she just cried. For several days after this event she would not sleep in her own room because....as she stated...."Me scared...Claus" She was just sure he would come to get her. We felt so bad. The nights are getting better, we read and sing before bed and rub her back as she falls asleep. Odd thing is....everytime we see a Santa on t.v or out in public she gets excited and says ... Santa..Lap...Santa...Lap! And we say "absolutely NOT!"

She fully supports Daddy's Hobbies and Passions

Go Titans!

More Pics

love the hair and serious face!

It has been a while...

Almost 3 months have passed since we have said hello! We are all doing good. Rachel is growing by leaps and bounds, her sense of humor has deepened she makes us smile and laugh constantly. She got to dress up as Minne Mouse for Halloween, she loves the costume, she would just twirl in it. She loves watching the Mickey Mouse Club House cartoon. We have to TiVo it for her daily. She knows all their names and an sing the song. Speaking of songs...she can sing Jesus Loves Me and it is absolutely adorable. We are looking forward to the Holidays. More posts to come :-)

Her hair is finally growing

I (Andrea) am volunteering in my church's sunday school rooms. I help out with the older 2 year olds and early 3 year olds. I have found that most little girls this age have a ton of hair. And than I see Rachel with her short wispy light brown hair that has so much curl in the back it does not yet hit her shoulders. However finally she has enough hair on top that I can successfully put 2 small pig tails on top of her head, she is just too cute!

Happy Birthday Rachel!

She is finally 2 years old and she knows it! We had a great birthday party with a Winnie the Pooh cake and decorations, she got lots of great gifts, and really enjoyed eating that red icing! She learned to sing the 1st line of the Birthday song....Happy Day to you, is how she says it.

Day at the Park

Rachel has become quite the outdoor type. She really loves to go to the park and becomes quite independant when she does. She loves to climb, and slide, but most of all loves to swing. She tends to show some nervousness at first but really gets to giggling with the speed. She shows no fear at anything. With all the rain the Dallas area has had our park days have been few and far between. The picture above was on our summer trip to Iowa in June. As we approach August we are getting excited to celebrate Rachel's 2nd birthday. The 1st birthday was so much fun I can not believe another year has gone by so quickly.

Update

Rachel is officially a toddler. She is not just walking and talking but successfully climbing our of her crib. I caught her red handed. She had pulled herself up the side of the crib, balanced on her waist while she swung her legs over the edge and began to shimmy down. So she is now in a toddler bed which has given us a whole new set of challenges. This new freedom she has enlisted us into a whole new set of concerns. Like....she wont' go to bed or stay in bed. YIKES what a nightmare (no pun intended). One day at a time!

17 Months

Rachel is truly turning into a little girl, so much of her "babyness" is slowly going away. She now knows how to put her hands on her hips and cock her head to the side when she disagrees with one of us. She loves to talk on the phone. She is constantly grabbing a cell phone or the house phone, turning it on and jabbering. She knows the say "hi" when she puts it up to her ear, and has even once said "hi-Mimi" Mimi is her maternal grandmother. We can tell she is going to be a very funny silly girl who enjoys making people laugh. As she gets closer to 2 years old she tests us and pushes the boundaries of discipline more, we are learning together!

Christmas Time

We had a great Christmas...we enjoyed getting to see both sides of our immeadiate familys. It was the 1st time we had to put in the 2nd leaf to our dinning table so we could sit 8 people. The family just continues to grow. Rachel had a great time, she napped through Christmas lunch, but did not miss opening presents. We could not tell which she enjoyed more...opening her gifts or playing with other family members gifts. Her cousins were very gracious. She is growing so much, she gives big hug and sweet kisses. She loves to run and hide and chase her daddy around, pin him to the ground and climb on his back. She just giggles with delight.

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.