The ABC's

Rachel singing her ABC song!

The Lake and Learning

We spent Sunday out at the Lake by Grandpa Houghton's house. Rachel loved all the wildflowers. She has repeatedly asked to go swimming every weekend. It just is not warm enough yet, but we will have to get her a kiddy pool once it is. Her little mind continues to grow and learn. She can now sing her ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Jesus Loves Me, and she is great at making up her own songs about Mommy and Daddy. She has been moved into the next class at her daycare and she really likes her new teacher Miss Janette. However Rachel calls her Nick, which should be Nette. She still gets to spend time with Miss Carrie and her Miss Mary, but in her new class they have no sippy cups and potty train. It is great to see her develop so quickly. Rachel loves to sit on the potty and say "I did it!" even though nothing happens. We are getting there....

(Always click on picture to see larger version)

Easter Saturday

Since the weather was predicted to be cold on Easter Sunday, we let Rachel have her Easter basket and egg hunt on Saturday. She really enjoyed it and loved the basket. It has become her new purse!

Happy Easter

Rachel in her blue dress.

Spring Is Here

We bought Rachel sidwalk chalk today and she loves it. She has spent a lot of time on the backyard patio just coloring and then running to tell Mommy and Daddy to come look. She has also tried to get Sebastian to look to no avail.

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.