4 Months

Rachel turned 4 months old yesterday. She is such a character. I love how much she entertains me these days. She is keeping me very busy and I love every minute of it.

I am so going to miss these moments when I have to go back to work in 3 weeks. I feel so lucky that I was able to have these first 4 months with her without working. It has been so wonderful to be there for every moment of her life so far.

We spent the day hanging out with my mom yesterday. It was really great to hang out with her!

It looks like she is saying "Yikes!"

This is the first naked picture I have taken of Rachel. She was posing for the camera last night and I just couldn't resist.

Quite the poser. She kept tilting her head like she was posing for the camera.

She entertains herself for quite a long time blowing bubbles. She does it a lot in the evenings when she is getting a bit tired. She gurgles and foams at the mouth for a long time. It keeps her entertained, but she definitely needs a bib when she does it.

Hockey Cheerleader

Rachel loves going to Tim's hockey games. She follows the action for most of the game. She will turn her head and follow the play as it moves down the rink. She also loves the fans that are up above the rink. There is so much for her to look at, she enjoys every minute of it.

16 Weeks

Rachel turned 16 weeks on Monday. She has become quite the talker. She is trying to say something in both of these pictures.

A Day at the Pool

Lacey brought Jaylin, Kyle, Nathan, and Allison up to Heather's pool on Monday and we spent the day swimming. They had such a good time.

Jaylin attempting to do the "Martha Washington hairdo".

Nathan didn't have his floaties so he spent a lot of the time in the jacuzzi.

Kyle doing a flip.

Allison jumping off of the diving board. For those of you who have seen me swim, take a close look at Allison's nose...she does the same thing :)

Jaylin and Allison's Birthdays

We celebrated Jaylin and Allison's birthdays on Sunday at Tyler's house. Jaylin turned 12 in May and Allison turned 5 in July.

Allison was rocking out to the music on Tim's phone. She had the head bob going and everything.

Nathan made a fort and was watching Spongebob from inside his fort.

The kids each took a turn holding Rachel.

Lunch with the Girls

We got together with Marie, Emma, Kristyn, and Jillian on Saturday for lunch. Marie and Kristyn are comparing the heights of their two girls. Emma is taller, even though she is about 7 weeks younger than Jillian.

Emma and Jillian sat in high chairs like big girls. Rachel stayed in her carseat sleeping most of the time at lunch. It was the first time Rachel got to meet Jillian and she slept through most of it.

Sleeping Through the Night

Rachel has been sleeping through the night for about a week now. I put her to bed between 9 and 10 pm and she sleeps until about 6:30 am. She wakes up for an hour or two and then takes almost a 3 hour nap...and so does mommy. Even though she has been going to bed between 9 and 10, I haven't been able to change my schedule yet and don't fall asleep until 1 or 2. That needs to be changed soon since I go back to work in less than a month.

Video Updates: Creaking

Rachel has taken to "creaking" to get my attention. When I am not in the room or when she thinks I am not paying attention, she makes these noises until I pay attention to her.

Video Updates: Standing and Talking

As I have said before, Rachel loves to stand. In this video, she is talking to me and even laughs a couple of times. Her "hula dancing" is not completely obvious in the video (partly because you can't see her legs) but she is getting a lot better at standing and is not so wobbly. She talks throughout the whole video because she does not see Tim holding the camera.

Video Updates: Talking

In this video, Rachel is talking to the ceiling fan in her room (which is one of her favorite things to do). You will see at the end of the video that she looks at the camera, stops talking and just stares. She does this now whenever she sees the camera. It has become really hard to get good video of her talking because as soon as she sees the camera, she stops. I think she is camera shy. Actually, I think that the problem is that she knows when the camera is aimed at her, I am going to take a picture and that there is going to be a flash in her eyes. She knows that camera means bright light and she just stares. It has actually been hard to get many smiling photos these days because most of the time the second she sees the camera, she stops and stares.

Video Updates: First Time in the Pool

The first time Rachel went in the pool was on the 4th of July. We only stayed in for about 20 minutes, but you can see from the video that she loved it!

Video Updates: 1st One...Hand Sucking

I have quite a few videos that I would like to put up, so here is the first of many. I had mentioned awhile back that Rachel had found her hands and that I would post a video of her hand sucking. When she first found her hands, she sucked really loudly. Most of the time now, she is not so loud with her sucking.

15 Weeks

Rachel turned 15 weeks on Monday. We are still practicing tummy time, but she still hates it. She is usually frustrated within 3 minutes. Her neck muscles are pretty strong despite the fact we don't do tummy time as much as we should. She loves to stand and her "hula dancing" is getting better. Her hips are getting stronger everyday, so she doesn't swivel as much any more. She is going to have to start wearing bibs most of the time now because of the amount of drooling she is doing. I have been putting it off for weeks now because they cover up her cute outfits, but her tops are getting soaked.

Her smile the majority of the time is an open-mouthed smile. Looking at her hair in this picture, you can see that she still has most of it. The only place she has really lost any hair is at the very back where she lays on it. Her hair is long enough in the back that I try to do the comb-over that many old men try to do. When I brush it down, it mostly covers up the back where it has fallen out.

Rachel Turns 100

Rachel turns 100...days that is. I remember counting down when I was pregnant the days until her birth. I remember thinking how long 100 days sounded. But now that she is here, 100 days has passed so quickly.

We celebrated her 100th day by hanging out with Becky and Grant. We went to the Wild Animal Park and got an excellent workout. I think we walked pretty much every hill that the park has to offer.

The only way we could get them close together in a picture was with Grant laying on Rachel's arm. Her arms and legs were swinging all over. I think that she is just being the big sister and trying to toughen him up by punching him in the face. But in the picture, she looks like she is looking out for him though, with her arm around his shoulder. (By the way, he didn't kiss her, like her shirt says.)

Tyler's Birthday

My "little" brother Tyler turned 22 and we celebrated it at my moms this weekend. It is so crazy how old everybody is getting. It sure makes me feel a lot older :)

Rachel played in her walker at my moms house for the first time. This is one of the only happy pictures. For the most part, she was trying to figure out what was going on.

You can see she still has quite a long time until she can reach the floor.

FIrst Time in the Pool

Rachel went in the pool for the first time on the 4th of July. Well...actually the jacuzzi.

She had such a good time. She really enjoyed herself.

After about 20 minutes, she started to get fussy. It wasn't because she didn't like it. She tired herself out and took a long nap as soon as she got out.

Our Little Patriot

Rachel wore her red, white, and blue dress that she got from her great aunt Lynn on Independence Day.

It took me a few tries to get a sitting picture. As soon as I would get the picture in focus, she would start to tip over. I would go to sit her back up...and tip again. I finally got a couple of good pictures.

It looks like Rachel will be able to do taco tongue.

Where's Rachel?

When I put Rachel down for bed the other night, I felt like she should have been in the book "Where's Waldo?" She matched her blanket that she was laying on.

As she was waking up, she let out a big stretch. She moved herself again quite a bit in the pack-n-play. She never moves like this in her crib, but does it every time in the pack-n-play.

First Trip to the Fair

We went to the San Diego County Fair today. Tim threw darts and hit both of his balloons and won Rachel a purple monkey, which he is handing to her in the picture.

Then, I won her a purple Nemo, which she is holding along with her purple monkey in this picture while wearing a purple outfit.

Here is a family photo in front of the carousel.

3 Months/13 Weeks

Rachel turned 3 months yesterday. Everyday seems like she is learning something new.

She enjoys standing so much. If she is fussy, and we have her stand, she quickly forgets what she was upset about and does her "hula dance". My sister should be happy that Rachel already enjoys dancing. She does not have control of her hips or legs yet, so she rolls her hips and does a little dance while she is trying to stand.

She is a happy girl most of the time. She is sleeping about 7 hours at night in her crib, and I think that this has messed up her sleep schedule a bit. (She used to only sleep about 4 hours at a time until this past week.) Her naps during the day have only been about 30 minutes at a time, so she is getting frustrated and fussy more often because she is not getting good naps during the day.

A couple of weeks ago she discovered her hands. Now she has discovered that she can bring things to her mouth with her hands. She can't yet get things to her hands on her own, but if we give her something, she is happy to bring it to her mouth. If her pacifier falls out and stays near her mouth, she has figured out how to use her shoulder or fists to get it back in.

She wasn't too happy with the hat, but I thought it was adorable.

I love her strawberry shortcake outfit because I loved strawberry shortcake as a child. She looks so old in this picture (probably because she is wearing underwear and they are covering her diaper). I think she is looking more like my side of the family as she is getting older. I am starting to see Brianne and Allison in her (and maybe me a bit too).