Bath Time

Rachel gets a bath every night now. She gets frustrated around 6:30 or 7:00 every night. I give her a bath and she is immediately happy. She will play in the tub for 15 - 30 minutes at a time. In the few times I was planning on not giving her a bath, I took her upstairs to get her PJ's on, she got so excited when I took her clothes off because she thought it was bath time, so I had to give her a bath. She practically rips her diaper off if I do not do it fast enough.

I love her belly in this picture. When she is relaxed like this, it sticks out so far. It is so cute.

I bought these letters this past weekend and she loves to eat them. I love the eyebrow in this picture!

She loves to suck on the washcloth. I am not sure why, but I think that most kids like to do this.

She is reaching for me. We were playing peek-a-boo which is one of her new favorites.

She mostly likes to sit in the bath these days. Sometimes she still likes to lay down, which is a lot easier for me. Since she still falls over when sitting, I have to watch her even more closely in the tub.

I bought this new Tigger towel this past weekend. Tim's parents called him Tigger when he was a kid because he would bounce in a room, wreak havoc, and bounce back out. I hope that Rachel is not a havoc wreaker (don't know if that is a word or not).

30 Weeks

Rachel turned 30 weeks on Monday. She is getting so big. She is sitting so well on her own. She is drooling so much (as you can see below), but still no teeth. I keep checking everyday, but I think it will still be a bit longer.

She is just so full of personality. She now makes this growling type noise when she isn't getting exactly what she wants. It is really funny.

She still has no desire to crawl. I really think that she will probably walk first. She loves to be on her feet, and still doesn't really like to be on her belly.

We have started mixing breast milk with formula. I think I am getting closer to weaning her soon. I always said "6 months or when she gets teeth" is when I was going to stop. It is so much work to pump at work. I am not ready to stop completely. I thought I would be by now. I don't think she is ready to stop either. We'll see. I am just going to feel it out and see how I feel as time goes on.

Just Peachy

I finally found a food that Rachel loves. I fed her peaches on Sunday and she ate a whole container between the two feedings that we did on Sunday.

I don't know if it is peaches that she likes or if she is finally ready to eat solid foods. I will try another type of food in a couple of days and see how that goes.

Sarabi in a Box

I don't know what it is about this box, but both Rachel and Sarabi love it. Sarabi loves to sit in it and rub her face on it.

I took this picture right as Sarabi was sticking her tongue out. I would like to say I did it on purpose, but our camera is not fast enough. I only knew that she was doing this after I reviewed the pictures.

Drinking from a Cup

Rachel is drinking from a cup...well, kind of. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been giving her a cup of water to drink. She mostly just chews on it. She may drink a bit of it, but most of it ends up on her shirt. She is trying though.

Just Like Daddy

Tim's mom scanned a picture of him that she thinks looks a lot like Rachel. You be the judge...

Rachel in a box

Rachel in the box again.

Tim in a box. What do you think???

One of the funny things that Tim noticed is that the box Rachel is in says "Evolution". Definitely interesting. She loved to sit in the box tonight. It is funny how kids are entertained by things like boxes and plastic bags. So easily amused.

29 Weeks

We celebrated Rachel's 29 weeks by watching the Chargers game and eating yummy enchiladas that Tim's mom brought over to eat.

You can tell from this picture that Rachel is just as frustrated with the Chargers as we are.

Bates Nut Farm

We took Rachel to Bates Nut Farm in Valley Center on Friday after my Teacher Parent Conferences. It was Rachel's first trip to Bates. I think it may have even been her first trip to Valley Center. We went to the pumpkin patch. It was soooooooo hot. It was about 100 degrees. We started her out in a long sleeve and pants outfit that I bought on Monday when it was rainy and cold. After we took some pictures in her outfit that I bought specifically for this trip to Bates, we took her inside to cool off and I put her in a much cooler outfit. She was really well behaved considering how hot it was and how tired she was. She fell asleep less than a minute after we got into the car.

Here are a few of the pictures that we took on Friday...

6 Month Dr. Appointment

Rachel had her 6 month doctors appointment today. She weighs 16 pounds 13 ounces (50th percentile), 26 and 1/4 inches long (60th percentile), and has a 42 cm (25th percentile) head circumference. She got 2 shots and 1 oral vaccination again. She was such a brave little girl. It was the same shots as the last time and she barely cried this time. I have one tough girl on my hands. She showed Dr. Jacobs how she can talk, stand, sit, etc. Everything the doctor wanted to see, Rachel showed her. Soooo, the soft spot on her head is really small. Dr. Jacobs want us to make an appointment with a neurologist to make sure that it is okay. I hate hearing stuff like this. I am sure that everything is okay, but please send a prayer our way just in case.

On a brighter note, Rachel is 28 weeks old today. She is pretty much sitting up on her own. She tips over, but she can usually stay up for about 20 minutes on her own. She has become pretty ticklish and has such an beautiful smile. She is becoming so strong. She likes to torment the cats and I think they can use a little tormenting. I have so much fun with her everyday and love her more and more every minute I spend with her.

Just out of Reach

Sarabi may be getting smarter. She has been really good natured about Rachel grabbing her. I am trying to teach her to be nice to the cats, but I haven't been too successful so far. She grabs them so hard. I take her hand off and have her pat them and tell her to be "niiiice" to the cats. I know that one of these times they are going to retaliate, but they haven't so far.

Sarabi is laying just out of Rachel's reach.

She really is trying to tempt fate. She was about to get her whiskers pulled on, but moved her head just in time. Soon enough though, Rachel will be crawling and this will be too close for the cat to lay.

2 Birthday Parties in One Day

Yesterday, after my soccer game (where I scored with 12 seconds to go), we went to the Hodgson's house to celebrate Sam's 25th birthday.

Here he is blowing out the candles on his cupcakes.

Uncle Sam holding Rachel

Rachel has been sticking out her pointy tongue a lot for the past few days. She had been rubbing it a lot on her gums for a couple of weeks, but now she is just sticking it straight out.

After spending a few hours at the Hodgson's house, Rachel and I went up to the Duplan home to hang out and celebrate Mr. D's birthday. I didn't get any pictures of baby Grant. He wasn't feeling well after his 4 month shots the previous day. He is 12 lb and 12 oz (right Beck?) and Becky thinks he is catching up to Rachel. We will see, she has her 6 month appointment tomorrow afternoon.

Checking the Mail

Rachel helped me check the mail today. She really enjoyed playing with (or tearing) the envelopes and junk mail. She is really going to enjoy Christmas :)

"I think it might taste good."

"Yeah, not so much."

(Make sure you click on this picture to make it bigger so you get the full effect of what is going on.)

27 Weeks

I didn't get any pictures of Rachel on Monday for her 27 weeks because we took her to JC Penney's and got 6 month pictures taken. We ordered quite a few pictures and can't wait until they come in. This is the first time we have taken her in to a studio to get pictures taken. We probably got a more expensive package than we should have, but it was our first time. I told Tim that next time we should probably down size.

Football Sunday

We got DirectTV last week and so it was the first week where we got to watch all of the games because we have the football package. I decided to go shopping with Tim's mom for a few hours to get out of the house rather than watch every single football game.

Rachel was all tuckered out from watching football.

Chargers outfit #3 (and the final one).

6 Months!

Rachel turned 6 months old yesterday. I really just can't believe how quickly time has passed. We are just so blessed to have such a wonderful, beautiful little girl in our lives. She is absolutely perfect!

She just has so much to say. You can tell from this picture that she has a little spark in her attitude sometimes.

Most of the time, she is just such a happy little girl. This picture shows pure pleasure and excitement.

She is saying, "Mom, I will hang out on my belly, but I am NOT ready to crawl yet."

Just adorable!

Bath time last night.

Getting ready for bed.

Feeding herself pedialyte this morning.

So, the end of Rachel's 6 month birthday did not go so well! As I was nursing her to sleep, she was very restless. Something was not quite right. She was laying on the bed frustrated and upset. I picked her up to burp her and she projectiled all over me, her, and my bed. I went and changed her and I thought that she would be okay after that. I took her back into my room (after Tim and I changed the bed) and tried to get her back to sleep. She was kind of lethargic and still acting weird. She started to gag so I picked her up and she vomited again. This time, I made sure it went on me and her and did not get on the bed. However, 10 seconds later, she got sick again and it went all over the bed again. I went to go change her again. She had stuff all over her, but I didn't want to give her a bath because she was so out of it. I cleaned her off with baby wipes. She was out of clean pajamas by now. I was going to do her laundry the following day (should have done it sooner I guess). I went to put on some other clothes and it came out the other end and she got it all over them too. By then, we decided to have her hang out it her diaper because every time we laid her down to get clothes on, it would make her sick again and she would get them dirty anyways. She eventually got everything out of her and was dry heaving. It was breaking my heart. She was so upset about it and I hated that there was nothing I could do. This went on for almost 3 hours. She got sick every 5-15 minutes. She was soooo tired. She would almost fall asleep sitting up and then would get sick again. I called the doctor because I wasn't sure if it was something I fed her (because I had fed her pears for the second time and when I gave it to her on Sunday as well, she spit up quite a bit which she usually doesn't do) or the stomach flu or something else. She said just to let it work its course and only feed her pedialyte the following day. I went and bought it right away because I didn't want her to wake up really hungry and not be able to feed her. She usually wakes up starving and so I figured that with an empty stomach she would be hungrier than normal.

She is doing better today. She has more gas than normal but I think that she is feeling mostly better. She has not thrown up since last night. I stayed home from work with her. I was up most of the night and would have been thinking about her the whole time I was at work.