look at me, mom!

Beginning right before vacation, Rachel started to make some real spurts in mental & physical accomplishments. The funniest is that she has now started walking. It all started with our well check-up to the pediatrician the week before vacation. The Nurse Practioner asked if she had started walking yet. "Nope. Not really. I mean, she can walk, but she just doesn't choose to do so by herself." The NP replied that if she didn't start walking by the next month, to give her a call; she might need some physical therapy. (What??!!) Not one minute passed from this conversation when Rachel took about 5 steps by herself, going towards the NP. She sure showed that (very nice) NP that there was NO WAY she was going to have physical therapy at 16 months old! During vacation she really started to take off & everybody kept showing off by saying things like, "Rachel just took 10 steps toward me from that coffee table over there." She still crawls some, but she also walks when she finds it convenient for herself. So, we're gradually making the transition.

Her communication skills have also started to take off. Her babbling sounds a lot more like words now, even if I still can't understand most of them. Be-be is her newest cutest word & of course was learned with having her sweet cousin Norah stay with us after the vacation. Rachel sure LOVED to have a baby around & would try to pat her head or give her kisses all of the time. I am surprised, however, that she doesn't called babies "GENTLE" because that's really all she heard when she approached Norah. I wish I could describe how she treated Norah & Levi when they were at our house. She wanted to pat their heads & give kisses but all with an ecstatic squealing & jibber jabber; some be-be's interspersed as well. It was as though she was saying, "I can't believe the adults are letting me so close to this little human being! EEeeeeeekkkk! They are so cute! Wait, she has my toy! I want it back! And I also want to pat her head in a REALLY EXCITED way because I love her so much!!!"

She has also started to love baby dolls, & Kate is having to relinquish her control of the doll family & give some to Rachel. She loves to hold, rock & give kisses to them. She has moved towards saying Mo-mee instead of Ma-ma. After I wrote that she said Ray-ray one day; she hasn't said it again... but has started to use "Shishy" or something similar to talk about Kate. She loves shoes. She has started to bring shoes to me & try to fit her cute feet into my shoes as well. Just last night she learned (in a day or two) to hold up her cute little finger when I ask her how old she is. I have started giving her a spoon, which she is learning slowly but surely how to use. She really likes to participate when the art supplies come out; but currently her participation is making a few marks on the paper & then eating the crayons. :-(

My baby is growing up. I suppose it's inevitable that when I held Norah & Levi, it really banished the phrase "Baby Rachel" from my vocab. She's not a baby anymore, although her chubby cheekies say otherwise.

Cinderella. . .dressed in toast?

Wondering much at the title of the post? Kate was getting a little creative with her breakfast this morning & started off with a face that quickly morphed into one of her favorite story book characters -- Cinderella! Can't you see it? The picture was my ploy to save Cinderella in picture form so her dress could be eaten. I walked back to see if said toast was eaten & Kate looks at me quite glumly & says, "I'm disappointed, mom." Apparently she had been making all sorts of promises to Cinderella that her dress would stay perfectly. :-) She lives in another world sometimes!

Rachel is getting cuter by the second! I discovered her in the room yesterday opening books & reading them in a load babbling voice. Adorable! She is very close to walking on her own, but not quite. Favorite summer foods are watermelon & blueberries. I need to catch a picture of her chowing down on a slice of watermelon. The unfortunate thing is that it condemns whatever outfit she has on to watermelon juice being squeezed all over the front no matter what bib I have on her. Maybe I need to change her into a bathing suit first? Still loves to climb into things & almost hide, but since I cleaned the fireplace out, she hasn't been nearly as attracted to it. Is she craving charcoal or something? She's pretty outgoing when she wants to be. She'll give waves to people at the grocery store, but smiles have to be a bit weasled out of her. She loves her Auntie Jen & a few times I'm pretty sure she called her Momma. :-) Most of all she cannot wait to meet her two cousins very shortly! Woohoooooo!

One other note is that we are on the hunt to find out the source of Rachel's eczema. As it hasn't faded on its own (characteristic of infantile eczema), I'm trying to eliminate a food allergy as a possible cause. Since I'm still nursing her, that means I have to go on these elimination diets too. We did two weeks of soy-free living (just for me, since Rachel doesn't eat any soy). No results from that. We are in our second week of a gluten-free diet which has been significantly harder than soy-free. Gluten free basically means wheat free. So, no things like bread or baked goods, but there's also gluten in some hidden things like soy sauce & barbecue sauce. So, today at Chik-fil-A we enjoyed Cow Appreciation Day at with grilled chicken filets (no bun), french fries & a drink. I've actually seen some improvement in my skin, but none that make it seem worthwhile to me to go without bread for the rest of my life! And, the jury's still out on Rachel.

pickles

No, I'm not craving pickles, or icecream. . well, maybe the ice cream. :-)

This post is all about another kind of a pickle, a jam, a tough spot, if you will, and how Rachel seems to show a proclivity for finding them. Enjoy the visual journey through Rachel's pickles.

Usually, there is a bowl of fruit on the lower shelf, but I removed it minutes earlier after she bit into an unpeeled mango. :-) So, this was her compromise. Today I caught her doing the same, but this time she was sitting with her legs dangling like a school girl.

Um, mom, I was just looking for a drink. . .

And, who doesn't need a little reading nook.

The funniest bit is that this isn't even all of them -- just the ones I've caught on film. This morning, I found her standing on top of the platform for our garden tub. This means she had climbed up the little "step" & then up one more level, near the faucet, if you will. And, what was she doing?? Standing, holding onto a basket of magazines we have up there.

Perhaps her favorite place is the fireplace. Yes, you heard it, the fireplace. She climbs up on our brick hearth & reaches into our ashy fireplace right before mom whisks her away. This is a game, right??

my baby is one!

Sweet Rachel Claire turned one today! We'll have her party later on, but I wanted to write a quick update. Rahel is so proud of being a bigger girl. Yesterday, I gave her a whole cracker, and she looked at me with these eyes that said, "Yes!!!! I'm so glad you finally see me for the grown up that I am! Whoopee!" She doesn't say many different words, but her eyes (and eyebrows) can be very expressive. Her favorite word is da-da-da, and it can be used to express all sorts of things. Kate often turns to me and interprets what that da-da meant. "Mom, she said she's finished." or "Mom, she's wants to play with me." She's said a few words very few times (like papa, ba-ba, ah-duh, and ank-yu -- this last one is mostly an intonation, not really formed syllables of sound). She does sign for more & all done when prompted.

Just the other day, she stood for the first time by herself. It only happens when I'm holding her hands & let go. :-) I can tell she's trying to work on standing up by herself. She scoots her bottom up really high in the air and I can tell she really wants the top half of her body to lift itself up to standing position. But, she hasn't worked it out yet. She cruises quickly and is proficient at switching from coffee table to couch and back again. She likes to play with her walker & is very good at it. Kate helps her steer and off they go! Her favorite things are still her books, which she takes one by one out of her shelf almost every day. Recently, she's started crawling into big sis' room to play with the Little People house. When I was cleaning up breakfast dishes today while Kate finished up eating, all of a sudden I was a bit disconcerted to hear a huge flushing sound. Then, I realized it was from the play house. :-)

She is an extremely easy going baby. She still takes two naps a day, nurses four times, and eats three times. She loves bananas & sippy cups the best. You'd think for a girl who ate bananas (several of them) every day, she'd be over them by now, but NO. . I forgot to mention that she also rarely says a word for banana. We know she's excited when she starts flapping her arms & bobbing her head from side to side or up and down. The head bobbing is also her "dancing" and is very cute to watch. She is nowhere near as shy as her big sister was, and will even give smiles away to total strangers.

She loves riding in her stroller, especially if I go fast! And, she just moved up to her big sister's car seat, although it's still rear facing. With the fruit basket upset in the back seat, we had to move her over from the center (right next to sister) over to the window, and I think she really misses being close to Kate.

She's a great sleeper. Example: We go to prayer meeting at the Baileys on Wednesdays. At her normal bed time (8), I put her down there. About an hr or hour and a half later, we get her up & move her to the car. No cries. She stays awake usually for the entire ride home and then gets put back into her crib at home, and falls right to sleep again. She sucks her thumb quite adorably, but only when she's tired. This is a handy cue for mom! She likes to have something cozy to hold in one hand while she sucks the other thumb. Few pictures of this b/c who takes a picture of their kid when they are also trying to get them into bed (not me!).

As far as food goes, she's an eating machine! She frequently eats until her tummy looks HUGE and is hard as a rock. And sometimes, that's because I've cut her off! Today, for her birthday breakfast, she had 4 pancakes and some scrambled eggs. Sister had to be forced to finish her eggs & 1 pancake. She eats all table food these days and is very good at getting into her mouth. No plates or spoons for her yet, she's still using her God-given utensils, her fingers.

If you'd like to see her slideshow, I've linked to it on facebook.

rollin', rollin', rollin'

As usual, too much time has passed since we last spoke. Spring has finally showed up & here's how we're celebrating:

going to the park

playing after supper

taking tours of the yard to see which flowers have started budding

raking old leaves from last fall

greeting geraniums that are showing in my planters

crawling

pulling up

standing

walking (with her walker)

writing more letters (It was J today)

learning about the feeding of the four thousand

hating baths (the oldest one)

loving baths (the youngest one)

eating table food almost all of the time (youngest one)

struggling to finish all of her food on the table almost all of the time (oldest one)

having our first sleepover at our house (LOADS of fun)

riding . . . her first trike!

This was a seminal event at our house. We live on an extremely steep hill, so while most parents would have already bought & helped their children use any variety of riding toys, Kate has never had any. We never even had a riding toy for inside the house. She does play with Little Tikes car at Mima's house, but, she was pretty much as inexperienced as they come. I finally decided that we could just let her play in the garage or downstairs in the spare room (linoleum flooring), and that this was the year for the trike. I never thought about the back deck! I had dinner to fix, so she begged to bring it upstairs into the living room. Um, no. But, then she came up with a good solution. Before dinner she was crashing into the chairs & was halting at best. By the time she got back up onto the trike after dinner, she was cruising around on her own personal race trak, round & round the table. It was so fun to see her doing such a big kid activity!

Hey Mom, when can I do that??

It's quite funny, she sits right at the threshold when the door's open, but won't cross over. I don't know if it's the texture of the metal threshold or the rug right outside the doorway, but she will not cross over. . . yet.

Trying really hard to show her pedaling skills for the camera.

Look what Kate stowed in the basket. . . she had been playing church earlier, so they were out on the couch from that morning.

Trike Evangelist

Shh, mom, we're having a chat!

turning 8 months

A funny thing happens when you go through something like this "mothering" process for the second time. Things you thought you'd never forget, like the day when Kate looked & smiled at me & called me mama -- well, they get accessed less frequently, and other memories get recorded so close to them (now, was that Kate or Rachel?) that you end up with a hazy, although happy, fog surrounding babyhood. Also, when in the midst of daily parenting, it is easy for me to lose track of the big picture. THIS is what babies do at 7 months, 8 months, 9 months, etc. I just live it!

So, I took a little walk down memory lane & read through some of my old posts about Kate. And was immediately convicted that I'll have no such prosy posts to refer back to for my little Rachel. So here goes. . . .

Rachel's latest accomplishments include scooting backwards -- and not just a small distance. Combined with her mad rolling skills, she can navigate her room pretty well until she gets backed into a corner (Nobody puts Baby in a corner!). Just this last week she has started getting up on her hands & knees and doing the wobbly dance just like that. The funniest thing is that if I ever work with her on crawling or get overly encouraging, Kate so badly wants in on the action that she starts crawling.

Mom: Come on, Rachel, you can do it! Come to mama!

Rachel looks for her toy & bounces her head up & down. This makes her feel like she's moving. She also reaches forward & strains for the toy. But then, inevitably, her legs start making her scootch the wrong way. While this is happening. . ..

Kate starts talking like a baby & *trying* to crawl. Then, she succeeds & wants some praise. I guess I don't get excited enough about her walking anymore. :-)

Rachel loves to eat, a lot! I'm continually amazed by how much she would put away, if I let her pig out. Her favorites are peas & sweet potatoes (not together), although she's learning to love avocado/mango puree a lot. I am giving her a few things to self feed, and she is so adorable! Tonight she had some sweet potato pieces. She grabs the food, smashes it if it happens to be soft, and then tries to get it in her mouth by putting her thumb in her mouth & then willing that little piece of smooshed potato to slide into her mouth. She also makes adorable faces while eating; really playing with her lips. She's already clever enough to repeat actions that get a response, so if I laugh out loud, she looks incredibly pleased & repeats! Also on her menu: lima beans, green beans, butternut squash, bananas, carrots, and oatmeal. I have tried so many new foods with her than with Kate; I guess the seasons are making some of the difference.

Her favorite toys are those little shapes that go into a shape sorting box, some bowls that are also a stacker, and basically anything that will fit into her mouth. Which happens to be a lot of things. She loves to be read to, although it doesn't happen as much as it should! The other day, Kate wanted to read all together, so she brought one book for sister to chew on, and three books for mom to read to the girls. Kate really has Rachel all figured out. Typically during the day, she plays in the living room on her quilt if she's not eating or sleeping. If she's having a particularly hard time before dinner, and I need to be in the kitchen, I'll just sit her on the floor in the kitchen & instantly she has a better disposition. What is it about being close to mom? I guess she figures she can keep on eye on her dinner preparation.

I still carry her in the baby bjorn, but have just started transitioning to putting her the cart sitting up like a big girl. It's just too hard to figure out where to put TWO girls! I really try NOT to go to the grocery store with both of them, but it happens. The other day I had Rachel in the front seat, Kate in the back with a few items, and then two baskets underneath chock full of groceries. There's got to be a better solution for this age, right?

Her sched:

7:00 - 7:30 Wake up!

8:30 Breakfast

10:00 - 12:00 Morning Nap

12:30 Lunch

2:00-4:00 Afternoon Nap

5:30 Supper

8:00 Bedtime

Sometimes she squeezes an extra nap in before bedtime -- like 6:30-7:30. But this isn't often. She nurses 4 times a day & eats people food 3 times. I say people food b/c that's what Kate would say. There's kids and people in her world. I keep telling her that she's a person too! :-) I guess she's just leaving off the "big" in "big people" but it's a bit disconcerting to have my daughter asking me if she can have some gum & is it just for people, meaning not her.

Rachel went to her last check up at 7 months (she is now 8), and weighed 16 lbs. which was average for her age. She was average height, too. In our family, this qualifies as world class chunker, and her cheeks definitely speak for themselves.

some things that made me laugh

For some reason, Kate has a hard time hearing "l" sounds. So, when we were in Texas, I heard her say Auntie "TheRain" & today I told her about a special book that my Grandma gave me -- from Kate's lips Grandma "TheWeez."

Last month, Rachel must have whispered da-da to Josh once, but hadn't repeated it again. When she said Pa-pa last night at church, Josh couldn't believe he was getting so far behind ma-ma & ba-ba. Well, today she started with da-da again. Once for me in the morning, and then at night, she said right as we were all saying goodnight to her. I think it made Josh's day (which had been a bit rough!). She even does a little wave when she says ba-ba sometimes. Soooo cute!

Rachel grabbed the pom pom on her winter hat & pulled it down, then it popped out of her hand & flew back up. It was hilarious! (maybe you had to be there).

When I leave Rach in a room on the floor, I never know where I'll find her when I return. Once she was under Kate's bed, one time she was heading towards the door in her room (and was really close!). I think she was coming to find me. Slightly more dangerous is when big sis is involved. I found her being the "horsey" to Kate's "cowgirl." Uh, shouldn't it be the other way around. Rach isn't crawling, she just rolls & wiggles around.

Kate pronounces a few words in a completely southern manner. My current favorite, Thanksgivin'. I don't think she gets it from me.

And, in one week and a half, I'll have both a 7 month old & a 3 yr old. I can't believe it!

road trip!!!

Last week the Bailey family took a crazy car trip to Texas to visit my mom & dad. They had planned on being in my home town visiting family for Thanksgiving. Since we weren't going to see them for Christmas or until next summer possibly, we thought it would be great to meet them in the middle. Well, perhaps not the exact middle.

So, we took three days to drive down south, and we stayed with family & friends along the way. It took Kate awhile to get used to the fact that we weren't going home every night. By the seventh night she was wanting to know why we weren't going to anyone's home??

We spent three days in McAllen, and got to visit not only with my parents but with my great girlfriends Jamie & Imee as well as all of our extended family. We stayed with my great aunt Clara, and the girls had a real ball getting to know her.

Over the past years, I have seen my usage of the word "home" in reference to south Texas gradually be replaced by "home" referring to Georgia. This transition was made more concrete as I drove around my home town & didn't recognize streets, shops, and restaurants. Of course, all of my major landmarks were there, my home, my elementary school, middle, and high school. My grocery store. My park. But there was a disconnect that made me a trifle sad. I even thought that I've been driving around Georgia longer than I drove around Texas. Weird!

It was wonderful to be with our family for Thanksgiving. We ate (a lot), and apparently, Josh thought the food to be right up to par with a Bailey Thanksgiving.

Kate, o shy one, did pretty well meeting all the various groups of people. She did best in small groups, so Thanksgiving Day, when she met most of her cousins, was a crazy day! She was quiet as a mouse, but they wanted to please her so they kept bringing her toys and really took great care of her. As people gradually trickled out, she became more friendly & talkative. It was a little bit hilarious. When she took her afternoon nap, all of the little cousins kept coming up to me asking, "When will Kate wake up?" Elizabeth, the 10 year old, did a great job being the "babysitter." Kate really liked meeting with Jamie & Imee since they were able to give her undivided attention. Her favorite! She did very well on the road with mom's special stash of books, coloring books, cds and dvds. Elmo DVD was high on the list of favorites. The DVD highlights parts of the body, and she kept showing me different moves from the movie. The one she actually learned how to do was hop on one leg. We also had a few potty adventures, too.
Rachel was so wonderful! She did great on the road. Unbelievable, in fact, when you think about the fact that she can't really entertain herself. So, she sat next to Kate and pulled off Kate's blanky, played with her toys, and took cat naps. She did great with all of the new people. She's just the right age for that. She also started scrunching up her nose when she smiles. I love when she discovers these new things about her body. Ah the joy of being six months new.

Day 1: Met cousin Ethan for the first time! Stayed with Jana & Ethan for a night. We had a lot of fun. These are two Johnson cousins of eight to be born within 12 months. Talk about a baby boom!

Day #2: We stayed with Imee & Phillip one night. Kate really warmed up to Imee very quickly & even did some reading in Spanish with her.

Yum!

Thanksgiving Day photo shoot. (Rachel had just been woken up)

This picture just makes me laugh. Cousin Elizabeth & Kate -- this is Kate's fake smile. I think I promised her an olive if she smiled.

Another day at the park with Jamie! Woohoo! Jamie taught Kate how to play I Spy!

Would I do it again? Not tomorrow! But, it was the golden time for traveling. To have this golden time again, we'll have to wait until these two are 2 and 4 yrs.

fun in the bathtub

Anchors away, my friend!

We got inspired by reading Curious George Rides a Bike, and decided to fold our own newspaper boat. It wasn't as easy as I remembered it being as a child. I think my newspaper is the wrong size! Once I got it all folded, Kate wanted to see if it would float, so we sailed our boat in the bathtub!

The book highlights various ducks, insects, and wildlife hitching a ride on Curious George's boats, so Kate's first question, once I told her we could float it in the bathtub, was, "Who can ride in the boat??"

Running out of real estate

Kate loves to squish inside our baby bathtub with lil' sis. Since Rachel is REALLY into kicking & splashing with her feet, this can't be too comfortable for Kate, but it's worth it just to be close to sister.

A bonus: Kate favorite game to play in the tub (when she's not sharing with her sister) is scuba dizer! She fell in loves with scuba dizers when we took our trip to the aquarium this summer. How to play scuba dizer? Lay on your belly in the bathtub & kick your legs while blowing bubbles in the water. The other pretty amazing thing she does in the bath is lay down on her back so that her hair & ears are submerged in the water but her "face" is still out of the water. Pretty brave, I think.

Rachel loves bath time. If she has any evening fussies, a bath takes care of that quickly. She splashes & kicks & giggles & coos. She even practices her newest accomplishment, saying "mamamamamamamama." Kate can't believe that her little sister is saying a word! And, of course, nothing thrills a mom's heart more! Josh's view, "What about dad??? Da-da-da-da-da."

dress-up

Look who's wearing the cowstume this year??? This golden oldie has been worn by Lydia, Lauren, and then little Rach.

My beautiful ballerina & the cutest cow on the block!

What is it about costumes that are soooooooo irresistible for parents? I don't care two licks for the candy at Halloween & trick-or-treating would be Kate's worst nightmare (having to smile at strangers?????), but I just can't resist a little kid in a costume! We went to the Fall Festival at our local mega church, and Kate had a lot of fun. Although they also have typical games like ring toss & fishing & cake walks, we spent most of our time in the inflatable games area. Sometimes, I get little glimpses into how much Kate is really growing up. We don't go to places like Monkey J oe's very often (a play place with loads of inflatable jumpers & slides), so the changes in Kate are pretty obvious. She used to be too small to go on most of them; she also used to be too shy to just play in front of so many strangers. Last night, my shy Kate was bouncing a long with the best of them, and clambering up using hand holds & sliding down big old slides. She still had a moment of anxiety when she saw a guy dressed up in a full body gorilla suit. He was a little scary even to me! Not to mention that when we happened to catch a glance of him, he was shoving another adult. Probably a very friendly shove, but nevertheless, a bit frightening for the little girl staring up, up, up at a big, hairy, black gorilla!

from me to you

We had a 4 month photo shoot last night, and I got a wild hair to take pics in some of the gifts that you have given both to Rachel and Kate a long, long time ago.

to: Kate
from: Kelley

Now little sis looks adorable in it!

to: Kate
from: Jamie

she says, "it makes my eyes look really blue!"

to: Rachel
from: Sean & Lisa

so cheery!

to: Kate
from: Imee & Phil

she wore this last Sunday & I got a picture of her in her grandparents recliner.

ps. As you can see, she LOVES to put her hands in her mouth. When she wears dresses, frequently the dresses are also found in her mouth, as in the last picture where she's heading towards that.

the littlest (and most obedient) ones

At least, it was true on Monday. Some fun clips of Lauren singing to Rachel. See if you can catch a common thread through at least two of the videos.

growing up is fun to do. . .

As Kate rounds her 2nd year and heads toward the 3rd, I'm amazed by the weird connections her synapses make. Case in point, we were going to Gramma's to eat lunch with her in her downstairs apartment, but Kate was most concerned about where everyone was going to sit. You see, Gramma only has 2 chairs in her pad, and Josh was going to eat with us as well. Well, not only does she think about logistics & planning ahead sort of things, she also is pretty observant. For instance, she noticed that Rachel had a wet diaper. I'm clickety clacking at the computer, happy that my two children are letting me get some e'mails done. I turn around and look on the floor and find THIS!


*Helpful* Kate took Rachel's diaper off & headed off to the nursery to deposit said diaper. I think I interrupted her before she got the replacement diaper. She had found a disposable diaper trash bag & was waving it in the air, trying to get it to open. It'd be great if I could harness this awareness of diapers & train her to get the new diaper out BEFORE she takes the old one off.


Another funny example, I was doing an exercise video at the house last weekend. Kate has probably NEVER seen me exercise like this in her memory. Immediately she's enamored with my mat, and thinks there's something very obviously missing -- can you find what she brought to the room to complete my exercise kit? Then, she started watching the video herself and attempting some of the moves. I was laughing so hard, it was difficult to finish some of the stretches. Lastly, she saw that I was sweating and became so anxious for me. "Mom, you're sweating! You don't want to sweat!" (ha!) She ran to the bathroom and grabbed a tissue and even proceeded to wipe the sweat off of my face. I guess I haven't let her see me work hard enough. . .


Just plain cute! Rach is now rolling over from back to tummy. So, now she likes tummy time because she can make it whatever time she wants -- back, tummy, side, spinning, whatever.

a day at the park

Last Wednesday was a perfect day. We scouted out a new Farmer's Market/Stand in a little town next to ours. Kate had a fun time sampling all of the goods, especially the natural bath & body products. I had an equally fun time trying some delicious jam. After I picked up a few tomatoes, cucumber, and strawberry-fig jam, we explored. You know the type of exploration that has you turning down small streets that feel as though they should be one ways, and pausing at 4- way stops a little too long as you try to decide whether to go left, right, or straight. Around a corner and through a stop sign, we came upon the sweetest little city park. The play area is surrounded by trees and benches, and they even have some old fashioned playground equipment like a merry go round! I wish I could have caught it on film, but the early yellow leaves were cascading down like golden snow on a perfect fall day. We've already been back for a picnic lunch, sliding down the tandem slide with two girls, and Rachel's first time in a swing.

Evidence of a truly happy day.

Although not in focus, you get a great view of Rachel's beautiful smile. :-)

taking the leap

Armed with a potty seat (ring that sits ON the potty), elmo panties, training pants, pull-ups and a whole new set of rules, we are attacking potty training with a vengeance. Quite a few times, Kate has asked where the potty train is. :-) Ha!
In the morning, we put her training pants on. If she goes in the potty successfully, she gets to wear her underwear. She has to wear pull-ups at nap, night, and when we're on the go. I've embraced the pee on the floor, couch, bed, rugs. (Just crossing my fingers that she choses just the floor for her accidents). Monday we had 1 time on the floor, 1 time in the potty, and 1 time in a pull-up. Tuesday, I had my goal for twice in the potty and we made it! Extra bonus: no accidents!

Prize: Ben & Jerry's sorbet

Mom got a prize, too!

looking into the future And, as a bonus: one finger or two??????

for the first time

matching outfits

Rachel -- 3 months, Kate -- 2 years 7 months

she found her fingers after this, I just like how Kate is looking down trying to calm her sis.

sisters at 3 months

These are the two bunzles at 3 months apiece! Similar, yet different, I think! Size is a bit different, though. Kate was barely getting into the larger 0-3 months items at her 3 month anniv, whereas Rachel has already moved onto larger sizes. :-) And, she sleeps much better than her sister did (if that's possible!)

Her schedule:

7:30/8:00 Wake up & eat!

Play & sleep -- she usually gets about a 2 hr nap in the morning, in her crib

12:00 Eat!

Play & sleep -- again, she usually gets a 2 or 3 hr nap in the afternoon, also in her crib

4:00 Eat!

Play, see daddy, snuggle with sister

8:00 Eat & then sleep

Deelightful!

quick shots

Johnson girls, next generation! My sister Becky came for a visit last week & we got a pic with all of the girlies. I chose one that featured Becky & I in our better moment, although it left Kate & Lydia in the unfortunate position of looking pretty weird! :-) Oh well, they don't have self-images at the ages of 4 and 2 1/2 right? We had so much fun with Becky (and Susie & Patrick), and can't wait until my mom and dad come up and S & P come for a longer visit. The best thing about Becky's visit was seeing how much the girls fell in love with their auntie all over again.

Rachel with her auntie! We still think that there are some strong similarities between Rachel & Lydia as a baby, but these days I do see more family resemblance to her sister, as well.

A quick Rachie update: After a few small bumps in the road, she is sleeping through the night (10-8 ISH) every night. I can't tell you what a difference it makes in my life! She's about 12 pounds, I believe, but will get an official weigh in at the peds this Thursday. I can scarcely believe she's already 2 months. Time really flies. She has really great head control, and I would swear to you that she's already trying to pull herself up to a sitting position. She hates having a messy dipe, and LOVES to have her diaper changed. She also is very good about taking her naps during the day time & falls asleep on her own extremely well. I couldn't have asked for a better little girl! And, due to her chunkiness as well as her cute diaper buns, she's moving up in some clothes to 3-6 monthers. It's actually a great thing, b/c Kate actually has 3-6 month clothes from Spring that are doing a great job for Rachel now. I just can't believe that some clothes I remember Kate wearing in August (when she was 6 months) are fitting her baby sis already!

*One other fresh post follows.

sleeping beauty

I put her down for some tummy time & it turned into nap time. As far as Rachel is concerned, anytime is good for nap time.

aren't those fuzzibunz cute?

This week, Rachel has started sleeping longer at night -- to the tune of 7 or 8 hours. Last night, however, she broke the pattern, so she's not totally transitioned. But, I'm excited at the prospect. This means she goes from midnight to 8:30 or so between feedings. Hopefully, she'll keep up the good work.