mystery solved

The missing box has been found and all is right with the world.  Actually, the missing box turned into three missing boxes!  My wonderful husband crawled all around in the crawl space looking for it, since I had looked everywhere else in the house that it could've been, and instead of just one box, he uncovered three boxes that said "baby" on the sides!  I found all kinds of things I had forgotten we even had.  They were mostly baby toys, but I also found the baby bjorn, play gyms, bathtub, and doorway jumper that I knew were missing.  Now I can continue with my nesting and get them all cleaned up.

In other news...tomorrow the countdown will be 31 weeks down, 9 to go! I'm in single digits! Here's a picture for those of you who keep asking me for pictures of my big belly. Today was my sister in law's wedding, so I had something on besides jeans or sweats for a change and told my husband he'd better get a picture since it doesn't happen very often! (I was very self conscious about not wearing a dress/skirt to a wedding, but every dress I tried on felt like a tent, and I really, REALLY didn't want to wear hose!!! My husband assured me that no one would notice that I didn't have a skirt on. I hope he was right!)

how are you-ah?

Rachel heard a song tonight with the word, "Hallelujah" in it.  She started trying to say it, but instead of saying the right word, she was saying, "How are you-ah!"  It took us awhile to figure out what she was saying and why...and then we couldn't stop laughing! (though my laughing turns into a coughing fit at the moment...I still don't have my voice back and can't laugh or hum or sing without coughing!)

We tried to get her to say it correctly, but each time it came out "how are you-ah!"  I guess it IS a pretty hard word for a little girl who can't yet say the "L" sound!

joining the ranks

...of the mini-van moms!

nesting

My "nesting" instinct started a few weeks ago, when I suddenly HAD to have Rachel's old clothes out of the crawl space in the basement so I could start going through them.  I needed to know what I had (tons!) in order to know what I needed to buy (hardly anything!).  When we got them out I found lots of stains (stains which hadn't been there when I packed them away--I'm SO careful with scrubbing out stains).  My mom and I did some research and found out that it's actually common for formula stains to appear when baby clothes are in storage.  Ugh.  So we looked for ways of getting the stains out.  I tried a couple of techniques and came across one that seems to be working fairly well: soaking everything in the laundry tub full of hot water, dish washing powder, and Biz.  The longer they soak, the better they seem to look (last week they were in there for a whole week since I was too sick to go down and deal with them, and they turned out great!).

Over the weekend my husband and dad put up the crib!  It's a new crib, because Rachel's crib was recalled (after we were done using it with her, thankfully!).  We received a voucher for a new crib, so many months ago, we went and got one, thinking a different baby would be using it, but then we lost that baby (that sweet baby was due today, by the way....), but now it's finally put together and ready for a very special little girl to sleep in it!  Rachel was so excited to see it and about seeing the nursery taking shape.

So now that I'm finally starting to feel better (hooray!), my nesting is in full force.  Yesterday I worked harder than I've worked in months, and I'm still getting over being sick.  But I just feel like there's so much to do before the baby comes and I have to get it done NOW!  I'm still soaking stuff--I finished the 0-3 month clothes and have moved on to 3-6 month clothes so I won't have to worry about them once the baby is here.  I'm washing load after load of blankets, burp cloths, sheets, towels, and so forth.  I'm searching through the basement for baby things, cleaning out Rachel's old closet, sorting through what goes in her new closet and what stays for the baby....  lots to do. 

And there's a box that I'm missing that is driving me CRAZY.  It has about five things in it that I know that I'm missing (my baby bjorn, a couple of play gyms that the baby lays under, and a few other things).  I'm also missing a stack of burp cloths I know I have somewhere. Ugh.  I hate it when I can't find things.  Hopefully I can enlist my husband to dig around in places I can't reach and find it for me before I go completely crazy.

In other news, I sold my little Neon today.  I've had it for almost exactly ten years.  I bought it just before I met my husband....also almost ten years ago.  That sounds like forever!  So we're down to one vehicle for today and tomorrow, and then I'll get my new (to me) van!  Hooray!

sunshine

I haven't posted because in the last post I promised that I would write about something more positive.  But when I promised that, I hadn't anticipated that I'd still be really sick TWELVE DAYS after starting this illness, so I've had very little positive to say lately!  Yes, I've been sick and running a fever off and on for twelve days.  That's crazy.

But here's some positive news:  I finally have a diagnosis and I'm hopefully on my way to recovery.  I went back to the doctor for the second time today and she said I have bronchitis. I wish they would've caught it last week, but for whatever reason, they didn't, and said it was a sinus infection then (though my sinuses were practically clear then!).  So now I'm on a stronger antibiotic, an inhaler, and a steroid (thankfully, all safe for the baby, according to my OB), and I'm hoping they all kick in QUICKLY and I can start feeling better.

And the sun is out today. Always a positive.  It's 59 degrees and beautiful.  I sat outside while Rachel played 'Pirates' on her swingset--it was nice.  Come on, spring!

Yesterday was my birthday.  It was not a birthday I'd care to repeat, since I was feeling lousy, but my parents were here, and they, along with Rachel and my husband, helped make it as nice of a day as it could be, under the circumstances.  But I missed out on a lot of the fun things I had been looking forward to.  Oh well.  Some other time.

And more positive news:  We bought a minivan.  Anyone who knows me very well knows how much I've disliked driving our truck, which has been my primary mode of transportation since Rachel was born, and my little Neon was no longer a viable option.  We get it on Friday, will finally get rid of the Neon, and I'm so excited! 

sick of sickness

I hate winter.  I don't use that word much....I just really, really hate it.  Mostly because of the endless sickness it seems to cause.  Most of the winter Rachel was sick every couple of weeks.  Now it's my turn. 

Somehow I managed to dodge most of her colds and so forth this winter, but not this time.  I'm on day six of this junk...and day four of having a fever.  Every time I think the fever is gone, it comes back later in the day and I start shivering again with a pounding headache.  Ugh.  And being sick when you're also seven months pregnant is even more miserable than normal!  Not only is there not much I can take or much that anyone can do to help me, but there's no snuggling down for a nice long nap or anything, because just finding a comfortable position to lay in is becoming increasingly more difficult.  And even if I do find one, it isn't long before I have to get up to go to the bathroom, and the comfortable position is lost.  And then there's the problem of coughing up both lungs....combine all of these things and you've got an equation which makes it nearly impossible to get any sleep.  I'm going to the doctor this afternoon, but I'm not very hopeful that they can do anything for me.

Sorry to whine.  I'm just really, really, really tired of this.  And it's my blog and I can whine if I want to.... 

And the worst part?  The weather is finally warm this week and I can't even get out and enjoy it. 

Okay, that's enough whining.  Next time I promise I'll have something more positive to say.   Promise.

growing up

Over the last six months or so Rachel has become so much better at entertaining herself.  I can't even explain how nice it is.  That doesn't mean that she doesn't constantly ask for me to play with her....she does.  But more often than not I can tell her that Mommy's busy with X, Y, or Z, and sometimes will give her a suggestion of something she could do, and she's off, and perfectly content to play by herself. 

I think part of it is training and part of it is just age--she's growing up.  Since she was about 6 months old she's had independent play time every day.  It started out in her pack and play every morning while I would take a shower.  She hated it at first, and it would only last for 15 minutes or so and she'd cry a majority of that time, but gradually she got used to it, the time got longer, and she learned to enjoy it.  I've always put a CD on for her and she's had plenty of toys to play with and books to look at.  As she got older and too big for a play pen, she graduated from play pen time to room time.  Now she spends about an hour each morning in her room playing (usually with her princess polly pocket dolls or my old Strawberry Shortcake dolls, or sometimes looking at books).  During this time I take a shower, get dressed, clean up my room, get laundry started, put clothes away, put dinner in the crock pot, or some other assortment of tasks that need to get done.  She never complains about it--she loves it!  This used to be the only independent play time she'd willingly do, but now that she's older she'll just start playing by herself at other times during the day.  This morning, for instance, she has played with lego (part of the time I had to help because lego is a very frustrating activity to her all by herself--she has a hard time getting the pieces apart and making them look like she wants them to look, unless she's just building a tower!), colored a princess picture, played with her train table, had a circus with her little people animals, and played "Princess Flower Girl Rachel" (which consists of her dressing up in a princess dress and pretending she's a flower girl, though the only way she knows what a flower girl is is from a Babar book we once had out of the library months ago!).  Sometimes she does some of these simultaneously (like wearing her princess dress and reinacting "The Little Engine that Could" on her train table, which is what she's doing right now as I type this!).  ***

Now we're entering a new phase of life.  We finally moved her to her big girl room this weekend (it still needs some work, so pictures will be coming eventually, but it's looking good so far) and the room is huge--big enough for lots and lots of her toys.  Our dining room has served as her playroom for the first (almost) four years of her life, and it still will be, but many of the toys that filled it are now in her new room, making room for the baby swing and changing table which need to come up out of the basement for a new little girl who will soon be making her appearance in our family.  So the new phase is now being able to say, "Rachel, go play in your room!"  I'm anxious to see how this phase goes.  She's thrilled about it now.  Hopefully it will stay this way.

This independence she's learned is both good and bad.  Good because it allows me to get things done.  Good because she's developed quite an imagination and loves coming up with scenarios for what's going on with the princesses or trains or whatever she happens to be playing with at the moment.  Bad because she has learned to be the one in control when she plays, and always expects things to work that way.  This becomes a problem at school when she's playing with other kids.  If the other kids don't want to play the way she is playing, she'll just play by herself.  She doesn't get upset (usually)...just prefers to go do things her own way.  This is the whole reason we sent her to school in the first place--to learn to socialize and interact well with other children.  And she is learning...her teacher says she's improved a lot since the beginning of the year, but she still has a way to go.  Hopefully having her in school three mornings next year will help her learn these skills even better.

All that to say, my little girl is growing up.  I can't believe she's almost four.  That just sounds so old.  She's starting to give up her naptime (NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!).  I'm still in denial about that one and still put her in bed every afternoon, but she's only sleeping about half the days right now.  We'll see if with the time change next weekend she'll need the extra sleep again.   I can't believe that this time next year I'll be registering her for kindergarten.  I can't think about that yet.  I just want to bottle her up like this--her joy and enthusiasm and wacky imagination--and savor it forever.


***I should explain that I wrote part of this much earlier in the week.  She wasn't playing with her train table at 9 pm when I published this--she's sleeping in her big girl room at the moment.

March!

Finally!  March is always a happier month for me....halfway through it my birthday comes and it means spring is near.  The snow is slowly melting (I can see some grass again!) and there are birds chirping every morning outside my window.  Rachel says every morning, "The birdies think it's spring!  Not yet, birdies!"  But they know what I know...it is near! 

This year March also means I'm in my third trimester and the end is in sight!  Hooray!

Yesterday Rachel was riding in a cart at the store (she doesn't like riding in the cart anymore and usually asks to walk on her own, but she's SO slow and wants to touch everything that more often than not I end up putting her in there halfway through the shopping excursion because I can't stand the dawdling or telling her not to touch anymore).  Anyway, she was in the cart and her eyes were just about at the level of my big belly.  She put her hands on it and said, "I'm going to look at my baby sister in there."  She stared for a few minutes and then said, "But I can't see her!" 

She tried lifting up my shirt (we were in the parking lot by this point!), as if that would help her see the baby better.  I quickly told her, "NO!  Don't lift up Mommy's shirt!"  She said, "But I can't see if she can dance in there!"  As I held my shirt down I assured her that she didn't know how to dance yet and when she got bigger Rachel would have to teach her how to dance.  She liked that answer and thankfully forgot about trying to lift my shirt up.  Maybe I'll have to put up with the dawdling next time.

presents and sprinkles

I had a coupon to Babies R Us that expired today (which I could combine with another coupon I had), and was determined to get there today to pick out something fun for the baby.  I've only bought her one other thing (an outfit for next winter...on clearance) so far, and am so tempted every time I go in a store, but until I get Rachel's stuff out of storage in the crawl space, I really don't know what she needs, so I refrain myself every time.  So I was excited to go find something and use my coupons.

We also had to pick out a birthday present for Rachel's cousin's birthday party this weekend and her friend's birthday party, which is next weekend.  Our Babies R Us and Toys R Us stores are right next to each other, so it worked perfectly to get it all done in one trip.  Rachel was so excited--not only did she get to look at toys, her very favorite thing to do at a store, but she got to choose what to buy! 

First we looked at baby clothes. She saw all kinds of things she wanted to buy her sister, but then told me that she needed a pink blanket like her own purple blanket. Rachel's purple blanket is her most prized possession, so I thought it was so sweet that she wanted to buy one just like it for her little sister. So we went over to the blankets and she immediately found the one she wanted. It's exactly like hers, but pink--super soft and cuddly.

I showed her all of the other ones and made sure she didn't see any she liked better, but she was sure that this was the right one.

For her friend, she decided right away that we should get her a puzzle. I didn't really know what to get her friend, since she's a friend from school and I don't really know her or what she likes, so I thought a puzzle sounded like a good idea. Puzzles at this age are hard to come by, though. The 24 piece puzzles are for ages 3 and up, and Rachel's been whipping through those for over a year. I didn't want to get one that was too easy. The next size you normally see is usually 100 pieces, for ages 5 and up. Too hard. Sometimes you can find 60 pieces, but they're not as easy to find. Rachel settled on a Melissa and Doug 48 piece puzzle that she has and loves. Since it said ages 4 and up, I decided it would be a good fit.  I hope I'm right.

Then it was over to the boy side of the store to find something for my soon-to-be-five year old nephew.  Rachel immediately said, "Maybe we should get him Power Rangers.  Boys like Power Rangers" (I didn't even know she knew what a Power Ranger was!). My sister in law had told me he loves Power Rangers, so we went to that aisle.  And I realized that I really have no clue when it comes to action figures!  I don't know a thing about Power Rangers!  I live in a world of princesses, dress up, puzzles, and arts and crafts.  I ended up calling my sister in law on the phone from the store to figure out what to get.  Come to find out, the first set Rachel picked out for him, before I had even called her, was what we ended up buying.

After we made all of our decisions Rachel got to look at the things she wanted to look at....the train table, princess dresses and dolls, and bikes.  I had her ride a bike around for a little while, since it's the main present we're getting her for her birthday and I wanted to see what size she needed and how she did on it (she did pretty well!).  She picked out the helmet she liked best, too (without knowing why I was asking).  She liked the princess helmet, of course.

It was a fun morning for both of us.  It was so nice to see her thinking about what other people would like, as opposed to just what she would like.

**Just a couple of fun asides: 

Last night when I was reading her a story before bed, she started patting my belly.  "Is it okay to pat the baby, Mommy?" she asked me.  I told her yes, that it was okay.  I asked her if she wanted to say hi to her baby sister, so she started talking to my tummy:  "Hi Baby Sister.  I'm your big sister Rachel.  But I can't know what your name is yet."  (It's not that she can't...it's just that we haven't decided yet!)

Then we started talking about what we should name her.  Rachel originally wanted to name her "Rachel."  When we told her we couldn't have two Rachels in the house, she started making up silly names.  Last night she started choosing princess names (Belle was the one she decided she liked the best).  And finally she decided we should name her "Sprinkles," just like in Blue's Clues (Blue has a baby brother named Sprinkles--we've had the book out of the library for a few weeks and have read it several times).  So for now, I guess I'm carrying Baby Sprinkles.

This morning when she woke up Rachel asked me if "the girl baby" was out of my tummy yet. When I told her no, that we had to wait until springtime, she let out an exasperated sigh....kind of like, "C'mon already!" It made me laugh.  I can relate to her impatience, though....I'm more than ready to have her out of my tummy, too.  I talked to a friend last weekend who told me, "I just loved being pregnant.  I could be a surrogate for someone, I think."  Oh, how I wish I enjoyed it like that, but that simply isn't me.  Pregnancy is definitely not an easy or fun thing for me, though I couldn't be more thrilled for the prize at the end!

Rachel went into her "new" room this morning (which my husband has slowly been emptying, to get ready to paint it to get ready for her, so it's looking bigger and bigger as it gets more and more empty) and said, "Look, Mom! This is going to be my room!" I told her what a big girl she was for getting such a big room and she said, "But I just want a small room. No, I just want a middle sized room." But then I told her that we'd get to put lots of her toys in her room since it was so big (she only has a couple of her toys in her room now, because it's really small) and she got excited, telling me what toys we should put in there.  If she'd have her way it sounds like everything would be in her room and nothing left in the play room downstairs!

the long winter

This is the winter that never ends....

Remember this?

Now it looks like this, thanks to 10 more inches yesterday. (Sorry, it was taken through my screen because I can't get the back door open in the snow to take a better picture!)

I'm done with this snow!  I think I want to move to Arizona.  Or the Bahamas.  Or at the very least go there until I can see the grass again.

And if the snow isn't frustrating enough (and the resulting stuck-in-the-house feeling), Rachel is sick.  We had to go out in the horrible weather (the roads were terrible!) and take her to the doctor.  He said it could be RSV, which isn't a huge deal unless you're an infant, but the resulting cough could last 5-8 weeks, he told us!  The cough is why we went, because she's been up at night coughing...and coughing...and coughing some more.  Last night she and I spent the 3:15-5:15 AM hours together with her coughing constantly.  The poor thing.  Thankfully, though she has a fever and the cough, she seems to be acting fine otherwise.  She would've missed school today because of it, but it was a snow day, so I guess there's a little silver lining in all of this.  She would've been sad to have missed out on a day at school when her friends were all there.

I thought these were to be my last 15 weeks of a whole night of sleep, but I'm spending them up with my little coughing machine.  I guess I'm being prepared for sleep deprivation a couple of months early....

impatience

I mentioned that Rachel got a new clock for Christmas--an Okay to Wake clock.

It's worked like a charm, and I'm loving the benefits of an extra hour of sleep it affords, since she's not allowed to call Mommy until the clock turns green at 7:00 AM, instead of the 6:00 or 6:15 it used to be. 

But sometimes she wakes well before the 7:00 clock-turning-green time (you can set it to turn green at any time....I've just chosen 7:00 as the time I'll allow her to get up).  This morning my husband's alarm went off (very loudly) at 6:00 and he fumbled with it for quite awhile until he was able to get it turned off.  Rachel heard it from her room next to ours and within seconds she was calling me, which she usually doesn't do, so I was surprised to hear her.  I went in and she asked me to cover her up because she couldn't reach the covers.  She told me she was having good dreams and was going back to sleep.  Sounded good to me!

She settled back down, I got back in bed, and my poor husband started getting ready for his day. 

However, Rachel didn't go back to sleep.  She was quiet, which was great, but she was coughing every 30 seconds or so, which is how I knew she was awake (she's been fighting a cold for a little over a week). 

So at 6:47, she apparently had had quite enough of lying in bed, coughing, and waiting for her clock to turn green (47 minutes must seem like an eternity to a three year old, when it's spent lying in bed, waiting!).  My husband and I both burst out laughing when we heard her call out, at 6:48, "C'mon, clock!" in complete exasperation.

snow fort and 24 weeks

Rachel's been asking since Friday to make a snow family.  Daddy told her that today they could.  But it got so cold last night that when they went outside to make them, the snow was too hard to roll into snowmen. 

Instead, they got out the snow block maker and made a snow fort. 

Rachel said she had fun, but she didn't like the fort because it didn't have a roof or a door.  She obviously hasn't had any snowball fights yet to know that those things wouldn't really come in handy in a snow fort.

Oh, and can you see the cheesy smile? That's what I get when I tell her to smile.  If I want a real smile I have to tell her to say something, like "I made a snow fort!" and then it's more natural.  I didn't do that this time.

In other news, I'm 24 weeks along today.  This weekend's momentous event is that my husband finally felt the baby move.  I don't know how he can miss it, since she's now moving my entire belly with her gymnastics.  Tonight instead of watching the Super Bowl halftime show, I was watching my belly move. (I could care less about The Who, but she seemed to enjoy the music, because she was moving around like crazy!)

And Adrianne, you asked for belly pictures....sadly, this is only the second set we've taken, and they're horrible, but here you go. My husband says it looks bigger in this picture than in real life. He knows just what to say.... :)

sledding for the first time

Heading up the hill for the first time (Daddy offered to pull her in the sled, but she insisted on walking.)

Here's what happened just seconds later.

At the bottom of the hill after the first time down--she liked it!

Next time she let Daddy pull her up the hill.

Ready to head down again

Coming down!

She had trouble getting out of the sled...

With Mommy--I didn't sled (at six months pregnant, I didn't think it was wise).  I was the official photographer.

Ready to head down one last time.

oh the weather outside is frightful...

I can't believe the size of the snowflakes we're getting.  They started around 10:30 or 11 this morning and it hasn't let up since.  We went from no snow on the ground this morning to 5-6 inches in a matter of a couple of hours, and it's still going.  I've heard different predictions from different places, but they're saying anywhere between 8-12 inches of snow for us.

Rachel's excited about making Frosty and a snowman family. 

And I think she and Daddy may go sledding tomorrow.  I'll keep you posted.

recent developments

Dancing

Rachel started a dance class last week.  It's at a church, very laid back, and not at all like I imagine a regular studio class would be, but perfect for her little three year old self, I think.  She was thrilled for the first class and has been asking ever since to go back.  I'm excited that she loved it so much.

Gymnastics

No, not Rachel....this little girl inside of me.  Surely she must be practicing to be a gymnast with the amount of tumbling she's doing in my belly.  This is one active baby!  Rachel moved quite a bit, but this one moves all the time!  I'm not complaining....I love that every time I feel her move my mind is set at ease that she's okay.  I just think it's crazy that she moves constantly!  Yesterday's doctor's appointment revealed her heartrate as "normal," my weight and belly size as "perfect" (wow, wish it was always considered perfect!) and all is a-okay!  I'm so thankful!

DVR

It's the strangest thing.  A week or so ago a friend of mine posted on Facebook that they were finally getting DVR because her husband realized they were the only ones in the world that didn't have it.  I commented that we didn't have it either and would probably eventually cave and get it, but we really didn't have any plans to do so.  And so imagine my surprise when, just two or three days later, without a word about it to my husband, he switched our cable/internet/phone provider, complete with DVR!  Someone came to our door and convinced him to change companies, since we'd be saving a little money. It was just installed this afternoon, so I've been playing with it during naptime today.  It's awesome!  I was watching "You've Got Mail," (a movie I've seen a thousand times), but missed something because I was busy typing this blog entry, so I got to rewind it and see what I missed!  Amazing!  And now I'm skipping the commercials!  Even better!  (Of course, I own this movie on DVD and could just put that in and avoid the commercials, but that's beside the point!)  I've already programmed it to record next week's Lost premier--now we won't have to rewatch (and rewatch and rewatch again, if my husband has his way) online.  He'll be thrilled.

Birthday Parties

Rachel received her first birthday party invitation in the mail yesterday from her closest friend at school.  At first she was so excited, but then she started crying and said, "But I want a birthday party to play with my friends for my birthday!"  Uh oh....what has this started??  I was hoping to keep birthday parties to just family until she gets a little older, but is this going to set her expectations too high?  I'm a little concerned.  I'm happy she got invited and I'm sure she'll have a great time.  I just hope she won't be disappointed if we just stick to family parties for a couple more years.

soft pants

For the last several months (ever since summer was over, really, and she stopped wearing shorts every day), Rachel's decided that she doesn't like jeans or any pants that aren't what she calls "soft pants."  ("Soft pants" are either made of fleece or cotton knit.)  So any morning that I try to get her to wear jeans or corduroys, there is a small battle of wills.  Rachel doesn't usually win (unless it's a day we're staying at home and I don't really care what she's wearing), but it's a battle, nonetheless, and one I'm getting tired of. 

This morning, for instance, I had a pair of jeans out for her to wear to school.  "But I want to wear soft pants, Mom," she told me. 
"You can't wear soft pants every day, Rachel," I told her. 
"But jeans are for boys," she said.  
"No they're not.  Mommy wears jeans, Grandma wears jeans, your friends at school wear jeans," I replied. 
"No, they wear soft pants," she assured me.

I honestly don't really pay attention to what her friends at school wear, and at that point I thought, "Why am I arguing with a three year old?" and told her "You're going to wear jeans today, Rachel.  Some other day you can wear soft pants.  (I honestly don't have enough pairs of "soft pants" for her to wear them every day, or I'd be doing laundry lots more than I already do!  Plus certain shirts don't have soft pants that match them, so they'd never get worn!  I'm all about the matching....and so is she, usually, but soft pants trump the matching, at least in her mind.)

She put them on without anymore complaint.

But today before she went to sleep for her nap she said, "I want to wear soft pants when I get up, okay Mom?"  (She sleeps in just her shirt and a pull up....so when she gets up she has to put pants on again, and the battle could start all over again.)

Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

to tell the "twoof"

We've been working with Rachel lately about what it means to tell the truth.  It all started when she started telling us after she went to bed that she needed to go potty, but then after we'd get her up, she wouldn't have to go anymore.  We figured out that she was just trying to get out of bed, so we started talking about telling the truth (or as Rachel says it, "the twoof,") and not telling a lie (or what Rachel calls "a live"). 

But I've learned in the last few days that there are some times that you just don't want your child to tell you the truth....

::Yesterday afternoon she was on my lap right after we ate lunch.  I was reading her a book and she kept sniffing.  I finally asked her, "What do you smell?"  "It doesn't smell very good in your mouth, Mom," she told me.  Well, then.  I guess I'd better start brushing my teeth before I read her a story!

::A few days ago she told me, "Mommy, your tummy is SOOOOOO BIG!" (at least I have an excuse right now, but if she starts telling me this a year from now, I'm in trouble!)

::Last night she looked at me and said, "Your hair looks funny, Mom." 

So she's got the truth down....I guess we'd better start working on TACT!

January....bah humbug

I really don't like January.  And maybe it's the almost constant daily snow we've had this month....maybe it's the post holiday slump after such an exciting Christmas this year....maybe it's my pregnancy aches and pains, but this year it's an especially hard January for me.  Ugh.  Spring cannot come soon enough, this year in particular.

But, we've been trying to make the best of it.  Rachel continues to delight and cheer us, of course.  The baby's ever increasing kicks help, too, as it's constant feedback and reassurance that I need that everything is okay in there (except in the middle of the night when I can't get back to sleep because she's kicking!).  And yesterday I finally installed the webcam I got for Christmas and figured out how to "Skype" with my mom.  Rachel was on my lap and we had fun "seeing Grandma" on the computer.  Later last night we talked again, this time with Grandpa and Great Grandpa looking on as well!  She thought it was great.  Hopefully this will add some new fun into our winter days.

I also finally loaded the software for the new camera I got for Christmas, so I was able to download pictures from the new camera.  

This one I took yesterday, at her request, while she was eating a snack.

This one is from a week or so ago when Rachel and Daddy were coloring.  She said, "Mommy, will you take a picture of Daddy and Rachel coloring?"  She never asks that, so I had to comply, though she's been asking that more and more lately, for some reason.  That's her new 150 crayon carousel and her giant Mater coloring poster she got for Christmas.

And this one is from a couple of weeks ago.  She has a furry white scarf which is hollow in the middle, for lack of a better phrase.  I can't really describe it, but you can open it up and she likes to put it on like a dress.  Once she decided that she was white and furry like a polar bear, so every once in awhile she'll say, "I want to be a polar bear," and go get her scarf from her dress up box and put it on.  This time she went to get her polar bear toy as well and posed.  So here are our two polar bears.

(I can't figure out why that's not centered.  It's bugging me.)

Is it February yet?  (February isn't usually a whole lot better, but I am looking forward to the Olympics!)

the ultrasound technician

This morning I walked into Rachel's room, where she was playing by herself while I was getting dressed.  She was laying down, had her shirt pulled up, a cloth over her lap, and was slowly rubbing a toy over her stomach. 

"I think there's a baby in your tummy.  See it on the computer?" she said to herself.

I then realized that she was giving herself an ultrasound, just like she saw the doctor do to Mommy a couple of weeks ago.

What an imagination!

passing the time

So here's how Rachel's been passing the time on these long winter days when we can't go outside....

10) watching princess videos (some things never change....even with a room full of new toys)

9) eating her stocking candy (when she actually eats all of her lunch or dinner...which isn't real often!)

8) talking about her coming baby sister (she thinks we should name her "Rachel")

7) dressing up in her new Snow White or Tiana dresses (asking me if she looks beautiful and dancing around the house)

6) playing with her dollhouse (which actually usually consists of taking all of the furniture out of the dollhouse and playing with it on the floor or table...not in the dollhouse)

5) playing with her cars (she got about 10 or 12 different Cars character matchbox cars for Christmas, which she LOVES--Lightning McQueen and Mater are definitely her favorite, though)

4) coloring with her new 150 color crayon tower (didn't know they made 150 different colors, but they do!)

3) playing Candyland with Mommy

2) playing Candyland with Daddy

1) playing Candyland by herself (when she can't convince either of us to play)

She is OBSESSED with Candyland! Even if she's not playing the game, she gets it out just to look at the cards! She loves the special cards with the pictures on them of the peanut, the lollipop, the gingerbread tree, and so forth. She doesn't even get sad when she gets sent back to one of those spots during the game because she's just so excited to have pulled one of those "special" cards!