Moving day

Rachel slept in her actual crib last night. It was a big day for mom and dad.

She has been sleeping in our room in a family heirloom cradle. We have enjoyed having her in our room - being able to attend to her quickly, hear her, and just the closeness of her.

But with Rachel growing and getting bigger and becoming more animated and wriggly, she needed more room.

So last night we put her to bed in her crib in her own room. We put the monitor on so we could hear her (it works - 610AM came very early today!). David ended up sleeping on the floor in there with her - just in case.

It's another step in her growing up, and in our journey as first-time parents. She will be great, it's us I'm worried about!

Hangin' out

Rachel was sitting next to me on the couch tonight while I was watching Jeopardy. I turned to look at her and this was the pose she was in - just hangin' out!

A special day

Yesterday we had Rachel baptized. It was a wonderful day filled with special people. The weather was spectacular too which made it even better! An amazing warm October day.

The relatives all arrived on Saturday. My dad and Margie, my sister Marisa, David's parents, his sister, her husband and baby Melanie who is 17 days younger than Rachel and Cindy and Chris from Florida with their youngest son Colin. We were so glad to get all the immediate family here. Rachel and Melanie had not met each other yet, and it was so cute to see them together. David and his sister Julie really enjoyed seeing each other with their babies. David's parents hadn't seen Rachel in two months, and my aunt, uncle and grandmother from Rhode Island had never met Rachel at all.


Saturday night David and I hosted dinner at our house. We ordered food from Honey Baked Ham. It was great not to have to cook. We ordered a boneless ham and several side dishes. All we had to do was heat everything up. I bought paper plates, napkins and plastic cups - I know, not great for the environment, but I don't have enough dishes for 15 people to eat dinner and drink.

Sunday was the baptism. The original plan was to go to 1230PM mass and then the baptism was at 230PM. However, starting in October, Holy Trinity changed the 1230PM mass to all Latin all the time. So unless anyone had a Latin major and could translate, we weren't going to the 1230PM mass. So we had to regroup and go to the 1030AM mass. That mass is always very crowded and David and I can't usually make it there on time, but we were determined. We needed seats for 9 people so we couldn't be late!

After church we came back to our house for a light snack before the baptism. I left my sister at home to get ready, set up the table and drinks and then head to Safeway to pick up the sandwiches and cake while we were at church. When we came back after church we were able to have coffee cake and cheese and crackers. David's parents were there, his sister, her husband and their daughter Melanie, along with my dad, Margie and my sister.

We were also able to feed Rachel and change her into her baptism gown. She was so beautiful. It was perfect. The dress had a bonnet which was not an option since it was way too big. We took some pictures and then headed back to the church for the baptism.

The families all sit in the pews around the church, with the parents, child and godparents in front rows. There are some general parts of the baptism that the priest does with all the families in the pews, and then he brings each family to the baptismal font separately. It is nice because each individual family can be up close to their child being baptized and can take as many pictures as desired. Most other baptisms I have been to have been all the families all at once crowded around so you are on tip toes trying to see and take pictures between heads.



And then we went back to our house. We had croissant sandwiches, cheese and crackers, cold salads and CAKE! It was nice to have all the families together - the Croce/Vianello side and the McDonald side. They would not have been together since our wedding in August 2002. We took lots of great pictures and had a good time watching football. There was some dicey political talk for a while, but that was quieted down quickly - well, not so quickly!




Here are some pictures from the weekend:



Grandma and Grandpa with both their grandaughters.


4 generations!

Auntie Julie with Rachel and her baby Melanie.

Cindy, Chris and Colin.

Auntie Marisa with Rachel.

The grandparents, great-grandmother and godparents.

The Vianello family.

Cindy and Chris - The godparents who adore their godchild.

Update

I took Rachel to the pediatrician on Thursday to get weighed.

She is now 10 pounds, 7 1/2 ounces. She is now on the curve! She is in the 10% percentile which means 90% of children her age are still bigger than her. But she is on the curve which is the important thing.

We bring her to the doctor again on November 14th for her 4-month check-up which includes weight, length and more shots!

Pumpkin picking

On Saturday, David and I took Rachel to pick out pumpkins. We met my coworker Kevin, his wife Peggy and their son Noah at Cox Farms. It's a local farm that has been around for over 30 years, and every year they have a Fall Festival that runs for about 6 weeks. They have games, rides, animals, music, food and of course, pumpkins.

Rachel is too little for the games and rides so we met in the pumpkin patch. It was just about her eating time when we got there so we knew it was going to be dicey...just a matter of time before there was a meltdown. We walked around and looked at all the pumpkins. Why are so many of them so much bigger than Rachel?

We took some pictures but soon Rachel needed to eat. As you can see in this picture, she was not happy...not sure if it had to do with being stuck in the middle of some pumpkins or because it was time to eat.

And good thing we had a hat in the diaper bag; however, we did not have her sunglasses. It was so bright and beautiful out - a perfect fall day. She did end up with some rosy cheeks at the end of the day.

Kevin and Peggy stayed with us for about 30 minutes, but then wanted to take Noah on the slide so they went to the other part of the farm. You have to pay to get into where the rides and games are, but since Rachel can't participate, we didn't want to go to that area.

After we were done taking pictures and picking out three pumpkins - a big one for David and I, a little one for Rachel and another little one for our dog, Kona - we went into the Festival Market and bought apple butter, pumpkin butter, raspberry jam and an apple pie. The pie you can freeze as is and then when you are ready to serve it, bake it at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. I figured that would be nice for Thanksgiving. I always make a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, but never apple pie since David doesn't like it, so now I'll get to have my apple pie without all the work and hassle to make it.

It was a nice day out and fun to spend some time with friends - although short. We will definitely plan to go back next year when Rachel is older.

How time flies!

At this exact moment, 4:58PM, our daughter Rachel is 3 months old. Happy Birthday, Rachel!

Progress

This week David and I were able to put some of Rachel's clothes away for good - they are clothes they actually don't fit her anymore. Some are the fuzzy outfits she wore in the hospital when she was born, and some are side snap shirts we bought after she was first born. We thought we'd never get to this point since Rachel was so little when she was born. It was an exciting moment!

And we are realizing her diapers are not fitting any more either. They are a little snug and require some pulling to get them to fit. This weekend we are going to try some larger diapers to see if they fit better. Unfortunately her day care has a box of 92 diapers in the smaller size they need to go through - we might have to just give up and provide them with the bigger size diapers.

She is also advancing in some of her skills. She is now holding on to blankets, burp cloths and clothes. She is "talking" more and more, smiling and laughing all the time. When she is in her swing she will stare up at the animals spinning around, and in her bouncy seat she is now intrigued by the lights and animals. We play a game where she lays on the sofa and I hold her hands. I count to three and pull her up. She used to need me to pull her up the whole way - now she starts pulling herself up before I finish counting to three.

Out little girl is growing up so fast!