A visit to the doctor

Today Rachel had her 15-month check-up at the pediatrician. Unfortunately there were shots involved -- the flu shot, along with DTaP. But Rachel did great. And no swine flu vaccine for Rachel since she actually had swine flu in September.

However, although her weight hasn't changed much, she is tall. She is 31 inches in length, but only 21 pounds 7 ounces.

And she has another ear infection. This is at least the third one in a year, which normally would cause the pediatrician to recommend visiting the ENT to discuss tubes, but she thinks her ear infection from September never totally cleared up because of the medicine she had to put her on at that time.

So she wants us to come back in a month to check the fluid in her ears and her weight. When she gets an ear infection she doesn't eat much for a few days, plus since she just got over being very sick at the end of September, it's possible she lost significant weight then so it will take her some time to catch back up.

Stay tuned for the update in a month.

Up it goes

Today the house went on the market...September 17, 2009.

We have lived here over 6 years. But it's time to move up.

We have already signed a contract for a new house that will be built just a few miles from here. We are excited for a new neighborhood, a new house and hopefully meeting some new people.

The photographer came on Saturday to take pictures of the house - both regular photos and 360-degree photos to put on the web site and to use in the brochures. We will have brochures inside the house and outside on the For Sale sign for passers-by.

The market seems great - low inventory, especially in our neighborhood which we hear is a desired one, house prices increasing and the $8000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers. And we are really confident that our realtor will do a great job in marketing the house.

It's been a busy day of showings. The realty company calls my cell phone when a realtor wants to show the house, and the phone rang off the hook all day. We had one showing tonight between 6-7 so we went to dinner after picking up Rachel at day care to make sure the homebuyer and their realtor had time to look. While we were at dinner a call came in from our realtor who had another realtor and his client who were interested in seeing the house, but they knew it was after the 7PM cut-off. Sure, we said...the more, the merrier, plus we were still eating dinner.

We'll see what Friday and the weekend brings.

Wish us luck!

One year check-up

Today we saw the pediatrician for Rachel's one year check-up. She weighed 20 pounds, 8 ounces and was 29 1/4 inches long. She can start drinking whole milk and eating eggs.

Hard to believe one year ago she was only 5 pounds, 6 ounces and was 18 1/4 inches long.

What a year it's been - starting day care, her baptism, first Halloween, first Thanksgiving, first Christmas, first wedding (cousin Kendra), and the first official Mother's Day and Father's Day for David and I.

Next check-up - October 16th when Rachel is 15-months old. We were given the ultimatum - Rachel needs to be walking by then, so we will be working on that. Stay tuned...

Almost there...

Today Rachel turns 11-months old. One more month until she is one. Boy has the time gone by fast.

First Mother's Day

Today was a special day - my first official Mother's Day. Yes, last year when I was pregnant with Rachel really was my first Mother's Day, but this is the first one after she was born. It was a wonderful day - beautiful weather and an entire day spent with David and Rachel.

The day started with breakfast - waffles, bacon, orange juice and Hawaiian coffeee. YUM!

Then we went to the Leesburg Outlets. The weather was perfect and we wanted to spend the day outside. I also have been trying to update my wardrobe for the spring and summer and had some stores I wanted to check out.

We went to a number of stores like Carter's, Gymboree and Gap - are you noticing a trend? Nothing for Mom yet - all Rachel stores. But we did get her some cute shirts, pajamas and one piece outfits for her for day care.

Then we finally hit the stores for Mom - The Loft and Old Navy. A friend from college has been helping me pick out styles and colors of clothes that would look good on me. So I walked in to The Loft with my email print outs and pictures from the web site of clothes she recommended for me. Of course they had nothing I wanted, but it allowed me to focus on some other items that matched the styles and colors. I bought some really cute shirts that match with beige, brown, blue and white pants and felt great about my purchases.

We were there for over three hours. It was a great afternoon. Then it was off to church.

Our last stop of the day was Cracker Barrel for Sunday Chicken Dinner. It's one of my favorites. It's two chicken breast fillets dipped in fresh buttermilk and hand-breaded - served with a choice of two vegetables. YUM YUM!

I got some really special gifts too - flowers, cards, a gift certificate for a one-hour massage and a surprise gift from Tiffany's...a heart charm with "Mom" engraved on it. It is a charm that can be added to the Tiffany bracelet I already have. I also got a gift from Rachel she "made" at day care - a plaque with her hand print on the front and a poem on the back. I was so emotional opening that gift!

The day was really wonderful and I am so thankful to have the opportunity to celebrate Mother's Day. I have certainly celebrated the day with our dog before, but this year was extra special because of Rachel. It is a day I hoped for for a long time and never thought would come. I am really appreciative of everything I have and couldn't have asked for a better day.

I can't wait for next year!

10-months old

Today Rachel turned 10-months old.

She is growing and changing so much every day. She is on the move everywhere and is pulling herself up all the time - in her crib, in the pack 'n play, onto the dog bowl...anywhere she can. She has been eating more regular food - biscuits, pancakes, canned peaches, bananas, yogurt, mashed potatoes, green beans and waffles. She also loves eating her Gerber puffs and yogurt melts and still has some favorite baby foods like spring vegetables, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, pears and apricots.

She makes us laugh constantly and is always smiling. We are still so in awe of her every day - the simplicity of watching someone grow and learn is amazing. All the little things we take for granted everyday take on different meaning when you see a baby learning them for the first time. We continue to feel blessed and very thankful every day for her.

Happy Birthday Rachel!

May Day

Today is May 1st....May Day.

I was actually not familiar with what May Day is, so I did some research. Here is what I found - it is celebrated as World Labour Day:

http://www.ask.com/bar?q=may+day+history&page=1&qsrc=2105&ab=4&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geocities.com%2FCapitolHill%2F5202%2Fmayday.htm

9 months old!

Today is Rachel's 9-month birthday! WOW! She is getting so big. She is crawling now, she has two teeth that are coming in and she is pulling herself up to stand. All this happened in the last two weeks. She is so grown up, but yet is still such a little girl.

It is so much fun to watch her crawl. Since she really just started doing it this week, she is still a little awkward. She moves almost like a robot. And she only crawls a few feet and then sits down. She wants to hold onto everything and pull herself up.

We had her 9-month check up this morning - no shots! She weighed 18 pounds, 1 ounce, and was 27 1/4 inches long. She is in the 45% for both categories. She had been at the 25% for weight since she was born, so she is catching up. She was always about 50% for height.

She had moved to Level 2 of Gerber Baby Food, but the doctor said this morning that she should be eating three meals a day and 2 snacks. And that she can eat the food we are eating, just cut up or mashed to meet her needs. So at day care this morning I took one of their menus and selected some food for her to eat over the next two weeks...things like mashed potatoes, yogurt, cinnamon apples, peaches, green beans, bananas. We'll see how she does!

Anyway, happy birthday Rachel! The next big birthday is one year - oh boy!

April Fool's Day

What is the history of April Fool's Day?

http://www.ask.com/bar?q=april+fool+day+originated&page=1&qsrc=178&ab=8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.april-fools.us%2Fhistory-april-fools.htm

PS Did you say "Rabbit, Rabbit" today? It's also another first of the month!

The National Cherry Blossom Festival

Today is the start of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. It is a two-week event that happens every year in the DC area, celebrating the 1912 gift of cherry blossom trees from Japan. It typically coincides with the beginning of spring.

http://nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/cms/index.php?id=390

Night out on the town

Last night David and I went to the Britney Spears concert in Washington, DC. It was our big night out. The tickets went on sale in December and we decided to buy them - thinking it was three months away and we had plenty of time to get a babysitter. Well, a few weeks ago I realized we needed a babysitter! We asked Auntie Marisa to come down from New York, but since the concert was a Tuesday, that would have been hard. So we then asked Cousin Julie - she lives in DC a few blocks from the Verizon Center, so we would bring Rachel to her and then pick her up after the concert.

I worked at home that day so I could get Rachel early from day care and then we could head into DC to drop Rachel off and get some dinner before the concert. We set Julie up with the pack-n-play, Rachel's pajamas, some toys, books and some food.

David and I headed to the concert which was enjoyable. The music was great, but you definitely don't go to a Britney Spears concert to hear her sing, and her dancing is just not the same. She seems to be really stiff and awkward. They seem to give her simple steps because she just can't move. She definitely lip syncs, but the show was great for entertainment and costumes and the overall music.

We got to Julie's after the concert around 1130PM. Rachel had been fast asleep so we scooped her up and tucked her back in her car seat for the long drive home. Julie said she was perfect - hardly said a word and was really well-behaved. We really appreciate Julie's help so that we could enjoy an evening out - concerts will most likely be a thing of the past, or we'll have to be very selective in the ones we go to.

"All eyes on me in the center of the ring just like a circus..."

The luck of the Irish

Today is March 17th - St Patrick's Day. But besides wearing green and eating corned beef and cabbage, what does it really mean?

Here is a link to an article about the day and its traditions. Now go kiss the Blarney Stone!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick's_Day

Fun fact of the day

YIKES!

http://www.factropolis.com/2006/09/there-really-was-old-macdonald.html

One month older

At this exact moment, 8 months ago, Rachel Charlotte was born.

Happy 8th Month Birthday, littlest! Mommy and Daddy love you very much!

Weekend with Grandpa Tony and Grandma Margie

We spent this weekend with the New Jersey grandparents. We hadn't seen them since mid-December when they came to babysit for my holiday party.

They drove down Friday night so they could see us earlier on Saturday. They brought lots of new clothes and some great toys for Rachel.

We went to lunch and then went to the Udvar Hazy Air and Space Museum. We had never been there before - what a great time we had! There were so many neat planes, including the Concorde, as well as engines, uniforms, ammunition. One of the best exhibits was the Space Shuttle Enterprise - it is placed in the middle of the musum right in front of you as you walk in. It's an awesome site!

After the museum we went to Mimi's Cafe for dinner. It's a new restaurant that opened in the area recently. We hadn't tried it yet, so we decided to give it a try. Our original plan was to go to Sweetwater Tavern for dinner and to go to Mimi's for lunch after church on Sunday. But we were too full from lunch to go to Sweetwater, so we figured Mimi's would have a selection of lighter fare.

It wasn't a great experience - from the waiter to issues with Margie and David's foods - but we survived.

On Sunday we went to church and then Sweetwater Tavern for lunch before Margie and Dad headed back to New Jersey. That restaurant is a favorite of ours - Margie especially loves the crab cakes. As always, the food was great and the service fantastic. Rachel was having a great time bouncing on Grandpa Tony. She was laughing and laughing, making us all laugh.

Then it was time for them to go. We won't see them again until Easter weekend in April when we travel to New Jersey.

Here are some additional pictures from the weekend:

Rabbit, Rabbit

It's March 1st...the first of a new month.

When I was in college, my roommate Susan taught me to say "Rabbit, Rabbit" at the begining of each month. She always told me that it should be the first thing you do.

Of course since that time almost 20 years ago, I think I have actually said it only about 10 times at the moment when you should. Maybe I need to work on that to have some better luck!

Here is a little on the history of "Rabbit, Rabbit:"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_rabbit

More shots

Rachel had to go back to the doctor today to get the 2nd shot in her flu shot series.

It was a quick 5 minute appointment with the nurse.

She did very well with her shot - she hardly cried...it was almost like she realized after the fact that it hurt, she had some tears and a pouty lip and then she was fine.

They also did a quick weigh-in - with clothes on she was 16 pounds, 6 1/2 ounces. And by clothes she had on a diaper, socks, leggings and a shirt, so that probably weighed the 6 1/2 ounces. At her 6 month check up one month ago she was 15 pounds.

The exciting thing - her next appointment is April 4th for her 9-month check up- and NO SHOTS! Yeah!

A day off with Rachel

I was lucky this year - my company was closed for President's Day. I'm not sure if I've ever had that day off. I get the usual holidays off, and a few bonuses like the day after Thanksgiving as well as Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - and even one year I worked for a company that gave us Martin Luther King Day off as well as our birthday! WOW!

Rachel's day care was also closed that day - which normally would have been a problem except for the fact that I was also off. I wanted to do something fun and developmental with Rachel while we had the day together. So I signed us up for a Gymboree class.

We signed up for a 945AM class, which turned out to be a Family Music Class, with multiple age children, the youngest was probably 18 months. So Rachel was kind of out numbered. The other problem is that we have never been to the classes before, so we didn't know the songs or curriculum for the class. We muddled through, but the class was definitely too advanced for Rachel. The exercises they did were too advanced for Rachel, so the instructor recommended we stay for the 1130AM class which was a Music 1 class, better suited for children Rachel's age.

We had about an hour before the class, so I fed Rachel and changed her. Then we played for about 15 minutes in the big open play area. It's open from 10AM-12PM for Open Gym time. I found a quieter spot away from the bigger kids, and Rachel and I played with some balls and she did some rolling over on the mat.

Then it was time for the class. This one was much more suited for Rachel - the exercises were more age-appropriate and Rachel seemed to have a good time. There are still some things she wasn't able to do - like banging blocks together...she could hold the blocks but not bang them together. So I showed her how to do it, but she is very independent and wanted to do it herself.

All in all it was a great experience and just fun to do something different. I am not sure I would want to sign up for the classes on a monthly basis - Rachel does get a lot of stimulation at day care every day with toys and activities. There are two other companies I have researched that are local and have simiilar type of exercise classes. Most of them are offered during the week which we can't do since I work full-time, but when she is a little older there are some classes offered on the weekends. We'll try to register for some free classes from those companies as well to compare and see if it is worthwhile to sign up for on a monthly basis - it would be another activity for Rachel and some different things than she has atday care, plus a way for David and I to spend some quality time with her and maybe meet some other local parents.

President's Day

I thought I would wax poetic on the meaning of President's Day. Although it is a nice excuse for a day off from work or school, there is a real meaning behind the holiday.
Hope you learn something new and can appreciate the day and the office of President, no matter who you vote for.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington's_Birthday

She's not stopping now

Rachel rolled over to her right side today - as of last weekend she had been only able to roll over to the left side.

She also then rolled back onto her back after rolling over to her tummy.

And then she was non-stop - rolling from one side to her back, to the other side, to her back, back to the side, back to her back.

When she got to her tummy she was so proud and smiling, and so strong, holding herself up so high on her arms.

She has been able to turn herself around 180-360 degrees while on her tummy. And she is close to getting the crawling motion down. She will move herself backwards while seeming to crawl and if she is on her back she will skooch (is that a word?) herself backwards.

She is on the move and this is only the beginning.

7 months old

Rachel is now 7 months old.

She is growing up so fast - she is rolling over, eating rice cereal, green beans, peas, carrots, sitting in a high chair and sitting up on her own.

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Another first

Rachel rolled over for the first time today.

She is able to roll herslf to her left side. She is almost there on the right side, but can't quite get back over from her tummy to her back yet.

The first time she rolled over she was so proud - she had such a big smile on her face and she held herself up so high on her arms.

She couldn't wait to do it again! And again...and again.

Almost there!

She did it!

Rachel's 6-month check-up

Today was Rachel's 6-month check-up at the pediatrician.

She now weighs 15 pounds, measures 26 1/4 inches long and her head is 16 1/4 inches around. She still is in the 25% for weight and the 50% for height.

The doctor checked to see how she was sitting and grasping with one and two hands. She asked us about her rolling over (not yet) and if we had started her on solid foods yet. We hadn't since we were waiting for this appointment to discuss that. So we are going to start her on baby food - green vegetables first, then orange vegetables and then fruits. We can also try to take her off Prevacid since the food will be heavier than her formula and may sit better in her stomach.

We can also start giving her a multi-vitamin. For a baby her age she takes a liquid vitamin. There are higher requirements for Vitamin D now so the doctor felt that giving her a vitamin would help since as she eats more food, she will drink less formula.

She received 6 vaccinations and the flu shot. We have to go back on February 17th for the second half of her flu shot. She did so well again with her shots. She had 4 shots and one by mouth vaccination which she couldn't get enough of!

All in all she is doing well and growing strong. We won't see the doctor again until her 9-month check-up in April - and there are NO SHOTS at that appointment! Yeah!

How has it been...

six months to the very day, the very moment since Rachel was born?

She is now 15 pounds, 1 ounce, and already has quite the personality. She knows what she wants, and what she doesn't want. She smiles and laughs all the time. She grabs her feet and chews her fingers and tongue...I think those teeth are on the way!

She has started throwing her toys. She seems to almost pet Kona when he comes near her and laughs when he puts his face in hers. She sits up so well in her BeBePod seat and can really push herself up during Tummy Time. She also tries to sit up when you lay her down to change her or put her in her crib. Her legs are non-stop too - she is always kicking and moving and pumping her legs up and down. She also grabs everything...she is always exploring with her hands, and puts everything in her mouth! She is doing very well in day care - they really love her there and they have been so happy with her progress. They can't believe how much she has grown either. And they say she is really enjoying her rice cereal - she just eats it up!

We are really proud of Rachel - she is growing up so quickly. She is our beautiful girl that we love so much! We look forward to exploring and learning and growing more and more with her every day.

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Love always, Mommy and Daddy

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year all!

So it's 2009 now. 2008 went by so fast - it was amazing year for us mostly because of the birth of Rachel Charlotte. It was a whirlwind of doctor's appointments, work and preparing for maternity leave, baby showers, giving birth one month early and then the joy of bringing Rachel home and watching her grow. We also saw Rachel start day care, Daniella go back to work after 11 weeks of maternity leave and many visits from family for the baby shower, Rachel's birth, her baptism and Christmas. Thank you to all who came to visit or who participated in all the above-mentioned activities - some of you actually visited more than once, so thank you. It meant a lot to us to have you here and sharing in our joy!

Yesterday was also David's birthday - yes, a New Year's Eve baby.

Here is a picture of the cake I baked him - surely I am not the pastry chef in the family:
We usually go out to a Japanese restaurant for hibachi, but this year with Rachel that would have been hard to do. I am not sure the long wait to sit down, the lengthy dinner and the fier at the table would have been a good combination for her.

So instead we ordered Chinese food - still on the Asian theme, but it was delivered to us rather than us going to them. We ordered a number of things we usually wouldn't because it was a special day - David's birthday and New Year's Eve. We ordered shrimp tempura, egg rolls, spring rolls, soup, beef on a stick, General Tso's and vegetable fried rice. It was quite a smorgasbord.

Then we watched some of the pre-festivities on TV, ate birthday cake and fell asleep before midnight. Thankfully David woke me up so we could at least share a New Year's kiss. I called my dad and sister like I do every year, and then texted with Cindy in FL before falling back asleep.

So it's 2009 - Best wishes to everyone for a wonderful, happy, healthy and prosperous year.