4:09

Rachael was born at 4:09, so here is a picture of her at 4:09 today when she officially turned one year old...

Happy Birthday!

Rachael turns one year old today! We spent the morning eating pancakes and bananas at La Peep, and now she is napping and growing. We were joined by 20 or so of Rachael's closest friends, family, and admirers for her birthday party last Sunday. She was thrilled to entertain and show everyone her toys. Guests brought books to donate to the Infant Welfare Society of Evanston's childcare center, and Rachael and I will deliver those later this week. She is previewing a few of them! Thanks again for celebrating with us!

She's officially a Rubin!

One trait the Rubin family has is the habit of reading while eating breakfast. Here is a picture of Rachael perusing an "Oriental Trading" catalog and chomping on Kix. If you're a teacher, you know that "Oriental Trading" is that catalog of those random prizes like pencil toppers and troll dolls. Rachael likes looking at all the "junk" and happy kids playing with it. The Kix, as Mike and my friend Megan reminisced, were one of the few "kid's" cereals that they could have growing up because it is low in sugar. Rachael loves Cheerios and Kix. She points at the box to specify which cereal she is in the mood for. I think she wants me to order some ranibow sun catchers or miniature dinosaur erasers for her birthday party.

Snow and Bad Parenting

It snowed the day Rachael was born, and it kept snowing for about six weeks last winter which kept us trapped at home. Now Rachael is big enough to notice the snow and enjoy it a little. She stands at the back door and watches the snow accumulate in our back yard. She points to the birds (mostly pigeons, but a few cardinals and snow finches too). This picture was an attempt to create a "cute" snowy scene for our holiday card a few weeks back. You will see her joy quickly turns to anger as I lay her down in a the fresh snow at our friend Jon Bogie's place after a housewarming brunch. Please don't call the authorities on me! It seemed like a good idea at the time.Luckily, Rachael had just finished playing with their dog Zoey for a few hours, so she was in a pretty good mood. Thankfully, I was prepared with a dry pair of pants for Rachael's ride home.

Rachael with Great Grandma

Over the holidays, Rachael got to spend some quality time with my Grandma, Brenda. Here are a few adorable pictures of their "conversation". Enjoy!

The Holidays

Rachael has really enjoyed the holidays. Santa was good to her. We spent Christmas with my family in Indiana, and Rachael was surrounded by dogs which was a gift in itself. She was such a happy baby around new faces and tons of family. She was instantly infatuated with her second cousin Nathan, my cousin Mike's son. The picture says it all! We all had a great time visiting, and I was happy to spend time with my sister Christy and her husband Brandon who were up from NC. We are all looking forward to Rachael's first birthday! She has grown so quickly. This time last year, I was sitting around feeling huge and waiting to go into labor. A short year later, she is walking and giggling and bringing joy to our lives each day. Happy New Year to you all!