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!

Finally!

It is official! Rachael has said "Mama". Well, she actually keeps saying it over and over. I guess the lesson is to be careful what you wish for. I now have little Rachael hugging my leg and saying, "mama, mama, mama" a lot. She is very proud of herself, though. She says "Mama" and looks at me, she says "dada" and looks at Mike. We are now working on "Rachael". When Rachael is eating, we like to look at the pictures on the fridge and talk about them. She likes to walk around with a particular picture of all three of us from a Cubs game last summer. She waddles around the room, shakes the picture, and says, "mama" and "dada" . She then shoves the picture in her little red barn where all her favorite things go (this week). In this picture, Rachael has just finished shoveling in handfuls of delicous black beans and avocado. The messier the better!

Recent travels...

The weekend before Thanksgiving, we visited my parents in Michigan City to have a turkey dinner. My mom made a great meal, but unfortunately, Rachael had been sick for a few days, and spread it to the rest of us. I have learned that parenthood brings lots of opportunity to be vomited on...Mike, the champion eater, couldn't even look at the food! My friend Andrea came by to visit which was great. I felt sick too, but sucked it up so I could enjoy some turkey and time with Andrea and my family. I didn't feel so well the next day, and slept most of it away. Sadly, we also spread it to my parents who had to delay their trip to North Carolina by a day. I guess sharing yucky stomach viruses is just part of being a family, right?

Luckily, we were feeling better for our trip to Seattle! Rachael took her first flight over the Thanksgiving holiday, and she is an amazing little traveler. Since I hate flying, it helped to be able to focus on Rachael instead of thinking about the flight. Rachael had no problems with take off or landing. We gave her a bottle, and she didn't seem to have any issues with the change in air pressure. She slept too, which made the trip much easier for us all. We had a great time in Seattle. Rachael enjoyed all the toys that Marjean had collected for her. We spent time with Joe and Lee (Mike's brother and his wife) and their "ga" (dog) Yoshi. Rachael hasn't quite got the word for dog mastered, so she points and says "ga". I guess she recognizes the difference between da-da and dog is the "g" sound. We look forward to our next visit somewhere now that we know Rachael enjoys traveling! The pictures are of Rachael with her Grandpa (my dad) and with Mike's brother Joe, sister-in-law Lee, and Rachael's 'cousin' dog Yoshi.

Busy, busy, baby!

Wow! Rachael has kept us very busy these last few weeks. She is really on the move. She is walking more adeptly each day, and she is discovering new things. She enjoys playing games, and I think we have quite the comedian on our hands. (she takes after her mommy, I guess) Last night, in the bath she was tugging at the hair on Mike's feet and pretending to eat it. She would grab at it, put her hand to her mouth, "offer" me some, and then do a little "num, num, num" action with her mouth. Then giggle a little. It was pretty darn funny. She also likes to be chased around the living room and giggles uncontrollably when we pretend to be stuck under the coffee table. Here is a recent picture of us! Can you believe she is only 10 months? She looks so much older...

Rachael walks!

Rachael took her first mutiple unassisted steps tonight. It was shortly after she gorged herself on black beans and avocado for dinner. She fought the face wiping, got out of her high chair with black beans mashed all over her thighs. Mike was standing in the kitchen, and I was sitting on the floor talking about random things. Mike was blabbering on about an idea he has for writing a book, and Rachael was holding on to a chair and exploring. Then, she just started walking right behind Mike, and he kept talking and didn't notice. I was stunned and stammered. I muttered out a "uh, uh, she's walking!" He missed it, but luckily he saw her take a few steps later on. Watch out world, she is going to be walking all over the place soon. Probably just in a diaper and shoes. No pants. No shirt. No time for clothes to slow her down! (The picture is from a few weeks ago, but it gives you an idea of her recently acquired walking skills...)

Hug addiction...

Rachael has started hugging. Everything. It is so gosh darn adorable. She hugs her stuffed animals, she hugs us, she hugs random objects. She hugged a plastic Curious George plate yesterday. Sometimes, she does a full body hug with a few wrestling moves thrown in. I hope this is a phase she doesn't outgrow. I hope to post a picture of her in action soon. For now, this cutie will do!