June 12th, 2012

Sing with me. (to the tune of popcorn popping) "I looked through the camera and what did I see?  Two sweet children smiling back at me."  I can't get enough of these two kiddos.


Rachel, Joseph and I went to playgroup at the Wheeler Farm.  "Mooo!  Cows!"


Rachel and Emmalee discuss the benefits of finding a feather.


"It's hot.  What's so neat about the farm anyway?"


Rachel was constantly picking up dirt and throwing it.


The only thing that interrupted playing in the dirt was the chance to look at fun animals.


"Little Joseph had a farm.  E-I-E-I-O."


Rachel tried to climb up the tree with the other kids.  She fell and got hurt.  On her way to get a kiss and a hug from her mommy, tears blurring her vision, she ran smack into the fence and fell over backward.  Poor kid.  It was hard for all of the moms in the crowd not to laugh.  She was so adorable.


More playing in the dirt and finding a stick cheered her right up.


"You mean we get to play at the park?"


Let the bark chip throwing begin!



"Don't mess with me.  I own this park."


Joseph had just mastered the art of standing.


Rachel decided to teach him the art of throwing bark.


"Look Mom!"


Time to get cleaned up and go home.


I thought Rachel was taking a nap.  She was actually shredding a book of fairytales from Doug's childhood.  Grrrr!  She had never done that before!  Why now?  The funny thing is that she was as sad as I was that the book was destroyed.  Her favorite "Three Little Pigs" was no more.


Rachel and I take turns blow drying her hair after her bath.



She decided Joey needed a blow dry too.  Check out their matching farm pajamas.


Every night after prayer we encourage Joey to try walking.  We know that he can do it.  He's already taken his first steps.  I think he just finds crawling to be more convenient.

Training our "Big Sister"

We have done all we can, I hope, to help Rachel during this transition.  We bought books to help her learn about babies and being a big sister.


She loves the books and reads them most every day.  
 

We bought her a baby boy doll so she can practice being a big sister.  We rock him, hug him, feed him and love him.


We've also been teaching her how to help with tasks around the house.  She's been practicing letting the dog in, shutting doors and drawers, putting toys and books away, getting diapers, moving laundry from the washer to the dryer and then to the basket, and how and when to climb.


I still worry about how this transition is going to affect her.  Mostly I worry about how she and I are going to survive being separated for 4 days.  My little sweet pea and I haven't spent more than 18 hours apart in her almost 2 years of life.  It is comforting to me that my mom and sister will be here with her.  Doug will be shuttling her back and forth to help her feel included.

I think we've given her every chance to become acquainted with the idea of being a big sister.  Now only time will tell.  I think she is going to love it.  Either way her new role begins on Monday.

Blog Books

You may, or may not, have been wondering why I fell off the blogging radar in January.  This is why. 

A few months back I bought some Groupons for Blurb.com.  I had to use them before they expired.  So, I ignored everything else for weeks and made these blog books.  There are things I would do differently next time.  There is a formatting that I would change.  And, I have to admit that I think MyPublisher's paper and print quality are better than Blurb's.  But... Blurb imported my blog into their software automatically which was a lifesaver!  I made one book that covers the final months of 2009.  Then I split 2010 into 3 books so that I could get the highest quality paper they offered.  I still have to put the final touches on book 2010 volume 3.  But I am thrilled that I have the history of my family in printed form.

Almost everything comes from the blog.  I just added some extra pictures and a few entries that never got published.  Here is just a sampling from the books.

My first 2 blog entries!  Power outage of October 2009 and Halloween 2009.

I put the table of contents for all 3 volumes of 2010 at the beginning of each volume for easy referencing.

I love flipping through the pages and letting the memories wash over me.

This solidifies my resolve to give up scrapbooking.  I can reprint these books at any time.  I hope to continue to add volume after volume to our family history throughout the years.

February 12th

Good Morning!  It's February 12th. 


Rachel wore braids for the first time.
 

 
This little smock from IKEA has been a lifesaver for me.  I wish I had known they existed a year ago.


Most of you know that I hate slime.  I hate slime so much that Rachel gets double bibbed on days where breakfast consists of oatmeal and applesauce.


It allows her the independence to feed herself and me the freedom to know that it's mostly contained.


My breakfast:  a protein shake and a banana.  I read a couple of verses of The Book of Mormon to Rachel when I'm finished with my feast.


Doug attended the LDS Church Worldwide Leadership Training broadcast.  He is so handsome in his shirt and tie.


Joseph spent a good part of the day kicking me in the spine.  The pain was awful.  So I laid on the couch and watched my very own darling source of entertainment.
 


Rachel has a lot of fun playing with her truck and her other toys.


 

She has figured out how to turn on the loud toys all by herself.  Batteries may have to be removed for parental preservation.
 
 

Rachel was thrilled to see her dad come home.  They practiced the ABCs on her keyboard.


Then daddy played one of her favorite games.




We looked at some old home videos.  Rachel LOVES seeing herself on TV.  I love the interaction between her and her TV persona.


During Rachel's nap I spent a few minutes doing a stuffed animal photo shoot for the blog.  Then I took a nap.


Doug took the opportunity to take some stuff to the DI and run to Lowe's.  We were so blessed.  He happened to go on the day that 3 different deals converged.  He bought the vanity, counter top, mirror, and cabinet fixtures for the bathroom for $650 instead of $950.  My hero.  He's trying to get the basement bathroom usable before my family (and the new baby) comes.




 

Rachel woke up pleasant from a long afternoon nap.
 

She helped me put away her books.



Zoe retrieved her toy in hopes that I would play with her.  I was sorry to disappoint.

Doug finished taping and painting the new basement office and bathroom. 


Once dinner was over and Rachel was nestled in bed, Doug and I enjoyed some time alone.  Neither of us could move so we sat together and watched an episode or two of "Eureka" then crawled off to bed.