Giraffes

A little while ago we went to the zoo. It was our first time going in the morning and it was a lot of fun. Some of the animals were more active than we have seen them. There were some monkeys that were really funny because they just kept singing and singing and you could hear it from all over the zoo.

Another thing our zoo does in the mornings that we got to participate in was feeding the giraffes. It was so fun and exciting! I fed the giraffe first so that Rachel could see what to do, and (after licking her carrot) she decided to share it with the hungry giraffe too!  I think it is so funny how long their tongues are.

These giraffes definitely knew the routine! They were reaching for our carrots with their long tongues before we had even offered it to them. It was so fun to feed them! I love the zoo!

First Happy Meal

While this pregnancy has been much easier so far than last time because I haven't been nearly as sick, I still have my moments when everything in the house is contaminated. I had one of those moments at lunchtime a little while ago so Jacob being the wonderful husband that he is ran to Burger King to get us something to eat. He is truly the best husband ever!

While he was there he bought Rachel her first ever happy meal and she was so cute with her little hamburger and french fries!

"A whole hamburger for me?"

"Mmmmmm!"

Cupcakes and Black Eyes

We made some really cute cupcakes for Valentines day and they were really yummy too! They were lemon with lemon filling and lemon frosting with a chocolate heart on top. Neither Jacob or I like cake very much, but these were delicious!

Here are some pictures of Rachel with her first cupcake. Of course the very first thing she did was eat the chocolate heart off the top. She was so quick that I didn't even get a picture!

Sharing her cupcake with dad.

You can see her black eye pretty good in these pictures. Rachel has started climbing on our chairs and we have been trying to teach her that we only sit on chairs. Well she was on her little armchair standing and she fell over the back of it and hit her head on the tile and hit her eye on a Tupperware container. Poor little Rachel! She looked as if she had been beaten! It's all healed up now, but looking at these pictures I still feel bad!

My Garden

I decided this year that I was going to plant a garden. I'm actually quite excited about it. My dad always grew big vegetable gardens for our family every year and one of the best foods in the world is fresh veggies from the garden. Jacob being the awesome husband that he is, didn't even bat an eye when I told him of my latest "project" idea. He helped me build the box and clear the rocks and here is our garden.

We are doing a square foot garden where you plant something different every square foot. If you haven't heard of it, I highly recommend checking out the book and giving it a try. It makes gardening relatively simple and I'm so excited to see how our little garden does.

Here is what we have planted in our garden. Tomatoes, summer squash, zuchinni, peppers, peas, radishes, onions, spinach, lettuce, basil, cilantro, green beans, and some marigolds to keep a few bugs away. I planted everything last Monday (Feb 13th) and by Saturday (Feb 18th)  I had my first little radish pushing up out of the dirt.  I am so excited to have something growing in my little garden! Also there are flowers on my tomato plants! I can hardly wait for fresh garden tomatoes!

Here is a  picture of my little radishes coming up. In this picture we are up to 9 little sprouts! I can't wait til I have little things growing all over my garden!

My cute husband bought me this pretty rose bush for Valentines day. I'm still trying to decide whether to plant in in the pot or in the ground somewhere. He is so sweet! 

This is the first place we have lived that we have been able to plant things in our yard and I am quite excited about it. Its fun to change up our yard and make it ours! 

"I'm cute!"

Rachel found a pair of Jacob's military issued prescription sunglasses and had to try them on!

The expression  on her face in this bottom picture makes me giggle because this is the expression she gets when she knows she is cute. She gets this look when puts on a hat or gets a bow in her hair or something like that!

Isn't she the cutest little girl ever?

Obsessions

This first picture exemplifies two of Rachel's obsessions, hats and shoes! She notices every hat in every book we read and when we are at the grocery store she makes sure to point out everyone who is wearing one!

When Jacob comes home from work instead of yelling "Dada," she usually yells "hat!"

   

And all day long she is either bringing me her shoes to put on her, or my shoes to put on me or Jacob's shoes so we can talk about dada. She is so funny! I'm not sure why she is so obsessed with these items, but she is.

This little girl cracks me up with the things that she likes! She definitely didn't get either of these obsessions from me! I love this funny little Rachel-girl!

Bed head and Oatmeal

Rachel wakes up with the wildest hair sometimes and I love it!

The first thing Rachel says when I go get her from her room in the mornings is "Dada" because she wants us to go find him so she can give him a hug. The second thing she says is "Eat!" and she will say it over and over until breakfast is ready an she can eat it. She wakes up so hungry in the mornings. She must get that from her daddy!

Rachel's very favorite thing to eat for breakfast is oatmeal! She loves it so we have it for breakfast almost everyday. She the huge bites that she takes? 

"Feed me more Oatmeal!"

I love this funny, crazy-haired, hungry girl of mine!

Rachel's Box

A little while ago we got a package from amazon and before I had even emptied out the box, Rachel let me know she wanted it, the box that is. I put her in the box and she started signing car and making her car noise. We pushed her all around the house in her little box car and she loved it. She would climb in her box and bring her toys and play there by herself for an hour at a time which for her is very unusual!

She played and played and played in this box until it got ripped and broken, but she didn't care, she still loved it!

The box met it's untimely demise though when Rachel was sick a little while ago. She had one episode of diarrhea and it happened to be all over her box. :(
I may just have to order something else off of amazon soon so that Rachel can get another box!

Rachel's New Word

Rachel keeps spouting out new words everyday. It is fun to hear what new things she will come up with next. Her new word of the day is "geeky." I was talking to Jacob and I called something geeky. I had to repeat myself a few times because he couldn't tell what I was saying. Rachel must have thought it was fun to say because once she started saying it, she kept repeating it over and over all night long. She probably kept saying it because she knew we thought she was funny, that little girl will do almost anything if she thinks it will make mommy and daddy happy!

"B"

I have such a smart little girl, I just wanted to share. Yesterday I was outside with Rachel and we were drawing with the chalk on the sidewalk. I've worked with her some on her ABC's and we've gotten on Starfall a little. Usually I just draw the letters and have her repeat after me when I tell her what they are. Today on a whim I drew her favorite letter and asked her what it was and she knew! Her favorite letter is B, by-the-way! Then I wrote an A and she recognized that one too! So far those are the only ones I've been able to get her to say with out help, but I was just excited and thought I would share what my little smartie was up to!

The first and worst is over!

Yay! I'm finally 13 weeks today (Sorry no picture  this week!) That means my first trimester is officially over! Why does the first trimester in a pregnancy seem to last the longest? It is actually shorter than the rest because you don't actually find out you are pregnant until you are about 4 weeks along, but it seems to drag on forever! Our baby this week is about the size of my fist, or if you like the fruit comparisons, a lemon. It is so fun to feel this baby growing inside me!

11 Weeks :)

Yesterday was a super exciting day for our little family. I had  my first ultrasound this pregnancy. It was so fun to see that little person inside me. I know I'm pregnant, and I definitely feel pregnant, but actually seeing my baby moving around on the ultrasound made it so much more real! Jacob got to get off a little early from work so that he could come so we just made it a family event. After Jacob pointed to the screen and showed Rachel the baby it was all she could talk about for the rest of the ultrasound. I know she doesn't understand that there is a baby in my tummy, but she could see the little baby on the screen. Rachel is funny, I've told her a few times that I have a baby in my tummy and every time we talk about it she has to uncover my tummy and either poke it (because face it,  its a little bigger than it use to be) or she will blow raspberries on it. I think it will be fun when our baby is big enough to hear and kicks her when she does it! :)

Here is a belly picture of me at 11 weeks along. Our little one is about the size of a large plum now, weighs about a half an ounce and is  about 2 and 1/2 inches long according to What to Expect When You're Expecting. (I love that book!)

We love our baby plum so much already and are so excited for when we finally get to meet him or her! Come on August!

Rachel Stories

I just thought I'd take a minute and write a little about what our little Rachel-girl is up to these days.

 Rachel is such a happy little girl and always keeps us laughing. She loves loves loves to be chased and in turn she loves to chase her mama around the kitchen. Her favorite part about being chased though is being caught. She just loves to be tickled, and we love to tickle her too because we love to here her cute little giggles filling our home!

Last night dinner was just a little later than it normally is around here and Rachel was starving! We fed her dinner and after she ate what is the normal amount for her I asked her if she was all done and she said and signed, "More, more, more!" I asked her more what, and she said and signed, "Eat, eat, eat!" So we fed her more, and more and more. She stayed in her high chair for over an hour telling us that she wanted more and more to eat.

Rachel is talking so much and I love it. She learns new words and new signs almost every single day. She loves to talk about her baby (doll), the airplanes that are always flying around, books, balls, noses and other parts of the face and so much more. There is still a lot we can't understand that she tries to say, but it is so fun to see her learning to communicate more and more each day.

Our funny little girl loves to be doing what ever we are doing. It cracks me up to see her copying the things we do even if she's not sure why we are doing it. When she sees us exercising on the treadmill, she wants to do it too. When Jacob is stretching after a run, she will mimic his movements. If we are eating anything, she needs to try it too. Today at lunch, Jacob had his arms folded and leaned against a wall and Rachel made sure to fold her arms quick and bow her head because she thought he was going to say a prayer. If I am getting ready, she has to brush her teeth, brush her hair and "put make-up on" just like mommy.

She loves to share anything and everything, with anyone and everyone. She especially likes to share things with Mommy and Daddy, probably because we are always sharing everything with her. She really likes to share her food and doesn't like to eat a snack unless we are taking bites and eating it with her.

She loves loves loves to go outside. Rachel would probably live outside if I let her. She likes to go for walks (with or with out the stroller), go to the park, or even just play in the backyard. She picks up all the rocks 2 or 3 at a time and brings them over to show me every single one. She is pretty funny because I think she would do just about everything to get to play outside. Yesterday morning I told her we had to do our hair and get out of jammies before we could play outside, so she went and found some clothes for me to put on her and then she brought me rubber bands to put in her hair so that she could go outside.

Rachel has just started climbing. She has figured out that she can climb onto our kitchen chairs and she looks so proud of her self whenever she does it. She can also push chairs around. I'm just nervous for when she figures out she can push a chair up to the counter and then climb onto the counter from the chair.  The other day I had music playing from our computer and Rachel pushed a chair up to the computer and climbed on. I went looking for her and found her just sitting on the chair swinging her legs and listening to the music. She loves music. When I sing to her after the song is over she says and signs, "More, more, more." so that I will sing another song. We play music quite frequently around her and she loves to dance to it. It makes me happy to see my little dancing girl!

I'm sure there is so much more I could post about her. I could go on and on forever about this little one. She makes our lives so happy! I just love being her mom! :)