Bed time is for squares

So as you know, I've been working on getting Rachel on a routine and on getting her to sleep in her crib. Ever since she started being more mobile she has been getting wigglier and wigglier. She has a hard time sitting still for any length of time. She doesn't cry as soon as I put her in her crib anymore because she knows that if she doesn't want to lay down and go to sleep, she doesn't have to. Here is an example of how our going to sleep routine goes almost every night. This is after we have wound down by reading stories and singing songs.

Eventually after a while she does stop doing that and then she starts doing this:

My baby girl is just so funny! It is exasperating to have to keep laying her back down so many times every night, but I can't help but love this little wiggly girl. It is all I can do to keep from cracking up as I'm trying to get her to sleep. (On good days that is.) She is so cute! I just love my baby girl

Happy Father's Day

This last Sunday was Father's Day. It was Rachel's first Father's Day and Jacob's first Father's Day as a dad. I had a really hard and emotional week that week leading up to it and I think the main reason was because I knew we weren't going to be with Jacob for Father's Day. I was feeling really lonely for him, and I was really sad that we couldn't be there to spoil him, or make him breakfast in bed, or at least hug him.

This last separation has been really hard for me. I think it might be because we got to visit him for so long and we got to see what it would have been like if we had moved out to Texas with him. It was so nice to be there for a week and a half. It was so fun to see Jacob playing with Rachel and being a dad. It was so nice for me to have someone else to share the responsibility of having a child with. It was fun to go places with Jacob but it was also fun to stay home and just be our little family. It was fun to go to church with him on Sunday and it was so nice to be able to hand Rachel to him so he could have a turn taking our noisy baby out! It was fun to make dinner for my husband. It was even fun being there during the day while he was in class just knowing that he would be able to come home to me soon. The rest of this can't go by fast enough. I am really grateful to my parents for letting Rachel and I come invade their home, but I really miss living with my husband. It is crazy to think that we are more than 2 months into this separation, but we still aren't even quite halfway yet! I see all of the new things Rachel is doing and learning and it makes me happy that I can be there to see her doing them, but it makes me so sad that Jacob can't be. I try to keep him updated over the phone, but it isn't quite the same. I miss my husband so much! I miss snuggling with him and I miss holding his hand. I miss talking to him with out the use of a phone. I miss seeing his cute face and the cute expression he makes when he is about to say something he thinks is funny. I miss being able to hug or kiss him when ever I want to, or even just touching his arm or tickling him! I miss being there when he comes home from work and hearing about his day. There are so many things I miss and love about my husband. He really is the best husband a girl could ask for. Rachel and I are so very blessed to have him in our family. Happy be-lated Father's Day my love! We love you so much are are so excited to get to come see you next week!

Week 1 of the Baby Whisperer

Today starts the second week of our new baby whisperer routine with Rachel, and some days I feel like it is working wonders and other days I just want to sit down and bawl (some days I have!!) So far we have succeeded in two respects. I don't have to feed Rachel to get her to sleep although she would still like me to, and she is now sleeping in her crib all night long and for naps which is a big improvement on what we were doing. The first few days Rachel took to our new routine and did really well, but I'm not sure what happened, but after those first few days she started fighting going to sleep. For the most part she is doing better but last night she woke up 8 times during the night! We are going to stick to it and hopefully Rachel will start sleeping better, crazy girl! I could tell she was just as tired as I was this morning when we woke up. Well, she just woke up from her nap so I better go get busy! I love this girl!

I'm not fat. . .All this dress makes me look poofy.

So we went to Target while I was in Texas and I found this super cute dress on clearance for only 5 dollars. What a steal! It is really poofy (the bottom part has 5 layers!) but Rachel looks so cute in it! Sunday morning before church the next day I gave Jacob the choice of getting Rachel dressed or making lunch. He chose dressing Rachel. She was a little traumatized at having her daddy put her in this huge poofy dress. Doesn't she make such a cute sad face. What a good mother I am, instead of comforting my child when she is bawling I take pictures of her.

As soon as I was done taking pictures and Jacob handed her to me she quit bawling.

Notice how tight she is clinging to my shirt. I don't think you could have pried her out of my arms after that.

Hungry? Why wait. . . Eat a banana pepper?