6-Month Check-Up (Belated)

I took Rachel for her 6-month Dr. Appt. last Tuesday and she did a great job! She got three shots, which she didn't really appreciate, but she was a very brave little girl. Here are Rachel's latest stats:

• She weighed in at 14 lbs even, which is only 6 ounces more than she weighed 2 months ago. It puts her in the 10th-25th percentile, which is a bit of a drop from last visit. But the doctor says she is perfectly healthy, so I will just keep feeding her all those yummy foods!


• She gained a half-inch over 2 months, even though she seems so long to me! I can't believe how big she is getting.


• The doctor gave the okay to start the sippy cup, though he said she would probably reject it at first. I went out and bought a couple and some juice to put in them. I diluted the juice with water and gave her one. She seems to like it, but doesn't understand that she has to tilt the cup to get the juice out!

• The doctor also gave the okay to start cereal at 8 months, which makes mommy VERY nervous. My sister says she cut the cereal up for the boys, so I may try that, or I will try using the dissolving puffs that Gerber makes.



• Rachel is REALLLLLY close to crawling. She has started pulling herself up on her hands and knees, and she lunged forward once the other night. Looks like we need to babyproof the house!

Merry Christmas

Here are a couple pictures of Christmas Eve at the Wood household. We were all very blessed to get a lot of gifts, the most special of which was Rachel's cousin, Caden Phillip. Then she woke up Christmas morning to lots of presents under the tree, just for her!

Merry Christmas everyone!

New Camera from D-Wayne Claus!

I was getting kind of frustrated with my old camera, because all of my pictures seemed orange, and when I would turn he flash off, they were too dark or blurry. And I want to take good pictures of my daughter, but it didn't seem like anything helped. I didn't know whether it was my poor photography skills, my camera, or the weird lighting in our house. So D-Wayne Claus came a little early, and we picked out a nice new digital camera for our Christmas gift.

I am still a little uneasy. I suffer from big-time buyer's remorse after almost every big purchase, so I have been questioning whether or not this camera is for me. It is a heavy-duty deal...lots of gidgets and gadgets that I probably don't need or won't understand. And looking at the pictures on my LCD screens on the cameras, they didn't look that different from my other camera.

But I fiddled with it a lot tonight (all the different modes and lighting options), and when I loaded them onto the computer, I could see a difference in the clarity and lighting.

Duane said I should sign up for an online photography class, so I think I am going to try that. There are some that teach about my new camera specifically, so I may use any money I get from my next freelance project to do that. I used to be a fairly decent photographer, but if you don't use it, you lose it, I guess!

Let me know what you think about the pictures. The top two are from my old camera, and the bottom few are from my new camera.

p.s. I am selling my old 35-mm Canon Rebel. Everything is digital now, but if anyone knows someone who could use it, let me know and I will make them a good deal.

Christmas Pictures!

So, we had a fun Sunday in the Wood Family. I really wanted to get Rachel's Christmas pictures done so I could put them on our Christmas cards, and I figured we could just do her 6-month pictures at the same time. Foolishly, I neglected to think that everyone else in the city of Columbus would be scheduling Christmas pictures too. I told Duane it would only take an hour or two and he agreed to come with me to the photo studio.

So off we went. It took 20-30 minutes to take the actual pictures, and Rachel was very tired, so she wasn't too cooperative. We managed to get a couple happy-ish pictures and a very nice Christmas photo for the cards. I would have loved to have a few more options on the Christmas photo, but she was just too tired at that point. Every time I put her down, she burst into tears. I can't blame her...there were strange adults with cameras and little kids and parents running around everywhere.

So, the photographer said it might take 5-10 minutes to get to view our pictures. Over an HOUR later, I went to check the status and there were still 2 groups ahead of us. So an hour and a half passed and I was finally able to see my little angel and deliberate over the best poses. I didn't take long -- I narrowed 45 poses to 4 and then just had to wait another 15 minutes for everything to print.

Needless to say, at this point, Rachel was very cranky. She slept most of our wait to view the pictures, but once she woke up, she was both hungry and confused...and probably sick of sitting in her carseat! The whole ordeal took about 4 hours from when we left the house to when we got home, 3 of which was spent at the studio.

I am really hoping D-Wayne Claus will get me a magical camera for Christmas so perhaps we can avoid this in the future and stick to yearly portraits...in June...when nobody is around.

But there is no knocking the pictures -- they are gorgeous!

Expansion!!

I got an e-mail from my sister-in-law yesterday and she has progressed to almost 3 centimeters and 80% effacement, so baby Caden could arrive any day!! He isn't due until the 21st, and the doctor was going to induce her on the 20th for medical reasons, but the doctor thinks he will come sooner anyway. Here's hoping!!
I also found out that a friend from work who is due with a boy on the 22nd is also 3 centimeters and she just lost her plug, so her baby boy could also arrive any day!
BABIES EVERYWHERE!!

Here Comes Santa Claus!

The last few days have been fairly uneventful in the Wood household, but I can say that we have our Christmas tree up. It isn't decorated, but all in due time. Our babysitter, however, has a beautifully tall tree that is perfectly decorated with giant bulbs and pretty lights, complete with tinsel and a big red star on top. Rachel loves to stare at it, and I am excited to get ours finished so she will have yet another distraction in our house.

It is getting more and more difficult to keep the child entertained, and I really fear that she is growing smarter than I am. Her sense of humor is so well-developed, and she just has to watch us do something once and she immediately attempts to do it herself. She is very independent and very strong-willed, which makes me both proud and frustrated.

I am really excited for the holidays this year, and I am hoping my attempt to take the days around Christmas off of work will be successful. Last year I was close, but then I snagged the ticket to the National Championship game in New Orleans, so I had to switch my vacation days because I was too busy at work to do both. This year I am only planning on working the Monday before Christmas and possibly New Years Eve. We never really do anything for NYE anyway, and I can't see that changing with the little one around. Maybe we will pop open the bottle of champagne that has been in the fridge since last NYE.

But the main reason I am excited for the holidays is sharing them with Rachel and Duane. I am excited to see what Santa brings her, excited to watch her reaction to things, and I am just really excited that I have her in my life to enhance the holidays for me. Tonight we watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer as we went through our nightly ritual, and I haven't been so interested in that show in years. Everything that I have forgotten about from childhood holidays make me very excited to relive things through my daughter. And we are getting pictures with Santa soon too!!

First Thanksgiving

Well, it has been an exciting couple of days for us! Rachel experienced her first Thanksgiving and her first Black Friday.

On Thursday, we headed to my in-laws' house at noon for Thanksgiving dinner. We got to visit with them, and Rachel was very well-behaved and interactive. She seemed to enjoy the time with her grandparents and cousins. She even got to have Grandpa Wood feed her some sweet potatoes at the table like a big girl! Although I think she was clearly in control of the situation, because grandpa seemed intimidated when she would grab the spoon from him.

She should have another cousin here in a few short weeks, because Jen is about ready to pop! The poor girl has had terrible tailbone pain lately, and she may end up with a C-Section. We just hope for a healthy delivery all-around.

Then we headed to my parents' house for dessert and a light meal. They had already eaten when we arrived, but we spent some time with the family and Duane ended up eating some of the traditional Thanksgiving lasagna my dad prepared. I partook of some pecan pie, which is my absolute favorite guilty pleasure on Thanksgiving. I skipped the light dinner just so I could have a piece.

Friday, Rachel and I headed out around 9 a.m. for shopping. I always go to one store each Black Friday, and I always rediscover why I only end up going to one store. I can't take the crowds. Rachel was a model baby. She just chilled in her stroller as we waited in line at a certain retail store so that we could get her cousin's batman gifts. So as a reward, I bought her yet another Christmas dress. :)

Then we entertained my family to celebrate Grandpa Burkey's birthday. We had yummy pizza, some beer, wine, and I made a trifle for the first time, which is a fruity dessert. I am not a fruit fan, but it was what my dad wanted, and it seemed to go over well.

So we are officially in the Christmas season, so Rachel and I are just waiting for Duane to get home so we can decorate!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Looking back on this whirlwind of a year, I think about how last year at this time, I was praying to get through every day without something going wrong with my pregnancy. Now, I look at Rachel and I realize that I have gained new understanding of what it means to be truly thankful for all my blessings. She grew safely inside me for 10 months, she had a healthy delivery, and she continues to flourish before our eyes. I am blessed to have such a healthy and beautiful little girl, a wonderful husband, and amazing friends and family.

All About Tradition

It may not have been the most exciting game in the rivalry's history, but Ohio State defeated That Team Up North today, 42-7, and I was there. It was my year in the 6-year rotation for the coveted M*chigan ticket, so today I attended The Game with my mom. It was similar to the last time I attended The Game, 6 years ago, in one way: VERY COLD! Mom and I were in the very top row of C Deck, so we bundled up really snug and climbed a million stairs while clinging to the handrail. Once we were up there, it wasn't so bad. I warned everyone in the vicinity that I am a very loud fan, and I only cursed once. (It slipped out when we got a roughing the kicker penalty.)
I had a great time -- it was nice to get out and be an adult for a while. I am exhausted, sore, and I am losing my voice again, so it must have been fun!

Here's to the fourth straight Big 10 title for our beloved Buckeyes. It was a great year, and I am kind of glad we don't have to play the likes of Oklahoma -- 65-14 in the fourth quarter vs. #2 Texas Tech...YIKES!

Here are a couple pictures of me and Rachel from the other day too. Just for kicks. She seems like she doesn't like looking at the

camera when I am trying to get our picture together.

Murdock doesn't get much play on the blog, and I was practicing my lighting the other day, so I snapped a quick pic of the little guy. He doesn't look too happy about it...poor dude has had some major adjustments to make in these last 5 months. I have been very impressed with him to this point. He gets jealous every now and then, but he minds us very well and even seemed a bit concerned the other night when he could hear Rachel on the monitor but he couldn't find her. He searched for her everywhere, sniffing in her car seat, her piano bouncer, the fireplace(?)...




With this being M*chigan week, I had to post a picture of my little bean in her OSU duds. She looks a bit like a boy, doesn't she? She must be thinking "BOO M*chigan!"

BABY!

I got a break from Mommyville this weekend, because I attended a baby shower for my sister-in-law on Saturday while Duane watched Rachel. Normally I would have taken her, but I didn't want to steal the thunder. My sister-in-law tried to get pregnant for a while before she and the brother-in-law had success, so I wasn't about to take anything away from that.

In the spirit of the shower, I made a shower cake. It wasn't the typical shower cake -- no baby booties or storks. It was a square yellow cake with chocolate frosting and a blue bow and polka dots. Duane actually baked the cakes for me, because my first cake burned and I had to tend to Rachel. And I iced them with homemade chocolate frosting and made a fondant bow. It wasn't my best effort, because I wasn't used to working with fondant or chocolate frosting, but it tasted pretty good!

Baby Caden got a LOT of clothes. I kept teasing that he is going to have to switch rooms with them because of all the clothes he got.

After the fun was over, I went home and watched the recording of the OSU game, hung out with Duane, and relaxed the rest of the weekend.

Rachel is doing very well. She is eating almost a jar of baby food at each sitting. I have been mixing rice cereal into the baby food and she seems to tolerate that pretty well. She is on green foods. She likes sweet potatoes and green beans the best so far. Her diapers have taken quite a stinky turn since she started solids, let me tell you.
Her next doctor appointment is December 23rd, so I will update her stats then.

Other than that, we are just busy getting ready for Rachel's first Christmas. I am determined to decorate the outside this year, as I was promised by Duane that he would handle it last year and he never did. Wish me luck with that!

A Change is Coming

I view myself as an independent. I really don't like the two-party system. I don't like political parties in general. I like to vote for the best candidate. While I lean more toward the liberal side of things, I try not to let that control my vote from year to year. My parents are Democrats and my brother is a devout Republican. It makes for some lively conversations at family gatherings.
I honestly didn't know who I was going to vote in this election. I actually really liked Hillary Clinton, but she lost the primary. So I was kind of left stumped. And I didn't really care. I mean, I even considered not voting at one point. I voted in 2000 and 2004, but it didn't matter then, so why should it matter now?
When I went to vote yesterday, I overheard a few people behind me who were very vocal in their support of Barack Obama. I found it amusing at first -- I would never vocalize my tendencies at the polling place. I generally don't vocalize them to anyone who isn't my friend or family member. But these people were passionate about Obama's message, and it really got to the heart of this election.
People finally care.
This country is in disarray. The economy is declining fast; gas prices are unstable; jobs are being shipped overseas; companies are going belly-up; and we are still involved in a war that I honestly don't think we can win.
So as I stood there holding my 4-month-old daughter, I looked at her and started to tear up a little bit. Because even though I didn't care in 2000 or 2004, I care now. I care about what happens for her future in this country. I care whether she will be able to go to college and find a job that she enjoys, whether she will be able to afford the gas for her first car, and whether she will be able to live in a time when this country isn't at war.
I don't know if Barack Obama can fix everything. I don't subscribe to the belief that as soon as he takes office in January, everything will be sunshine and roses again. But I believe he cares, and I have seen how people have responded to his message that things can change for the better again.
We need to care, and we need someone to care about us, the middle and lower classes.

Trick or Treat...Smell My Feet...

Rachel celebrated her first Halloween as a RAT! I prefer to think of her as a mouse, but the costume definitely looked more rat-like. She wore her costume to the sitter, and underneath she was wearing her Halloween outfit. When I picked her up Halloween afternoon, I changed her back into her costume and we sat outside with Daddy and handed out candy to all the trick-or-treaters who happened by. We usually only get about 20-30, because we live in a deep court in a neighborhood full of twists and turns.

We visited with the neighbors and got our first "treats" and then Grandma and Great Great Aunt Ann came to visit the little rat! It was a fun night!

4 Months

First, I have to apologize because I was mistaken -- Rachel's doctors appointment was today, not Friday. I am glad I discovered this before Friday, or I would have been pretty irritated with myself.

Rachel turned 4 months old on Thursday. I had been suffering from a cold since Sunday, and Rachel decided she didn't want to sleep more than an hour at a time last week, so by Thursday I was pretty miserable. I actually gave warning at work that I probably wouldn't go in to work Friday because by the time I left work on Thursday, I couldn't see straight because of the pressure in my sinus cavity. So poor Rachel and I didn't have a great week, but on Friday I got lots of sleep while she was at the sitter and I was rejuvenated by the time I had to pick her up.

Saturday was a HUGE milestone for Rachel because she ate her first few bites of rice cereal! I don't think she liked it much.

But she held it down and by Sunday I think she started to get the hang of it. I snuck her some applesauce on Sunday too, and she liked the taste of that better, so I think she is ready to be a big girl eater.

We also decided to let her cry-it-out on Saturday because she wasn't taking her naps when I would lay her down. The sitter tells me she is very scheduled, requires no swaddling, and goes right to sleep around the same time every day for a few hours. Yet for my weekends, she won't sleep when I set her down. So we set her in her crib, turned the monitor on but left the volume down (so we could see the lights but not hear her crying), and retreated to the basement and waited for her to fall asleep.

Normally I am not a proponent of letting a baby cry, but I also think that Rachel has gotten to the point where she needs to learn how to put herself to sleep. I have gotten tons of advice from tons of mothers. Nothing has worked so far, and even though Rachel is only 4 months old, neither of us is getting any sleep right now, and that isn't healthy for either of us.

Today, the pediatrician confirmed that we need to let her cry herself to sleep. Most people tell me this will take about 3 rough nights, but that at the end of the week, she will be sleeping through the night, or at least for longer than 3-hour spurts. Wish us luck!

Okay, here are the 4-month stats!

• 13 lbs 10 oz. (50th percentile)


• 25.5 inches (90th percentile)


• The doctor says she is remarkably strong. She was trying to stand on the table while he was examining her!

October Sunday

Duane has been working a lot, so Rachel and I have been hanging out. And Mommy has been shopping for fall gear for Rachel! Here are some photos of our lazy Sunday! (If I look tired, it's because I am. Rachel has yet to return to sleeping through the night. We shall be asking the doctor about this on Friday.)

One Year Ago...

366 days ago, I woke up from a lovely dream. I had been dreaming about taking a pregnancy test and watching it turn positive. I woke up feeling so lively and happy; in fact, the dream was so powerful that it prompted me to take a pregnancy test. But I couldn't bear to watch another pregnancy test turn negative. So I peed on the little stick and left the room. A couple of minutes later, I walked back in and glanced at the test and did a double-take -- IT WAS POSITIVE!

I was completely unprepared for the emotions that would follow the excitement of that day. I don't think anyone ever considers the bad aspects of pregnancy and parenthood...it is masked by all the joy you experience throughout those 9 months after you see that little positive pop up.

The first 8 weeks were full of happiness, worry, anticipation, and nausea as we told our family and friends, fretted over any possible sign of a miscarriage, saw our baby for the first time, and encountered the lovely world of morning sickness. Once we reached the second trimester, the morning sickness gave way to hormone-driven emotions, and scares over a couple of falls. As my belly got bigger, we grew more eager to meet our baby, and at 21 weeks, we learned we would be having a little girl! We had already decided to name her Rachel Louise, and we began to prepare for her arrival.

As I approached the end of my pregnancy, Duane and I grew impatient to meet our little daughter. We began to see her movements more decidedly as she squirmed in my belly every evening. We wondered who she would resemble -- would she have my lips? Duane's eyes? hair?

In the last couple of weeks before her birth, the anticipation and impatience turned to overall frustration as I awaited labor. On Sunday, June 22nd, four days past my due date, I was awaiting the induction my doctor had scheduled for that Tuesday. As I laid down to bed that night, I talked to Duane about all the things I needed to pick up the next day. As I listened to him snore himself to sleep, I was once again plagued with the insomnia that had been so present in those last few months of pregnancy (the bigger your belly gets, the more difficult it is too sleep!). All of a sudden, at 11:47 p.m. (yes, I noted the exact minute), I felt this gush. I ran to the bathroom -- sure enough, my water broke! Duane went into a frenzy as I called the doctor, and off to the hospital we went, with me dripping through my three layers of padding and clothes. (You always imagine water breaking as one big gush and then nothing, but let me tell you, it is more like a pulse of water that keeps surging for about an hour or so.)

I experienced 13 hours of labor, though it didn't seem that hard until the last hour. And then, there was my baby -- but it didn't quite click that she was my baby. I remember thinking she was a beautiful baby, but it didn't feel like she was mine. Maybe I was just too tired to realize it, or maybe it was the barrage of visitors, but I didn't really feel like she was my baby until the second day or so, when I was caring for her by myself in the hospital because Duane had gone home to grab some things. I was trying to take a shower and had to roll her bassinet into the bathroom with me. She started crying as I was toweling off and I remember saying, "It's okay, mommy's here."

After the fatigue of labor started to wear off and the pain had long set in, I started to get scared. Scared of taking her home, out of the bubble of the hospital where I could send her back to the nursery whenever I needed to sleep. Scared of being a mommy. Scared to move from pregnancy to parenthood.

The following weeks were the hardest of my life. I had experienced a rough labor (although the epidural hid it well) so my recovery was pretty difficult. I had no idea how to care for this little being, no idea why she wouldn't sleep in her crib, no idea how many times to feed her every day or why she seemed so incredibly fussy. I felt depressed that my first pregnancy was over and I was no longer the baby carrier but the baby carer. People didn't say hi to me anymore, they didn't ask about me outside of a courteous "How are you?" It was all about the baby -- and while I adored her, I was starting to understand why they give you so much time off of work for maternity leave. It is hard to have a baby -- physically and emotionally.

Your life changes forever. I can't just pick up and run to the store anymore. I have to make sure someone can watch the baby. I am a walking boob. I adore my time with my daughter but long for time on my own. I watch her laugh one minute and feel this elated joy that I can't even describe. Then in an instant, she begins to fuss and I feel despair because I want to soothe her.

366 days ago, I woke up from a lovely dream and started down the path to parenthood. It has been an amazingly beautiful and scary journey. And even though I get sad sometimes -- sad that the pregnancy is over or that Rachel is growing so fast or that I can't do some of the things I used to -- I look at this little girl and I know it is all worth it. :)

We Have Teething...

I know what you're thinking -- normally, a baby doesn't cut teeth until 5-6 months. And quite possibly, Rachel won't actually cut any teeth until then. But she is showing those early signs that some teeth are sprouting below the surface of her gums. Lately, her fists are her best friends, and she chomps away on them constantly. She has also started making what I call her "teething face."

I feel horrible for her, because there isn't much I can do to relieve the discomfort. I give her Orajel, infant Tylenol, and teething rings, and they all seem to mask the problem temporarily. We haven't hit the worst of it, I fear, because no little teeth are visible yet.

Other than that, things are great. Duane went to Pennsylvania this weekend for a motorcycle track day, so Rachel and I had the house to ourselves for a girls' weekend. We had grandma and grandpa over on Saturday for the Ohio State game, and you should have heard this kid squealing in what could only be explained as excitement!

Then on Sunday we went to my department's picnic. It was such a beautiful day, and Rachel was in an excellent mood! Normally she does not tolerate others holding her, but she was passed around with ease and barely fussed about it. She even flashed some smiles at the Department Heads, which made mommy proud!! After a long day outside in the fresh air, we came home and Rachel passed out for a couple of hours.

I missed Rachel's 3-month birthday, but I will be sure to get lots of pictures in the coming days and weeks. Here are her latest stats:

• Rachel is 12 lbs and 24 inches long. Her head circumference is still 15.75 inches. So that puts her in the 50th percentile for weight and circumference and the 75th percentile for height. Who would have thought we would have a tall, skinny kid?


• Rachel is doing excellently at the sitter. She has a young friend named Ben there, who is only a few months older than she is. Every day when I drop her off, she starts to cry, which breaks my heart. But by the time I pick her up in the afternoon, she is giggly and smiling. The sitter says she keeps to a perfect schedule.


• Rachel is still not sleeping through the night. I don't know if she gets hungry, because she doesn't eat much at each sitting. Or perhaps I have caused her to develop a bad habit, because I let her sleep with us after she wakes up. So maybe she wakes up because she senses that it is time to sleep with mommy. Either way, I am hoping she will start sleeping better soon, because I could use some solid sleep.


• Finally, Rachel is extremely alert. She has started playing in her activity center, and she really enjoys it because it allows her to stand on her own as she plays. She loves to talk and sing to me. I love listening to her and watching her become more independent with each passing day!

Duane and I are going to the Ohio State-Purdue game this weekend for a much-needed "adult day" while Aunt Julie graciously babysits for us. I am really excited for Saturday as a whole, because we also get to see Caden (our nephew-in-the-making) on a 4D ultrasound in the morning. It should be a wonderful time!