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!