Back Again!

My computer continues to experience some technical difficulties, so I haven't been able to upload pictures for a while. And I don't find a blog without a picture interesting, so I haven't posted much of anything lately.

So here are your updates...

Rachel went to the doctor for her 9-month visit on March 23rd (when she was exactly 9 months old). She weighed in at 16.5 lbs and 28 inches, which makes her long and lean with a large head, apparently. She is a healthy, happy baby!

Her faces continue to amaze me. I adore spending time with her. She loves to laugh, and she is learning to express her emotions in her body language. She is also learning more vocabulary every day. She now knows "dog" and we are teaching her other basic words. She points a lot now, and she pulls herself up on everything! She actually got a push-walker for Christmas and has just started using it more and more lately. I think she is a few weeks from walking on her own.

Also, I am posting a picture of Rachel's eyes...up close. They haven't really turned yet. Everyone thinks they are brown when they see pictures, because they always appear brown. Some days, I think they are brown. But then the next day, they look hazel. They seem to be blue-green with brown centers, and I think I have finally capture that on camera.

Rachel had a playdate with her friend Brayden a couple of weeks ago. Apparently she didn't feel like sharing her toys with him. Poor Brayden...the latest in a string of boys my daughter abuses.

This weekend, we are going to visit my dear friend Amy and her daughter Anna. We are SO excited, but mommy is very nervous to take Rachel with her on a plane trip. But we get to visit Washington, D.C., and I haven't been there since I was about 9 years old. I am thrilled to share that with my daughter (though she won't understand it yet), and I will be sure to take lots of pictures!

Until then, HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!

Playdate and Duane-less Weekend

So Duane left on Thursday morning for his first official race weekend -- a thing which he has spent much of his time, energy, and money on of late. It sounds as though everything went well, albeit after one of his buddies was involved in a couple of accidents. I am just thankful my husband is coming home in one piece.

Without Duane around, Rachel and I spent a LOT of quality time together. It reminded me a bit of my maternity leave, except without Duane coming home every evening. I spent a good portion of the weekend following the NCAA basketball tourney. I don't even really like basketball much, but I run the tournament at work, and it is so fun when a team is upset and all the brackets take a sudden turn.

Also, we hosted the second official playdate between Rachel and her friends, Aiden and Quentin. The weather was nice enough for us to take a walk. We must have looked like the baby brigade as we walked single file to the little park at the school a few blocks from our house. The kids seemed pretty unimpressed by the park -- Aiden hated the swings and Rachel was just disinterested in pretty much everything.

Then Sunday I made a date to see a movie with my sister. I went to church with mom, who agreed to watch Rachel while I was at the movie. Rachel made it pretty easy on her though -- she slept the whole time I was gone.

Now we are just waiting on Duane to get home. The weekend seemed to fly by, but that is good. We missed the big guy.

St. Patrick's Day

So, it's St. Patrick's Day. But I am not wearing green. Threaten to pinch me, if you want. I'm not Irish. I don't take the day off to go drinking. I didn't really drink on St. Patrick's in college. Really, I would say St. Patrick's Day lost its novelty for me when I graduated from high school and stopped getting the day off to celebrate.
Don't get me wrong -- I enjoyed the day as a child. I liked having the parties at school. I wore my green. It was fun. My mom bought us Shamrock donuts from Jolly Pirate, which are THE best because they are FULLLLLL of rich cream. So, to carry on the spirit, I dressed Rachel in green this morning, despite the fact that she, also, is not Irish.
I won't ruin the holiday for her, just because I don't get into it. But I just can't do it. I haven't been able to get into it for years now. So if you see me today and I am not wearing green, pinch me if you feel the need. But I probably won't wear green next year either...or the year after.
I guess we'll see what happens when Rachel starts to notice her mom's defiance. Maybe then, for her, I will dig up something green to wear to make the day fun for her. And of course, I will always make sure she has her very own Jolly Pirate Shamrock donut. :)

Walkabout.

So the weekend didn't start well for our family. I had a bad day at work Friday, and unfortunately I carried it home with me and couldn't recover until early Sunday. I did spend a nice day with my girl on Saturday as Duane decided to play golf with his friend. We hung out, went shopping a bit, and then enjoyed some quality family time.

Sunday, Duane worked on his homework and then went to the OSU basketball game with a friend. Meanwhile, Rachel and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and took a walk around the neighborhood. It was a good time, and it reminded me slightly of a time when she was about 6-7 weeks old and I took her for walks around the block in the summer. The difference is that now she isn't fussing quite so much and she loves to sit up and watch all the people. We really do live in a wonderful neighborhood. We watched as people played with their kids, walked their dogs, and gathered in driveways to talk to one another.

When we got home, I took some pictures of the little sprout. I can't believe how big she is getting!

BABY TIME!

Duane started classes this week, so I had a great excuse to leave work somewhat ontime to go and pick up Rachel from the sitter. It was really enjoyable spending some quality time with my baby girl. It made me realize how much I am missing when I am at work. She is getting so big. Her latest development is that she talks a LOT more than she used to. She varies from "DaDaDa" to "NaNaNa" and "MAH!"
She is still not up on all fours, but she has some spectacular upper body strength, because she drags herself around the house, chasing after everyone. We are starting to give her some dissolvable solids, but she doesn't appreciate the texture much. She makes an icky face and spits a lot of it out. Every now and then she seems to like it, and rumor has it that her friend Ben (a little boy at the sitter's) likes to feed her Cheerios!
Being home so much has given me the opportunity to take a couple more pictures. So here they are!

Forgive me!

I have been realllllly busy at work, then my computer went down for a week, so when I actually had new photos to upload, I couldn't. Ugh.

We celebrated Valentine's Day in style in the Wood family. Rachel wore her special sweetheart shirt, and we got Chipotle for dinner. If you know Duane, you know he hates crowds, so with V-Day being on a Saturday, he wasn't much up for going anywhere too fancy. It was nice though. We spent time with Rachel and each other, and it was much needed.

Rachel does "The Sprinkler."

How can you resist that face?

She tends to crawl right out of her pants!

Festivities

Sorry, no Rachel pics in this post. I do, however, want to send congratulations to my oldest friend, Stephen. Stephen got married yesterday to a wonderful woman (Natasha). I couldn't be happier for both of them, as they are amazing people who deserve all the happiness in the world. Stephen and I have been friends since before we were born, I think, and we have a picture together from every major event in our lives. I think Rachel will have a lot of those with the boys in her life too (i.e., Aiden, Brayden, Caden...).

On another note, we had a great time at the reception. Aunt Julie was willing to watch Rachel so that I could relax for a while. I got to take some great pictures and danced with my dad. He is a bit of a crazy dancer. He is extremely talented, but the more he drinks, the more you feel like a rag doll that he is tossing around the dance floor. :)