Rachel's Routines

Any child development book you read will tell you how important routines are for little ones. Routines are not only beneficial for little ones, but for everyone. Rachel has some really cute, funny, and ridiculous routines. Here are some of her current routines:

• Even though she's been sleeping in a big girl bed for almost 2 months now, she still calls and waits for Mommy or Daddy to come get her when she wakes up. Once we go in to her room she then climbs out of bed by herself. It's really quite odd, but we like it. We don't have to worry about a middle of the night unwanted visitor! :) I don't know if it's because her room is really quite dark or if it's just part of her routine.
• Every morning when she wakes up she quickly states, "I need to take my vitamin". She has to select what color she wants, she chews it up, and then has to show everybody (including herself) what color her tongue has turned. Rachel also has to help me put my vitamin in my mouth. If I forget to let her help me - let's just say it isn't a pretty picture.
• Whenever we go grocery shopping Rachel has to sit in the toy car and pretend to drive. She doesn't want money deposited into it to make it move. Luckily she is pretty easy to get out of the car as long as I give her a few seconds to find a "parking spot". Sometimes (when she's not quite ready to get out) she finds one parking spot, but then has to find a "better one".
• If Andy happens to be climbing up the stairs with Rachel, he has to make a tunnel for her to climb through. If I happen to be coming up the stairs as well, I'm required to climb through the tunnel as well. I'm amazed that I can still fit through the tunnel. :)
• There's a bush on our walk back from the park that has really soft leaves. Every time we pass it Rachel has to pick one of the leaves and carry it all the way home.
• If both of us are around to put Rachel to bed, one of us has to be tucked into bed by Rachel. Whoever is going to read her stories stays in her room, while she follows one of us to our bedroom. She then has to tuck one of us into bed, make sure the covers are covering our arms, help us close our eyes, and then she tells us not to wake up until the sun comes up. I guess she's heard that line one too many times! :)

Rachel's routines have changed over the past two years and I'm sure they will continue to change. I'm sure it will continue to be quite the adventure as her routines change...

Keeping Busy

As everyone knows, toddlers like to stay busy. So, whenever the sun is shining we try to get outside and play. Rachel loves to go for walks, feed the ducks, and play on the neighborhood playgrounds. A few months ago Rachel discovered dandelions. I showed her how you make a wish and blow the dandelions. I don't think Rachel quite gets the concept of a wish yet, but she calls dandelions "wishes" now. Last week while we were taking a walk we came across a lot of wishes. Rachel ended up with four wishes that she carried all the way home. She was pretty proud of her wishes! :) This morning Rachel was insistent upon going on a walk. Rachel's been a bit under the weather recently, so I knew she wouldn't last long. Plus, it was a pretty chilly morning. I told Rachel this, so she insisted that she could wear her hat to keep herself warm. I talked her into just walking across the street to feed the ducks. So, off we went with bread and her pink hat. While we were throwing bread into the canal for the ducks a gust a wind blew Rachel's hat off. Before I had a chance to catch it, it ended up in the canal. Rachel was quite concerned! Luckily the hat stayed right at the edge and I was able to retrieve it with my foot. Thank heavens it didn't float into the middle of the canal - it would have been a goner! Here's Rachel before we set off to feed the ducks: We certainly try to enjoy the sunshine, especially before we begin our hibernation mode this winter. With a newborn I doubt we'll be heading outdoors all that often. We do get plenty of rainy, cloudy days here as well. So, when those days come along it's quite the challenge to keep Rachel happily entertained. Some days she does great, but when we've had a long stretch of yucky weather she struggles. We've actually been pretty lucky so far this fall. However, one day last week we had some pretty crummy weather. So, Rachel kept herself busy with some princess foam stickers. At first she thought it was fun to put stickers all over the couch:

Pretty soon though she decided that Mommy was a better subject:

Even though this isn't the best picture in the world, it's a fun memory. Taking a picture of yourself with a toddler can be somewhat tricky, but it turned out! :) Rachel was pretty proud of herself. You can't see them in the picture, but I also have princess sticker earrings on and she found two that matched. Rachel is obsessed with matches. :)

Pedaling Princess

In the past couple of weeks Rachel has figured out how to pedal. Her legs have finally grown long enough and she loves pedaling. We went to the park today and she spent a good 1 1/2 hours pedaling around and around and around. She even let other kids join her every now and then. The other kids grew tired of pedaling, but Rachel didn't. She's probably worn herself out and will sleep great tonight! :)

Our Baby Girl!

Amy inspired us. :) Here's a look at 7 weeks into the future! I think it's funny that the baby has so much hair. Rachel pretty much just had fuzz for the first year and she still doesn't have much. For some reason I don't think it's that accurate. I guess we'll just have to see... :)

Priceless

There are two happy girls tonight in Holland because the man of the house is home once again. After another week of traveling, we are glad to have him home. We are definitely glad this out-of-town business isn't a regular occurrence. Rachel summed it up pretty good just a few hours ago. As we were all heading for the kitchen with the dirty dinner dishes Rachel said, "I'm so glad you're home", to her daddy. Absolutely priceless! I guess she likes having him home, so she can laugh and play and do silly things like this with him:

Such a big girl!

Rachel is certainly proud of herself! She eyed a princess suitcase a few months back and we told her we would buy it for her if she used the toilet. Well, about a month ago she changed her mind and wanted a Dora suitcase. :) I told the store clerk to not even bother with a bag. Rachel was ready to wheel her suitcase around. She was quite disappointed when we reached the car, but I was able to appease her by letting her hold it in her lap. So, one bag of M&Ms down and a Dora suitcase, and we can call it a success! Rachel was a pretty quick learner. It's only been a week and she hasn't had an accident since Saturday. Since Monday, when she wakes up in the morning she promptly tells me, "I want panties. No more diapers. I'm a big girl!". So, we quickly put panties on and she's ready to go for the day. We haven't attempted night training yet, but we'll get there eventually... I have to say that Rachel is going to look pretty darn cute in March when we come home and she's wheeling her Dora suitcase through the airport! :)

A Child's Imagination

I love watching Rachel play. It's so much fun to hear her little chatter and what she comes up with. The other day I was exhausted and Rachel refused to take a nap. So, I told her mommy was going to lay down and she could go downstairs to play. Well, 30 minutes later I woke up all concerned about being a horrible mother and leaving my child unattended to play. I quickly headed downstairs and this is what I found: Rachel was using the purse her Grandma Smith made her. She would fill it up with as many pieces of play food she could, climb up on the chair next to her baby, and empty the food in front of her baby. Her baby sure does have an appetite!
Here's Rachel on a different night playing with her Noah's Ark animals. She's really into lining things up right now and they have to be just so. Look at that cute smile!
Rachel really does play well. Even though she likes to watch her "shows", she seldom sits still and really watches them. She's usually busy playing away and looks up every now and then to make sure her show is still on. Rachel can be quite self-conscious if she catches you watching her. She'll smile and laugh once she realizes she has an audience. I love that she has such an imagination and loves to play!

7 months

Here I am at 7 months. The belly certainly is big! It's hard to imagine how big it's going to be in 2 more months. All is going well with the pregnancy. I now have appointments every 2 weeks, so that means we're getting close! At my appointments all they do is take my blood pressure and listen to the baby's hearbeat. Everything was just dandy at the last appointment. She is certainly getting stronger and stronger, because her little jabs aren't as gentle and soft as they used to be! :)

Daddy's Helper

Rachel was a daddy's girl this past weekend. Andy has been traveling a lot recently, so when he comes home for the weekend she doesn't let him out of her sight. This past weekend she even let Andy read her stories and put her to bed. :) It was a nice break for mom! Rachel enjoyed playing with her daddy this weekend, working with him out in the backyard, and helping him shine his shoes. She was right alongside him whenever he was working on something. When Rachel was out in the back she wanted to use the hoe and Andy told her she couldn't. So, Rachel responded by saying, "When I'm 3, I'm only 2 right now". Silly girl! :)

New Recipe

We tried a new recipe tonight and it was great! It makes a ton (probably about 16 burritos), so I froze half of the burrito mixture for another time. It will definitely be a good recipe to stock up on before the baby comes. I was excited when my friend Jamie shared the recipe and it was one that I could find all the ingredients for as well. :)

Chicken and Rice Grilled Burritos

1 lb. chicken (boiled & shredded)
1 cup mild salsa
1 pkg. Taco seasoning mix
1 1/2 cups rice
Flour Tortillas
Shredded cheddar cheese

In sauce pan, combine 4 cups water, salsa and seasoning mix. Bring to a boil. Stir in rice. Cook on low heat for 25 minutes stirring occasionally or until liquid is absorbed. Stir in chicken. Heat griddle. Spoon 1/3 cup mixture and some cheese into flour tortillas-roll like a burrito. Grill on both sides until brown. You can add sour cream, more salsa & guacamole on top!