Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Rachel's on the List...

the waiting list for preschool, that is!! LOL.

I had been advised by the preschool director to put Rachel on the waiting list for the 2007/2008 (boy does that sound weird!) preschool year before Hannah ends this year and we're gone for a few years. Once Hannah ends preschool in a couple of weeks, we'll be gone, and it'd be easy to forget when preschool registration begins, etc. Having Rachel on the list, the office will call in the spring to remind me to enroll her. Much to my suprise, there were two other babies on the list already, both younger than Rachel! I'm sure that as fast as these last 9 months have gone, Rachel starting preschool will be here before we know it!!!

Friday, May 20, 2005

Next Summer Rachel...


...you can run through the sprinklers like the big girls!

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

On the Move...

She got the hang of it...she's crawling. Too many milestones today. LOL

Time to Lower the Crib...AGAIN!


I could hear that Rachel had waken up from her morning nap. When I opened the door to get her...I was shocked to see her standing up...in her crib! We just lowered the crib this past weekend from it's highest setting. Now it's time to move it all the way to it's lowest. My baby is growing up!!!!!

Monday, May 16, 2005

Storytime!


Taking part in bedtime storytime!

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Standing Up...


Rachel likes to stand! Still isn't crawling, but loves to stand!

Steven got out this learning table that she got for Christmas and she loves it!

Friday, May 13, 2005

Rachel Stood Up!

Rachel stood up today!!!! I know it was just a fluke and won't be a regular thing for a while, but she stood up!! We have some big throw pillows in front of the coffee table and she used those to climb up on and get her balance, she was then standing at the coffee table and reached for the remote....a known source of power in this house!! Needless to say I'm sooo not ready to see my baby standing all the time! LOL

Baby in a Basket


Content as she can be...in her basket of toys!

Rachel and Her Furry Friend


My parents were away this past week on vacation and we dogsat for them. Rachel just loves Wendy! She would roll/do her crawl thing to get to the area in which Wendy was laying. Many times Rachel would just burst out laughing at the sight of Wendy. Both our girls love this dog.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

A Touching Article...

I found this article to be very touching. I "stole" it from another blog, where it had been received in an email newsletter for a support group for mothers of children with disabilites.


"Expectant mothers waiting for a newborn's arrival say they don't care what sex the baby is. They just want it to have ten fingers and ten toes.  Mothers lie.

Every mother wants so much more. She wants a perfectly healthy baby with a round head, rosebud lips, button nose, beautiful eyes and satin skin. She wants a baby so gorgeous that people will pity the Gerber baby for being flat-out ugly.

She wants a baby that will roll over, sit up and take those first steps right on schedule (according to the baby development chart on page 57, column two).

Every mother wants a baby that can see, hear, run, jump and fire neurons by the billions. She wants a kid that can smack the ball out of the park and do toe points that are the envy of the entire ballet class. Call it greed if you want, but a mother wants what a mother wants. Some mothers get babies with something more.

Maybe you're one who got a baby with a condition you couldn't pronounce, a spine that didn't fuse, a missing chromosome or a palate that didn't close.

The doctor's words took your breath away. It was just like the time at recess in the fourth grade when you didn't see the kick ball coming and it knocked the wind right out of you.

Some of you left the hospital with a healthy bundle, then, months, even years later, took him in for a routine visit, or scheduled her for a well check, and crashed head first into a brick wall as you bore the brunt of devastating news.

It didn't seem possible. That didn't run in your family. Could this really be happening in your lifetime? I watch the Olympics for the sheer thrill of seeing finely sculpted bodies. It's not a lust thing, it's a wondrous thing. They appear as specimens without flaw -- muscles, strength and coordination all working in perfect harmony. Then an athlete walks over to a tote bag, rustles through the contents and pulls out an inhaler.

There's no such thing as a perfect body. Everybody will bear something at some time or another. Maybe the affliction will be apparent to curious eyes, or maybe it will be unseen, quietly treated with trips to the doctor, therapy or surgery. Mothers of children with disabilities live the limitations with them.

Frankly, I don't know how you do it. Sometimes you mothers scare me. How you lift that kid in and out of the wheelchair twenty times a day. How you monitor tests, track medications, and serve as the gatekeeper to a hundred specialists yammering in your ear.

I wonder how you endure the clichés and the platitudes, the well-intentioned souls explaining how God is at work when you've occasionally questioned if God is on strike.

I even wonder how you endure schmaltzy columns like this one -- saluting you, painting you as hero and saint, when you know you're ordinary. You snap, you bark, you bite. You didn't volunteer for this, you didn't jump up and down in the motherhood line yelling, "Choose me, God. Choose me! I've got what it takes."

You're a woman who doesn't have time to step back and put things in perspective, so let me do it for you. From where I sit, you're way ahead of the pack. You've developed the strength of a draft horse while holding onto the delicacy of a daffodil. You have a heart that melts like chocolate in a glove box in July, counter-balanced against the stubbornness of an Ozark mule.

You are the mother, advocate and protector of a child with a disability.

You're a neighbor, a friend, a woman I pass at church and my sister-in-law.

You're a wonder."

Sunday, May 08, 2005

Happy Mother's Day!!


The reasons I can celebrate Mother's Day as a mother...my two girls. I'm truly blessed.

Mother's Day this year was a little different for us. My mom and dad left this morning for a trip to the Grand Canyon and Steven's mom is no where to be found. We've come to the conclusion she must have gone to visit her sister in Las Vegas. But this year, Mother's Day was all about ME!!! LOL.

We had a relaxing day...grabbed a quick lunch after church and then came home and relaxed all afternoon and then went for a nice dinner at Claim Jumper. The evening church service was cancelled and it was really nice having the break of needing to be back for our ministry obligations.

Saturday, May 07, 2005

A Short Post

Just a short post to share a few things....

Rachel she sat up all by herself yesterday afternoon! She's done it once since then as well. Pretty soon it'll be all the time! Still not crawling, but getting closer with each day of practice and rolling about on the floor.

Something cute Rachel has been doing lately is that she has been crossing her fingers! She crosses her pointer finger and middle finger and it's so cute when she does it! She was doing it the night we were standing in line at the Apple Store for the unveiling of the new operating system, and we were joking that she was crossing her fingers in hopes of winning a new laptop! :) Sadly, It didn't happen.

Thursday, May 05, 2005

Waiting Patiently for the New Parade


Today was the official kick off for the 18 month long celebration of the 50th anniversary of Disneyland. And we were there to be a part of Disney History!! We went to see the kick off ceremony, the new parade, and new fireworks. Here is Rachel, waiting patiently for the parade. We sat and waited over 3 hours just to get a good seat!

The Family in Waiting...


The entire family, waiting patiently, for the parade to start!

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Smiley Girl


A great picture capturing Rachel's smile. Also a great picture to see just how great her lip repair is (you can click on the picture to make the picture bigger).

So Big!


Rachel sits up so well now. It was a warm afternoon and she's just in a shirt and diaper, you can see how chunky her little legs are!

Just showing off a little bit of her cute personality.

Sporting a New Hat...


a pink ball cap!