After her bath

She is wearing the little robe & slippers that we bought her months ago (before she was born)

Big girl car seat

Not a big fan of it : )

Rachel's First Christmas

Well I think it's easy enough to say that Rachel was spoiled this Christmas! She obviously didn't understand why she was getting all these new toys & clothes, etc but she did manage to rip a bit of the wrapping paper. Next Christmas will be wild : )

Christmas Eve at Grandma & Grandad's


Christmas Day at Home Opening her first gift
Playing on her Bounce & Spin Zebra later on that night
Rachel & Luke at Oma & Cha's on Boxing Day
Cha Cha didn't seem to mind that Rachel was freaking out : )
Still at Oma & Cha Cha's
Back at home the next day - playing with her Baby Grand Piano

A letter for Rachel

Dear Rachel,

Mommy & Daddy think you're adorable. HOWEVER, we do not appreciate these crib parties that you are having at 2 in the morning. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go back to sleeping through the night.

We love you!

Mommy & Daddy

Ok - so for the past two nights, the little princess has decided to have a crib party at 2 in the morning. The first night, I thought she just needed her soother. Nope - that only lasted for about 10 minutes. I would have let her talk/cry it out but I felt bad for Ron knowing that he had to get up at 4:30 in the morning for work. So, I went in and grabbed her and we hung out downstairs. An hour and a half later, she was sound asleep. Night #2, pretty much the same as the first except I was exhausted & didn't want to stay awake for an hour & a half. I cuddled with Rachel on the couch and I know I fell asleep before she did. Ron came down this morning at 4:30 and put Rachel back in her crib & told me to go back to bed as well. Rachel woke up just before 7 and was FULL of energy. Me - not so much! I fed her & played with her and was soooo happy when she started rubbing her eyes. I bundled her up & brought her into our bed so we could have a nice nap. We got up at 9:45.

I REALLY hope this isn't a new thing for her. However, I do realize now that we have been spoiled for the past 9-10 weeks with her sleeping through the night.

I think Ron & I will go to bed when Rachel does tonight - lol

Teaching her early...

Ron will be very proud of my teaching abilities today...

She's getting ready to turn the page in the picture above.

YAY! Good girl!!! : )

Gift from the UK

Rachel has received a few gifts in the mail but this one was extra special because it came all the way from London England. My cousin Cindy is working over there right now but normally lives in Toronto. The neat thing is Rachel was born on Cindy's birthday :) I can only hope that Rachel turns out to be a great person like Cynthia! Anyway, Cindy sent Rachel a package and it arrived yesterday in the mail. Here are pictures of Rachel opening the gift (with Daddy's help)

WOO HOO - Mail for me!!!! <----that's what Rachel is thinking :)

A very happy girl holding her cup. The gift is adorable - it's a dinnerware set - a bowl, plate & double handle cup just for kids. It has penguins on it and how cute is it that Rachel is wearing her pj's with penguins on them (not planned at all - I had no idea what Cindy was sending or when we would receive it).

We thought we would put Rachel in the box that her gift came in. It was the perfect size for her!! ha ha

THANK YOU CINDY!!!!! We hope to see you between Christmas & New Year's!!

Cute outfit

I bought this outfit last week for $11.99 - regular $24.99 and I think Rachel looks adorable in it! :) She is wearing her black patten leather shoes that I bought her to wear with her Christmas dress but they go so well with this little outfit, too!

Showing some leg :)
Thinking 'NOW what does she have on my feet?' :)

My favourite birthday card

So today I am 33 years old. Wow - thirty three! I guess we better start thinking about another baby, eh? NOT!!! :) I will admit that when everyone sang Happy Birthday to me last night, it wasn't as exciting as last year when Ron announced our news. Nonetheless, it was great to have Rachel with us this year to celebrate.

Ron is great at picking out cards. He always manages to find the 'perfect' card. Here's proof:


He even told Rachel to be on her best behaviour today because it was my birthday and she's obeying him! She has been the model child this morning. Up with huge smiles at 8am, didn't monkey around while I nursed her this morning. She had a good nap this morning (an hour) and then we played for awhile. She had her bottle at 10:30 and then gobbled some cereal as well and has been napping ever since. It's 2:30 now - this is great : ) The best part is she hasn't cried today. Normally she will wimper a little bit when it's naptime but not today - both times she has let me swaddle her and cuddle with her. She napped on the couch for her first nap today but now she's in her playpen and apparently she's having a great sleep! I'm excited for her to wake up though - I want to play!!!! : )

My Snow Princess

Rachel's Christmas Wish

The shirt is a little hard to read but it says: PEAS ON EARTH! Too cute : )

4 month pictures

Here are the pictures from Loblaws. There is one more but I keep forgetting to scan it.

4 months old today

Where the heck has the time gone? Rachel is 4 months old today and I swear it seems like it's only been a couple of weeks.

She's trying soooo hard to crawl. If you put her on her belly, her legs just go crazy. We prop her up on her belly in the pillow I use for breastfeeding and she can climb over the pillow. We're going to try and get it on video tonight or tomorrow. She did it 3 times yesterday but as soon as we got the video camera out, she didn't do it. Little monkey!

We have to be really careful when we change her diaper now because she likes to move around. She uses her feet to shift her body backwards - if that makes sense?

I went to Loblaws today on Fanshawe Park Road to get her pictures done. I was not impressed at all. I don't ever plan on going back there - I will stick with Real Canadian Superstore from now on (I'm already booked there for Jan, Feb & March - hehe). Anyway, the photographer took a TON of pictures - which was great but the quality of the pictures just isn't the same as RCSS. Then when I went to order the pictures, she told me that the package I originally wanted came with pre-selected sheets (8 of them) and then I could pick 4 of my own. I asked if this was new because I didn't do that at RCSS 2 weeks ago. She said it's company policy and they should be following the same policy. Seriously - does it REALLY matter what sheets I order? Give me a break! So that made my decision VERY easy - I didn't go with that package - I went with a smaller one. At that point she was really 'snippy' with me and I just explained that the pre selected sheets don't work for what I need pictures for. I don't need a bunch of wallets and 3.5x5's. She said she would give me a 50% off coupon for the next time I needed pictures. I told her 'no thanks'. She went on to tell me what a great deal it was, blah, blah, blah. I just replied with "I won't be coming back here for pictures again so keep the coupon for someone else". She finished the order/transaction and I said 'Thank you - have a great day' as I left - she didn't even look at me. So I called the store manager a few minutes ago and just explained the situation. I understand her following company policy but she shouldn't have been as snippy as she was when I didn't go with the super duper big package. He apologized and asked if I wanted to come back in for more photos (I also complained about the quality of the pictures - there were some where Rachel wasn't even centered, or the toy she was using to try to get her to smile was in the way, etc.). Anyway, I thanked him for the offer but I'm not interested in trekking all the way back there...especially when I can take better pictures of my little munchkin at home (see pictures above). I explained to the manager that I just wanted to make sure it didn't happen to someone else (the attitude she had was unacceptable). He said he would 'take care of it'.

So that was my day in a nutshell! : ) Miss Rachel is napping now so I thought I would take advantage of the time and update this site.

Baptism today

Rachel's baptism was this afternoon and I am so thankful the weather cooperated! When the snow arrived on Friday, I wondered what today would be like. It was a beautiful sunny day - a perfect day for a baptism.

Here's the little munchkin before her crying fit. OMG - she was soooo tired and wouldn't calm down. She was screaming - that's how upset she was. Finally, we put her in her carseat and she calmed right down. I am sooooo glad we spent the extra money and got her a really cozy one! We have used it a few times (lately) when she won't calm down. She's at that stage where she doesn't like to be held so much - she's Little Miss. Independent!

She loves her fingers :)
Fr. Graham, Rachel, me, Ron, Uncle Dave & Auntie Donna

She's happy in that picture - and she was actually pretty good during the actual baptism - it was before where she was taking her sh*t fit! ha ha

It was a long day and Ron & I are exhausted but it was a good day! We had lots of people come out for her baptism so that made it even more special!

• John, Ann, Jill & Luke
• Betty
• Uncle Tony & Aunt Colomba
• David & Andrea
• Donna, Jordan & Ethan
• Mark, Sally & Luke
• Lan & Tru (at the church only)
• Linda
• Oma & Cha Cha
• Grandma & Grandad

Sleeping through the night....

Ok - so this is insane. My baby sleeps through the night. My husband - not so much.

Pretty much everyday, Ron gets up at 4am to go pee. It's at the point now where I don't hear him as much as I used to...until this morning. He was...I mean IS so excited about this friggin' snow!!!! I swear to God he is 3 or 4 years old not almost 34!

Needless to say, I am wide awake now. Rachel is sound asleep.

Ron keeps looking out the windows and saying 'OMG - you should see this' "OMG - you should see that'. OMG HE IS DRIVING ME NUTS!!!!!!!!! I could be AND should be still sleeping but ohhhhh no.

I may have found a way to shut him up though...

Ron: I LOVE this snow
Julie: I know you do
Ron: It's like Christmas out there
Julie: Let's open up a present

Funny when I mentioned opening a present he shut up : )

Hope you are all enjoying your sleep this morning. Looks like I may be napping with Rachel this morning or afternoon...or both : )

4month check up with the doctor

Rachel went to see Dr. D yesterday for her 4 month check up. Everything is right on track and she's meeting all of her milestones. She weighs 13lb 7oz now and is 23 3/4 inches in length. She's in the 50 percentile for her weight and 25 percentile for her height. She also got her next set of needles. Poor baby didn't like that at all. However, within 10 minutes she was sound asleep in her carseat so they couldn't have been that bad :)

Dr. D also said that we can start Rachel on cereal now. I thought you were supposed to wait until they were 5 or 6 months old but since every baby is different, we tried it last night. I think she likes it, too - if only we could spoon it in her mouth faster. That was the only part she didn't like - she just likes to have a constant flow of food in her mouth! :) I tried it again this morning and she ate her whole bowl of cereal so I was very happy!

Here are the pictures from last night...

First mouthful...
Mmmmm...that's good stuff, eh?
What do you mean it's all gone???? Give me my bottle then!!!! :)