Doodlebug is 9 Months Old

Rachel had her 9 month doctors appointment today and all is well! She weighed in at a whopping 16 pounds even and measured 27 inches long. She is such a petite little girl.

Our doctor (whom I refer to as RJ) was talking to me about stranger anxiety and that she is at the age where this may become prevalent. I tell him that it really hasn't been an issue and that when we are out and about she smiles at everyone and just loves all the attention she gets. RJ was like, thats great, then maybe it won't be an issue. Well, not 3 minutes later he is in the very beginning stages of his exam and she is looking back and forth between me and RJ...and all of a sudden starts crying and reaching out for me. She is the biggest drama queen! Talk about making Mommy look like a big liar!! Sorry RJ-don't take it personally! However she did get a few more shots and a toe prick and she did so well for those. Cried a little but when I picked her up, she was just fine and was fine the rest of the day. She is such a trooper!

She is very much into exploring these days and is always finding something to investigate. Well, true to her female side (and taking after her Grandma Patty), she discovered shoes earlier today and thought they were pretty cool. Here is a shot of her examing one of my shoes...

Here is a picture taken on her actual 9 month birthday.

It is so much fun watching her crawl all over the house and explore everything. We have converted our upstairs hallway into a loft area for her to play in. While it doesn't appear to be a big space, I think it works great for her. I can be in one of the rooms up there and let her play in the "loft" area...gives her freedom to crawl all around where its completely safe. Good idea Daddy and thanks for putting up the baby gate-only 3 more to go!

We are trying lots of new foods these days. The latest is baby yogurt. She made her yuck face when I first gave it to her (like she does with every new food she tries) but she has started to like it. I think next I am going to try some pasta-mommy's favorite!

Grandma Patty comes into town this weekend so it should be a fun-filled weekend of Doodlebug being spoiled!

Until next time....

Can We Say "Mama"???

Well, Miss Rachel can! That's right....just a few days ago she started with the "bababab"ing...it quickly turned into "mamama". Needless to say it was so wonderful to hear. Now I don't think she is yet making the association between what she is saying and me (Brent thinks otherwise) but either way, it's still so much fun to hear her say it. And of course, Brent is now really focused on her saying "dadada". He of course encourages the mama but I think he is getting antsy to hear his name!

She is also crawling all over the place. It's crazy how fast she can get going on those tiny little knees and hands! And she thinks its just the greatest thing ever-especially when we act like we are chasing her-she cracks up. So of course baby proofing has begun because she likes to investigate everything!!!

Her top right tooth is coming in. So far she hasn't seemed too bothered by it so I hope it stays that way. Last week, I started offering biter biscuits so she can start practicing to feed herself. I think she really likes them but man they are messy. She gets them everywhere on her!! I also tried eggs but she wasn't too interested so we'll wait a while on those.

Just today she started showing the first inclinations of wanting to pull herself up on things. She can't quite do it yet but I don't think it will be too much longer.

In just a few short days, she will be 9 months. I can't believe it. She is really leaving the baby stage and sometimes its just so sad. But more than that, I am excited about watching her grow and develop-her personality just comes out more and more each day. She is such a firecracker!

As for me, I am almost done with my 3rd week of Baby Boot Camp. I have been going 3 days per week and have really been enjoying it. It kicks my butt and I am exhausted afterwards but it is such a good workout. In addition to myself getting exercise, I am also exposing Rachel to exercise and a way to be healthy. I hope this can be a good start to setting healthy lifestyle examples for her. Plus at the end of each class, all the babies can get out of their strollers and crawl around.

We are finally having some nice days here and it's feeling like summer. We try to enjoy the weather as much as possible.

Here are some of the latest photos plus a video clip of the doodlebug laughing....

Can you see my two bottom teeth???

The oddest things seem to entertain her...

Rachel vs. The Carrots....who you think won??

For some reason, certain things Brent says just cracks her up. If I say them, it's just not quite as funny. In this instance, Brent was changing her and asks "can you pull up your pants?" This was the funniest thing ever to her...you can also hear her gurgling..she loves doing that also!

Some fun Videos

Just thought I'd share some cool videos of the doodlebug we have taken lately...she is too funny and always keeps us laughing...

I call this synchronized rolling....

Daddy taught Rachel how to play peek-a-boo...its so funny. You can't see her face very well in this clip but you get the idea....

8 Months Old-Holy Cow!

How the heck did that happen??? It's so bittersweet to watch her grow up...but we are loving every minute of it. Here she is happy as can be on her 8 month birthday.

I think you can see her bottom two teeth in this shot....I think the upper ones are soon to be showing themselves!

Our Trip To Washington

We just returned from a wonderful visit with Grandma Patty and Grandpa Gary at their farm in Eastern Washington. Rachel and I were able to spend almost 2 weeks there and Brent was able to be with us about half that time. Rachel experienced so many "firsts" while we were there-it was great! She saw goats and chickens for the first time, she had her first experience in a "pool", she "tasted" cherries-it was just a different world than home and I think it was great for her. While she did have some issues sleeping in her portable crib there, overall she did so wonderful for being away from home for so long-especially for an 8 month old! Here are some pictures from the trip...

Meeting the baby goats with Daddy and Yodie

Enjoying her first dip in the pool

The Bathing Beauty
Enjoying a tall cold one with Grandma after swimmingLooking too cute in her 4th of July outfit I love this picture with her Daddy...and its a good shot of the surrounding land at my mom's house
On another note, we decided to buy a jogging stroller. Mommy needs to get her butt in shape and I am hoping this will help. This is a shot of Rachel in the new stroller getting ready to go on a walk in Washington...

And We're Off!

Let the crawling begin!! Ok, so it's not a "real" crawl yet, but she if she sees something she wants, she will get her little body there one way or another. Here she is going for Daddy's sandwich:


We had a wonderful time this past weekend with Grandma. We planted an herb garden, went to New Seasons (grocery store) and just had some fun family time. Grandma gave Rachel baths, read books to her, and fed her a few meals. It was a lot of fun!

Rachel's personality continues to come out more and more. She of course grabs anything that she can and as of recently, has started becoming quite upset if that "thing" is taken away from her. Exploring is so much fun for her...it can be scary for mommy and daddy but we know it's part of her developing.

We are finally having some summer weather here which I am beyond thrilled about. Not only is it nice to finally see some sun, I finally get to dress Rachel in all her cute summer clothes. They have been hanging patiently in her closet, taunting me for so long now...she has so many dresses, skirts and shorts that I can't wait for to wear. And of course, her cute bikini from Auntie Danielle.

Fathers Day 2008

We celebrated Brent's first Fathers Day this past weekend. It was very nice and low key. Brent is doing a major project in the garage so that consumed the majority of his time over the weekend however we did sneak some time in to go to the park and have a little picnic. The weather couldn't have been better and we both really enjoyed spending time like that as a family.Brent requested an ice cream cake for Fathers Day-it was quite yummy!

Rachel continues her adventures with solid foods. She is funny because every time we go to feed her, she always grimaces when the spoon first gets to her mouth-even if she has had that food before. Then by the second bite, she seems to be liking it better. But, I don't think she is completely overjoyed by it all..she eats but I think she could easily do without if it was up to her. The newest food we tried was some avacadoes yesterday. She seemed to like them but she wasn't in the best of moods so we cut it short. So far she has tried sweet potatoes, squash, bananas, carrots, and avacadoes-in that order. I think the next food we might try is peas or some other green vegetable. Here is the carrot face herself:And her two bottom front teeth are almost in. But still no pictures....hopefully soon I will be posting those pearly (and sharp) whites.

Until then...

7 Months Old!

Wow-where has the time gone??? Rachel turned 7 months old this past Monday!!! There are moments when I am so excited to see her grow and develop and there are other times when I would just love to freeze time for a bit...or even go back. So I do my best to live in the moment and enjoy each experience and memory as it happens.

We have been going through a few milestones recently including new teeth, becoming more mobile, and the most exciting one....drum roll please, she can now sit up on her own!! Yippie! And she looks so cute doing it. Here is a short video of her sitting up:

And here is a pic of her sitting up-I think she looks just like Brent in this pic:

She is also now cutting her second tooth. It's right next to the other one-so her bottom right front tooth. I am still attempting to get pics of those but that proves to be challenging.

Here she is on her 7 month birthday:

We Have A Tooth!

Ok, so it's just the tippy top of the tooth but it's there and it can be felt!! It's her lower left front tooth. It's pretty sharp. I believe it first came through last Thursday, the 29th. A little bit more pops up each day. She had been doing really well-only a rough night here and there. I am so proud of her. As soon as she lets me, I will try and get a picture of it. Here is a pic from over the weekend, wearing her Dale Jr outfit.

Rachel Can Kiss!!

So Rachel has now learned how to "kiss". Ok, so they are not your typical kisses but more like licks and sucks...however they are the best in the world.

Rachel also likes sucking on Daddy's nose-yummy!!!

The Solid Food Adventure Continues.....

So, we are making some progress with the solid foods. This past weekend, she actually was excited to have some sweet potatoes and oatmeal. She looked like a little baby bird eating-too cute. I think this weekend I am going to make some butternut squash and give that a whirl. It's so much fun to watch her eat and explore this new kind of eating.

Grandma & Grandpa Otte Visit

We just finished a weekend visit with Grandma & Grandpa Otte. The had not seen Rachel since Christmas so I think it was pretty amazing for them to see how much she had grown and changed since then. They were able to spend some nice quality time with Rachel which was wonderful. We went to the Farmers Market in downtown Hillsboro on Saturday. The weather was beautiful so it was a really nice time. They didn't have any produce yet-too early in the season-but it was great nonetheless. They also helped us with a lot of work in the backyard which was so nice of them. Having a baby now, it's hard to find time to do those things.

Rachel in her special chair at breakfast with Daddy...

Auntie Danielle's Visit

Ok, so I decided to actually start blogging and not just posting pics. Thought it would be a fun way to continue to share with family and friends what is new with us. And no better way to begin than with our recent visit from Danielle, Rachel's favorite Auntie!!

I wish the weather had been nicer for her visit but oh well, that is Oregon for you! She was able to meet my walking buddies and their kiddos so that was fun. In fact, one of my walking buddies had a friend visiting from San Jose as well so that was kinda funny. Such a small world. We of course had to hit Babies R Us. And as usual, Auntie spoiled the princess. We went to the CheeseCake Factory and had a yummy lunch with some yummy cheesecake for dessert. But mainly we hung out at the house and played with Rachel. She was a little crabby because I think she is getting ready to cut her first teeth but overall she was the sweet baby that she always is. She gave Auntie tons of smiles and giggles and I think it was a good bonding time for them. It was a quick visit and went by too fast but hopefully the next one won't be too far away.

Thanks for all the goodies Auntie-hope to see you soon!!

Hmm..not sure about this rice cereal stuff....

Eating like a baby bird-so cute!

What do you mean I can't eat it??? It's my birthday!!!

Daddy-you must wear pink so we don't clash!

Happy 6 Month Birthday Rachel!!! (5/9/08)

Don't hate me for how cool I am...

Wearing shorts for the first time...

How did my play mat get on top of me???