Mexican Fest, allergies, laziness and the weekend to come

We had a Cuatro De Mayo party here at work for lunch today. It was fun - the food was good and it was a nice distraction. I have, however, noticed increased raffic flow to the rest rooms!!!
The beautiful day of gardening I had on WEdnesday has officially kicked off allergy season for me! Saved by Benadr*l but I seriously can only take that while lying down in bed and with nothing ahead for 6-8 hours!
I have been so tired lately - like bone tired. Wednesday I fell asleep in Ryan's bed with him and woke up at 10 and went to my own bed! At any time of day I could probably close my eyes and LAY DOWN! So exhausted!
This weekend - WALKAMERICA!!! The weather is supposed to be GREAT! Rachel's Proud NICU Graduate shirt is in and is adorable! I can't decide if she should wear the pink or the green capri pants with it though :) It amazes me how much she has grown since she was born. I remember looking at her and thinking how impossible it seemed that she would actually ever be as cubbilicious as Ryan was in infanthood and now she is even more delicious than I ever could have dreamed!
Tuesday is her Early Intervention evaluation. I am kind of excited for it. I am interested in seeing where she falls over all for babies her age. Oh and Tuesday my dad is being honored at a luncheon so Rob and I will be going to that as well. We are also going to the circus next week - how fun does that sound????
And to end - a picture!
This is Rachel last month (so almost 10 months). If you look hard you can see the 2 bottom teeth!

I match!

It appears that my pants match my blog today! It is supposed to be in the upper 60's so capri pants it is! I am so glad the weather is finally decent around here - the lack of sun was really starting to get to me. I was only half joking when I told Rob I thought I was suffering from seasonal affect disorder!
Yesterday was the United Way Day of Caring. My team from work spent the day gardening and washing windows at the Sisters of St. Joseph Motherhouse. This is pretty much where old nuns go (and some priests). There is skilled nursing, assisted living, and a memory care unit. So it was pretty fun - the nuns were very interested in us and the Bishop was there celebrating mass which we were invited to join in for. I am going to count it as my church obligation for the week since Sunday is the March of Dimes Walk America! We are walking in honor of Rachel and raising money as thanks for all the resaerch and support MOD has done to help preemies like Rachel.

Look at me!!!

Just some spring cleaning of the old (tired and seldom updated blog!) Also a more recent picture of me and the kids. By recent I mean Thanksgiving of 2006! Rachel is much bigger now and Ryan, well, he is still Ryan!

10 & 31

I have been a terrible blogger! So terrible, but I want to change! Isn't that half the battle, really?

So starting today I am going to post every day (except maybe the weekends because blogger and my home computer are not very friendly!)

I'll start with the kiddie update:

Rachel

10 months old! Rachel had her 9 month well baby visit 2 weeks ago. She was 27 and a half inches and 17 pounds 4 oz - not to bad for a preemie, huh? Everything else checked out fine but we are getting an evaluation by Early Intervention for her gross motor skills. She is not moving. Plain and simple. She can roll, but doesn't. She can sit, but only if you put her there. Part of it, I think, is contentment. She is just very easy going and will sit if you sit her, lay down if you put her on her back and not complain at all about either. However, it appears that the muscle tone in her legs is very weak so off to therapy we go! I did read something about preemies and mucle tone development. Apparently the time spent developing outside the womb can hinder their development. Given that she only spent 5 weeks outside it seems that this could be a reasonable reason for her mild delay.

Other than that she is an absolute ANGEL! She is off baby food entirely and eats what we are eating every meal! She feeds her self, thank you very much! And does a pretty good (albeit messy) job of it!

She hasn't said any new words since last month I don't think although she does now say "mo" when she is done with what you have given her to eat and wants more. I am calling it a word! Rob agrees :)

2 teeth - bottom ones (first one came in 3/18). Occasional bouts of late night teething but it appears that Hylands Teething Tablets are the BOMB! Pop a couple in her mouth and she is good for the rest of the night!

I have stopped pumping at work so Rachel gets 2 4 oz bottles of formula a day. She doesn't seem to mind and will actually take a bottle from me. Sometime this month I plan to transition the second bottle to a sippy cup since she seems to need a snack around then as well.

Out of her infant carrier and in her big girl car seat. She seems happier now and loves to play in the car and stare at Ryan while I am driving. her favorite game is to remove her hat and wave it aruond victoriously until I call her out on it and then she stops and looks like "how does she know what I am doing???" - I have a mirror!

still loves riding around in the sling. I use it whenever we go somewhere with a single kid cart or if I just don't want to deal with the double stroller.

Ryan

What can I say that hasn't been said before? Ryan is still cracking me up all the time, but he is also challengin me at every turn! Rob says it is because he is just like me an when he gets an idea in his head there is no changing his mind. He is probably right :)

Also, can anyone tell me why he feels the need to SQUEEZE his sister???? OH and knock her down all the time? It is driving me crazy!!!