Monkey Joes

One of our friends from the Upper Room (Lauren) organized a play date to Monkey Joes for all the moms with kids in our Sunday School class. Rachel and I went even though she obviously wasn't big enough to "play" yet. I had never been there, but I have a feeling Monkey Joes may be a frequent stop for us in the future!

Here's a pic of Kaiden (Lauren's little boy) who was there. Tristan, Lauren, and Ashley were also there, but Tristan didn't want his picture taken:o) So, that's why there isn't one of them. Also, Aunt Lauren got hurt while we were there. Here nose got cut and banged against her knee...who knew those inflatables could be so rough! I didn't take her picture for fear that she'd kill me, but she will probably have a black nose becuase of it!



This is pretty much how Rachel spent her "play time" at Monkey Joes...asleep. But it was fun just to socialize a little and get out of the house. Check out this nice chair! They had cush chairs and wi-fi for the parents...good stuff!

Nine Weeks Old

Rachel turned 2 months old this week! She got her 2 month shots which weren't much fun...two shots (one in each leg) and one oral vaccine. She cried of course, but was otherwise fine. She didn't really run a fever or anything like that but we certainly kept her doped up with Tylenol for the first 24 hours though...to avoid any potential meltdowns!

She weighed 10 pounds 4 ounces which was almost 2 pounds more than her one month visit...so she's really growing! She was also 23.5 inches long...she's going to be a tall girl!

Here's a pic of Rachel just "hangin' out" while I was getting ready to go somewhere. And yes, she just has on a t-shirt becuase if there's one thing we've learned the hard way...it's that you don't put on her clothes until you're ready to walk out the door...otherwise, there's alot better chance that you'll be changing her clothes before you walk out the door...ah, lessons learned:o)


Rachel just loves her new "surfboard" that her counsins Cade and Laura gave to her...she's been surfing up a storm every day since we got it! Thanks cousins!

Last Friday night we decided it was time to get out of the house and on to a restaurant that wasn't fast food...so we went out to Providence to try the pizza place. It was really good pizza! Rachel was asleep when we got there but woke up soon before the pizza arrived...go figure...so Adam and I had to take turns eating a piece of pizza and then holding her so the other one could eat. Luckily, the Laniers (a family from our church) was seated next to us so they didn't mind her crying a little. It was really loud in there anyways, so it wasn't a huge deal. Here's me and her before we headed out in our coordinating outfits...my shirt was green with hot pink and her dress was hot pink with a green flower on it. Also, even though you can't see them, I had on my favorite khaki capris! I was so happy to fit back in them! I still have about 10 pounds to go to be back to pre-pregnancy weight, but I'm at least starting to fit back in some of my favorite clothes!

Happy Memorial Day!

We spent Memorial Day going "muddin" with Rachel:o) Just kidding! We tried to go for a walk on the greenway, but it was still really muddy from where the rain had made the river run over onto the greenway path. We went a little ways and decided it was much too nasty to keep going. We spent the next hour strolling Rachel around a neighborhood behind Kohl's & Target to try to get the mud off the stroller so we could put it in the car!




Memorial Day afternoon we spent with Adam's family. His dad cooked out hamburgers and his mom made a potato salad to die for! It was delicious!

Uncle Nate & Aunt Lauren also stopped by after getting back from Knoxville to look at their wedding pics.

Even great Papa was there and got to play with Rachel! What a fun day!

Baby Dedication

We went to Cookeville this past weekend for Rachel's baby dedication at Copeland's Chapel. She wore a dress and some little black shoes that used to be mine. So, it was a special day indeed.

This was also Rachel's first trip to her Nana's house...so we had to get a picture of her on my old Strawberry Shortcake blanket. It was my favorite! We had a fun time, but Sunday night when we returned home she was so worn out. It took two and half hours to get her calmed down and asleep. We are going back to Cookeville tomorrow for my cousin's wedding, but we're not staying all night. So, hopefully we won't have such a hard time when we get back home!

Eight Weeks Old

Papa & Mimi (Adam's parents) watched Rachel on Friday night so we could go to PF Chang's for an anniversary dinner. It was delicious! Her great Papa Charles also came over that night and Nimbus was a bad kitty. He bit Papa Charles on the hand and made it bleed! I don't think he meant any harm, but he's used to Adam or me petting him and if he nips us a bit it's not a big deal...but Papa's skin is much more sensitive than ours and just didn't hold up well against Nimbus' claws/teeth.

On a more positive note, Nimbus has done fantastic with Rachel. He hasn't ever tried to bother her...and amazingly, he doesn't even try to bother her toys. We were worried he'd like her mat with the hanging toys...but he hasn't bothered it. I think her crying sometimes gets to him though as he was used to a pretty calm household before she arrived. Here's a pic of him "covering his ears" to block out the noise:o) Actually, Rachel wasn't crying when we took this picture, but Nimbus has been known to cover his ears when that happens!



We had a rough night Sunday night. Adam ended up taking off work on Tuesday to help me with her. It was great to have some help! Sometimes I just need a break! We got to go to the greenway since it was so beautiful and then Uncle Nate came over on Tuesday night (Aunt Lauren was working). Adam and Nate worked on Nate's computer that had died...I have never seen so many "loose screws"...literally! I have no idea how they got that computer back together with no screws left over...but they did! They're computer wizards!

Adam played Rachel a couple of tunes this week - the Kermit the Frog Song in particular. Here's a pic of him playing for her and a video clip (which hopefully he won't kill me for putting on here...he was just messing around and not actually playing a song)...wait a minute, is that two different guitars?!?! Yes, it is. Adam has become quite the guitar guru lately. He's remodeled both of these guitars and has a couple of others (an acoustic, ukulele, etc.). He really enjoys messing with them. I have also learned alot because he tells me all about them...does anyone know what a humbucker is?!?!?! or locking tuners??!??! or pick ups?!?!? I now know thanks to Adam sharing his love of guitars with me!

Rachel and I have been reading alot of books lately. Her favorites include "Guess How Much I Love You" and "Goodnight Moon". She's actually starting to pay attention when I read to some extent! We have also been singing alot of songs. Our favorite right now is "Jesus Loves Me". It really seems to have a calming effect on her when I sing it to her. We sing it the original way, but we also have a new beat that we sing it to. I think she likes the new beat best...but either way...it's proof that Jesus can take control of a situation and turn it for the better when she's upset and we sing this song together.

We're heading to Cookeville this weekend for a baby dedication by my Pa on Sunday at my home church. So, we're really excited about that! My mom is going to watch Rachel while Adam and I go to Nick's restuarant (our favorite place to eat ever!) on Saturday night so we're looking very forward to that. We will no doubt get a piece of the ice cream pie to share and I'll probably have my standard chicken strips with baked potato...although I might decide on the prime rib which is also to die for! We'll post pics of all of this next week...so stay tuned...

Seven Weeks Old

Week 7 was really busy with Nate & Lauren's wedding, Mother's Day, and our anniversary. We are still working on getting the perfect picture for our baby announcements (which we will get out before she's 3 months old). We have some that we like, but we're still pretty indecisive. Rachel and I went to Hobby Lobby this week to pick up some black fabric for a backdrop for her black and white pictures. I love black and white pics and plan to take many of them over her lifetime:o)







Rachel's Pa came to visit this week and played her a tune on the guitar ("You are my Sunshine"). She seemed to like it!




Rachel is growing like crazy and Adam was able to get her to crack a small smile this morning. She was so cute! We introduced a small toy rattle this week, but she's still not able to grasp it yet. She's loving her play gym and is content to swing her arms at all the hanging toys for 30 minutes at a time. She also watched her first Baby Einstein video this morning. It's the Baby Beethoven Symphony of Fun. She seemed to like it or at least it kept her attention for a little while. Here she is watching it...



We are in the process of updating the blinds in our house. We're going with white faux wood blinds. Adam got some of them put up this week and purchased some of the others. We're starting with the upstairs first and will finish up the downstairs later this year probably.

1st Mother's Day

We went up to Livingston to celebrate with my mom at my brother's house on Saturday. They made chicken kabobs that were to die for and a salad that had fresh strawberries on it. It was awesome! I made a punch bowl cake too. Donnie took Adam for a 4-wheeler ride around the farm they just purchased and took me and Christy on a Jeep ride to the point at sunset. It was gorgeous! And of course, Rachel and Laura were wearing the matching outfits their Nana gave them in her honor:o) Then Adam and his dad cooked lunch for me and his mom on Sunday. It was good too. We had ribs, corn on the cob, salad, and mashed potatoes. Yummy!

This was Rachel's first major road trip! She slept all the way there and back!

This was my first Mother's Day and Rachel made me the most wonderful present (with a little help from her daddy). I loved it!

We got my mom and Adam's mom pendants to go on a necklace. My mom's had a picture of Cade on one side and Laura and Rachel on the other. Adam's mom's had a picture of Rachel on one side and then a design on the other side. We had tried to get a picture of Cade, Laura, and Rachel all paying attention but that was near impossible...so we went for the girls on one side and Cade on the other. Christy took an adorable picture of the girls sleeping. I'm also posting the funny picture that kind of depicts how it was impossible to get a good one of all three of them at one time. Getting three kids to pay attention was crazy! We got the pendant pics in black and white.

All in all, it was a great Mother's Day weekend.

Uncle Nate & Aunt Lauren's Wedding/Anniversary

Adam's brother Nate got married on Friday night and the wedding/reception were absolutely gorgeous and alot of fun! Adam was the best man. We ate at a fabulous restaurant called September's in Hendersonville for the rehearsal dinner....and the food at the reception was awesome! There was prime rib, squash casserole, mashed potatoes, salad, etc and of course wedding cake! I tried some of each (b/c I didn't want to hurt Nate or Lauren's feelings)...the groom's cake was an orange cake with chocolate icing...great combination. It was delicious!...but it didn't help with my losing any weight:o)

Thank goodness for my mom (aka Rachel's Nana) as she came down on Thursday and Friday to help with Rachel so Adam and I could enjoy the wedding events. Rachel came to the wedding and slept right through it (thank goodness) but she stayed home with Nana for the rehearsal dinner. It was the night of our anniversary, so it was nice to go out for dinner (that we didn't even have to pay for!) and actually get to eat together:o) We normally have to eat in shifts as Rachel seems to figure out when dinner is ready and then get cranky. Rachel didn't do real great for all the wedding pictures. I think it was all the bright lights. We used the pacifier "trick" by putting it in long enough to get her happy and then pulling it out right before the picture was taken. My hope is that they got at least one good one for Nate and Lauren's album. We got a few cute ones with our own camera though.

Adam got me a gorgeous set of a dozen roses for our anniversary and I got him a Bob Marley 2-CD set. We've been listening to it and "imagining" we're at the beach since we won't get a beach vacation this year. We also treated ourselves to the movie "Yesman". It's a Jim Carrey movie that is really funny!

Six Weeks Old

Rachel turned 6 weeks old last week and she was right on target with her 6 week growth spurt. She wanted to eat constantly and wanted to be held all the time. Needless to say, it made for a very long week! I think we're past it now and we're hoping she'll start to sleep a little longer at night. She sleeps for 5 hours on occasion, but it is by no means constant yet.


We finally made it to the grocery store and she had a complete meltdown by the time I had finished gathering the few items on my list. All in all though, it wasn't too bad considering the screaming wasn't all that loud in the big grocery store! Let's just say, it's easy to save money because you have no time to look for anything but necessity items (no strolling down the cookie aisle to look for a snack!...this helps with saving money and taking off that baby weight!)


I am starting my Tae Bo workouts and am planning to do them 5 days a week. I've lost 23 pounds so far and have 12 more to go to be back at my pre-pregnancy weight. I'd like to be below pre-pregnancy weight, but you have to start somewhere:o)


Here are some pics from week #6.