Almost 6 Months Old

Rachel turns 6 months old this Friday! I can't believe it!!! This has been an awesome week with lots of things going on and next week is going to be even better! We're heading to St. Louis on Thursday, so stay tuned for pics from the trip when we get back!

Our main event this week was Laura's 1st birthday party. We had so much fun and Christy went all out with the lady bug theme. Everything was so cute!!!

Rachel has a new facination with...just about everything...including the TV remote. She's putting EVERYTHING into her mouth lately! Maybe it's because she now has her first tooth pushing through!!! We're so excited, but sad becuase our baby is already growing up!

This sitting up is the stuff!!

She loves that her boppy pillow catches her when she falls backwards from sitting up:o)

In her door jumper...

Her first time to sit in the shopping cart!...at Target of course!

She got a little pooped out by the time we finished shopping...

Playing at Nana's house over the weekend...she just loves the frog bouncer!

Laura's cute snacks at the birthday party...

Her birthday cake...made by Christy, no less...

The birthday girl...so precious!

Pa holding Rachel (in her ladybug outfit to match the party)...

The party favors for the adults...what a great idea...until you put liquid in them...then all the paint started coming off! Oops!! Sorry Christy!

It's cake time!!!

This stuff is messy...

Granny and Rachel...

Aunt Barbara and Rachel...

Nana helping Laura open presents...there were alot of presents!!! Rachel can't wait to go play with Laura now!!!

Rachel smiling at her Monkey Ball...thanks for the hand-me-down Aunt Christy!!! She loves it!!!

Just hangin' out...and smilin'...

Loungin' in her boppy pillow...

She's loving her apple teething ring...especially since she now has one tooth pushing through...

Rachel and her Dada...

Pooped out from the stroller ride...

5 3/4 Months!

This has been a much better week! We've all been healthy and Rachel met a huge milestone: sitting up by herself! She's been close for a week or so now, but she was able to successfully do it on her own this week. She's still VERY wobbly at times of course and spends alot of time simply doubled over, but her boppy pillow has provided a soft cushion for all the many times she's fallen...or mommy or daddy of course!

Here are some cute pics of Rachel playing this week...

Look at me...I can sit up!!!

I love my peas...

We went down to Mimi and Papa's on Thursday night for the season opener of the Titans...of course, we only got to stay 30 minutes into the game since it started so late...but dinner was great and the company was too!

Here's Mimi holding Rachel after she fell asleep...

The whole gang...during a commercial break of course...

Uncle Nate and Aunt Lalo...

Great Papa Charles with his hearing device in so he won't miss a second of the game!

Rachel and Adam in the cutest hand-me-down overalls ever!

Another pic of Rachel with her Dada...she was tired...

Bathtime is fun!!!

I can really do this (she looks like she's surprised herself!)...Rachel sitting up again...

Rachel and Fozzie...waiting on me to get ready to go to church on Sunday morning...

Rachel in her pretty dress, ready for church Sunday morning...she wasn't very cooperative for family pics though...

Chewing on her burp cloth...a new favorite pasttime...

5 1/2 Months

This has not been the best week in our house. Rachel got sick for the first time starting on Wednesday afternoon and we had several sleepless nights. She ran a fever from 3PM Wednesday until 6AM on Friday and would not let me put her down all day Thursday. Talk about a tiring day! Then I got sick on Sunday afternoon, perhaps due to pure exhaustion or perhaps the same thing that Rachel had and Nana had to come to our rescue to help with Rachel. Adam was also so worn out from no sleep that we just had to have some help! So, thank you NANA! You're the best!

Because we were all sick, we didn't get too many pics again this week. However, I managed to get a few on the days we were all well. Needless to say our Labor Day weekend was spent trying to catch up on sleep and then with me getting sick...so no happy fun times for us!...but we're heading to St. Louis in a couple of weeks so we're looking forward to that!

Here are just a few pics from the week...

Driving away on her steering wheel..she's 6 months going on 16 already!

Starting to pay attention to the crawling Pooh...

Happy in her new doorway jumper that we just got out this week...

Looking at her favorite doll from Mimi...

Playtime is so tiring...

She's still loving those fingers...especially when she's so sleepy...

In the doorway jumper again...

5 1/4 Months

Well, we had a VERY full week of excitement...but I get the "bad" mommy award because I didn't take many pics at all! I got lazy I guess. I'll have to do better this week.

Uncle Nate & Aunt Lauren came over to eat and play with Rachel on Thursday night. I made my mom's recipe for lasagna. It turned out okay. It was a little dry. Found out I took it upon myself to drain the tomatoes and I shouldn't have done that:o) They also brought over their Wii. I am behind the times I suppose, but it was my first time to play the Wii. The creation of Mii's for me and Adam was quite possibly the funniest part of the night. I laughed until I cried almost. It was a good night. I didn't like the Baseball game at all...but bowling was good and I laughed my head off at Adam and Nate playing some driving game on it. Also, Lauren can kick bootie at the Boxing! She beat Adam and Nate to the point that I didn't even try fighting her (since I'm quite frankly video game challenged unless it's Atari...I'm old school!)

We had some good ol' redneck fun at the Demolition Derby at the Wilson County Fair on Friday night. Nana came to watch Rachel so we could have Friday night and Saturday off! It was a much needed break for me! We had been to Cookeville alot lately, but mostly just for the afternoons. We haven't stayed up there lately so we could get more than an hour or two break. I got some pics at the Demo Derby, but none of Nana/Rachel. Shame on me! I really did take the day off on Saturday and went shopping with Adam so I really wasn't home much to take any pics.

Matt went with us to the Derby and everyone else backed out...but we still had a blast. We make it fun by picking cars and cheering for it to win. I don't think the one I picked below faired too well. Oh well, that's what I get for picking based on prettiness, not ruggedness!



Here's Adam and Matt next to the car with the very redneck Hillbilly Deluxe on the back of it...



Rachel has been loving her "toucan" that we put on her carseat to keep her entertained when traveling. She's been holding on to him lately...how cute:o)

We went all out and splurged on a new BOB running stroller this weekend. We've been looking for a used running stroller without much luck. Anyways, this is the Mercedes of running strollers and was a small investment (as I like to call it)...BUT, I think we'll get our use out of it and be able to recoup some money by reselling it when we're finished with it in a few years.

Rachel's first time to sit in her new stroller...

Here's Adam and Rachel with the new stroller the first time we took it on the greenway on Sunday afternoon.

We went to a Sounds game with our friends Adam and Julia from church on Monday night. We were supposed to go with Brent, Rachel, and Lilli too, but Lilli got sick...she's feeling better today though so we're happy about that!

Here we are at the game...

Rachel is loving sitting in her bean bag while Adam plays guitar for her lately...

Here's she is just playing away this week...

We did manage to get a picture of Pa with his b-day gift when he came to visit on Wednesday this week...

5 Months Old

Rachel will be 5 months old tomorrow! She's growing like a little weed and is now outgrowing alot of her clothes labeled 3-6 months. She's not outgrowing them so much "around" but in "length" mostly. She had a fun play date will Lilli this week and visited Mama Elaine (which just made her day!)...she also started sweet potatoes...now that was fun times!

Here are some cute pics from the week...

Playing with Lilli...

Cruisin' around the neighborhood...

On our way to church on Sunday morning:o) She got to wear a cute little dress from Laura. It was long sleeved and I was afraid she would outgrow it before it was time to wear it...but due to the fall-like weather this past weekend, it was a perfect choice for Sunday morning.

She's all smiles and giggles these days...

We started sweet potatoes this morning. I think she got more on her face and bib than in her belly, but we'll try, try again tomorrow. Next week we'll start squash which definitely sounds more appetizing to me!

Adam was WAY too excited about his new guitar pedal (MXR Dynacomp to be exact)! He got it off Craigslist. Hopefully he knows what it's supposed to do because I have no idea:o)

Our visit with Mama Elaine on Sunday afternoon just made her day. She just loves it when Rachel comes to visit!