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!

4 3/4 Months Old

It was another busy week of birthdays in the McDonald household. My birthday was on Thursday and we had a family birthday party for all the July/August birthdays in Cookeville over the weekend (which marked our third trip to Cookeville in 3 weeks!)...craziness! We are thankful to be staying home this weekend and we probably won't be back up there until Sept 19 for Laura's 1 year b-day party.

Here's me and Rachel on my birthday...did she pick that bib with the birthday cake on purpose?!?!? How thoughtful!


Family pic on my birthday...



Here's Nana and Rachel after Rachel had pooped out from all the partying:o) Nana came down and made salmon patties, mashed taters, fried okra, pinto beans, and cornbread to help celebrate mine and Adam's birthdays since his was last week. It was yummy! Then she also made a cherry pie for Adam and a frozen oreo dessert for me. Yes, we're spoiled...but I don't even like cherry pie and that's what Adam wanted for his dessert...so it was only fair that we had both our favorite desserts on our birthdays:o) Nana took care of Rachel for the night by giving her a bath and putting her to bed, so we actually got to watch a movie! We watched Bride Wars. It was cute, but definitely not one I would have paid to see in the theatres or purchase....but I'm cheap like that:o)



Isn't she just adorable when she first wakes up in the morning?!?!?!

Here's Nimbus just chillin' on the stairs...

Rachel FINALLY took the other pacifier this week. She's never been a huge fan of the paci, but when she did take it, she'd only take the Soothie one. We had a breakthrough this week and she started taking the Nuk kind....right after I finally broke down and bought a paci attacher for the Soothie one. It figures! Anyways, we hope she'll stick with the Nuk paci b/c she can keep it in her mouth easier than the other one and you don't have to put it back in every 3 seconds.

Here's Rachel just sittin' up in her boppy pillow. She really wants to sit up all the time now...but she just can't do it by herself yet...

Here's Rachel just playing...Aunt Christy cleaned out Cade and Laura's toys...so it was like Christmas for Rachel this week! Lots of new things to play with!

Adam had to help his dad with his computer this week. So, Rachel and I tagged along. Papa Charles sure enjoyed visiting with Rachel while they were working on the computer!

Ah, what we will do for a good deal! Here's the line to get in the consignment sale this past Friday night. We got some cute clothes, but looking back, I don't think it was worth it. Mimi came over to watch Rachel as we couldn't get in the sale until 8PM and her bedtime is 8:30...so there was hardly any way to take her with us. Anyways, we didn't get home until after 11PM becuase we stood in line to pay for an hour and half after we finished shopping. It was like the day after Thanksgiving!!! Madness!!!! And we didn't even get the jogging stroller we were hoping to find! They had some, but no swivel wheels on the front like we're wanting. We were also totally unprepared! Everyone in line kept walking up with clothes baskets...it made it easier to carry around all the things you wanted to purchase. We'll definitely be more prepared if we go back again.

Here's Laura trying to catch some bubbles at the family birthday party this past Saturday night. My camera had low batteries, so I didn't even get a good pic of Cade (the birthday boy!).

4 1/2 Months Old

This was a crazy busy week with Adam & Cade's birthdays. Rachel also started eating rice cereal this week (or at least attempting to eat it!)...I am still not sure after 7 days if we've had many successful swallows yet!...but she'll get there. It just takes a little time:o)



Here's Rachel playing on the quilt Christy's mom made for her...

Here's some pics of Adam showing off his b-day presents...Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar festival DVD...

and a body pillow...

Pa came to visit on Adam's b-day too and went to eat with us and Adam's family at The Hermitage Steakhouse...yummy!

Here's Rachel giving her lamb some love...this is still one of her favorites!

All smiles and giggles these days...

Rachel playing on her exersaucer...she still can't reach most of the toys with her pillow holding her up (we have to put the pillow in front of her still so she doesn't just fall over)...so she's still not enjoying it too much...but she's liking it more and more seems like...

Here's Rachel (our little flower child) as I tried to make a funny pic of her looking through her teething ring this week:o)

She is loving to suck on her fingers these days...even more than her paci! She's even put herself to sleep a couple of nights this week by using her fingers to pacify herself rather than me having to rock her in my arms until she's completely asleep. Hopefully this will continue to the point that I can put her to bed drowsy but not fully asleep every night!

Just a cute pic from the week...

Rachel has also found the little roll of fat right behind her hand. She has embarrassingly started giving herself arm hickies this week by sucking on it. We can't make her stop!

She went swimming again this week. She seemed to enjoy it a little more than before because she could sit up better in her Bumbo seat. However, I think she'll like it even more when she can sit up on her own down in the water...it will only be another month or so!

Alison came over and went with us to Members Only Night at the Zoo. Here's Rachel and Big Al before we left...

Here we are on the carousal at the zoo. It was free on Members Only Night!

We sat on the non-moving bench for the ride...but got a pic on one of the animals after it stopped!

Here's a pic of the clouded leopard that Adam took while we were listening to a zookeeper speech about them...

...and then there was Cade's 2nd Birthday Party. The theme was cows (his favorite) if you couldn't figure it out by looking at the pics. Christy went all out with the decorations, etc. We even had Purple Cow Juice, cow balloons, cow tattoos, cow cake, Christy's toenails were painted like cows....craziness! How creative! The party was a huge success and lots of fun! Way to go Christy!

Here's Rachel making the meanest face she could muster with her bad girl cow tattoo...

...and Laura with her cow stockings...and "cowgirl in charge" t-shirt...

...Nana and the girls....

Me and Christy with our famous tattoo pose:o)

Rachel with all her party favors from Cade's party this morning...

She loves this little rattler that came from the Cow pinata no less!

Rachel also helped me make cupcakes for Adam's b-day this week. Here she is helping me in the kitchen...

Family pic on Adam's b-day...

We had Richard over for dinner tonight to celebrate his b-day (which is the same day as mine). Here's Rich with the cool dessert I made...we had white chocolate and plain chocolate "cups" with ice cream scoops garnished with bananas, strawberries, and chocolate sauce...Alison helped make them pretty...

Close up of Rich's dessert...