Our Little Fish, Continued

Here are some more pictures of Rachel at swimming lessons. This time, with me.

Rachel waving hello; "jumping" out of the water; going down the slide after the last lesson (she has pretty much refused to go down any slide since); wrapped up in her towel; post-dunk.

Rachel did great at swimming lessons and I had a fun time with her!

February Photo Dump

Andrew got a new camera, so if it looks like he doesn't do anything with us, that is not true. He is playing with his fancy pantsy camera.

In February, we didn't do anything big. We lived our normal lives.

We went on lots of walks in the cold.




We bathed.




We napped and awoke from said naps.






We went to the zoo and hung out in a meerkat hole.


We learned how to climb things.




We celebrated Valentine's Day. Thanks Andrew!



(You can see that I'm not good at the new camera)

We read books.


We practiced the piano.


And brushed our teeth.


Pretty uneventful but also really great!

We Have A Piano!

It is a new-to-us but very old piano.



I am really happy to finally have a piano in our home. I've already been playing on it. It is really out of tune, but I am just happy to have a piano after many years of wanting one.

A friend of a friend gave it to us for free. She said that she just wanted it to go to a good home where it would be played and loved.

I am happy.

On Brainwashing Your Child To Love Airplanes

It is no secret that Andrew loves airplanes. He and our neighbor Ric have "nerd nights" where they geek out over anything and everything airplane. Andrew works for Boeing in aerodynamics and that was his dream job while growing up (and now, though he enjoys his job, it is still a job, and jobs are not as fun as bumming around all day). He is working hard to teach Rachel that airplanes are important by...

Playing Yaw, Pitch, and Roll

Which I unfortunately do not have a picture of. But usually Dads hold their babies above them when laying down and the baby flies. Andrew says the planes that airplanes move on.

Playing Flight Simulator




She is absolutely thrilled.

Taking Baby to Airplane Museums


And posing in front of airplanes.

Taking Baby to Airshows

As illustrated in the previous post.

So that is how you do, it you are so inclined.

Snuggles

I am not much of a snuggler. But I do sometimes. Like when we get a new couch and I snuggle with an adorable baby.

Progenitors

I figured I better finish up our Utah trip today since I am going back to Utah with Rachel in about three days. I really wanted to get this done sooner, but oh well. Let me tell you, getting a smart phone and an iPad has completely killed my motivation to turn on the computer and therefore killed my ability to blog.

Great Grandparents


Rachel meeting Great Grandma. My Grandma had a stroke a few years ago and can't really talk, except for things like, "I... llloove... you..." and "Con... grat... u... la... tions." It is pretty difficult to string the words together and some words she just can't get out. Grandma loved holding Rachel. Grandma kept cooing and saying, "Oh... oh..." It was so so sweet. I am really glad that they got to meet.


Rachel with Great Grandpa.


Four generations of baby girls. :) I love this picture. (I finally see it---I do look like my mom!)


Hanging out with Inge Oma and Inge Opa. "Inge" is actually Oma's name, but all the other great-grandchildren call them that. Rachel's middle name, Eleonore, is Oma's first name. She also just loved to hold the baby. Let me tell you, Rachel got smothered in German love.




Opa has Alzheimer's or something, and the first time they met Rachel, Oma did not let him hold her. I could tell he wanted to. So when we visited them again, I asked him if he would like to hold the baby. He did. And he kept saying, "It is good for us to hold the baby." I thought it was so sweet that even though he has no idea what is going on or who anyone is, he felt that holding a sweet infant was an important thing.


Opa's young pictures look just like Andrew, so that is what he will look like when he is old.

Aunts and Uncles

Everyone likes holding Rachel because she is so dang cute. But here are some pictures of her being especially cute with her aunts and uncles.


Vegging with Uncle Daniel.


Laughing at Tante Hannah.


Skyping with Uncle Matt.

And so on and so forth.

Grandparents

These people adore Rachel.


Grandpa and Rachel on Christmas morning. The red-eye makes her look like Rudolf the Possessed Reindeer.


Merry Christmas Rachel and Grandma!


I guess my Dad really likes to hold Rachel in this position.


Talking with Grandma.


Oma and Rachel.


Laughing at her silly Opa.


Reading Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots? with Oma.


Relaxing with Opa.


The cutest picture EVER! Rachel smiling and talking to Oma during Relief Society.

Conclusion

Rachel was well-loved by her progenitors.

It's Christmas! Well, Early Christmas ... Late ...

Hang up the mistletoe... It's Christmas! I hope you, dear reader, are in the holiday spirit, because I am posting some cute Christmas pictures! These are of our little Christmas celebration, which actually happened before Christmas. And I'm posting it late. Therefore it is "Early Christmas... Late..."


Rachel enjoyed looking at the lights on the mini Christmas trees.


Isn't she sweet?


Merry first Christmas Rachel! Time to open your presents from Mom and Dad!


She screamed. Apparently she doesn't like presents.


"WHY DID YOU GIVE ME BOOKS?!?!?!" Such torture to expand one's mind...


Still screaming. Doesn't Andrew looked thrilled about Christmas through a child's eyes?

And that was our at-home Christmas. It was nice. But it really didn't feel very Christmasy. Here in Washington, it is warm and not snowy and we had midget trees. Just something to get used to.

Stay tuned... more Christmas fun is to come! And I will be much quicker getting these up than I have done other posts lately.

The Only Pictures on My Phone

Pretty much the only pictures on my phone are of Rachel. How can I help it when she is so darn cute?


Wearing her cute gingerbread outfit from Grandpa.


On a walk with mom and she is actually awake! It didn't last too much longer. Usually she zonks right out when I put her in the Ergo Baby (which we love). Also, I look like a dork and have my eyes closed.


"I'm awake!" Even in the car. Such pretty, big, blue eyes.


First trip to Cabela's and trying out fishing poles with dad. She is wearing her little elf outfit from Oma.


I accidentally captured one of her first conscious smiles!


A beautiful girl who is finally happy again. Hooray for modern medicine! (more on this later)


The tail end of a smile. She is so cute. Her mohawk and mullet are both getting longer.

And, because all the other pictures on my phone are of him that Melanie sent to me, here is my adorable nephew, Nigel.

He also has big, blue eyes. I'm so excited for them to "meet" (Nigel whacking Rachel in the face) at Christmas time.

So many baby pictures. Being a mom is interesting, to say the least.

Have you realized that parents are like 20 times the size of their babies?

My Trip to Utah

It was a fun time in Utah. There were many parties (I love parties) and seeing friends. I am so amazed at how I'd only been gone for three months and so much has changed with everyone! Life goes on for everyone, and it is impossible to keep up to date with everyone you love. Just trying is a challenge, but it is rewarding to still love people after months and even years.

I went to the Farmer's Market in SLC with my parents and Leslie. This guy was playing the dijeridoo (or however it is spelled).



Leslie having a near-death experience at City Creek Mall.


The trout inside City Creek Mall. Leslie said, "How did they get the trout there?" And I made a joke. "Oh, you know, the Utah Department of Fish and Wildlife came in their helicopter and dropped the fish into the mall the way they do when they stock a lake. But the poor trout hit the glass ceiling and died so they had to bring them in in wheelbarrows." Unfortunately, my family didn't find it funny. Andrew did though. He understands.

So, sorry those who love it--not super impressed by City Creek. The stores were ones I would never shop at (too expensive) and it wasn't that cool of a mall. Maybe I just am not much of a shopper. I don't think it is worth all the hype it has gotten for its opening and since then.

And Saturday night I drove to Park City all by myself for the first time ever to celebrate the wedding of Andrew and Bree. Congratulations!


And coming back into Kaysville, I saw this fire on the mountain.

It was in Layton but they got it all under control pretty fast.

Monday! We had a barbecue and baby shower and birthday party with my family. It was great to see everyone and I got a haul!



Opening presents and looking like a dork.

On Tuesday I drove to Logan and visited friends and met babies.


Calvin--so chill, sometimes I even forgot he was there.


Kaylee--she used to love me but seemed rather wary of me. That's what three months does to you when you aren't even two years old.


And I had a fun shower with friends and, once again, it was great to see everyone.


John--love the big eyes :)


Me, Annie, and Audrey--Audrey was so sweet to want to come see me! I wish Andrew could have come so they could have played together.


The Logan Temple at twilight.

On Thursday, I had a shower with Andrew's family.

Big Andrew skyping with Kaleb and Olya's cute kids, Little Andrew and Emma.

FYI--I absolutely LOVE this picture and it was one of my favorite moments of the trip.


Little Andrew playing with naked Barbies with Glenn.


Me and Aunt Meagan. She is due the day before me and is having a boy. The plan is to have our babies on the same day.

And I had to get all my loot home.


I impressively fit everything in my suitcase. It weighed in at 51 pounds. The nice man at SkyCap didn't make me take anything out. I must have looked appropriately and pathetically pregnant.

And that was my trip to Utah. Fun times! But I was very glad to get back to Andrew.

Come visit us if you are in the Seattle area!