Holiday Cheer

Happy Holidays everyone!  What a great year it has been - I will spare you a year-in-review summary, but just know that we love all of you and are grateful for our wonderful friends and family.  My lack of blogging has been due to some lovely computer issues, and now we're headed to Utah for a couple weeks, so SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!  

p.s.  Can you believe that Rachel is already 6 months old?  Unreal!  See our most recent family picture below and sorry for little Miss no-smile-chubby-cheeks - it's the best we could do that day.  :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Sorry to have overwhelmed you with three videos in the last post (mostly for the grandmas), but the first one is pretty funny. Unfortunately, she is done with her growling phase which only lasted a few days. Now a few pictures of the little princess - can't believe she's five months.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Two new teeth! Can you see them?

Just chillin' - check out those cute tights

Happy as can be!

Hmmmm..

Funny faces

5 months old

Rachel just turned 5 months old a few days ago.  It is hard to believe how fast she is growing up. We feel like she has changed quite a bit over the past few weeks and so we wanted to post a few videos to make sure everyone is up to date.  It cannot be seen in the videos, but Rachel just got here first two teeth this week.  

Rachel being a Monster

Rachel laughing at Mom and Dad

Rachel in her new jumper

Friends with many talents

My friend, Kelly (worked with her at Tag), has a darling Etsy Shop and she's having a sale this weekend - check it out. See the link to the right under "Shop with Friends" and hers is "the urban thimble" or you can click here.

I am always impressed with all of your amazing talents - photography, handmade items, design, etc.! Leave me a comment with your link if I may have forgotten you (Cami - I couldn't find your site, can you send it to me please?).

Home Videos

Here is a video of Rachel being funny - she just discovered her voice and loves to squeal.



The video below is of her rolling over - she almost always flips to her tummy now when we lay her down on her back.

Halloween, Visitors, & Oprah

What a great weekend - Happy Halloween! My mom & her best friend and my grandma all flew in this weekend for the Oprah show on Halloween morning. It was a "Friday Live" show with the panel, so it was fun to see Gayle. David Foster also showed up and Andrea Bocelli performed - fantastic! We got Bocelli's CD and Foster's new book. Great fun!

We also hit up the ward party on Halloween night. Brandon was a teenage mutant ninja turtle (as usual - he wears the same costume every year). I have a green m&m costume, but opted to wear Brandon's Cubs jersey and I wore a bandage on my knee and said that I was a Cubs Fan who sprained my knee jumping off the bandwagon. Rachel was a pumpkin and you're not going to believe this, but this was the same costume that I wore for my first Halloween and my mom made it 25 years ago - so sweet!

We brought a friend's little four-year old, so now we sort of know what it's like to have two kids. We're good with one for now! Rachel was so tired at the party, that she fell asleep while I was holding her upright and the costume turned out to be a perfect pillow. Seriously, isn't this the cutest picture? (Don't mind the fact that she was also drueling profusely.)

Rachel & Grandma Elaine

We didn't make it to a pumpkin patch this year, but this shot will have to do. :) Brandon also carved a pumpkin with Rachel this week and they did such a good job!


Here are the ladies at Harpo Studios for the Oprah show. We also got to go see Wicked - amazing! (I know...it was my third time, but mom offered to buy my ticket, so I couldn't turn it down!) Thanks to the ladies for a fun weekend and a special thanks to Brandon for staying home with Rachel lots!

rachel's room

If anyone is wondering, her bedding is by Cotton Tale and it's called Early Bird Bedding. It turned out so cute - I just love it! Also, Brandon's grandpa made the cute letters for her shelf pictured below. At times I've thought about painting her room, but then I think about having to paint it white again in June when we move out.

Gotta love being a mom.

p.s.

Coming soon...
I got tickets to Oprah for next Friday's show, Oct. 31 - Halloween! So stay tuned for the details. My mom, grandma, and my mom's best friend, Kyle are all flying in for the show (and to see Rachel, of course). It's going to be a blast! I think it's the Friday Live show like she's been doing this season, so tune in to Oprah on Friday.

**Chicago friends, I got tickets by writing in for the "last minute" availability on her website. I told them that I wanted my mom to fly in and see my daughter in her Halloween costume, but that I needed to get Oprah tickets to justify the plane flight. :) For the last two months, we've tried calling in to the Oprah line, but never got through. And believe me, we tried calling lots.**

Don't miss the post below - it's new too!

Catch Up...

Rachel & I are good buddies (except when she wakes up and wants to play in the middle of the night). And we're still good friends in the middle of the night since Brandon and I are such suckers! Her latest trick is arching her back to get out of the bumbo chair - see pic below.

Rachel got a "big girl" stroller last week - wahoo! It's a heavy duty yet light-weight umbrella stroller. It's a Maclaren, but I didn't have to break the bank. I found this one on Ebay - it is the 2007 edition and was brand new in the box. We got it for a steal of a deal and Rach loves it!

Brock and Nicole came to visit and it was so great to see them! We have missed them lots. They stayed with us one night and then had a hotel downtown. We went and met them for dinner at Cheesecake Factory and had a great time. Did I mention that going out to dinner with children is quite different then without kids? :) We still had a great time and were sad to see them go. Brandon and Brock also went to a Bears game, so you'll have to put in a special request for pics and a post from Brandon about the game. They had a GREAT time! Go bears! The pictures below include our trip downtown, Rachel all bundled up, Rachel and Lily (Rachel was so fascinated with her!), and the whole group. Luv you guys!

Tipping the Scales

"Who me?"

I took Rachel to her 4 month doctor appointment and she is off the charts for height and in the 90-95 percentile for weight. She is about the size of an average 7-8 month old.

Here's the stats:
15 lb 5 oz
26 inches

I wanted to go to a pediatrician that a friend had recommended, but it's quite the hike (well worth it). We got on the 9:45a train to go downtown, then it's a 1.2 mile walk to the doctors office. After the appointment, we "needed" to check out the baby clothes at H&M, so we finally got home just before 2p. We had fun since it was such a nice day outside - Rach loves being outside, so I'm thinking it's going to be a long winter!

We are back...

We made it safe and sound back to Chicago and I am thrilled to be back in our apartment. The picture above is the view from our window. I'm glad we didn't come back straight into winter, but the fall is quite chilly compared to our hot summer.

I had a terrible sore throat and fever last week, so I wasn't able to do much, but we did manage to go into Aon to visit old friends and also went to Molly's Cupcakes in Lincoln Park with some friends while the boys went to the Priesthood Session. Yum! Rachel didn't get a bite of the cupcake - we'll start with rice cereal first (this adventure will happen in two weeks)...

Here's a quick recap of what we've been up to in September (in backwards order) -

Rachel did great on the plane ride to Chicago - plane ride #6! Good girl! We were pretty sad to say goodbye to family, but she was excited to see her new room. It took a few days (still taking a few more days) to put together, but she is pleased with what she's seen. It's so fun to see her reaction to things like her crib set and mobile - she smiles and giggles and is so happy.

When we got to Utah, we froze. After being in 100+ weather for almost all of her life so far, 65 degrees felt freezing, but we were prepared...

The best part of Utah is both sets of grandmas & grandpas and cousins! She loved to watch them play and we even managed to get them all in a picture (Mason, Cannon holding Rachel, and Kennedy). Cute kids.
We stayed at Brandon's parents for half the time and my parents for half the time. We seemed to be always on the go, but she was as trooper.

Here are some classic Rachel faces...

"I didn't do it."

"Huh?"

"This is the best day ever!"

Brandon got to go to two BYU football games while we were there and Rachel and I even went over for the tailgate party. The Camp Family always does a fantastic tailgate party - seriously, you can't even compete with this.

"Go Cougars!"

We had so much fun in Utah! Thanks to everyone for giving us a place to stay and letting us eat all your food! We miss you so much.

Being in Arizona was a great adventure and thanks to Brandon who worked so hard! We went into his office to visit him one day - here's a picture of daddy & daughter.

I loved having my college roommates down in AZ! We got together one last time before I left. The first picture is of Natalie and I (ignore the fact that Rach is really ticked) and the second is of Kasey (new baby, Cole) and Sarah. They are the best! Miss you, girls!

Home Sweet Chicago

Brandon is currently driving our car (packed to the brim) back to Chicago. All by himself- poor guy, but he has always been stubborn about driving by himself. My job is to pack the car with lots of goodies because if you know Brandon like I do, you know he won't stop for meals. Driving across country for him is kind of like "Survivor Man" (TV show). Cross your fingers that he won't have any car problems. Rachel and I fly out tomorrow and Brandon will be there in time to pick us up from the airport. I'm pretty excited to get back to our apartment and Rachel is excited to see her crib and nursery, since she's been in a pack n' play since birth.

Utah friends and family - we will miss you! See you at Christmas!

p.s. Can you believe that Rachel is already 3 months old. She has changed so much even while we have been in Utah. Pictures to come once I get organized settled in our apartment.

We are in transition...

We made it to Utah safely and will be here for two and a half more weeks. Thanks to both of our parents who will be feeding us and letting us crash (I think it helps to have a smiling baby).

GOOD NEWS - today, Brandon got an offer from his law firm that he worked at this summer, Osborn Maledon. We are so excited! He is also in the interview process for clerkships this week, so we will keep you posted. (A clerkship is working for a judge for 1 year after law school - if he gets a clerkship, he'll work for Osborn Maledon after the clerkship is over.) I can't believe WE only have one more year of law school- go Brandon! I am so proud of all your hard work!

Home Videos

Because we have neglected to post video of Rachel since the hospital, here is a short collection of footage we have taken since then. Enjoy!

Rachel's First Power Outage & Fire Alarm

Thursday night was quite an adventure. I love monsoon season down in Arizona. Once or twice a week, there is a huge rainstorm and it just pours! On Thursday night, the monsoon hit our neighborhood very hard and all sorts of things were flying against our windows and we thought that they would come crashing in (we later read in the newspaper that winds got up to 100 mph). Then the power went out around 10pm. The rain/wind finally calmed down and we went to bed. At 2:00am (power still out), the fire alarm started going off in the whole building. There were ear piercing alarms in our apartment and all down the hallway. I checked the hallway and none of our neighbors were leaving, so we went out to our patio. All of our neighbors were on their patios too and they assured us there was no fire. I guess this used to happen a few years ago when the condos were new. Anyway, the ear piercing alarm was somewhat muffled on our patio, so we took a seat to wait for the fire department to come turn off the alarm. They arrived and couldn't turn it off for some reason - the building manager would need to come and turn them off. So we waited and waited and waited. I fed Rachel and she thought this was awesome since mom and dad were both up in the middle of the night and she got to be outside - so exciting. Then we waited and waited and waited. Around 4am, Brandon was getting real frustrated, so he decided to try to cover up the alarms in our apartment. His solution was to tape pillows over the alarms. I had to take a picture. Once we got the alarms covered and started putting cotton in our ears, they finally turned off at 4:15am! The adventures didn't end, since the power was still off. That meant NO A/C and it started to get real warm. The next morning, we were able to stay in the apartment until 11am, and then we had to get out. Rachel and I went to Target and Costco and then spent the afternoon at Natalie's air conditioned apartment. The power finally came back on Friday afternoon.

p.s. We went to Cold Stone (yum!) the other night and Brandon totally choked and got Blueberry Muffin Batter Ice Cream with rainbow sprinkles. I've gotta give Cold Stone props for making it taste exactly like blueberry muffin batter, but that is just gross. And sprinkles! I think sprinkles in ice cream should be outlawed. Brandon ended up throwing away half of it.

Baby "Un"Wise but still loving every minute

This week I have been trying to figure out Rachel's sleep schedule. The doctor mentioned that she should be sleeping through the night very soon (since she is 13 pounds) and she should also get a very long afternoon nap. I have been keeping track of her sleeping for the last week and we are not quite where we need to be, but she is happy and we are still loving every minute. She still sleeps in between every feeding during the day, but will only sleep for 40 minutes - it's like clock work. Occasionally in the afternoon, I can put her back to sleep when she wakes up after the standard 40 minutes, but it's hard work. And I cannot complain, because she sleeps very good at night and only wakes up once to eat and can sleep up to 6-7 hours straight depending on the night. It just confuses me, especially when I read about what her schedule should be at two months from various sources. I have read both Baby Wise & Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and have tried to incorporate things I like from both. I also still swaddle her (a must) and have recently tried a noise maker. Any advice from the experts would be lovely!

We took her swimming last night after the sun went down and it was still 104 degrees. It didn't last all that long, but it was SO FUN!


We also went to the hospital to visit our new friend, Cole Perkinson, who is so precious and teeny (only 6 lb 6 oz). Congrats on the new beautiful baby, Kasey! Funny story - while we were at the hospital, I was feeding Rachel a bottle and she had a small explosion (nothing I can't handle these days) until I picked her up away from me to change her... and it was all over MY shirt.

Phoenix Fun

Rachel had her two month appointment this week and she has grown a lot! She is 13 pounds and 24 and 3/4 inches. She is in the 90th percentile for her weight and off the charts for her height. Her shots went fine (she got super mad for only a minute) and then was groggy the rest of the day, so we all took the opportunity to go shopping at a mall that evening - great fun since she slept the whole time. :) I included some of the latest pictures below.

Lots of smiles these days - so fun!

Funny face

Loves to cuddle with dad

Tummy time wears me out sometimes

I never posted pictures of our Phoenix apartment... The furnished one bedroom apartment has been just perfect and the amenities are fantastic (i.e., washer/dryer in unit). It has also been great to have it be close enough to Brandon's work that he walks everyday.