Taken by Danielle - I gotta give credit where credit is due.
This one is also by Danielle, but the rest below are taken by yours truly.
So cute that she was able to capture the moment when Brandon comes home from school; he's always greeted by her racing as fast as she can to him.
This last week has been really good. Rachel is healthy again (we are seriously going to run away from children with runny noses - no offense, but I can't handle another cold from the princess) and so we're enjoying Chicago as much as we can since we are moving mid-June! We went and checked out the Children's Museum at Navy Pier, which was a lot of fun. Funny story, I went with a friend who has a little boy Rachel's age (picture below) and you know how it is getting out the door with a little one. I had everything in tow and then we went and picked up our friends and made it to the Navy Pier parking garage and parked - a success - until I realized that I left my wallet back at home with the money to pay for parking and the free museum pass. Yikes! Earth to Whitney (losing brain cells by the day apparently)! And you know how it is...you have a very small window of happy child time, but we pushed them to their limits and made it out of the parking garage (fyi - free for one hour at navy pier) and back to our apartment to retrieve the wallet and then drove back to the Children's Museum and had a great time.
Rachel and I went on a warm day last week to the Art Institute to check it out since we had never been. It was a beautiful building and fun to take the picture with Rachel and the lion (below), but I can't say that I have a huge appreciation for art, at least I don't when I am with a 10 month old. But I was glad that we went and Rachel really enjoyed the bus ride.
Here's your token bunny ear shot; I didn't want to deprive you:
Yea for swim class on Tuesday mornings. Rachel loves to go swimming and there's a class for moms & toddlers at our building's pool - we sing songs and splash and "swim". Last week, we (meaning Brandon while I wasn't there) dunked her for the first time and it wasn't as easy as we imagined - she coughed a lot. He did the whole blow-in-her-face bit and she doesn't mind when she gets splashed, but I don't think she's ready yet. She's completely content to lick the water, which is her favorite (eeeww!). Anyway, I got some info from the swim teacher at the pool and I thought I'd share ... She said that there's a small window from 5-7 months where babies learn to hold their breath when water is dumped over their face. If during bathtime, moms poor water down their face, then they will learn to hold their breath and will be able to go under water at an earlier age. With Rachel, I always tried to keep it out of her eyes in the tub since she didn't seem to like it. Now that she's loving to swim, we thought she'd want to be put under, but the teacher said that she may not have learned to hold her breath at 5-7 months during bathtime. She said to try again in a week, but if she continues to cough after she pops up, then the best time to teach her to hold her breath will be to wait until she's 2 years old.
I don't know, I think we'll be in the pool so much this summer, that she'll just get it eventually. Any suggestions or thoughts?
Thank you for some good weather! It was 80 degrees on Friday, so we wore capris and sandals for the first time this season. Note in the picture above that Rachel has a bow (without a headband) in her hair - she finally has enough hair - wahoo! Talk about a milestone! 
Here's your token bunny ear shot; I didn't want to deprive you:
Yea for swim class on Tuesday mornings. Rachel loves to go swimming and there's a class for moms & toddlers at our building's pool - we sing songs and splash and "swim". Last week, we (meaning Brandon while I wasn't there) dunked her for the first time and it wasn't as easy as we imagined - she coughed a lot. He did the whole blow-in-her-face bit and she doesn't mind when she gets splashed, but I don't think she's ready yet. She's completely content to lick the water, which is her favorite (eeeww!). Anyway, I got some info from the swim teacher at the pool and I thought I'd share ... She said that there's a small window from 5-7 months where babies learn to hold their breath when water is dumped over their face. If during bathtime, moms poor water down their face, then they will learn to hold their breath and will be able to go under water at an earlier age. With Rachel, I always tried to keep it out of her eyes in the tub since she didn't seem to like it. Now that she's loving to swim, we thought she'd want to be put under, but the teacher said that she may not have learned to hold her breath at 5-7 months during bathtime. She said to try again in a week, but if she continues to cough after she pops up, then the best time to teach her to hold her breath will be to wait until she's 2 years old. 
Rachel loves to swing at the park and she loves to go swimming in the pool. Yesterday, I took Rachel on a jog with me and we stopped at the park on the way home. It was getting chilly, so we could only stay for a few minutes on the swings. When I pulled her out, she started crying in protest and arched her back in a mini-tantrum. Lovely.
She still loves to read (and chew) books. Here's a picture of her with her Great-grandma Parker and Papa Dave during our visit to Utah for spring break.
We also got to go see Brock & Nicole and their new baby girl, Paisley and big sister, Lily. Paisley is so cute and little! I think that Rachel thought she was a baby doll.
Flying with a nine month old is much different than flying with a newborn. They need constant entertainment and want to crawl around and not be held. Luckily the flight wasn't full, so we got an extra seat. We also borrowed my mom's portable DVD player. Thank goodness for Baby Einstein! 
She's still doing the "cheese" face as you can see. She's so happy and loves to play with her toys (as long as I'm sitting right by her, of course). She thinks I'm a jungle gym and loves to climb all over me. 
