Surprise!

We found out some awesome news last week!

Our little family of 3 is soon to be a family of 4!

And we couldn't be more thrilled!

Our little Rachel girl is going to be a big sister!



We found out just in time to celebrate and share the news with our families on Christmas!

Our new little one is due on (approximately) August 22, 2012, and with one cousin born the 21st and another one born on the 23 it is possible that this new little one has a chance of sharing a birthday with one of them just like our Rachel girl was! That would be so fun!
We aren't very far along yet, only about 6 weeks, but we just couldn't keep the good news to ourselves any longer!

We aboslutely love our little Rachel-girl. She brings so much happiness to our lives and we can't imagine our lives with out her and are so excited for our family to be growing again!

Our lives couldn't get any better than this!

A few things about this pregnancy so far vs. last time. By the time I was pregnant 6 weeks with Rachel I was super sick! It was hard to find things I could eat because everything was contaminated and made me throw up. This time so far I haven't been sick (knock on wood) and I've just been craving really spicy foods but for some reason I haven't been able to get my mouth spicy. :( Sad I know! I'll totally take weird cravings over the morning sickness any day though! With Rachel I didn't really start to "show' until about 14 weeks or so but I feel like I'm already starting to show a little bit. I don't look pregant by any means, but I definitely have a little pouch that wasn't there just 2 weeks ago. Both times exhastion set in pretty early, but this last time I didn't have a little one to chase around. Rachel sure keeps me busy, but I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world! I love my life!

We got a package!

I am convinced I have the cutest little girl ever! The other day we got a package sent from my mom and as we were getting things out of the package a few packing peanuts fell out and onto the floor. Rachel raced over and got so excited! She started breaking them apart and it just made her so happy. Later that night I put her in the box and she couldn't have been happier!

She wiggled her way down to the bottom of the box and just relaxed and had the time of her life just ripping the packing peanuts to pieces!

Here are a couple of videos for your viewing pleasure of my little one enjoying her box! If you only watch one, watch the second one, her little giggles are so cute in that one! :)

I've put the box away in the garage but we will definitly be getting it out again another day! I just love how happy the most simple things can make this little girl of mine!

Grandparents

Jacob's parents came to visit us for Thanksgiving a few weeks ago and we all had so much fun! ESPECIALLY Rachel! Rachel loved having the extra adults to focus all of their attention on her!
I think she has missed that since we moved away from my parents.
Well anyway it's been a little while and I just had a bunch of pictures (though not as many as I should have)I wanted to share from that weekend.

While Jacob's parents were here we stopped at this REALLY ritzy mall on the other side of Tucson, and although most things were way out of our league, it was super fun to just get out and walk around. Rachel loved getting out of the house.

Rachel LOVED her Grandma and I think the feelings are mutual! It was fun to see Rachel wanting to play with Grandma and Grandpa so much while they were here!

Don't you just love Rachel's cute little coat? Jacob picked it out for her. He has really good taste for a guy!

Jacob took Rachel up and down on the escalator and she thought it was so fun! She wanted to do it again!

There was a fountain at the mall we were at and I'm sure glad that Grandma was standing close enough to grab Rachel because she tried as hard as she could to climb on in. I wouldn't have minded too much but it was kinda cold and windy that day!

We went to an awesome Korean place with Jacob's parents while they were here. Here is Rachel getting ready to order.

We had so much fun Thanksgiving weekend! Thanks for coming to visit us Grandma and Grandpa! We love you and miss you! Come again soon!

Birthday Girl

I know, I know, Rachel's birthday was almost two weeks ago and I'm only now getting to posting pictures, but hey, she keeps me pretty busy. Sorry there are tons of pictures and I didn't even post half of them.

Rachel's birthday was so much fun! Jacob took the day off and we partied all day long!
We filled her room with balloons while she was taking her morning nap and she was so excited when she woke up! It made me laugh because had to have two matching balloons in her hands to knock together.

Rachel got a big ball for her birthday and she loves it! She goes around saying "Ball, Ball, Ball."

For Rachel's birthday we decided to take her to the zoo. We had so much fun watching her. She had her studying face on the entire time and was too busy looking at all of the animals to look at the camera.

When we got to the anteaters Rachel got really excited because Jacob called them funny-looking dogs. She started signing dog and barking at them.

Isn't Jacob a cutie? He just got glasses and I don't think he could get any cuter!

Rachel just loves her daddy too!

When we were leaving the zoo, Rachel kept making her elephant noises. She got really excited when we saw the elephants!

Here is the before shot of her birthday cake. I think it turned out pretty cute! :)

Rachel's favorite part was the m&m's on top!

I thought this part was pretty funny because as soon as Jacob and I got a piece of cake she ditched her whole cake to come and eat mine!

Here is a little bit about Rachel at 1 year:

She weighs almost 26 pounds.
She wears size 6 diapers. (We will have to potty train her if her bottom gets any bigger!)
She is too big for most size 2T clothes but too short and too little for size 3T. I wish there was an in between size.
She loves to be around other kids.
She loves to go outside and would spend all day outside if I let her.
Her favorite toys are books and balls.
She has stopped drinking mama's milk and is now on whole milk, although the only way I can get her to drink it is if there is a little chocolate syrup in it.
She loves, loves, loves, to be chased!
She can make animal sounds for elephants, dogs, snakes, fish, turkeys, cows, lions, tigers, and sometimes horses.
She loves to watch Baby Signing Time and is learning so much from them.
She runs all over and is super busy!
She likes to get in cupboards and take everything out of them.
She loves shoes and socks and will bring me different shoes all day long.
She likes to undecorate my Christmas tree and she likes to eat the candy canes.
She likes to color with pens, chalk, crayons, really anything she can get her hands on.
She loves to sing and she loves to dance!
She loves to share.

She says: mama, mommy, dada, grandpa, ball, book, bubble, pop, more, cheese, cat, graham cracker, baby, Rachel, hat, shoe, no, poop, bum, Peek-a-boo (pee-boo) bye-bye, hi.

She signs: grandma, ball, more, cheese, dog, bird, eat, drink, water, milk, more, cat, baby, soap, hat, fish, airplane, flower, outside, please, shoes.

I know she is doing more and saying more and signing more than that but I can't think of it right now.
It is so crazy that my little baby is 1! She isn't a baby anymore, that is for sure. She is definitely a little girl and we couldn't love her more!

Silly Girl

My Rachel-girl is so funny! The other day she was having such a whiney day and then all of a sudden it was as if someone flipped a switch. She was sitting on the counter "helping" me make cookies and she started cracking herself up. She was laughing so hard and so much that I got out the camera and caught a little of it. She seriously did this for like 5 minutes. 

This little girl sure does make life interesting. She keeps us all laughing all of the time! We love her so much! Something else I thought was pretty funny is that every time she watches this little video I shot she starts cracking up again. I wonder what she thought was so darn funny!