December 28th 2010

Christmas came and went and it was a very happy holiday in our household. Rachel sat with us during Christmas eve service (instead of going to childcare) and behaved fabulously. She held the candle and holder and seemed to enjoy herself. She had a blast unwrapping all of her gifts on Christmas morning and loved every minute of it. And once Christmas was over, she forced us to take down all lights and decorations. in her head, Christmas was over, so there was no need to have a tree up or decorations. She sure is opinionated!

All three of us are doing great. We are looking forward to the new baby in March and Rachel is real excited.

Here are some pictures from Christmas.

Halloween 2010

Wednesday October 13th 2010

We are having a girl! Lisa and I went to the doctor yesterday and had the latest sonogram. The doctor was confident that there were no boy parts and that Rachel is going to have a baby sister. Due date is still early March. Rachel is excited and keeps telling us that she is going to be a nice big sister. She is awful cute.

Wednesday October 13th 2010

Tuesday September 21st 2010

Hello. Life is wonderful and we are all doing great in Virginia. Lisa has started her new job at LGS Innovations. She seems happier, so that is nice.
Lisa is also pregnant and due in March, so there is also that. We won't find out the gender of the new baby for a few more weeks, but we will let you know as soon as we do. The estimated due date is March 3rd, so that hypothetically puts the new baby right between me (2nd) and Rachel (9th). It should make for a very interesting March.
Rachel is doing awesome and getting bigger, smarter and cuter everyday. There is not a day that goes by that she does not make me laugh, smile and be amazed at her. She is truly a blessing and we love her dearly.
My work is going good. August was my best month (ever) sales wise, so that is nice. It was perfect timing to coincide with the time off (and lack of paycheck) Lisa had between jobs. I know how fortunate we are to have jobs and how lucky we are to be keeping our heads out of water. I know how alot of other Americans and specifically midwestern people are struggling.
Below are some pictures taken with the iphone. Lisa and I have just upgraded to the new 4G and they are fabulous! The video and camera are upgraded and it is really neat talking face to face with the video.
There are also new pictures we took a dew weeks back when we went as a family to the local animal farm. I took better pictures of Rachel on the tractors. We really could not get any good pictures with Rachel and the animals because they are fenced in and she would not really pose by them.

Tuesday September 2010

August 9th 2010

Hello, I cannot believe it has been almost 6 months since my last post but time has just been flying by. We have not been taking nearly as many pictures and videos that we should be and Rachel is just growing up so fast. She is almost 2-1/2 years old (she will tell you if you ask her) and is just getting soooo tall. The top of her head is almost to the kitchen counter tops and she is able to reach things off of all tables and counters. Rachel eats and eats but does not put on any weight. She literally is a little ball of energy that just goes and goes. She still only weighs about 31 pounds and is skinny as a pole.


I know i am biased (extremely), but Rachel is one of the smartest kids in the world. Seriously. She remembers everything and can tell you all about colors, numbers, animals, letters, cartoon characters and she is fluent in 4 languages. Ok, i made that last part up. But Lisa and I spoke other languages, i have no doubt she would be talking and learning in 4 languages. You can mention a name or a fact and or something trivial and she will literally remember it a month later. It is amazing how that sponge of a brain is working for her. She is also almost completely potty trained. She still has accidents but she is about 85% of the way there!

The three of us are enjoying life and happy. Work is going great for me (too good. i have to spend a few extra hours each week at night trying to get caught up on quotes and orders for work) and Lisa (by the time you read this) will have quit her job at Ericsson/Ascom. She has been there almost 10 years and it is time to move on. She has been unhappy for a long time. Lisa has a job offer and is going to accept it in the morning.

Lisa and I have talked about some of the pictures I am posting and while some may show a lot of skin, i don't think there is anything wrong posting them. Plus i am hoping that someday it will make her extremely embarrassed. Really hoping. Some of the pictures were taken of Rachel playing in her fort of couch pillows and blankets. Some of them are of a time when she decided to strip her clothes off and run around in her birthday suite. And others are from when she went to a local petting zoo and farm.

Thursday March 11th 2010

*quick update - Rachel had her 2-year old doctors checkup. She is 34.5-inches tall which puts her in the 75th percentile for girls height at that age. She also weighs 24-pounds and that is in the 10-15 percentile for weight. So to summarize - Rachel is an tall skinny kid.

Tuesday March 09 2010

Happy Birthday Rachel! Rachel turned two today and time has just flown by. It is just amazing how much of an adult person she is compared to the baby she was. She communicates with words and actions instead of just grunts and cries. She has her own personality and it is just breathtaking to watch her. I love you Rachel.

Rachel does not fully comprehend what is so special about her birthday but she thoroughly enjoyed the 'bella balloon and the cake and presents. Even though we did not buy her anything of note, she has a tricycle or small bike in her immediate future. We took her to Toys R Us to try and pick out a small wheeled contraption but none seemed perfect. She did not seem to be strong enough in the legs to pedal a tricycle but the 4 wheeled walking bike seemed to be something that would soon be outgrown. We are still looking for the right thing...

Rachel got a small tray of Brownies as her cake. Lisa bought some red 'neon' icing to put on the brownies but it was barely noticeable on it and all it did was turn Rachel's mouth and hands bright red.

Rachel has her 2 year doctor appointment tomorrow, so we will have height and weight posted later.

We are all doing fine. Work for both of us is a bit stressful and while we are thankful to have jobs, there is a reason it is called work and not fun.

Here are some pictures taken from tonight.