For Rachel

Our Little Rachel (this is her most common face)

Brand new Rachel

Since most of this blog has been dominated by posts about Lauren and other randomness, this long overdue post is for Rachel.  Rachel is now six months old and bursting with personality.  It's amazing to me how much spunk you can see in a six month old. I love this age! She is so much fun and loves making all kinds of weird noises that of course sends Lauren and anyone else who hears her giggling.  One of my favorite "milestones" that Lauren and now Rachel has hit is when they realize what kisses mean.  They start to like getting them and will smile or laugh - at least for the time being :)  Rachel also loves being on her tummy and playing with or more watching Lauren.  Rachel ADORES Lauren and Lauren likewise.  Whenever Rachel wakes up Lauren gets really excited and asks if she can play dishes, or trains, or whatever with Rachel.  Even though Rachel doesn't do much I get the sense that she loves being included. Lauren can make Rachel laugh like no one else.  They both feed off of each other, I think they will probably cause a bit of trouble.  

For the longest time this is what Rachel would do
whenever I took her picture

Rachel has been a very different experience than Lauren was for me.  When Lauren was born I was only with her maybe 50-55% of the time.  Ryan and I both had class and traded off often.  Ryan spent many hours pacing the floor with Lauren during the day but I rarely ever did that with her.  As a result of this I have noticed that I have a much shorter tolerance when Rachel just wants to be carried and walked around.  I didn't have to do that with Lauren, Ryan did. She has definitely helped me work on my patience.  She has also been a bit more challenging eating wise...or more the regurgitation that comes from the eating.

Lauren really wanted Rachel to ride her bike with Piggy

At around two months we became concerned that Rachel was spitting up a lot, more than we ever remember coming out of Lauren and it seemed to be fairly frequently.  Her pediatricians first response to this was to go off dairy, the spitting up could be due to some kind of reflux and dairy apparently makes it worse.  I was kind of skeptical that this would do much, so I didn't try very hard to stay off dairy.  Of course we didn't see any results, the doctor had her checked for other problems and I saw a couple lactation consultants.  Finally I faced up to my denial that dairy was a problem and went more or less completely off dairy.  We also found a few other culprits namely: chocolate, soy, and nuts. So that's what I've been trying to avoid. I don't know for sure if it is reflux, allergies or just intolerance, I'll I know is that when I eat those things Rachel doesn't sleep well, is congested, spits up a lot and often, and has gas and diarrhea. And hopefully she'll grow out of it. This has been a huge test of self control for me, but at the same time very gratifying to know that there was something I could physically do to fix the problem.  And it really does make all the difference, I'll do it for her.

 I am so grateful for Rachel and love being her mom.

Rachel in her new dress from Aunt Sarah

Tummy time

Rachel and Mom

Big Blue Eyes... to go with the big forehead and baldness
(Sorry Rachel inheritance doesn't always work out in your favor)