Weekend Fun with Family

We had a big weekend traveling to Abilene to a family reunion and to meet up with great grandparents! The Sleichter reunion was held in Abilene and Raychel was the youngest person there, but has 2 new cousins on the way in December and February. Her two exhausted parents could barely stay awake long enough to talk to anyone! Maybe the next reunion, when she is 2, we will at least be more rested! But we may have other problems, like chasing a 2 year old! ;)

Great Grandma Sleichter feeding Raychel a bottle at the reunion.

(picture courtesy of Emily Barnes-THANKS Emily!)

After leaving the reunion, we went to see Great Grandpa and Grandma Sievers. This was the first time Great Grandpa met Raychel. He thought she was pretty cute and enjoyed watching her and all of her movements and sounds! Great Grandma thought she had been busy growing, it had been a month since she had seen Raychel.

Before heading home we were able to meet up with Great Grandma Deines too! She had been at her grandson's baseball game but was passing through Abilene as we left. Raychel slept in her carseat through the whole visit, but G.G. was happy to see her again and talk to us.

This was the first visit G. Grandma D. had with Raychel. She has grown a lot since then, don't you think?

We couldn't leave this post without an adorable picture of Raychel and more Raychel information. Yesterday she went to the Dr. and we found out that she was over 10 lbs. now! 10lbs. 2oz. to be exact! She is growing soooo fast, we can't hardly keep up with her! The Dr. says that she looks great and is a perfect little baby! Well duh, her Mommy and Daddy could have told him that for free! haha =) We are thrilled that she is doing so well and is so happy!

Hanging out with Dad. She likes having her feet rubbed!

She has been an excellent alarm clock, waking me up every few hours without fail. However, the 2 times that I needed her to wake me up she slept too long! She had gone back to sleep at 6 am before her appointment yesterday and usually never sleeps longer then 1-2 hours, so I didn't set the alarm. At 9:10 she woke me up...just 50 minutes before her Dr. appointment!! We rushed to get showers and get her fed before the appointment. The first time she let us sleep until 6:37, Mommy and her were supposed to leave at 7:00! We were just a tiny bit late! I guess I'll have to start setting the alarm clock when school starts, you just can't trust this one!

She is starting to be a better sleeper! For naps and bedtime we have been able to put her down in a "drowsy" state and she will put herself to sleep! YEAH!!! Last night we put her in her crib, completely asleep. Mommy tried to get other things done before going to sleep (she doesn't learn too fast about sleeping with Raychel sleeps!) and got into bed at 1:30, an hour after Raychel. At 1:45 the baby monitor lit up with her cooing. The video monitor showed her kicking her legs and waving her arms. She continued cooing for 15 minutes before falling back to sleep without any help from Mommy! She woke up at 3:20, had a bottle (3.5 oz.) and back to sleep at 4:00. Again she wasn't completely asleep and played in her crib for 10 minutes before going back to sleep. She slept from 4-7:30 too!! She even slept for another hour, 8-9, after that Wow...Mom was soooo thrilled to get 2 3 and 3.5 hour long visits with her bed!

Raychel was sleeping, until Mommy talked. She still has a pretty strong startle reflex!

We thought she looked like an angel!