Another BIG weekend!!!

Raychel was in her very first parade! It was the children's parade at Piotique in Clay Center!

Okay...you can't see her...BUT...she is in the back of the wagon (right below me) sitting in her bumbo (the purple chair that helps her sit upright) and dressed up as a lady bug! In front of her, in the wagon, is Lainie (cousin). Lainie is also dressed up as a lady bug! Katie (cousin) decorated the wagon and is pulling them down the street! Directly in front of me is a girl in a funny, purple hat! That is Maggie (cousin) riding her bike in the parade! It was lots of fun! Raychel had sooo much fun, she was asleep by the end of the 2 block parade! LOL But, she was CUTE!! =)

Mommy has some video of the parade to add later!

We were able to get together with some friends and their child, Audrey, who is 6 months old! Kevin and Tammy came to Piotique from Manhattan. Kevin and Derek met last year in Engineering classes at KSU. They are sooooo alike!!

We went to the festival, the children's parade, the car show, BBQ'd at home, and came back for the BIG parade. It was a little warm but lots of fun!

Check out some (OKAY TONS) of pictures from our day!

Kevin and Derek checking out the cars after the children's parade. Raychel was still sleeping! =) Even after we changed her clothes!

After she woke up, we got to drive a 1910 Ford Model T! We put her in the seat and then the owner came over and asked if we all wanted to get in! Derek couldn't fit in the driver's seat (long legs he says) so I got to drive! The owner took our picture. We were bummed that the sun got in the way, but we are hoping that Aunt Linda can work her magic in Photo Shop and fix it for us!!
We discovered a swing in the local park that Raychel can swing in now! She really was all smiles, they just disappear when Mommy puts a camera in front of her! I guess she isn't going to grow up and be a model...wheewwww.. ;) Audrey and Raychel enjoyed swinging together in the park!! =)

Before leaving the park we had to get pictures of the Daddies and their little girls and, of course, the family picture from the car show! =) I think there will be a lot of these in our future!

Raychel and Audrey were playing at the house. See, Raychel is getting stronger EVERY day! Audrey is crawling around and Raychel (the white blob at the bottom of the pic.) was facinated with her movements! We decided that they needed to get together more often, so Raychel could learn from Audrey!

If it looks like Raychel is longer, it is because she is! Raychel takes after her Daddy (not her shorter Mommy) and Audrey is like her parents (just not as tall as Derek)! LOL But, you have to love those cheeks!! Those rival some Sleichter grandkid cheeks and they are just sooo cute! =)

I know how to move the duck and turtle!

Raychel has already gotten stronger since we got this toy! She can sit up for a longer period of time and reaches out to move the toys! In this picture, she was pushing the turtle down. When they move, it makes a fun clicking sound! Later, she even moved herself (the center spins) a quarter turn!

She concentrates so hard, after she pushes one side down she will stick her tongue out (thinking)and try to figure out why it will not go down anymore. After a while, the light bulb turns on, and she moves to the other side! It is sooo fun to watch her THINK!

Guess what Raychel likes?

Tummy time!!! She was trying to roll over, which she has figured out that she has to move her head but she has not found a way around her arm, when I discovered her new found interest. I helped her roll all the way over, joking to myself that she would just scream when she got to her tummy! But, boy was I wrong!! She got all the way over and started looking around. This picture (the best of several attempts) shows her struggling to keep her head up after doing this for 10 minutes!!!!!

Anyway...YEAH! Now that she likes her tummy, crawling will be so much more fun! She is pushing up with her arms (when she first rolls over) and is almost looking at a 90 degree angle, which is awesome!

Too cute!

Just one more post with cute pictures! I love this outfit...Now, if only we got our new camera and we got better pictures! Soon...we are in the process of searching eBay now!!

More Fun...

Raychel also got an umbrella stroller on Yahoo groups too (with the exersaucer...awesome deal)...So, we tried it out! She wasn't so sure about riding around it in yet! She did like Daddy playing with her...soooo tiny next to Daddy!

Mommy didn't get it latched just right, so it started to fold up on Raychel....OOOPS!! =) She was quickly saved!!!

Meeting Great Grandma Tollefson

Saturday, Raychel met Great Grandma Tollefson in Horton, KS. G. Grandma thought she was beautiful and fun to play with! She had fun playing with her toys and enjoyed the extra attention. On the way to her house, we stopped at garage sales on highway 36. They call it the 400 mile garage sale, with sales in all the little towns across Kansas on HWY. 36.

After we got there, we found out that Great Uncle Mark was coming as well! It was fun to spend the day with him too!

We enjoyed a nice meal that Great Grandma made. We had soft tacos with all the fixings, salad, and YUMMY dessert.

After 2 games of cards (Mom and Grandma winning one and losing the other), we headed back home! It was a long day for Raychel, but I think she had fun!!

Sunday FUN at Great Grandma Siever's Birthday Party

On Sunday Raychel, Mommy, and Daddy went to Junction City to celebrate Great Grandma Siever's birthday. We ate lunch at the Chinese restaurant in Junction City and then went to play at the park.
This is cousin Jessica and Raychel playing! Grandma Sherry received some valuable cuddle time too! Raychel played on the swings with Mommy and Daddy and the yellow duck. She wasn't so sure about the duck! We definitely wore her out though...the sleeping picture was her before we headed for home!

Raychel's new toy!

Tuesday, Raychel got a new toy...it is called an exersaucer! She sits in the middle and has toys all the way around. Eventually, she can spin herself around to play with all of the toys and bounce (the base moves, like it is connected with rubber bands). Right now she is just thrilled to be up so high and checks out all the new toys! She is still a little small for it, but Mom couldn't pass up the AWESOME deal she found on this on Yahoo groups!

I love my piano!

We bought Raychel a Kick and Play piano this weekend! She LOVES it, to say the least! Since putting it in her crib, she will wake up in the middle of the night and play with it instead of calling for Mommy to feed her and then fall back asleep!

I'm THREE months old!!!

WOW...has it been 3 months? (Did I say that last month too?--time just flies by sooo fast!) Raychel is growing up so fast! So, what does this 3 month old do??

• SMILES (a lot)


• shouts out in delight!


• talks and coos to Mama, Daddy, and her toys


• stands upright, putting all of her weight on her legs


• tries really hard to roll over, but hasn't figured out that she has to move her head too...so it is like a brick wall that stops her everytime


• hates tummy time, unless on the boppy and then loves to lift her head up high and play


• loves her rattle


• figured out how to pull the blue horse (toy) and make it make noise!


• likes to watch Mommy cook dinner from her Bumbo


• loves watching TV (football too!)


• loves to swing


• loves to watch EVERYTHING!


• spies Mommy and Daddy from across the room and smiles (she can see pretty far away)


• likes playing with toys and looking out the window on car rides


• LOVES to play with her toys at home!


• has way too many cute clothes (Mommy caused this problem!)


• I could go ON and ON and ON! =)

Now, you get PICTURES!!!!!!!!

Her new toy, her exersaucer!! Soo much fun!

This is her baptism dress...can you tell how much she likes it? She EATS IT!! =) She is going to be a lady bug for Halloween! You have to wait for Halloween to see the rest of the costume! =)

Shrieks at 4:30 am!

This morning I woke up to a little girl shrieking and terrified. I ran to her room! She had her arm stuck in the rails of the crib. Last night I took the crib bumper out because we had found her face first into the bumper 3 different times and we were worried about her sufficating.

Her arm was stuck, with the rails hitting right at her elbow. She didn't know to turn her arm and pull it out, so she just pulled straight (at an angle really) and it wouldn't move! The poor little girl was scared to death!!

I tried tying the bumper to the outside of the crib, which worked a little bit. She continued to stick her arm out through the rails, but couldn't go out as far because of the bumper!

I am not sure why she LOVES that corner, but she keeps moving over to it everynight!

Play, Play, and more Play!!

We decided we were in trouble with the fast pace she moves while laying horizontally! What happens when she goes vertical??? Daddy and I thought we should start training for the marathon now!! =)

Raychel loves her rattle! She decided to pick it up 2 weeks ago and has continued playing with it since then! She still scares herself by the noises she makes with it!!

Talking too? Yep, she gets on a roll somedays....playing, moving, shaking, AND talking! =) She gets all excited and SQUEALS too! She is such a FUN GIRL!!!!

Sleeping Beauty!

Daddy was trying to wake her up! She sleeps JUST LIKE HIM!!! She is warm like him too, kicking off her blanket every night!

I get asked alot about Raychel's sleeping habits! Well, she is a GREAT sleeper! MOST of the time she will sleep through the night. She goes to sleep between 10 and 10:30 and will sleep until I wake her up around 6:30! Occasionaly, she wakes up once during the night...around 4:30! So, either way (according to the books-6 hours of sleep is all night) she sleeps through the night every night!

When she DOES wake up, we get smiles like this one!!! =) THAT makes ANY morning GREAT!

I HATE Tummy Time!

Raychel needs to spend more time on her tummy.... but she HATES it! She will be perfectly happy, until Daddy puts her on her tummy! Daddy tries to give her tummy time before Mommy comes home! He is stronger then Mommy and makes her stay on her tummy longer!

The good news? She DOES like tummy time on the boppy pillow! When she is not completely flat, she will push herself up with her hands and even play with some toys! We will help her love tummy time this way and work our way back to "flat" tummy time! =)

Bath Time!

Raychel loves her ducky! She loves to try to grab it, but finds it a bit too big and slippery!!

She says...HEY, it's kinda cool in here!


Raychel loves bath time! This week we added vapor bath and that cleared her out and allowed her to breathe
easier!







Her favorite part is getting wrapped up in Grandma Sandy's towel! It is sooo soft and warm, she wiggles, kicks, and squirms until she is warm and comfortable! It is also absorbant...for those accidents before the diaper is put on! LOL

I'm a BIG GIRL now!

Raychel is standing....yes, I am just balancing her! She started out just standing on our laps and we needed to support her under her arms, now she is standing and we just hold her hands! She has even stood with her arms on the couch and her mom behind her to catch her! She is one strong little girl!! =)

The video is from labor day weekend and the picture is from one week later! A LOT changes in a week!