Pumpkin Time!

Raychel is starting to be a HAM!!! This is the look she gives me when she sees the camera! LOL I wonder where she learned to smile for the camera? Last night we carved pumpkins and let her explore the gourds we bought at the pumpkin farm!







We have a wooden cat that pokes into the pumpkin, so that was the first pumpkin made! She wanted the hat, I think!

She was quite interested in the gourds! She loves their texture and shape! She tried eating them, but no luck...so let's karate chop them! She can throw a gourd half-way across the room, so watch out if you come over when she is playing with her gourds!

Daddy, whatcha doin'? Daddy carved the pumpkin, it was a first time for both of us in a LONG time! We had forgotten how to do it too!




Daddy, WHAT IS THAT on my head? Her white hair turned orange from the pumpkin top, LOL! Who needs expensive hair dye??

SQUISH, SQUISH...she LOVED the feel of the pumpkin pulp! We had to take it away before she was done.

She did find out that the stem does NOT feel good! It is NOT squishy... ;(

She loved the inside and stuck her hand right in to check it all out!

WOW....that is the coolest thing EVER!!!!!

At first it scared her, but then she loved it! Didn't Daddy do a great job??? =)

Tonight, we will go out Trick or Treating...We'll see how long she lasts, but hope to make it to at least 4-5 houses!

Guess what Raychel can do??

SIT UP!!! =) She sat up Tuesday night, 133 days old! =) NO...I don't count that...it is on a website for me! She is a STRONG little girl...wish I had abs of steel like she does! It takes a lot of focus to sit up, the serious face is really cute though! She sat up for about 5 minutes (needing help about every 30-45 seconds to rebalance!) THEN...she was exhausted! She layed down and looked like she had just hiked up a mountain! What a stressful day! ;)














In this picture she was trying to get back up. She had fallen down (sunk, really...at a slow pace) so that her forehead was almost on the carpet. I layed down in front of her and called her name, she looked up and then realized..."OH, I can actually get out of this mess?" She started working on getting back up...but it was SOOO HARD, can't you tell? But...SHE DID IT!!! =)

She was so tired when she did...she just started falling over!

Just Relaxin...

So...Raychel likes TV! Mommy needed to get groceries put away and crock pot meals started (MOMMY LOVES HER CROCK POT!!!) and Raychel needed some entertainment. Disney to the rescue...I believe this is previews for Aladin, but she watched Pocahontas! She was quiet for 30 minutes watching the movie! Just enough time for Mommy to finish up her projects!

Raychel LOVES her kitty...it is VERY soft and pink! She is cuddled up with her kitty in the swing here! Isn't that a great smile! =)

Time with Daddy

Posting from Raychel:


I love to "fly" with Daddy! He is sooo much fun! He flies me WAY UP HIGH!!! I almost touch the ceiling (bet you thought I didn't know what that was called, huh?) I smile and giggle at him, which makes him do it again and again!

My Daddy also whispers secrets in my ears...he is sooo funny!!

I LOVE MY DADDY!

This video taken on 10-25-08...she was COLD! So, those are green monkey socks on her hands and she is bundled up with a heavy KSU outfit on and her heavy blanket! She looks silly, but SHE'S WARM! =)

Grassland Gardens trip

Sunday, we headed out to Miltonvale to Grassland Gardens. Pilgrim Tweety had to accompany us...Raychel loves Tweety too (go figure!)







Grassland Gardens is a beautiful place West of Clay Center about 15 miles. The lady who owns the business grows MANY different kinds of grasses. In the fall, you pick out which kinds you are interested in and then pick up the buckets in the spring. We visited to see all the grasses, enjoy the gorgeous day, and dream about the day we can afford to buy some to landscape our back yard! It was a warm day, just a littlle windy!

Raychel thought that the grasses were pretty neat. She enjoyed touching their soft fluff, caterpillar like fuzz, and even the more rough feeling grasses. Most of all, she enjoyed her time with Mommy and Daddy outside!

Daddy fed her a bottle under the pergola, before we went up to her store. She makes beautiful dried flower arrangements and we had walked up to her house to view them. Upon entering the store (about 5 seconds later) Raychel started a high-pitched squeal of unpleasantness. We did not understand WHAT was wrong and walked out of the store. As soon as we hit the fresh air she stopped. Puzzled, we walked back inside...and again she squealed! Once outside, she stopped! Drawing any conclusions here? Raychel does NOT like the smell of dried flowers! It was pretty amazing how fast she went from crying to happyness and back to crying!

Park and Pumpkin Farm

After one last kiss at Grassland Gardens, we headed into Miltonvale. They have a spectacular children's park. Raychel is too small for 99.9% of the park, but Mommy and Daddy had a little fun with her! We posed her in several pictures and let her swing! She thought we were nuts and wanted to go home, but she did enjoy the swinging part!

The park is called "Tootleville" and has a wooden train that Mommy put Raychel on! We thought it would be fun to go back as she grew...she probably won't fit IN the window for very long!

Along HWY. 24, we noticed a sign for a Pumpkin farm and decided to pick out some pumpkins for Raychel. It seemed odd that the house was all by itself, set back from the road. But, we didn't think too much about it until we told her Aunt about stopping at the farm. She told us that this was one of a few homes that were hit by the tornados last June (before Raychel was born). She said they had 1-2 sheds and a large tree row around the house! So, we were happy that we had supported their farm as we knew they had lost A LOT this year!

Stay tuned for pumpkin carving time and pictures of Raychel checking out the mini-pumpkins and gourds we bought!

4 months old.....Geesh!

Raychel is a HAM! I started taking pictures and she gave me great faces! Can YOU believe she is 4 months old because I know WE CANNOT BELIEVE we are parents of a 4 month old....

So, what does she LOVE at 4 months?

• rolling over-one way and then getting frustrated, after playing on her tummy, when she can't roll back over!



• laughing out loud and screeching when her Mommy and Daddy fly her high or sink down low OR bouncing OR just looking funny



• making the blue horse toy may LOTS and LOTS of noise!



• 
  

  eating her fingers and discovering her fingers (Mommy, have you ever seen these really cool things??)

  
  



• grabbing Mommy and Daddy's hair (Mommy's head and Daddy's face and chest hair..OUCH)



• looking at EVERYTHING, wondering WHAT it is or does!



• talking, talking, and did I mention she likes to talk? She talks in her sleep, she talks to her toys, and she definitely talks to Mommy and Daddy



• standing and sitting upright on our laps



• holding her own bottle



• cuddling and hugging Mommy and Daddy



• sleeping (VERY good sleeper...she has even slept for 12 hours before!)




• going on walks outside




• swinging in the park



• demo derbys and car races (yelling at them to GO, GO, GO)



• watching the monkeys and other animals play at the zoo



• SMILING



• GROWING



• watching TV (especially reality shows with kids in them and Daddy's car shows)



• listening to books...but she HAS to touch the pages and you better not turn them until she has looked at every square inch of the page!



• sitting in the bumbo, watching Mommy and Daddy cooking, cleaning, or eating

• playing in the exersaucer



• and MUCH, MUCH MORE! =)

Would you like some rice cereal?

This is Raychel after Rice cereal! It is safe to say that she didn't really like it so much...

Daddy enjoyed the experience though, laughing at her every move/expression! When she cried he thought it was a great opportunity to stuff more in her mouth! Nice plan, Daddy!!! ;)

Looking down, right after we put it IN her mouth and BEFORE she spit it back out...she couldn't believe we put such AWFUL stuff in her mouth.






The picture above....BRACING for another spoonful!!!

When we got this face we thought maybe she was done..."Daddy, what are you doing to me!!!!!!!!! I can't take it anymore!!!"

Demo Derby

Well...she is a car girl! Was there really any surprise there? LOL We took Raychel to a Demo Derby today! Not just a regular derby, but an allllllll day event! The figure 8 races started at 2:00 this afternoon. Then, we had a regular derby and a compact car derby! At 8:30...it was ALL OVER!

So, how did Raychel do? WONDERFUL! During the Figure 8 races she was watching and would even YELL at them! It was very humorous! She followed them across the track, back and forth! Between the Figure 8 and the Demo, there was an hour break. We went to the local park and zoo. She LOVED watching the baby monkey playing. She thought the birds were quite funny looking and the bear was WAY TOO BIG for her!!!

Back for the demo. She got a little fussy after 1 heat. They are quite a bit louder then the races were. However, after a little cuddling, she was ready for more! She wore VERY cute flourescent orange ear plugs, which only came out once and dropped to the bottom of the bleachers. Thanks to our friends, Nick and Crystal, it was a fun day!! =)

By the end of the day, she was ready for home. She immediately started playing and talking before wearing out and deciding it was bedtime for her too!

No pictures you say? Yeah...Mommy forgot the camera! But, I do have a video to upload tomorrow of her rolling over!! YEP...she is moving everywhere now. Next....crawling...then we have to REALLY WATCH her!

Tomorrow....she will be traveling to Manhattan and possibly Abilene...before finally coming home! She will have a BIG weekend!

Raychel got an A

Yep....she is a nerd! =) HAHAH JUST KIDDING!! This is Raychel in Daddy's glasses! She didn't think it was so cool!

However, she did get an A on her first test. We took her to Child Check in Clay Center last night. This is sponsored by Parents as Teachers and is a way to have your child checked on their development progress. There are 6 areas they check (I can remember 4 right now): gross motor, fine motor, speech, and problem solving. There are 6 questions in each of the 6 sections and they receive 10 points for each question. She scored 60 points in each section, meaning she can do everything she is supposed to be doing at her age. The mean score is anywhere from 38-52 in each of the sections. They also check her eyes and hearing, which appeared to be fine. She didn't get a reading from her right ear due to too much WAX!! Yep, she has Daddy's wax problem too! LOL Mom never had that much wax in her life, but she has to clean out her ears several times a week!

Of course, we already knew she was great! HA HA But it was nice to find out that she is progressing normally and doing wonderful! YEAH!!!

Talk, talk, talking!!!

Our days of silence have ended in the Deines household!! She learned to talk...and talk A LOT! =) She gabbed all weekend, to anyone at anytime! Tonight I caught a lot on video! It is so fun to listen to her! She was even talking in her sleep Saturday night. I heard it on the monitor and went in to check on her. Eyes shut, mouth gabbing...I pulled her out from the side and talked to her. She talked back but did not open her eyes. I pushed her back to the side of the crib (her favorite spot) and went back to bed! SILLY GIRL!!! =)

She also discovered her hands this past week. She is obsessed with them...staring at them all the time. Those are pretty cool things that have been attached to you for months (well almost a year really!) LOL Silly kids! Actually, that is exactly what she is supposed to be doing...discovering her hands is another milestone (no matter how small!). I won't admit to this...but did you notice her hands were necessary to help her talk??? Mommy NEVER does that... ;)

Wow...what a night! She rolled over!!!

This was a great night in the Deines household!!! THE MOST IMPORTANT EVENT: RAYCHEL ROLLED OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =) She had been working on this for a while now, getting closer EVERY day...She was so excited, there was a huge smile on her face. Then, after a while, she rolled back to her back. She kinda flopped back and surprised herself a little! I will catch the roll-over on video very soon! Here is a video of how far she got on Sunday, one day before she did it for real!



What else made it great? Well...When I came home, I found Derek in the middle of making dinner! That makes 2 dinners in the last week!! YES, they were both good!!! You will NOT hear me complaining at all! I had time, while he finished dinner, to do my first step workout! I got 20 minutes done before Raychel was ready for a bottle!

After dinner we all three took a walk around the neighborhood! It was fun watching Raychel pay attention to her surroundings and think about all of it, tongue sticking out! Mommy and Daddy also got to catch up from the day!

Could everyday be this great? =) Raychel rolls over, Daddy makes a great dinner, and Mommy got 40 minutes of exercise!