Author: Noelle

This past weekend was pretty busy for the Gosnell Gang. We had planned to go to the temple on Saturday morning. Then we got an invite to the Casos’ for some homemade donuts. Far be it from me to turn that down. So at 10:00 we made donuts, then we left Rachel with the Casos’ and went to the temple.

Jeff’s dad got tickets and shared them with us to go to the U of L basketball game. That was Rachel’s first athletic event. She was the lucky charm, because we won!!! Amazingly she slept through the entire 2nd half.

Then Jeff’s parents took us out to dinner to celebrate Jeff’s birthday. We went to Texas Roadhouse. Very delicious, but we had a very long wait. By the time we got home it was around 9:30 pm. So we were out running around for a solid 12 hours. Poor Scout was on his own. Fortunately Marlene helped me out and came over to let Scout outside. He is a good dog, but I don’t think he could have lasted for 12 hours!

Sunday night we got the news that President Gordon B. Hinckley had passed away. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and with the other General Authorities. I think of my life in eras. The first prophet I remember during my childhood prophet was President Kimball. My young adult prophet was President Benson. President Hunter was briefly the prophet during my adult life, but the majority of my adult life I have listened to and tried to follow President Hinckley. I am saddened at his passing, but I am sure that he is happy to be reunited with his beloved wife who passed away a few years ago.

Yesterday was Rachel’s 4-month-old birthday. One of her activities was another doctor’s appointment. She was weighed and measured. Her current stats are as follows:
height: 25 1/8 inches (97th percentile)
weight: 17 lbs 13 oz (>97th percentile)
The doctor said that she looks great, very healthy, very social. She had her next round of vaccinations. That was kind of a bummer, 4 shots!

I took the incredibly cute picture of Rachel the other day. I wanted to share it with everybody:

Here is Rachel’s Happy Birthday video:

Saturday was Jeff’s birthday. He is blankity-blank years old. We had a birthday breakfast for him. I invited all of his family (who are in town) over, and we had biscuits and gravy. Okay, maybe it’s not the healthiest thing ever invented, but it is one of Jeff’s favorites. Jeff was so excited for his birthday as you can see by his picture.

One thing I’ve learned about Jeff is that I can’t point a camera at him without him making a face. Here is his real happy birthday picture.

I took about six or seven pictures of him, all with different goofy faces. I’m only sharing one.

Please don’t count the candles. That could give away his age.

Rachel here. I have something to blog about today. Remember back about 15 or so years ago, when scientists at the University of Utah said that they had achieved cold fusion? Other scientists around the world tried to duplicate the results, but couldn’t. In the scientific world (of which I am not a part), they call that kind of thing an anomaly. That is what rolling over is for me. I did it once, but even when the same circumstances are present, I just can’t seem to duplicate the results. What’s the deal? It was so easy the first time, but no longer. My mom says not to worry about it, that I’m still young, and I have my whole life ahead of me. I sure hope so.

Rachel is at this awesomely fun age right now. She is responsive and cute and IMMOBILE! You have got to love that. Here is a video of her being responsive and cute and immobile. I’m enjoying it while it lasts.

I thought I’d create a quick post with some pictures of Rachel and her fan club.

I personally like how Rachel’s big toe is sticking out of a hole in her PJs.

This is a picture of my shirt after Rachel pee peed on me. (This is not for the faint of heart!)

This is Rachel in her pretty Christmas dress. She had had a pretty cranky morning, and Marlene, who took care of her during Choir practice and Sacrament Meeting (for the Christmas program) was worn out. But her dress is sure cute!

Rachel and Scout playing with her little gym.

Naptime for the whole family.

After a brief conference with Santa Claus, we all got everything we wanted for Christmas!

So last night Rachel started blowing razzberries. I didn’t think much about it (other than it was cute) until this morning when I remembered that it was one of the milestones mentioned in my bible of how to raise a baby (aka “What To Expect The First Year”). I discovered that her ability to spit and slobber is way advanced because some babies do not have this ability until they are five months old or more. Let’s face it, Rachel is a genius!

I joined Rachel in blowing razzberries last night. It was a lot of fun. Some adults have lost this ability. I have not. (This is not supposed to mean that I’m not an adult – I am.) In fact, while Rachel was probably more at ease and relaxed, and even more natural, I at least kept most of my saliva in my mouth (unlike some babies I could mention who had spit bubbles drooling down to their neck).

Rachel also laughed last night. Jeff was the one who succeeded in encouraging this feat, so I can’t share the details, as I am somewhat ignorant of them.

This is Rachel speaking. You are never going to guess what I just did. I rolled over! It was amazing. It was incredible, I think it was an accident. But that doesn’t matter. They don’t call it serendipity for nothing. So what happened was this. I was doing some casual tummy time on my tummy time surfboard, when Scout came up (as he always does) and was licking my spit-up, or whatever he was doing. Anyway, I was wiggling around, and before you know it, flip, I was on my back. It was the most fantastic experience. And this is all true. If you don’t believe me, just ask my Mom. She witnessed the whole thing. I’ll be available for autographs the rest of the week.

And it snowed over night. That was cool too.

Another week has gone by, and oh what a week that was! Last Sunday, Dec. 23, was the Christmas Program at church. The Ward Choir sang (under the direction of Noelle), and did very well. I love Christmas music. It’s my favorite. That afternoon we had dinner at Jeff’s grandparents, and we celebrated my birthday (a day early).

On Monday, my real birthday, we did a bunch of Christmas Eve things. The Gálvez’s brought me birthday breakfast. It was yummy. For lunch we went to the Jumbo Buffet. Nothing like Chinese food to get me into the Christmas Spirit! Then we went to the hospital in LaGrange and did some Christmas Caroling. Lastly we went to Jeff’s grandparents house and read the Nativity Story from Luke chapter 2. Rachel had the leading role as baby Jesus. She played the part with a sensitivity and understanding that you don’t always get from a 3 month old. She is very talented!

Next we had a gift exchange game for all the family. We got a chocolate milk maker and a box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates. (We had kind of a chocolate theme.)

Tuesday was Christmas (of course). We got up late and opened our presents from Santa Claus. He sure is a jolly good fellow! Then we went over to Jeff’s parents’ house where we had a delicious breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, fruit smoothie, and I can’t remember everything else. But it was great and I was very full afterwards. Then we opened presents (again). Finally we just hung out and relaxed for the rest of the day. We had a lot of fun with Jeff’s family.

The rest of the week was spent trying to recover from the previous month. It has all been very nice. Now there’s just one more year before Christmas!

Rachel here. Today was my 3 month old birthday. I learned from my Mom that you can never focus too much on your birthday. “Celebrate while you can,” that’s what she always says. BTW, don’t forget that Monday is her birthday. Happy birthday Mom, Mommy, Mama, take your pick. Back to me again. So like I was saying, today I celebrated 3 months of glorious life. It just so happened that we also had a gift exchange with my aunts, uncles and cousins who won’t be in Louisville for Christmas itself, so I even got to open two presents. Awesome! I got this really cool toy that has little animals pop up when I push buttons and stuff. I haven’t really figured it out yet. It looks kind of complicated, don’t you think? But don’t you worry, I’ll get it.

I also got these two really cool books from my Grandma. They are about this Siamese cat name Skippyjon Jones that likes to imagine that it is a chihuahua. I love it because when my Mom reads to me, she gets to use this really fun Spanish accent. My mom is so totally awesome! Sorry, back to me again. Anyway great books!

So we spent a good part of the day at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. It was a lot of fun. When we got home, Daddy went out to do a little more Christmas shopping, and Mommy took me and Scout for a walk. Now it’s pretty late, and frankly I’m exhausted. I thought I’d catch 40 winks in my bouncy seat.

So that’s about it for me tonight. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.