Another Big Storm

What is it with Tuesday nights and storms? With the big storms that hit last night, that makes two weeks in a row with damaging storms on Tuesday. We didn’t really have any damage at our house either time, but tornadoes have touched down, a lot of people lost power, houses were damaged, and some people even lost their lives. I vote for a couple of Tuesdays with just regular weather – no excitement. Being from New York where we don’t really have tornadoes, I don’t have the good sense to be scared of them. Jeff, however, has a healthy respect for them, and he decided that we should all sleep downstairs last night. So we got out the air mattress and we all three of us slept in the basement.

On another (more fun) topic – Rachel is getting so big! She still loves her bouncy seat, but she kicks so hard I’m afraid she is going to launch herself across the room! She hasn’t done it yet, but you never know. I got Rachel a new toy – an exersaucer. I think she still likes the bouncy seat better, but she seems to enjoy the exersaucer too. She doesn’t especially enjoy tummy time. In fact, she has lost all interest in trying to roll over. I know tummy time is important, but Rachel is done after just a few minutes.

Rachel likes her new exersaucer. See, it’s a piano!

I took this picture the day after the Super Bowl. Rachel ate so much at the party that if you look closely, you can see that the snap of her jeans is open.

One thing that is really cool is that I can usually get Rachel to smile for the camera now. (The operative word is “usually.”)

Over The Years . . .

Where I live:
Age 8: Lansing, New York
Age 16: Aurora, New York
Present: Louisville, Kentucky

My Favorite Color:
Age 8: Red
Age 16: Green
Present: Red

My Favorite Pet(s)
Age 8: Chiquita (our collie dog) and Rosebud (our Welsh pony)
Age 16: Jasper (our mixed breed dog – 1/2 Labrador, 1/4 German Shepherd, 1/4 Pit Bull) and Ee-da-how (our horse)
Present: Scout (our cockapoo puppy-dog)

My Favorite Food
Age 8: Spaghetti
Age 16: Spaghetti
Present: Spaghetti and meatballs

My Favorite Song
Age 8: The Happy Farmer
Age 16: The Entertainer
Present: Capriccio Espagnol

My Best Friend
Age 8: Mouse Steinhardt
Age 16: Anne Vawter
Present: Jeff Gosnell

My Favorite Activity
Age 8: playing in the barn
Age 16: hiking in the woods
Present: playing with Rachel

What I Wanted To Be
Age 8: a cowboy (failed at that)
Age 16: an actress (failed at that)
Present: a mommy (yeah! success at last)

Busy and Eventful Weekend

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.

Four Months Old

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:

Happy Birthday to Jeff!

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.

Rolling Over and Cold Fusion

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 Rocks!

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.

Pictures

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!

Razzberry

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.

Momentous Occasion

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.