A week or So in Review

Well, it has certainly been a little while since I have blogged......let's see what has happened since then. For starters, I started back to work (a couple hours on 2/28 and officially part-time on 3/1). That has been going well. It's been a little rocky for me personally b/c I was just getting over the flu, Ben had a short trip to AL and then a long trip to Singapore, and then Rachel came down w/ Bronchiolitis (and no, I'm not trying to spell Bronchitis..lol)....all that while trying to get my head back in work mode for about 7-8 hours 3 days/week. So, it has definitely been busy for us since I last blogged. However, I was very blessed to be able to have my mom come down for the week while Ben was in Singapore, so that was a tremendous help. I'm not sure who takes more pictures of Rachel....me or my mom:) While Rachel really enjoyed her time with her Nana (and her Nana enjoyed time with her!), she was very happy to have her Daddy home.....she fell asleep right away last night and slept for 11 hours, which is the most she's slept since he left. Obviously, with her sickness (wheezing, hard time breathing, coughing/gagging, etc), it made night times a little more difficult (I know I got limited sleep too!), but I think babies have this ability to sense when something isn't quite what they're used to. So, here's the past week and half in pictures. Rachel is developing a bit more....she stands for longer periods, her hands are more open most of the time, she interacts with things more, and of course, the "talking" has increased too.....makes Ben think she's going to be a talker like the little girl in the Volvo commercial. Click on the little girl's face to watch the commercial http://new.volvocars.com/wwygavt/. You have to click on the girl 2x...the first time to launch the commercials (Under the section titled "Watch Commercials") and then once that opens up, you'll have to click on the icon w/ her face again. Enjoy:)

Ok, now for the Rachel pictures:)
Here we are on the path by the GW Parkway. Mom came down Saturday AM. The weather was pretty nice, so the four of us (Ben, Rachel, Mom, and me) all headed out for a nice walk....as you can see, Rachel enjoyed a nice nap:)
Rachel's enjoying her swing here (probably while we're eating dinner).....she really likes the fishies and lights on her swing.
Here's Rachel taking her naps....these were a little tough for her this week....she'd start to fall asleep, and then she'd start coughing, which would frustrate her a lot. So, I couldn't resist taking these pictures b/c she looked so peaceful. The second one is a little dark b/c my flash wasn't on, and I didn't want to wake her up since it can be a little noisy when the flash pops up.
Rachel has really been enjoying her ExerSaucer too. As you can see, she really interacts with it:)
And here's some pictures from today....we're very happy to have Ben home from Singapore!
And we couldn't resist this picture....Rachel has such a typical kid's response to being kissed. Here's a shout out to cousin Dan for taking the family photos! He takes pictures in exchange for food:)
So, that's about it....I'll try not to go so long w/out blogging...as I know this is quite a lot of pictures! BTW - Ben will be blogging about his Singapore trip at some point....since I had our digital camera for the week, he has to get his little disposable camera developed.