9 month checkup!

Today was Rachel's 9 month checkup.

Here are her stats:

Height- 27.5 in.- 38%

Head- 17.3 in.- 42%

Weight- 15 lb 12 oz- 4%

Yes, that's the 4th percent! The doctor said he is not worried, she's "just taking after her momma!" She's eating well and is still growing, just not fast.

Rachel did not like it when he looked in her mouth... she screamed when he used the tongue depressor, and it did not get any better when he pointed the flashlight in her eyes and checked her little hiney...

So we are good until her 12 month checkup, which I can't believe is right around the corner. That appointment is set for October 20. I would have tried to have it closer to her birthday, but there is no way that we will be able to turn her car seat around any time soon. (Law requires that children be 1 and 20 pounds- it may be a while before she hits 20!)

It has begun...

Today is the first day of band camp. It is a bittersweet day for me actually. I love marching band and most everything that goes with it. I love seeing the show come together, hearing the music, watching the kids have fun at football games and listening to how proud all the parents are of their kids. I love spending time with parents and getting to know them better too. I am especially excited this year because of Rachel. She loves music and dances now with all of her noisy toys. She also thinks that everyone performs for her. On the rare occasion that she is in church when music is playing, she squeals and nods her head, waves her hands, and sometimes even claps. I know she will love hearing and seeing the marching band! The down side is, all of these things don't come together by themselves. It takes a lot of practice, which takes a lot of time! It is quite a stressful time for Dustin, especially this year, since he is the only band director (he does have a lot of support, but overall, everything falls on his shoulders). This means that he will not be home until late most nights- so I'm "single" mom after work getting dinner ready while taking care of Rachel, and it also means that Dustin won't get to spend as much time with Rachel as he would like because she goes to bed early (can't help that too much-she gets up at 6:15 during the school year!).

So as this time begins, we make the best of the rough times and enjoy the end product!

Playing with Zoe

9 months!

It's hard to believe that Rachel is 9 months old already! These last few weeks she has learned how to do so many more things. "Mama" is soooo last week, so she has given that up and just says "bababa" all the time! Crawling is her preferred mode of transportation and she does it so well. She gets into everything-and quick! Zoe is her best friend and she loves petting her, holding her paw, and pulling her ears (and occasionally her lips). Rachel thinks it is hilarious when Zoe gives her kisses too. If she is sitting on something that is raised, she can pull herself up to standing. She will take a few steps when holding our hands too! She still only has one tooth, and has enjoyed puffs, wagon wheels, cheerios and even a couple animal crackers! One of my favorite things about Rachel is that she goes to bed between 7 and 7:30 and usually sleeps until 8:30! Yes, a whole 13 hours of sleep straight! It helps everyone stay happy at our house!

Cow Appreciation Day!

In case you missed it somehow, Friday was cow appreciation day at Chick-fil-a! Dustin decided not to participate, but I had no problem taping on a few black pieces of paper to receive a free meal. Rachel didn't mind either! The big spot on the front of her shirt didn't last too long, but her ears lasted longer than I was expecting! Her little tail looked so cute too.

Happy Fourth of July!

We had a wonderful day with friends and family on July 4th this year! We went to church in the morning. There was a guest singer, Alvin Slaughter, who did all the music, which was wonderful! We went to a friend's house for an early dinner, then headed over to our church to watch fireworks. A lot of people from the community go to our church because we have the best view of the valley from up there! The church decided to make a big deal out of it this year and make it a ministry opportunity and it worked! There were inflatables set up for kids, concessions, and our bookstore/cafe were open too. The proceeds from the bookstore/cafe go to missions, so we were really excited to see a constant line all afternoon.
Dustin's parents met us up at the church and will be spending the next few days with us.

Hi! Rachel was excited to see the big flag waving. (I love the boy looking at Rachel behind her!)

Here are the inflatables that were set up... in another year or two Rachel will really enjoy them if they keep this going.

She was so happy to be made over by all of our friends!

Mom and Dad McCollum waiting for fireworks to start.

Mommy and Rachel!

Our family with matching Old Navy shirts!

The sunset was gorgeous!

Some of our friends that we met up with!

Our parking lot has 3 tiers and it was starting to get packed when I took this picture. By the time fireworks started, there were no parking spots left. There is a long driveway leading up to the top of the mountain to get to the church. People were parked and lined up on both sides of the driveway. There was a charter bus that came up too!

A week with the Nieter's

During our Vacation, Rachel got to spend some quality time with her Aunt Kim, Uncle Brent, Cousin Blake, Mimi, and Poppy! (Zoe and Millie were happy about their time together too!) She had a great time with them, and they enjoyed loving on her too.

Blake liked practicing being a big brother!
Rachel loved cooling off in the pool!

Blake and Rachel found each other to be very interesting!

Blake and Uncle Dusty matched!

They are so sweet together!

Rachel's hair was a little wild after an afternoon at the beach!

What can I say? She's a cutie!

Gorgeous eyes!

Rachel and her doll sitting on Poppy's chair!

Poppy and his favorite little people!

All the "kids." I look so short!

Poppy took Rachel on walks in the mornings. I think his smile was as big as hers when he got some one on one time with her!

Rachel loved playing with this piano... she's a natural!

5th Anniversary!

It's hard to believe that Dustin and I have been married for 5 years! It seems like yesterday that we were engaged and trying to find our first jobs, yet at the same time, we've been through so much since we've been together. We have graduated college, bought 2 cars, moved 4 times, bought a house, got a dog, had Rachel, Dustin has gotten "promoted" to head band director, and I have almost completed my masters degree- all in 5 years.

To celebrate, we took a little vacation to Virginia Beach... I know, we both grew up next to the beach, but we had never done any of the "touristy" stuff. So we dropped Rachel and Zoe off at Mom and Dad Nieter's for a few days and stayed at the beach. (We took our bikes but didn't want to take them in the hotel, so we did go back and pick up/drop off the bikes and sneak a couple minutes in with Rachel)

We spent a couple mornings at the beach... it was really hot though, so we didn't stay too long. One evening we went on a dolphin cruise. The weather was perfect in the evening off shore a little ways. We saw a lot of dolphins, but they were pretty difficult to catch on camera.

If you look really closely, you can see a fin in the water. That was about all we managed to capture of the dolphins!

Here we are on the boat... it was a little windy!

We took another afternoon and went to MotorWorld and did some go kart racing and mini golf. I thought I had gotten a better picture of Dustin, but it didn't take :-( Oh well, he's in the green car, way ahead of me!

Sister Hazel had a concert here in Roanoke a few weeks ago, but we weren't able to go. Dustin was excited when we found out that there was a free concert while we were there. It was a great concert and despite the heat that night, we really enjoyed it!

I had been on the Spirit of Norfolk a couple times in high school, and really enjoyed it, and I wanted to take Dustin on it. We took an afternoon lunch cruise on our anniversary day! There was a buffet at the beginning of the cruise, then we were able to walk around while they gave some history and other facts about the area.

We traveled down to the end of the shipyard then back. There were 2 aircraft carriers in port.

Aren't we a cute couple!