Rebekah's info

I didn't really post much about Rebekah's stats and other fun things she's doing, so here goes:

- Walking unassisted EVERYWHERE! She doesn't even need help standing up anymore. She still falls quite a bit, but keeps getting back up.
-Weighed 19lbs 14.5oz at her check up (40%ile) but has been sitting just above 20 lbs for a month
- 29 1/2 in ( between 50 & 75%ile)
-takes 2 naps/day
-absolutely loves ducks and dogs -We have been walking several times over spring break and this week after Jeff gets home and we go to the pond near the front of our neighborhood. She quacks after the ducks and tries to chase after them (I prevent her from falling, rolling down the hill and into the pond)
-kind of says more/milk while eating
-is starting to like people food after a week or two of not eating much
-has been happier since quitting breastfeeding in the last week and a half
-is no longer super clingy to me since she can walk almost everywhere
- has 9 teeth and almost has another

A Little Late

We had Rebekah's 1st birthday party on her birthday, March 7th, and had a great time with family and friends. We had a red/heart themed party with red streamers, red decorations, red cups and other red table necessities. I also made her multiple heart cakes. I made small, low sugar cakes for the little ones and decorated 1 of them for Rebekah to smash into and a larger heart cake that was decorated in red. I still don't have the pictures because I haven't been able to get the pictures to download on this computer. Jeff has them on his computer, and my parents have them so they could show off the party to their friends and co-workers, but I sadly, still cannot see them.

The day before her birthday, Rebekah decided she knew how to walk and began walking everywhere. She had taken several steps weeks before, but acted as if she didn't know how to do it anymore. Since she's more of my social bug, she walked for everyone at the party, unlike her sister who refused to show off her new talent.

After feeling like our house was overwhelmed with toys, we decided to ask those coming to the party not to bring toys, and had some great presents! One of Bekah's friends gave her a home-made tutu! It's really cute. Rachel got one for her first birthday too, but we'd never found an occassion to bring it out (Sorry Caity), so I pulled it out the next day and the girls have worn them several times since the party.

We also got several new books that Rachel loves more than Bekah, but we'll get better with Bekah's attention span. She also got some really cute clothes including a onesie that says "I love my auntie." Of course she got a couple of toys, because we gave them to her. It was really awkward after we had said no toys, but in our defense, we bought them shortly after the new year and got a good deal on them and they are fairly small.

I promise to get pictures up when I'm able to download them to the computer.

Laundry

Why laundry?

Because it's a necessary part of life. If you don't launder the clothes you wear you have to continually buy new ones, and for those of us on not so large incomes, we can't afford to do that. Well, here are some of my observations about our laundry:

-Jeff's clothes take up the most space, and it's not because he's the biggest, it's because he wears three outfits a day (at least). No, he's not self conscious, but he wears one outfit to school, another to coach in, and another when he gets home. He even wears layers to soccer since it's cold out, so it's more like 2 outfits he wears while coaching, so we'll say 4 outfits a day.

-When Jeff and I fold laundry together, he leaves the baby clothes for me to fold because he thinks they take more time to fold than the larger pieces.

-My clothes take up the least amount of space, because apparently when I stay home, I don't change clothes as often as when I was working.

-I have changed clothes twice today because each of the girls has thrown up on me, which has created nearly a whole load of clothes between my clothes, their clothes, the items they spit up on, and the towels I cleaned up with.

-I should probably do laundry sometime this weekend so that Jeff has enoguh clothes for soccer and school next week.

Here's to praying we don't have any more stomach bug in the house anytime soon! When Rachel started throwing up on me, I didn't know what to do other than to cry. It was a first for us. We haven't had to experience stomach contents before.

Little by Little

We have had a pretty fun week here in the Lehmann household. Rebekah has been walking more and more. Last night she stood up from my lap and walked about 7 steps toward Jeff. Of course in my attempt to video the occasion, she wouldn't walk anymore after that. We have a few videos of her walking around the house with her walking toy. We're pretty excited that she's making so much progress.

We also had about 9" of snow on Thursday, which is apparently the largest amount of snowfall recorded in the last 130 years or so in this part of the state. We do realize that this is nothing compared to the 30" or more of snow that has fallen in Pennsylvania where some friends of ours live, but it's a pretty big deal. We actually got a snow day on Friday, so Jeff was able to stay home with us and play. On Thursday, the girls and I went out to play in the morning, and then my dad came over for lunch and played with Rachel in the backyard. The video is of him and Rachel. Then, when Jeff got home we played again and made an even larger snowman. On Friday we went out in the morning while Rebekah was napping, but Rachel didn't care much for the snow. Jeff and I had a great time though. The snow is still there, but melting pretty quick. We are going to have a very soggy yard for several weeks and we are expecting rain at the end of next week.

Lost Opportunity

So we had a pretty exciting evening around here yesterday. Jeff was trying to convince Rebekah to stand up on her own and maybe take a few steps. In the end he was successful! She stood up by herself for quite a while playing with her rattle. Even when she went forward to sit down, she caught herself a few times and was even able to stand herself back up without any help! Shortly after this she took 3 steps in a row!! We were all very excited.

During all of the hooplah of Rebekah walking, Rachel decided she wanted in on the action to, so she stood up near Jeff, ducked her head to the ground and was doing pretty straight somersaults all by herself. A few were off-center, but they were pretty good if I do say so myself! :)

At some point we realized we needed to video these momentous occassions, and as such, Jeff got up to get the camera. Of course, things don't always go according to plan and both girls got fussy and quit doing their tricks.

To make the evening slightly worse, Rebekah had fallen and hit her mouth around 4:00 and her mouth was bleeding for a little while, but no worries, her teeth should be fine. I also noticed around bath time that she'd gotten a bruise on her chin from the fall, and to make it worse, she slipped and fell down in the bath tub. It gave her this nice bruise right beside her eye. As the evening progressed it became more of a comedy of errors as things kept playing out. It was sad to see how disappointed Jeff was at missing the opportunity to video the girls in some of their firsts.

LET ME OUT!!!

The girls have been sick all week. It started last Saturday with Rachel getting a fever and runny nose, so she stayed home from church with Jeff. Then on Monday, Rebekah got a fever and runny nose. Because of that, we had to stay home from Bible study on Tuesday. The girls then developed coughs and maintained low grade fevers throughout the week.

Things are looking up though! While the girls still have lingering coughs, Rachel hasn't had a fever in more than 24 hours and Rebekah's fever is basically gone as well.

The good news in all of this was that my mother-in-law came on Thursday morning to watch the girls while I went to the store. The girls' schedules were completely off that day, but I managed to get a load in the dishwasher and ran it and also cleaned all of the dirty dishes before I got ready to go to the store. I even cooked dinner that night! It was great to be productive after having a mostly lazy week of lying around with sick girls.

Here's a picture of them in the middle of the week near their worst.

Life in the Fast Lane

Well, we're not quite to life in the fast lane, but we've come close in the month of January. January is tournament month in high school soccer. Over the last 2 weeks, Jeff has been gone on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday nights, as well as Saturday morning for soccer games. We are also out of the house on Wednesday nights, so this doesn't leave much time for anything.



Last weekend we also had small group on Saturday night and I went to the Camp Longhorn Carnival in Dallas, where I got to visit with my aunt and uncle. It was such a good time as always, but it did cut a few things close since Jeff and I were both out of the house until shortly before we needed to leave for our small group. Rachel did like playing the games. If she ends up going to camp, she'll have lots of merits before she even gets there. I left my children a few merits, and if they give them David's merits, well, then they are raking in the orange! (Merits that is) We have to start a Camp Longhorn folder now so that we can keep up with all the carnival cards.



I have also managed to schedule something everyday this week. Jeff and I are went on a date last night. I had Bible study today, but thankfully Jeff doesn't have a game scheduled. We have youth group on Wednesday and I'm meeting a friend during the day. I get to WORK on Thursday and I'm meeting another friend on Friday.



I'm really excited about starting to work in the schools. I got 3 offers today to work. 2 were for this week and one is further down the road, but an opportunity none the less. I'm looking forward to this new chapter in life where I get to work