Visit to Blacksburg

The whole crew: Jamie, Rachel, Hunter, and Jacob

Baxter the big friendly dog!

Jamie was so excited to play with Rachel.

Jacob and Rachel hung out while we were there.

Hunter reading her favorite book with her.

Okay, we haven't posted in a while... to say the least. Let me start where we last left off. The week before memorial day Rachel and I took a little trip to Blacksburg to visit my old co-worker Mandi. We had so much fun with her and her family. She spoiled me rotten with homemade southern meals (they live on a farm, so even the meat is home grown!) and several cute outfits for Rachel. What a vacation! Rachel especially liked playing with her 3 kids: Jamie, Hunter, and Jacob. They were really good with her. She also did surprisingly well at night even though she was in a pack and play right near my bed. Normally she sleeps a lot better in her own room, but the week went very smoothly. Thanks for the great trip, Mandi! And of course thanks to Matt for driving me down and being supportive of my vacations when he is stuck at work.

Birthday Extravaganza

Well, I guess it wasn't really an extravaganza, but it was still fun. Since our birthdays are just 6 days apart we usually have a joint party with a few friends. This year Sara got us a tasty ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. We had some friends over and played games and ate cake. On my birthday we went out to lunch and on Matt's birthday we went to dinner at Red Robin (free burger on your birthday!). I guess you can tell what we like to do for fun :) We also went to some batting cages that weekend as well. All in all, we had a great birthday weekend. Our main present was a camcorder, which we just barely got in the mail. Hopefully we'll be able to post a short video of Rachel soon. Matt also made me 2 slide shows, one of our first 4 years of marriage and the other of Rachel. He's going to post the Rachel one soon. It's really cute! He is so good at thinking up creative birthday ideas. I got him a book and a sweatshirt (I'm not so good at the creative thing, obviously!).
The second picture above is of Rachel and me on the morning of May 3rd, the first morning in 9 months that one of us hasn't had to get up with her at night (except for a few times where she miraculously slept through the night). We decided to start letting her cry it out. The first night was great, she only cried for about 20 minutes. We've had a few rough nights since then, but it is exciting to think that all 3 of us will soon be sleeping through the night! I know I look a little tired in the picture, but I was so happy!

A Nats fan is born!

As many of you who read this blog already know, the Stevensons are big time Braves fans so when they were looking to pick up tickets to a game we were all ready to take Rachel to her first encounter with our nation's past time. Unfortunately it was raining when we arrived at the stadium so the game was delayed for a little over an hour and we were happy when it finally started even though all the cheering woke Rachel up from her nap. She was entertained for the first couple of innings then decided that her dad needed a different view of the field so we spent the next several inning hanging out behind expensive seats with all the other parents that brought their younglings along with them (by that I mean babies not young Jedi's). Rachel's favorite part was when they had the presidents race round about the 5th inning of the game. She was absolutely captivated by the massive craniums of our founding fathers as the raced around the field. Don't remember if Tom or Abe won (and yes, I realize that Lincoln was not officially a founding father), you'll have to ask Rachel about it some time. The Nats got destroyed by the Braves and all in all it was a fun day. We restrained ourselves from buying a box of Krispy Kreme donuts from a street vendor on the way home though one person in our group got a killer deal on a unofficial, official Nat's hat. (looking back I wish I would have used the word Nats more in this post). And now for the part everyone wants to see anyways, the pictures:

Rachel and dad, GO Coug...I mean Nats!

This is the "I've had just about enough of this silliness" face.

And all the ladies enjoying a photo op. *Bonus Activity* Try to
position yourself so that Sara is not looking at your forehead.
(From the left: Michelle, Sara, Jenny, Heather)

Scooting and Bunnies

Rachel scooted forward for the first time on Tuesday! She has been scooting backwards for a few weeks now, but she finally made it in the right direction. I was trying to get her to do it all morning, but it ended up happening when I was wrapping Matt's birthday present. I had stopped trying to tempt her with various toys and just let her lie on her tummy in front of where I was wrapping. She wanted that tissue paper so bad!! The distance totaled about 6 inches, which is 6 inches more than she has ever scooted before. It is so cute to watch her stretch her little arms as far as they will go and then dig her toes into the ground to inch forward just a little bit. Then she stretches her arms again to see if she if she can get it with out too much more effort. She actually scooted a couple of times on Tuesday, so I think she will be crawling really soon.
Last week our friends Sara and Brandon had a litter of baby bunnies staying at their apartment for a few days. Brandon has a wildlife control company and removed them from a woman's yard. Rachel and I went over to play with them. She liked watching them hop around her. When I sat one of them near her she patted it and then tried to squeeze it (see picture). We had to take it away quick! Poor kid doesn't know her own strength.

Cherry Blossom Festival

A day at the park. She loves the swings!

You'll notice I coordinated her dress with the activity.

A few weekends ago we went downtown to see the cherry blossoms. Apparently everyone else in the area had the same idea, because the metro was packed! We got there in one piece, though, so it worked out okay. The blossoms were really pretty and it was fun being out and about. Rachel was very well behaved and Matt did great carrying her around in the front pack all day. What a strong guy! She really enjoys being outside.
It was also kite day at the festival. We took a kite, but the wind had died down by the time we finished walking around looking at the blossoms. Matt was pretty disappointed! It is frequently windy here, so we'll go out sometime to a nearby park and try again.
Rachel is getting cuter and cuter. It is amazing watching her grow. She changes so quickly! Her latest noise is a growl/Gollum noise that is pretty funny. It is also a little quieter than her yell, which is nice! I think she will be quite a chatterbox when she learns how to talk (I wonder where she got that from?). I went to a Relief Society activity recently where a woman talked about being a mom and how all the different stages are great. Although I'm just starting out, I agree with her so far. I used to think that 4-6 months was my favorite age, but Rachel is 8 and 1/2 months now and I love it. I also miss the tiny baby stage when they just snuggle in your arms and sleep for hours, so I guess there are fun parts with each age. Now I'm just babbling, which I tend to do when I get started on Rachel, so I guess I'll close now. Happy Spring everyone!

Easter

Easter was pretty low key for in the Ratto household this year. There were fewer hopping rabbits than one might have hoped for and no hidden easter baskets nor that plastic green grass that you find around your house for the rest of the year. But we still managed to color eggs with our last minute dye kit (only 74 cents on sale!!) on Saturday in just enough time use them for deviled for dinner the next day . See the picture and try to guess which one is mine! to make it easier, if they look good then it probably is not mine. Sunday morning we let Rachel play with a couple of the eggs for a photo opp and she proceeded to smash them together till they broke so we had to quickly take them away. The good news is that we know that she has reached the caveman phase of development (eggs fill in for the rocks) so she is coming along nicely and is still cute. Just look at her; it doesn't get much cuter then that.

That evening we went over to the Stevenson's for dinner taking with us some deviled eggs (pretty tasty), our favorite salad (really tasty), and some of Michelle's soon-to-be award winning chocolate chip cheesecake (worth the extra inch on your waste line). They did the ham and rolls (both excellent) and it made for an enjoyable easter meal. Sara volunteered to be our photographer and snapped a couple pictures of us. We actually look pretty good so I think that Sara has some untapped potential in the world of photography.

Look! It's us! Cute Easter dress, beautiful wife, and the luckiest man in the world.

Smooch!

Vacation

Snuggling with Grandma Purple for a badly needed nap

I know Olivia's face doesn't show it, but she really did like hanging out with Rachel

What a team! Pull Rachel, pull!

Coloring time with Annabelle and Jen

Rachel and I just got back from a 2 week trip to Oregon and Washington. We had a lot of fun visiting our family. Matt held down the fort at home and worked hard while we were gone. Our first stop was Seattle, where Rachel woke up between 3:00 and 5:00 every morning because of the time change. Jen got up with her for the first 3 mornings and let me sleep in a bit. Rachel slowly adjusted to the new time zone, but the woke up before 6:00 am for the whole 2 weeks! Besides deciding to wake up crazy early, she was very well behaved. The plane trips actually went really smoothly. We had a bag stuffed full of toys and books and just kept rotating through them. I also sang a lot (as quietly as possible, of course!). Our Seattle visit was so fun and busy. My cousin Annabelle, age 4, loved playing with Rachel and making funny faces at her. It was great to have someone to entertain Rachel. She loved watching Annabelle and Lucas run around. Grandma Purple rocked her to sleep several times, which is quite a feat with Rachel. We also visited my mom's clinic (which Grandma and Jen will remember is right next to Ivar's :) and met her co-workers. And of course we visited a children's consignment store for some cute used clothes.
Portland was our next stop. We stayed with the Ratto's for a few days. Rachel's cousin Olivia loved giving Rachel kisses and handing her toys. They were so cute together! We got an ice cream bar at Costco and shared it between the 4 of us. Olivia was ready for the next bite right after she had her first and Rachel was determined to hold the stick herself. They looked like 2 baby birds. Matt's mom took the morning shift at her house so that I could catch up on sleep there.
Our final stop was the Taylor household. Rachel absolutely loved meeting their new puppy, Remy. Unfortunately he is still learning not to nip when saying hello, so their contact was pretty limited. They both really wanted to play with each other and we spent a lot of the time letting them look at each other from afar. I got a lot of help with Rachel there too, which was nice. I was also able to visit the class that my dad teaches at Lewis and Clark Law School, which was really interesting. My Grandma and Grandpa were also visiting from Utah, so we had a mini family reunion. I'm hoping my Oregon family forgives me for giving them a nasty stomach flu. I got a very short case of it and thought I wasn't contagious by the time I left Matt's house, but I think I was wrong... At least in most cases it only last 12 hours!
All in all in was a great trip. I was sad that Matt couldn't come. Our friends here took good care of him, but Rachel and I really missed him. So did the rest of our family. I guess someone has to bring in the big bucks!