As per request, here she is!

I've uploaded three videos of Rachel "playing" tee ball. While they are all quite funny, if you're short on time I recommend Video #3. And yes, at the end of Video #2 she IS yelling "Video me!" as she runs down the yard.

Out!

Yesterday Ben got hit hard on the left foot with a ball during his second game of the day. He was supposed to umpire a tournament all day and then do a couple of games at a different park that night. Instead, he spent close to 6 hours in the ER at Vic. I told him that it's really not necessary for him to experience all of the same things that I do during this pregnancy. Apparently he didn't listen.

The good news is that it's just a nasty bruise and should be better within a week. Ben cancelled his games tonight and tomorrow anyway, and he'll decide later this week about next week's games.

The really good news is that since he was at the ER anyway, I suggested that he bring up his Crohn's symptoms. The ER doctor said that he could push a referral through much faster than our family doctor (we've been waiting 2 weeks on that one) and Ben should hear from someone this week about getting in to the clinic at Vic.

In related news, we set up Rachel's tee ball stand today and took some videos of the umpire's kid attempting to play ball. I'll upload one later for your viewing pleasure.

An observation by Rachel

In Wal-Mart:

"I just saw a baby and it wasn't in anyone's tummy!"

For the record, I did not tell her the baby was in my tummy. It's not. I told her it was in my uterus. Today at lunch she was saying things like, "I have raspberries in my tummy. What's in yours? A baby!"

At least she gets it on some level? Hehe.

Someone's a little full of herself

"I'm an expert on taping flamingoes," said Rachel after BEN helped her cut it in pieces and BEN taped it back together.

It's been a rather long day. Rachel was up from 10:30pm until 1am screaming her little head off about anything and everything. I don't think anything was wrong, other than she's been a bit stressed out by Ben and I both feeling crappy lately.

She got up at 6:20 this morning. Can we say sleep-deprived, cranky and whiny? That would currently describe all three of us. Bedtime can't come soon enough today.

It's official! (And it has a tail - who could ask for anything more?!)

That's right, folks. For anyone who didn't already know, Gitter Kid #2 is on its way. Or maybe we'll give this one my last name. Or maybe we'll hyphenate. You just never know what to expect from us, do you?

Last night I ended up with an ultrasound courtesy of the ER staff at Vic. Oops. The censored version is that a series of events led me to get an appointment at the after-hours clinic to check things out. The doctor there couldn't be bothered to do an internal exam so he sent me to the ER at Vic where I spent a lovely 3 hours of my evening.

After determining that there was no ectopic or heteroectopic pregnancy in there, the third doctor showed a nice, clear picture of baby including its tail!!!! It was wiggling around and had an obvious heartbeat so everything's just fine. So much for declining the early ultrasound, eh?

If anyone is concerned, the tail should disappear soon. Hehe.

Expect an update on this sometime in February.

Storybook Gardens

Ben took Rachel to Storybook Gardens yesterday afternoon. She had a great time seeing the different animals, and apparently there was also a very fun clown show. When they got home, I asked her what animals they had seen.

Mom: "Did you see the porcupines?"

Rachel: "Yes. There were two!"

Mom: "Did you see the lynx?"

Rachel: "NO. It was a LINK."

Mom: "Don't you mean the lynx?"

Rachel: "NO. There was only ONE. It's a LINK!"

She is insisting that it's a link, not a lynx. I can't really fault her logic.
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In other not-so-fun news, Ben's Crohns is back with a vengeance and we all have nasty head colds. I managed a lovely 3 hour nap this morning and may repeat that tomorrow!

Whose idea was it for her to learn to count?

Last night I asked Rachel if she wanted 3, 4, or 5 fishsticks for dinner. She said, "Mom, I think there's a number called SIX." And yes, she ate all 6 fishsticks.

This morning she was up early - 6:44am. She came up to me and said, "The first number is a 6." I responded, "And what should it be before you get up?" She said, "It should be a 7." One day we'll get there in reality as well as in theory.

She's funny.

We took Rachel with us to the String Fever camp concert on Thursday night. I knew that she could sit with a student's mother so I wasn't too worried about her. She had a great time.

In the van on the way home, I asked Rachel what her favourite part was. She answered that it was "looking at all the buckets." (The kids painted buckets for a craft and paraded them around the audience during the concert) I asked what else she liked and she said, "Being quiet. I beed quiet the whole time." Ha!

Finally, I asked her what part of the music she liked best. "I liked the high ones," Rachel said. "Oh good," I said, thinking that she was a sensible girl who would like to play the violin. Then Rachel followed up with, "When I get a big head I can play the violin. But first my head needs to get bigger." Ben liked that part.

Rachel really has been saying that she wants to play the violin lately, but she can wait awhile. She was talking about piano before, so who knows what she'd really like to try out.

Early to bed & early to rise...

"I didn't get up early this morning!" Rachel proudly announced. How she arrived at this conclusion is beyond me since she came running into our bedroom right at 6am. Ballerina Elephant was politely poking me to get out of bed while Ben slept on, oblivious to the world.

I told Rachel that it was Canada Day today and she really liked that idea. She wanted to make a card that said "Happy Birthday Canada" and she seemed very impressed that Canada is 140 years old! HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!

Rachel and Ben just headed out for a few minutes to see if anything is open. We're a bit confused because a lot of stores are closed tomorrow for the long weekend but usually things are only closed for one day. In any case, Rachel needed to choose shoes/sandals to wear. She's currently wearing a white t-shirt with bows and a red & white polka dot skirt. I asked her to select the shoes that would match her outfit, and she picked her white sandals. Why? "Because they match the white polka dots!" Hehe.