December_2011

December the joyful month of family, lights, cookies, candy and Christmas.

This month the Jewell's were very excited as it was C's first Christmas and a very exciting time for L. She was beginning to understand the concept of Santa and was getting more and more excited as the time to open gifts came closer.

So as L is still going to school she was over joyed that arts and craft was the majority of what she did this month. She has come home with candy cane pictures, ornaments for our tree and many items to add to her list for Santa each day. Taylor and Rachel took her to the mall to write a letter to Santa  an put it in his mail box at Barnes and Nobles, which she loved.

Christmas morning:

well it went as well as everyone else. Rachel woke up early to make breakfast as not soon after she got the muffins in the oven L came storming out of her room. Since Taylor wanted to catch everything on camera Rachel promptly made her turn around before she saw any gifts, luckily she to groggy to really understand what was going on. Rachel made her wait till Taylor was ready with the camera and she had C ready before entering the living room. L went straight for the castle that Santa brought her and immediately started playing. Then she proceeded to open every gift in sight even if they weren't hers. C obviously had no idea what was going on but was entertained with watching the festivities. After the presents and breakfast it was off to church then back home to make the Christmas dinner.

Christmas with family Part I:Taylor's mother and brother safely arrived late in the afternoon, where another horde of presents were brought in. So for the next few hours L and Taylor tore into not only their own but C's gifts as well. Once everyone was finished with their gifts Christmas dinner was underway. Everything turned out delicious, Rachel's ham and turkey were just as good as they were last year. And of course Taylor's potatoes were great. It was a very exciting day and by the end of the night L and Rachel were both exhausted. In all Christmas Part I went off without a hitch.

Christmas with the family Part II:

On December 28th Rachel's parents came down with the last load of Christmas. It was another completely overwhelming time. This time L ended up with the most gifts and was ripping away for a few hours. Since she was so excited with all those gifts coming she was going wild. Once she was finished everyone else was able to open their gifts. Since Rachel made enough food to feed a small army there were more than enough leftovers  for a second Christmas dinner. She planned this in advance since it went so well that way last year. It was a great holiday that went by smoothly. Needless to say this year everyone got what they wanted and more. It was a great visit with Rachel's parents and she was very sad to see them go.

New Years Eve:

On the eve of the new year Rachel's parents went back home. Meanwhile everyone decided to get out of the house and find some awesome bean bag chairs to rock in the new year. As the day went on Rachel and Taylor lounged around with the kiddos waiting for their friend Danielle and her son Sky to come over. Once they got there dinner,shrimp Alfredo (thanks Danielle!), was under way.  Sky and L had a blast playing Once Upon a Monster  while the adults got a huge kick of watching all of the dogs take bones from each other. Yes it sounds lame but it was pretty fun. Obviously the kids didn't make it till midnight, so while they were all sleeping the adults played Qulfs to pass the time. With Fox News on at eleven and a great game of Qulfs going before we knew it there were two minutes left in 2011. Of course there was a count down as the ball dropped. And It was a great new years eve!

Stay tuned to see what happened after the ball dropped!

November_2011

November a very busy month for the Jewell's indeed.

This splendid month started with Taylor's 23rd birthday. Which was celebrated with one of Taylor's favorite dinners as well as homemade red velvet cake. His big gift for this year was ticket to a Raven football game on the 20th of November. He was so excited about it, it was the best gift ever for him. He is doing well with the beginign of his new year. His reenlistment package finally went through, so now he is just waiting to be swarn in again. Rachel is thrilled about that. She is doing well and loving being a mommy of two. Although Thanksgiving was stressful she managed to make it through. Both Taylor and Rachel are looking forward to Christmas with the kids. It should be very exciting for them all.

L has developed a new love for Scooby Doo which, if Cars is not on, she watches constantly. She is also making remarkable progress in school. She has learned how to properly hold a writing utensil and scissors. She is also working on coloring in the lines. She is growing rapidly, almost to the point that Taylor and Rachel can't keep up. Rachel had said you can tell she is about to turn three because everything is 'mommy whats that?', 'mommy look at this!' or 'daddy a C.O.W!" With Christmas approaching she is growing more and more excited, especially when a trip to the mall or seeing Christmas lights/trees are involved. Taylor is loving that Christmas morning will finally be exciting. Like every two year old L loves getting into mischief and she has to push every button she sees. With that she bought her first lottery ticket, by herself! Wile Taylor was getting one for his Dad's birthday present L decided that she was going to push a button and get one for herself as well. She had a ton of fun scratching it off!

But the question on every one's mind is how's the baby. Well C is doing fantastic. He is growing at a rapid rate and is keeping everyone busy. He experienced his first Thanksgiving and loved it. He is not crawling yet, but he can hold up his head by himself for short periods of time. He hates being on his tummy like any newborn does but he seems to be making progress as far as crawling goes. C loves to laugh and the giggles, smile, laughs and all kinds of sounds are becoming more and more permanent. He just loves to laugh, L just cracks him up. Taylor gets a kick out of L playing with him. Taylor and Rachel are so excited to see him grow.

So the tale of Thanksgiving. Originally the plan was that Rachel was going to cook the dinner with the supervision of Maya. However things never go as planed. As most of you know Rachel's Nanna has been in and out of the hospital since C has been born. On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving she was put into ICU and transferred to Washington hospital to have stents put in. Therefore Rachel's mom and two Aunts were not present for the festivities. It was all up to Rachel, Taylor and Glenn. So Glenn stuck to the plan and made the dressing the night before as Rachel, Taylor and the kids were out for Taylor's father's birthday dinner at Famous Dave's. On Thanksgiving day Rachel stuffed the turkey and Glenn put it into the oven and cooked it. Then they started on everything else. Luckily the aid of Madison (Rachel's cousin) and Kara (Taylor and Rachel's soon to be sister in law) the kids were taken care of and Nanna's famous gravy was made ( I love you forever for that Maddie!) The dinner went off without a hitch and everyone had a blast. Rachel's other cousin Candace helped with the clean up and everything was cleaned up within an hour of dinner.

After mostly everyone had gone home the Ravens game came on. So with Rachel's brother Bryan and Taylor it was a very exciting time. Luckily they won! So things ended up being OK and Thanksgiving was a success even without Rachel's mom and Aunts. So the torch has been passed. But Rachel's last thought of the night was, "I wish my mom's were here."

So Christmas is up next. Stay tuned.

October_2011

Ah October the month of Treats and Pumpkins.

This month was another month of normal, well lets just say life. It was fully of busy schedules, upcoming events and visitors. It was full of diapers, Sunday and Monday night football, doctors, work and school. Oh yeah and new neighbors!

C found himself in the midst of his first Halloween, and he had a blast. Alas before he could enjoy the festivities he had to go to the doctor. Rachel noticed he was not only spitting up more than usual but he was throwing up all his food. Thus the diagnosis of Reflux. Once again boarding the reflux train. Luckily C has taken well to the medication and is doing much better with it all. He did give Rachel a hard time with his growth spurt  He suddenly wanted to eat every hour and actually fit snugly into his newborn clothes. The good news is he's growing and healthy!The bad news, the reflux brought on colic, so needless to say Rachel has her hands quite full.

How is Rachel? Well she is exhausted but making it. She is determined to get the house back under control. However the sleep when baby sleeps just takes effect offten. Taylor has come home many a times to see Rachel asleep with laundry in her lap. But she did eventually get the house in order and looking well great. She is on top of things now.

L is doing well in school and making ever more progress. She loves to paint and does it every day that she is at school. Then she tells Rachel all about what she painted. She just talks and talks and talks. She has now also started 'taking care' of her baby dolls. She will feed them, changes their diapers and even wrap them up in C's blankets. Clearly she has been watching Rachel very closely. Not only that but she has been very clingy to Taylor as of late. She bombards the poor guy as soon as he walks through the door.

Taylor is stressed to the max with work. He has been getting his reenlistment package ready and it is being sent up this month. Hopefully by Thanksgiving he will know, or have a general idea as to what is going on. Other than that he just wanted to take Leah trick or treating, and get the fun underway.

So everyone went to the pumpkin patch and decorated the house. Rachel decided to go to a local church's pumpkin patch this year instead of Mike's Farm. Mainly because Mike's prices to a spot on the high dive. It was a fantastic time. L ran all over the place picking up every pumpkin she could. It took twenty minutes before Taylor finally lined up a few and told her to pick from those. She was just so excited to paint and carve. When the cleaning and carving got underway Taylor decided to tell L that she was scooping the 'pumpkin's brains' out. And that mommy was going to make a 'pumpkin brain pie'. She got a kick out of that. So with her pumpkin painted and the family one carved things we all set.

After all of that Rachel's parents came down for a visit, mainly because Maya didn't get to spend much time with L and C while they were in Maryland, she was taking care of her mother. However Rachel's grandmother was doing so well that Maya felt confident enough to come and see the grand kids  The visit was very enjoyable and Rachel loved having some extra hands around. She actually got some extra sleep!

As always Rachel had plans to keep everyone busy before trick-or-treating. Rachel, Taylor, Grandda and L went to the haunted hayride at Mike's Farm while Grandma stayed behind with C, it was far to cold for him. The next night was a festival at a local park where L dressed up as a princess and went on another hayride. She got to go on a train ride for kids and play in an inflatable bouncy house.

So what everyone has been waiting for is the trick-or-treating. Taylor, Rachel and L were pirates and C was the pet monkey. It was too cold for him and calling for rain. Grandma and Granda stayed with C and passed out candy while Taylor and Rachel walked L around the neighborhood. L was too tired to go through the whole development and it started to rain on us on the way back but she filled her bucket with candy and she had a great time. It was a great experience.

It was a great month. Stay tuned to hear about next months adventures with Taylor's birthday, the Marine Corps ball and Thanksgiving in Maryland.

September_2011

Well as September comes to a close the Jewell's finally experienced a month full of 'baby bliss'.

They had all survived the horrid drive from Maryland to North Carolina. Of course they stopped because of new addition C! Oh yes and to visit family along the way so the drive was extremely broken up. It literally took all day. Thank goodness Taylor's mother was able to drive Rachel and C so Rachel could sit in the back seat with him. As always L loved ridding in the Jeep with her Daddy and dog Allie.

So everyone was happy to finally be home and settled. However with every joy comes sadness, while Rachel was in the hospital with C so was her grandmother with lots of trouble breathing. Turns out that her grandmother had fluid building up on her lungs and needed dialysis to empty her lungs so she could breath properly  She was admitted for several weeks in the ICU. After some time she was sent home on hospis with a physical therapist coming to do sessions at home with her. Now she is on the mend in a nursing home for her physical therapy and the girls (Rachel's mom Maya and her two Aunts) take her to her dialysis sessions and stay at the nursing home with her.

Rachel is doing extremely well. She is tired as anyone would be, but she is adjusting to the new, busy life with flying colors. Taylor is also doing well. As the return of his unit creeps closer he is extremely busy at work. Luckily Rachel and the children were at a portion of the homecoming to ease his tension  She is taking pictures of the homecoming for her girlfriend. Rachel was so thrilled that they already knew someone in the battalion and it just happened to be one of her best friends! After that Taylor's work live was well back to normal.

Taylor loves having a son. And he gets quite a kick out of watching L help take care of him. Of course he is enjoying football season, glad he can watch it this year; mainly because he is corrupting C.  He is quite enjoying making him the newest Ravens fan. They all pile on the couch in their purple jerseys and watch the game. L loves it when they score a touchdown, she throws her arms in the air, jumps up and down screaming at the top of her lungs.

L LOVES being a big sister. She tells EVERYONE that she has a baby brother and that she is the best big sister. She likes to inform about what C is doing, "Mommy C is crying. He needs a pacifier" or "Daddy C pooped, eww, it's stinky." She is such a big helper that no one minds the constant questions and updates as to what C is doing. 

L also got to go to her first day at preschool! She had a rough first few weeks with clinging to Rachel's leg and crying but, as with every child, she grew out of it. She loves going to school and frequently asks if she can go everyday instead of just two. It is a Montessori school so she is learning so much at a rapid rate. In just her first week of going she has socially developed so much. She even started singing along with the radio, actually singing the words to the song verbatim  Taylor and Rachel are extremely proud of her! They love seeing her progress and succeed. She even enjoys doing things all on her own. It is a huge milestone!

C is exceptionally well. He is eating and sleeping like a little champ. He just loves to be held which so far is not so bad, however, concerns rise to it being a problem down the road. Like any infant he hates tummy time but he gets over it. His first doctor's appointment went well and his growth is all on track. Taylor and Rachel couldn't be more excited about that,

So all in all the laundry is piling up, there are dishes in the sink and play-dough in L's hair but for now the Jewell's are enjoying the newest member of the family.

Stay tuned for more excitement.

August_2011

So from last months excitement August looked promising for the Jewell's to be quite relaxed. Luckily the month started out that way. There was nothing out of the ordinary.

Rachel went to her checkups for baby and hung out with L. There was no change in the pregnancy besides the baby growing. Thee were several false alarms, and she was being monitored regularly by her doctor.Taylor was working and progressing considerably well with physical therapy.

One extremely exciting thing that happened was Rachel's best friend Lindy threw her a baby shower where she found out if she was having a boy or a girl. She had a wonderful time with her friends, and is very grateful to everyone that came. It was a blast!



 Turns out.......
brace yourselves everyone,........

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then hurricane Irene showed up.

All the surrounding counties had mandatory evacuations however ours was voluntary. Taylor decided that it would be best to head up north to Maryland to visit with family. So that Friday with everything packed we headed up the road the morning it was supposed to hit us. The destination to Rachel's parents house was reached with little to no problems. The next day the fun began, with the worst of the storm over our area and the tail winds hitting all over Virginia Beach where Taylor's family happens to live. With no power, bridges out and tress falling through homes and cars, Taylor;s grandparents found themselves stuck for a few days. Taylor and his father got right to planning on how to get to them and get them to Maryland safely, only to find it was not possible. Luckily all turned out to be fine.

With all the stress, the long drive and the extremely low pressure from the hurricane Rachel started feeling a bit of discomfort when she woke on Saturday morning. As the day progressed it only continued to get worse, by Saturday night Rachel was in some awful pain. When Sunday morning finally came Rachel, Taylor and L dressed for church and went on there way with Rachel in a bit more pain than the previous night. Throughout the service Rachel started having contractions. By the end of service it was time to go to the hospital.

Rachel's mom Maya, Taylor and Rachel got to the hospital at noon and Rachel was admitted to labor and delivery. She was dilated 3cm and making steady progress for a few hours. Rachel walked with Taylor and her mom, sat on a ball, walked, laid in bed and restarted the cycle for several hours. Eventually her doctor decided to break her water and with that the contractions came on rather quickly and quite strong. By eleven pm Rachel only wanted to push but she wasn't relaxed enough to dilate fully, so the epidural was ordered and by eleven-thirty it was administered and Taylor was finally allowed back in the room with her. Once Taylor was back with Rachel  it was time to push.

At eleven fifty-eight Connor  was welcomed into the world. He was 6lbs 8oz and 20 and 1/4 inches long. Taylor, Rachel and L were overjoyed to have C here at last.

   

Unfortunately he had a bit if a lung problem so he was sent to the NICU. After several days and x-rays it was determined that he had air outside his lung. (Doesn't that sound familiar? I think there is an echo here. Like father like son!) With oxygen and lots of love from us C was out of the NICU and 'home' after a week! Now he is healthy and well! He even had his first outing to the FSK Mall!

 

The next step was to make the LONG drive back home to NC!

We are truly blessed and have so much to be thankful for. All in all the Jewell's will never have just a quite relaxed day, never mind a month! But we are never bored, it's always exciting with us! Stay tuned to see how the big homecoming goes!

July_2011

Ah July the month of our Nations Independence. Filled with Cook outs, Flags flying, Beaches, Fireworks,  and pool parties.

Well for us Marylanders July means one of the greatest things in the whole world, CRAB FEAST!!!!!!!!!! Which the Jewell's proudly participated in at the Murray's. Since L was in Maryland already for her week with the Grandparents, Taylor and Rachel got the OK from their doctors to go to Maryland for one last road trip before the baby. It was a wonderful trip; the only downside was that L regressed drastically in her potty training. However Grandparents do spoil, and it happens sometimes.

This year for the Fourth Rachel's parents had Taylor's parents and their family over for crabs and a BBQ. Which was a combination celebration for Rachel's big birthday. (Well her last big memorable birthday at least, she's not so sure about turning 30.) Which meant LOTS of cake. So with everyone feasting on crabs, burgers, hot dogs and the works a Bean-bag toss game was underway, the day was a wonderful one.  Now what is the Fourth without fireworks? Um....... LAME! So The Murray's and Sara along with the Jewell's, (Taylor's Mother Michelle, Youngest Brother Ryan and the Middle Brother Brandon's girlfriend Kara) all headed down to Baker Park for the annual Firework Show. Luckily everyone came prepared with umbrellas because it pored. However driving up from North Carolina you better believe that we sat and watched the show. It was definitely worth sitting in the rain.

Upon the return from Maryland Taylor's youngest brother Ryan accompanied the crew. So now there was still help! Plus Ryan is a big guy so ALL the yard work was taken care of, which Rachel was ecstatic about, especially since Taylor had to be back at work. Not to mention that there was now an in house sitter for L when the last Harry Potter movie came out, which of course Rachel bought tickets for a month in advance, and she absolutely loved it. Though she was sad for it all to end she was happy she participated in the experience.

Taylor also decided to leave his crutches in Maryland for Glenn with his upcoming knee replacement. Taylor's father gave him a cane to use instead which Taylor jumped on in an instant. Taylor also decided, after a week of work, that he no longer needed to wear the Boot and wanted to wear regular shoes. The physical therapist cleared him to do this so he has made an enormous amount of progress in this month. However with Taylor's recovery Rachel's father Glenn underwent a knee replacement and is now on his path to recovery. The surgery went well and he is on the mend, and doing great. 

 Now the beginning of July has always been jam packed, with the forth holiday and Rachel's birthday. This year Taylor and L got Rachel the Nook Color from Barnes and Nobles. (Which mind you she had only been asking for for the past three years!) Her big 21 also consisted of a delicious Red Lobster dinner with the family where Rachel ordered her first Big Girl Drink (Strawberry Lobstercolada), which of course, given the pregnancy, Taylor had to drink; the evening came to a close with a gorgeous bouquet of Sunflowers from the in-laws. Since her parents threw the bash not much left for them to get her, but they always seem to sneak extra things in and she got to get a spa day. Anyone who knows Rachel knows how that went, so all in all Rachel had a great 21st Birthday.

   

Now the real excitement begins. . You see, Taylor and Rachel put their names in for a drawing to win a new 2011 Jeep Wrangler. They heard about the drawing thought one of their favorite radio stations, 95.1 WRNS. Since they were test driving the Jeeps anyway they thought why not. Well lucky them, on the way home Rachel's name was pulled as a qualifier for the give away. So the day after Rachel's birthday everyone went down to National Dodge Jeep Crystler for the give away in the form of a reverse raffle. After registering, receiving a number (70) and eating the lunch provided the elimination began. Rachel had not been so fidgety, nervous or continuously praying since Taylor came home from Afghanistan. With the eliminations going on for an hour and Rachel having a near anxiety attack every time they called a number in the seventies the time finally came for the final ten. The ten people left all went up and received a CD that would tell them if they were the winner or not. Rachel was the second person to get a CD so she was the second person to get in the Jeep and play the CD. The first person did not win, so it was Rachel's turn. She got in the Jeep with L and put the CD in the player, it played a heartbeat then......... CONGRATULATIONS YOUR A WINNER! Screaming, smiling and no sorry no baby, however people were a bit concerned, Rachel had won the Jeep. Thrilled was the only thing that could describe how Taylor and Rachel felt. They had won a new Jeep all paid for, taxes, tags, title, everything. With a new baby on the way and the last car totaled it was just what they needed. God answers prayers and that was more than enough proof for it all. This is the link to the web site if you care to check out the pictures. http://www.wrns.com/pages/10325524.php?

Since that was big excitement the rest of the month was pretty average. Taylor continued to make progress with his recovery, since his physical therapy continued to go well he started walking without the cane and did very well without it. At the present he doesn't need it at all. Rachel started her 'Nesting' phase of pregnancy, anticipating the big day. Still growing bigger and the baby healthy everything is on track. She even got her best friends, both photographers, to take some maternity photos since she didn't have any with L. They turned out great both Taylor and Rachel were so thankful and happy they got the opportunity to do them! This is the link to Lindy's Blog where you can contact her for photos if you are interested! http://2911photo.blogspot.com/

The next set of big news was that Taylor's younger brother (middle child) Brandon came home from his first deployment to Cuba, shortly after that he got engaged! Everyone is thrilled about that! As well as he bought his first car, priorities you know. Another engagement announcement was that Rachel's girlfriend  from childhood also got engaged! She was thrilled to hear the news; Sad she couldn't be there to celebrate with her best friend since eighth grade, but so happy for her!

For the rest of the summer the Jewell's hope to just enjoy peace and a slow pace. Lots of lounging at the pool, trips to the beach and ice cream are in the new future. Of course Rachel is anticipating the upcoming baby shower, since she will find out what the baby is, and will not leave Taylor alone about letting her see the finished room. It will never be a quite month but it will always be enjoyable.

Looking forward to a lazy (a very lazy) August.