June_2012

June: Well Rachel's Dad's Birthday, Father's Day, Brave and some new words!
This month was finally where things came together for Glenn's 60th. Rachel and the kids went to Maryland while Taylor had to stay home to work. The party was a massive success. Rachel had to intervene when L was not to keen on going to a movie with Granada alone (our plan to keep him out of the house). So luckily Michelle (Taylor's mom) rushed over along with Rachel's cousin Candace, Brother Bryan and his girlfriend Nicki to help with decorating and getting all the food set up. They were life savers! Glenn was totally surprised and the next day he and Maya went off to have a splendid stress free vacation. Rachel headed home with C. while L. stayed in Maryland with Taylor's parents. L. spends a week with her Grandparents each summer.

Taylor and Rachel actually got to have some time together with just a baby. It was very nice to have some time to themselves to do things they don't normally get to do like talk about something other than kids. During this time Rachel was sent an invite to Pinterrest and thus a new addiction was born. The rest of the month was spent making plans from the DIY section. Alas the week quickly came to a close and L was home again! Michelle and Ryan (Taylor's youngest brother) brought L home, and we went to the beach that Saturday to celebrate! It was a great visit.

Then Father's day was upon us, and Taylor was presented with his first suite, aviator sunglasses a book and Thor movie. It was a great Father's Day. On June 22 the Disney Pixar movie  Brave came out. Rachel and L were so excited to see that they were practily jumping out of their skin when the tickets were in hand. That weekend Brandon (Taylor's middle brother) came down for the weekend to have some much needed visit time with his brother.

C decided now we be as good a time as ever to start learning new words. He now can say dog, dad, mama, Dada, and a rendition of ball. There are times when Taylor and Rachel think that he says Allie(the dog) but that may just be that Rachel does not get much adult interaction. C also is able to stand for a few moments on his own where he will take at least two steps; always with his arms outstretched to some piece of furniture. He pulls himself up extremely well but still shows no interest in crawling. Taylor calls him Curious George, which is extremely appropriate for him. He is into everything, he investigates everything that moves or makes the slightest noise. We all found that he loves food. Mashed potatoes are his favorite however he does love bread and fruit. Rachel is not looking forward to the spaghetti mess after seeing the way the potatoes went.

L is in full summer swing. All she wants to do is play outside at the pool or park. Every meal to her should consist of hot dogs, chips and potato salad. Rachel had her heart broken when L started to refuse vegetables; she is blaming both sets of grandparents, saying they spoil her, but Taylor knows better. As of now she has been enjoying her summer! As have Taylor and Rachel, who are both doing well.

Looking forward to July as it bring time off for Taylor and Rachel's birthday. Until then happy Summer!!

*Rachel is still working on the pictures. Look for the April May and June pictures to be in a separate post. It will be mainly pictures with the months to specify. Still open for suggestions!

April&May_2012

Apologies in advance for the late updates.

This month was jam packed with soccer, teeth and soccer.

The exciting news is C finally got his two first bottom teeth! He is moving backwards with crawling but not quite forward yet. He is still chattering up a storm and is standing in his jumper. He does stand on his own so that is great news!!

L's soccer season has come to a close. She did fantastic this season! There was a big party at the end of the season which everyone had a blast at. L is very excited about being able to play in the fall as well.

May: Mother's Day!
Rachel was seriously hooked up this year for mothers day. With a complete jewelry set with both L and C's birthstones. Finally the 'push prizes!' As well as a mothers ring with both of their stones in it. She was rather expedited about all of that. Taylor's month however was full of field ops. with the MEU approaching rapidly there has been more training than Rachel cares for. Most of the month, save for weekends, Taylor was gone. Ah the military life. Oh yes the pools opened! Everyone is excited about that! There have been lots of trips to the pool and beach as it to hot to do much else.

C still has not started crawling which makes Rachel more wary by the minute. Taylor of course knows that he will crawl and walk in his own time. Most people, doctors included, have been saying that C will skip crawling all together. Of course Rachel is still not convinced. He is still babbling away and making life interesting for everyone. C did enjoy his first trip to the pool, he absolutely loves the water.

L is becoming more independent as the days roll by. She now wants to dress herself as well as picking out her own clothes. Usually Rachel lays out her clothes before she can attack the dressers. She is very excited to go to school this upcoming fall. That is if she gets in to the program. The public school system here only has 30 spots available for three year old for the preschool. Rachel has been badgering the selection board to see when we the acceptance letters will be sent out.
 Rachel is still trying to figure out how to upload pictures from her phone with Google+ app. She cant seem to get them into the instant upload section. If you have any tips or advice all comments are welcome!
Until June!

March_2012

March.....Soccer Season!



Team Spurs!



Go # 2!!



Yes L played for the first time this spring!The deciding factor was the conversation that follows: While watching a commercial for a cheer leading movie, L: "Daddy shes pretty. I can do that too?" Taylor: "L would you like to play soccer instead?" L: "Um, OK Daddy. What's Soccer?" Taylor: "You get to kick a ball in a goal! Do you want to play?!" L: "YEAH!!! I get to kick!!" Thus the avoidance of cheer leading and father intervening has begun. She was on Team Spurs in the U-4 bracket! She was one of the two girls on the team! GO L!!!!! For her first time playing she did well. Like all toddlers she had her good and bad days but by the end of the season (April) we hope that we will have it down. She loves to play especially since she has a net and ball. Playing in the back yard is one of her favorite things to do. The best part is the games, she was a little timid at first not quite understanding what was going on, but the more she played the more, ah, aggressive, she got. It is the cutest thing to watch a bunch of three year old run after the ball. She says she wants to play in the fall, so we shall see.  All she wants to do now is play soccer!

At L's Soccer game

There was a short trip to Maryland and Virgina that we managed to sneak in. It was primarily to see Taylor's Grandfather. Since he was under his third round with cancer he decided to not fight it and let it run it's course. So it was up the road to spend some time with him before he took his turn for the worst. After a few days there the whole gang ran up to Maryland so Rachel could see her Grandmother. Things with Nanna are on a day to day basis as far as how she feels. On the good side she is doing better and has stayed out of the hospital for some time. She is on an oxygen tank at home. Not to fear Rachel;s mother and Aunts take turns with her. Primarily her Aunt Cheryl lives with her and Aunt Pam and Maya (Rachel's Mom) have Nanna stay with them ever few weeks. Rachel is happy about that, she is in high hopes that Nanna will make it another few years.



L's First Soccer Game!



Taylor you say? Well he and Rachel both are ecstatic! Taylor got his bonus!!! Unfortunately they file taxes in Maryland and they are a bit greedy so they owed for the first time EVER! but even taxes could not dampen the bonus! Now Rachel's car is completely paid off, and for the first time in a while no money is owed! Taylor is doing well at work, even thought they are working him to death. He goes in early to beat the horrendous base traffic and sometimes doesn't get home till eight at night. Luckily this will only be for a few weeks since there are lots of new guys coming to Taylor's battalion and company. He needless to say has a very full plate. Along with that Rachel and Taylor had decided to stop talking and do! For the longest time they kept talking about learning Italian and now they are officially going to do it! It may take a few years but it will be done! Rachel is determined on that one.



C in his bouncer



And the big news..... C is sitting up!!!!!!!! AND he said "Dada" for the first time!!!! Rachel was so excited when he did, sat up that is. He started off as any baby would with the boppi (U-shaped pillow) and then he just didn't need it any more. It was as if one day he just decided to sit on his own. He will be on the move in no time, which Rachel is hoping he stays stationary for just a bit longer, ha! As for talking, he was cooing and doing a sort of mumble of words, ba ga, but in Maryland he just said it. Rachel and Maya were changing his diaper while Taylor ran upstairs to get him some socks, he looked from Maya to Rachel and said "Dada." Luckily Taylor was on his way back down, and he took off thundering down the steps and swung around the corner. Rachel: "Taylor! Did you hear that!? Did you hear him say it?! He said Dada!" Taylor acting like he didn't just leap down a flight of steps in excitement calmly walks over to C picks him up and says, "Yes I did, my boy said Dada first! He knows who the man of the house is." For those of you that know Taylor well, you are all rolling right now, for those of you who don't, yes you can snicker. 

That was the month in a nut shell! Until April!



Rachel's First Tea Rose Bloom!!



February_2012



L is 3!!



Our Valentine's Day sky



February is a month for a special little girl's Birthday!!!

   

Taylor right after he swore in again!!

February was a good month for the Jewell's. The beginning of it being with the celebration of Taylor's reenlistment  It was a nice way to start the month. As for Taylor he is working very hard and slowly but surely making his way to a promotion. He is strongly looking forward to his leave block this summer.



Blowing out her candles!!!





L clearly had a wonderful birthday at Chuck-E-Cheese with all of her friends.  She had a blast as well as all of the other kids that came. She got to go into the ticket blaster and ended up with the 'golden ticket' which was worth 1,000 tickets. All the kids even got to meet Chuck-E-Cheese! Leah got a crown with tokens in it and a medal for her birthday! It was a good time for everyone.





Rainy Saturday watching Transformers





C is also doing well, but growing way to fast. With him rolling over and on the verge of sitting up Rachel fears that her hand are going to become a bit more full. His teeth have yet to show up but the signs of teething are still coming on strong. Hopefully in the next few months he will have some. At least that is what Rachel is hoping for.



Our fantastic friends!







L and Rachel in the Ticket Blaster



Rachel is tired, for lack of a more descriptive word. Between running around with L and C she is a busy lady.









Until next month!  

Januray_2012

Bringing in the New Year! WELCOME 2012!

Of course we had a blast! With our wonderful friend Danielle Brown and her son we rocked New Years! But as all parents know as soon as the company leaves the parents crash. That is just what Taylor and Rachel did!

Taylor is doing very well. He has had a lot of stress with his reenlistment process. It has more or less been a nightmare. However by the end of the month things finally started moving along and the silver lining was showing through the clouds.

The kids? Well they are grown fast as ever. L has made such progress with her school work it really impresses Taylor and Rachel. She is really looking forward to soccer in the spring, well she is now. (stayed tuned for that one) For now she is getting slightly bored with staying indoors instead of going outside. So needless to say Rachel has her hands full trying to keep her occupied along with C. Luckily L has been great with him! She is a great helper, and Rachel LOVES that. L does have her  melt downs and little moments of jealously but they have been few and far between. She has also taken up something Taylor has long given up on, drawing. She loves painting at school and now draws every day. There have even been a few visible figures emerging. They are all mostly potato shaped (monsters) but hey at least it's something!

C has been a hand full. He has started moving about a little. Rachel was so excited when he rolled over for the first time. Ironically he did not do it when Taylor was home. It took several weeks before Taylor witnessed 'the roll.' The poor little guy had  been having several months worth of teething pain; there were times when his bottom teeth were just about to break through then nothing would happen. This month it had been particularly painful for him. His gums were terribly lumpy and swollen  Rachel is in high hoped that his pain will be revealed soon.

Rachel is just dandy. Obviously with Taylor's work and the kids she is a bit stressed but she is managing it all very well. Although it had gotten the best of her for a few weeks. She was very sick and overly exhausted and it took it's tole. Luckily Taylor's command was understanding and let him stay home until Rachel's mom could come down to help out a bit. But for now she is well and chipper.

Until February!

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.