Eleven Months

Can you believe that Rachel is already eleven months old? Because I can't. She is so much fun, and she has us--and total strangers--smiling all the time. 

I love taking her out shopping because I'm sure to catch at least one person grinning at our little redhead, and then telling me, "She is SO cute!" People stop to talk to her, and she freely rewards them with her crooked little smile that lights up her entire face. And I love all the redhead comments, but I'm surprised how many people ask me where she gets her red hair. I guess to me, it is so incredibly obvious that I forget most of the people I associate with aren't familiar with my redheaded mother and the household of redheads I grew up with. My two older sisters and the brother just younger than me all have red hair. For the first five years of my life, I was the only non-redhead out of the kids, until my little sister and baby brother came along. Once, when I was in eighth grade, I asked the principle of the high school to relay a message to my older sisters. He asked who my sisters were and I said, "Emily and Chelsea Chadwick." He replied, "You're not a Chadwick; you don't have red hair."

And since it comes up all the time, and because I'm learning the importance of recording things like this down in writing, the answer about Rachel's hair color origin is this: "My mom is a redhead and Brian's dad is a redhead. She gets it from both sides." And after hearing from my dad all growing up about how beautiful redheaded girls are, I'm happy to finally have somewhat of a claim to a redhead, and I have to say, Dad, you're right. Our little redhead is the most beautiful girl I know.

She loves playing with her brother. They are still the best of pals.

We love waking up to scenes like this one. Lately, Brian's been finding Michael in her room reading to her. We love it! Also, one day, Brian looked around and couldn't see Rachel. He asked, "Where's Rachel?" Michael quickly made a baby noise like Rachel makes and started clicking his tongue. From the other side of the kitchen island, we heard an answering click of the tongue. It's their own version of Marco Polo.

Rachel loves to laugh. She loves Peekaboo type games. She's really good at playing back, and even pausing before her big reveal. A few weeks ago, these three were just cracking up about putting these rings on their heads. Rachel just giggled and giggled every time her ring fell off.

This month, she got three top teeth in, and one is about to break through. She loves eating crackers with her new teeth. She's also learned how to clap her hands and how to wave hello and good bye. She's kind of lazy about her waving though. She doesn't really lift up her arm at all. She just waves her hand with her arm down at her side. She also loves climbing over things (like pillows and people), and she never takes the path of least resistance. She would rather climb under rows of folding chairs at church or the bar stools than take the wide open aisle or path around them.

Her hair is quite straight, but when she gets out of the tub, it is super curly. We've left it some nights thinking that maybe she'll have curly hair, but it always goes back straight. Of course, my hair was straight when I was a baby too, but it sure isn't anymore, so I guess we'll see how it pans out in the next ten-fifteen years.

Here is Rachel's official eleven month picture. Ethan was tickling her to get her to laugh and then pulled away so I could take the picture. I love it! This is her cute little crooked smile, and if you look closely, you can see her teeth. We're so grateful to have her in our life. And even though she still isn't sleeping through the night, we wouldn't trade her for anything in the world.