Merry Christmas, Take Two...

Our second Christmas of the season was with Grandma and Grandpa S. Isabelle would like to thank them for all of their love, generosity, and especially for letting her play with their legos! We are sad that we missed the big family Christmas the weekend before Christmas!

Isabelle working on opening her gift from Grandma and Grandpa S.

We really like books like this right now!! There are items on each page to touch, feel and learn about!

Dad reading Isabelle her new book and snuggling with her new jammies.

All Dressed Up

Isabelle dressed up with the rest of us for Christmas Mass. Here are a couple of pictures of her in her holiday attire...

and not too thrilled at being asked to sit still for a picture.

And later, in a better mood because it was time to play

Blocks and big legos are starting to be a little more interesting.

Merry Christmas!

Before heading home for Christmas, it has been Dan's and my tradition to have our own family Christmas here before making the trek to IA. This year it was more important to me for us to have our own time together with this being Isabelle's first Christmas. I know that she doesn't know that it's Christmas at this young age, but I wanted us to experience her discovery and wonder a little by ourselves as a family before being rushed about, stressed and traveling from house to house.

Well, as with most children, Isabelle and Magnum really enjoyed themselves this evening. Their toys were a hit as you will see, but the real stars of the evening in Isabelle's eyes were the paper, the empty wrapping paper tube and the boxes! Magnum, too, loves his new squeaky ball, but even more interesting is Izzy's new talking puppy. If I didn't know better, I would think that Magnum is telling the toy pup that he'd better not try any funny business...

Are you sure that I'm supposed to mess with this, Dad?

Isabelle instructing Dad on how he should help...

Oh my goodness! There's something IN there!!!

Izzy helping Dad with the packaging on her puppy.

Izzy meeting and exploring her puppy

Izzy meeting her new 'ride'

Ever the helper, Izzy is now helping Mom...from the TOP of the box.

Izzy enjoying her first ride.

Mags and his new treasure

Magnum laying the ground rules for the new talking toy.

More pictures - Life in General

Just thought I would post a few more pictures. Life is never dull with a curious 8 month old around...

Our little scholar - she's pioneering a new way of reading...upside down and backwards.

Magnum is never far away....hey, he'll take a scratch however he can get one!

"In a flash, she was gone....."

Our faithful friend, and first 'fur' baby. Our house is not complete without him.

Onward and.....Upward?

Isabelle is thrilled with her mobility, that's no secret. I've thought that it could be soon, and we'd have a walker on our hands.....I was thinking she'd work on that next since it seemed the next logical progression to me. Silly Mommy! While we still love pulling up and crawling towards EVERYTHING that we are not supposed to have, our new thing is climbing up on and over obstacles to get where we want to go instead of skirting them. This includes toys, mom, dad and even Magnum (who doesn't seem to mind in the least...hey, it's attention, right?)

Once in awhile, Izzy will get brave and let go of what she's holding onto when she's standing, especially if she gets interested in something else. She stands there for a bit, and if she's paying attention enough will plop down on her butt and all is well. If she ISN'T paying attention....well....it's a good thing the floor in the living room is carpeted....and well it's a good thing she has a hard head because the kitchen floor isn't.

Which brings me to the next thing she's been doing the past few weeks. No matter where I am at, she will come find me, and start using my pants to pull up on. Now, this scenario has played itself out many many.....many times over the last couple weeks and has gotten a little annoying to mom. She'll come over (this is always while I am doing something like washing bottles, cleaning veggies...something I can't really include her in), grab a fist full of pants in both hands, pull herself up and stand there, not upset, not fussing...she just stands there with a sense of accomplishment. All that is fine. Then, the boredom monster comes out and she gets daring and tries to go on to something else. When she does, she loses her balance and tries to regain it by hurriedly grabbing fistfuls if pant leg again. However, jeans or PJ pants aren't always forgiving and can seem slippery in the hurried grasp of a new cruiser.....and down to the linoleum we go with injured pride, a bump to the head, and a cry that says 'MOM, why didn't you CATCH me?' Oy. Her little grasping hands are like miniature vices with pinchers on the end...and they're strong! Almost every time I warn her: Isabelle, Mom's pants are NOT a good coice for pulling....I usually get flashed a wrinkle-nosed grin and then she goes back to concentrating on the task at hand.

She seems to be working on her language too. She very vocal and will tell you countless stories. She starting to hum more often, seemingly when she's thinking or content. Recently too, I've noticed that she more reliably knows her name, and, if you have the camera out, say her name, and ask her to smile, she will. Now, I'm pretty sure she doesn't know what smile means....just that she's reacting to us talking to her. She's turning more and more into a complete little person, and is less and less like a baby every day.

Anyway, on to an update of the eating strike. She's still thinking that feeding herself is cooler, but will concede to mom or dad feeding her if she gets to feed herself something too, like Cheerios. Yep, we're onto the genuine Cheerios now. She's also really interested in what Dan and I are having on our plates too. So if it's appropriate we give her a little and see what she does. Among other things, she's tasted baked potato, bread, graham crackers, saltines, spaghetti (just the noodle) and just yesterday Dan and I went to Chili's for lunch during our errand running...she got her first taste of tortilla chip....and loved it. Ooooh...I hope this doesn't mean she will become a carb addict like her mom!

Here are a few pics from this week:

I'm just happy to be here.

Future Audio Engineer?

Who knew an exersaucer could double as a cave? (It's been an effective Christmas tree gate up to this point....maybe not so much anymore...)

GIVE ME that camera! I want to see it!

Mom is no match for my mad climbing skillz...

Little Miss Independent

Well, the past couple weeks Isabelle has been on an eating strike of sorts. When it comes time to eat solids, she believes that she should be doing most of this herself, with the spoon and all. Usually how this goes is that mom or dad will get 2-3 bites in, then Izzy will make a grab for the spoon once it's loaded up. She's pretty good about getting the bite into her mouth, but then she flips the spoon around to gnaw on the other end while grabbing and squishing all the contents that are left on the business end of the spoon ALL OVER. Then it's time to load up the spoon and start all over again. Inevitably this cycle will happen a half dozen times or so, then Izzy will start rubbing her eyes and get irritated when whatever is on the menu that night ends up in her eyes. It's rough being independent!

Otherwise we still love the bath. Isabelle loves to crawl up and down the length of the tub as fast as she can. She's even gotten her first face full of water as she slipped the other day. It didn't even slow her down! Mom took that cue to mean that maybe rinsing her hair after a shampoo could be a lot easier than rinsing the front away with a washcloth. So we tried the dump method. Isabelle didn't mind and it was SO much easier, allowing for more splash time!

Izzy is continuing to work on her mobility. She will now crawl into another room JUUUUST out of site and play peek-a-boo with you around the corner because she knows you are still there. I can now also talk her into following me into the next room herself instead of having to carry her.

She and Magnum are becoming buddies too. I've never seen Magnum give ANYONE things like he "gives" things to her. His toys, his rawhide, you name it. Unfortunately, Magnum's toys are a HUGE draw for Isabelle...including the mushy rawhide (don't ask)! If Magnum is playing with his football and Dan or I throw it, he will sometimes bring it back to Isabelle and will drop it as soon as she lays a hand on the ball. Last night Izzy was pulling herself up on Magnum as he lay on the floor relaxing. Believe it or not, he seems to like the attention. When Izzy got tired, she put her head down on Magnum's back and lay there for a moment. I tried to capture that....I even had the camera, but I was too slow.

Isabelle and the Prunes - It's a very good thing it was a bath night!!My little goofball.

Mobility is awesome!

If I look juuuust right, I can see myself in the TV!!!

Did you say something?

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas...

Isabelle has noticed that it looks a little different outside these days...

What IS that out there?

HEY GUYS! Come see what I found!!!

Life in General

Isabelle getting her first driving and GPS lesson. Don't worry, we're stopped...taking a break in Fox Lake on the way home from LaCrosse.

A typical sight these days.... "LOOK what's in HERE!!"

Thanksgiving & Our Little Turkey

This last weekend our family traveled to IA for the Thanksgiving holiday. We left Wednesday, traveled to my dad's place, left there Thursday at 2 or so, hit Dan's family's gathering, and then were in LaCrosse by 8 Thursday night. It was quite the trip. Isabelle traveled wonderfully, until driving back in the snow on Sunday evening. However, that is another story that I will not share here...it's just what typically happens to a youngster who is over-tired, tired of being constrained to her seat, and seems to just want to be home. Izzy did great with both families, successfully charming just about everyone - nieces and nephews included. So far there hasn't been much in the way of stranger anxiety or separation anxiety, for which I am thankful. She does seem to get a little worried at first, but settles into 'conversation' fairly quickly.

Well, now that Isabelle has mastered getting back to a sitting position, it was time for her to turn her attention to crawling, or so I thought. However, she can't seem to get enough of the upright stance instead. Every moment possible during the Thanksgiving weekend was spent pulling up or trying to stand. At one point at Aunt Linda's, Izzy figured out that she could move along the floor by standing behind a plastic Tupperware tote and pushing it on the hardwood floor. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw her do this.

Last night, she decided to brave. Now, she will pull herself upright, and if she is not tuckered out, she will.....LET.....GO. The first time I was holding onto her hands and she let go, I swear my heart skipped a beat. So....it begins. The steady progression of letting go of her, little by little. No one told me it would come so soon. (OK, I know she's not heading to college any time soon or anything, but I felt a shadow of the gravity of all the little moments like this to come.)

SO! All this work on walking and pulling up...I had wondered if she would ever really crawl to motate, or just decide to walk. Today, Dan picked Izzy up from the sitter. She told him that Izzy had crawled into the kitchen after her, away from the other kids, to see what she was up to! Sure enough, while we were playing tonight, Izzy had no trouble motating on all 4's when I was enticing her to come to me. She is now fully equipped to get into a whole heap of trouble. Look out world! (Thank you, Aunt Terri, for the baby gates) At the very least, the one at the top of the stairs MUST get installed this week!

Here are some pictures from the weekend. These are from the gathering at my dad's house (thanks, Aunt Trudi!). Unfortunately the rest of the weekend I was too busy keeping up with Isabelle to have my camera handy!

Isabelle exploring dish soap bubbles during Thanksgiving dinner clean-up.

Aunt Traci knows all the good jokes!

...I can't come up with a caption for this picture, it just makes me laugh.

Izzy on her way up to standing by the couch.

Izzy telling mom a story. I love her stories.

Onward & Upward

Not content to work on crawling...Izzy has now started pulling herself up on things. As you can imagine, this has lead to many bumps to the pride and a couple of bumps to the noggin as well. At least our living room still has carpet! As I sit here and reflect on what to write, Izzy is busily talking to the lion on her exersaucer...from the OUTSIDE.....and now she's fallen over and bumped her head on the wall. (2 minutes elapse) Ok, crisis averted....bruised pride mended with a hug and a kiss and a new cold teething ring. Ooooh yes...the teething personality is back! The break was nice, but we knew it was inevitable that more teeth would come. I don't feel or see any sort of bumps or openings in the gums yet, but the other signs follow what we've seen before with the first 2 teeth.

Anyway, not to say that Isabelle hasn't been working on other things....she can now easily get back to a seated position from her hands and knees/feet, which is a big help to mom and dad since she doesn't get frustrated and "stuck" every 5 seconds anymore. Now it takes her a bit longer to work herself into somewhere that 1. she probably shouldn't be and 2. that she can't readily get out of. She IS crawling a little further and further as the time passes, but she doesn't seem all that interested in distance crawling yet...especially since she's discovered that she can get herself fully upright if she tries hard enough. This led us to, just this morning, lower her crib mattress to the lowest position. This morning and after a nap yesterday, we found her up on her knees in her crib at the railing when it was time to get up. It was definitely time to lower it.

Isabelle seems to be talking more now too. She'll "talk" to one of her toys, or seems to hum to herself as she concentrates hard on doing something (like pulling herself up or reaching for something before falling over.. :P). Her sense of humor seems to be developing too. The other day as I was tearing junk mail in half, she started cracking up. Not sure why, but I didn't need to know why....I made sure I ripped each and every piece of junk mail that day at least twice, just to hear her laugh. She'll also crack up at seemingly random things in particular both when you are talking to her and when she thinks no one is watching. She's a nut!

Isabelle "helping" mom.

Laughing at her own joke in the swing.

Hee hee hee

Here's Izzy in her camo in honor of opening day...

Hat, Mittens & The BIG Tub!

This week marks the end of the first week using the big bathtub. Isabelle loves to splash in the water and chase her rubber duckie around. However, mom wasn't too thrilled with how slick her little butt was on the tub floor. Talk about a low coefficient of friction! So the first couple of baths were fairly tense for mom. This weekend though, we picked up a bath mat for the tub. IT ROCKS! Tonight's bath was a much more relaxed affair, making it more fun for mom to watch Izzy play instead of fearing that she was going to slip and conk her head.

We also had a grocery store adventure today. Nothing special about the trip except for the fact that we needed to wear hat and mittens on the way there. Isabelle didn't mind the hat. The mittens, though, just slowed her down too much!

I'll be right there, mom!

What's that you say? Don't mind the sweet potato on my jammies....I put them there for effect!
Ready to head to the store. If it gets much colder, we'll have to add the winter coat!

Something New Every Day!

Today, as Isabelle and I were reading a couple of the Usborne touchy-feely books (thanks Aunt Linda!), I noticed when I would point and run my finger over the texture part of the page that the narrative talks about, Izzy would take her finger and aim it for those spots as well. Within the next few pages, she was going for the textured portions herself! Now these books are a whole new game to her. She seemed to really be concentrating on the textures and the differences between the slick pages and whatever texture was on the page. See...what did I tell you about that pointer finger and her thinking?

Anyway, next today we got out an activity table that Aunt Terri has given us. She's a bit too young to stand at the table and play yet, but what we found out this evening is that if we take the top off, and put a few blocks & toys in the storage space under the table, it's just the right height for Izzy to sit next to and dig out what she wants. This is a new thing for her! To see a bunch of things and just be able to reach in and GET what you want without having to lean or work to crawl to them! How COOL is THAT!

The other thing I saw for the first time today was Izzy taking one toy in one hand and comparing it with another toy in her other hand, and then trying to bump them together. Up to this point, it has just been one thing at a time. The physical milestones are awesome to see, but what I find cooler yet is to see her eyes light up when she makes a thought connection or when she gets excited over a discovery. I have a feeling that now, more than ever, Izzy will become quite the curious little monkey.

Last night, Dan and I went out to Texas Road House for supper. We weren't sure how Izzy was going to do with it being close to bedtime and it being the end of the day and everything. Her curiosity made it a good experience. There were plenty of things to listen to, watch, and new things to try to make a grab for. She even got a bit of Dad's sweet potato that she got to explore and eat all by herself without Mom or Dad feeding it her! As she put the first un-pureed piece of sweet potato in her mouth, about 5 different expressions flitted across her face in the span of about 5 seconds. Once she got over the texture shock, she loved it! She did very well with this outing, but by the time dinner was over, it was time to go....the evening melt-down from being past bedtime was eminent.

The other thing I should mention, I probably should have mentioned awhile ago. For about the past month, Isabelle has absolutely HATED her car seat and car rides unless it is nap time. She's always loved car rides up to this point. Dan and I both agree that this is more about her being slowed down by the seat than her hating trips. Belted in her seat, there isn't much to explore, and toys get old fast! However, her new tones when she has a fit, and her current dislike for the seat are making me dread the impending drive to IA...

A Year Ago Today....

Today is my birthday. Those of you who know me well, know which one. Those of you who know me better know that it's an anniversary of a certain number rather than the addition of yet another year. LoL. Whatever we tell ourselves, right?

Anyway, a year ago today while taking a bath was the very first time I felt Isabelle kick. What a difference a year can make! At that time, I could barely imagine that what I was feeling would become our beloved little girl. At that time I had no idea how many things children are; they are joy, pain, happiness, frustration, discovery, everything in between, and a million other things that no one can ever tell you about until you experience it yourself. At that time I couldn't have imagined just how far they wiggle into your heart and wrap themselves tight within it. At that time I would have called you crazy if you would have told me that thinking about her getting hurt, or having her heart broken by someone, or thinking she might inherit a mess of a world would make me so sick. What a difference a year can make...

A Mover & A Shaker

This week has been a BIG week in Isabelle's world, bigger than most. Last Saturday, I was about to head off to a girls' day in Madison with some friends for some adult time, leaving Daddy with his daughter overnight for the first time. As I was getting ready to go and talking with Dan, Izzy was playing on the floor, and lo and behold she had figured out what to do with her hands while trying to crawl. So, we now have a crawler on our hands. She doesn't make it far, but she can work herself into the weirdest places. Next, no sooner were we recovering from that shock when we noticed that when she works it just right, she can go from her hands and knees back to a sitting position. I *almost* didn't want to leave that morning just to see what she did next! Madison was a blast, and Dan did an excellent job at home.

This week, we've been exploring making our own baby food. We currently have sweet potato, avocado, and green beans in the freezer. It's a bit of work, but it's quite a bit cheaper than buying Gerber all the time. Izzy hasn't eaten any of it yet, I'll have to get back to you with the results.

Today has yielded another discovery. No sooner has Isabelle started crawling....but this morning I caught her pulling herself up on one of her toys. I saw her JUST in time to see her execute a spectacular 3-point wipe out. Someone needs to tell this girl that she's only 7 months old and she needn't be so hard on herself as she gets frustrated when she can't do something she thinks she should be able to. Since she is now mobile I now know why parents dread quiet.

More yoga....side plank anyone?

Don't I look like I am up to something?

Precious cargo

Yep. Definitely up to something!

Practicing.

Here is a picture for those of you that quip "Your daughter is always so HAPPY!" We have our days just like everyone else.... :P