Been Awhile...

It's been awhile since I've gotten around to posting anything, so it's about time for an update!

Izzy continues to grow and change. At her year appointment she weighed in at 22.5 lbs and is 2.5' tall. She's slowed down growing a bit, as is normal for her age. She's now in roughly the 70 to 75th percentile for both height and weight. The doc says she looks great, is healthy and happy, and also assured me that the minor head traumas that she's been inflicting on herself since learning to walk are perfectly normal. He also commented during the check-up how strong she is (as he usually does during our checks). For some reason that makes me chuckle when a full grown man says that about a 1 year old girl (and younger in our previous visits).

Izzy continues to love other kids and going to the sitter. She has some pretty good buddies there to follow around and learn things from. There's also a little guy and gal there younger that she's been teaching. It's interesting to hear about.

She still LOVES playing with shoes, and recently she has begin to LOVE playing on and around and climbing up the couches too. Who says girls don't like to climb? She climbs where ever she can on whatever or whomever will allow it. (Poor Magnum - but he gets his rewards in dropped food at suppertime.) Speaking of Magnum...remember how Izzy learned to 'give me a kiss' awhile ago? Now she shows her love for Magnum too, which, I'm glad that they love each other so much...but still.

She's also starting to take a fairly keen interest in what mom or dad is doing at any point in time, which she always has, but now she really wants to participate. Whenever I'm putting in a headband she has to take the other one and try to get it on. Most of the time it ends up hanging around her neck like a towel, but she's SO proud that she got it on herself. Mom will help her put it in the right place, then we declare her 'pretty!' She smiles sweetly and then rips it out to hang it around her neck again. Whatever works, right?

Getting ready for trash day Monday night this week, Izzy wanted to do her part too. As I was emptying the smaller trash cans and collecting the little bags in the hallway to carry out, Isabelle just HAD to carry one for me and walk with me. She would have it no other way! It seems to me that she's a little young to want to be such a helper, but I'll take it anyway.

She also loves playing outside, which is no surprise since both of her parents are the same way.

I believe that she is working on her 1 year molars as well. She's been pretty crabby and clingy for the past couple of days and isn't sick (at least so far...*knocks on wood*) One day this week after work, she didn't even TOUCH her toys and wasn't happy unless I had her picked up, or she was in my lap. That was a long night, but sine she's working on teeth, at least there is a reason for her change in behavior. Thank goodness for Motrin!

Last week, Izzy started saying 'mama'! FINALLY! I'm convinced that if she could say just a few things that a lot of the whining would go away. She gets SO frustrated with things she can't quite do yet. So, I'm trying to teach her to say 'more, please' when she wants more instead of using the dreaded whine. Even if she just gets out 'mo pe' or something similar, at least it's giving her a tool to use instead of the whining.

It seems like she does so many new things all the time, it's hard to keep up.

Here are some recent shots. She's changed a lot, since even Easter, hasn't she?

I climbed up here all by myself!

I climbed up here all by myself, AND I'm conducting my very own orchestra (note the fast fingers...)

Where's Waldo?

Dad gets a smile before taking Izzy to the sitter. (And sends it to Mom who's already at work, and it makes her morning.)Mom, are you taking a picture again?

Who says girls don't climb???

Izzy giddy from climbing around. So much energy!

Happy Easter! & other Misc. Happenings

Happy Easter everyone!

Since figuring out that she could walk, Isabelle has been busier than ever, as I've heard would be the case.

There have been so many things happening with her this week, I will try to remember them all.

• Izzy has been developing the emotion of frustration. She will try to do something that she just thinks that she SHOULD be able to do with no problem, but having the normal coordination of a 12 month old...that's not always the case. She will then wave her hands in frustration, do what I call a 'baby curse,' throw whatever she's holding down, and SOMETIMES she will set her cheeks in her hands and squeeze. It's quite a sight. Sometimes it's a little scary to see some of your mannerisms looking back at you in smaller form.
• She is wild about her shoes. She has a pair of red dress shoes, that she inherited from our sitter. I was going to give them away because I didn't think I would ever put these particular shoes on her. Well, I soon found out that I'd better not. She's rather attached to these shoes, but not to wearing them. She'll carry one or both of them around with her as she toddles around the house. The other day as we were sitting down for a snack, she had her sippy cup in one hand, a red shoe in the other, and no hands left to pick up her cheerios. Her solution? To lean over her high chair tray and pick up her cereal with her tongue. I couldn't believe it when I saw her doing this! Problem solving at it's most fundamental!
• She's been a bit crabby lately....she's working on tooth #8.
• We've been reducing the formula in favor of milk. At current 'press time' we're down to only having formula in the one remaining bottle that we drink at bedtime. The bottles that used to be at 10 and 2 are now water or juice with snacks. She's starting to eat more and more like a little person! She LOVES pizza, pasta, ham, fruit, veggies, cheese, and lots more. She does NOT care for tater tot casserole or hamburger at this point.
  
• With the weather being a little warmer, we've been getting the bicycles out. Aunt Linda was nice enough to let us use her bike trailer for little tots like Isabelle. So we've been going on bicycle rides. Izzy loves it! She talks non-stop when riding in the trailer. On Sunday we took her to the dam in town and showed her the running water
• On Saturday we took a bicycle ride to the park that we have nearby. We put Izzy in the swings, which we already knew she loved. From there we rode the dinosaur, which she seemed non-plussed with. From there, though, we moved to the slides. Ooooh boy....did she LOVE the slides. Even the ones that were a little taller, Dad would sit her about at the top or part of the way up and let her slide. This caused BIG grins! It looks like we'll be making many more trips to the park as time goes on.
  
• Izzy did pretty well at Easter mass. There were some rough parts, but all in all she was pretty patient. From time to time, she would point at the people in the standing room along the pews. There was one gentleman that would point back to her. As his finger would get close to hers, she would quickly pull back and hide against Dad's shoulder. As soon as the gentleman would put down his hand, she would extend hers again, much to the delight of the other pointer and the people standing behind us.
  
• Later last week, while Izzy was in the bath, mom decided to trim her bangs away from her face so she wouldn't be bothered by those long strands hanging in her eyes. Unfortunately, mom forgot that hair shortens when it dries, and since she rarely holds still....well, her trimmed bangs looked more like a hack job than a trim. While I was out on a business trip today, dad took Izzy for her first real haircut, which was basically a fix of what I did, plus an evening up of everywhere else.
  

Here are a couple of pictures of Izzy in her Easter dress:

Isn't my dress pretty?

I am beginning to LOVE shoes!

We're done with church, so it's time to PLAY!!

Look Out! She's Walking!

A day after her first birthday, Isabelle decided to let go and become a member of the upright, walking community. It was only a few steps across the living room at first, but as the week wore on she became more and more confident relatively quickly. Now, I have a feeling we will have to baby proof in earnest!

Happy Birthday, Isabelle! (Ok, 2 days early)

Dan and I decided earlier this week that today would be the day we'd make special for Izzy. With her birthday being on Tuesday, it made sense to have our little party today rather than try and hurry to squeeze it all in after a full work day.

First we bundled up and headed down to Brookfield and into one of our favorite baby discount chains. It was time to bite the bullet and get Isabelle new, forward facing seats for our vehicles. On the way home, we joked about taking her to Chuck-E-Cheese's for lunch, but thought that most of the effect would be lost on a 1 year old. We headed to Uno's instead where we tried to teach her how to color as we waited for the food, but all she was interested in was eating the crayons. Maybe we'll try agian in a few weeks.

By the time we got home, it was time for a much needed nap. While she slept, I wrapped her birthday gifts and Dan installed her new seat in the truck, I would have to attack mine for the car later.

After the nap and once she woke up fully, Isabelle realized there were wrapped and pretty boxes in the living room! Well, those just couldn't go unexplored! She was much more efficient with the wrapping paper than she was at Christmas....oh the difference a few months can make! After exploring the gifts a good while and helping mom with the paper clean up, it was time for the birthday cake! She seemed to enjoy the cake MUCH more than the frosting....she takes after her mom that way, I guess.

After that...yes, there's more! Dan needed to take some movies back. He decided to take Isabelle for her first ride in her front-facing seat. He said she would not quit talking the WHOLE trip, and was getting a huge kick out of looking out the side window like a big kid.

While they were gone, I was able to get my seat installed, so now it's time to clean up the infant seat and put it away. I remember how small Izzy looked the day we brought her home in that seat.

Once they returned, it was time for supper and juice in the new sippies, bath time, and then bedtime! She was tuckered out after today, but she seemed to have a pretty good time! Tuesday will be special too, but we wouldn't have had enough hours in the evening to squeeze all this in!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from today.

Isabelle sizing up her presents. Which one first?

The BIG one of course!!

The contents of the big box....sitting on it properly.

...and now NOT so properly. Note Mags had to check it out too, JUST to make sure it was ok for his little sister. After all, it makes funny noises!

Now onto one of the smaller packages. This one happens to be big, round toddler crayons. Judging from lunch today, these will have to wait awhile. Luckily they won't spoil! :D

Remind me again why we buy toys, and don't just buy oddly shaped boxes?

An overview of the gift aftermath...all in all, it was pretty tidy!

Isabelle presenting her birthday cupcake. This gesture covers how she waves, how she tells you what she wants you to talk about, and sometimes, like in this photo, what she would like to have. If oooonly her arms were longer.

Isabelle getting a closer look at her personal birthday cupcake. Thankfully you can't hear mom and dad singing Happy Birthday in the background.

What is this spongy stuff you call cake?

Mmmmm....cake is good!!Izzy in her new seat! She sure looks small in it....considering this seat can last up to 100 lbs, I guess she is small, relative to the seat. To me, however, she also looks like the beginnings of a big kid sitting in it, rather than a baby. Where did the time go?

Almost 1!

Izzy had been a mover and a shaker this week! How is that different than any other week, though? Today we walked around outside with her under her own power for the first time....holding onto only ONE of mom's hands, of course. We were lucky enough to find a wood chip and a stick to explore. From there, we spent some time in the baby swing and I told her all about the wondrous equipment that we'd explore in the park once it finally warmed up. She looked at me with the setting sun reflecting in her blue, blue eyes and grinned a sparkly grin at me....like she was actually picking up on what I was saying. ... Then she turned to the tree, pointed, and gave the tree a very serious speech. I can only assume that the tree now knows Isabelle's life's ambition while mom is left wondering what she said and puzzled as to why the tree warranted such a speech.

In other news, Izzy is down to 2 bottles a day, one right away in the morning (which won't be hard to drop because she really doesn't seem too attached to it) and one right before bed. THAT'S the one that's going to be tough on all of us to get rid of for various reasons.

Isabelle's new thing is taking buckets with toys in them or cups filled with water in the bathtub and upending them over her upturned face, where she's waiting for whatever the contents to spill down on her...open faced...and open mouthed. I believe if I would have let her, she may have drank the entire contents of her bath last night.

Wednesday, Izzy and I were having lunch and Dad came home to get one of the motorcycles to take to the shop. As Dan came in the door, both he and I could have sworn Isabelle said "Hi Dada." Later that same day, I could have sworn she said 'puppy.' I know she understands more than she can say, I can just SEE it....especially when she 'talks' and points to what she's talking about or wants.

I still can't believe my little "baby" will be ONE on Tuesday. ONE! With all the stress at work the last year...THAT time seems to be going SO slowly. However, the time with Isabelle seems to have flown. Didn't she just start crawling a little bit ago?

Here are some pictures from the week:

Isabelle (and Magnum) helping Mom on Wednesday..."hrm...I wonder what THIS button does?"

"hee hee hee.......I don't THINK I'm supposed to be messing around right nere...

Izzy taking advantage of snack time on Mom's lap. (That's me in the Iowa State sweatshirt)

Now you can see what I mean by 'taking advantage' of snack time in mom's lap. Not content to sit up in mom's lap, she must lay down, work her head between my arm and my body so her head is on the arm rest, my arm is around her, and stretch out to cross her ankles on the desk. She seems to think, "THERE! Now mom can't do ANYTHING else but pay attention to ME!" It's hard work being a momma's girl.

Here she is pouring out the contents of an old formula can. At least this time there was no liquid or sputtering involved.

And lastly (but not leastly) here's a picture of our often not mentioned, often climbed upon, always good natured, and once in awhile in-trouble for food surfing fur baby. He's quite the buddy for Isabelle.

Crawling is No Longer COOL Enough

All weekend Isabelle has been walking around the house with mom...but only holding onto ONE of my hands. I lost count yesterday how many times we've gone from the living room, down the hallway, to her room, to the patio door and back again. Sure, she can get places herself by crawling or cruising, but this mode of transport no longer seems to be COOL enough to suit our little stinker. It was just last week that she wasn't so sure about only holding on to ONE hand of mom or dad. Additionally, just before her nap she made up her mind and walked from the couch to a diaper box we happened to be playing with at the time...about 4 steps..all by herself! I believe she's realizing that she just might be able to do this thing without a wall or a helping hand from mom or dad.

Thursday, Dan and I also noticed that she can say 'baby'...and she says it often! So that was kind of cool to hear another recognizable word. She's starting to watch speech very closely and will sometimes try to imitate. Sometimes she will also try to imitate the inflection. My favorite is when she tries to whisper something.

Another development of the last few days is the advent of the pouting cry. By listening, you (or at least Dan and I) can immediately tell that it's fake...and that for whatever reason, something hasn't gone the way she wants, and she's bellyaching/pouting about it. This could be anything from wanting to get down from her high chair and it isn't time yet to being denied access to mom or dad's BlackBerry. This is just the newest chapter in the 'you can't always get what you want' lesson.

It's been awhile...

It seems like it's been awhile since I've posted on here, but as I look it's only been about 10 days. It seems like so much longer....it's been a long 10 days.

Isabelle likes to open mom's drawer in the bathroom and pull out the things she finds in my make-up bag. I've gone through it so that the things she can pull out are ok to play with...or so I thought. The other day, she was at the drawer merrily pulling things out and strewing them across the floor. Then there was quiet....which I didn't notice for a minute or two. When I finally heard the absense of babbling I look over to see that Izzy had a tube of lipstick....open, and had started to sample the goods. Needless to say she was VERY pretty. I got her cleaned up, or so I thought, at least until she finished her bottle and left a tell-tale lipstick ring around the nipple. I wish I would have gotten a picture, but I did not have the camera handy at the time.

Well, I have learned with that last statement to be careful with what you wish for! This morning, again I noticed the absence of talking a bit too late. This time the victim was mom's new moisturizer. It was a new 'toy' in the drawer that MUST be explored! The thing that I seem to be noticing as a theme here is that she's much more adept at getting things OPEN than I think she should be! THIS time....I got a picture. I HAD to. Not before she'd wiped some of it off, but at least I got a shot in. Today, she will be well moisturized, and hey, she did it herself instead of mom having to fight with her to get lotion on her cheeks!

Here are some other things Isabelle has been up to:

• She likes to nibble and take bites of whole snacks and foods on her own, like graham crackers, home made fries, and Nutri-Grain bars)...she seems to think small pieces are for babies. (Can we say Mz. Independent?)
• Drinking well from sippies...valved and non-valved. This will become more important as her 1st birthday draws closer. She seems to prefer the real cups with the sippie lids as opposed to the cups with handles.
  
• Not walking yet, but she COULD. She's able - we've seen it, she just can't seem to gain the confidence yet to let go with both hands and try it for more than a step.
  
• Convinced mom needs to pick her up all the time in the evenings and whines and cries when this does not happen....does not do this to dad. Mom will be thrilled when this stage is over.
  
• Clapping and banging everything together. I just showed her last night how to use pot lids as cymbals...she's thrilled with the results.
• We've started wearing shoes when we go places, just to get used to the feel of them. When we start really walking, we want to be able to play outside and be able to walk places! We'll need to be used to how shoes feel. The first time I put shoes on her and tried to stand her up, she did NOT want to stand on them. Picture trying to put a little one down in grass that does NOT like it.... lol. It was funny, but we've since gotten over that.
• She's starting to be able to feed herself with a spoon. Mom has to load it up for her, but she's getting the idea...another Mz. Independant streak.
  
• She points at EVERYTHING. What she wants, what she wants you to describe, where she wants to go, where she wants you to take her....and sometimes when she's denied you would think the world is ending. I guess life's lessons of not always being able to get what you want start early, eh?
  
• "Dada" and "DaDee" are favorite words. (fair, isn't it?) :P No 'mama' of 'mommy' yet...she says something that sounds vaguely like it when she's starting to hum/whine and get upset. I've threatened to teach her how to say 'TanDee' since I know she can already make those sounds. Dan, so far, has restrained me from teaching her this.

Here are a few pictures from this week:

Here's the mug shot of the lead thug from this morning's moisturizer mayhem. Although it doesn't look like it in the picture, she is absolutely thrilled with this.

Here we are later this afternoon playing with blocks. Note the dewy and fresh complexion that comes with being properly moisturized!

Just hanging out

And now a series of shots. Here we see Izzy playing along...sidling up to mom for SOMETHING...who knows what at this point.

And now the sneaky look she gives as she's trying to do something 'under the radar.'And lastly, I give you Izzy, version 1.0. "Mission accomplished, I've managed to get something I'm not supposed to have....AND get it into my mouth! Score one for MEEEEEEEEEE!" Such a stinker.

Growing up...little by little.

Most of us know that kids live by routines, however loose or tight they are. It helps them gain a sense of confidence and security. This week, Dan and I decided to change a bit of Izzy's routine that is part of her beginning to grow into a full-blown toddler. We normally have a bottle after we get home and before supper around 5:30-ish. Wednesday this week instead of offering her a bottle at 5:30, we offered her formula in a sippy cup. She wasn't too sure that she liked this idea of not drinking from a bottle when that's what's supposed to happen....at least until she realized she was still on mom's lap and mom was still joking around with her and snuggling her. The second day was tougher, and the yesterday wasn't too bad. We'll just replace this one bottle with lots of snuggles for now, and then move to another as it becomes old hat. That has got to be a fairly unsettling thing when something you've been getting your liquid meals through all your life changes!

Izzy continues to love to eat anything we do. Last week when we were over to a friend's place, she ate 2 pieces of home made pizza...herself! Right now she really seems to love fruit, graham crackers, pasta, chips, steamed veggies....oh...and I gave her a taste of girl scout cookies this week. She was ok with the shortbread piece...but REALLY seemed to enjoy the little piece of Thin Mint that I gave her. Smart girl!

She seems to want to walk so badly. She CAN do it...we've seen her, but she doesn't seem to believe she can yet. This morning she's been walking around to her toys, holding my keys in one hand and holding onto my hand with the other. She's building her confidence, I guess. That's the other rage right now...mom's keys. So much so that after we get home at night they are never far from her (mom has to remove the car keys and fob so she doesn't set the alarm off, start the car, or cause some other unforeseen calamity.) However, since it doesn't hurt anything, I try and go with it and reserve the 'no's' for times when it's really needed.....like reaching for Dad's coffee on the end table!

This morning, too, we awoke with a 102 fever. She's playing and eating/drinking normally and is just a slight touch more clingy than usual, but other than that, it seems to be 'game on.' (See the case of her walking around holding onto only 1 hand above.) She must not feel THAT badly because I'm still hearing her giggle this morning. So, we're sporting some lighter clothes in the house for comfort and taking Tylenol, but other than that we're having a good Saturday.

11 months old today

Today, my goal was to get a picture of Isabelle with her April Beanie Bear from great grandma. I took a picture of her religiously every month with this bear for the first 5 months of her life....and then...well, I'm not sure how it happened, but we stopped doing it. Now, here she is, 11 months old and hardly sitting still enough to get a picture of...let alone with a bear...at least without tasting it!

Didn't I just have her? Wasn't she just a young baby a little while ago? Last weekend I held and rocked a friends' new 6 week old son...what a precious peanut he was! It made me realize just how fast they change in this first year.

Two things I forgot to mention in my last post; Isabelle LOVES to clap, that's one of her new talents...and she does it a LOT; the other...she and Dad play 'tent' with the blankets in the living room and other various items....the game is a big hit!

I can't believe she will be a year old in a month! I think it will take me this entire month to get used to the idea...

Izzy and Magnum playing this morning

Somehow, Magnum knows to take it easy

Thank you for playing with me, Izzy!

Here we are with our bear. Quite a bit different than the previous pictures with Mr. April!Did I mention that he's wearing a tasty hat? Some things have not changed...lol.

Look out world...she's feeling better!

Now that we are finally on the mend from all the bugs floating around (I'm knocking on every piece of wood, laminate, or ceramic I see to keep it going that way...) Izzy had become pretty much herself again, and I have missed her!

She has been a bottomless pit the last few days! You name it, she wants to eat it, and I don't know where she puts it all! Making up for the past 2 weeks of not eating hardly anything, I'll wager. When we went to the doc to get checked over last week, she was back down to 21 lbs, so a little making up is in order!

This week, we've decided to tackle the stairs. Thursday, Izzy decided that she wanted to try climbing up the stairs herself as we were heading that way. So, I let her. I was close behind for spotting, as she has no fear of falling. Her climb was a raging success...so much so that we had to do it again!

She's also a big fan of her little xylophone piano and radio, which were recent craigslist finds. Any toy that can interact with her now is a hit. She's still working on her F's and now sometimes she really seems to try hard to copy what you're saying. Sometimes she's closer than others, it's great to hear her trying, and hey...this girl has a LOT to say!

I can also tell that she understands more than you think she might. Every morning, at 6:55, a school bus drives by our house. When I see the bus turn onto our street I tell her that the bus is coming and she will turn to watch and keep watching it until it disappears. Relating to the bottomless pit thing, we had a Nutrigrain bar as a snack the other day...and she polished off the whole bar! (a rare occurrence usually) and as I crumpled up the wrapper and announced 'all gone!' a melt-down ensued. We were still hungry. She also seems to know when she's doing something she shouldn't....you guys ALL know what I'm talking about. The raised eyebrows, the half smile...the what if?

She's also a big fan of being upside down right now....I don't know why...I just go with it. Another hit...she likes me to chase her while she's crawling. As I get down on all fours, she squeals and takes off. As I catch her, I grab an ankle, stopping her in her tracks. She thinks this is hilarious...along with the word 'bonk' for whatever reason. Another recent game...anytime Mom has anything on her head, be it a hat, a pillow, a toy, or anything else for that matter...it's GOT to come off....it just doesn't belong there. It's a relief just hearing her giggle, squeal and laugh again. I can't wait to introduce her to the park this spring!

Playing 'come find me!' amidst the table and chairs.

Isabelle is telling mom about her day.

And having a talk with the refrigerator magnets....note the confident stance.

Izzy reaching for mom's cap. Tip-toes are another current favorite.

We're happy to be feeling better...