Oy.

I've had trying days with Isabelle before, but they were easy compared to today. I'm sure things will keep getting more and more interesting as time goes on...but I never really thought a single someone who isn't yet totally mobile could so thoroughly exhaust an adult. Today wasn't a bad day at all, just extremely tiring and and constant. There was no relaxing today. I'm not sure if it's the teeth, the 6 month growth spurt or what but today was a corker! And I'm sure this will elicit many comments of "oh, just you wait!" I understand what's coming, but for now...indulge me. ;)

Today none of her toys were all that interesting or engaging to her, but she played for 20 minutes with a spatula and a plastic serving spoon....her toys are SO much cooler. Then, every time I would step away from her the fussing would start. This is NOT like her. So, we attempted to compromise with Isabelle on my lap while she played for awhile. Well, today Isabelle was also suffering from a severe case of 'whatever mom has is better, so I want THAT' And, when that didn't happen...you guessed it...more fussing. It was a long day.

However, for firsts, Dan got his first IM from Izzy today. Granted it was gibberish, but there was a lot of it....she had a lot to tell him. She likes puffs now, and I can see containers of cheerios accompanying us everywhere we go in the near future. She likes taking the puffs and crunching them with her newly broken through teeth, even tho there isn't much poking out to use yet. We're doing better with the sippy cup and will now get sips now and then, but as we are playing with it between using it, we like to up-end it over the side of the high chair tray. I have never used the cups' valve, so this creates puddles, much to Magnum's delight. We've finally found a fruit that Izzy doesn't seem to mind....pears! Other than that, she's working on her hugs and greetings. She doesn't know what either of these things are yet, but she does them anyway. She will grant you with one of her growl/grins in greeting if she's in a fairly happy mood. If you're holding her after a feeding or just playing with her, she will sometimes take your face in your hands and rest her forehead on yours for a bit. My personal favorite though is when she puts her head down on my shoulder.

Anyway, it's almost time for bed, so I'll leave you with a few pictures from the day.

My yoga partner

Can you BELIEVE what they put IN this stuff?!?

Blocks may be for tower building, but I have to taste each one first.

Dan thinks Izzy looks like Grandpa R in this shot. What do you think?

Ah, the exersaucer. The one toy that provided a brief respite today. Note the bib....appropriate, don't you think?

Baptism

Isabelle is now baptized...and, despite having had 2 thorough baths and shampoos since Sunday, STILL smells like chrism! Hopefully the next bath will take care of it! She behaved wonderfully during mass, as usual. By baptism time, she was hungry and bored. The deacon was explaining the rite to us and talking us through it...and I was doing my best to listen....I really was. The trouble was I had this animal on my lap....slippery as a snake, wiggly as a worm, and as cute as a button.

Here are a couple of pics from the day. I will post more as they come in.

Here is the lady of the day. She looked like quite the angel.

Hanging out with the family after baptism.....ready to greet the trick-or-treaters! (Aren't those pants a hoot?)

Not just one....

Nope....who would settle for just ONE tooth?? No sooner had Isabelle's first tooth broken through the surface and Dan and I thought we would have a break from her "teething personality" than I noticed another tell tale white spot on her lower gum next to the first tooth. As of yesterday, the second tooth has broken through the gum, and today.....today we seem to have our fun-loving, giggly and wiggly Isabelle back. I hope it lasts for the baptism company coming this weekend. I was reading an article this week on teething, and it described what the process can do to a child's behavior. That's where the term 'teething personality' came in. When she is working on a tooth, Isabelle is almost a completely different little person. Pretty irritable and cranky compared to her normal fun-loving self. This morning though Dan and I have been over-joyed to be around our little girl....we were starting to think maybe she was getting grumpier as she was getting older. Thankfully this is not the case.

Izzy gets up on her hands and knees and rocks now. She knows she wants to go somewhere, and her legs are willing, but she hasn't figured out that she needs to move her hands too. Instead, she will go from her hands and knees to her hands and feet (for those of you who practice yoga, think perfect plank position-complete with butt down....to a downward dog with head and shoulders in line...) For anyone who has tried these positions, you know it takes some strength and balance. I continue to be amazed at how strong she is when she's playing on the floor.

She's learning about her pincer grip, although we need quite a bit of practice with that. She's also learning how to poke at things with just her first finger. She's starting to enjoy puffs, we have a few after our solids at night. She would rather I GIVE her the puffs, as in feed them to her, as her getting them into her mouth herself is a tough job yet, but we do a mixture of both. We also practice with the sippy cup. She's found out that if she rubs her new teeth on the stem of the sippy, it squeaks in her mouth.....which absolutely delights her. The look she gets when she's doing it says that she thinks she's pretty darn clever to have discovered it!

We've learned the exersaucer is good for jumping!

And we like it

Shameless self portrait - hey, who else would take our pic?

Someone....is getting a TOOTH!

and since I had my wisdom teeth removed some years ago....it isn't me! Today, we did some running around as a family and Izzy was a bit out of sorts in the afternoon. Not bad, just the type of behavior where maybe her naps weren't quite up to par for the day yet. So, as I was playing with her after we got home, I felt her gums since I had noticed a white spot yesterday. I didn't feel anything, nice and smooth....until she gummed down. YEP! There's a little tooth there, working it's way out. Now if you look in there and she graces you with a view of her gums, you can see the little split where the tooth will appear. No wonder she was a little out of sorts today! I'll bet that can't feel the greatest.

Playtime!

As usual, things in Izzy's world have not stood still this week. She's figured out that she CAN get to things if they are out of her reach by rolling to them. She's also been experimenting with getting up on her hands and knees. Not for too long at any one stint yet, but I can almost SEE the wheels turning in her head as she does this. If only I could hear what she was thinking! She's also working on her fine motor skills, picking up a rattle ball with one hand, or taking it off of the top of the stack of cups. She concentrates SO hard. I've also seen her try to pick up a puff with a pincer grip, which is something that is due to develop in this next month. On the solids side of things, Izzy continues to like veggies, and isn't too thrilled with fruit yet. We've tried our first puffs (sweet corn flavored) and those....the jury is still out on those yet. She loves to grab her sippy cup and she knows what to do with it, but it's still a surprise sometimes when the water comes out. Next up, I bought some bananas at the grocery store yesterday, and am going to try mashing them up really well and see if she likes that better than the jarred kind. She already is starting to like her foods thicker, so I think it should work out well.

Here are some shots from some of our play time yesterday. Our sitter had some appointments Friday, so I was able to spend all day with my girl and play!

I have my hand in my mouth, and a hold of my foot....WHAT could be better??

Playtime rocks

Here is proof positive that Izzy and Magnum have been bonding over the last few weeks. This shot was NOT posed....I would have taken out the crumpled newspaper if it were!

Here's Izzy doing her back arch thing. I have no clue what she's up to, but whatever it is, it will make her stronger...

6 Month Pictures were a Success!

Isabelle did very well today with the pictures. With her cold, she was not as smiley as she usually is, but graced us with several keepers anyway. Below are two of my favorites. Enjoy!

6 Months and Counting

Six months ago, we were in a very different situation. Six months ago I was just leaving the hospital with a newborn Isabelle in tow wondering how in the world I was going to manage an infant and struggling with the fact that I was a mom and there were NO instructions. I was sore, I was tired, and most of all I was scared. Isabelle slept most of the day and night (but only in 1 - 2 hour periods) and would eat and dirty diapers the rest of the time. She understood as much about us and the world as we did about her.....but she had an edge....babies seem to have their own internal instructions titled 'How to train your new parents.' But in six short months, it's hard to believe how much life has changed.

We had her 6 month Dr's appointment on Thursday this week. Isabelle is 2'4" tall, which is off the charts for height, and weighs 18 lbs - 2 oz, which is at the 90th percentile for weight. Aside from the cold she's been fighting for the last 10 days or so, the doctor declared her perfect and was delighted to see how happy she was. He told us we were doing a great job with her, which is always a nice affirmation to know that maybe we're stumbling along in at least a good direction. He said she was very tall for her age (duh....she's almost long enough for 12 month clothes) but that her weight was in perfect proportion to her height. Since she was fighting a cold, no shots for Izzy this trip! YAY!! But that just delayed the inevitable. We'll go in sometime over the next few weeks for this round once she's over her cold. Izzy, for her part, showed her interest for the proceedings by burping like a college student for the nurse and trying to wrestle the stethoscope away from the doctor.

Iz continues to learn and grow! Every week there are new things! She's seeming to make more complex noises when she babbles now. She's WAY too young for speech, but both Dan and I swear on different occasions that we've heard her say "Hi!!" She's extremely proficient at rolling all over the place now, as she showed me this evening as we were playing before bed. I also think that very soon Dan and I may have to childproof everything. You'll see why in the picture at the end of the post. One of her new things that I can think of at the moment...she loves to bang toys on her high chair top now. I can see some pots and pans banging coming fairly soon. She also seems to be working on her back muscles. As she's playing on the floor, she will lay down and arch her head back and pick her back up off the floor. Maybe someday she'll like gymnastics? Also these days she's almost impossible to hold onto and do anything else...she's a veritable wiggle worm!

Tomorrow we go in for 6 month pictures! Here's hoping she's in a good mood tomorrow afternoon! Cross your fingers for us!

Isabelle playing with her new stacking/nesting/ball toy. She seems to like these a lot.

Goofy. (You can see how her 3 month pants are all fasionable 'capri's' now for those warmer days....ha ha)

...We are NOT ready for a crawler!

Growing up....

More and more things seem to happen each week that tell me Isabelle is steadily progressing towards not being an infant anymore. Some things are very nice that she can now do a few things herself (like play a few minutes) others, well....let's just say that it's a little bittersweet now that she isn't really my little baby anymore. As several friends have told me though, the journey has great and challenging things at each phase.

This week, Dan decided we maybe should try a different method of bathing with Izzy since she is outgrowing the tub. So...for our bath Thursday night we plopped Isabelle straight in the kitchen sink! She did a good job sitting for the most part, but.....let's just say it ended up being a 2 man job to get her bathed due to her curiosity and new found love for exploring EVERYTHING within reach and heck....even if it's a little out of her reach, she's going to try to get there! I'm not sure that method will work for us...the transition to the big tub might suit us better. We will see.

The next big event, as we were running around today, we didn't take the car seat in with us anywhere. Isabelle, now being able to sit well on her own, has graduated to the cart! She looked so grown up in her jeans and coat sitting in the cart with her little hands on the railing. And of course....you CAN'T sit in the seat of the cart and NOT want to try taste the handle! ICK! Next, I will have to try out the cart seat cover that Aunt Terri gave us to try.

Isabelle in her "fashionista" jeans...complete with matching coat and faux fur collar

My feet are still THE coolest!

Oh...and I LOVE to sit up

Girls' Weekend!

Well, we knew we were going to do it sooner or later....the time had come for Mom and Dad to go on an over night trip....without the little bambino. Last weekend Dan and I went to our third annual Quivey's Beer Festival in Verona with our friends Jeremy and Jen. This was the first year that I've gone (if I remember correctly) where one of us wasn't pregnant and a DD. So, you'd think we'd really whoop it up, right? Well, the other couple we met there are parents too....beer tasting from 12 to 5 and then dinner after that is pretty tiring! By 10 we were all pretty subdued, even tho we played cards until 11:30 or so. We made a good effort to tie one on, and had a heck of a good time in the process, but we were a good deal tamer than in old times. On the bright side though, no hangover the next day!

Anyway, on to Isabelle's side of the story. Three of her aunts (my sisters) came up to spend time with her while Dan and I were away. From all reports, they had a heck of a good time themselves! They went to the park, went shopping, took Izzy to church (where one of my sisters told me she smiled at everyone...) and ran around various other places. This was the reason that I wasn't as worried about Izzy as I thought I would be....she was in excellent hands. That's not to say I didn't think of her often....I did!! Anyway, Izzy, Dan and I are very appreciative of them making the trip up for the day!

Here are a few pictures of Izzy on her girls' day with my sisters. Aunt Trudi has a great talent and camera for pictures, don't you think?

What'choo talkin' 'bout, Willis?

Tiiiiiiiiiiiny bubbles......

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

I believe this is my favorite picture of Izzy to date.

Isabelle mimicking Aunt Traci

Sitting Longer and Longer

Isabelle has been working hard on her sitting! If she's looking or playing with something right in front of her, she's good to go for quite awhile. However, if something interesting happens that off to one side.....TIMBER! She doesn't seem to mind all that much, though, especially since mom is usually there to slow her tumble. Isabelle and Magnum have also been bonding more and more. It's amazing to watch. Now that Isabelle can 'pet' (well sort of) Magnum, he seems to think she's worthy of his attention. BOTH are goofballs. Izzy has also been doing more voice exploration this week. This time, it's the screeching register. Not as funny to mom as the growling register, but a blast to Isabelle all the same. She'll look at me, smile, and force air out so it sounds like she's whisper-screaming and keep pouring on the velocity until she emits a screeeeeeeeeeeech. Oh what fun! :) Actually it's pretty funny, but when she gets to be about 18 months old, I doubt it will be funny any more. ;)

Some shots from the week:

Our little star enjoying her musical mirror

Yum!!

Huh? I swear officer, I have not been drinking.

I'm not sure I would wish this fate on my daughter...