January Fun!

January has been a fun month so far! Isabelle turned 6 months old, and I have to say this is the most fun we've had. She is very interactive, and every day is doing something new that I'm proud of. At our 6 month visit to the doctor, we learned that she is in the 11th% of weight at 13 lbs 15 oz. She may be little, but she sure has a strong will!

Here she is sitting on the couch with Libby. They adore each other. I can't tell you how many people freaked me out before I had the baby by saying, "Your dog will be so jealous and you won't be able to pay any attention to her." Well, actually Libby gets more attention than ever now that she's not locked in a crate for 13 hours a day like she was when I worked, and she never leaves Isabelle's side.


The other day I had Isabelle in her jumperoo (below), and Libby ran by with a toy and Isabelle busted out laughing! I started playing tug of war with Libby and she laughed even harder! I have a feeling that Libby is going to be the source of much entertainment in the coming months.

Okay, so if you watch Modern Family on ABC you'll understand why I had the crazy idea to try out a baby gym with Isabelle. (If you don't watch the show, you are seriously missing out on some great comedy.) It seemed like a great idea, but after going, I realized that sitting on the floor with my immobile baby moving her arms back and forth was not worth the $400 is would cost. I think we might go back in a year or so when she is walking and needs to burn off energy. Anyway, we were allowed to explore the gym, so I put her on the "parellel bars." Heehee.

Here's she is enjoying some tummy time in the bathroom after a bath.

Isabelle gets to play with her friends every week. Luke is her best friend--they are already noticing each other and interacting.

We went to Austin to visit Brendan's brother Jason and his family. Here is Isabelle with her cousin Ella and Aunt Kristy. Ella loves Isabelle and couldn't get enough of her.

Here I am with Jason before dinner. The sling is a great tool for the early evening when it's not quite time for Isabelle to go to bed, but she's fussy and wants to be held. She's my little kangaroo baby! And yes, I was wearing my snowflake pajama pants during the day. Sue me.

Each morning I get Isabelle from her crib when she wakes up and feed her in my bed where Miss Libby is still lounging. Libby was laying with her head out of the covers (I did not pose her like that!) so I thought it would be cute to get a shot with the baby.

I like to show Isabelle all the things I do in the kitchen, so I put her in the bumbo on the counter. All you safety nerds out there are probably wagging your finger at me, but I don't care! :-) She likes seeing what I'm doing, and we have nice conversation while I work.

Here she is in her little hat going for a walk. My friend Tori calls it her Mother Goose bonnet, I call it her grandma hat. (No offense to all you grandma's out there!) She really enjoys being outside and especially loves the swing!!!

Here she is in the swing at the park. This day we went with Amanda and Luke.

Here are Isabelle and Luke swinging at the park.

We are having so much fun every day, and feel truly blessed that we get to take care of this precious angel!

Adventures in Baby Food!

On Christmas Day, Isabelle began her adventure into solid foods. We started with rice cereal. Here she is getting her first taste. Looking back on it, her first batch was pretty gross--I made it way to thick and it was cold. But once I thinned it out and warmed it up, she loved it! She also loves baby oatmeal. It is much smoother than the rice.

After a couple of weeks of cereal, I began making her some fruits and veggies. I love to cook, so this was a great opportunity to try something new--baby purees. First was pears. For the pears, I peeled and chopped a few up, and then microwaved them for three minutes. After a couple of minutes in the food processor, we had pears! Super easy, and they were yummy! I portioned them into ice cube trays and freezed it. To heat it up, I get out a cube and put it in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Here are the pears.







Next came carrots. I got this 5 pound bag of organic carrots at Costco for $4.99!!! It made about 80 1 ounce portions. Considering that two ounce cans of baby carrots cost anywhere from 50 cents to $1.00, making my own saved us a bundle--because this girl loves her some carrots!







Mmmmm...carrots...actually, she tends to not be very messy when she eats, so I had to smear them all over her mouth and chin to get this picture!





Applesauce...yum! I got an 8 pound bag of organic apples at Costco for $8.00, and got about 75 portions of applesauce. Apples were a bit more work than the pears, but the end product made it worth it! She gets apples and pears each morning with some oatmeal cereal mixed in. There is not ever a drop left in the bowl!









So the next step was to venture into green foods. Green beans were a bit of a hassle...I had to press the puree through a strainer to get the hard bits of skin out...







...and after all the work, this was her reaction. Gross, Mom!!! I have figured out that if I mix the green beans in with some carrots and rice cereal, she'll eat them. But by itself? No way--she has had the same reaction to avocado and peas.




Since Isabelle is getting to be such a big girl, we decided to try out the high chair at On The Border. Don't be fooled though--she was rigged up with blankets and pillows to get her sitting securely. She was enamored by the waiter which kept her entertained! Brendan remembered seeing my sister give her baby water through a straw once, so we tried it out. I'd put some water in the end tip of the straw and pour it into her mouth. She loved it!




Here is Isabelle's best buddy Luke getting some peaches at one of our playdates. He is so darn cute I can't stand it!!!



Brendan loves being the one to feed Isabelle.


Today I made sweet potatoes and she tried them for the first time. Being that they are NOT green, she obviously loved them. :-)