Isabelle Is Growing Up!

Our little girl is growing up!

Isabelle is now getting her two bottom teeth. It is causing her some pain, but she is handling it pretty well. Also, she is saying Da-Da all the time! We talk about Dada ALL DAY LONG while he is a work. We also get a Ma-Ma mixed in there, but we're on a 90/10 split of how often she says Dada vs. Mama. It's hard to come to grips that my once tiny baby is now old enough to actually say words!

She is on a pretty good schedule, gets up at 7 am, gets 4 big bottles of milk each day plus 3 solid meals of veggies/fruit/cereal, and two to three naps, and then is in bed by 7 pm. As for new foods: I've tried giving her yogurt but it makes her gag. :-) We will venture into meats next month I think. I have tried giving her cereal puffs, but there's a problem. I have born a baby that does not like to put things in her mouth. Does this even exist???? The only thing she puts in her mouth are her fingers/hands/feet. She refuses to hold her bottle or the sippy cup, does not mouth her toys, and certainly will not put cold teething rings in there! She also does not like to have her hands touched. This makes it problematic when I try to grab her hand to SHOW her how to put things in her mouth, like food! Also, if you try to put something in her mouth she doesn't want, she zips her lips so tight I don't think a wrench could open it. Oh, our little Isabelle sure is something!

She loves playing in her jumperoo, and has started to roll over from her back to her tummy--but only on her own terms! I know she can roll both ways (I've seen her do it), she just doesn't want to have anything to do with it. She can sit well, and holds on to furniture while standing if I put her that way. She is pretty far off from crawling and pulling up on things I think.

So here we go with some recent pictures:

I am finally able to get her in these pretty party dresses that have been hanging in her closet since I was PREGNANT! Even though we don't have many fancy things to go to, I've started putting her in dresses for regular occasions like visiting friends. Here are some shots of her "all dolled up!"

We recently went to Loew's for a few things, and decided to try putting her in the shopping cart for the first time. It lasted about 15 minutes, and then the back arching began. I think we need another month or so before she is really sturdy. But the shopping cart cover worked great, and she loved getting pushed around.

I get together every week with Amanda and Tori for mommy/baby playdates. Since the weather has been nicer, we are going on walks and taking the kids to the park. We are almost to the age where they will start playing together!

I recently made a big batch of blueberry puree for Isabelle. I mix them in with apples, mangos, and pears. She loves them! But, it is impossible for her to eat blueberries without getting what I call the "Blueberry Beard."

Every couple of weeks, I go through her closet and drawers to make sure we are wearing all of her outfits, as to not miss out on anything. I have been doing pretty good, but the other day found this precious pink dress with matching bonnet--in a 3 month size. Dang! Missed the boat on that one, but I put the bonnet on her anyway and got a very cute picture of her.

Here she is on her favorite couch spot, grabbing those sweet little feet!!!

Grandma's Visit

Here are some photos from late January/early February.

Such a wonderful present! Miss Isabelle!




We are at my Godson Douglas's baptism here at Robin and Kyle's house. With only the three of us at home, we rarely get a photo with all three of us in it!

She just started sitting up really well, so I had to snap a photo of her in this precious one piece lace outfit.

Oh, how Grandma Seal would make her laugh! Here, my mom is saying the word "Squeaking!" over and over again in a high voice. I tried and she just stared at me blankly.

Our big snowstorm! We have learned that Isabelle is not a fan of the snow. God I hope she is a pool girl like me in the summer!

My mom built this snowman. Hershey Kisses for eyes, and wooden spoons for arms. :-)

I had to wake Isabelle from her nap one day so that we could leave for church, so I took the chance to snap a pic of her sleeping. We are still working on her naps, some days are better than others, but she does love her crib and her little lavendar bear blankie that she is holding on to here.

Grandma's visit meant lots of new toys, and lots of playtime! Isabelle is not a big mover, she just sits in the corner of the couch and plays. This is good for me since I'm not having to chase after her yet!

Grandma took over meal duty while here. Isabelle loved it!

Here she is with her hero--aka Daddy!

I can't get enough pics of her sitting. I think it is so precious!

Valentine's Day Baby Party

On February 13th, I hosted a Valentine's Day baby party for my mommy friends! Many of us had gotten together for a pregnancy party last summer, and now it was time to celebrate with the babies. 9 ladies were able to attend, plus me, so that makes 11 babies! (Tori in the bottom right corner is the mommy of twins, which upped our baby count!) Here we are in a group photo. Landon was the oldest at 10 months, and Ryan was the youngest at 7 weeks.

I laid out a nice spread of food with the help of my mom who was visiting from Chicago. We had pinwheels, fruit, cream cheese spread, sausage balls, and cherry tomatoes filled with chicken salad and avocado. We also had some pink punch (not spiked though, darnit!).

Here are me and my mom in front of the beautiful Valentine's cake. It just wouldn't be a party without cake!

My friend Melissa is a baby photographer. She set up upstairs in the game room and did photo shoots with each of the babies. Here is Luke striking a pose!

I am very blessed to have wonderful friends. Becky (left) and Robin both asked me to be their baby's godmother. I was so honored and in the last few weeks was able to be at both of their baptisms. Here I am taking a pic with Annie and Douglas, my Christian children (as Robin likes to say!).

Here is my godson Douglas giving me a very serious look.

With so many babies in the house, it made me think of the Octomom and how CRAZY her house must be! A baby was always needing to be fed, changed, put down for a nap, etc. But each of these mommies has taken to motherhood so well! We all love our little bundles of joy and had fun talking about it for the afternoon. Here are me, Robin with Douglas, Christine with Chase (standing in back), and Jennifer with Everett and Jenna with Ryan (sitting).

I am so lucky to have a neighbor right down the street who also has a little one! Christine and I got to take lots of walks together when the weather was warmer, and are looking forward to starting again soon once this cold stuff moves out of here.

Annabelle and Isabelle are sure to be great friends as they grow up!!! Their daddies have been friends since kindergarden, and we are super excited to be raising kids at the same time.

Kate just couldn't take it anymore. She had to take a nap! Her twin sister Ellie was sleeping on the couch!

Another group shot: from left to right. Robin/Douglas, Rachel/Landon, Jennifer/Everett, and Becky/Annabelle. Lots of new friendships were made!

Here are Rachel and I with Landon and Isabelle. I met Rachel at Brendan's work holiday dinner. Our husbands both work in the same area at Texas Health Hospital in Dallas. We randomly sat next to each other and learned how much we had in common!

We got to spend alot of time just hanging out with the babies. It was alot of fun! There were no meltdowns or catastrophies to mention. Just babies and mommies having a great day!

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. :-)