Shot Day

Mmmm....Aqua Bear Meat....

You know how she loves her bear meat...

Wishing Gramps Will Feel Better

Her Care Bear from Grams & Gramps is Wish Bear.

I "Heart" ........

Mmmmm, I Heart Bear Meat

Everything goes in the mouth.

I Heart Daddy!

Read my shirt! That's what it says. Actually, it says "My 'Heart' Belongs to Daddy". The top is from mommy's aunt Gloria. And well, we've seen the rest before. She just got done nuring on her left side, so hence the rosy left cheek.

Borrowing Big Bird

He's My Friend

She was playing with Big Bird all day and didn't really want to give it up, so the daycare lady told us to take it home with us tonight. It giggles and says Peek-a-boo. She likes to chew on his beak.

What else can I tell you about Isabel. Well, a few weeks ago she started raising her arms to have me pick her up. That's pretty neat. Around 4 months she was flapping her arms to gesture she wanted to be picked up or wanted to go to mom, but now she will pick her arms up.

She is really into banging toys and throwing them. She's been working on drinking from a regular cup and a sippy cup. She knows her name and will turn her head to you if you say it.

She's been working on tongue movement in her sounds/speech and will say ah-blah-da. She likes saying "blah" a lot and is starting to say "da" a lot more. Everyone in a while we'll get a lone "ma".

She has her 6 months shots this week Thursday. I know it's late, but with Thanksgiving in there we didn't have much choice.

I'm Sooooo Much Cuter than Big Bird!

I amde an appointment for her to meet with the eye doctor in January. It is part of the InfantSee program and out eye doctor is one of only a small number of eye doctors (under 100) in the nation that recieved a grant to provide this program for free. They screen for all sorts of things that a regular doctor visit can't do. They have to dilate the eyes for the appt., so she will be light sensitive that day. A baby in our Baby&Me class had it done and they determined she needed glasses - as a note, she was the first (& only so far, I think) that has needed glasses. So, I think it's better to be proactive about things. Too often people are reactive and that gets emotional (work talk there.)

I also sent in our registration for the ECFE holiday party. Santa will be there. It's with the ECFE in our town, so other than their open house we haven't done much with them yet.

15 Things that Change When You Have a Baby

Saw this on Babycenter.com and thought I would post it and add my comments (non-bold typeface).

1. You finally stop to smell the roses, because your baby is in your arms. Everything just slows down. You have no choice, because if you try to rush too much then you just end up frazzled and with a crying baby.
2. Where you once believed you were fearless, you now find yourself afraid. OMG! I spent the first week of her life with her sleeping on my chest with all the lights on, then in the bassinett next to the bed so that I could stick my hand on her chest & with all the lights on, then with a table lamp on, then with a night light, and finally in her own room in a crib with a audio baby monitor (it took 2 months to get to this point), all because of fears of SIDS. I still am scared of it, but not quite so neurotic.
3. The sacrifices you thought you made to have a child no longer seem like sacrifices. Depends who you ask. Apparently daddy is much more selfish and it bothers him a little more. What I have noticed is that I am not really bothered that some people have drifted away from me because I am too busy with the baby. I think there are always times in your life that tests your friendships and the true friends continue to surface and others are weeded out.
4. You respect your body ... finally. So true. I pay so much attention to what I put in my body because she is going to get it from the breastmilk. And I have to appreciate my body the way it is because I don't want to lose my milk by going on some extreme diet & exercise routine. Plus, I don't want my child to think she has grow up worrying about her body size & shape.
5. You respect your parents and love them in a new way. You start to understand that the decisions they made were ones they made because they wanted to do the best for you, even if you thought they were ruining your life at the time.
6. You find that your baby's pain feels much worse than your own. It was heartbreaking watching her have that xray. When w clipped her finger when we clipped her nails, that was awful.
7. You believe once again in the things you believed in as a child. Like - baths should be fun and hugs are magical and peek-a-boo is fantastic.
8. You lose touch with the people in your life whom you should have banished years ago. See above comments too, but you also think about who you want your child to know and there are just some people who you don't want your kids to know because they just aren't that nice or positive.
9. Your heart breaks much more easily.
10. You think of someone else 234,836,178,976 times a day. It is so hard not too. When I tried making out my xmas list it was hard not to think of things that I was going to use with her and not just things that were for myself.
11. Every day is a surprise. It sure is. You just never know what is going to happen or what she will do. I might even go so far as to say that every hour is a surprise.
12. Bodily functions are no longer repulsive. In fact, they please you. (Hooray for poop!) I think this is funny because I'm always asking if she pooped and want to know if she pooped.
13. You look at your baby in the mirror instead of yourself. This is hilarious because even though I put makeup on everyday I don't really look at myself too much when I do it. The other day I noticed that my eyebrows REALLY needed to be plucked and my lips are REALLY dry. I look in the mirror a lot, but always with the baby and I'm always looking at her.
14. You become a morning person. Sleeping in is now 7am. Isn't that crazy? And how can you not be in a good mood when you go pick up your baby and she is so happy to see you in the morning.
15. Your love becomes limitless, a superhuman power. I would give her the world if I could. I would do anything to keep her from feeling hurt or pain. Although, I know she needs to experience the world, even the bad stuff, and that breaks my heart. I never want her to grow up and date and have stupid boys screw with her. I know someday she will meet someone wonderful like her daddy, but there are a lot of stupid boys in between.

Picture Day

Nice, But Where Are The Smiles?

We set up the camera in the playroom on the tripod and took a bunch of pictures. Now, I just need to get some things ordered and into the frames I bought as gifts. Between her santa outfit, the next picture & today's portrait we will have some nice gifts to give.

Much Better.

This picture we are making copies of to give to people.

Mom, Do We Really Have to Go to Wal-Mart?

Today was her 6 month pictures @ Wal-Mart. They went ok, but they need another staff person working there. This time we have a picture of her smilig. Woohoo! This is the same outfit she wore for those pictures. It is some silk pants from TCP that she wore before and a new TCP sweater I bought, and her pink shoes. We only have 2 pairs of sz. 2's and these are the only dressy shoes, so that is what I based the outfit around. Oh, and a cute new little headpiece from Gymboree.

27 Weeks

Smile for Mommy!

Well, we tried to do Wal-Mart pictures today, but they would never pick up their stupid phone in the portrait studio to make an appointment. So, we just walked in and made an appointment for tomorrow and then did our shopping we needed to go and go out of there.

I Have My Hands Like You Asked.

Yesterday when I took her shopping, I swear no less than 30 people told me she was so cute in the 75 minutes we were shopping at the outlet mall.

Sooooooo, Where is my Boobie?

She was moving all over the place when I was trying to take pictures. I wasn't confident that she would really smile for Wal-Mart. But I guess now we'll see tomorrow. I havn't decided yet if I will put her in this same outfit I picked out or a different one.

Who Said That?

Gosh, if I could get a nice camera for xmas I could take even better pictures and maybe we wouldn’t have to deal with portrait studios. Although, I still need talent.

Isabel with Daddy

Hey, all -- Daddy here posting again...

Such Posers

I look like a bit of a retard here, but baby girl looks cute so we went with it.

Isn't That Sweet!

When she's been in a good mood, I've been her little buddy for the last couple of days. Every time I talk to her she smiles at me and giggles. I'm perfectly okay with that.

Someone has a Ticklish Neck!

When I kiss/blow on the back of her neck, she gets all ticklish. It's very cute. She scrunches up her neck, brings her hands to her face and giggles. It doesn't work well during times of extreme crankiness, but works wonders when she's starting to get irritable. Plus, it's just fun to do.

Ho, Ho, Ho! Merry Christmas!

Freebie from Fleet Farm

Mommy went out shopping some of the Black Friday specials this morning. The first place I went to was Fleet Farm. They were giving away these penguins for free to the first 500 people. So, Isabel got a penguin the size of her. She likes shoving her face into it's soft body and trying to eat it. What a funny girl.

Such a Good Girl

Mom left around 5:40 and Isabel slept until 6:30 amd got daddy up then. She ate A LOT for breakfast and played a lot until mom came home @ 7:30. I didn't go to too many places. I went to Fleet Farm, Target, Sears, Harry & David, & Nike. Target didn't get in all their stuff and were out of some already, so I was kinda disappointed, but I did get the main thing I went there for (something for ME!)

Isabel & I might go out together (it's halfway decent weather) and go to a few other places at the outler mall that didn't open until 8 & 9am.

So, today she is Santa. I needed to get the picture taken so that I could include it as part of the Christmas letter. I finished the letter, I just needed to finish the pictures part.

BTW - if you say, Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas! to Isabel, she smiles. She thinks it's funny the way we say it.

First Thanksgiving

Playing with Olivia

Isabel is playing with her second cousin Olivia. Olivia & her mom Dawn seemed to enjoy playing with her, but Isabel made it easy. She was in a good mood and was smiling all the time. They gave her a copy of the book Olivia. I read it to her on the way home. It's a pretty good book.

Her outfit today is one that grandma bought her. It was originally supposed to be a xmas present, but then she realized with how fast she is growing it might not fit by that time. The arms are long, but the length of the outfit & shirt are great. She's just such a long girlie.

Smile Pretty Girls

It's too bad that we live so far away, well not so far away, but far away enough that babysitting isn't an option. It's over an hour drive each way to see daddy's family. I think Olivia would make a good babysitter for Isabel. Isabel just couldn't stop smiling for her. Olivia is such a pertty your lady, don't you think?

Isabel w/ Great Grandma Mary

This is daddy's maternal grandma. She & great grandpa Clarence were at Thanksgiving too. Thanksgiving was at grandma & grandpa's house and there was a pretty good crowd. I think it was 17 people. It took her a little while to warm up to all the people, but she didn't cry or anything. She has started crying around strangers, just gives me this worried look as if she was asking me, "Is this person ok mom?"

6 Month Measurements

Weight

I took her to the family clinic today to get an official 6 month weight on her and she weighs 18 pounds 3 ounces. She weighs 1 pound 11 ounces more than I did at 6 months, but you will also see that she is quite a bit longer than I was as well. She is in the 89th percentile for weight.

Length

Her length is 28 1/4 inches long. At 6 months she is as long as I was at 10 months. At 6 months I was 27 1/4 inches long. Obviously, you tell she is off the charts for length. It's no winder all the 6-9 month clothes are getting put away and we are going into stuff that is 9-12 or 12 months. I think her feet are growing now too because her size 2's are getting a little snug in length. Time to break out the next size (we have lots in size 3.)

Her head circumference is now 17 1/4 inches, which is only 1/8 larger than last month.

She had fun playing with the toys there because they have different toys there, but some of the same ones they have at ECFE class that she enjoyed playing with. Because of the holiday it was really slow and there were no other kids there while we were there. We were there for the l;ast 40 minutes.

I am not sure how she compares with daddy's measurements at this age. Maybe grandma can help with that.

Just Ducky!

Today she is dressed in duck themed clothing. You've seen the shirt & pants before; she wore it on one of her "weeks" posts. But today I added some Carter's ducky stuff I bought. Carter's is big on the ducky stuff and they are just so cute. So, she has some slight slippers (you can kinda see the duck on one) and a ls button-up shirt that has a duck on it too. And she's got the cute little pony on top of her head.

She slept A LOT yesterday and she needed it. She's at daycare about 7 hours and she slept 5.5 hours of it, which also meant she didn't eat much either. She still did fall asleep at her normal bedtime and slept all night.

She is sitting up on her own now. She doesn't need a boppy for support, but I put one there anyways because she sometimes pulls back too fast when she picks up a toy off the floor and is still working on leaning towards the sides and bringing herself back up. She is also standing against the couch without our help too. She seemed pretty proud last night when she did that. She was all smiles and kept looking at me and smiling. She's not making as much progress towards crawling though. She just hates being on her tummy and gets frustrated quickly with that. When she had tummy time last night, it was pretty much the end of playing in her room and we had to have a change of scenery.

Pictures Tim Took

Kisses for Mommy

This is my computer background. Isn't it sweet. She loves gives her mommy kisses. She will put both hands (or sometimes just one) on the sides of your face and lean in and give you a big wet open mouth kiss. What a sweetheart!

Open Mouth. Insert Fist.

That was her motto for that weekend that Kendra & Tim were here visiting.

Isn't Tim such a talented photographer. I could never do anything like this. Here is Tim's website in case you are interested.

So Much Fun.

Not sure what I was doing. I was probably making the magic sound "pop" or maybe the other magic sound, "Bzzzzzzz" or I could have been singing one of her favorite songs, or even possibly saying the magic words "Charlie Brown". We also have some new magic words, "Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas!"

Daddy & Isabel

I think they are petting the cat. But I just love what Tim did with this picture. Normally I am not a big fan of Sepia, but he chose just the right tone to work well with this picture. He has such a good eye for capturing a moment.

6 Months Old

Well, she is in better spirits today and slept better last night. She's kinda sleepy and a little cranky due to that fact, but it's expected after the sickly weekend. We just don't know how parents with a very sick or long-term sick child do it. I know you don't think about it and you do just what needs to be done, but they have to be very tired (both physically & emotionally.)

Her temp was a normal 98.6 today. She didn't have any interest in solids today, just wanted to nurse. She nursed A LOT this weekend.....she certainly increased my milk production. She's at daycare today as long she continues to feel better. She'll probably take some good naps today (hopefully!)

Her outfit today is some jeans she has worn a lot from KO, a new TCP sweater I bought, a cute little hair tie, and some Gap shoes she has worn before.

I almost didn't get a picture of her looking up. Larry was walking around in the room and she kept watching him and trying to figure out how to get by him. I had to shove him out of the room & close the door so I could get my picture.

Today will be a short week at daycare because of Thanksgiving. We are going to daddy's family for Thanksgiving.

Long Weekend

Not sure who's more tired...

It's been a long, long weekend around here. This is Daddy typing here... Mommy explained how sick Isabel was down below, but didn't get into how incredibly cranky she was. On Saturday, she basically whined from about 2pm - 1am. She wouldn't take any naps, and had to be held for the entire day. We had to trade her back and forth for an hour at a time. Thankfully she fell asleep at 1am and only got up at 4am to feed before waking for good at 7:30.

Today has been off and on. She's been going between cranky and her usual cheerful self. I'm crossing my fingers for a much earlier bedtime tonight.

We each managed to get in little naps today, so that helps.

The pictures above and below are a bit of a rarity. Isabel NEVER falls asleep for me. She insists on being nursed down, and without functional mammaries, I have been unable to replicate the situation (please no more "Meet the Parents" jokes). Today she woke up from her nap, so I picked her up so mommy could keep napping. After walking around for a while, I thought I'd try sitting down with her so I could watch the Vikings lose (again).

Amazingly enough, she fell asleep after just a couple minutes of whining.

Daddy's lap: Good for cats AND babies

After a little while, the kitties came in. Apparently they sensed what a good pillow I'd make and decided to join in. Everyone around was sleeping... but me. Being a daddy is tough!

26 Weeks Old

26 weeks old today, 6 months old on Monday.

Doesn't she look all stuffy.....well, that would be because she is. Last night she consistently had a temperature of 99.6. We had changed our plans with our friends and had them come over for dinner rather than go out and cancelled the sitter. Not just because of the temp, but she & I had been sick all week and she wasn't sleeping well and was getting increasingly cranky.

This morning her temp was 99.2, but by time she woke from her afternoon nap she was up to 102.0. Some infant tylenol and a trip to the urgent care and her temp is down to 100.5. She has a slight ear infection in her left ear, so she got meds for that. And before she went to bed, her temp was down to 99.0

The trip to urgent care was interesting. She did good with the doctor's exam with him looking in her ears and putting the cold stethoscope on her, although she didn't much like the strep test he did. She really didn't like the trip to the lab and xray. At the lab they had to draw blood and she is a slow bleeder. She must have small veins like her mom. I am a slow bleeder and not a good candidate for blood donation because of my small veins (they collaspse and I generally never get the bag filled.) Anyways, it wasn't much fun for her to get pricked and then have blood squeezed out of your finger.

Then it was off to xray (so they could see what her lungs looked like). She had to strip down to her waist and sit on this little bicycle seat looking thing and raise her arms and get this clear hard plastic thing strapped around her to hold her in place and have her facing away from any people and having us behind a wall. The nurse warned us that it doesn't hurt her, but scares parents. Well, yes it does! She looked so helpless and like she was in some midevil torture device.

So, once again. We cancel out plans and the sitter. Tonight it was just going to be daddy & I going to out Javalive to listen to some live music and have some hot beverages, but oh well. She did go to bed much nicer tonight than she has the past couple of nights.

We were planning on getting her 6 month pictures done tomorrow, but we're thinking that we'll maybe wait until next weekend instead. I'd much rather have it done before all the crazy holidy shopping starts, but everything depends on how she is feeling. By bedtime, her energy and spirits were picking back up. So, maybe some of that medicine is working.

They did take her weight there. With her clothes on, she weighed 19 pounds, 3 ounces. She was wearing exactly what you see in the picture, minus the headband. Her dress is a new one I bought that is from Oshkosh, and tights she's worn before, the sherpa slippers are "new to her", I bought them in a huge "lot" from ebay or multiple sizes of shoes. I now have several pairs of shoes ranging from size 2 - size 6. I didn't really inventory what was all there. It's a combination of dress shoes, sneakers, boots, and slippers. And I had bought some shoes in sizes 2-4 already, so I shuold have a good selection for not a lot of money. I went to Target the other day and saw that a pair of dress shoes for her cost $10 and up. I just couldn't pay $10+ for a pair of shoes I know she may only wear a couple times. But it didn't matter much anyways, because I did try some of the shoes on her and the Circo brand shoes don't fit her feet very well. She has chubby feet and the Circo brand was just too thin. I have had good luck with the Gymboree shoes, apparently they make shoes for chubby feet kids. By chubby I don't mean they are wide, they are very chubby on top which makes it hard to get her foot in all the way or to fasten the shoes.

I was planning on taking her to the county family clinic on Wednesday to get weighed and then her 6 month appot. wasn't until November 30th -- but now I have to follow up with her doctor in 7-10 days (her appt. is in 12 days). So, I don't knw what I am going to do anout any of that now. I have to wait until Monday to see when I can get her intot he doctor.

We're pretty surprised she hasn't gotten sick until 6 months or at least hasn't gotten a fever until now. It seems like a lot of people we talk to have already had to bring their babies into the doctor before this age, or at least their baby had their first fever before this age.

Anytime now, we can get her vision checked at our eye clinic. They have this program called InfantSEE that is done during the 1st year of life. It's free and part of some grant. Not many communities have it. They can detect a lot of things and check for normalcy of a lot of things that a regular doctor visit can't.

Favorite Songs Video

Ok - so she is not a ham to just the regular camera, but the video camera as well. She couldn't take her eyes off of it. She is usually even more animated throughout the songs.



Make sure you have the latest version of Flash to be able to see the video.

This is just over 2 minutes long.

Wednesday Morning

Reach!

She's really been working on reaching and scooting on her back/side. We put the bumper up in her crib now for a little bit (until she starts crawling probably) because she keeps getting her legs & feet caught in between the bars as she tries to scoot around. She doesn't roll around (just tosses her head) when she sleeps.

Evolution of a Toy

Check out her wild hair!

So, if you have been reading this blog for a while, you realize that I bought her the mirrored crib toy when she was only a few weeks old and I was very thankful for the couple of minutes she spent looknig at herself that allowed me that time for arms-free time, or at least a chance to go to the bathroom. The toy became an instant hit with all of us and still remains a favorite. It has been interesting watching her learn about the toy and find new ways to play with it. Here is the chronological order of how she has learned how to play with the toy:

* Checking herself out in the mirror

* Batting at the bird

* Spinning the bug's back

* Grabbing the bottom of the toy and flicking it up

* Grabbing the taggies on the bug and the curlies on the side and pulling at them

* Pulling on the teether toy

* Scooting self to teether toy and sticking in mouth

The only thing left is to figure out how to turn the sun thingy.

A New Week

Yesterday & today she is wearing clothes she's worn before, so no knew fashion shots.

Last night was our last night of Baby & Me class. We made footprints. So, now I have footprints from birth & 6 months. I should compare them to see how much bigger they are now.

She did fantastic through class. I hope we can get in to the next one, as it's the only evening class and fill up quickly.

We got 5 new windows put in the house yesterday. Hopefully we'll be much warmer this winter and also see a decrease in our heating bill.

This weekend we have sitters set up on Friday & Saturday night so that we can go out to dinner with some friends one night, and then daddy & I alone another night.

She's getting pretty good at drinking out of a sippy cup. Whenever I have my bottle of water around me she grabs at it because she wants to drink from it.

I am beginning to think she may never get her teeth in, not that I am in any hurry. They seem to take forever.

Last night I gave her mashed potatoes that I made for daddy & I. I had to mix it with water instead of milk (& no seasonings), but she liked it. I mixed it with some green beans for her. It's the first thing that didn't come from a jar that I fed her and she likes. I wanted to try them on her before Thanksgiving so that we knew whether or not we could feed her that then.

Pictures from Sunday

Already Jealous @ (Almost) 6 Months

This is Isabel's friend Noah. We discovered today that already at 6 months, Isabel is not exactly up for sharing. Noah wanted to play with a couple of her favorite toys and she started getting excited and trying to reach to grab them back. He didn't care if she played with his. You can see a tug-o-war already starting. I wonder if she shares ok at daycare. I guess that will be something we'll have to teach her - sharing.

First Sled Ride

She seemed indifferent while I was pulling her around. She was more interested in watching our stupid dog run around. Maybe she'll like it better then next time. She always seemed indifferent the first 1-2 times she tries something. During the first couple times then she is studying it, after that she can enjoy it. She's like that with everything. She has Tigger on her belly.

Stare Deep Into My Eyes.......Now, Give Me All Your Money.....

She was calmly sitting here with dad. Just staring at him. Waiting for mom to get everything ready to go outside.

Her outfit today is a Gymboree sweater I bought and a pair of pants from KO. The pants actually had a top that went with them, but she got beans all over that, so a change of tops was necessary. The hat is a matching set with mittens (pictured above) and scarf (not pictured) that I bought.

Morning Time (Breakfast & Play)

This is Why it's Called an Activity Gym

A couple of weeks ago she figured out that she can move things with her feet, so she pushes the activity gym with her feet. It's not uncommon to see her lift her leg and see her rest it on the top of the mini try on her highchair. She is al about exploring what she can do with her feet and legs.

And you thought the activity gym was just for grabbin & hitting the toys dangling from it.

I Can Feed Myself.

Well, sort of. We give her a spoon to play with and she puts it in her mouth as if she were feeding herself, but she usually sticks it in too far and starts to gag, but that doesn't stop her from trying. She's been doing this for a while now. She will also try to grab the spoon out of your hand and bring it to her mouth if you aren't shoveling it in fast enough. She'll even lean over and stick her mouth right next to the bowl so you don't have far to bring the spoon and can shovel faster -- then you know she's REALLY hungry.

The bib was part of the outfit as well. So, that's why I chose that one today.

New Favorite Mealtime Toys

It used to be things she could bat at and make spin. But now it's things she can pick up and hit on the table and highchair and make noise with them or crumple them to make noise. It's all about cause & effect of making noise.

Checkout er cute little bear barrette. You can see it nicely in this pictuer.

25 Weeks!

Fa, So , Laaaaaaaa!

I just think this picture is hilarious. It looks like she is giving her big grand finale.

I Just Pooped My Pants

No. Really! She is pooping her pants. I was trying to take a picture of her and I said she is making an uncomfortable looking face. After we took this picture, daddy said he thought maybe she pooped her pants. And she did.

Her outfit today came from her great-aunt Gloria and great-uncle Mike (mommy's family.) It's 2 pieces (well, 3 if you count the bib that goes with it), but looks like the tops is 2 on it's own. The top is a onesie with a sew-in top. And then there are the matching pants. The shoes are ones mommy bought and are Gymboree....they are just toooo cute! And she has a little barrette in her hair that you can't see very well.

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!

So, Who Are These People?

This week I have been reading her Christmas books with pictures of Santa in them and saying "Ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas!" She laughs & smiles when I get to the Merry Christmas part. I sound comical when I say it.

I bought her little outfit at a rummage sale this past summer. It has a snowman on it ans says Baby's First Christmas. I am glad I gt to put it on her once at least, although I am afraid she will probably have outgrown it by Christmas time.

No Tears or Cries.

People told me taking her to see Santa would make her cry. Which is exactly what I was trying to avoid by taking her to the first Santa of the season. Stranger anxiety is just starting and I figure by Christmas she would probably be crying if she had to sit on Santa's lap. But no cries or tears, no smiles either. Santa said he was surprised she didn't cry. We got there right at the start, so we only had to wait behind a couple people to visit Santa.

She was pretty overwhelmed by the whole store & everything, that Santa didn't much phase her. Mommy got her candy cane. Mmmmmm.

I also used this shopping cart cover & restraint I bought off of eBay. That worked out great. I felt good about having her sitting in the seat and didn't work that she would fall out or anything. Plus it had a couple toys on it, but she much preferred the linker-doos I gave her to hold. Usually she rides in a Snugli on my chest, but she is starting to get a little heavy, so I thought I would try this out.

Santa, I Want a Pony.

Check out my cute little ponytail that a girl at daycare put in my hair. There was no school today, so the big kids were all there.

She may get to meet Santa again if we go to the ECFE holiday party, which Santa will be at. But that isn't until the middle of December. We may just go for a little bit, as I think daddy would like to see her with Santa.

Today, we got a big snow that left everything white. Daddy & I brought her outside this morning to see what she would think and she just looked aruond with an expression that said, "What the hell happened here?" Then I left her grab some snow with her bare hand and she just opened her eyes real big and made a surpised "O" look. It was very cute.

Sing to Your Kids

Isabel loves it when I sing a song to her that she recognizes and is fun. Her favorites are "The Wheels On the Bus" and "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain", she also likes "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and "Round & Round the Garden".

I was lookng up the words to a few other songs and found this website that is is put together by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and has TONS of kids songs -- the words and recordings of it, so that you know how the tune goes. It's great.

If you go to this part of their website you can also find jokes, riddles, coloring pages, games & activities, education stuff, stories. What a great site! Have fun!

Curls, Curls, More Curls!

Her hair is getting so long. I am probably going to have to trim her bangs soon. If her hair is combed straight it is almost in her eyes, but when the curls are all over the place, then it's ok.

Today she is wearing her jeans from KO, which she's worn several time before and her little shoes she wears all the time, but the shirt is new. It is a sweater from the Gap that mommy bought her. It's very soft.

She was much better sleeping last night, only got me up once. It's a treat to be woken only once.

Today, I was trying to check out her teeth and lowered her lower lip and you know what she did -- she stuck out her tongue and went "Pbrrrttttt!" That was the first time she did that with her tongue, before it was always sputtering her lips. So, she has learned to stick out her tongue and make noise with it. It was pretty funny when she did it this morning. Her cute little tongue sticking out of her cute little mouth making a Pbrrrttt! noise.

5 Month Comparisons

Mommy at 5 Months

We don't have one of daddy at this age. At 7 months we'll have pictures of mommy & daddy to compare with Isabel. But looking at me in this picture, I think she is looking more and more like me. My length & weight for 5 months were not in my baby book, but 6 month was. Already Isabel at 5 months weighs more than I did at 6 months, but she'll also probably be longer too. At 6 months I was 27.25 inches, and she was 27 inches at 5 months.

It will be fun to compare our 7 months pictures of all 3 of us. I believe after that, both daddy & I have pictures @ 1 year old.

I was looking over my "firsts" and it looks like my mom was REALLY busy between 28-31 weeks. I was sitting on my own, crawling, standing, getting teeth, waving goodbye all at the same time. Isabel will be 25 weeks this weekend, so it's all going to start happening soon. Although, I think she'll be sitting on her own before I did. She's just about there. She was sitting so good this afternoon, just a little off balance, but not much. And those teeth, I don't know, they gotta be popping through soon. There is just a thin layer of skin over them. So, she may have some of her "firsts" earlier than I did. Let the fun begin!

This Sunday we have our friends, the Femrites coming over for dinner. It should be a good time. The babies can flirt with each other. It has been about 2 months since we last saw them, so it will be neat to see how big Noah is and what he is doing, as he is 5 weeks older than Isabel. That's about it for plans this week & weekend.

Every Day Stuff

Today - Playing in a Onesie

She just can seem to get all the way rolled over onto her stomach. She gets most of the way, but can't get that arm from underneath her. She absolutly loves sitting & standing these days -- maybe now her bald spot will start to grow in. She's been scooting a bit on her back and did push off some when on her stomach. But she gets frustrated and starts getting upset and we have to flip her over. w

Isabel & Her Super Soft Towel

This was taken Sunday night.

Last night at class, we discussed playing with toy animals and what we teach them without necessarily thinking about it, like the name of the animal, the colors, the sounds, the way they move, where they live. And then we sang a bunch of songs about animals. During the adult part, we talked about feeding. They said we can start giving them solids to munch on,like cheerios, at 6 month because they don't need teeth to chew them, that they gnaw on them with their gums. But you aren't supposed to give them any wheat until after 9 months, so I will have to check the ingredient list for Cheerios. The instructor also really talked a lot about nut allergies, because her daughter has one and she could die if she doesn't get this shot within 20 minutes of having eaten even the tiniest bit of nuts. She has a very strict diet and they have to fly on a peanut-free airline (because nut dust gets in the air and she can breathe that in) and they had to change dog food after they realized that nuts/nut oil was used in the making of some dog foods (she had an allergic reaction after feeding her dog.) All the stuff she described was very scary.

Happy Sunday!

So Adorable

The title may say Happy and she may look happy, but she is really pretty irritable. Those teeth are really bothering her. She got me up 3 times last night.

Her outfit today consists of a sweater that grandma bought for her. It came with a romper too, but when I put that on I found out that it is now too short. I guess that happens. But the sweater fits her great and she needed another sweater. I like to layer her so that she can warm if she needs to or cool off too and I had 2 other sweaters, but they are getting a little small and it was time to put them away and I have one other one now & this one. So, while one is in the wash she can wear the other. The dress is a jumper from the Gap, she wore it before, and some Gymboree headpiece, tights & maryjanes that I bought her. And underneath is a little white shirt I bought from Target. She has become very tolerable about wearing a headwrap. I tried putting ina barette, but she didn't want to keep her head still enough for me to put that in.