Fun with Puppets and Daddy

Ribbit!

He's Funny!

Baby Got Your Tongue?

I Love Naked Baby Time!

Every day we try to let her play either in her diaper or completly naked. If her butt looks a little pink, we usually go for bare bottoms so that she can get some air time. Air seems to be the best cure for budding (or active) diaper rash.

Upcoming Dates (for those who are interested)

Well, I have been in touch with one of the ministers at House of Mercy about having Isabel baptized. They do baptisms on Easter Sunday and that is exactly when we will have her baptized. Their services are at 5pm. So, April 8th @ 5pm she will be baptized. That's all I know for the details right now. In a month or so I am sure we'll figure out more.

I am not sure if I want to do a big Easter dinner at our house or not. I guess I will have to see who from my family would like to come out to witness the baptism. So, it may be big or it may be small.

Also, we plan on having a BBQ for her 1st birthday party. Nothing huge or outlandish. We'll have it on her birthday, May 20th and it will be a lunch BBQ. We'll probably just invite family & neighbors, and maybe a friend for her (ya know, someone we know with kid(s)). We'll just grill out and eat cake. We'll keep it low-key with people she knows and at our house. I've seen too many people suffer through trying to throw a big party for a one year old with a bunch of kids or a dinner out for them with a bunch family. Just sounds painful to me. There will be plenty of time for bigger birthday parties once she is in school.

Well, that's it. I thought this was the quickest way to get the info out there to those who are interested. I am sure there are some people who were wondering if/when we would be doing a baptism and what we were going to do for her birthday.

Changes? Progress? Lack of Sleep!

No matter what, it breaks down to more lack of sleep.

The past few weeks she has been going through separation anxiety from mom. She would cry when I dropped her off at daycare, she would cry when I left the room, she would cry at night when she was in her crib. She just wanted to be by mom.

Well, yesterday she didn't cry when I dropped her off. She didn't cry today either. And last night she slept in her crib all night. She didn't need to be in our bed at all. She did wake up A LOT and we had to go in there with her and rock her back to sleep, but she always let us put her back in her crib. The last few weeks, she would get this blood-curdling scream going when we would ut her in her crib. She would only sleep in her crib for an hour or two and that was it for the night, she had to be with us the rest of the night.

Well, physically I didn't get a lot of sleep when she was in our bed because she kept wanting to nurse frequently and I just don't find the position I need to lay in to nurse her in bed as very comfortable. It was tensing up some of my muscles and it would fatigue my body. Although, my mind could stay asleep, which was nice. When I have to go to her in her own room, I need to wake up more and then my mind doesn't get enough rest, but I can go back to my bed and sleep how I want to.

Plus - she's a bed hog just like her daddy. They both like to spread out as much as possible.

Bunch of Pics from Sunday

Spotlight on Isabel

Lately she has been into blowing bubbles. She blows bubbles in cups of water, try to blow bubbles in her sippy cup, and blows bubbles with her food -- which just leaves all of us needing a change of clothes.

I'm Feeling Sassy.

Last night she did better about sleeping in her bed longer, which is not to say that she stayed asleep the tentire time she was there, but she was better about being put back to bed and putting herself back to sleep. Eventually, she did come in our room. Byut she did sleep in her crib more than in our bed last night, which is good for all of us.

Fiesta!

Right now we are listening to Bobby Pulido. It's Latin music. This is what she listens to at daycare at naptime. We borrowed it for the weekend.

Hello World!

She plays pat-a-cake. I am sure she learned it at daycare, because daddy & I were playing it with her yesterday and she already knew what to do. It's very cute.

Reach!

It's cold here; we don't much care for it. And it's only supposed to get colder next weekend.

36 Weeks

This is the only smile you get!

After she took a nice long nap with mom this afternoon she was in a much better mood. She took some good naps today.

Hi Everyone.

Isabel & mom had breakfast with their friend Carrie this morning at the Kernel Restaurant. Carrie is going to have a baby in June.

Then, we went to Target and bought some necessary baby items. I also bought another nursing tank. The nursing tank is one of my favorite conveniences. The only downside is that they are cotton w/spandex (has a bulit in bra which is great), but over time they shrink. So, I bought another black one. I wear a nursing tank almost everyday. It sure beats the nursing bra and nursing tops. At least, that's how I feel.

Another convenience I enjoy is the self-foaming bath soap. It makes the soapy part of bathtime go quicker and is more efficient when they are very small and can't hold themselves up.

The other convenience I am glad I had, was the sleeping gowns for Isabel during the first 3 months of her life. There were lots of night time changes the first couple of weeks and it was so much easier to hike up the gown than to have to take legs out of regular jammies.

In the Mouth

I cannot get pictures without something in her mouth. If I take it away she gets mad and I get sulking pictures or crying. She doesn't care as much about the camera anymore.

Pics from Friday

Sleepy Baby

Since she has been co-sleeping with us part of the night, she ends up getting up earlier than normal. Actually, I think she normally got up for a little bit at that time, but always went back to sleep for another 45 minutes. Well, now she has been missing that extra 45 minutes.

We try so hard to get her to go back to sleep in her own bed every night, but she just wails so loudly and has huge alligator tears. She'll fall asleep just fine if she is in our arms, but once we put her back in her crib she wakes up instantly and lets us know she is not happy about that situation. Guess, I will get out my book about sleep again.

See My Pretty Bracelet

Daddy left for a work retreat early on Friday morning, so it's just Isabel & mommy this morning and all day Saturday until he gets back Saturday evening.

Becoming a Big Girl.

Well, this week she started taking naps with the big kids at naptime. Before she always napped in a pack-n-play in a bedroom, now she naps on a blanket on the living room floor just like all the big kids.

She also had Nilla Wafers with the big kids. She watched them eat it the other day and really wanted some, so I said it was ok to try it. I guess she loved it. She has been eating her puffs all the time. I tried giving her jello the other day and she didn't much care for it. She might change her mind about jello some other time.

She starting to get that butt up in the air a little bit and is working hard on trying to crawl. She is actually starting to enjoy being on her stomach a big because she can push herself up nice & high and see all around.

She was so tired this evening that she fell asleep while she was playing in her crib and I had to wake her up so that I could give her a bath, change her diaper (which she had just pooped in) and put some pj's on. She fell asleep in 20 minutes after I started nursing her.

First words?

Well, were thinking she's doing some talking......

The first word would be "mamamama" She only says it when she is really upset and wants me to come get her and pick her up (or take her from daddy). It has never been just mama, it's always "mamamama", but she intends to get me to come to her. And I do. She's been doing this for a couple weeks now.

Last week sometime, daddy said "hi" to her and she said "hi" back. She has done it a few times since then with both of us, but it is always after we say "hi" first. So, that one may just be mimicking.

And finally, she said "Ki-e" (abbreviated form of kitty, just say it with out the t's) for the first time when she had her playdate with Noah. She said it after I brought her over to their cat. Since then she has said it a couple times at home when she has seen Larry and wanted to go by him.

Things are Going Good

Today she had her eye doctor appointment. I wished they used all the fun toys on my exams like they do for kids. Anyways, her eyes look normal for an 8 month old. So, unless we notice something odd, we don't go back for a follow-up appointment until she is 3 years old. Her eyes did stay dialated for a pretty long time. They are still a little dialated (appoint6ment was at 8 am). Mine stay dialated for a long time too and babies are supposed stay dialated longer than adults.

Swim class is going well. It was a little chilly there last night, but we had fun. The changing room/ locker/ bathroom situation is less than ideal. It's actually enough of an inconvenience that I might check into the other places that do parent/tot swim classes for a future class. I know one of the fitness centers does them, as well as another hotel. So, maybe I will check those out next time. This summer we'll take classes at our own city pool, which is outdoors.

We don't have another medical doctor visit until next month when she turns 9 months and thankfully there will be no shots this time.

Nothing else new or exciting to report. I could say that it looks like those tops ones are coming in, but you wouldn't believe me. Heck, I don't even believe me anymore. So, until they actually come in you won't hear about it. No teeth yet.

Hanging with Friends

Playdate with Noah

He is closer to the camera, so he looks a lot bigger than she is. He is bigger than she is, but not as much as the picture makes it look. He is 5 weeks older than her. It's kind of difficult to get them both looking at the camera at the same time. One will look away while the other looks at you. And Noah is crawling all over the place and once he would notice the camera he would start crawling towards it. I am sure Isabel will be doing the same thing as soon as she starts crawling.

Sitting Pretty with a Wry Smile

It took her a little while to warm up and start playing today, but once she did, she was good to go. I was glad we had this playdate set up, because as soon as I checked my messages on the way home I found out that daycare closed because one of her kids had strep throat. So, I am glad Isabel got to play with other kids for a little bit. She likes being social.

Although, it changed my plans for the day. I was planning on getting my oil changed, go out for lunch, do some banking, clean up a little bit around the house, and take a nap. None of that happened. Because she napped on the way to their house (they live an hour away) and the way back, she didn't take a very long nap this afternoon.

Hello Ladies! My Name is Noah.

He kept trying to get the camera, so I kept taking snapshots. You should see him with his brother. No two kids could be more different from each other. Noah will be 1 in April and Kallen will be 4 in April.

Mmmmm! He has Yummy Toys Too.

Of course, she had to taste every toy.

This week she will have swim class tomorrow night. Wednesday AM she has her eye doctor appt. And then Thursday & Friday we are going to be more laid back. Daddy has this work retreat to go on and has to leave super early on Friday AM and doesn't return until Saturday evening. So, I am not sure what Isabel & I will do Saturday. Maybe we'll find someone to go visit in the AM or we'll to to the library or to Target. Who knows.

35 Weeks / 8 Months

She's wearning this dark navy blue velvet dress. It actaully has navy roses across the front, but that is hard to see in the picture.

This morning she stacked blacks for the first time. Usually she just knocks them, but today she did the opposite.

She's doing a good job feeding herself her puff snacks and she eats pieces of bananas too and is getting the hang of drinking water out of her sippy cup. She is starting to try to feed herself with the spoon, but that gets messy and doesn't quite have the hang of that yet. Still no teeth.

She is very ticklish under her chin and it's fun tickling her there.

Swimming Fun

I took this picture with my camera phone because I had forgotten the camera at home. Anyways, this is one of her many cute little suits. It's a bright salmon pink color and those little things on it are butterflies. It's from Gymboree.

We went swimming this AM. I dunked her under twice and she did just fine with it. They had been doing it as part of oue swim class, but I just didn't feel like doing it then. I felt better about trying it when we had a pool all to ourselves and there wasn't so much stimulation. She didn't cry or anything and wanted to keep on playing.

She's starting to kick more when she swims on her stomach. Everyone kept telling me about how babies naturally know how to swim, so I looked it up because she doesn't seem to naturally know what to do. Anyways, they lose that natural swim instinct by about 3 months of age, the same time they lose all those other inborn instincts & reflexes.

New Threads

So Very Cute & Fuzzy!

Grandma came to babysit her last night at the hotel and brought her an early Valentine's present. Daddy's work holiday party was last night at the Doubletree hotel in Minneapolis and we decided to get a suite there and spend the night and have grandma come babysit.

It's a nice warm jacket and will work great on those days I don't want to stick her in a full snow suit. Plus she looks adorable in it, even if she looks a little grumpy right now - which is because little girl has been fighting nap taking today.

The party was a good time; the food was good; daddy won a few little prizes - none of the big ones; mommy could come to the room and go to sleep early like she normally does and daddy could stay & play. So, it worked out well for all of us.

A Little Over the Top

Now sure how much we'll use the hat, as it is one that just sits there and doesn't stay on the head very well. Plus, with the hat she just looks loike a cotton ball, unless we can find some big sunglasses for her - then she might pull off a whole glam look. I might have to try her pink heart glasses on with this - it could work. Although I put them on her the other day and she just pulls them off and puts them in her mouth.

Her 8 Month Length

Ok - I measured her this morning. She's 29.75 inches long, which is a gain of a half inch over last month. And her head circumference is 17.75 inches, which is a gain of just over a 1/4" inch.

Sleeping Beauty

Here's that picture I talked about. I brought her inside in the car seat and unbuckled her, but left her there in her snowsuit & slippers. I figured she would be more comfortable being unbuckled. She slept for 45 minutes in there.

8 Month Weight

I took her to the County Family Clinic after work today to get a weight, even though I was extremely exhausted from last night and just wanted to come home and relax.

She weighs 19 pounds 12 ounces, which puts her at the 82nd percentile. I didn't take her length yet, as she fell asleep in the car on the way home and I just brought her in, in the car seat, and let her sleep (took a couple pics of that, which you may see later). We figured she would kind of plateau this past month and then get ready for another big gain and growth spurt.

There were a couple other babies there today, both boys. One was 10.5 months and was crawling & walking all over the place. The other was 9.5 months and wasn't crawling yet. He actually seems to be around the same stage of gross motor skills as Isabel.

Playing with Daddy

FrankenPig

Isabel is playing with daddy before we went to swim class. She is playing with her FrankenPig - something dad picked out for her. It's strange, but she loves it because she can easily grab it and chew on the tubes that are coming out of the pig. Strange toy.

She thinks daddy is pretty cool now. When she was younger she was kinda afraid of him and never really motioned to go to him. Now, she gets so excited when she sees him and loves playing with him. She just laughs and laughs when she plays with the big guy. Of course, she still loves being with mommy too. You can really tell that she prefers to have both of us there giving her our attention. She gets a little jealous if we are talking to each other while we are playing with her and gets whiny until we start paying more attention to her.

Pounding Fun.

Daddy taught her how to pound things together a few days ago and she just loves it. She had never really modeled behavior from him, that he noticed. So, he was excited about seeing her do this.

Daddy also invented a little game for himself when he plays with her. She's all about knocking things down - like it's her job or something. So, his game is he tries to see how many cups or blocks he can get stacked before she notices and knocks it down and then tries to beat his record.

At swim class she seemed to like it more this time since it was all more familiar. She thinks it's hilarious when she watches mom blow bubbles in the water. The kids are supposed to do it, but she's not into that yet. So, I just show her. She's the youngest in the class. The class has an age range of 6mo.-3 years.

Another cute things she does is how excited she gets when we put out her blanket (the cow - Larry- print one Auntie Phanie made for her) to play on. When she plays in the living room we always put that blanket down first before we put her on the floor with her toys. Now when she sees it coming out she just squeals with delight. It's cute.

Just Some Pics

Curl Tube

Her hair came out of her hair pony and I thought it made her hair look interesting and wanted to take a few pictures. I didn't really spend much time editing, just a few tweaks. I don't really have much time.

Cartoon?

This was supposed to be a cartoon effect. I don't think it looks that cartoony. Oh well. You can see the curl tube even better here.

But Mommy, I Want It! NOW!

Not a good quality picture, actually it's quite awful. But I am putting it here anyways. She was upset because I wouldn't give her my camera to eat.

Shhhhh!

Cherish the Moments!

Because it may be a while before another one comes.

A Few Thoughts:

* Looks like mom may need to trim some nails, she has a couple scratches on her face.

* We are feeling better in our household today! Yeah! Not 100%, but better.

* We are under a winterstorm warning until noon tomorrow and are supposed to get several inches of snow.

* Happy Birthday Grams!

* The other day when I picked her up from daycare, one of the other little girls (3 year old Sam) came and gave her a hug and kiss goodbye. It was so sweet.

* I took this picture while she was in my arms.

* And so I can cherish this moment, I am going to go and take in a sauna before she wakes.

34 Weeks

Such a Nice Smile.

She got some decent sleep last night, but not mom & dad. Actually, mom didn't do too bad, but she was worried about dad. Little girl brought the stomach flu into our house. Whereas mom is relatively silent about expelling items from her stomach, dad sounds like he is being tortured and that someone is ripping out all of his innards. The first episode of this for him was at 9:30 last night and he was so scary sounding that baby girl starting crying. I think I might have cried a little too. I wanted to go take care of him, but once I sat up in bed I knew I would have to run to a different toilet (good thing we have so many in our house.) He had a pretty rough night. He had issues again at 3am and 5:30am. I think he slept n the bathroom floor most of the night. Also, daddy is not very good about being sick. Mommy had some issue yesterday afternoon @ 3:30pm and then again at 6:30pm (right after I laid her in bed.) It was difficult trying to care for Isabel when I have a broken toe and don't get around the best and then dealing with all the flu symptoms.

Today I feel a little better, but I have an awful headache.

I Can Play the Piano. See!

She's been in a relatively good mood, thankfully. And against my better judgement, I let her watch an episode of Barney the other day. I put it on right after I broke my toe so that I could sit there with it elevated and with ice on it and give the Aleve a chance to start working. They watch some Barney at daycare, so she knew what it was and watched the entire show, so did mom. I will never get that out of my head. I find Baby Bop kinda whiny and the other smaller dinosaurs are just too hyper and annoying. Although I did have to say I did like the actual content, just that the dinosaurs were annoying.

Growing Up So Fast.

Her outfit today are some mix & match pieces mom bought. First are some tights she has worn several times before, next are 2 new pieces from Target - a Levi's top and a Cherokee skirt, and topped off with a vintage Gymboree Sweater. Oh, and a cute little barrette from TCP in her hair.

Stomach Flu

Poor little girl has the stomach flu and things are coming out both ends. She first puked at daycare right before I picked her up. Then she spent much of the rest of the afternoon & night having more puking episodes. Then last night at 12:30 came the explosive diarrhea (with a couple more of those this morning). More puking this morning, but neither for the last 5 hours (woohoo!). She's actually in good spirits except for the few seconds she spends puking.

She wants to play and take baths and talk and be read to. Right now she's playing in her walker and having a blast.

I think mom feels worse than she does. I stubbed my toes REALLY hard and one of them is all swollen and hurts and leave me walking with a limp. I was doing fine this morning until that happened. So, that has slowed me down, but I have managed to get the laundry done and that was a big chore as there was A LOT from all the puking & liquid poops. She couldn't just manage to puke on her shirt, but has to get every stitch of clothing she is wearing and I am wearing and in her bed, etc.

And to top it off, one of the cats came in puked up 2 hairballs (with all it's accompanying liquids) last night and that left me having to wash 2 of our king size blankets (each took up one wash load.)

So, there was a lot of laundry to do today.

We called her doctor and talked to her nurse (who talked to the doctor) and he said we didn't need to bring her in unless she stops nursing or if she doesn't have anymore wet diapers today or if she gets a high fever (which she hasn't gotten a fever yet from this.) But she said we are supposed to keep her home tomorrow too. So, daddy & I have figured out how we can both go to work for a bit and manage to stay home with her as well.

Learning Signs

Well, I have been consistently using the signs for “bath”, “more”, “nurse/milk” & “pick me up” and she knows what they mean and responds what that is something she wants.

We’re going to introduce a couple more signs for her now: Cat , Gentle Touch, Potty, & Swim.

This is the third time I am trying to type this post and blogger keeps deleting this middle part. Argh!

We have done mommy, daddy, I love you, & eat but we haven’t done those consistently enough. So, I am not sure if she understands them for sure or not. The daycare provider did eat with her the other day and said she responded that she understood what it meant.

I asked the daycare lady to do some of the signs with her and she said she thought all the kids would enjoy learning them too. So, she has started with "I love you" and "eat". She said the older kids were enjoying making those signs all day. She is going to get the book I read so that she can steach them all more signs.

And she teaches them Spanish as well. It is amazing how well the kids understand her in both English and Spanish.

7 Month Picture Comparisons

Daddy @ 7 Months

He's the Man! Isn't He?!?!

He said he still wished he had a suit like that.

Isabel @ 7 Months

How sweet!

Mommy @ 7 Months

I had a pretty nice jumpsuit going on too.

Maybe some nice overalls to go work on some cars.

Some Pictures From This Afternoon

Isabel's New Toy

Now that daddy got a new cell phone, Isabel's gets his old one. She tries to get ahold of our cell phones all the time. So, Gramps, she now has her own phone - but since it doesn't have it's own SIM card or her own number, you'll still have to reach her on mom's cell or the home number.

She's got this thing about having her pant legs creep up. I made sure the overalls were long enough, but like most pants she wears, they end up over her calves. No matter how many times you pull them down.

So Precious

She was staring at Larry at the time, so I had a chance to get a still picture of her hand. I don't think I ever got a good close-up of her hand before. I kinda like that I have the dolls hand right there too. It looks neat. I would love to say that my "eye"caught that, but it was totally luck.

All Plugged Up

She been enjoying having a pacifier now & again. Yesterday, when Isabel & I were shopping @ Target we bought her 2 more pacifiers. These ones (one is pictured) have bling on them. Since she's facing down it's hard to see the rhinestones on it.

That bus toy is something she got from her Uncle Al for Christmas. She loves it. All you do is press the different buttons and it makes different animals noises and plays songs. The box said it was for 18mo.+, but I am not sure why. She has figured out how to work it just fine.

I Want to Eat the Camera!

If there are toys present I can't get her to look at me. But here I thought I would go in for a close-up and she decided it was going to be REALLY close. She wanted to put it in her mouth, like she does with everything else. Well, except her basket of swimsuits. We were going through this little basket I had with swimsuits in for her and washable swim diapers and she kept taknig them out and I would put them back in and she would pull them back out. She was having fun with that little game & none of them went in her mouth. I think she liked look at all the fun colors of the different suits. She had to try on a couple to make sure they would fit her (since I bought them last summer) and then pick out one for class tomorrow night.

Mmmmm....Books Are Good......

Before the Nastiness

This was taken only moments before the nastiness happened. I was cropping & editing (actually, I didn't do too much to these two other than crop and remove the red eye) when daddy started yelling for me. He needed a new onesie, more wipes, and HELP! Let's just say that there was so much poop that more ended up outside the diaper than inside.

I am glad there is photo editing software that gets rid of red eye. All my pictures growing up, I had red eyes. And not just some of them - but ALL OF THEM! No one else seems to have that issue, but Isabel does and with editing we can get rid of it and no one has to tease her about being evil or a devil child because she always has red eyes in pictures.

We did go to that birthday party yesterday, but we didn't go swimming, She was very well behaved and quietly sat there studying everything & everyone. The little boy her age kept trying to get her attention and steal her toys from her, but she was too busy taking everything in. Everyone there kept telling me how beautiful she was. One person leaned over to her and said, "You're so pretty!" and she just flashed a smile across her entire face. It was perfect.

All Dressed Up & No Place to Go

We didn't have any place special to go. In fact, the only place Isabel & I went was Target. She is such a good shopper. She quietly plays with her toys while I push the cart around. Actually, I think she enjoys riding around in the cart now as a "ride". She laughs & smiles when I push it from side to side and then go fast and then slow. She plays and just looks at everything. She studies things a lot. She definitly likes shopping at Target much more than at Wal-Mart or the grocery store. I think it's less crowded at Target and the lights are softer than the other places.

Anyways, I realized that I had an abundance of 12 month dresses and if I only out them on her on Saturdays I may never get to them all. I also realized that I had only a few pairs of 12 month pants. I think I may have more dresses than pants. Although I have several pairs of overalls that are on the shortest strap length, so I should be able to let those out further and be good to go.

I have a bunch of 18 month clothes, but she's not there yet. Plus when I was getting clothes before she was born and during the summer, I was thinking she might be in summer clothes at 12 months. Not true. Although, I only bought a few pairs of shorts, so it's not like I went overboard on that. And since her bottoms have just started to fit into 12 months, the shorts might fit this summer since they are all Gymboree bike shorts and they tend to be more forgiving of a fast growing baby.

This week is going to be a little busier for mommy & Isabel. Tuesday we have our first water class. Hopefully that goes ok. Wednesday I can pick up our pictures from Wal-Mart. Friday is mommy's work holiday party. It's from 3-5 at the Art Center. They cater in food and everyone gets done with work early and is still paid until 5, but for me, who gets done with work @ 2:30 - well, I'm there for the food. I plan to come home and pick up Isabel and nurse her and then take her there with me. The party continues later in the evening for a gathering at a co-worker's house (for what we call the 5:05 club) and everyone brings a bottle of wine and an appetizer. I will have to chek if we have a sitter or not for that part. And then next Sunady is Grams' birthday.

33 Weeks Old

So Pretty, but So Uncomfortable

I commented a lot about the uncomfortable part after the third picture. So, you can read about that there.

The dress she is wearing is the one from her daycare provider. As Christmas present from her daycare provider she got this dress set (dress, jacket & tights) and her stacking rings. I thought that was quite a lot of stuff from a daycare provider for a Christmas present.

When she doesn't feel well, she lays & sits a lot more still, so I have been able to get several books read to her without her being all grabby.

Old Fashioned

Again, I was playing around with all the settings and I thought I kinda made this one look like an earlier old-fashioned colro picture.

Today, we were planning on going to a birthday party for a co-worker (her baby is 10 days older than Isabel) and going swimming (the party is at a hotel & by the pool.) But poor little girl doesn't feel like being too active. We would need her temp to get back to normal & stay there. When it's at normal she's active and playing. When it gets anything above 100 she is lethargic and whiney.

My Teeth Hurt So Bad

Her top gums are Sooooooo swollen. Poor little girl. Early Friday morning (3:30) she woke me up with a low-grade (100.2) fever. And that is when it all started. I was up with her from 3:30 until 6am with her nursing on & off and falling asleep on & off. We both slept from 6-7, although I think she was annoyed that I got her up at 7. I normally get up between 6-6:15 to start getting ready for work, but Friday had to be different. Besides, I knew she wasn't going to eat or need to nurse before she went to daycare.

We think it's fever accompanying teething, but we'll believe it when we see it. Her temp breaks every time she has Tylenol and will be ok for a few hours, but them it starts creeping up again. It's always been in the 100-101 ranges. It has never gotten to 102 yet.

Her bottom gums don't seem much different; it's those top ones that seem painful.

I kinda want to figure out how to do coloring on this program. On this picture I thought it would be neat to have the jacet & barrette in color. Maybe some other time.

Playing with Different Software

Painting?

I was fooling around with some different editing software. I am not sure at this point I could exactly re-create this, but I kinda think it looks like a painting the way I edited.

Can you tell what she ate for dinner? Carrots. Lately, she has been on a fruit strike. She only want to eat veggies and doesn't want to eat any fruits. But she still drinks her breastmilk and eat her rice cereal mixed with veggies and eats her banana puffs snacks.

Rawrrrrrr!

Or is it -- "I caught a fish and it was this big!"

I thought this was kinda cute but it was shadowed over half of it and so I was goofing around with the software to see how I can lighten the shadow. I didn't spend too much time on either one because the baby doesn't give me too much time, but I had a few minutes to play around with it.

Tonight I filled out the registration to go to the Infant ECFE classes in our hometown. Those classes won't start until February, but our water classes start next week. The 2 classes will overlap by 3 weeks.

Isabel's bottom half is finally starting to catch up with her top half. She now needs 12 month bottoms (although 12 month tops will probably be outgrown soon - I tell you, she's part giant.) And her feet are finally starting to grown. She's still in a size 2, but now she's filling out more of the shoe. Her feet are small for her age, and really small foe her height.

ISO Warm Winter Outerwear

So, I always seem to forget something in WI when we go there. This time I forgot the bag with Isabel's snowsuit in it, her jacket, a hat, scarf, and maybe mittens (can't remember if they were in there or not.) Anyways, I wasn't going to worry about having my parents send it priority mail, because she was was almost out of the snowsuit and needed a larger size anyways. And the jacket was a fall-weight suede one (since we haven't had really cold weather yet).

So, as a gift she had gotten a nice new snowsuit -- now too small. We received some vintage bunting suits from a couple of people -- guess what! -- too small. I have a whole collection of snowsuits & buntings that she never wore.

Ok - I did pick up some vintage snow pants -- woohoo! They fit! I also bought this jacket last winter from Old Navy, but it's so overstuffed that I have to loosen her seatbelt straps all the way to barely get her in. It's crazy how overstuffed it is. It's so overstuffed that the poor girl can't put her arms down. She hates it! But that's what we had to use for a couple days. I even washed it a couple times to see if that would help -- didn't really help.

So, a co-worker brought me one his daughter used. It was a vintage one that has been passed around, which is totally fine. But it is held together by 3 pieces of velcro, that overtime have become less and less effective and don't really hold it together. Although, she does look adorable in it.

So, then today during lunch I ran to this store that sells new & used kids & maternity clothes. It was crazy how much they wanted for a used snowsuit or jacket...they were new prices basically. Nope - can't spend that amount of money for something we'll only use for a couple of months. BTW - I had gone to Target this weekend looking for something, but they were all out of stuff for infants, the smallest jacket was a size 18 months and I tried it on her and the arms were twice as long as hers. But anyways, Target had their stuff marked half off, which made their new items cost less than the used stuff at this other store.

Ok - so, then I had a few minutes left and ran to the Salvation Army and they had a size 18 mo. suit - with a working zipper. It'll be a little big, but it's in good condition and was the right price. And if she grows anymore in the next 3 months of winter, then it should fit her the whole time. She is wearing size 12 month stuff right now. So, it's in the wash right now and we'll try it out tomorrow. So, keep your fingers crossed that this one will work out for us.

I have another set of mittens here for her, as well as other hats and a scarf. So, she will be kept warm (if it ever gets below freezing this winter -- not that I'm complaining -- really, I'm not!)

You know I wouldn't have this problem if 1) mommy wasn't forgetful and 2)my baby wasn't part giant.

Happy New Year!

U-Rah-Rah!

Happy New Year!

I thought this was a cheerleading outfit. Daddy thought it looked like a tennis outfit. I suppose that many tennis outfits and cheerleading outfits look similar.

What did we do for New Year's Eve? Well, daddy was on the computer at the time and didn't even realize he missed New Year's. Mommy & Isabel were both fast asleep. We all slept much better with her in her own crib in her own room.

Give Me an "I"

Give me a "S", Give me an "A", Give me a "B", Give me a "E", Give me a "L" What's that spell? ISABEL!

Isabel and I went shopping today at Target to pick up a few things and she did a fantastic job. I needed to pick up a couple of new pacifiers for her. She has recently been enjoying them occasionally, but she is fond of these Pooh ones from Target, but they were size 0-3 months and are a little small for her. So, we bought the other size now. She seems to like the nipple on these ones the best and they aren't like any others.

Same Picture, Different Look

This is a cartoon look.

How Long Will It Take to Remember to Write 2007 on Checks?

Such a thing for a baby to think about? But isn't that always the stumper of a new year, having to remember that the year is different when you write out a check or the date on something.

I was getting much better pictures in her bedroom since the lighting is better and the walls and much of the furniture is yellow or white. The light bounces around better.