Marker Masterpiece

I bought her some washable markers to see if thesewould be easier to use than big crayons, since you don't really have to press down and can drag across. She liked it much more, although she didn't want to color to long. She is very interested in how the caps come on & off and was very good about helping put them back in the box.

Driving Already

Here are her driving pictures from today. She did very good on the rides she went on by herself. Although, I have to admit she loved the regular playground much more than the rides. She just thinks it is so much fun to crawl up a slide.

She did try cotton candy, but I am not sure she is fond of the texture of it. Although she did love sharing a blue-raspberry slush with mom.

After we came back to Grams & Gramps house we took a nap and then we went with them swimming. So, she had a really fun day.

Tomorrow, we plan to go to a nearby library. They have an activity going on and have a clown there. She has never met a clown before, but I think she'll do just fine. She did fine with Santa(s) & the Easter Bunny.

Pictures from Saturday and Monday

These are pictures from Saturday. The top left she is trying to grab the camera. My parents and their friend George had this big family picnic at George's pond. It was very nice. Good food.The water was great and Isabel loved swimming. The most right picture is what happens after the pigtails come out.

I hope these pictures com through ok. I had to email them to my blogger. It's very putzy, but that is what I have to do. I can't wait until they have highspeed in their area.

Here are some pictures from today when we went to Bay Beach Amusement Park in Green Bay. We went on the Merry-go-Round, train, & bugs together and she went on 2 car rides by herself. Grams came along with us. We had a picnic before we went on rides.

Pictures Coming Soon

Please be patient as I figure out my mom's computer set up and wait downloading on dial-up.....

Casting Call

Today, we drove up to the Cities to go to a casting call at Creative Kidstuff. They were looking for kids 0-12 to be in their Christmas catalog. I thought it might be fun to do. The call was from 10-11 and we got there at 9:50 and our number was #76. So, we left for a while and visited daddy's aunt Dawn at her work and all her co-workers were gaga over Isabel. When we got back they were at 60, so we havd to wait about 15 minutes for our turn, which was just enough time for Isabel to eat her snack. There was probably around 150 kids there and tomorrow there is another shoot at another location in the Cities. This was just a call for them to take headshots (they wanted their own) and then they will look through and call people back. It was an ok experience. Anyways, I was hoping to go shopping at my favorite mall there afterward, but Isabel was just so sacked out (she never took a nap on the ride up) and fell asleep almost immediately getting into the car, so we just went home.

Tomorrow we are meeting some friends at the HI waterpark. That should be a lot of fun.

1 year comparisons

I forgot to look up what our one year comparisons are and just did tonight....she is definitly following dad's trend.

At one year, Isabel was 23pounds, 6 ounces and 31.5" long.
At one year, daddy was 24pounds, 1ounce and 31.25" long.
At 15 months, mommy was 23pounds, 13ounces and 32.25" long.

Mommy had measurements for 10 months and 15 months, but not 12.

And at 14 months, Isabel is 24pounds, 6ounces and 32.75" long. Bigger than mommy even a month earlier.

When she actually stands, people are amazed at how tall she is. When I see her next to babies she is around the same age as, she always seems an inch or so taller. Good thing I'm teaching her how to play basketball now. Next year (when she can reach the net - teehee!) I will teach her how to play volleyball.

Tuesday, July 24th

This morning we went to storytime at the library. Isabel didn't care much for listening to the lady read, she really wated her own books to look through and be read to her. Then we ran a few errands, went shopping, and finally ended up at McDonald's for lunch. This afternoon we plan to go swimming.

A Couple of New Things

Here is Isabel in her painting smock that grandma made her. It covers most of her now, but it will still fit her for a couple of years. She likes the fun colors of it.

Grandma & grandpa took a roadtrip vacation and stopped at our house on the way back. One of the places they went to was John Deere in Moline, IL and they bought her this hat that says "Farm Chick" on it. She was having fun taking it off everytime I put it on, but I was never quick enough to take a picture. Finally, I told her, "No, you leave it on." Well, she didn't like that and got the alligator tears going. She left it on and didn't touch it until I told her she could take it off. But the tears didn't really last, because I took the smock picture after this one.

Tomorrow we play to go to the library for one of the storytimes and then have a playdate to go swimming in the afternoon.

The Weekend is Over....

We had to run to Fleet Farm this afternoon, so I picked up some birdie for Isabel to play with. They are cheap, $1.50 for 6. And I gave her a cleaned out wipes container that I cut a nice big oval opening in and showed her how to fill it and then close it up and then empty it. She added in the golf balls too. She was having fun with this.

She spilled a lot of milk on her onesie & skirt, so that came off for play time after supper.

Little girl almost cost mommy & daddy $57.95 for a new smart card for dishnetwork. She took the one out of the HD-DVR and I don't know where she put it. It's basically the size of a credit card, so it could have been slipped anywhere. But daddy suggested I try the one from the regular receiver downstairs and that did work.

It's going to be a hot one this week. Isabel & I have plans to go swimming a couple times with friends, so that should help.

61 Weeks

Hugging her dolly close. In the last few days she has also been cradling & feeding her baby that she got at Christmas from Grams & Gramps. it's very cute.

Rather than just watch us with the puppets, she decides today to stick her own hand in and try out the puppets herself.

We tried play-doh today (I made some last night), but she just isn't ready for play-doh. She doesn't get it. I'll introduce it again later. We tried fingerpainting too, but she doesn't like it so much yet. Although she thinks playing with the containers of fingerpaint is fun and playing with the bucket & sponge I had for clean-up is a blast.

14 Months

Today she is wearing a little strawberry shortcake outfit from Kendra & Tim. It's cute because the elastic at the bottom of the shirt keeps sliding up over her buddha belly.

She loves her little dolly. She has to sleep with it every night. And if she is upset and you give her dolly she hugs dolly and starts to feel better. She loves to hug dolly.

Here are some other little friends. She loves soft stuffed animals. I bought these for her when she was an infant and we have played with them occasionally since then. Now she has even more of an interest in them.

Today, I took out some pots & pans, covers, & wooden spoons for her. I have never given to them to her before and she thought this was just great. Off & on through the day she would keep herself occupied for quite some time with them. The clothespins were still out from yesterday, so we kept making clothespin stew. She also like to play with the real kitchen timer I gave her. she loves pressing the buttons and hearing it make noise.

We also built a fort today and that is always fun and I also got out the golf balls and muffin pan and had fun putting the golf balls in & out of the muffin pan. Today was all about toys around the house.

We have this chair in the playroom and she just loves it. I was sitting in it before this picture and she was on the ottoman, but as soon as I moved she jumped onto the chair and just laughed. She thinks it's funny when she steals out seat on a big chair. She played up there quite a while (until she fell off), but she wanted back up again. We can't protect her from all falls, otherwise she won't learn not to sit so close to the edge.

Between daddy & I we must have read the same 10 books five times each today. She was really into reading today. She is cute how she snuggles into our chests she we read to her.

Tonight we had tacos for supper. Once before I gave her black olives to try and she didn't care for them, but that was probably a month ago. Today, I gave her them again and she couldn't get enough of them. She loves them as much as mommy does and between baby & mommy we finished off a whole can. I have a feeling I will see a lot of black pieces in her poop tomorrow. Yuck.

14 Month Measurements

Tall Girl is now 32.75" long

Weight: 24 pounds, 6 ounces

Her head circumference is still 18.5" and her feet are 4 3/8" long, which put her inbetween a size 3 & 4. Although these days we are not wearing shoes often since we it is warm/hot. Once it gets cooler again I am sure she'll be wearing her leather slippers/shoes again soon.

I'll post some pictures later after I take them. Today, she is wearing a special birthday outfit from our friends Kendra & Tim. It's a size 24 months. My tall little girl needs to wear between 18mo. and 24 mo. (2T). It's amazing that it fits......the top is perfect since her torso is so long, and the bottoms are great on length, but she has some extra room around the waist, which is to be expected. I think it is funny that her feet are little compared to the rest of her. Mommy & daddy both have long feet. Other kids her age seem to wear a size 5 and she is around a 3 1/2 (although, you can never find half sizes, so she has size 4's.)

Today's New Game

Today's new game came from the Toddler's Busy Book. The object of the game is to put the clothespins in & out the holes that I cut in the bottom of the egg carton. She had fun with this one, even if she couldn't get them in the small holes very well. She enjoyed taking them out and then she would open the carton and put them inside the carton. Smart girl. She always finds ways to accomplish the goal, even if the way she did was not how it was intended. I was also taking the clothespins and clipping it to clothes and she would pull them off. I thought it was funny,s he thought it was annoying (because the clothespins don't go there.)

We went swimming at the community pool today with Rhynda & Charlie. It was a good time. Neither were going down for their afternoon nap, so we went earlier than planned. By the end, Isabel was so pooped out that she fell asleep within a couple minutes of being put in her stroller to walk home. Luckily, after we got home I was able to bring her to her crib and she took her afternoon nap.

No big plans tomorrow.

Happy Hump Day!

She just loves Larry so much. He's been getting annoyed by her affection and attention, but he handles it very well. He seems to be mellowing more & more every day. Now he doesn't even fuss when his food dish is empty, which is amazing!

Today, we had a playdate with Emily & her children Anna & Darrin. We had a good time. Kids always love playing with other people's toys. There is always soemthing more fun &intersting about what other people have. We had lunch there and then played more and when we left she was so tuckered out she fell asleep within 2 minutes of getting into the car. Although, she woke up as soon as we got home and didn't want to go back down for another nap.

Tomorrow, we have a playdate with Rhynda & Charlie. They are coming over here and then we will walk tot he community pool and go swimming. That should be fun. Isabel always loves to go swimming.

It's Too Hot & Muggy to Be Outside Mommy!

No pictures from lunch, but we went to visit our friends Carrie & Kyle and their baby Gavin. He's 2 weeks old now and it's hard to believe that Isabel was once so little. He seems to be an easy-going baby. I hope he stays that way. But they made us lunch....well, I brought some lunch for Isabel (piece of ham, piece of cheese, & watermelon) and she ate all of that...plus she at some (quite a bit) of mommy's filet mignon and veggies & dip (found out she likes raw broccoli & cauliflower, never tried it raw before, she doesn't like broccoli cooked) and strawberries (& mom had a baked potato too.)


Yesterday, we met mommy's friend Linda & her kids at the Faribault waterpark. We had a lot of fun there. Isabel always loves to go swimming. Some little girl named Riley who looked about 4 came up and asked if she could play with Isabel. Isabel took a liking to her and kept trying to swim after her. It was sweet.

Kudos to Stonyfield Yogurt

The other day when I went grocery shopping I thought I would give Stonyfield Yo Baby Yogurt a try. Isabel has been very particular about yogurt and I have tried a few different varieties and flavors. So, I bought the SFYB yogurt, the kind with fruit & cereal & DHA. The flavors in the pack are strawberry banana and raspberry pear. She had the raspberry pear today and LOVED it. I defnitly noticed that so far she seems to prefer raspberry as a flavor and whole milk yogurt. The price isn't too bad, especially if she eats it all. I have bought the big 32oz. containers, but she hasn't cared for them and I don't eat it quick enough, so it is a waste. But I only bought the lowfat versions, guess I'll have to try whole milk. All lowfat versions seem to be a bit tangy compared to the whole milk, maybe that is why whe doesn't like it.

They do have coupons on their website.....I see that now. I will print some off next I need yogurt, as their coupons are only good for 10 days after you print them.

They have a yobaby photo contest. I think I will have to submit one of Isabel's yogurt eating pictures.

Something else I found on their site is a discount on earth-friendly wines. You can get $20 off $60, which basically just covers the cost of s/h. I would like to try some, but with moving the last thing I need is more wine to move. They also have a 15% discount on organic bouquets of flowers.

Sunday Fun Day

Today we went to the MN Children's Museum and had an absolute blast. Neither of us had been there before and it was so much fun. We were there for about 1.5 hours and spent most of that time in the Habitot (get it - "tot") room. Isabel kep laughing the whole time. The top L picture, you can see where daddy painted a flower on her face while we were there. We did walk through the other rooms and she will love to explore them when she gets older and we are in the area visiting family. We will defninitly go back for another visit before we move.

After the museum, we went to Boston Market for lunch. Isabel loves their macaroni & cheese. And then we went to Half Price Books to use the gift certificate she got from godmother Jessi for her birthday. We bought 6 books and a puzzle for Isabel and daddy found some stuff for himself too. He needed to find something to read to entertain himself while he lives with Uncle J & Aunt Phanie while he starts his new job and we try to get the house sold. He doesn't need to be in their hair all the time, so he can read in his room.

Last night I was reading through the Toddler's Busy Book. She's too young yet for most of the activities, but there are a few I find in there that she can do. This was one of them. All it is is ice cubes colored with food coloring (I made those up last night.) And then you drop them in the tub for colored fun. Daddy asked if baby was going to look like an Easter egg when she was done. She doesn't. The ice cubes don't last long, but what short time they were there she found it interesting to grab at them and try to taste them.

Saturday, July 14th

With this little basketball set you are supoose to push ot pull the buttons. Well, she figured out her own way - you just push/cram the balls through. She also figured out her own way for the elephant shape sorter she got for her birthday from her uncle Tony & aunt Carol; she takes them in & out of the trunk. And she also plays on the cube-slide-climber in her own way; you are supposed to crawl up on one side and slide down the back, but no, she just crawls up the slide (does this on both her slides.) She's going to be one of those that figures out her own (easier) way of doing things and gets into trouble because the teacher her wants her to follow her instructions. Although, Isabel is a sensitive child, so she may not like being told she did something wrong - so she may do it the way the teacher wants her to after all.

She dances all the time now. She will sit there and she can here music from the tv or mommy sings or her cd player, or from one of her toys and she starts moving to the beat. It's sweet.

Today we built another fort and she thought it was just hilarious. She really gets a kick out of hide-n-seek and forts are great for that.

She finally broke through with her right bottom molar. She still has a ways to push it through, but it broke through finally, but she still has the other side.

Some Friday Pictures

We decided not to go swimming this morning at the waterpark. Maybe this afternoon I will take her to the community pool or fill up her baby pool. Time to go make breakfast.

Thursday Morning

See below for the slideshow. We changed clothes three times between food messes and poopy messes. Right now daddy is giving her a bath and then we are going to go check out the Thursday PM storytime at the library. We are planning on going to the waterpark tomorrow, but that is weather dependent. Isabel & I just hung out at home today while daddy went to the Cities to go out to lunch with grandpa and daddy's two brothers living in the area. Tonight mommy is going to go see the new Harry Potter movie with a friend. That should be fun.

The Yogurt Story

Wednesday, July 11th

After she got dressed this morning, we went in the office and he was sitting on the chair (actually, he is there again now.) She kept trying to pet him and finally I sat her next to him and she decided he made a good pillow. I didn't let her do it for to long because I knew he wouldn't stay there too long. She was mad at me when I took her away from her Larry pillow.

I am taking her into the Dr. today. We have an appt. this afternoon. She is teething and the diarrea she has is normal for that, but she is not digesting food very well, so the nurse said we needed to bring her in for that. Her poop is just awful, it's all loose and chunky and has this awful sulfer smell. Yuck!

Poor kitty is just trying to sleep. She is more & more interested in the cats every day. She has taken to trying to chase Lucy around, but Isabel's not fast a enough and she's loud about it, so Lucy gets a warning and runs away.

On Monday afternoon, the three of us went swimming at Lake Kohlmeier. It is a nice clear lake that has a lot of baby fish swimming around in it. We learned that if you don't keep moving they will come and try to eat you. Daddy & I both learned that. It was a good hot afternoon for swimming. Yesterday we just hung around at home. Isabel helped me pick apples from the tree that is rip in July. Actually, I would pick them and give her some and she would put them in the bucket. I tried to heave her help me pick weeds from the flower beds, but she didn't much care for riding in the wheelbarrow.

Just playing with her blocks. The middle blocks I didn't have all the letters so I just did Bel, but you can hardly see the raised letters on those blocks. She kept trying to push the blocks off of the places I had them when I was taking pictures. She's a goof. She thinks it's her job to knock down things I build. She will just sit there and wait for me to stack some blocks and then she will just swoop in and knock them down before I have a chance to get many in the stack.

We're doing ok and changing her schedule to fit what our lifestyle has been changed to, with mom staying him with her and daddy working. She's taking an AM nap and a PM nap, but they have been shifted because we moved her bedtime to 7:30 from 6:30. I think we've been working on that for a month now. Sometimes she still will go to bed earlier if she is really cranky. So, now she will get up a little later, which makes breakfast a little later, and naps a little later, and lunch a little later, and supper a little later, and bedtime a little later. So, when daddy starts his new job, we can all still eat dinner together and she can play with her before bedtime.

She is weaning herself from nursing. She only nurses when she wakes up and right before bed. She cut out the naptime nursing herself. And she doesn't nurse to sleep anymore; she hasn't for several months. All on her own she will detach from nursing and I'll put her down awake and she will fall asleep on her own - which is nice.

Sunday, July 8, 2007

7-7-7 (59 Weeks)

Isabel thinks that playing on couches, chairs, and beds are just so much fun, anthing with cushion and pillows. In this picture, she & daddy were sitting on the couch at daddy's aunt Dawn's lake home. We went there today for their annual 4th of July party. Isabel had a good time swimming in the lake (the water was very warm, as well as the air was) and playing with the big kids.

We also went swimmnig yesterday. Our friends April, Kallen, & Noah came over for a playdate and we went to the local community pool. It was a lot of fun. Isabel is just a little fish. Tomorrow it is supposed to be hot again. The temp won't be as hot, but it will be super humid. I'm not sure if she'll just swim in her kiddie pool or if we will go somewhere. I was thinking I would like to go to Lake Kohlmeier; they have a swimming beach with lifeguards there and we have never been there.

She napped in the car on the way there for an hour and on the way back for an hour. On the way back she was soo pooped out that she fell asleep withing a couple minutes of getting into the car.

This week, we did some little things we needed to do before we moved. Isabel & I went and got copies of her birth certificate, so now we don't have to track them down later. And daddy took the dog and cats in to get their annual shots (which were due at the end of the month anyways) and their papers so that we can register them once we move to our new place, wherever that may be.

We've been working on eating with forks and spoons and she does a good job feeding herself with them, but picking things up is tricky. She knows what to do, but just can't get things stabbed well with the fork yet. Tonight we practiced drinking out of a cup. She wasn't so interested in eating, but did want to drink tonight. So, I went with it and made it fun. She has been "practicing" drinking in her Little Tikes kitchen with her play cup (but nothing is in it) and any other time mom is holding the cup with stuff in it. Tonight I was refilling the cup over and over with little bits of milk so that she could do it all herself. Of course, only about 1/3 of it actually makes it in her mouth. But she was so proud of herself for drinking out of a cup like a big girl.

Right now, Isabel is trying to push through some lower molars. I think these ones are harder for her then the others so far. You can feel the raised bumps in there. She's still pushing the top ones all the way through. She's been a drool machine and in the last week when I've been able to feel the lower molar bumps she has been getting up in the middle of the night 1-2x. We uaully don't have to stay longer that 5 minutes with her, sometimes it's just 'cuz she needs a pacifier and they have all found their way out of the crib. She's also got this smelly diarrhea going on. It's not true diarrhea because it's not several times a day, it's just loose stools. I know - sounds pleasant - but it is a symphtom of teething. We've been giving her cranky pills (really, they are Teething Tablets) and her Tylenol. She actually enjoys taking both of those things, but she hates Orajel. Luckily, we have not had any fevers associated with teething or any extreme fussiness. She tends to like to take longer naps when she is teething. The last week and a half or so she has been taking two long naps (1.5-2 hours) a day, plus her 11-12 hours at night. Although, some days we are busy and she gets 2 shorter ones (like the hour ones today.) I looked up how many hours babies are supposed to sleep now, and the combination of night sleep and naps should equal 13-14 hours. Right now she probably gets 14-15 hours.

Stars & Stripes Forever

The title coordinates with her outfit. She is wearing RW&B stripes on top and RW&B stars on the bottom. We had a pretty fun day today. We went to the outlet mall for a short time today to buy her a couple of new things, including short sleeve pj's (we only had one pair with short sleeves that fit right now.) We ate all our meals at home. This morning I was working on teaching her how to eat her Clifford Crunch in a bowl with milk with her spoon. That will take more practice. More & more now she stands on her own. We played outside quite a bit and that was fun. Our big event for today is that we went to the waterpark. They had a special of $4 a person for today. She loved it - EVERY part of it. Well, not every part, she wanted to swim & slide and didn't care for the lazy river. We had a blast.

Remember - click on the picture to make it bigger to see the images better.

Happy Birthday to Uncle Al!

Monday, July 2nd

Today we just hung out around the house and tried to play as much as possible. We got outside quite a bit and she did some more standing w/o touching anything. Tomorrow we are meeting our friends Rhynda & Charlie at the library for storytime. Wednesday is Uncle Al's birthday.

Happy Canada Day?

Week in Review

Days & Events

• This week M, T, & F she spent mornings at daycare and it will probably be the last time she goes there. Those afternoons she came home for a nap and then played outside.
• On Wednesday we we for a walk (& play inside) with our friend Linda & her daughter Morgan at Riverbend Nature Center.
• On Wedneday, I officially became a SAHM. I am very excited about it, although not looking forward to the Single SAHM part that will happen in a couple fo weeks when daddy goes ahead to his new job and we stay behind to sell the house.
• Thursday morning all three of us went to the library and got some new books and new toys and in the afternoon mommy's friend Rhynda came over with her son Charlie for a playdate.
• Friday was a low-key day. She wentt o daycare for a couple of hours (I paid the time, I might as well use it, plus it gave me time to pack up some stuff in her room.) The daycare lady seemed sad this might be the last time she takes care of here and one of Isabel' little boyfriends there was sad to see her leave. It was cute & sad at the same time. I might see if once a week I can go there with her for an hour or so (after daddy leaves for MKE) and she can play with her friends and I have an adult to talk to.
• Saturday, we met our dear friend Jessi & her nephews at the zoo. We were there for 2 hours and only got through the outside part. They stayed, but we needed to leave because it was pas Isabel's nap time and she was starting to show it. Daddy liked taking her to the petting zoo/farm part and showing her the goats.
• Sunday - is today - I think it will be low-key again. We have no plans. It's supposed to be a gorgeous day. So maybe we'll walk to the park. Our friend Skye is bringing us over raspberries today from her place. That is sweet of her.

New Things

1. She loves trying to figure out her stacking rings and putting them back on the stack. You can just see the wheels turning as she figures out what order they go in.
2. She easily be distracted with linked beads, which she loves to pull off.
3. Our riend Carrie was due to have her baby boy Gavin a few days ago. We haven't heard anything yet, so she must still be waiting.
4. On Monday, she brought herself up to standing without holding onto anything to get here or to stay there. We were amazed watching her.
5. When we went to library and she went to the books, she immediatly pulled out on of her favorites: Do's & Don'ts by Todd Parr. His books are kinda fun. Right now she is enjoying a pocket-size English-Spanish baby words one and a flap book that directs them to find baby's body parts.
6. She has figured out the mouse button(s) on the laptop and take her pointer finger and presses it, causing mommy & daddy to lose their place.
7. She is still very ticklish under her neck. Daddy was trying to clean up crumbs there and she was laughing hysterically. It was hilarious.