Art Project Day

We worked on a few Creative Projects today. Notice her left eye - she woke up with this swelling there. Andy thought maybe it happened when she fell in this gravel driveway yesterday afternoon, but that seems like a long time to take to swell. Not sure what happened, but she doesn't seem bothered by it.

71 Weeks

Today is mommy & dady's anniversary and we have lots planned. So, we'll have more to say later.

Back at the Lake House

After a short visit to Grams & Gramps, we are back at the lake house. This morning she got up bright & early, which also called for a nap this morning. We did get to our playgroup, but a little late since I didn't want to disturb her nap. She is taking her afternoon nap right now. After playgroup we went to this store called Think Play Learn. It is a very cool store and have learning games & books & activities for kids of all ages. We bought this Make-Believe Princess book and a sponge & finger paint set there. We have already read the book several times since bringing it home. She loves to read.

Last night, we did end up going to the Y and got her completely exhausted. We went swimming for a half hour and then went into the playroom for 15 minutes. We had fun. Daddy gets home from his work trip soon.


Here are some pictures of the living room at the lake house. Remember - it is a furnished place, so this is not our choice of furniture. It is pretty dated lookinig, but it works. I did buy some throw pillows from Target & eBay, so we had them to use. And I picked up the area rug pictured at a rummage sale. The hardwood floors are cold on our feet, so we needed something here. And you can kinda see the tv - we did bring along the plasma.

Pictures of Blake

I still think she thinks he is a doll. She just can't figure out how we make him move like he does.

A close-up of the little man. He's pretty much just been asleep when we have seen him. I think right now he looks like his daddy's side of the family.

Isabel would give him her dolly, so maybe she knows he is a real baby. She doesn't let just anyone her dolly.

Mid-Week Review

Well, I thought I better post something so people don't think we fell into the lake.

Sunday - We all went to the Y swimming. It was fun. Sunday evening at 7:17pm, baby Blake was born. He is 20.5 inches long and weighed in at 9 pounds 4 ounces. He is now the second grandchild on mommy's side.

Monday - We went to storytime at a different library. The content was lively & good & they had playtime after it, but the kids were a little older than Isabel (even though it was 1-2, I think most were between 2-3) and were a little more agressive with the toy playing. That afternoon, Isabel & mommy went to the Y to play & swim.

Tuesday - Daddy left for PA for work and returns Friday. We left for grams & gramps house to visit them and to meet baby Blake. He is a cute baby. Isabel was very sweet with him. I think she thought he was a doll at first and wanted to pick him up, but then he started moving and it surprised her a little. She gave him several kisses and a hug too and kept wanting to check out his hands and feet and wanted to rock him in his bouncy seat.

Wednesday - We visited baby Blake & family again. Isabel was again very sweet with him. It is nice to see that he is not jealous. He a little jaundice, so they have to take him into the clinic everyday for a while to get his bilirubin count and they have to put him in the sun for a few minutes several times a day. We ran some errands, but spent most of the day at grams & gramps' house. We played with their new puppy, Benji. He is a very cute puppy. He kept wanting Isabel to play with him. It was as if he was thinking "Hey, you're my size."

Tomorrow we head back to the lake house. On the way back we'll stop & have lunch with Auntie Phanie. That gives us all a chance to move around and for Molly to go to the bathroom. Yes, now since Molly is an indoor dog, she needs to makes these trips with us. She does fine in tha car. I might have to take Isabel swimming at the Y tomorrow night. Today, she was looking at a big puddle and kept making the sign for swim. She didn't understand why I wouldn't let her swim in a puddle. Friday we have playgroup with M&T in the morning. We will plan to go to that, but if Isabel decides she wants a nap, the nap will win out.

She is transitioning her nap schedule. So, it's hard to say when she will exactly nap.

Sunday, September 23rd

Well, last night we took daddy to this awesome park in Genesee that we found. It was fun. We had to leave at dusk when all the mosquitos were coming out. Baby girl has enough mosquito bites on her already.

Today, we have been hanging out at home. I think we'll go to the Y this afternoon or evening to go swimming, all of us.

Isabel seems to be trying to transtion away from 2 naps again. Today she was very resistant to a morning nap and never did take one, but she did go down right after lunch. Hopefully she takes a nice long nap.

We're waiting for that call saying baby Blake has been born. Auntie Razz was having contractions all day yesterday, but it was not progressing and now they want to keep her at the hospital until she has the baby. But she was supposed to be induced this morning. She hasn't slept in over 24 hours, so we hope she has all the energy & stamina she needs for all the pushing she has to do and we hope everyone will be safe and healthy.

70 Weeks

We went to the Johnson Creek Outlet Mall while daddy went to a bike show nearby. He drove some three-wheeled motorcyle there. We bought a couple of scarves at Claires. We like playing scarves. Right now daddy is at a bike show at the nearby Harley dealership. This afternoon or evening we will probably go swimming at the Y, but that is about it for our plans for this Saturday.

Reminder

Just a reminder that if you want to see the photos larger, just click on them and they will appear larger. This is the case for most of the photos, although some will not enlarge.

TGIF

Well, daddy said I should take her swimming in the lake since this might be the only day we coudl try. We tried, but it was too cold for swimming. So, we just sat along the shoreline and played with rocks. She had fun wathing the water splash as she threw them in.

One of the middle pictures, you see Molly. She doesn't go in too much further than that.

This morning she slept in 2 hours longer than normal. And that was because she was oushing through her first cuspid. Whenever she pushes through a tooth and it breaks skin she takes an extra long nap or sleep. So, now she has 13 teeth. The corresponding lower cuspid looks like it might be following shortly.

We went to a few rummage sales today to help make the lake house feel more cozy. We got a couple of quilts, one which we will use on the twin bed if we have any guests that are here to use it and I got an area rug. The hardwood floors are cold on our feet, and now we have an area rug in the living room.

After that, we went to a Mom's & Tot's (I'll refer to them as M&T from now on) playgroup and a member's house. We had a good time and there were a lot of kids Isabel's age there. All the moms seem really nice. I think it will be a good group for us.

I was just having some fun and thought a picture of our feet together would be sweet.

And then I also did a picture of our handprints. We did collect some nice rocks that we will use to paint someday. Just a differnt medium to paint on.

No real plans for this weekend. There are a few things going on that we might check out, but if we don't get to them it's no biggie.

Still no baby cousin Blake yet. Maybe he is waiting until we go visit so that we have to take them to the hospital (in case Uncle Shane is at work).

16 Months Old

Today she is 16 months old. She was being silly with the kitchen hand towel. Finally I hadto get out her play scarves and we played with those for a while. We had a good time with our lunchdate with Noah & Michelle. Isabel did a good job sharing today. She didn't share too well on our playdate on Tuesday.
Here is the cooking part of the kitchen. We have all the usual. It's a nice big open kitchen. I am standing in the dining part of the kitchen. Some day I'll take a picture of that.

Busy Week

Well, it has been a busy week this week. The above picture was taken at a playdate at Betty Brinn's Children's Museum in Milwaukee. I only took a few pictures there and am afraid I didn't take really good pictures and I haven't taken any other photos the past few days. Maybe I will try to take some today.

So, Tuesday we had a playdate with Sophia & her mom Miriam. They just relocated here as well for Harley, but they came from Atlanta. They are both very sweet and I am glad I met Miriam on Milwaukeemoms. We were there for almost 2 hours and had a lot of fun. The cool thing is that they give your BOGO Free admission if you have AAA. Way to put my membership to use. And parking was cheap too. It cost is $9 for admission & parking.

Yesterday, we went to storytime at the local library. Someone had told me it was kind of dreary and it was. The content of the storytime was great and was active and at a fast pace for 1 & 2 year olds, but it was just in a meeting/confrence room. I think next week we are going to try storytime at a different nearby library.

Then yesterday afternoon, we drove to Glendale, where one of mommy's friends from high school lives. She has two little boys, Logan & Evan. It was a long drive for a playdate, but we had fun.

Today, Isabel is 16 months old. Guess I should take a picture then. We went to a rummage sale this morning, but we didn't find much. There are some more I saw advertised on craigslist for tomorrow that I think we will go to before we go to our moms&tots event. We also have lunch playdate with Noah & his mom Michelle. Mommy met Michelle on Milwaukeemoms too and they recently relocated. Us relocationers (is that a word?) need to stick together. And this afternoon, we might head over to Delafield to a park there for a Meetup.com playdate.

There are different meetup groups on there and you can join them and attend some playgroups. So, this would be the first one for this group. It only looks like a few people will be attending, but that's ok.

We have not scheduled many playdates for next week because I am waiting to see when my sister has her baby. We plan to go stay with grams & gramps for a few days, but if she goes way over her due date (she's due today!) then we might be there & gone before she has the baby.

So, that is what we have been up to.

Playgroup to Concord Zoo

This was our first playgroup with the Moms & Tots group we joined. There was only a handful of us, so it was pretty small. We went to Concord Zoo, which is this free little petting zoo that is behind a BP gas station in Ixonia. It's actaully a pretty decent size and they have a little garden too with little digging tools for the kids to play in and several of these wooden playhouse, which are great (they even have an adult size door on the side, kid size in the front.) She had fun. She loved feeding the goats. It will be fun to take daddy there sometime. It's open year round, so we can take other visitors there as well. This afternoon we may go shopping to buy some crafting supplies.

First Week at our New Home

Mommy did get a chance to check out the local farmer's market and bought a bunch of veggies & a watermelon. It is not as big as the one at our old home, but is sufficient. Friday night, we all went downtown to a gelato shoppe. Mmmmm! Gelato! Isabel loved it too. We had to tag-team her. While one would give her a bite of theirs, the other would take there own bite and then switch. One of the fun things about moving is that we have a whole bunch of new restaurants to try.
Auntie Phanie & Uncle J came over for a visit today. They came over and we made semi-homemade pizza (used a pizza crust we bought and put on our own toppings) and also semi-home raspberry pound cake (bought a pound cake and then made a raspberry sauce and fresh whipped cream.) We played outside wih them a lot. Uncle J kept trying to psych out the dog, but after a bit she did catch on.


We went to Olive Garden in Brookfield with Auntie Phanie & Uncle J. We were there shortly after 5pm and we still had a 30-40 minute wait. That's crazy. All of us got the unlimited pasta bowl and tried a few things (our own & each other's) Isabel loved all of it. She is a big fan of pasta.

This is a picture from today (Sunday). It is of the first room you see when you walk in house. We use it as a playroom & office. We have a twin bed set up in here, so that is one of the extra beds. We also have a third bedroom that has a queen size bed in it. We can close the door off to this room. So, you see three different views of the room. I bought a couple of push toys (stroller & shopping cart) from someone on craigslist for Isabel. She just loves them. She makes a motor sound when she pushes them, just like I do when I push her in her car outside.

Today we went and toured the local YMCA. We decided to join. It was pure torture to Isabel to walk through all the rooms of fun things and not get to play. So, while mommy asked a bunch of questions and filled out paperwork, daddy took her into the "Prime Time" playroom and played. That room is for parents and kids under 7 to play. There are tubes & slides in there and lots of different play sets, toys, and train sets. She had a blast. After we came home and she took a nap, then supper, and then back to the YMCA where we played in the pool area. They have a waterpark in one of their pool areas, which is nice. They also have a bunch of wat toys out to play with, which Isabel loved. Then we went back to the playroom and played a little bit more until we asked if she was tired and she made the sing for tired and kept making it as we were leaving. It's neat that she keeps learning the signs we are teaching her.

More Pictures from Today

Picking Flowers from the Hostas

Playing with Seeds

Ooooh! A Hole. Let's Explore.

Isabel's Lake House Bedroom

Here is her bedroom looking in. Gotta love the ghetto 80's wallpaper on two walls; the other two are white. All three bedrooms have nice big walk-in closets, which is nice because we can store our storage bins and suitcases in there. Her's is the middle of the three bedrooms.

Molly kind of took over this picture. This is looking out of her bedroom. We just have pretty basic furniture in there (crib, dresser, end table, & rocking chair). We brought along her space heater with programmable thermostat and we ahve been using that for her with these chilly nights. Daddy & I have a nice down comforter to go under to keep us warm. And we room goes straight out to the stairs, so we have the stair babygate up. There is a door at the bottom of the stairs, so we don't need a gate there.

Take Baby to Work Day

Do I want a Harley.....

She was interested in the motorcycles, so daddy put her on a couple and we took her picture. We got up early this morning and went into work with daddy today because he wants to drive a motorcycle home tonight and needed someone to drive his car back. So, we went in with him and at breakfast at their cafeteria.

Or a Buell?

We got some requests for interior pictures. Those will come slowly, as I will take pictures of Isabel in the rooms and then post them on here. I took a couple of pictures of her in her bedroom this morning and will get those posted.

Outside Pictures

Lake/Baby View

I think this is my favorite because she is so happy & smiling & the lake looks so nice in the background.

Along the Shoreline

Hanging Out on the Swing

You can see the house a little bit in the background and see part of the large yard. Molly has enjoyed running around a lot today. Although, Molly lost her softball in the lake. She dropped it on the pier and it fell into the water. She tried to get it, but would only go in 6 inches. She has the abnormal fear of water.

Stay Off the Road!

Mommy & Isabel

Finally....Some Pictures....

Tuesday

She loves playing with her ball. She throws it all the time and loves to play catch with us. Today is a much nicer day than yesterday. It rained all day yesterday. Today we just plan to run some errands and then this evening I am going to go check out a meeting for a mom's group.

Monday

We returned the u-haul yesterday. In the picture here she had just got up from a nap and then we left to go to Plaza Garibaldi. It is a Mexican Seafood restaurant in Waukesha. It was pretty good. I liked the ceviche the best, but Isabel didn't care for it, but she did love her shrimp taco. The fun thing about having moved is that we get to explore some new restaurants.

Saturday - 68 Weeks Old

The last pictures taken at our home in Medford. In these pictures it was right after bath time and she wanted to turn on her Wiggles CD and dance. That's her new thing - waking up and dancing, going in her room & dancing, putting pj's on & dancing. The dancing thing was what actually gave her the distraction to not want to nurse first thing in the morning. It has almost been a week now since she nursed and I think we are probably all done now.

Another Saturday Picture

You can see the big skeeter bite she got. Like most young kids she just welts up from those skeeter bites.

End of the Week

We ended up staying home most of the day. At the end of the day we went to the park to play for a while. She was a little cranky today, but I think it is due to teething and the bruise she has on one of her legs from her shot. Although, we did get some packing done and did do some yard work as well.

Tonight I had asked her if she wanted top sing songs and she got up and walked over to where we keep the nursery rhyme book that I sing out of. It was cute. She was very excited that I asked if she wanted to sing.

A Long Day

It started out relaxed and by 9:30 it became a whirl-wind. I got a call from a realtor's office about a showing for 11am. I wasn't going to turn down a showing, but I certainly wasn't prepared for it (since I needed to sweep, mop, vaccum, dust our whole house, plus open all the shades and turn on all the lights and with 5000+ sq feet, it's not a quick job) - plus I still needed to shower.

Anyways, I called neighbor Mary and asked for help and she & her friend came over for an hour and helped. I am really going to miss our neighbors here. Daddy & I always said that was one of the draws to staying living in our house was that we had so many great neighbors that we knew we could count on - they are like an extension of our family. Daddy already says it is weird that he doesn't talk to and see one of the neighbors as often and kinda misses it.

Anyways, we got the house cleaned and onto Isabel's doctor appt. She got 3 shots and was a trooper about it all. BTW - the showing went great and they loved it, but they still need to sell their house and don't want to do a contingent offer in case someone else comes along w/o contingency.

After lunch, mommy's college friend Kristin & her little girl Kayleigh came over for a visit. Even though Isabel slept through much of the visit, she did wake up at the end.

Then we ran to Bath & Body works to buy some thank you gifts for Mary & her friend. We bought Isabel some bubble bath - she picked it out - and a back massager. I thought it would be fun to rub her back with it, she thinks it tickles but does like it and will go get it and give it to me. Then we dropped those off.

Supper time was next, then we went to a wake for the grandpa of one of Isabel's little friends and FIL of mommy's friend. Isabel had never been to a wake. We didn't stay long, we just wanted to stop there and tell them we were sorry. Isabel was nice & quiet the whole time.

Then mommy's friend Linda came over for a walk with her two kids, Morgan & Nick. Morgan was along to play with Isabel, she at that age where she likes babies and is probably thinking about wanting to babysit in a few years. Initally, all Isabel wanted to do was play with sticks, but finally she warmed up enough that she would let Morgan carry her and got on the equiptment with her.

I still haven't eaten supper yet, so pizza ranch is on their way. I was talking on the phone with daddy while Isabel ate hers.

Sometyimes I am amazed at how much I can do with Isabel in a day and even more amazed at how well she handles being so busy. Tomorrow we just have a walking playdate to a park with Carrie & Gavin. Saturday we are having a BBQ for our neighbors, kinda a last goodbye to them, and Sunday we move.

Saying Goodbye to Her Old Daycare

This first picture is from supper time. I took these pictures with my camera phone to send to daddy. The next few days he is in MI for a conference for work. After he flies in from that he will drive here and we will pack up and move this weekend.

I got almost all the kids from daycare in the picture. When we got there this morning she had them all lined up against the garage and they were all shouting, "Hi Isabel!" It was very sweet.
This is Isabel with her old daycare provider Cathy. Now Isabel will be staying home with mommy. Cathy was the only person who ever got her to really take a bottle, otherwise she only wanted to breastfeed.
Here is Isabel with a couple of her admirers (Luis & Logan) at daycare. They are cousins, so hopefully no family rift will result. Luis kept trying to give her kisses during the 1.5 hours we hung out there this morning. Logan kept giving her hugs. He was always really sweet and gentle with her. She had kinda forgot who everyone was so it took aboyut half the time there for her to warm up to everyone and really start playing and not have her eyes filled with tears. Mom was there the entire time, but she was still a little overwhelmed by all the kids. She sees lots of kids in one space all the time, but this was the first time that they were all giving her so much attention. She just didn't know what to do with so much attention.

Diapers.com

So, my sister sent me an email asking if I ever usesd diapers.com becauses there is a coupon out there (code: PARENTING6 exp:10/31/07) for $10 off $25+ and they have free shipping for $50, so basically if you buy $50 you can get free shipping & $10 off.

I usually buy from Amazon, but I am going to need new wipes in a week or so and I'll need more diapers in less than a month. So, I thought I would try them out. I'm basically getting 20% off and getting it delivered to my door for free. So, why not. Plus, someone on milwaukeemoms.com said that Luvs just changed and now they have stretchy tabs.

I pretty much used Luvs for all her sz. 3 diapers. They didn't leak and were a good price. But once she got mobile I switched to Pampers (which I just found out that Luvs is made by Pampers) because I wanted the stretchy tabs. But now that Luvs has stretchy tabs, I am going to get a box of those because they are cheaper than the Pampers.

We tried Huggies a couple times and they always leaked on us. I liked Seventh Generation as well, but they can be spendy. Otherwise, Target brand is pretty good as well. But I ldo ike not running to Target, because if I run there to buy diapers I end up walking out with $50 of other stuff. So, if I just have diapers delivered (for free!) I actually end up savng myself money.

Have you heard of gdiapers.com , they are a flushable diaper. My neighbor mentioned it to me and I had to look it up. The starter kit (of 2 diapers & 10 flushables) costs $26.99. Has anyone tried these? It's kind of like disposable meets cloth diapers.

Only a Few More Days....

We were super busy today and Iasbel was pretty good about it all. We had a bunch of errands to run and when I say bunch, I mean it. We filled up w/ gas, picked up medical records, went to the library, stopped @ the passport office and got the form & mommy's picture taken (mine expires in a couple months), picked up her portraits, went grocery shopping and finally went to uhaul to reserve that for this weekend. Ok - that was just this morning. This afternoon we visited a couple of neighbors, went to the post office, and went to Mc Donald's. We were supposed to have a playdate, but that didn't happen so we stayed and ate and played and had a fun time.

I try to order somewhat healthy when we go. We ate veggie before we left and when we got there we had our cheese burgers and share some apple slices (they sell those separate from the kids meals) and a fruit & yogurt parfait.

The rest of our week will be busy, but not so filled with errands. Tomorrow morning we are going to her old daycare to play with the kids and say our goodbyes. And in the afternoon we have a playdate with some friends at a park. Hopefully it is not too hot & sticky outside for that.

Yesterday night, Isabel & I went to the Indoor waterpark for one last time. She was more than excited. We lucked out because starting today they were closed for 2 weeks for their annual cleaning & maintenance. Daddy so lovingly pointed out that we were there on the dirtiest day of the year then. Ewww....gross.....

She is starting to do even more sign language now. She does the signs for bath, swim, finished (all done), and eat. She understands others, but hasn't done them herself yet. Today we were playing "Where's baby's tummy?" And she pointed to it today (well, actually rubbed her belly like I do when I play the game), she hasn't gotten the other body parts right yet, but we're working on it.

Sunday Good Times

We walked to the park today (daddy didn't want to go to the beach) and played there for a while. Afterward, we came home and cooled down a little, then ran some errands and got some DQ. Mom had to sit in the back seat w/ Isabel & share her blizzard, because there was no way that Isabel was going to allow mama & dada to sit there eating & not sharing with her.

We thought we would try on some sunglasses today. The sun was really bright.

Mommy took these when she was following Isabel through the tunnel to the big twisty tube slide. In the first picture she is looking out a hole at daddy.

67 Weeks

She is getting better and better on her feet. I just get amazed at how much improvement eery day brings. She has been loving throwing her ball and making it bounce.

Today we went to our neighbor's house, Mary & Denny, for lunch. Mary had made homemade spaghetti sauce & bloody mary's from tomoatoes she grew. It was fabulous. We are going to miss them when we move away. This afternoon, Isabel & I picked apples for Grams (she wants to make apple butter) ans some for Mary too. I pick the apples and put them by the buckets and Isabel puts them in the bucket. She's a good little helper. We picked 15 gallons of apples.



I woke her up from a nap to go to lunch and then took away her pacifier. She was not happy about either.

Thursday evening we went for dinner w/ Carrie & Gavin & El Tequila (mom was craving it and it is her favorite restaurant in this area.) Isabel did a great job there. When mommy's Strawberry Margarita came, Isabel got all excited and started pointing & making noise. She wanted the strawberry that was on the glass.

Friday we went grocery shopping for a few things and then in the afternoon, Carrie & Gavin came over and we went for a walk to the park here. We will miss them too when we leave, but they have plans to come visit us over MEA, which will be nice. Gavin will have gotten so big by that time.

Tomorrow, I would like to try to go to the beach & go swimming. We are supposed to have another 80 degree day, so it might be really nice to go enjoy the beach one last time