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.

58 Weeks & A Trip to the MN Zoo

Today we went to the zoo with our dear friend and one of Isabel' godmothers, Jessi. She brought along her nephews with as well. Jessi gave Isabel passes to the zoo for her birthday and we wanted to go with her to use them. We had a good time. We have not idea who the little girl in the haystack picture with us is. She just stuck her head through.

Friday,June 29th

comments to be added

Cute Story.

At one point today I was sitting on the floor of the living room leaning against the couch surfing the internet on the computer. Isabel crawls over to me and on top of me and buries her head into my chest, pulls it back and does it again. She infrequently does this if she wants to nurse. Well, shortly after the 2nd head bod, something else got her attention and she went to that and then decided to crawl over to the rocking chair that I normally nurse her in, removed the boppy from the seat and then looked at me as she leaned against the chair and started patting the seat of the chair with one had while she grasped the fabric of the boppy with the other hand. It was as if she was saying, "Woman! Get over here and nurse me!" It made me smile and giggle. Of course, I went to her.

Hangin'

Fun Stuff to Do

Here are a couple of things I found to make online:
Kool-aid Fingerpaint (beats paying $5 for fingerpaints.)
Homemade Bubbles (not that bubbles cost a lot, but it's easy to do.)
No Sew Fleece Poncho (Phanie - you could make one of these for Hannah for xmas, it would be cute.)

And not fun stuff to do, but helpful, is this website about using vineger to clean EVERYTHING!

Get that cute butt over here.

I bought this little skirt at a rummage sale on Friday. I thought it was fun. I also picked up the little chair too. She thinks that is fun.

57 Weeks

This was a garage sale find for $2. She like to tip the ball in with one hand when you hold it there (since she isn't standing by herself yet.) She giggles when she tips it in.

13 Month Charts

Length: 32.5"

Weight: 24 lbs.

Almost Friday...

Well, Isabel had grandma come & babysit her yesterday & today while mom had to go to work and dad was gone to interviews. She enjoyed spending time with grandma.

I have been participating a lot on a discussion forum on Milwaukee Moms. It is a very nice resource and I am glad I found it.

This afternoon, Isabel & I went to 43rd Street Pub & Grill (it used to be a Green Mill and is still just like that.) It was during happy hour time, so we had half price appetizers of chicken quesadillas and chicken fingers. The waiter was nice and brought some applesauce out for her as well. She ate all the fresh tomatoes from the quesadillas and her applesauce and had some of the appetizers & her juice I brought along. So, she ate a decent meal. As I looked over the menu I realized how hard it is to feed her a balaced healthy meal like I do at home, but I think we did pretty good. And we even had enough left over that daddy gets half of it.

Tonight marks the start of Straight River Days, our local festival.

Nothing new to report. Our house has not sold, actually no one has come to visit in the last 2 weeks. And we still don't know where we are moving to. We should know soon, but then again, maybe not.

13 Months

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

We went & checked out the local wildlife reserve....not much to see....then we took our picnic and went to the park and sat out on a blanket and had a picnic. I figured a blanket was easier with Isabel than sitting at a picnic table. Then mommy & daddy played some bocce ball and Isabel played with her toys, then she & daddy went on the seings & slide and finally we all went to the outlet mall to buy a couple of things. She napped quite a bit today, but needed it after we had to wake her up last night because of the tornado warning & all the sirens. We had to go down to the basement until they cancelled the warning. Luckily, she went back to sleep after that.

Totally Cool. Make a Kid's Carboard Chair for free.

As I was reading through my Natural Home Magazine, I saw a short article on making your own foldschool cardboard chair. Very neat. All the instreuctions are free and located here. They have designs for a stool, chair, & rocker. Guess I have something to do with our moving boxes. I could make enough furniture to fill a whole elementary school, I think. Very cool idea.

June 16, 2007

Just a little slide show of pictures from today. She has been practicing letting go for a second or two and standing on her own. I think the daycare lady was wrong; I don't think she took any steps yet. Anyways, she's standing without support for 1-2 seconds at a time.

Our new little game is from the Toddler's Busy Book. We just put golf balls in & out of the muffin pan.

Fun Times

We put the dog in the castle, but she very quickly figured out she is small and agile enough to jump up and out through the window.

We bought her this Little Tikes castle from Craigslist. We got a really good deal on it (brand new this things costs $350 - yikes!) and there is just a little something wrong with it, but it doesn't affect how sturdy it is or fun. She's still al ittle young for it because she can't see out of the turret (or even climb up to the bench in the turret) or climb up to go down the slide, but she can look on the windows, go in & out the door (& secret door). It's something to enjoy little bits now and grow into it more later.

We went to visit our friends Carrie & Kyle today as well. They are due to have little Gavin in 2 weeks.

Almost the Weekend

Her First Masterpiece

We tried out fingerpaints today. By the end she just wanted to rip up the paper. We pretty much just hung out at home all day. We played outside a couple times and she was obsessed with her sticks in the AM and then in the PM we played with balls on her cube and she thought that was so much fun to roll them down the slide and them throw them over the top of the cube.

I'm trying to change her routine a little bit so that she goes to bed a little later and then gets up a little later too. So, after supper we go outside and play for about 30 minutes and she goes to bed now at 7pm (instead of 6:30pm.)

I did her weight(24 lbs.) & length (32.5") today.

,m n n
b

Isabel typed that last part. She likes to pound on the keyboard.

Stick Lover

Last summer & fall we used to bring her outside when she would get really fussy. She loved looking at the trees. In the winter we would show her the trees through the window (since we were too lazy to get us all bundled up to go outside.) We still take her outside to calm her down, like when she starts throwing a tantrum. She loves being outside.

Today I took her on a walk to the park and we went on the swings & slide and then went over by the sandbox where we ended up spending over half our time playing with sticks. I wonder what goes through her mind. She's studying them and categorizing them over & over again.

This afternoon/evening after supper we went outside again to play on her cube and towards the end of playtime she was given a couple of sticks.......well, that just dragged playtime out even longer and she kept experimenting with the sticks & throwing them down the slide (of course she would grunt and yell for us to pick them back up and give them to her) and then back to sorting and sorting and sorting.

At one point, we decided it was time to go in and took her away from her sticks. She started to throw a tantrum, so I put her back down with daddy and went to get the mail. When I came back I tried to distract her with giving her junk mail (she loves paper too), but she was not going to fall for it. Finally, we just had carry her away throwing her tantrum. Once we got inside, she was distracted and stopped her tantrum. I don't know what the deal is with the sticks though.

If she had to grow up throwing & piling wood like her mommy, she might not be so into sticks.

Happy Anniversary Grams & Gramps!

Isabel's Grams & Gramps have been married for 31 years today.

Today, Isabel & mommy went to the library and picked up some books & puzzles. And then we went to Kohls' and checked it out. It's been there for 1.5 years and mommy just got there for the first time; it's nice. The only stuff we bought was some Dora stuff for Isabel. Then we came home, played, ate lunch, took a nap, played, ate a snack & played (above pictures, he puzzles are ones we got from the library) and then Isabel, mommy & daddy all went to the city pool and swam for a while. The big pool was warmer than the kiddie pool, so we spent most of our time there. Plus, Isabel loved watching all the big kids in the pool, whereas in the kiddie pool it was just her.

I'm Ready To Go Swimming!

Today she crawled all the way up the stairs twice without having to stop and rest for a second. And she also figured out today how to crawl up in her cube without any help.

She loves getting herself up to standing, but can't quite figure ou how to get back down and gets very angry when she wants to be down again. She'll figure out soon.

First Day of Summer with Mommy

Well, not just the summer......I'll be staying home with her after we figure out what's next for us. I don't know how long I'll stay home with her or whether or not I will stay home FT or PT with her, but I really want to be home with her.

Although this first day was not the greatest, as both mommy & daddy have pink eye. We were both taking her leftover drops and they are working great and fast for mommy, but not so fast for daddy. He got some other drops and also some anitbiotics for his sinus infection (which I think I have one too.) We all went with daddy to the Dr., which in hinesight was not wise as the doctor was slow getting to us, but she did fall asleep in the car as we were leaving from getting groceries & prescriptions and stayed asleep as I brought her in and into her crib (which she has never done before). She took a nice 2.5 hour long nap and woke up all happy & giggly. Then she had some fruit for a snack and we went outside to swim in the pool, play on the cube, and go on the swing. Fun times. Right now she is playing with daddy.

She did crawl all the way from the bottom of the steps to the landing and up the next small set of steps to the guest room. She was very proud of herself for doing that. She was pretty serious the whole time she was crawling (I was right behind her) and hardly cracked a smile until she got to the very top and then was all giggly and couldn't stop smiling.

Tonight we gave her the last little bit of her chocolate bunny from Easter. I her little bits about once a week. This time I didn't break up the piece and just gave her what was left and her eyes got all big and she got all smiley. She knows what chocolate is and loves it, can you blame her.

Hold On...Let Me Finish This Email.....

She goes crazy when we are on the computer and wants to do it too. Of corse she doesn't want the toy laptop I bought her, she wants the really one. I was going to see if she will want our broken one, but I don't know if will like it since it doesn't power on, hence nothing on the screen.

Today we were practicing using a toddler fork. She can't quite stab the food yet, but if mama helps her stab it she will do the rest just fine. She ate quite a bit of green beans today, which was nice. You just never know when she will want some veggies or not.

Nursing/Breastfeeding

So, it was a goal of mine to breastfeed Isabel for the first year of her life. I read a lot of things about the benefits of breastfeeding and there is a real push to breastfeed for the entire first year and that the most benefits are gained early on and through the first year.

And even if someone is not sure if they want to breastfeed or not, they say that any amount of breastfeeding is beneficial, especially if you breastfeed during the first two weeks when it's colostrum (or a mix with milk) that the baby is getting.

Now the first year has come and gone and I have to say, I never once thought about quitting it. It was really hard, REALLY HARD, sometimes. Plugged ducts and mastitis is painful and very uncomfortable, but I pushed through it. It sucked having to get up in the middle of the night (many, many times) because she needed to nurse or at least needed the comforting that nursing from mommy brought. It was very frustrating and worried me a lot when she wouldn't take a bottle for so long. It was really not fun leaking all over the place, and for the first 4 months I did have to wear nursing pads all the time and then again when I got mastitis. And it was inconvenient having to go to my office to pump twice a day. And it was frustrating sometimes that I couldn't go out & have a drink after work with friends because I was going to nurse her soon or that I couldn't play volleyball because that game schedule interfered with Isabel's schedule.

With that said, I never once thought about quitting breastfeeding. I believe all the benefits they say breastfeeding has and even if they all don't prove to be scientifically true, I do know this; that Isabel & I have this wonderful strong bond. She has a great bond with her daddy, but I have all those special moments of just the two of us nursing and no one else can have those moments with us. Even though night feedings were not on the top of my fun list, I loved knowing that I could provide nourishment and comfort to her. The plugged ducts & mastitis were even less fun, but she had to nurse more to help free the blockage and I liked knowing that she could help me as I helped her. It was to give & take like that.

And even though it was inconvenient to pump twice a day, I was able to pump enough so that we didn't have to supplement with formula and then at around a year we started giving her whole milk. And the stifling to my social life, actually saved us money and if I am being honest, after spending all day away from her I didn't want to spend any more time away from her. And if I am being really honest, I probably enjoyed spending more time with her.

I am still breastfeeding her, but only three times a day, right after she wakes up, at nap time and at bedtime. Although, last night she was so tired, she went to bed after just being rocked for a while and not nursing. I am not sure exactly when I will completely wean her, but for now I think we both still need it. With moving and all the changes, we both need the comfort and something that hasn't changed yet and since there is no more pumping, no leaky breasts, and no getting up in the middle of the night, and she's drinking milk, water & juice from a sippy cup -- it's all good now.

So, that's what I have to say. I have had people ask me when I am stopping or seem surprised that I haven't stopped yet. I have received encouragement that I was still continuing from one person, which was nice. I don't know when we'll be done, I guess when it's right for both of us.

55 Weeks

Watching Dad Mow Part of the Lawn

"I Want This Many Pieces, Please."

Isabel now has 10 teeth. It is just amazing. Her 1-year molars are coming in right now on both sides on the top only.

Yesterday we went to see our friends Jason, April, Kallen, & Noah. It was a very nice time. We like getting together with them. It was fun to watch the two babies chase their cat around. It was cute to see Isabel get all excited about "new" toys to play with. They had this one where the balls blow through a tunnel and pop out and stuff and she was just fascinated by it.

We had our rummage sale today. We made decent money, but it's a lot of work. I think in the future we may just donate it (since you always end up with stuff to donate anyways) and take the whole tax deduction on it. Last time we had a rummage sale was when we were moving as well. Wasn't fun then either, and then we had about 10% of what we had this time.

Tomorrow if the weather cooperates, we may walk to the city pool and go in the kiddie pool.

Next Tuesday is Grams & Gramps' 31st wedding anniversary.

Not Appropriate Reading Material for Babies

She was going through the stack of books I set aside for the rummage sale we plan to have on Saturday. This was her first choice to pick up. It's a pretty funny book.

Every Day Stuff, again (I used this title before)

Well, because we are packing to move, doing small projects around the house and repainting rooms I have not really had much time to take pictures. But I thought today that I would make a little time.

Whoever said no news is good news apparently was not waiting to find out where their husband was getting a job at and where they were moving to. People keep asking me for updates, and well, I have none. I wish we did. I also wish someone would just waltz in and buy our house so that was over & done with too.

She had blood tests done at her first year appointment and they were supposed to call us iwhtin a week-- they didn't. I needed to call them and then they called us back a bit later with the results. She doesn't have any lead in her blood - good news! - but her iron count was low. So, I need to go buy some vitamins with iron in them and make sure whe is getting iron-rich foods. She actually eats quite a bit of meat, but maybe the meat she's eating doesn't really have iron in it. And she will eat pork & beans, so I may have to give her that a little more often. And she did eat creamed spinach when I served it the other day, so maybe that will become a weekly side dish. They also said she was fighting a virus - well, duh! I could have told them that. She & I have been sick for ovr 2 weeks now.

First Steps, Pink Eye, & Crankiness

Well, the daycare lady told me that today she took her first steps without holding onto anything. She said that as soon as Isabel saw her watching her she stopped and sat down. Yesterday I just saw her take steps with the walker and stand alone for a few seconds, so now I am excited to see her take steos for us.

She was super cranky today. She didn't nap much, which always leaves her cranky.

I had to take her to urgent care today and found out she has pink eye. So, now we have drops for that for three days. Some kids at daycare had it last week.

Fun at a Hotel

All three of us stayed at a hotel recently and they are shots from jumping & playing on the bed. Isabel was all excited when we walked into the room and she saw the big fluffy bed.

Like most kids, she thinks jumping on a bed is the most fun in the world. It doesn't help that mom plays around with her because then she just thinks it's the best.

The hotel had a crib for her to use and she did fine in there. She has been pretty adaptable in different situations & locations as long as she has mommy (& daddy) with her.

We also recently stayed at Aunt Phanie's & Uncle J's house. Isabel woke up early in the night a little scared because she was alone in the dark (we should have put the night light on, but I forgot - she might have done fine then.) So, she ended up sleeping with mom while dad slept on the couch. She is a bed hog and tosses & turns A LOT! You never know what position you are going to find her sleeping in. She also got to see Grams & Gramps again. It had been quite a while since she saw Gramps. She has sure changed a lot in 6 months.


Some new things this she has done......well, she figured out how to climb up steps when we were visiting a new library and was showing that off to daddy today. Climbing steps is really making her work at pulling her self up more. She is so proud of herself now that she can do steps.

She has been trying new foods all the time. Today I gave her pieces of turkey sausage (from the Old Wisconsin store, w/ the casing removed) and she loved it. I thought she might think it was too spicy or something, but she very much enjoyed it. She has raw tomatoes and raw cucumbers the other day. She's still not sure about cucumber, but kinda liked the tomatoes. She didn't care for black olives at all (they were all topping from her sub.) I don't think there has been a fruit yet that she won't eat. She does certainly have preferences, but she seems to love fruit overall. She still on a bit of a veggie hiatus, but I keep trying new things to see if she will eat them or I try to sneak them in. She is definitely a carnivore; there has not been a meat she has eaten that she hasn't loved.

Oh, she learned how to drink from a straw today. I had a drink with a straw in it and she really wanted to be like mommy and put the straw in her mouth. So, I let her and we just watched as the drink would inch closer and closer up the straw and then finally she got some. I think it surprised her at first, but then she had to do it again and again. She also had to take the straw out and inspect it, then take the cover off and inspect that and inspect the inside of the glass and then try to put everything back together.

The top she is wearing was part of a present from her friends Noah & Kallen. We have a play date with them this coming Friday.

54 Weeks

Hre she is just before bedtime, brushing her teeth. We started brushing her teeth as part of her bedtime ritual at a very early age (6 weeks) so that there would hopefully be less of a struggle when she got older. It has gone ok and at times when she is pushing a tooth through and her gums might be a little tender she doesn't always like getting her teeth & gums brushed. So, then we do a little thing called "Brush mommy's teeth (and I do so), Brish baby's teeth (and I do so.)" She thinks it's fun when we do things with her like that; she is much more agreeable when she might not otherwise have been. (Don't worry, she wasn't going to fall, daddy was right there while I took the picture.)