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.