Being a Student

I bought this little desk, which is an actual antique small child's desk, to use as decoration several years ago. When I no longer wanted to use it I decided I would keep it for our children. I had my own antique child's desk, but it is for a much older child and this would be one to use inthe meantime. She loves when I give her things to sit on that are her size. I took it out because I thought it would be a great place to have her color, rather than having her sit on my lap. I didn't want to put her in her highchair, which I could have done too.

She is defintily enjoying coloring more each time we do it. She loves choosing which color she wants next. Although today she thought she would see what the orange & blue taste like - they don't taste very good.

Today we went to check out the new Mom's Club in the area. Although, on the way there we talked to daddy and found out that our application was accepted for our temporary housing (9 month lake house rental), so turns out that we won't be around this area much longer to really join the club. Although, since we were on our way and Carrie & Gavin were going too we thought we would see what it was like because I would like to join one in our new location. The ladies all seemed very nice and I think it will be a nice group. Tomorrow they are going to a nearby waterpark that we have not been too yet, but it all depends upon Isabel's nap schedule. She is starting to transition away from 2 naps to only 1 nap, but somedays she still needs 2 and others she needs 1.

I also made her do some more walking for me. Today it was 9 steps. Usually when I try she just takes 1-2 steps and plops down and crawls.

Settling Back into Our Routine.....

She got her regular naps in (she should be getting up from her 2nd one soon.) I took this picture this morning . We had a "juice" party, but as you can see, much of the juice didn't make it in her mouth. She doesn't quite get the fake food part and would rather have real food.

We had plans today, but changed them since I was sick of driving and just wanted to stay home. She is happy to re-discover toys she has not seen in almost 2 weeks.

Pictures from Sunday

The first picture she has her cheek pressed against mommy's, but we cropped it to just see the cute toddler smile. Everyone is saying that she is thinning out a lot and starting to lose her baby fat. Somedays she just looks like such a big girl already.

68 Weeks Old

These are pictures from Saturday. I think she just looks too cute. Auntie Razz - how do you think Blake would look in this outfit? Isabel looks absolutly adorbale in it, so thanks. Here in this picture she is having a snack of milk, whole grain goldfish crackers and cucumbers.

The Ride Home Monday

So, you read about our stop at the Ripon park, and our 2nd stop was at a wayside near Sparta, WI. It was an adequate wayside with plenty of picnic tables and a little trail that went up a hill into a wooded area and overlooks the highway. We walked up there. I made Isabel walk up a few steps, but then after a while she didn't want to walk anymore so I carried her the rest of the way up and found a place to watch the cars and for her to play with leaves and grass. We had a nice picnic on one of the tables there too.

Once we got home she was really tired because she only took one nap (after I wore her out at the park in Ripon), but she was so excited to be home and see her animals that she had to put off the nap for 40 minutes, but when I finally did put her down she protested for maybe 30 seconds and then completly zonked until I woke her up for supper.

She was very glad to see her cats and dog and was squeling with delight at them. Lucy even tolerated her and approached her because Lucy was in need of affection and petting. But as I type this, Larry is annoying me because he too is in need of affection and petting. I have a feeling my sleep will be very disturbed tonight.

Kudos to Ripon Park System

We were at a point in our ride back to MN when we needed to find a play to play to tire the little girl out so that she would take a nap. I found this park just a block off my route. Actually, Ripon has signs along the way directing you towards their parks, which is very nice. You cannot really tell how big this park is, but it is a very nice size and we were the only ones there for the 20 minutes we were there. They have 4 different playsets w/ slides (1 wooden playset and 3 plastic) and their is one more for toddlers and they also have the baby/toddler swings closer to them and not by the big swings. I like how they have it arranged so that the big kids will play is a spot near, but away from the toddler. They also had 3 spring ride on things and sand volleyball courts, and benches and gliders along the river. They also had a pavilion with picnic tables and a chalet type building. It was a very nice park that catered to all ages. Kudos!

This past weekend

I will post pictures after I get back home, but I thought I would give me readers something to read at least.

Friday afternoon we headed to Sheboygan to stay at Auntie Phanie & Uncle J's house.

Then Saturday we went to the Old Wisconsin store (to pick up more goodies for my neighbors) and grocery shopping andthen finally went driving around Port Washington & Saukville and went to the YMCA in Port Washington. Isabel had a good time swimming, she always does.

Sunday, we went driving around other areas (Butler, Glendale, Meqoun, Thiensville, Cedarburg, Lakefield) and check out a couple places. We came back and made a nice dinner for the 5 of us and worked on Isabel walking. We got her to walk w/o holding onto anything several times. Each time she took more steps. The most steps she took was 5 steps before falling to the ground. So, she's going to be walking all over the place real soon.

She has done really well on this entire trip, let's just hope the drive back to MN is good as well. I left the house clean and with an empty fridge, so it's always nice to have a clean house and I ordered groceries online last night to have them delivered after we get home, which will be nice that I don't have to scrape up stuff and don't have to find time this week to go to the grocery store.

Stay tuned for pictures. I took some really cute ones on Saturday.

Last Day of our Visit to Grams & Gramps' House

We went and bought some cheese today....Mmmm....fresh curds are so good. It was the first time Isabel ever had them. She enjoys them very much. We picked up some for ourselves and some for our neighbors who are watching our animals while we are visiting. We also went to the library in town and they have some nice kids things to play with -- a little tent with a ball pit and this fisher price toy and some blocks. Isabel enjoyed playing with the toys, but couldn't sit still for storytime.

As soon as she wakes from her nap we are going to Auntie Phanie's and Uncle J's house for a few days and then we will head back home. While we are there we will check out some of the neighboring communities and find some stuff to do and see what we think. I probably won't post any pictures until we get back home because I don't have my cord along (luckily, Grams has a similar camera and we could use hers).

Swimming at George's Pond

This is a picture from last night when we went swimming.

Thursday Pictures

I put her in the swing we had given to Grams to use here for the grandbabies.....she can almost touch the floor, but she liked swinging in it for a while.....the walker she is just too tall for, even at the highest setting....

We didn't go swimming yesterday, but we did go visit great grandma & great grandpa....today we plan to go visit great-great aunt Mary (one she wakes from her nap.) And then we are hanging out here this afternoon until we go swimming this early evening.....

Another Picture from Yesterday

She has this thing about sitting sideways in the highchair at Grams' house. I put her in there the right way and she turns to the side sticks her leg out the side. Silly.

She is very good at self-monitoring her food intake. She doesn't overeat all the time or anything. Actually, this cookie she is eating....she only ate about 2/3 of it and then gave it to me to get rid of.....she used to throw stuff on the floor when she was done eating it, but I taught her to give it to me if she was done with something....she has this thing about having food off her tray when she is finished with it....

Having Fun

This is a picture from this morning. I put her in a onesie and her little black tutu. It's going to be a scorcher today, so I thought we would dress lightly. Anyways, Grams got out a bucket of matchbox cars for her and she loves playing with them. Then she would go grab a dolly and bottle and feed the dolly and back tot he cars again and back to the dolly.

We went out to the barn so that she could see some new baby twin calves. She was amazed at how many cats are in the barn. She usually just sees the one that likes to hang around up by the house, but in the barn there are many more. And then we went to pet the dog for a bit, then a ride on the baby swing until she get distracted by a cat and wants to go by it. She loves cats.

Yesterday, we went to the O.F. library because they had Duf the Clown there. It was ok, but she got restless, so we went to check out the children's area. They have a nice children's area there. It has a nice big tiered area, a tent to play in, a kids picnic table with a puzzle on it (Isabel enjoyed playing with that), a little puppet theater and probably around 75 different puppets. It was an amazing collection of puppets and they were all really nice ones too.

In the evening we went swimming again and gramps kept trying to catch a turtle. She has claimed the floating raft as her own.

No real plans for today except to probably go put up the decorative wallpaper border at Auntie Razz's place in the nursery. And we'll probably go swimming again this evening.

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.