2010: The Year in Photos

Today marks the end of our first full calendar year as parents.  Whew.  Here's a look back at the year 2010.


January, 5 months old

February, 6 months old

March, 7 months old

April, 8 months old

May, 9 months old

June, 10 months old

July, 11 months old

August, 1 year old!

September, 13 months old

October, 14 months old

November, 15 months old

December, 16 months old



Happy New Year everyone!  May your 2011 be filled with joy.

16 Months!

Isabella is 16 months old.  For some reason this feels big to me.  I think it's because it made me realize how close she is to 18 months and hat just seems like a HUGE deal.  Don't grow up too fast little girl!

She is really starting to look like a little girl, rather than a baby.  Even Clint commented on it the other day.  Her hair is getting so long!

what's going on this month:
-Can now point to all the parts of her face and her hair when asked.  She knows tummy as well
-Can make animal sounds for dog, cat, bird, cow, duck (I feel like I'm forgetting some)
-Loves playing ball
-Likes the snow
-Wearing mostly size 18-months clothing, and size 4 shoes
-Saying several new words; book, clock, bye bye, down, milk, and choo choo come to mind.  She also picked up "row, row row" from her friend Rose.
-Much better on the milk front.  She'll now drink a cup containing 3/4 milk, 1/4 water.
-Getting much better with a spoon, although she sometimes uses the wrong end!
-Figured out she could dip food.  She is currently eating pancakes and a bowl of yogurt and dipping her pancake in the yogurt. 
-Will eat most foods, but prefers ground meats over chicken breasts, roast, etc.  She doesn't seem to like bell peppers either.
_Mealtimes are challenging.  She will no longer say or sign more or all done.  She just whines and sometimes points at things.  It's hard to figure out what she wants sometimes.  As soon as I think she's done and start to get things cleaned up she'll take another bite. 
-Had her first trip to the Children's Museum this month.  She had a blast!
-Really likes fish all of a sudden.  She even seemed to prefer the fish over the cats the last time we were  at the "Petsmart Zoo."  We do have a goldfish, Delilah, but she's up to high for Isabella to see.  We'll have to fix that.  (Side note: We've had Delilah for about 3 years now! Crazy, right?)
-Working on a bottom tooth.  This will make 11.

She's not going to let me type much longer, so here are some pictures from the past month.



Checking out the first big snow.

I think she was a little confused, but seemed to like it.

 Sitting on the big crocodile in the Egypt exhibit.  She was scared to touch it at first.

The tent in the Egypt exhibit.  She loved it!

Preparing a feast, with Daddy supervising.

Going down the Yule Slide with Mommy.

In the treehouse in the "Carousel Wishes & Dreams" exhibit.

The bottom of the treehouse.

Riding a lion on the carousel.  

She was kind of obsessed with these bears in the Playscape.

Our last stop before heading home.

She had a blast and I am so thankful we have a membership.  I can't wait to go again, and maybe without Daddy next time since he was a party pooper and wouldn't let her play with the water or sand tables.  There was also a Barbie exhibit there and you know I had to visit that first thing, but didn't take any photos since it was really more for older kids.  she did enjoy looking at all the dolls though.  We tried to visit the Jolly Days exhibit, but it was insane in there!  We tried to check out most of the exhibits, but I think the three pictured were her favorites.  She actually gasped when the Carousel music first started she was so excited.  She really liked the Chinese dragons in the Dinosphere as well.  She liked touching the dinosaur skulls, but absolutely refused to touch the polar bear's.  Silly girl.  :)

15-Month Appointment

Isabella had her 15-month checkup Friday.  Unfortunately, her ear infection still wasn't cleared up after a round of amoxicillin so she's now taking augmentin.  Cross your fingers that this one gets the job done!

Otherwise, things look great!  she'd meeting all her milestones.  She was 31 inches.  I don't remember what they told me the percentage was at the appointment (bad Mama!), but according to the WHO charts, that puts her in the 90th percentile for height.  She does seem tall to me all of a sudden, and her 12-month pants are starting to get short.  Her weight was 19 lbs 8 oz.  She's dropped a little there (10-25%), but I'm not concerned.  She hasn't been feeling well lately and isn't eating as well.  She also has went through a huge disruption to her routine now that she goes to a sitter for a few hours each day.  I'm sure she'll pick back up when things normalize, and even if she doesn't I see no reason to be concerned.  She's built like her mama. :)  

She still won't take cow's milk. I even tried mixing just a tiny bit with water and she can still taste it.  We'll work on that.  She'd still nursing twice a day and we give her yogurt everyday.  Between that and all the cheese she eats I'm positive she's getting all the dairy she needs. 

Unfortunately, I don't have any recent pictures of her that are more than just a blur.  I'll try to get some tomorrow. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Tis the Season

Holiday card season that is!  I'm starting to think about what style of holiday card I'd like to send out this year.  Last year, we used Shutterfly and I planned on using them again.  Lo and behold a promotion from Shutterfly offering 50 free holiday cards, and all I have to do is blog about how much I love them?  Done. 

Like I said, last year I ordered our holiday cards from Shutterfly and had a very good experience.  I've also ordered prints from them several times in the past.  I love their card designs because they have such a variety, traditional to contemporary, elegant to whimsical.  It's so hard to choose! 

Seriously, how cute is this?!

And it's not just holiday cards, they offer cards for a variety of occasions: birth announcements, party invitations, and thank you cards to name a few.  A lot of their products make great gifts, like their canvas prints. 

So check them out, and bloggers don't forget, Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… sign up: http://bit.ly/sfly2010.

 

15 Months

Isabella is 15 months old today!  She's at a really fun age.  Often time she will come p to me out of nowhere just to give me a hug or a kiss.  Melts my heart!  Of course, the tantrums are also beginning but the free hugs and kisses are worth it. 

Her communication skills and understanding are definitely improving.  She's learning new words and sounds and showing us that she really understands what we're saying.  Just today she heard Audrey bark and said "woof, woof."  Smart girl.

Right now her favorite game is what we like to call "Scary Monster Peek-a-boo."  We hide our face with our hands and then she pulls our hands away and we growl or roar at her.  She thinks it is hysterical.  She keeps putting our hand over our face so we'll do it again! 

Here are the new things for this month that come to mind:

-Now says "dat" as in "I want that!"

-Says "mow" when we ask her what a cat says.  She also says "mow" if we ask her what Bianca or Brenna says and "woof woof" if we ask her what Audrey says.

-Says "baa" for bath

-She goes to her bedroom door when we ask if she needs are diaper changed or tell her it's time for night-night.  She'll go to the bathroom door if we ask her to go potty or take a bath.  She runs to the front door if we tell her we're going bye-bye, or if she sees me with my purse. 

-Often gets a snack before bedtime. 

-Outgrowing 12-months clothing and is firmly in a size 4 shoe.

-Learning to blow her nose.

-Loves dropping items over the baby gate or pushing them through the cat door.

-Has both peed and pooped on the potty.

And of course, here are a few pictures of the past month.


Taking her baby for a stroll.

Reading books with Mickey.

I'm pretty sure she'll want to kill me for this one day.

Playing at Monkey Joe's.

Hanging out with Matea at Monkey Joe's.

Happy Haloween!

This is really the first holiday where Isabella seems to be old enough to understand that something different is going on, even if she's not quite sure what it is.  I've tried to squeeze in some fun Halloween activities, even when Daddy has kind of rolled his eyes at me. You've already seen our pictures from the pumpkin patch, so I'll give you a peek at what we've been up to since then.

Isabella "helped"me carve a pumpkin.  I thought she'd like digging around in the pumpkin goo, but she decided she'd rather pull everything out of the recycling bin.  I carved her a pretty fabulous Mickey Mouse pumpkin, but forgot to get a picture. :(

Isabella and I headed to our playgroup's Halloween party, where she fell in love with this ride-on toy.

We decorated a pumpkin with markers.

We went trick-or-treating at the mall.

Finally, we passed out candy to trick-or-treaters.

We don't really have any good pictures of her in her costume because, well, toddlers are insane.  She never sits still so the photo thing is a challenge.  Maybe someday.

Busy Weekend

We normally have very low-key weekends.  This weekend was a little different.  Saturday night, Clint and I went to my cousin Josh's wedding.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures, but it was a beautiful wedding.  Congratulations to Josh and Jenny!  I hope you're enjoying your honeymoon in Hawaii!

Today we took Isabella to the pumpkin patch.  Clint wanted to go this morning, but it was a little chilly at 44 degrees, so we had to wait until after her nap.  When we got there we had to wait in a very long line for the hayrides that take you out to the pumpkin patch.  Isabella did pretty well; she wanted to get down and run, but we were able to keep her occupied by letting her hold the camera.  The girl loves her electronics! 

She seemed to enjoy the hayride and looking at all the scenery.  When we found a pumpkin that we thought would be a good size for her I put her down to check it out and she loved it!  You'd never no that since she isn't smiling in a single photo.  She also took out her pigtails in the car ride over so her hair was a mess.

Nice, huh?

After the pumpkin patch we stopped by my dad's house to meet his new puppy, Eli.  Toddler + puppy = fuzzy pictures.

Ok, so it was more the toddler's fault than the puppy's.  He was surprisingly calm.

Now that you've read the rundown of our weekend activities, are you ready for our really exciting news?  Isabella peed on the potty!  Twice!  In the evenings she's been tapping on the bathroom door, and when we sit her on the potty she goes!  I really don't know how she's figured this out since we haven't really been working on potty training.  She does have a potty chair, but we just sit her on it before bath to get her used to the seat.  It's amazing how much they pick up on without you even realizing it. 

Of course, she is only 14 months old so we don't expect her to really be potty training soon.  I can't help but be a little excited though!