The Horse Farm

We have an Equestrian Center not far from where we live, that we affectionately call "the horse farm." I'd never visited there until this summer, and we've been going a lot lately. The horse farm is beautiful, butts up next to a forest preserve, is several acres of rolling hills and white picket fences and barns and horses and friendly volunteers and some interactive displays for kids. We often pack our blanket, bring some snacks and coffee, and just roam around the horse farm. There are lots of trails around the fields and into the woods, so it's the perfect place for a walk when you need to get away from the hustle and bustle. I think the reason I love it so much here is that it reminds me of home - of Whatcom County where there are all sorts of fields and farms and slow, quiet places.

Thankfully the girls love it too! This fall it has been especially picturesque there as the colors have turned. I took some photos at the Horse Farm two different occasions, one in early fall and one just recently with the late fall colors.

Again, a deluge of photos.

This girl is in such a fun phase right now. I feel like we've worked through some of our tougher times of tantrums, and not that they don't happen anymore but we seem to be in a better place. She is such a sheer delight and joy most of the time, so curious about the world, a running hilarious two-year old commentary on what is happening around us. She LOVES the horse farm and watching the horses. Notice the cow-girl boots she had to wear to the farm. Hopefully making her Auntie Jessica proud!

Here Madeline and Isabel were watching a few kids taking their horse-riding lessons. Every time the horse came near to us, they were just enamored. 

Ah, the many faces of Isabel Therese. Just love her little dimpled cheeks right now. 

This was our more recent trip to the farm. James was with us this time, and we all loved taking in the late fall colors on a walk around the fields. 

This was so sweet - the horse just walked up to these two and started nuzzling Madeline. She didn't quite know what to make of it!

Meanwhile, Isabel was doing her thing tossing leaves. 

I'll be a bit sad once all the leaves have fallen at the horse farm - it's been a great stomping grounds for the summer/fall.

Perfect Fall Fun

We've had such a perfectly lovely fall. I realize I must comment frequently on how beautiful it is outside, because Madeline often says to me: "Isn't it beautiful, mama? Aren't all the colors on the trees so beautiful?!?" Why yes, daughter, they certainly are. 

We've had so many crisp, sunny days and I've been trying to get outside as much as possible before ol' man winter descends upon the land and we find ourselves stuck inside. We recently visited our local zoo, and the girls had so much fun crunching the leaves, playing in the pumpkin patch, climbing the hay bails, and Madeline lucked out with a free ride on the "choo-choo-train." I think the woman running the ride had pity on her staring at it for 5 minutes, and there were not really any other kids around. Score.

Just a deluge of cute fall photos:

Isabel Theres 10 Months

Dear Isabel,

By the time I write this, you have actually just turned 11 months. But life is full, and your 10 month photos did technically happen before you turned 11 months! This month you have continued to charm us with your sweet smiles and lots of baby talk. You are moving around more and more, and have started trying to climb up the stairs. We finally had to get out the baby gate after you took a tumble off of the stairs (only one stair really, thank goodness!) You think your sister is so cool, and you still try to follow her around and do whatever she does. Sometimes she's a great big sis and brings you in on the fun; sometimes not. But it's so fun to continue to watch your relationship grow.

You are in a bit of a cling-to-mama phase these days. You don't really like to be left with the babysitter and the other kids during small group. And when I get home after a few hours of being out, either for work or errands or something, you cling to me and just bury your little head in my chest for a minute or two. I certainly can't complain about that!

Your top two teeth fully came in this month, unfortunately at the same time that you had a nasty cold. You also had a double eye infection, then your sister caught the bug, then me. At least I didn't get the eye infection part like you and your sister, but those were some rough days (weeks). Not that your top teeth have fully come through, you have 4 lovely teeth in your baby girl grin! Little miss, we love you to the moon and back and I can't believe we're rounding the corner to one year already!

Stretch it out, chunky legs!

Of course, what would a photo shoot be without your sister to join the fun!

Isabel Therese Nine Months

Dear Isabel - This has been such a fun month to watch you grow and change! First of all, you are crawling all over the place now. And pretty fast. You are putting EVERYTHING in your mouth. We have to watch you like a hawk, as they always say. We certainly had a scary moment with you this month - I was in the kitchen doing some dishes, and you and your sister were playing in the living room. I thought everything was pretty safe, but all of the sudden you started screaming and I ran in expecting that Madeline had grabbed a toy from you. But there you were, holding one end of a computer cord in your mouth and the other end plugged in at the outlet. Yikes! Bad parenting moment, little girl. But fortunately you were fine - I called the doctor right away, and James found out in 30 seconds via google that power surges through computer cords aren't very strong. Enough to give you a scary shock, but nothing to really harm you at all. I guess you weren't the first baby that has done that, given the number of online forums dedicated to the topic.

Speaking of hanging with your sister, you two have really started to develop a new relationship. Your interactions are much more playful now. You love to play the "paci game" with your sister, where you grab the paci out of her mouth, you both crack up laughing, she grabs it and puts it back in her mouth, and you do it again. It's pretty funny to watch. Madeline also loves to play peek-a-boo with you when you're in your high chair - she hides under the tray and pops up, and you laugh your heart out. Isabel, you also love to be doing whatever your sister is doing. You want to be play with the toys that Madeline has, and if she takes them away from you then you make a big fuss! We're having to try to teach both of you to share a little better. But we are seeing so many hints of the great friendship we hope and pray the two of you develop as you grow. 

You are eating a lot more "big people" food now, in very small bites of course. It is harder and harder to feed you with a spoon, because you'd rather pick up your own food. Your favorite foods right now are cheese and cheerios. You also have started to get upset when you see us eating food that we won't give to you. Just tonight, we were eating some home-made pizza and you were making a fuss all throughout dinner because you wanted to have some too. All in good time, little one!

Isabel Therese Eight Months

Isabel Therese - you turned 8 months while you were home in WA state visiting family! It was a lovely time in WA, with hot, sunny days and lots of time with loved ones. You were quite sick when we traveled home - you'd been up to 104 degrees, couldn't keep any food down, and were the most miserable we'd ever seen you. Poor baby. Poor us - not much sleep and a difficult day traveling home!  But after a week or so, you rallied and finally you were back to your normal self. Unfortunately by then, you'd developed a bad habit of waking up several times each night. And we didn't feel like doing sleep training at Nana and Grandpa's house was a good idea. So that was a difficult part of month 8 for us.

But you did all sorts of fun things this month! We went to the mountains with Nana and Grandpa, and we roasted marshmallows, went swimming in the pool, went on a hike in which we ran into a Mama bear and her two baby cubs (scariest hike of my life, I sprinted with you strapped to my chest!), spent lots of time in Ama and Opa's backyard, hung out on the Pacific, and fully enjoyed July. And I finally finished your quilt that I've been working on for months, thanks to the help of your Ama. The graphic Charley Harper prints are so fun, I hope you enjoy it!

You have officially started crawling, although not very fast. You'd still rather just have us pick you up and move you where you'd like to go. You love to be held and cuddled! 

And of course you're sister can't stand not to join the fun!

Isabel Therese is 7 Months!

(Side-note - wrote most of this post a couple months ago, just finally getting to adding the photos!)

Wow, little girl, over halfway to 1 year! At the start of this month, I started a new phase with you and your big sister - I'm home for the summer, and only going back to work in August on a very part-time basis. Yay! I have LOVED staying home with you girls every day, playing and adventuring and back-yard pooling and play-dating. Such fun! It's also fun for me to get into my own daily rhythms with you girls. When I was working every day and just home on the weekends with you two, I didn't really have a daily routine because weekends were always somewhat different. So I have been learning your daily rhythms, and trying to get some consistency in your nap times.

We also started you with solid foods this month! You've done pretty well so far, first up was rice cereal. We also moved you into the nursery with your sister! Well, sort of. We always start you out there in the evening, and then sometimes we end up moving you back into our room early morning if you're being fussy and we don't want to wake Madeline up. And we go back and forth for naps as well, since Madeline is more likely to wake up from your crying during nap time than the middle of the night. One night recently, it was probably 2am and you woke up (wanting to eat, because you are still eating a few times/night, bummer!) and Madeline woke up. She started talking about getting up with us, and I told her to go back to bed; that I was just taking you out for a bit because you were having a hard time. A few minutes later Madeline walked into our bedroom and said, "Mom, I just needed to get out for a bit because I'm having a rough time." Ha! You two make us laugh. 

This month, girl, you have become a mover! You're not crawling yet, but you've reached that phase where you land all over the place via rolling and sliding. I put you down on your play mat one minute, and then I turn around and you're halfway across the room! So needless to say, we've had to be careful what's out on the floor around you. We have also brought out more of Madeline's old baby toys that you can engage now, ones with lots of spinning things and gadgets to grab onto. It's so fun to watch your little mind process how these toys are working, and your eye-hand coordination improving. 

Another sweet thing you've started doing, is grabbing on tightly to me if I bend down to put your paci back in your mouth or something. Sometimes you just know that you want to be held, so you grab on to me and let me know that what you want is me, not some toy I'm trying to give you. Along with that, you've become slightly more difficult to put to sleep. We used to be able to just put you down in your crib, and you'd drift off to sleep. But you do that less easily now, because you are more cognizant of being left alone and just want to be held. 

Another new thing this month - you've started using a Lovie just like your big sister! We weren't really sure if we wanted you to have a paci or a Lovie since you're big sis is so attached to both, but here we are with you now attached to both. You started breaking out of your sleep sack swaddle because you move so much now, which has made it a lot harder for you to fall asleep. So cue the Lovie - which helps a lot. You grab onto the little blue puppy and snuggle with it while you fall asleep. As I recall, that was exactly the situation when we introduced a lovie to Madeline. Parents just do what they have to do sometimes to aid with sleeping!

You're auntie Emily came to visit this month as well, which was so fun! We went to the Farmer's Market, and the River Walk for a picnic, and all sorts of fun.

You sure are loved, sweet girl!