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!

Summer Days (and Madeline updates)

(warning- this post is random, with LOTS of pictures!)

As of the end of May, I'm officially on summer break - yippeee! And this also marks a major transition from me - I'll be moving from my full-time role in Student Development to a part-time position of 12/hours week. I am so, so grateful for the opportunity to work at my job in a very part-time capacity. As much as I love my job, I've been longing to be home more with my girls and to have a bit more margin in our lives. Two full-time working parents, one busy and active toddler, and a babe who still gets up several times/night makes for some tired parents. But I think I would have been really sad to fully leave my job; this is a perfect balance (or so I hope!).

So, in my first three weeks on summer break we have been soaking up lovely summer days, living with no specific schedule or time constraints. And we are loving our new neighborhood this time of year - we're getting to know all of our neighbors, kids run through all the neighborhood yards, the streets are shaded with beautiful trees, and we can easily walk to several parks, downtown, and the farmer's market is a quick stroll from our house every Saturday.

Here are some fun pictures from our summer days.

Lots of hanging out on our porch:

This handsome guy....

 Made me this amazing meal! James wanted to make me a special meal to celebrate my transition to part-time, so he made a French Bistro steak herbed butter, roasted fingerling potatoes, and arugula salad with blue cheese and pears. We also finally cracked open a bottle of Alexandria Nicole that we got a few years ago on our Eastern WA winery trip. It was an amazing meal (fully enjoyed after kids went to bed!)

 Garage-sale Season! One of my favorite things, I love a good treasure hunt. There are score of garage sales around here every weekend, with tons of quality goods. I've been stocking up on activities for Madeline as she's been developing so much lately. My latest run last weekend came up with a wooden baby doll cradle from Pottery Barn kids, tons of books, puzzles, and a few toys, a little kids table and chairs (definitely a hit with Madeline), and a Radio Flyer tricycle. All for around $35.00, score!

This girl's favorite outdoor activity right now is riding her tricycle - we go up and down the sidewalk on our street, and she rings her little bell. Crazy to see her looking so grown up as she rides her trike!

We've progressed to more complex puzzles - big floor puzzles or ones with inter-locking peices. She LOVES them, and it's fun to see her wheels turn as we teach her about corner pieces, edge pieces, matching animals in different pieces, etc. Lots of learning happening. 

Here's another fun garage sale score - this "letter game" as I call it. She's been able to recognize her capitol letters for quite awhile now, but we haven't worked on lower case letters. This little set has around 20 different words where you fit the letters into them, and they are all lower case so we're working on those. I'm also trying to teach her the sounds of the letters, but I need to do some research on how to start teaching phonetics. In any case, she sits down to do this activity a few times/day. 

Another one of Madeline's favorites right now is her paper doll sticker book. It's a really nice one she got for her birthday, and we just finally brought it out a few weeks ago. We do it together, and each page has a different party theme that you dress up the girls and set the scene for with stickers. She would sit down and do the whole book in one fell swoop if she could, but I'm trying to spread out the fun. So funny to hear her say things like, "I think this little girl would like the purple purse, so we need to give this little girl the yellow hat." We have to be fair with the distribution of goods for our paper dolls, right? 

Lots of backyard pool fun play dates: 

(At Judah and Jalayn's house)

Our backyard pool

The babies like to be a part of the pool party too!

 Our first trip to the big pool for the summer! I didn't get a photo of it, but just like last year her favorite thing at Rice pool is the huge sand castle building area. She runs back and forth with her bucket to fill up with water and dump in a sand hole to make a "lake." I think it's her outlet for me not letting her turn the sink faucet on and off at home - she can turn on the faucet to her heart's content at the sand castle section (I realize this is a common favorite of toddlers, they all line up to use the faucet again and again!)

 

A common car scene these days - sunglasses, her backpack full of books and other goods, and a few tag-a-longs - Mr. Moo Cow, in this case. 

Lots of park play. Madeline has been loving any climbing challenge she can find - it's definitely something she wasn't engaged with last summer, and but loves this year. 

We picked up some flowers at a Greenhouse at the beginning of June and have been watering our flowers at home. Madeline's a big fan of helping water the flowers. 

Farmer's Market! We do a "farmer's market loop" each Saturday where we walk through the farmer's market, swing through the downtown park, head through the library, and then head back home for lunch and nap time. It's become a great ritual, although we've decided we shouldn't load up on fresh made doughnuts every week. :0) We're trying to pace ourselves!

Madeline is at such a fun age, making all sorts of new discoveries and saying such funny two-year old things. I wanted to write some of them down so I don't forget them; perhaps they won't be as funny to anyone else, but they made James and me laugh.

Madeline, while eating lunch: "Mama, come sit down next to me."
Me: "I will in a minute, Madeline, when I finish these dishes."
Madeline, tapping the table next to her seat: "Sweetheart, just come sit down here by me for a few minutes."
Well, how could i refuse that offer? :0)

Last night, shortly after James came home from work and we sat down to dinner, Madeline casually says, "Well daddy, how are you doing today?"

Madeline is starting to become much more aware of various emotional states. So it's nice that she can now express, "Mama, I'm sad." Or "Thunderstorms scare me!" Or, "Mama, that little boy is crying, why is he sad?" Or, if she notices I'm upset, she'll look at me and say, "it's okay, mommy, we're okay!" Very sweet.

Madeline is in a big "myself!" phase (she's been in this phase a long time). Often it's frustrating, but sometimes it's really funny. Our rule for when she's walking out and about with us, especially near cars, is that she has to hold our hand very tightly. But lately, she's been telling us "I want to hold my hand by myself!" And so she folds her hands together like she's praying, and off she goes. Unfortunately that doesn't quite get at the root of the safety issue!

She continues to be a spirited, strong-willed little girl, and we still have several time-outs or spankings every day. I hear that consistency is the name of the game with toddlers, and that it takes many, many times for a certain concept or discipline to sink into a child at this age. And as my mom reminds me, as  a parent you "pay now or pay later." So, I'd rather pay now when the issue is not hitting or following through or saying "go away mama!" rather than the issues teenagers face. There are such highs and lows with a two year old, and they are just back-to-back. One moment she's reading with Isabel and making her sister laugh, and the next minute she whacks her in the head because I gave Isabel a toy that she wants. It's definitely challenging as a parent to know how to deal with each different scenario - there is no perfect manuel for a play-by-play on how to best handle different situations. And each child's personality sometimes dictates a different response. So James and I are humbled as parents, doing the best we can and praying for the Lord's grace and wisdom as we guide our little girls. And so, so thankful for the gift they are to us, two healthy, beautiful girls.

Isabel Therese is Six Months

Sweet Isabel - you have reached your half birthday! Hard to believe how quickly time has gone by since you were born! At your 6 month doctor appointment, you were in the 100th percentile for height, 39th percentile for weight, and 100th percentile for head circumference. The doctor said that we shouldn't worry about your weight, that you are plenty healthy. He just said you'll be tall and lean, and that you'd be top-heavy. Don't worry, he was joking - you're head looks proportional to your long body!

This month you have started moving around quite a bit; we often find you several feet from your play mat because you keep rolling and moving all over the place. You're not quite sitting up on your own but you are a "supported sitter." And although you are still the sweetest pea and a pretty relaxed baby, you've started to have a few moments where you exert your will to get what you want. Unfortunately, if we let your big sister watch a short show on TV you love to latch on to that screen; when we move the TV out of your vision, you strain your little body and wiggle and writhe and screech until you can see it again. Gosh, we were hoping we'd only have one highly strong-willed little girl but we'll see what happens with you! You've also shown us more and more that you are very social. We often have to put your bouncer on the table during dinner time, otherwise you get really fussy on your own. Once we move you to the table and you can see all our faces, you're as happy as a clam.

Your big sister has started getting more interactive with you, as you are able to interact more socially with her. Madeline likes to make you laugh, so she often starts up with a very silly cackle that seems to tickle your funny bone. And there have been some really sweet moments lately, where I've looked over to see Madeline reading you a book or showing you a toy. Makes me excited for the days when you both can play more together. Of course, there have also been moments where Madeline grabs a toy from you when she's jealous you have it, or she whacks you in the nose with her baby doll when you innocently try to grab it. So I'm also anticipating the referee job we'll inevitably have to play between you two girls. :0)

We made it through our first stretch with Daddy gone - 5 whole days! James went to a wedding for his best friend in NYC, and I held down the fort with you and Madeline. All things considered, everything went well. But we were very glad to have him back! Your daddy sure is smitten with you. We both often make comments that it's just so lovely to have a baby around. We both LOVE the 6 month phase - you're still a little baby but you have so much personality and happy smiles these days. And you're not crawling yet, so we don't have to worry too much about cupboards and stairs and what's on the ground.

Isabel Therese, we love you more and more each month and keep praying you grow to Love the Lord!

Isabel Therese Five Months

Dear Isabel Therese,

I took your five month photos over a month ago, but it was during a very busy time of the year at school and so I'm just getting to put up a post about this. Better late than never, right?

So, you had some fun visitors in your 5th month of life. After Ama came out for her spring break, your Auntie Krista and Nana and Grandpa all came to visit. You had a blast visiting with them, and they had a blast visiting with you. They all commented on how chill you are - we still call you the "Zen Baby!"

Madeline was awake for this little photo shoot, and so of course she had to join the fun!