Precious

Last Thursday during the storm I took advantage of the cool weather and opened up the door so Isabelle could enjoy the weather...and so I could take advantage of not holding her to clean up the house. After taking a couple of uncute pictures of her looking out the dirty doorway for a ghetto looking background, she turned around to see where all the flashes were coming from. Pictures like this just melt our hearts and make the really cranky day...okay days...okay weeks...worth it. Right?

Reflection

While at my mom's house two weeks ago, we decided to see what Isabelle would think of sitting in front of her reflection. She of course loved it. She loves looking at herself in the mirror...her uncle Luke would be so proud. But of course, when you look this cute, why wouldn't you?

Five Little Ducks

This video was taken at the end of July...I've been trying to get blogger to upload it, but it refuses to. I finally just posted it on youtube so everyone can see it. It is Curt singing to Isabelle and she thought it was just the funniest thing ever. It was so cute!!

Part Time Single Mom

Almost one week down, 15 to go... I'm not wishing my daughter's baby months away...more wishing my husband's college days away...and yet there are years in our future. I guess I really should be saying 34 weeks down, approximately 226 to go... (And possibly way more if he decides to do law school in addition to his masters...) Wow that's depressing. After one week though we are already feeling how hard this is going to be...the actual going to school part as opposed to how hard the classes are. Curt wakes up in the morning, kisses his sleeping family goodbye, goes to work, comes home for lunch and hopes Isabelle is not down for her nap yet so he can spend 30-40 minutes with her, goes back to work, goes straight to school and on Monday and Wednesday, he'll get home at about 8:45. Hopefully Isabelle is still up to have Curt give her a bath before bed time, however since 8:30 is usually her preferred bed time, it isn't always a guarantee. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he stays at school until anywhere between 9:45 and 10:30. (His class ends at 10:30, but his professor lives in Oklahoma, so he'll probably get out early pretty often.) On these days, any hope of seeing Isabelle is all at lunch time...which breaks my heart. Isabelle is so very attached to her daddy. She really behaves the best when we are all at home together. Curt also goes to school on Saturday mornings, so I now live for Friday nights, Saturday afternoons and Sundays. Selfishly, whenever I think about 15 hour days of no Curt, I have a hard time even breathing. I start to get clausterphobic and my heart races...pretty much a panic attack...so I try not to think about the hours, but more of periods of time...like nap time to nap time. Or I try not to think about what Curt misses out on or what Isabelle misses out on.

I know that it will all be worth it in the end. Our trials make us stronger, right? I love that Curt is willing and we are able to put Curt through school. His determination to support his family and better our situation makes me so grateful that we have him.

Curt: we love you, support you, adore you and can't wait to see you.

How Has It Been 5 Months Already?

Seriously? Five months? Wasn't I just pregnant, swollen and miserable? Yet, somehow my baby is already five months. Here are some tidbits about Isabelle at five months:

• She is getting better and better at sitting up.
• She really has no patience for laying on her back and is getting very wary of leaning back.
• She adores her daddy.
• She LOVES food...any kind of food: rice cereal, oatmeal, prunes, bananas, pears, applesauce (the fruits are stirred into the cereal or oatmeal...except for sometimes the prunes...we are having pooping issues). She'll eat peaches, but I think it is her least favorite.
• She loves her pacifier. She can now keep it in her mouth pretty well.
• She likes looking out the window when we are in the car.
• She still loves her reflection.
• She looks more and more like her daddy everyday.
• She laughs more often. We can usually get her to at least laugh once a day.
• She is getting really good at playing with toys.
• She can almost roll over from her back to her stomach...her arm is the only thing stopping her.
• She loves going outdoors. Whenever Curt is almost home, we like to go stand outside and be his welcoming committee.
• She rarely has tummy trouble anymore. I can't even remember the last time we used Mylicon.
• She is getting better and better about sleeping at night...but not as good about taking good naps. She still takes 3 to 4 a day, but they are usually 45 minutes at the longest, maybe an hour if I'm lucky.
• She struggles to even stay up to 8:30 at night. Most days she starts her, "I want to go to sleep" cry at 7:00 or 7:30.
• She is absolutely precious and her mommy and daddy can't imagine life without her!

frames by Shabby Miss Jenn

Sick

Have you ever been so emotionally and mentally sick and / or miserably disgusted that you become physically sick? Yeah...

On a happier note, happy 200th blog post to me! :)

Laughing in her Bumbo

Last Saturday, Curt and I went out and bought Isabelle a Bumbo chair. She really has begun to favor sitting up to leaning back, much less laying on her back. Here is her reaction to her newest item to add to her collection of stuff. Finally you can hear her laugh...at least a little bit. (We have the cutest video of her laughing for a minute that refuses to upload...so sad.)

Fun Filled Weekend

This past weekend Curt and I had a lot of fun. Since last summer I wanted to take Curt to a water park...he's never been. All summer long I've been telling Curt we were going to go before the season ended. Since school starts this week and work has been absolutely miserable, wait more hellish than just miserable lately, I convinced Curt to take Friday off and we went to NRH2O. Heidi has been a lifeguard there all summer so she got us free tickets. They may only have seven slides, but considering we got in free, parking's free, and you can take your own food / water in and we only had to pay $4 for a locker, we couldn't justify spending the money at Hurricane Harbor. My mom graciously watched Isabelle for five hours while we went. It was so nice to be out of the house...and not to run errands...and be just the two of us. The park was great. We were able to do everything in three hours. Our feet were really starting to get burned by the end and I was ready to nurse, so it was perfect that we were able to do everything so quickly. Our fun didn't end after we left the water park. Afterwards we spent another $2.05 for our favorite Sonic drinks: medium cranberry slush and Route 44 Dr. Pepper. For dinner we also went out to have steak fajitas as La Hacienda Ranch (our favorite restaurant). I finally used my mother's day gift card there so we only had to spend $9.00. To top off the perfect day, Isabelle slept from 9:00 to 4:00 and from 4:30 or so until 9:00. What a great accomplishment!!!


On Saturday we ran some errands then went and spent the evening with Curt's brother's family. Lacey made AWESOME meat enchiladas, corn casserole and salad. It was amazing. It is always fun to get together with them. Abby is always entertaining and Isabelle likes watching her. Isabelle slept like a champ Saturday night too. She slept from about 9:30 t0 5:00 but then woke up several times after that until she finally got up and stayed up at about 9:00.


Our Sunday was like most Sundays. My Young Women lesson went really well. Since I taught both the Laurels and the Mia Maids I had plenty of comments...which is always great. We spent the evening with my family and even fit in two games of Ticket to Ride. Isabelle fell asleep sitting up at about 7:45 and we finally took her home at about 9:30. Amazingly, she went right back to sleep after getting home and didn't wake up until about 4:00. Even more amazingly she woke up two more times after 4:00 but still went back to sleep until she woke up for the day at 9:30. I was so shocked. I thought she'd be up at 6:30 and ready to play.

Loving Nemo

When we bought the latest $40.00 box of diapers, there was a book included as a bonus. Isabelle LOVES books. Even from just a couple of weeks old we would read to her out of the Book of Mormon reader and she would be totally enthralled. Apparently she loves hearing about Nemo's school adventures too.

Blue's Clues

Last Wednesday, Isabelle was having an especially crabby afternoon, so I introduced her to Blue's Clues.

Yep, I'd say she loved it...and I love Netflix! :)

Isabelle, How Old Are You?

Isabelle is already growing up so fast. She likes to remind us all the time that she is no longer a baby. She is four months already. I don't know what we are going to do once she can tell us she's a big girl and can say, "I do it, myself!" Thank goodness she's cute! :)

How Can You Resist This Face?

Isabelle is getting bigger and bigger. She no longer tolerates laying flat on her back for very long. It's because she loves to sit. She can only sit unsupported for a few seconds, but with pillows behind her to bounce off of, she can sit for much longer. She does better and better each day. Since Curt donated blood this morning, Isabelle and I had a little photo shoot so we could send him pictures so he would hurry home. How could he resist rushing home to a little girl so cute? Especially since to get her to smile I kept saying "Daddy!"

Abby's Favorite Uncle

Last Saturday we asked Abby (Curt's niece) who her favorite uncle is. Apparently Uncle Cook is. It isn't any big surprise...I mean Curt is pretty amazing, but he also spent tons of time throwing Abby around, jumping with her and singing songs with her over the course of several days.

Checking Out Her New Shoes...

Isabelle got some hand-me-downs from her cousin Abby this past weekend. The first thing I put her in? Cute shoes. She stared them down, not quite sure what to think about them. They barely fit her, so I'll have to put them on her lot in the next little while before they don't fit at all.

frames by GG Digital Designs (Tinsel Town Kit)

Long Overdue

On the 1st of this month, Isabelle found her feet. She looked at them the first time when we put her flip flops on the first time on the 26th of July, but she finally grabbed them on Saturday. She's really gotten good at grabbing them by now, but she still prefers her hands. Her hands fascinate her to no end and she stares at and talks to them all the time. My sisters make fun of her and do impersonations... I was lucky enough to be sitting on the bed beside Isabelle when she first got hold of her toes and even had the camera right next to me.

8/1:

8/4:

Welcome Home Chandler

On Thursday, we welcomed home Curt's sister who has been on a mission in Montana. Isabelle handled meeting her a lot better than meeting Curt's brother, Dan...
Okay...in Dan's defense, he came in May during the HORRIBLE stage Isabelle was in...crying all the time, only wanting mommy and maybe daddy, etc. Or, maybe it was the mustache and bald head... It scared me too.

Jenny Jump Up

Last Thursday, I bought Isabelle her very own Jenny Jump Up. She really liked it the first night we put her in it, but since then, she's wanted nothing to do with it. Maybe I should try during the day and not at night when she's so tired... Please excuse the drool.