We're a family of four now!

Welcome to the world Nikolas!! Our sweet "little man" arrived September 2 at 1:19pm weighing 7 pounds and was 21 1/4 inches long! He was born with a full head of dark brown hair and dark (think black) eyes!! Big sister Isabelle didn't know what to make of him at first. She arrived in the delivery room not long after he was born - just long enough for me to be cleaned up and decent. I was holding Nikolas in my arms, all wrapped in a blanket, screaming his head off (this was the scene for about the first hour after he was born!). Isabelle looked at him, got a huge pout on her face, and then started crying! It nearly broke my heart! She eventually warmed up to him after some loves from mommy. The next morning when she came to visit at the hospital she walked purposefully into the room, right over the edge of the bed, patted it, and said "uh" - we then lifted her up onto the bed, where she promptly looked at Nikolas and patted her lap and held her arms out!!! <3 She held him for a moment, then pushed him back to mommy, then wanted him back...we continued this scenario until she became interested in his hospital bassinet. It was very cute and reassuring though!

Now that we are home (and nearly 5 weeks later) she goes about her own business as usual, with a few more tantrums - but what can you expect...a new sibling coupled with being nearly 2? we're bound to have tantrums! She likes to hold him, when she is good and ready, give him kisses, then hand him back off and go about what ever she was doing before! Life is going great as a mommy of two. I'm dreading my return to work - I don't know how I will make it - I remember my first night to work after having Izzie...I cried the whole way there, and sporadically throughout the night. Someone asked me how she was and I nearly broke down right on the spot. It was awful, I was a blubbering mess! lol I can't imagine my first time away from my TWO babies will be easier.

Well the wool soaking in the sink is calling my name...nap time only lasts so long!

MTM...Planes, Trains, and Automobiles!

Well it is Muffin Tin Monday again!! If you are unsure what that means...be sure to check out Her Cup Overfloweth! Today's theme is Planes, Trains, and Automobiles! I had fun coming up with a lunch to fit today's theme, even with the house nearly eaten empty of lunch type foods!

So today...Izzie Jo enjoyed...

• A waffle car, with sunbutter holding on the banana wheels, and homemade strawberry jelly windows.
• A forest of broccoli trees, since we see lots of trees when we go in the car!
• A "red sea" of dried cranberries.
• A hotdog boat with a rice cheese sail!

I STILL need to get a muffin tin, and didn't feel that ghost tins would work well with today's theme, so we had our lunch on a plate!

Muffin Tin Monday

I have been following this blog for a little while now. Each week I read it and think to myself that Izzie would probably enjoy Muffin Tin Monday...to mix things up a little! What is Muffin Tin Monday, you ask? Each Monday, a meal or snack, catered to a theme presented on Her Cup Overfloweth, is provided in a muffin tin! I have been following for a few weeks now, and it is amazing how creative people get with their muffin tins. This week was a No Theme week, and I decided it would be a good week to give it our first try. While out and about yesterday, I attempted to find a smallish muffin tin, as Izzie really doesn't need 12 choices, or 12 slots for a meal/snack. I wasn't successful in finding a muffin tin, but remembered that I had some little ghost shaped tins at home, so decided our first week would use those! Our tin was for lunch time today...she had: Vegetable Soup, Oyster Crackers, 1/2 a banana, and some dried cranberries! She really seemed to like the idea of her lunch being served in separate little containers!!
But I have decided that I do need to invest in a suitable muffin tin, as the tin ghosts ended up crumbled in her lap by the end of lunch! Guess they were as fun to squish as they were to eat from!

Cupboard shopping and pockets....

The other day I was scurrying around the playroom picking up toys while exclaiming to my toddler, who happened to be in the next room (kitchen) how much fun it was and that mommy needed help. Suddenly, I heard a noise..a noise similar to a box of crackers being dropped...I silently moved to the doorway, so as not to disturb whatever goings on were occurring in the kitchen...and to my surprise...found my toddler, beagle, and one of the cats "shopping"!! So instead of telling her, that no, we do not get into the cupboards....Mommy ran for the camera!

It was no real surprise to me to see that the dog was in on her adventure....it isn't often that you see my toddler around the house without the beagle somewhere close by...they are becoming fast friends...and I'm afraid of what trouble this twosome may some day cause. The cat helper did somewhat surprise me...and she soon left the festivities...guess a nap was more exciting than cupboard shopping!

Not long after we cleaned up from cupboard shopping I turned to find Izzie with her hands in her pockets...this is a new thing, and might I add VERY adorable!! She doesn't quite get that her balance is off with both hands in her pockets...so she has taken a couple tumbles with no way to catch herself...but I think she is starting to get the hang of it!

Notice her trusty accomplice still at her side....

Beach baby, beach baby, give me your hand...

Now that the weather has finally decided to grace us with some summer days we are getting out and about more! We have quickly discovered that Izzie LOVES the beach! More precisely, she loves the water...any water will do really, a bath, a shower, the sink, her kiddie pool, but she really loves the beach! She loves the sand and water, and is happy as can be to just sit at the edge of the water splashing and playing with a bucket! If we plan to head to the beach for the day, we had better plan on spending most of it by the water's edge! Forget about lunch and lounging under an umbrella reading a good book while she plays close by in the sand...NOPE! Water's edge it is for her!


Izzie even enjoyed being buried in the sand! Grammie and Uncle buried her legs in the sand on a recent family trip to the beach. She thought it was great to wiggle her toes free while they scrambled to try to keep them covered!


Needless to say, we will be planning several more beach days...should the weather cooperate!

Getting Ready....

I feel so unprepared this time around. But really, we aren't. We have most all the big stuff we need - we will be getting Izzie a toddler bed a few months after the baby comes (daring, aren't we!), so he can use the crib...therefore he is also getting the dresser that is now in her room (since it matches the crib), so we are looking for a new dresser for her. But really, those are the only big things we really need.

He has some clothes that will fit, and I plan to take a shopping trip sooner than later to get them both some more clothes.

As far as diapers go...we are nearly set. We need to get the next size up in prefolds, just in case he is bigger than we anticipate and we need them really soon after he is born. We need a few more wetbags as well, but really, those won't be 100% needed until I go back to work, although it would be nice to have a few more on hand before then for any outings we may take. I washed through his newborn diapers last night! They are soooo tiny! I can't wait to use them. I think we are going to use sposies in the hospital, and then start cloth as soon as we get home. I just don't want to have to worry about losing any or having to wash if we run low/out.

So overall, I think we are fairly prepared for his arrival, whenever that may be. I think I just feel unprepared because, really, we haven't had to do too much to prepare, since we already had everything. Yes, we cleaned out and decorated his room, and washing clothes and diapers. And just getting the house clean in general...(THANK YOU NESTING!). But I think we are ready. And if we find something we need, we'll just have to go get it once he is here!

Craft Time!

Recently, with the horrid rainy weather we have been having, I have been introducing different crafts to Izzie. She seems to really like doing different crafts, and for the most part they have turned out well!

We introduced her to crayons around Easter...after a short time of learning how to hold the crayon, and then figuring out how to apply enough pressure to make a mark with said crayon, she took off with the coloring process. She quite enjoys to color, though it is often a short lived activity. But, I think she may enjoy eating the crayons more than coloring with them, clearly demonstrated one day when I turned to find her with a blue mouth (thankful for non-toxic crayons, I exclaimed to her that I had often heard that black tastes the best!!)

Our next endeavor in the craft world was naturally finger paints. What toddler wouldn't love to finger paint was my thought. So being the brave mommy that I am, I decided that we were going to craft with finger paints for Grammie and Grampies 26th anniversary and for Grammie's birthday.

So a search I did, to find a suitable idea that we could easily create. I came up with making a milk carton bird feeder and painting a ceramic plant pot. I spent a few evenings prior to when I planned to introduce painting to her preparing the milk carton and plant pot.

Finally, it was time to let Izzie do her part in the gifts....PAINTING!! At first, she was a little unsure...but once she realized what she was supposed to be doing she loved it!!

Today was our next art project...foam stickers, pom poms, dyed pasta, and glue! I found online a week or so ago how to color pasta - put pasta in plastic bag, cover with rubbing alcohol, add food coloring, mix, let sit overnight. The next morning you drain it, and then lay it out to dry, I used a cookie sheet. I was a little concerned at first, as the pasta was soggy...but after a few days of laying out, and being mixed every so often, it dried out nicely.

She really loved putting the stickers on the paper and did great at this part. She wasn't so sure about putting the glue on the pasta/pom poms and then putting them on the paper. We ended with a handful of glue soaked pompoms and a picture with a few pieces of pasta still intact. Overall, for our first try with glue, I think it went well!

So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.

It has been so long since I was last here....the changes that have taken place amaze me. I can't believe how quickly my baby is girl is growing and changing. She no longer looks like a baby, she is taking on that toddler look. She is so smart, it amazes us everyday.

Isabelle is now 16 months old...in just a short time she will be a big sister to baby Nikolas. She loves to lift my shirt and wave at my stomach...although I don't think she fully understands what "There's a baby in mommy's belly" means, that doesn't stop her.

She now has 8 teeth, 4 on top and 4 on bottom, and every night before bed she runs to the bathroom to brush her teeth!

She signs more, all done, I don't know, and rain(for any type of water). We are working on adding more signs, and she seems to be interested and understanding them well.

She can make the noises of the following animals: duck, cow, dog...and in our house, cats say "woof" - nothing we say or do has changed this, and you get a "woof" everytime you ask what the cat says :)

Her understanding of vocabulary amazes us, and we're just waiting for her to take off talking...she was walking around the house today "selling" DirecTV to us...she had a brochure in her hand and was babbling and pointing like she knew just what she wanted to tell us. I often wonder what she is saying. She seems to mimic many words that we say, but does not continue to use them as part of her vocabulary...I know in time we won't be able to get her stop talking! She does consistently say: mama, dada, daddy, dog, cat, that, hi, GiGi.

Her concept of pretend play amazes me. If you say to her that her baby is thirsty, she will find one of her cups and give it a drink. She shares her sucky (pacifier), and her snacks with her dolls. She will cover them up with blankets, and takes them for walks in her little stroller. If you say to her "awww...go to sleep baby, baby is sleeping", she will lay down on the floor and close her eyes. She is so adorable to watch!

She is RUNNING! Not just walking...but running, there simply is not time for walking!

I have started doing crafts with her, and have discovered that she enjoys eating crayons, but more than that, she LOVES finger painting! It took her a few moments to get the hang of it, but once she did I could see that she was really enjoying herself!

She is able to feed herself using silverware (usually towards the end of the meal, once she isn't quite so hungry! lol). She is able to point to body parts as they are named (foot, hand, head, ear, nose, mouth, eye, ear). She claps and stomps her feet to "If your happy and you know it", and does the spider in "Itsy Bitsy Spider". We are working on "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes".

I'm feeling that the following poem is so fitting for our life right now...especially the last verse...
Song for a Fifth Child
By Ruth Hulburt Hamilton
Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth
empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
hang out the washing and butter the bread,
sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
and out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
but I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

Pizza for Lunch!!

Today for lunch Izzie Jo had pizza for the first time!! She had cheese english muffin pizza. She seemed a little unsure at first, but quickly warmed up to it and soon had eaten a whole 1/2 of an english muffin plus some peaches!!!

She has been sick and had a few days where she wasn't eating very well, but her appetite is back full force!! She doesn't seem to be very picky about food, but has recently started refusing to eat cheerios, I think she must be tired of them. We have a bowl of assorted small snacks that we keep in the diaper bag that has puffs, cheerios, and baby crackers in it. She will eat both the puffs and the baby crackers, but if you give her a cheerio, it either doesn't make it to her mouth, or if it does, she takes it right back out and throws it on the floor! Crazy baby!

10 months was a busy month!

Isabelle turns 11 months old today. She currently has her first ear infection and is on antibiotics. She is doing a lot of laying on the couch watching tv and snoozing and lots of cuddling. She had such a busy month while she was 10 months old. Some things that she started doing while she was 10 months:

• Sitting up from laying down
• Crawling
• Pulling to standing
• Walking behind her push toy
• Walking along furniture
• Has a grand total of 2 teeth...no new ones since she was 9months old
  
• Sleeping in her own room in her crib
• Turns light switches on and off
  

She is still babbling lots and the only real word we can make out so far (and still) is 'Dada'. She is signing 'more' and 'all done'. She will, when asked 'Where is the ______' point to what you are asking about (puppy, kitty, nose). She understands several signs, but does not sign them to us yet. She claps when she hears 'If you are happy and you know it', 'Patty Cake', or if you say 'Yay!!'

It is so hard to believe all that she has learned and started doing in her 10th month of life. It is amazing watching her learn about her world and how things work. I think before long she will be walking - she is much more interested in standing up and moving about upright than she is crawling around!

Can't wait to see what 11 months brings. Hard to believe she will be 1 in a month! Where has time and my baby gone?

Christmas

This is a little late, and I don't have pictures uploaded yet...BUT we had a great Christmas. Izzie wasn't really all that interested in the wrapping paper like many people told us she would be, she just wanted the toys!!! She is a girl who knows what she wants! She got super spoiled, more stuff than we know what to do with.
Over the next few weeks are going to work on converting our current computer room into a playroom, I think it will be a good and much needed change, especially with her 1st birthday fast approaching!
I think the biggest hit for Christmas was the toy that her Uncle Justin got her. He got her the Fisher Price Baby Gymnastics Bounce and Spin Zebra. She took one look at this thing and got so excited!! She isn't big enough yet to ride it by herself, but we hold onto her and help her bounce! She thinks it is hilarious!
Mommy also got a great surprise for Christmas!! I got a fancy new camera - an Olympus E-520! I also got 2 lenses to go with it!!! So there will be some new pictures coming, once all the software is uploaded to the computer and I get the camera figured out!! I have been told by a co-worker of a photography place that offers classes to help you learn to use the functions on your camera, so I am going to look into that!
Guess that is all for now. Once I get them on the computer, I will add a few pictures!