The Birthday Present

I promise I will upload pictures of Izzie's party soon--there are lots of good ones!  But I had to show off the present we gave her.  I saw some examples of play kitchens made out of repurposed TV entertainment centers online, roped my dad into managing the project, and with only a $25 Craigslist purchase later we were off!

My dad and I had so much fun working on this!  He did all the building and woodwork, and I did all the painting and decorating.  I think it came out SO cute!  And of course my dad took all the ideas I had and made them bigger and better--so before you knew it she had every appliance she could dream of!  (He couldn't believe that I wasn't going to include a microwave originally.  Everyone needs a microwave.)

Here was the before... (the Craiglist ad...it specified that the other items were not included.  Darn.)

And here are the afters.  Super fun, right?  (Ignore the sheet--this was still a few days before we gave it to her.)

The oven and stove.  The knobs really turn.  The drawer they're 

attached to pulls out and is where we keep the silverware.

The rack inside of it also slides in and out.

The dishwasher.  100% my dad's idea.  Who

wants to wash dishes by hand, right?  

 The microwave.  With a plexiglass window.  The time

on the microwave is the time she was born.  Sniff, sniff.

The fridge.   Notice the touch light on top.  There is

also one in the microwave and two above the sink.

The chalkboard!

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to our darling!

What a Way to Start the Day...

Bryan takes Isabel to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and stays home with her on Fridays.  So on those days, I don't get to see her pretty little face before I go to work.  My hubby does a wonderful job of sending me pics of her throughout the morning--getting ready, having her bottle, playing at school--so I don't have to miss her too much (or does it make me miss her more...?).  Either way, I absolutely love the pictures.  It's a lovely way to start the day.

A Lazy Day

Little Miss Avery had her 2 month checkup, so Caden came over to hang out with us for awhile.  We had a lovely, lazy pajama day.  One of my favorite things about Izzie growing up has been watching her develop relationships with the other little people around her, like her cousins and friends at school.  It's fun to see her personality come out as she interacts with like-minded munchkins. 

Caden is no exception--these two have become, as he puts it, "Best friends, right Izzie-bel?"  She can actually play with him now, and he loves having her around.  In fact, he wants to do everything she does just the way she does it.  They were both at my mom's the other day, and he told Grammy, "I want she to sit right here, right by me" for lunch.  He also thought they should share food ("Maybe her chicken, but not the beans"), and he cracked Izzie up when he put her bow in his hair.  They both laughed really hard, and then Caden got sad when he had to give it back and asked Grammy, "Why won't you just find me one, too?"

Iz still doesn't pay much attention to TV, but she

was really into "Follow That Bird" with Caden.

And I enjoyed their choices of seating.

 

I can't keep this girl's hair out of her face.  This day, she brought one of my

headbands to me to have me put it on her, and of course this is the one time

that she actually left something in her hair.  Probably because it looks so good...  

 

The preferred method of transporting her Little People.  They fit perfectly

in her mouth.  She also likes to lean over and transport them to other people's

mouths to share (other people being Bryan and I).  Weird little Munchkin.

I believe I mentioned the toilet paper before.  If she has

been quiet for a little too long, this is where you'll find her...

A Busy Izzie

Moving.  Moving.  MOVING.  She walks all the time now.  Crawling is only for emergency situations.  And when she goes, SHE GOES.  I turn around and suddenly she's in the other room tearing apart toilet paper or taking all the clothes out of her hamper.  She's into everything.  And she's hilarious.  She seems to understand us more and more everyday.  And she is getting very cuddly with Mommy and loves giving Daddy kisses (we figure it's a trade off)...

 

All of these pictures were taken one day after school, literally within the first three minutes we were home.  She had taken pictures off the shelf, grabbed one of mommy's books to read (a math one, woohoo!), dug a magazine out of the trash, attempted to de-organize daddy's schoolwork and pouted when I wouldn't let her, etc.  Busy girl!  And you can really see her teeth in that last pic!

 

Izzie at School...

This chickee loves school.  She goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 to 4.  Her teachers, Miss Abbie, Miss Denise and Miss Alyssa are just the loveliest ladies there are.  And after picking Izzie up during naptime once, it became very clear that they do not get paid enough.  Anyone else want to put 7 kids ages 0 to 18 months down for a nap?  At the same time?  In the same room?  Whew.  I was stressed just watching them, and they were (of course) the picture of patience. 

The newly mobile Izzie gets to participate in more activities at school now.  I went to pick her up on Tuesday and Miss Alyssa said, "Izzie's in the gym."  That cracked me up.  But there she was, walking laps around the gym with Miss Denise while the other toddlers whizzed around in cars and played on the slide.  And apparently she walked the whole way there!  Her note from Tuesday also said she really liked pushing other kids around while they sat in the big cars. 

We love that she has such a wonderful place to be with friends and learn new things.  Cousin Avery is now in the same room as Izzie (though neither says much about it...) and Caden pops by to say hi to them once in awhile.  So nice to send her somewhere that's full of people we love!

11 Months Old!

 

 

Here's our big, grown, 11 month old Izzie.  Her personality is coming out more and more lately, and we just can't get enough of it.  Isabel is laid back and loud (which seem like they would contradict each other, but the result is her chillaxing in her rocking chair while yelling about the ball she's holding), hilarious one minute and sweet as pie the next minute, fiercely independent and very soft hearted.

Some new things as an 11 month old:

• She says "ball" very clearly (and likes to repeat it over and over and OVER)
• She waves "bye bye" unprompted when someone leaves the room or says "goodbye".
• She hugs stuffed animals (but not so much her parents--remember that independent part?)
• She loves to look at books.  She concentrates really hard on the pictures now.
• She lays flat on the floor (stiff as a board, arms straight) when she's getting sleepy.  But she'll pop right back up and play for a few minutes before taking another breather.
• She likes giving high fives.
• She WALKS.  Everywhere.  All the time.  She's just a real little person now.

Here she is using those front teeth to their full

advantage chewing up something at dinner.

And look at those beautiful blue eyes!

When you can't talk yet, you let Mommy and

Daddy know you're done with dinner by

running your sticky fingers through your hair.

This was funny (and not just because of her hair...but really, this chick clearly

already has issues with that!).  Iz had a ball that she stuck inside of the macaroni

and cheese box.  She couldn't get the ball out of the box, but she didn't want to let

it go either.  So she played with a box on her hand for awhile.  Makes sense.