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Isabella Reese August 28, 2006 6:00 pm 6 lbs. and 4 ozs. |
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Stories .
A month away from 2 and a Half....Can't believe we're already here. It has been forever since I've written an update. She has been doing a lot of fun stuff I just haven't had the time to write. First things first. There has been no potty training and no big girl bed yet. We've had potty training moments- meaning I get excited and get stuff to do it and we try it once or twice and then forget about it. I am just having trouble staying motivated...are diapers really that bad =) I know, I know..I will do it eventually. About the big girl bed...we'll we're in no rush for that either. She still sleeps great in there and she doesn't get out of bed and come wake us up at 4 in the morning- I'm really okay with that. She is only 2 and a half after all...I don't think a few more months are going to hurt. Well, enough about what we haven't been doing and on to what we have. Mother's Day out has continued to be a huge success for her. She loves everything about it- the teachers, friends, music, gym, parties, special visitors and more. And I'm really glad she loves it because we added one more day after Christmas. She is now going Tues., Wed,.Thurs. Mainly because I am now working in the baby room on Tues. and Thurs. and now have Wed. to run errands and go to appointments. It has been fun so far with my 6-just turned 1-baby boys. Isabella has fun visiting the baby room and helping me get things ready. She has also adjusted very well to her new Wed. class. It is an older class but the teachers always tell me how self-sufficient, independent, social, and talkative, she is. I am very glad to hear these things because I was nervous about adding the 3rd day but so far so good! She definitely thrives in that type of environment. Hopefully that won't change before we start real school...in a few years =) Outside of school she is doing a lot of other things as well. Soon after her birthday she began riding her trike by herself. She can use a mouse to do a few things on the computer. She will count and say some words in Spanish..this just happened one day out of the blue several months ago. She is doing better with her letters and will finally let me read her books again. For several months she would have to "read" them to me. Which really meant repeating all the words she remembered or making up stories based on the pictures. It was frustrating because I love to read to her. But as the same time it was fun to see her imagination get going if it was a book she didn't know. She definitely has quite an imagination and loves to pretend. Lately our favorite pretend play has been Isabella the super hero. She puts on her super duper boots, a blanket for a cape and runs around the house rescuing her toys. Jeff found this is a sneaky way to get her to clean up too. Just pretend the toys are in trouble and need help getting back where they belong...works like a charm. And, just are we are learning ways to "manipulate" her behavior she began trying more and more of her own little manipulative moves. Just around her birthday she became quite the staller. Especially at bedtime. She would think of something she needed to do, or get, or say. It became quite entertaining to see her little mind working to think of a way to delay bedtime. We have also noticed her solving more and more problems on her own. This may sound silly but it is cool to watch her reason her way through something and figure out a solution. Not always a great solution, like when she kept having to walk over the toys she had dumped. Jeff finally said why don't you pick up your toys so you don't have to walk over them. Her response..a very casual "No, I'll just move them out of the way". That's one solution =) Well the only other thing I want to mention is Christmas. We had a great one..very busy but great. Isabella was so fun this year. She got to help put ornaments on the tree, set up the manger scene, and decorate cookies for Santa and cupcakes for Jesus. Due to her never ending, overly enthusiastic love of all things birthday we even got to light a candle and sing Happy Birthday for Jesus. She insisted and we were happy to celebrate the birth of our Saviour. We had a blessed 2008 and are looking forward to a wonderful 2009!!
Well, we have about a month and a half of being 2 under out belt and so far it hasn't been too crazy. Isabella started Mother's Day Out last month and absolutely loves it. The first couple of days I dropped her off she would cry for a few minutes but now as soon as we walk into the building she runs to her class and yells to her teachers "Hi Carol, Hi Tracey" (we're still working on the Mrs). In fact, if I happen to mention school as I'm getting her out of bed she starts yelling "I love school", starts putting her shoes on and tells me to "come on and get in the car". Now, I have to wait to tell her so we can at least eat breakfast and put on some clothes before she starts dragging me out the door. As social as she is I figured she would like it but apparently she LOVES it and I'm very glad. It is a nice break and a great chance for me to get to the gym and run some errands toddler free. Another plus of MDO is that Isabella is getting more time to learn how to interact with other kids. I was very excited about this especially considering her sharing issues. It's hard to learn how to share your toys when you're the only kid in your house. I feel like we've been drilling this sharing thing since the beginning of the year and it is slowly getting better but she is still very possessive...she recently told Dora and Boots on the t.v. that they couldn't have any of her juice and a few months ago at my parents house my dad asked her to share and she said "alright" and then proceeded to walk towards her toys, contemplating what to do. She then passed them and moved onto the dogs toys. She then looks at my dad and picks up the dogs toys with a mischievous grin and says" I share Lady's toys..here you go". Another time we were eating dinner and I asked her to share some of her food and she promptly told me.."No, eat yours!!" Then a few minutes later in the meal we were talking about the birds outside and how they were hungry and without even thinking she sweetly lifts up her bowls and says "Here you go birds" I guess the birds looked more hungry than I did. Oh well at least she was willing to share with somebody. Moving on from the sharing let's talk about another new development in Isabella's personality that has come in the form of what I like to call Bossy Pants. While she was still an infant Jeff and I often joked that she would be bossy. This was in large part due to her insanely loud and demanding crying. Well, in the past couple of weeks we have witnessed more and more of the bossiness. It started in bits and pieces at home with her wanting us to do certain things, certain ways, at a certain time (typical toddler) but then we find out that at her school she has stopped taking naps and as they are trying to lay everyone down she very loudly tells everyone else to lay down. Her teachers laugh about it and tell me it goes something like this. "Night, Night Ella...lay down", "Night, Night Lucas...lay down" and let's see I think there are 5 more kids so just imagine her saying it 5 more times and insert some names. Then when they tell her to lay down she simply tells them "No". No crying or screaming just No...and she doesn't. Not only is it happening at home and school but also at church. I think the last time we were in her room she out of nowhere tells the kids at her table to "stop talking." So, looks like we've got more to work on...hopefully it's just a phase =) When she's not being bossy or possessive she does a ton of really funny and sweet things. My recent favorite happens when she has a dirty diaper she puts her hand up and says ..."No mommy, don't touch the poopie" I'm thinking she is starting to get embarrassed so we're going to really start working on potty training soon. She has peed in her potty a few times but we haven't really been doing any hardcore training. Another thing have heard a lot over the past few months is " Let me do it" or "Let me help you" She will hardly let me even read a book to her anymore...she has to do it. She always wants to "read" it herself and make up her own story or say the words she remembers. If I do try to read a book with her she'll tell me "No, I read this one mommy, you read that one" She is just doing so many big girl things on her own. We had a big girl moment the other night when she was playing with Jeff and she accidentally hit him in the face and he just joking said oh you hurt me. Well I didn't think anymore about it then a few minutes later she tells me she wants out of her chair and says " Mommy, I want to tell daddy I'm sorry" She is very good about telling people she is sorry or saying excuse me if she bumps somebody. This time he was really ok but it was sweet that she wanted to tell him anyway. She has been all about her daddy lately. Whenever, Jeff is around she is constantly telling him "Daddy, look at me" or "Daddy, watch me" "Come play with me daddy". She loves attention but especially her daddy's these days. So sweet! * Updated to add a few more cute, random things. When bugs fly near Isabella she says "Shoo buggy go home, see your family" Last night in time out she told Jeff " No, Daddy, I can't take baths ANYMORE" (arms up and down for emphasis). Today when she dropped her potato head.. Oh no, did I do that? And when Jeff was pretending to cry loud like she does.."Are you done crying daddy...do you need to go to time out?" Being the little drama queen that she is, she hears that one a lot from us. =) I guess that is all for now. We're having fun and looking forward to enjoying much more of this fall weather. I should have some more pics up soon so check back!! Two and Too Cute.....Well we officially have a 2 year old. It's hard to believe another year has come and gone. This birthday was not as emotional as the last for me. I was really more wrapped up in her excitement than anything else. Her love of birthdays began early in the summer and she has been singing the birthday song ever since. I for one have never been a big fan of having people stand in a circle and stare at me with big smiles on their faces while singing in a variety of different keys. In fact as a child I used to cry when people sang the birthday song to me. Isabella on the other hand loves attention and really seems to enjoy singing it and having it sung to her. It has pretty much been our dinner entertainment over the last few months. Very cute to say the least. When it was finally time to celebrate her birthday I picked a cupcake theme because she loves cupcakes and well the decorations I found were just too cute. It should be no surprise that she loves cake as much as she does. If you know me you know I love to bake and love to eat some cake..in moderation of course. The look on her face is priceless after biting into something sweet. You would have thought we'd given her gold. While she got no gold this year she did get a ton of other fun things. She had no trouble ripping into those oh so cutely wrapped packages and enthusiastically thanking her friends and family. Much different than last year. After having attended so many parties this year I'd say she is a birthday pro. This has been such a fun year. It has certainly had it's challenges but it has been amazing to see her change so much. When I think back to the small vocabulary she had this time last year and compare it to crazy amount of things that she can say now I am floored. Jeff and I both agree that watching her language develop has been one of the most astounding things we have ever witnessed. It has been so much fun to see her in the beginning just labeling objects then taking those labels and adding ownership and plurals and putting them into sentences to ask and answer questions and now using several sentences to say some of the cutest and sweetest things we have ever heard. One recent sweet thing that I'm pretty sure melted Jeff's heart the other night occurred when he was putting her to bed and she put both hands on his face looked him in the eyes and said "Daddy, I love you". And I'm pretty sure I could not stop laughing when she sneezed and I told her bless you. She got very upset and very quickly informed me "my bless you" How dare I take it. She is very sweet but when it comes to sharing she has been having some major issues lately. She seems to think that everything is hers. I know this is common for kids her age but she even thinks things on the tv are hers and will tell the t.v. that they are hers. We have been working on this for several months and I'm sure we'll be working on it for several more. While her 2nd birthday was getting closer and closer those characteristic 2yr. old behaviors were popping out much more frequently and we began to need a way to deal with those not so sweet moments. Enter time out. Generally we make her sit on the floor and most of the time have to hold her because she is crying and carrying on so much. After the time has passed I will ask her if she's done crying and usually she will say "I'm done crying mommy". One of the last times we had to do this I asked her if she was done and she looked at me and said "No, I'm sad" and she just sat there and kept on crying with huge crocodile tears running down her face. She was really still sad. That's our little drama queen. Thankfully, the Lord makes children impossibly cute and and gives us many funny moments throughout the day to make up for the hard ones. Not long after the sadness of the time-out Isabella became very excited when she discovered that her white crayon was finally working. For months she had tried to use it and would get so sad and say "oh no, it's broken". And she remained convinced it was broken until I finally gave her some brown paper. At the time I hadn't even thought about the fact that she would be able to see it on the darker paper. I just found it and gave it to her and the next thing I know she is yelling "Mommy,Mommy, white crayon is working" with a look of surprise and joy that can only be rivaled by that look she gives after eating dessert. I'm telling you she is over the top expressive. Her big personality has made us fall even more in love with her this year though. You just can't help but love that big belly laugh and those sillly and sometimes mischevious faces. Or the way she sings her ABC's at the top of her lungs and constatnly wants to play ring around the roses on our bed then fall down and pretend she's asleep about a million times. And we can't help but beam with pride when we hear her counting so well and see her putting on her shoes and socks all by herself. She is just doing so many grown up things and looking more and more like a little girl everyday. She is our big 2 year old now and as terrible as the 2's might be we are beyond thrilled to be her mommy and daddy and can't wait to see what this next year will bring. We love you Isabella Reese!!!!!!!! 21-22 months...I want OUT and No, Mommy, I CAN'T!! Those are the 2 things I hear the most. Needless to say, these are trying times. As if the tantrums weren't enough I spent the month of May in much pain due to a mole removal on my foot that required 9 stitches on the outside and many more on the inside. I spent most of the day repeating...No I can't... to Isabella because I really couldn't do much...it HURT. She was not very happy to say the least but she finally begin to understand and she would say...Mommy got a boo-boo..it hurt. However, just because I couldn't do a lot doesn't mean she slowed down any. One of the funnier things happened when I was getting her breakfast ready one morning and she proceeded to open a can of oatmeal and spread it all over the floor. Not only did she exclaim that is was...ooh pretty but then began throwing it up in the air shouting...it's snowing..it's snowing. Very cute but quite a mess. A day or 2 after turning 21 months she started putting sentences together. We went into her room and she looked at me and said, "It's dark in here. Turn on the light". Around the same time she began counting even more. We were walking up the steps and got to 10 and I thought she was done but she contiinued on up to 14 by herself. She was also able to recognize a lot of shapes during the 20th month and drew circles for me. Now she pretends to draw kitties although they do not actually look like cats but it's still cute. She also likes to make up songs. My favorite so far has been the Happy Bubble song. It was very catchy...the title was pretty much the extent of the lyrics...just reapeated in various notes. Hopefully she will have Jeff's musical ability. When she was not making up her own songs she would give the ABC's a try...and randomly sing Jesus Loves Me or Happy Birthday...too cute. I should really be getting some of this on video. Now onto the month of June. It started off with VBS...How one week can be so exhausting I'll never know. It was fun and Isabella learned about baby Moses but everytime I asked her who it was she would tell me it was baby Jesus. The same week VBS was going on I also started taking cake classes for fun. It was definitely fun, but very time consuming. Fortunately, the end result was very tasty. Isabella enjoyed eating a little too..and she still doesn't like to share. We're now hearing...No, it' mine, not yours. The rest of June we were busy hanging out with friends and enjoying the warm weather. We found out that Isabella hates pools and loves fireworks or...boom-booms as she calls them. Both of these were surprsing. She loved the water last year and loves her kiddie pool this year but put her in a big pool and she will clearly tell you that she wants out. Now, I was sure that the fireworks would scare her but we decided to give it a try at our church's Starlight Spectacular and she could not get enough. During the 45 min. we waited to get out of the parking lot after the show she kept saying...Boom Booms are loud..Boom Booms are pretty.. I like Boom Booms. And the next few mornings she woke up talking about them. Fun times and I'm sure there will be more to report at the end of July. As Isabella would say...Bye guys..I uv you. 20 Months and Totally Toddler... Well, this month has been interesting to say the least. This is mostly due to the toddler thing kicking in big time. I should start keeping track of the number of times Isabella throws herself on to the floor on a daily basis. It pretty funny. I am still just trying to ignore her when this happens. Aside from the tantrums she has become even more opinionated. I realized this when I was trying 2 pairs of shoes on her and she absolutely would not let me put the ones that actually fit on her. She would scream and hit the pink ones away and had to wear the white ones that were too small. She then proceeded to walk around the house tripping and getting upset since they didn't fit. The same scenario played out again when it came to what bow she was going to wear and of course she only wanted the one that did not match. I could go on but now on to more fun things. One thing that totally makes up for all of the fit throwing is the fact that she has started calling me Mommy and I love it. Since Christams I have had to hear her call Jeff, Daddy, but I was still just Mama. Now I am Mommy and she says it so sweet it is hard to resist. All month long I have heard things like Mommy, where are you? Mommy, where's Daddy? Mommy, are you in the room? and finally Mommy, I love you!! It is so sweet. The only downside is that for a few weeks she only wanted Mommy. Jeff would try to put her to bed and she would literally walk him to the door, tell him no, and shove him out of the room. She only wanted mommy. Thankfully, that phase seems to be ending. One thing that she still can't get enough of is being outside. We bought her a climber swingset combo and she loves to sllide and swing. When she is not doing that she can be found having conversations with the birds. Since we back up to a wooded area we have a lot of different animals that we get to see. One of Isabella's favorites is the red bird. It will come up to the window while we're eating breakfast and when we go outside Isabella is constantly looking for it. A few weeks ago she found a rock and stood at the top of the hill with the rock in hand and began saying..Bird..where are you bird?...Here you go bird?...Come back bird?...Did you go home bird? Do you want a rock...bird? The bird obvously never came but she didn't give up. I have never heard anyone talk to a bird that long but it was very cute. When she is not talking to the bird she can be found having similar conversations with the frogs and butterflies she chases around the yard. And, if they're not out she will happily dig in the mud and wipe it on the fence and tell me that she is coloring. I guess she really is. She is also doing some things that seem very grown up to me. For instance she loves to sit at the table and eat a snack or whatever is left on daddy's plate. She loves to clean up after us and will take our plates and put them on the counter by the sink and she continues to love throwing things away or helping me put things away. You can tell she is so proud of herself when she does these types of things especially when we don't even ask her to do them. She is definitely not the little baby I remember. Everything she says and does now seems like something a little girl would say or do. I can't believe she will be 2 in just 4 short months. It just doesn't seem possible. In the coming month I hope to begin potty training. I bought her a potty a while back but I just can't get motivated to get started. I have felt like she has at least been ready to try for a couple of months now and I don't want to hold her back if she is. We'll see..I guess you'll have to check back for more updates with that. I also hope to work on her numbers again. She is totally over it. I think I got too excited because she was doing so great so I just kept pushing her to see if she could do more and now she just says no, no, no when I try to read a book with them or say them so we've taken a break on that. I guess that is all for now. I am really too tired to think about all of this but Jessica reminded me that I am 2 days late on my update. I'm sure I've missed some things but she is just at that age where so much is happening it's hard to keep up so if I think of anything else I'll add it later. 19 months She is busy, busy these days. One funny thing...when we ask her to share anything with us (toy, food, etc) she closes her eyes, starts snoring, and pretends she's asleep with a big smile on her face because she does not want to share. So, we're still working on that. When she is not pretending to be asleep =) she can be found coloring, doing puzzles, or playing in her new playroom. We'll it actually used to be a very nicely set up movie/bonus room for Jeff and me but we finally gave in and totally rearranged to make it Isabella's fun room. So far I think it has been worth it. Lately, however, it seems we have spent more time oustide enjoying the beautiful spring weather. We have had a couple of mommy/baby days with our friends at the park. At the last one she even went down a big curly slide by hersef several times. The bigger kids on the plaground still wouldn't go down by themselves but Isabella would be down and back up to go again before I could catch up with her. Her energy and excitement never seem to run out. When we're playing outside at home she likes to walk(actually run) around the block, pull her wagon (not ride), push her Elmo car, and see how many times I will say "on the sidewalk, Isabella" before I snatch her up, mid-tantrum, and take her inside because she will not stay on the sidewalk. She is very strong willed but, we're making progress.. Her talking is still going strong as well. She has been putting little sentences together over the past few months and lately is saying more and more of them. A few I can think of now are... Baby, do you want a cup? (or whatever object she's holding at the moment) and whenever we're getting ready to go she says.. I gotta get in the car. It has been fun to actually be able to have a "conversation" with her. She also will repeat just about anything you say (within reason) with the exception of her name. She just stares blankly most the time or says something like Bella/Ella ever now and then. It's like she's really thinking about how to say it but is just won't all come out at once. I'm sure she'll get it soon. We are still working on colors, numbers, and abc's. I have found that if I ask her to say a color I usually don't get a response but randomly throughout the day she will look at something and just say the color. For instance when I got her out of bed yesterday the first thing she did was look at my shirt and say pink and it was definitely pink. As far as numbers go...she still counts up to 6 on her own and knows up to 10 but once she gets past 6 she will often get them mixed up and say something like 8,7,9 and a big excited TEN for the finale. With the ABC's she chimes in on parts of the song and can recognize some letters on her own but mostly gets them mixed up if we start asking her what something is. As far as behavior goes she is still very loud and throws a lot of tantrums if the smallest thing doesn't go her way. We are trying to ignore those and I guess it is helping some. One good thing that comes with a loud baby is a very excited loud laugh that we absolutely love and fortunately get to hear a lot with her silly sense of humor. As I said before, she is definitely keeping us busy but we're having a lot of fun along the way. Isabella's room... I've been promising people for a year and a half that I would post pics of her room. Sorry that it has taken so long. We were and I guess still are pink and brown obsessed. It's funny though that when I started decorating her room almost 2 years ago it was extremely hard to find anything pink and brown. I had to add little accents and embelishments to most of her accessories to make them work. We even had a good friend paint a super cute coordinating painting just so we would have something to hang on the wall. Of course, now the color scheme is everywhere so I've added a few fun things along the way. I have really enjoyed her room because it is very girly without being in your face pink. The dark khaki walls also make it very cozy and calm which is nice since she does have to sleep in there =) And for those of you who were wondering about her letters. I still have them and have actually had them painted for months but for me to hang them (somewhat straight) I need 4 extra hands and a lot of Isabella-free time. Thats one long name...we love it but it is long=) If we ever do get them hung I'll post a picture. Until then, enjoy the pink and brown pics. Halfway to 3 and only 6 more months until 2...thats what 18 months is. Everyone around us agrees that she has already entered the terrible 2's though. We only thought she had started earlier this year. I guess that was just a preview. She is really testing her limits now and everything is "mine" thanks to her papaw. She still has quite a big personality (is that a nice way of saying loud b/c that's what I hear when I drop her off at chruch nursery or our gym) and absolutely loves to be the center of attention at all times. This means that she wants our attention at all times as well, despite our attempts of encouraging her to play some on her own. Mommy does have to shower and go to the bathroom at some point...right? So, needless to say, that's one thing we are continuing to work on. Now on to new things she is doing. Some funny things..If there is a basket anywhere she will sit in it even if it is full, she was chasing me around the dining room tonight and saying " I'll get you" in a silly voice, anytime we go for a walk and a car or person passes us she yells at them to "come back" , when she hears applause on tv she stands there and says "thank you , thank you" like it's for her, and unlike most girls she is obsessed with Diego and not Dora...she says "GoDiegoGo" all day. She is also turning into quite the little gymnast..well she is working on a front roll and she does pretty well at it. She also loves to jump all around the house and thinks it's funny to run and jump and try to land on her bottom..I think it looks painful but she doesn't seem to think so. The things that have surprised us the most are that she counts to 6 and is pointing out more and more colors on her own. It has been another fun and exciting month. I'll post more pics. soon. 17 months...Where did my baby go? Sometime in the last month I finally realized that Isabella is officially a toddler. Everything about her just seems so much more grown up than before. I still call her my baby and all but it's a whole new world now. She is trying to climb on everything and wants to be up high so she can see everything. All I hear all day is up, up, peese (a.ka. please). If you saw the picture with outstretched arms and tears streaming down her face that's what happens when mommy doesn't want to up, up, peese =) Pretty dramatic huh? That's my baby. However, in the midst of all of the fit throwing she has managed to voluntarily eat vegetables again and actually rode in a shopping cart without wriggling out of the straps, standing up, and scaring me half to death. These are huge accomplishments seeing how she has not done either since around her first bday. Other things she is doing well are eating with a spoon, combining words to make short phrases, and coloring. Her very favorite thing to do right now is "sing and dance" to her veggie tales music. She would probably listen to their version of "The Wheels on the Bus" 24 hours a day if I let her. She also loves to pretend. She has a great imagination and loves to pretend to feed her baby dolls, kiss them, dress them, go shopping with them, and tuck them in for night night. It is so cute. I can't wait to see what new things she'll be doing this month. Happy New Year.... It's hard to believe that another year has come and gone. Last year at this time Isabella had just turned 4 months and now she has just turned 16 months. It is so neat to see how much she has changed. She is still talking a ton. I have wanted to update several times to share some of the exciting things she is doing but we have just been too busy with Christmas. Anyway, just after my last update she really started using up, down, in, out, off, and on even more than she had been. Now we hear them all the time along with her other favorite phrases...Thank you Mama, I'll get it, Where did it go, Let's go, Here you go, All gone and All done. Now, when I say that she is saying these things you have to know that she is one and you can understand her very well, but she still sounds like a one year old, with one exception. When she lost her ball on the other side of the baby gate and said "Where did it go", my mouth about hit the floor and stayed that way for quite a while. It was so clear I could not believe what I had just heard. Jeff and I just looked at each other like you've got to be kidding me. She also surprised both of us when the week before Christmas she counted to 3 and said go. She had been mimicking 2 and a few other numbers when we would say them and she was saying go a lot already when we would be in the car stopped at a light but she had never done the 1-2-3 go thing before then. I also think she is very close to understanding colors. It is hard to tell because she has been copying us with some of the colors since around her 1st bday but more and more it seems like she is really understanding which colors are which. Since my last update she has also gone down to one nap a day. She clearly let me know that it was time by crying in her bed for several days in a row everytime I put her down for her afternoon nap. I have no problem letting her cry but this was different. She was refusing it and she was right..it was time. It has been an ok transition. The first couple of days the naps were so short but they are getting longer as her body gets used to this new routine. She is just growing up too fast. We are having so much fun with her. Just when we think we have gotten to the best stage it only seems to get better. Here You Go... Well, that's the latest thing Isabella is saying. She started mimicing me a few days ago and now she says it when she hands me stuff. It's very cute. I love that she is really able to communicate with us...she's not just saying things, she actually knows what they mean. The fridge and everything she touches in it are "cold" and the warm water is "hot". When it's time to eat she says "eat", when it's time for bath she says "bath, bath" and runs to the tub, and when I ask her if she wants to take a nap it is a definite "NO"!! How can such a little person know so much and have an opinion about things? And while I'm on the subject about her talking so much...we actually wrote down all the words that she uses correctly and we are a little past 50. My estimation was 30 or so based on a list we had made a little over a month ago but I never thought it would be that much now. It's actually starting to get a little freaky..but still very exciting. Mom said I talked early and a lot so I guess it's just our thing. It's funny to think about it now b/c I do not consider myself to be a very talkative person. Of course, I am also not a loud person and somehow I have ended up with a baby that wants eveyone to know that she is present. Thanks for letting me brag. I never wanted to be the person who pulled out the wallet full of pics. and I don't think I'm there yet but I guess in a way this is the same thing. I still make fun of those commercials but after having Isabella I totally get it. It just happens. 15 Months.... Well, I haven't posted a story in over a year and while I would love to fill you in on everything that's happened at some point, right now I guess I'll just take a minute to tell you about all of the amazing things that Isabella is doing right now...well maybe more than a minute but I just can't help myself. We recently went to Isabella's 15 month check up where we found out that we had good reason to think she is the smartest, most perfect baby of all time (I know, we all think that about our babies and rightfuly so). Anyway, Dr. Scott said that her verbal skills are very advanced and that she is talking a lot for a baby her age. Over the past couple of months Jeff and I have even found ourselves just looking at each other and asking ourselves...did she really just say that. She uses at least 30 words correctly and picks up on new words very quickly. She also recognizes and says the name of many body parts, uses a spoon and fork when she's in the mood, can work an 8 piece matching puzzle, and even puts her shape blocks in the right hole (most of the time) !! She has loved to "read" for many, many months now and that has not changed. Jeff and I both enjoy reading, and still do if we have time, so I hope that is something that Isabella will always love. I could go on and on but I guess I should save some things for the next story. I'm sure it's insanely obvious, but in case you couldn't tell we are so proud of her and so proud to be her parents. What an incredible blessing the past 15 months have been!! From Pregnancy to Parenthood.... On Tuesday, December 20, 2005, I found out I was pregnant. Jeff and I were thrilled about this early Christmas gift we had been given, but decided to keep the secret to ourselves for a few more days. It was well worth the wait. We had so much fun surprising all of our family over Christmas. Of course, we got the best responses from our own parents as they opened the final gift. You would've thought we had given them each a million dollars...they were so excited. I think the rest of the night revolved around baby talk...boy or girl? names? who was going to buy her that first pony? and more. We realized early on that this baby, being the first grandchild on both sides, did not have a chance. After the holidays life went on somewhat normally. I was back at school and no, not battling morning sickness, but nightime sickness. This went on for a good 4 weeks, along with a bout of the flu. Not such a fun time for me. However, things got better and before we knew it it was time to find out the sex of the baby. We had enjoyed just hearing the heartbeat at previous appointments so you can imagine how excited we were about actually seeing our baby for the first time. It ended up being even more amazing than we had imagined. The ultrasound was a real turning point in the pregnancy for us. It made everything so much more real. It took some time for the tech to determine the sex since the baby was sitting with her legs together. When she finally announced that it was a girl, I remember crying tears of joy and wishing I could already have her in my arms. Jeff and I were so excited. We had both taken the day off and spent the rest of the afternoon calling everyone we knew and shopping for ideas for the nursery. The next couple of months we were busy planning shower dates and finalizing our registeries. We finally decided on pink and brown for the nursery and purchased a crib from a local baby speciality store. Plans were definitely moving along and so was our baby. She was kicking all the time. I especially remember all of the dance parties she had in my belly around midnight. Yes, there were many sleepless nights, but it was well worth it to be able to share all of those kicks and rolls with Jeff. We would laugh at the randomness of her movements and be amazed by the strength of them as well. Those late nights were hard, but equally as special. Showers came and went over the next few months. During each we enjoyed spending time with close friends and family and of course opening all of the fun gifts. I began to think that our baby girl was going to be covered from head to toe in pink. I blamed this on her grandmothers. That was all they bought then and of course it's all I want her in now. Yes, we are still pink obsessed. Anyway, during this 3rd trimester we finished up painting her room in the pink and brown color scheme and added the final polka dot trimmings. In early August the nursery was pretty much complete with one exception.....her name. I had left a big space above her crib to buy letters for her name. However, as silly as it may sound this was probably the hardest part of the pregnancy for me. I thought day in and day out about her name. Jeff and I could not agree and as the big day began to draw nearer it was all people asked about. That and of course if I was hot. It was summer...of course I was hot, everybody was hot! Unfortunately, so was the name I had wanted for so long...Isabella. It drove me nuts thinking about how popular the name had become and it seemed that everwhere I went toward the end of the pregnancy I heard a mom calling her little Isabella. With that in mind Jeff and I finally decided on Hadley, a name we had tossed around for the past 9 months. We thought it was cute and definitely not popular. So, soon after I went out and bought letters...Why not? We were sure weren't we? With the baby's room finished, for the most part, I spent he next few weeks getting my classroom ready for the coming school year. I had planned to go back for 3 weeks before my maternity leave started. However, I soon found out that spending the day with a class full of fourth graders was not as easy in my last trimester as it had been in the first and second. I would spend the next three weeks on maternity leave before the baby even arrived. During that time I relaxed as much as possible and got a few last minute things done before our little girl arrived. In the last few weeks I began to look forward to my weekly doctor's visits,but they were not showing as much progress as I'd hoped. At this point I was so ready for our baby to come that I have to admit I was quite disappointed. Finally, at my last appointment I had dialated one centimeter and was 20% effaced. The doctor okayed me to be induced if the baby had not come by my Aug. 30th due date. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about this. I wanted that baby out, but I also wanted it to begin naturally. In spite of my uncertainty, we went ahead and scheduled the induction for Aug. 31st, the day after my due date. On August 25, the Friday before our baby was supposed to arrive, I was out shopping when I received a phone call from the doctor's office. It was the lady who schedules inductions calling to tell me that the day they had originally scheduled me for was not going to work out. But, she excitedly announced that an earlier date had come available and asked if I would want to bump it up to Monday, August 28. She then went on to tell me that if I did I needed to let her know A.S.A.P. since several other women wanted the date as well. I explained to her that I needed to think it over and talk with my husband and would call her back soon. Now, most people(including my doctor's office) do not understand why I had such a hard time with this. I had the opportunity to have this baby sooner than I first expected. Why wouldn't I want to do that? Well, to me having a baby is a pretty big deal and yes, I knew she would come out eventually, but this last minute phone call had caught me by surprise. I had prepared myself to be induced the day after my due date and now things were changing and faster than I had time to feel okay about it. However, once again, inspite of my uncertainty I scheduled my induction this time for Aug. 28, at 6:00 in the morning. Over the weekend part of me hoped I would go into labor before the induction, and part of me was glad that I knew exactly when I would be headed to the hospital. I tried not to dwell on it but found that hard to do so Saturday night Jeff and I went out on our last prebaby date. It helped get my mind off things, still, all we could talk about was how excited we were that the wait was coming to an end. When we got home I made Jeff take some final pregnant pictures of me and some of us together. I began to feel better about being induced and made it a point to enjoy the rest of the weekend. Sunday we went to church as usual and told our friends in class about the date being moved up so quickly. Our Bible Fellowship teacher called us up to the front of the room and had everyone gather around to pray for us and our big day. It was a very special and emotional time. Afterwards, I remember feeling so at peace and confident that everything was going to be okay. Later that night, as we were making sure we had everything ready for the next day I decided to call my doctor's nurse. Earlier that day I thought there was a possibility that my water had broken but didn't think anything of it because I was not having any contractions. Well, some other things happened throughout the course of the evening that made me a little more concerned and prompted me to call the nurse. I will never forget her dry, monotone, voice telling me that if I suspected that my water had broken then I should go to the hospital. Of course I tried to explain to her that I wasn't really sure if it had and asked if it was really necessary that I go since I was still not having contractions. And of course she repeated the same words in the same voice just as simply as she had the first time. So, we headed off to the hospital only to find out that it was a false alarm and we should return at 6:00 the next morning for our induction. Thinking back on this night I realize that the most amusing part about all of it however, was not the false alarm, but the 2 Ambien pills that the nurse gave me before I left to help "relax" me. I remember telling Jeff on the way home that all the car lights were blurry and I felt like I was on a ride. An hour later, after we arrived back home Jeff walked into the nursery and found me digging through the closet in search of what... I still don't know. I barely remember the rest of the night due to the immediate effects of the sleeping medicine. However, unlike Jeff, I did sleep very well and woke up ready to have that baby! We made it to the hospital a little after six and they immediately got me set up for the day. Jeff's parents arrived shortly thereafter and my parents were not far behind. This was the day we had all been waiting for. We were finally going to meet our little girl. After the induction started, I slowly began to feel contractions. They never got too painful, but by noon I went ahead and had my epidural just to be on the safe side. That was probably the most painful part of the labor process for me. After that it was smooth sailing. Jeff and I sat around talking and watching t.v. while our parents came in and out to see how things were going. All in all, it was a pretty relaxing time. Around one that afternoon my water finally broke and things began moving pretty quickly from there. I began dialating at a much faster rate and around 4 it was time to push. When I tell people I pushed for 2 hours some think it seems rather long. But the reality of it is that it didn't seem like it at the time. Between pushes Jeff and I were talking and joking around with each other and the nurses. Finally, after much anticipation, the baby was getting very close and they called the doctor in. Once she arrived it took only a few more pushes until our baby girl was born. Jeff says he will never forgot her face as she popped out. Her hair was dark as was her complexion. She was screaming so loud even the doctors and nurses were in awe. A week or so later, we would begin to wish that her cry was a little more subdued, but at that moment it was the most beautiful sound in the world. As the doctors and nurses began to leave and before we let our parents back in we realized we had never truly decided on a name. Yes, I had already bought the letters for a name that we thought was right, but what I didn't mention earlier is that I could never bring myself to hang them. I guess even then I knew it wasn't the right one and when we saw her we knew she couldn't be Hadley. We knew that she would be our Isabella Louise. Devoted to God is the meaning of her first name and her middle name belongs to me and three other very special women in my family. A special name for a special baby. A baby that made us feel so blessed to be called parents.
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