Four

Wow, Isabel's fourth month was a CRAZY month. I started back to work part-time in December, so that sadly cut down on our time together. Although it was a rough transition, I think it was a wise move to slowly ease into the reality of work. In December, Isabel spent her mornings with Uncle Mikey (until he quit), Grandma Nancy and Aunt Amanda. In January when I went back to work full-time, Isabel spent lots of time with Grandma Nancy, Aunt Amanda and Aunt Jenny. I like to think she misses me, but since my office is right around the corner, I can hear her squeals of delight when hanging out with all of the above! We are so blessed to have family with such flexibility to come to our home and take care of our baby girl. Maybe this arrangement will buy us a couple more months of a sick free baby (knock on wood). I know she will need to build up her immune system at some point, but can't we wait until she is a little older before she gets sick? Besides, I still need practice with the "snot sucker"!

In other news, Isabel spent the past month ROLLING...all over the place. One morning we awoke to her squealing with delight in her crib...check the video monitor and she is on her tummy. DOUBLE TAKE...did I put her in her crib like that last night (read, did I have too much to drink last night)?! Nope...she spent all morning showing me her new skillz! Now she won't stay on her back for more than 30 seconds. I really need to take a camera in her bedroom with me when she first wakes up. I always peak through the crib slats and see Izzy on her belly with the most adorable baby girl smiles!

Isabel also has a new hobby...ISU basketball games! Grandma and Grandpa took us to three home games and Isabel loves the action. She startles easily at the horn, but loves looking around at all the lights. Go Birds!


We also found out that Isabel is finally at the age where she can play. As noted in my earlier blog about Mr. Butterfly, she now really grabs and holds onto all kinds of toys, hair, necklaces, clothes, etc! This works every time about 60% of the time. She can really entertain herself in the car seat, church, etc...until she drops the toy!

Our little girl has also started to work on her voice! She spent the past month talking away. She constantly jabbers away and tries to put both hands in her mouth at the same time. Ironically, she also puts herself to sleep in this fashion. She will be chatting away one minute and asleep the next (usually with a toy over her eyes).

Here is a link to all the pictures from this month (if you have a lot of time on your hands)!

Beautiful

Say Cheese

Almost sitting up...

LOL

Warning, this blog may just melt your heart. This is by far one of the sweetest sounds I have ever heard in my life! My little girl has started to laugh. She did it once in the middle of the night a couple months ago and it was amazing...but now she does it pretty regularly, especially when playing with Daddy!

Here is a video clip of daddy making Isabel laugh. I may need to keep this one on my desktop eternally...it might be helpful to play this again and again as she grows up (especially through the teen age years)!

Girl Time

Over the holidays we got to visit lots of friends...and meet a couple new ones! First we got to meet Izzy's double mint twin, Vivian. These two cutie pies had the same due date...what are the odds?! Yet, they ended up nine days apart. The girls had the chance to meet while Monica was in Bloomington. Check out these adorable pictures!

Isabel meet Vivian :)

How beautiful is this baby girl? The biggest blue eyes I've ever seen...and the hair! Where did she get all that hair?

Isabel & Vivian outtake number 95...

The next night we decided to do something absolutely crazy. We drove up to Chicago for a mini-Delta reunion. Since so many girls were in town for the holidays, we had a gathering...a BYOB (Bring your own baby) gathering! Amidst the chaos, we had a lot of fun catching up! Isabel and I decided to really test our luck and we spent the nigh at Katie's...along with Monica, Vivian and Ali. CRAZY. Seriously, we should have taken the BYOB theme more seriously and brought more booze!

Of course we had to have a photo session...like one I've never seen before. There were more flashes in 30 seconds than I have ever seen. No wonder I have a dozen pictures and all the babies look like zombies!

Left to right: Jack Hager (1 year), Jonathon Brown (5 months), Vivian Ramsey (3 months), Aidan Butscher (4 months), Isabel Funk (3 months) and Leah Schreiber (3 weeks)

Just a couple more...with the momma's! L to R: Katie & Jack; Ami & Jonathan; Monica & Vivian; Staci & Aidan; Kristy & Isabel; Leslie & Leah

Mini Me

If you have the opportunity to meet my baby girl you can instantly see that she is a spitting imaging of her father. My friend Rachel's husband said it best..."I always wondered what Ben would look like with long hair." So I went digging for pictures at my mother-in-laws house and look what I found. A confirmed "Mini Me" of Ben!

Baby Ben

Baby Isabel

Baby Ben

Baby Isabel...the cute expressions never stop!

Mr. Butterfly

It never ceases to amaze me how little Ben and I know about parenting. Seriously, I have a lot of experience with children. I babysat every summer growing up...plus so many of my friends already have babes...so you would think I understand the simplest of things. Yet one day Isabel was fussing away...we tried the typical routine of changing her diaper, walking with her, putting her in her swing, jumperoo, rocking, feeding...nothing really seemed to satisfy. And then we saw it...the mound of toys in this girls room. Ben holds out Mr. Butterfly in front of Isabel in hope of satisfying her and instantly she reaches out and grabs the toys right out of his hand. She did it with such skill that you would think she practices this as night after we go to bed. What were we thinking...she wants to play...well that and put things in her mouth. The poor thing is teething...er, at least I think she is teething (remember my earlier disclaimer about my inexperience). She drools all over the place and puts everything in her mouth. I have seen the outline of the bottom two front teeth for over a month, yet I still don't feel anything sharp.

So anyways, back to Mr. Butterfly. Ever since this day we don't go anywhere without Mr. Butterfly. He goes up the stairs with us, down the stairs with us...in the car, to church, to the grocery store, to the ISU game, etc. He has saved me repeatedly.

Mr. Butterfly even gets Isabel to fall asleep in her car seat. It's a great alarm clock too...when she wakes up she just starts playing with it and the crinkle noise lets me know she is stirring.

Look at these adorable legs. She is still a bit little for the Jumperoo, but with a pillow under her feet she goes to town!

In the jumperoo hanging onto Mr. Butterfly...she is in 7th heaven.

Again, Mr. Butterfly lulls her to sleep. It probably helped to have the "lights off" with her hat over her eyes :)

Three

So a month ago my baby was 3 months old!! It was a bittersweet milestone. She is growing so much and getting such a cute personality, yet 3 months marked the end of my "spa retreat" from work. Over the third month Isabel had a lot of firsts...the best was a faint little giggle that I got during a middle of the night feeding. Oh my goodness I have never heard anything so sweet. I was so blissful that I couldn't fall back asleep so I just stared at her on the video monitor. Another noteworthy event over the past month was the change from size one to size two diapers. Let me tell you, I learned how to measure diaper sizes the hard way! We had three nights in a row of "blowouts" and I finally got the hint... I guess I just couldn't handle the fact that my baby was onto the next size diaper. Finally, Isabel had a fluke rollover during month three. One day during tummy time she rolled over to her back. I say it was a fluke as she has yet to do a repeat performance...stay tuned for more updates.

Here is a link to my obsessive compulsive picture taking of my baby girl on Kodak. I have lost all control...sorry.

Here is my favorite month 3 milestone photo... She pooped out of her cute outfit right before our little photo shoot, so I decided to capture the moment anyway. Can you tell how annoyed she is with me?

Trying so hard to sit up!

One of the first outfits I bought for Isabel (size 6 months) and she is already growing out of it. She is growing so fast that we need to have a fashion show to capture all the cute outfits!

Is it bad to capture these type of moments?? I just love every single thing about this baby girl...

Merry 1st Christmas Isabel

Christmas with a baby is incredible. It's amazing what a child brings to the holiday celebrations...

We started off the holiday season with a photo shoot with Old St. Nick! Instead of batteling the crowds at the mall and paying a fortune for a subpar poloriod, we invested a trip to V Gallery in Morton. She is the best Christmas present I have ever received!

After we sat on St. Nick's lap...we headed over to visit Grandma Funk. Isabel was all smiles...I couldn't snap enough pictures. If only we could have gotten the smiles 30 min earlier...

This was an early celebration to visit my Great Uncle Wally and Aunt Myrna. It was their 65th wedding anniversary AND both of their 90th birthdays! Isn't that unbelievable. The line to visit with them was out the door...so we passed time with a photo shoot with Grandma and Grandpa.

Our first Christmas tree with our baby little girl!

Santa's Little Helper...thanks for the adorable outfit Auntie Sharon!

Photoshoot with Meeme and Papa

Isabel on Santa's lap at the Baby Jesus' Birthday Party

On Christmas Eve we went to a candlelite services with my parents. Here is a charming picture of my baby girl (on Grandpa's lap)...she wasn't so charming when she burped loudly, spit up all over me and had an extrodinarly smelly poopy diaper IN CHURCH!

Our little mamushka...

Hey Great Grandpa...I have a Santa hat just like you!

Thanks for the fun toy Grandma!

Isabel at the Funk Family Christmas...she just woke up from a nap, but she looks just like Mary. Perfect for the Christmas celebration.

Yay, Aunt Jenny is home for Christmas. Isabel is showing Jenny how big she is!

So precious!

Four generations of Funk's celebrating with Grandma Funk.

Let It Go

So I've been a little behind in blogging... I really want to catch up to share some of the sweet moments from the holidays, but I just had the impulse that I should write the following feelings while they are so fresh in my heart...

As a new year is upon us, I'm sad to see 2009 go. It was an incredible year for me...I found out we were going to have a baby in January and our little miracle was born on September 10th. Every minute of my life since then has been different. The light bulb went on...I get it now. Having a child makes the good times so much better, the laughter so much sweeter, the smiles so much bigger, and on and on.

I just fed Izzy she kept catching me staring at her and she would just stop and give the best smile...the kind where her hole face is so squinty that it appears as if her eyes are closed. She occasionally would give me a little shrill to show her love. I'm sad to put her in her to sleep in her crib. The fleeting moments just keep escaping.

I now know how my parents felt while raising us. I know why they do so much for me and my brother. I understand the support, generosity, thoughtfulness, punishment, hugs, kind words, listening ear and most importantly the love so much better. I would (will) do the same for my children. It's love.

So, with the light bulb turning on...I'm going to change up my resolutions this year. Though I'd like to lose weight, exercise, eat healthy, etc... it's more important to enjoy every moment with my baby girl. I need to learn to "Let it Go" and focus on the important things rather than the countless details which used to consume me. I'd love to be wonder woman and have the perfect wardrobe, polished nails, a clean house and a warm dinner on the table (in that order). Yet I'd rather have a happy, healthy baby girl that smiles every day.

With that, here is a picture of my inspiration to keep my new years resolution...

So Stinking Cute

I know I'm biased, but she is just so stinking cute... Here are some of my favorites from November!

Friday the 13th

Isabel's first Friday the 13th turned out to be unlucky. She had her first round of vaccinations. I had my mom come along with us to the health department for moral support. To make Izzy feel better about the shots she had to get, my mom and I both go the H1N1 shot. I don't think this made her feel any better.

My little baby had to get one oral vaccine and three shots. Poor little thing. Being the scrapbooker she is, my mom had to take pictures to capture the moment. Luckily Izzy only cried for a minute after the shots and all pain was forgotten once I nursed her.

Poor thing...I love you!