Where Can I Get Frames on Sale?

Because I need a million of them for this little girl! Seriously. Maybe someone should take the camera away because I don't know where I'm going to display all these precious pictures!

"Hey look Mom...sunlight...and plants...and birds...and flowers...OH MY!"

"Hey Mom, lets GO! Lets go outside!"
Its a GREAT big world Isabel Marie!

You are my Sunshine!

Bring on the sunshine...Isabel is all ready for it!

"Just call me Ray Jr baby!" Already doing impersonations, just like her Daddy!

Seven

Isabel just turned the lucky 7 months! What a busy month for her. I've been keeping a little journal of all the things she is doing since she seems to change daily. I'm scrap booking her baby book, but at this rate, I'll be lucky to finish by the time she graduates from high school. My goal is to be caught up by her first birthday...now it's in writing, hold me to it.

Seven events for seven months:
1) Feet...loves to look at them, splash with them and occasionally suck on them!
2) Swinging...or anything out in the fresh air. One day we just took a walk to the mailbox for entertainment. Otherwise, we walk around the neighborhood for hours.
3) Talking...she has covered mamamama and dadadadada, but I'm not sure if she knows what either means yet. Most frequently it's just a constant jabber or as Ben calls them "soundbites of intelligence"...I'd classify the noise more like grunting, but whatever...it's cute. I'll work on a video for your viewing pleasure!
4) Rocking...we almost have a crawler! She is constantly rocking on her knees and diving for toys. Somewhere throughout this month she mastered sitting up on her own. I must have blinked as I'm not sure when that happened.
5) Food...we have upgraded to three meals a day. Baby food fruits and veggies, puffs, string cheese...plus real fruits. This girl is a good eater (Can't decide if she takes after her Mom or Dad). She eats it all! She even mastered the skill of holding her own bottle and sippy cup this month.
6) Sleep...what a good little baby we have (knock on wood). She is starting to work her way out of three naps a day and down to two quality naps. Sometimes we can squeeze a third cat nap in the stroller or the car. Her bedtime is around 7ish and she is such a joy to put down at night as well as to get up in the morning. She doesn't really sleep through the night regularly yet, but hey...you can't have it all!
7) Toys...Isabel is constantly playing. Spinning the alphabet toy, opening/closing her laptop, watching the jack and the box, rolling the stacking balls, knocking over blocks or sucking on any other toy that she can shove in her mouth.

If you want to see the visual for all of the above...here is a link to her 7 Month album.

Bundled up for a walk

In Isabel's mind, her shoes are just one more toy. Lucky thing those things don't actually touch the ground yet.

Yum, breakfast!


Big smiles for a big push from Daddy!

Rocking

Just being her adorable self. I love this babe!

The first of many pictures of the kitty and Isabel. Isabel loves the kitty...and the cat, well, she loves Aunt Amanda who babysits Isabel. Therefore, the cat has to go by Isabel to get to Amanda. Ha!

This sign thing has gotten tricky! My cousin has these cool stickers that say the number of months...much better idea than a sign. I had to enlist Ben's assistance this month. The outtakes are hilarious! I should save the signs too...all crumpled up with the occasional bite mark.

The best baby on the block!

Jaws

No joke, I think we went through our first teething phase for about three months. I could see the whites on Isabel's gums all the way back in December. FINALLY...on my birthday, Isabel got her first two teeth! Yay Isabel...and Happy Birthday to me. She literally changed overnight! Not sure if it was the teeth or the end of a cold that brought on her pleasantness, but we were all thrilled.

I tried for weeks to get a picture, but all I got was tongue...

A bit blurry, but teeth!

Teeth!

My Blue Eyed Beauty

Not sure where she gets the blueness in her blue eyes, but they are absolutely stunning. Ben and I both have blue eyes, but not this shade. Her blue eyes and long eye lashes just look like plain trouble to me!

Not a perfect picture, but here is my blue eyed beauty!

Easter Bonnets are the Best

Wow, I can't believe Easter was almost two weeks ago! These pictures were just too precious not to share.

Yumm, plastic grass...

"Hey Grandpa, check out my cool hat."

"What do you mean I can't eat this?"

And one more...I made our dining room all pretty for Easter brunch. So much fun. Now, if I could just get a maid to clean it all up!

I'm Flying

Okay, maybe not flying...just suspended in the air by this plastic thing hanging from the sky!

We made our way to the park last week on one of the MANY beautiful days last week. Not only was the weather perfect, but we were also lucky enough to have Katie and Finn join us in our adventure! What a perfect afternoon!

At first, we weren't so sure of the swing.

Ben describes this face as the "Zeller look"

Starting to enjoy this phenomenon.

Both kiddos checking out a "big kid" swinging next to them!

Now we are having fun!

Oh, I cannot WAIT for summer! If only I had my summers off of work, then life would be perfect!

It's Busy Season

Isabel has been missing her Grandpa (my dad) a lot lately as it's his busy season. So instead of working 60 hours a week...he works about 100 hours a week...crazy! It's really limited Isabel's amount of time to play with Grandpa. At one point my mom took Isabel to my Dad's office so that he could finally see her!

So Isabel has been "working" hard on her laptop lately just like Grandpa!

"All done, time to quit working!"

"Oh wait, I think I just got an email."

Adventures of Isabel & Mya - Part II

A couple weeks ago we took another road trip. The boys had free passes (sort of free) to go out with their friends, so I decided to go up to Chicago and visit my friend Rachel. It worked out pretty well...the girls were in bed by 7:30ish and then Brittany, Rachel and I had dinner and cocktails. Lots more fun than I would have at home by myself!

Anyways, you may remember that these two really hit it off last time they got together. So the next morning we let the girls play again. I don't think their conversation this time was nearly as entertaining, but they still had a good time!

Mya: Hey look, they both have camera's...how stupid do they look?!

Isabel: Just smile for a minute, they will go away.

Mya: Hey Isabel, I think you should put this necklace on for the pictures, it TOTALLY goes with your outfit!

Isabel: Hey wait, I don't have my necklace on yet.

Mya: Seriously guys, enough.

Mya: Whatever, I'm done with the photos. Isabel, do you want to smell my feet?

Isabel: Ahhh mom...mom...MOM, get me out of here...she is sticking her feet in my face!

Mya: Oh Isabel...don't worry, I just took a bath last night.

Isabel: Phew...I was worried you had toe jam! Ha!

Mya: Hahaha, Mom, what is toe jam?

Okay, enough already...

Got Anything to Sit In?

This is Ben's idea of "daddying" Isabel and working on the landscape at the same time. He pulled out the wagon (which he swore we didn't need) and put Isabel it it. Not only is she in the wagon, but she is also sitting in her "box" (see below for more info)...with a blanket to block the wind and toys to entertain. The only thing missing was sunglasses and a big umbrella to block the sun! Isabel loved the wagon and helping Daddy work outside, but she did not like it when Ben would look away. At one point she started whaling when Ben decided to go dump the wheel barrel. One of these days he will understand that multi-tasking with a child is much harder than one thinks (i.e. sorry honey for never cooking dinner or cleaning the house)!

I'm always looking around the house for unconventional toys for Isabel. While I love to buy her new toys and see her play with them...I could easily go broke. So one day I got a lovely package in the mail from my cousin Stacy (thank for the blanket Stacy)...and needless to say the box is just as cool as the blanket. Not only could the box contain all the toys from rolling away, but it also helped Isabel perfect the art of sitting up. I have a video of Isabel playing in her box on my cell phone and she is literally going crazy throwing the balls around. She loves it. Though it's been a couple weeks since we discovered the box...we are still coming up with new uses. It's perfect to hide toys or make a table or stack blocks on to knock over. So my review...keep those empty boxes for the baby...they will love them! I can't wait to get a big box once she is a little older...maybe something like a refrigerator box or something that we can make a fort out of! Now, what should I convince Ben that we should buy...for the box! Ha!