Thanks to the Babysitters!

We are super spoiled that both of our parents live about 15 minutes away from us. If you ever have the option to live close to your parents when having children...I would highly recommend it. I'm not sure how I would manage without Grandparents (and I'm not sure how they would manage without Grandbabies)!

Within the past month Isabel has had a slumber party at both sets of Grandparents! First she spent the weekend with Meema and Papa while Ben and I went to Chicago for the night. I packed a ton of toys to keep Isabel occupied...and she had taken over a room or two by the time we got back. She also had the chance to go to church with Meema and Papa...apparently she loved checking out all the other babies!

Here are some cute videos of my noise maker that I took with my cell phone when we were picking Isabel up. Who knew I could leave all the toys at home and let her simply play with a cup?!

This past weekend Isabel had another slumber party with Grandma and Grandpa while Ben and I went to a wedding. The wedding was in town, but it was incredible to sleep in for a change...not to mention sleep THROUGH the night. Too bad I was up and cleaning the house by 9 am. I just kept thinking...oh it would be so easy to clean this without Isabel...oh and I should clean this too...oh and just one more thing. We were so excited to go pick her up. I know it was only a day, but the little girl seriously grew while we were gone. She was standing up playing with her push toy when we picked her up. G & G spoiled her with attention while we were gone.

I didn't have the chance to take any videos at G & G's this time...but I do have this a recent video of Grandpa taking Miss Isabel for a ride on the golf cart.

A HUGE thank you to both Grandparents for giving us a little break! We greatly appreciate you taking care of our little munchkin.

Eight

What a busy month we had for month EIGHT! It was a month of a million new things... Isabel started crawling on April 13th...and in no time at all she was crawling fast. It only took her another couple days to learn to go from a crawling position to sitting back up! THEN she started working on standing up. That took another couple days and she was constantly pulling on up everything. Now she prefers that we help her walk everywhere...but has no problem crawling into trouble either. I can't believe how quickly these things all happened!

She also started eating all kinds of new foods...lunch meat, chicken, puffs, melts, biter biscuits...you name it. Puffs are probably her favorite. One day I was holding one in my hand and I wasn't quick enough to get it to her mouth, so she grabbed my hand and moved it to her mouth. If I put puffs on her tray, she will grab them and shove them into her mouth. She also figured out how to make a smacking noise when she eats...just so you know she is eating!

We also found a couple toys that Isabel DOES NOT like this month. When my brother lived in Australia, he brought back a koala bear that plays the Australian anthem...so I added it to Isabel's toy basket. Well...that didn't go over so well. Here is a video of her showing me how much she doesn't like the Koala!

With a baby on the move, pictures are definitely getting interesting...it's hard to manage the camera when she is crawling away from me...or about to find something she shouldn't! Here are all of her eight month pictures.

On the move!

"I'm going to get you!"

We made a house for Isabel out of a box...she loves her new toy!

Daddy is patiently helping Isabel learn to walk...something I think he will come to regret.

This is the only way I could get her eight month picture and have her looking at the camera.

Striking a pose in the walker.

Miss Mischievous!

Tour de Houston - Last but not Least

Last but not least on our trip to Houston we went to Katy, Texas to visit the Ramsey's. My friend Monica and her husband, Chad, recently moved to Houston over the holidays. I wanted to visit when they lived in Vancouver, but could never coordinate. So I was thrilled when they landed in Houston...so close in proximity to all the others we saw on our Tour.

Besides our trip to Galveston, our visit at the Ramsey's was nice and low key. We hung out close to home, played with the kiddos and stayed up too late enjoying beer and warm weather! It was the perfect ending to our wonderful vacation. I can't wait to go back to visit...just not in the middle of summer.

I took a ton of pictures on our trip...and while I'd love to blog about all the adventures, I'd probably lose all my readers. If you'd like to see the rest, check out my album on Kodak by clicking here.

Vivian and Isabel playing together with one of Braden's toys!

Vivian 'staying cool' in Chili's

Lost in thoughts at the playground

Not sure who was having more fun!

Family photo time

Tour de Houston - Galveston

I'm starting to realize why we were absolutely exhausted when we got home from our trip to Houston...we were non-stop on the go!

While we were in Houston, we took a day trip to Galveston with my sorority sisters, Monica and Kristin...AND kids! We had four adults and FIVE kids. Here is the run down on ages...Braden (3), Ava (2), Isabel, Luke & Vivian (all 8 months). These three babies were born within a week of each other! What ironic timing, eh?

I think Isabel loved her first trip to the beach. It only took a minute before she crawled off the blanket and found a handful of sand to investigate. I took a million pictures in Galveston, but here are some of my favorites. I'll post a link to all our Houston pictures in my next post.

My little beach bum

"The waves are going to get me"

"Yum, salt water"

"Mom, I want to play in the water again...put me down"

Me and Monica with Isabel and Vivian

The babes checking out the water. Would you guess that they are all the same age?

The bigger picture...oh my...

The babes were zonked out while we ate lunch!

Tour de Houston - Isabel Meets Chloe

The second stop on our tour of Houston was to my friend Laine's house. I was super excited to for this stop as this was the first time I got to meet her BABY girl, Chloe! Though this girly was really no baby at all. At sixteen months, this little girl was so grown up (sniff sniff, bummed we live so far apart). I know Isabel left their house with the inspiration to walk...among other tricks. (thanks a lot Laine!)

I'm a little bummed I didn't take many adult pictures on this trip. I have pictures and videos galore of all the kiddos, but very few of us. I guess that is how things are going to go for a while, right?

Miss Chloe showing off her big girl chair.

Awe, isn't Chloe so sweet...kissing Miss Isabel!

Chloe and Isabel playing Chicken!

Tour de Houston - Isabel Meets the Pool

While we were in Houston we took Isabel for a quick dip in the hotel pool. I was so excited for her that once again we had a photo shoot (mandatory when you are this little and this adorable in a swim suit). Lucky for me I had the camera in my hands, so I didn't have to brave the cold water like Ben did.

Tour de Houston - Peak

Isabel is at the peak-a-boo stage. She loves this game....which we usually shorten to PEAK! We had a mini photo shoot on vacation in our hotel room and I caught this series of pictures while Isabel was playing peak-a-boo with Daddy.

Tour de Houston - Family Fun

We started our Tour of Houston in Spring at my cousin Kensey's house. We had a mini-family reunion as my Aunt Jayne and cousin Stacy also made the trip to Houston from Louisiana to visit. It was a full, FUN house.

My cousin Kensey and her husband have one son, Aiden and another (Grayson) on the way. Aiden is three and a half and unbelievably entertaining...though I'm pretty sure his mom and dad think otherwise. He has grown up so much since I last saw him. He was full of concern for who was playing with what toys...not to mention WHO was touching HIS toys. At one point...this was my conversation with Aiden:

Aiden: Who moved my monkey up here?

Me: I did, so the babies wouldn't get it.

Aiden: Why?

Me: Oh because I didn't want Isabel to play with it without your permission.

Aiden (wish accusation in his tone): So, you touched it?

Me (looking around the room): Ahhh, yeah, can anyone help me with what to say here?!

In from Louisiana, my cousin Stacy and her husband, have a baby girl who is a month younger than Isabel. Aubrey was such a fun baby to play with! She is FULL of expression. This little girl was so patient...she made Isabel look like a rebel (and I think Isabel is pretty good)! I think the girls had a fun time "playing" together. Though, Isabel was mobile and she was a little pushy at times crawling over Aubrey in attempt to get toys. In no time the two girls will be causing all kinds of trouble together.

The kiddos...this is the best one I have on my camera...but there were cameras and people jumping up and down for smiles like crazy!


Umm, yeah, I think picture time is over!
Kensey & Joe with Aiden and Grayson in belly :)
Aunt Jayne, Stacy and Aiden

Stacy & Paul with one happy little Aubrey

Isabel learned to "give sugar" in Houston.

One of the few family photos from the trip...and my husband has to go and act like a monkey.

Leaving On A Jet Plane

We just got back from our first vacation with Isabel. We flew down to Houston to spend time with my cousins and a couple of my girl friends from college. I'm going to break up the posts between all of our hosts, but I have a couple cute pictures from our flights to and from Houston.

Isabel was such a good baby on our flights. Our flight there was FULL of babies. Apparently the first flight out on a Saturday morning, with a final destination of Orlando, Florida is NOT the ideal flight to pick. Needless to say, Isabel wasn't the best baby on board and she was FAR from the worst. She did really well!

"Mom, put the camera away in the airport...you look like such a tourist"

My two greatest loves, inspecting the plane.

This was kind of an accident, but it looks so cool.

On the way home...anxious to escape!