Changes!

We see new things and hear new words everyday these days. Today I noticed Isla pointing with one finger (um, the middle one though), so grown-up like. I always loved the cute little way she'd point with all four fingers kinda cupped together. Yesterday she started saying hotdog. Yes, my child loves hotdogs. I try to make healthy choices, but when she starts screaming to eat as soon as we walk in the door in the afternoons, convenience wins out. And hotdogs are one of her Daddy's favorites. She's also saying "pease" a lot. She'll come up to us, hold her hand out, cupped, tilt her head and say pease? Melts the heart. If I knew what she wanted, I'd give her anything.

One big change coming up is that I'm going to be a stay at home mom awhile! I never in a million years thought I would want that, but Isla changed everything. I hope to be able to go back to my current job for 2 days a week, but I have to be off awhile for that to happen, and the agency budget and workload has to support it. They don't expect it to be a problem, but no promises. I'm nervous and excited and thrilled and scared and....

Isla will stay in daycare. Her daycare is actually a "babies" daycare, then they have a "kids" daycare next door once they turn two. The babies side doesn't do part-time enrollment, but the kids side does. So we'll be paying full-time daycare until January, then she can just be enrolled two days if I'm only working two days. My Mom said she'd help me out and take her one of my days off so I can clean house and things like that.

Clean house. Sigh. I have to fire my cleaning lady. P said we could try it awhile and see how expenses go, but I can't justify spending the money to have someone else clean if I'm quitting work to focus on taking care of my family. I'll also be taking back over the mowing. Cutting out those two expenses will roughly save us enough to cover the cost of adding me to P's health insurance. So at least I'll be able to go to the ER if I run over my foot with the lawnmower. (Actually I don't really mind mowing, although I'll be taking over in the worst of the summer heat and will most likely need to do it during the daytime when I can take Isla to daycare.) Cleaning I do mind.

So that's the news here. I haven't downloaded pics from my camera in awhile, but I think I have a couple from my phone.... The one of her sitting outside at her picnic table was right after she got out of the hospital--baby girl doesn't have room to lose weight when she's sick! I think she's gained back what she lost when she was sick. The swimming pool was pre-sick and the ice cream cone was the first thing she was excited about eating after she got out of the hospital.

Little Miss Attitude!

We've had a sudden emergence of attitude and sass the past week! I expected to see a lot of changes in Isla with her moving up to the toddler class at daycare. Since she was out a week sick, it took a little longer to see the changes than what I expected. Mine, want that, give me, no, off, please.....all things we heard this weekend. When we picked her up from the church nursery yesterday, they told us she'd been flirting with a little boy. He was trying to take a book from her and she went over and sat in a spot he couldn't reach her, and put the book under her dress and smiled at him. She also seemed a little flirty with Sutton when he came over to play yesterday. And she was SO chatty at Applebees last night when we took Daddy out to eat for Father's Day. It amazing to see all the changes. And as she communicates more, has more opinions, and more attitude, she's also more demanding and gets frustrated when we don't understand what she wants. We're dealing with tantrums and trying to redirect unwanted behaviors positively. She's starting to understand that when she does something she shouldn't, she's gonna get in trouble.

She's BBBAAACCCCKKK! Tidbits....

My very busy 1 year old is back in action!

This afternoon I showed my mom the ruffles on Isla's bottom. Then she turned around, jutted out her hip and was trying to raise the back of her dress to show Pop-pop her butt. As we were leaving their house, we picked up our toys, then she grabbed her little bag of bowling pins, put it on her arm, and told Grandma bye-bye.

She decided she likes corn last weekend but wouldn't eat it off the cob. Tonight, she wanted the cob and did a good job gnawing off the bounty.

She's gotten a bit used to being held to sleep the past week so we had some fights about that this weekend.

I have mixed feelings about her starting to like tv, or at least a couple DVDs. On one hand, it's nice to have something we can bribe or with or get her to sit still for, but on the other, we don't want her to get TOO used to tv. You know? But this weekend, she saw a DVD sitting on the table, picked it up, went to the tv, and started waving it at the tv, grunting.

There are so many more things, but momma is getting tired and can't think. More later. And new pictures!!

Poor baby....

Sunday night Isla woke up a bit before 10 vomiting. By midnight, her tummy was empty and she was vomiting bile. I think I'd taken 4 or 5 showers by this point as momma was the target most of the times she got sick. We went to the ER in the middle of the night and she got some IV fluids so we could try to keep her out of the hospital. We went to see Dr. S mid morning Monday and called her back around 4 to let her know Isla hadn't kept anything down. She admitted us for 23 hour observation and more IV fluids. Her fever went up to over 103 and poor baby just felt awful. She wouldn't eat anything most of the day today but we did get the ok to try solids which she was interested in once her fever went down since what fluids she had had stayed in. But since she hadn't really had much, we're staying another night. The solids she ate didn't stay in so we're back on solids. Isla's in bed asleep. If she gets up during the night, I'll try to give her jello or a Popsicle so we can see if she can keep something down. At this point, I expect when Dr. S rounds tomorrow morning, she'll say we'll have to see if she keeps anything down. We don't want to take her home and have her continue vomit ting or not eating and dehydrate again. As long as we're here, she has an IV bag of fluids and will stay hydrated. Damn bug.

Update: We got to go home Wednesday and Isla seemed back to herself. I took her to daycare today though and had to pick her up right after lunch because she was vomiting again. We had a few more episodes after we got home, but baby girl was hungry too. At one point she was cramming crackers in while she was puking. Silly girl. The past few hours have been quiet, so momma is praying for the best. We're supposed to have a playdate Saturday so I'll see how she does tomorrow and let the other momma know what's going on. Hopefully today was just a little relapse and she's all better now!

May I go to bed now please, Mother?

Isla asked to go to bed tonight. Ok, so not quite as formally as the title suggests, but she asked nonetheless. She's been one tired little girl the past two days since she moved up to the big class at daycare. She sits at a table to eat, has one nap a day on a cot, and goes outside a lot more. They said she's been doing great with the new routine and her new friends. The only downside to this is that she's been too tired to eat supper the last two nights. But I digress.

Isla was tired and clingy this evening. Not terribly fussy, but still obviously tired. Bedtime is usually 7:00 so I didn't want her going to bed before 6:00 for fear of an early, early morning tomorrow. She was playing at 6:00 and I was sitting on the couch. About 6:15 she looked at me and said "nigh? nigh?" and pointed down the hallway.

"Night, night? Are you ready for bed?" And she took off down the hallway, to her room, to her crib, pulling on the bars. I picked her up and got a good night hug. I asked if she wanted to cuddle with momma in the rocking chair a little bit but when we sat down, she reached for her crib again so we said our prayers and I put her in her bed. Haven't heard a peak out of her since.

What a big girl!

A couple little stories...

Isla loves her ice cream. The other day we were sitting outside and she was eating ice cream just as fast as I could shovel it in. All the sudden she let out an "AAAACK" and grabbed her head. Guess Baby Girl has had her first brain freeze. After a few moments she opened up for another bite.

I've been asking Isla where Momma's baby girl is. I'll cradle her in my arms and do a sing-songy "aaaaaaggggghhhhh" and say "there's momma's baby girl." She was sitting on my lap tonight and I cradled her dollie with the same "aaaagggghhhhh." She looked at me and laid back in my other arm and said "aaaaaghhhhh." A few minutes later she pretty much curled up in my arms and closed her eyes to go to sleep. She's been pretty clingy and attached to me today, but it was still sweet.

We've been adamant that we won't bring Isla into bed with us at night. She'll play on our bed with us in the mornings and she's napped on our bed a time or two during the day, but we don't want her actually sleeping with us. This morning at 4, the resolve wasn't so strong. She was mad that she was even awake, neither of us could calm her in her rocking chair, and putting her back in her bed didn't work either. P thought to give her some Tylenol and I had him bring her to me. I sat up on our bed holding her while she fought me, waiting for the Tylenol to kick in. As her teething pain eased up, she started to relax, I sang her song, and she went to sleep. In fear of waking the sleeping monster, I just laid her in our bed. P left for work around 6:15. She just turned over, stuck her butt in the air, and continued sleeping. Around 7:30, she stirred and opened her eyes, but closed them again as I rubbed her back. Finally a few minutes before 8, she opened both eyes, sat up, and gave me a kiss. What a way to begin a day!

Little Miss Attitude!

Isla Bee-

I'm sitting here trying to organize my thoughts on everything you're doing right now. I just can't. I'd have to blog an hour a day to even start to keep up with you right now. And since I'm trying to keep up with you right now, I don't have time to do that!

Your little personality is growing and expanding. We watch you and see you learn and try to figure things out. You are independent, loving, nurturing, stubborn (Daddy's fault), smart, and so, so amazing. You love being outside and have recently decided if momma doesn't take you out whenever you go to the door, it might be because you don't have your sweater on so you go get your sweater, then try going to the door again.

You understand so much of what we say to you. I asked if you were ready for a bath last night and you took off down the hallway, walked into the bathroom, and tried to pull back the curtain. You know that that little lever in the bathtub has something to do with the water leaving before you're ready to end your bath. And you also know that it comes out of that big spigot thing. Last night when momma needed you to get out of the tub before you were ready, I started draining out the water. When you realized what was happening, you leaned over and looked up the spigot to try to figure out how to get more water in your bathtub.

One of your (and MY!) favorite games right now is Hug Game. Momma and Daddy both sit in the floor and run (well, as much as you right yet) to one of us with your arms stretched out for a big hug. Then you turn around and run to the other one, arms out. Momma can get 20 or 30 hugs a session this way! Sometimes it turns into Kiss Game too. You're usually more willing to share hugs with Momma and kisses with Daddy. I found little books for you called Momma Hugs and Daddy Kisses. So cute and appropriate!

When we were in Nashville two weeks ago, you quickly picked up that Uncle Tommy's grandkids call him Poppa and you started saying that so Grandma and I are trying to get you to start calling Grandpa Poppa or PopPop. You light up whenever you see your Grandpa. You're pretty crazy about your Grandma but you're so funny. We went to their house the other day and Grandma met us at the door. You smiled when you saw her, but you quickly started looking around for PopPop too. Once you decided he wasn't there, you started playing with Grandma. Until he came inside. You seem to understand him whenever he comes in from working outside and says he has to go get cleaned up before he can take you.

One thing we're really working on learning now is helping out. You're really good at helping put up your bath tub toys (although I expect this to end as soon as you realize that when those get put away, Momma takes you out of the tub) and picking up blocks and toys to put in your toy chest. Another focus is trying to get you to not throw your cup whenever you're done with it. You do not like it on your tray if you do not want another drink RIGHT NOW so you tend to toss it in the floor. Poor Speckles has gotten hit in the head a time or two. Daddy and I have gotten bad about letting you carry your cup around in the evening also and you throw it down too. I don't know how many times I've repeated "we give Momma the cup whenever we're done with it" in the past 2 weeks. You're starting to remember though.

You are a pretty focused little girl. I'm really surprised at how long you can concentrate on some things. This is good, but it also means you're hard to distract when you fixate on something. There's that stubbornness.

Oh, you blow your nose already! Grandma and I are both surprised by this--I even read something the other day that said most kids are a few years old before they figure out how to do this, but 9 times out of 10, if I put a tissue to your nose and tell you to blow, you can do it.

Goodness baby girl, I know I'm missing so many other things that you're up to these days. I want to tell you everything so you know how much I treasure every moment and every ounce of you. I love my Isla Bee.

Momma

Here are a few more pictures....

The one is a picture of what's in my garden. Last Friday Isla and I went outside to tell Mother Nature good night and found a rabbit in my garden. She was sitting there nursing her babies.

Wow---3 posts in 1 night!

These pics are from a dear friend's recent wedding. The photographer got several pictures of Isla and was kind enough to send me a disk with the pics she took. Check out her blog at http://www.hopecarrollphotography.blogspot.com/. I love these shots of Isla and have been very impressed with the other wedding pics I've seen also.

More pics from this weekend....

Take two!

We had a great weekend even though it started off a little rough. I left work early Friday to go to the doctor. Strep. There went my Friday afternoon plans. Saturday we drove to Nashville--a nice drive although the last 20 miles took 2 hours. We went to Bicentennial Park and to the Farmer's Market Friday night. It rained on us on the way there, but once we got there the weather was beautiful. Unfortunately the fountains in the park were damaged in last year's flooding so we didn't get to see those. Sunday we went to Centennial Park and I got to practice shooting with my new lens. We had lunch with my aunt and uncle and they watched Isla while we went to a Renaissance fair. We went to the zoo before coming home Monday. Baby Girl slept for over 2 hours on the way home, I got to stop for one of my favorite soups, and we made it home early evening.

What a weekend!

Oh my! I just spend 30 minutes writing a post about our great weekend and was almost done when my fingers hit something that erased it all. And it autosaved over the draft copy. And someone is going to wake up from her nap hungry any minute now. I'll try to take it again later tonight while P's at a movie.

Some new favorites....

Words

Thursday night we were trying to name off all Isla's words for PAT, then again at her 15 month well baby Friday. She's adding new ones all the time, but here are the words we can come up with that she says now:
momma (rarely, and not relative to me)
daddy (sometimes meaning him, sometimes not)
hi
bye
dog (leaves off the g)
book
read
bucket
bowl
eyes
no
yeah
milk (no -lk)
duck
In addition, she signs milk, more, and eat.
Pretty good for a kid that's supposed to have 3-5 words!

Pictures for class....and Winston

These look pretty grainy on here when they are compressed to the smaller size. Not sure why--they look more clear when opened.

Daddy and Baby

Isla and P have been hanging out on Monday nights while I take a photography class. Last night I get a TM about the time class starts that says "your daughter found my belly button and won't let me be." She thought it was hilarious to lift his shirt and tickle his belly. Wish I'd seen it--she wouldn't do it tonight.

We forgot to take the Winston picture today so for the first time since the "fresh out of the womb" picture, the monthly anniversary picture wasn't taken on the 12th. We'll do that tomorrow.

I took Isla to see my parents and my mom's aunt L today. On the way there, Isla was able to reach a box of wet wipes. When we got there, I opened the car door and the. whole. box. of wipes. had been pulled out, one by one, and discarded in the seat. She was SO proud of herself when momma saw what she did!