Wednesday, October 27, 2010

High brow humor

Isla loves it when her 9 year old cousin J makes farting armpit noises. Nice.
And she loves Velveeta. Gourmet tastes. Yeah, our kid is classy.

OH--she said "mom" Sunday. Made me all warm and fuzzy.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Momma's little Isla B

It's amazing to see personality develop. Isla is definitely her own person with her own likes, dislikes, and mannerisms. She loves seeing that little girl in the mirror and knows where to find her in the house. She looks for her over my shoulder as soon as she gets out of the tub.

She loves Speckles--she's the only "person" Isla will kiss voluntarily without prompting. She opens her mouth and leans in for Speckles's nose. I think we've caught her so far and kept the smooch from actually happening.

She loves Alison Kraus music, especially Down in the River to Pray. There have been several times in the car that the song has prevented a major meltdown. I have to play it over and over. And it's the only song I've downloaded on my iphone. One night I played videos for Isla as she fell asleep. As long as Alison Kraus was singing, she was quiet and content. When Brad Paisley started singing at the beginning of Whiskey Lullaby, she started fussing again. Alison started singing again, she was mesmorized. I have to sing Down in the River to Pray a lot also.

Isla can scoot across the floor pretty good as long as no one is watching her. Seems like when she knows someone is paying attention though, she expects to be picked up and placed into whatever position she wants. She still doesn't go from laying to sitting on her own--she did it one night when she was mad and wanted out of bed. She has the pulling up thing down pat--that happened a week or so ago. Up, down, up, down. She's got that covered so now I'm terrified to leave her in a room by herself, especially since we have hardwood floors in our living room. We've taken to playing downstairs a lot more--more padding.

As soon as she mastered the pulling up thing, she went back to concentrate on her verbal skills and started babbling a lot more. She says da-da-da-da-da but usually only when she's upset about something. I haven't figured out if she wants to tell on me, if she wants da-da-da-da to rescue her, or if she's cussing him out. Either way, she doesn't associate da-da-da-da with P yet.

Her receptive language skills are on fast forward now though. Each day it seems like she learns a few more words and what they mean. She knows she is Isla, she knows what a drink is, bite, bottle, puppy. I try to do some signs with her as often as I can but I usually forget.

She likes watching her sign language video. Actually she likes watching tv in general. I know, shouldn't be done, but that would be unrealistic for us so we try to focus on educational programs. She likes Dora and Sesame Street. And it was really funny when Rachael Ray was breading chicken in a paper bag and shaking it the other day.

Sleep's been hit or miss lately. Some nights she'll sleep for 8 hours without waking up, some nights it's every 3 hours. Tonight she went to bed at 5:15 and got up for a bottle at 8:15. I hope she'll sleep until 4 or 5 before she's up again.

We had pictures taken in our Elvis Halloween costume. I'll post soon. I have several pics I need to post, as well as some video of her making a huge mess splashing in the tub this morning.

Speaking of tub, we've been to the pool again--how fun. She's also started taking some of her baths in the tub without her inflatable duck--her little bottom slips and slides all over the place which she thinks is hilarious.

My favorite time of day is as Isla's going to sleep. Some nights she fusses and fights it but there always comes a point when she just lays in momma's arms looking up, smiling, telling me how much she loves and trusts me. I'll stroke her cheek and she'll grin. If I'm looking away and she wants to look at me, she'll sit herself up and lean around to look in my face with the sweetest grin you've ever seen. aaaaagghh. Nothing is sweeter. Then we say our prayers, I tell her "sweet dreams princess" and put her to bed.

Life is good.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Busy momma!

I've been one busy momma the past week or so. One of my maternity leave goals was to clean out/organize the storage room and have a huge garage sale. Six months later....DONE! The great thing was once I got all the garage sale stuff out, the stuff that lives in the storage room permanently was pretty much organized. We still have some stuff in the garage but I'll call Restore about coming to pick up a couple pieces of furniture and K is coming over today to pick up more of her stuff. We got rid of a TON of stuff and helped a few other people get rid of some also. M only brought over K's clothes and managed to sell $140 worth of stuff! The most amusing sale was the guy who asked if there was a way to plug in the breast pump to see HOW it works. I told him I don't have working parts anymore but if I'd certainly plug it in for him so he could try it out. He and his wife had a sweet little girl who was just over a year old and they're due again in a few months. I also sold our bassinet--those were our 2 high dollar items. The girl that bought the bassinet was someone I worked with years ago at Blue Cross. I hope little Noah likes it better than Isla did.

I've also been getting the hang of this whole teaching thing. I'm starting a new class Wednesday and am so relieved that it's the same class. It was supposed to be a different class than what I had done, but he had an attorney scheduled to teach a public administration class and me scheduled for a law class. Made pretty good sense to switch us. The best thing is I've read the text book already, I've done PowerPoints for the first 7/9 chapters, and I've already done initial discussion board posts. I spent a few hours last night looking through my new classroom to make sure things in there looked they did in the old one. I think it will be a lot easier the second go round.

So what's been going on with Isla B while momma's been so busy? She worked the garage sale a lot. Grandma and Grandpa were there the whole time and Daddy and cousin M were there a lot too so she just kinda went from person to person. She wanted to help momma write stuff. She got a new stroller out of the event. The lady that was my mentor when I started my job had just purchased a stroller from another lady I work with--I'd actually seen it at D's daughter's yard sale and knew it was nice and unused. But it was very pink and J'd daughter found out she's having a boy. I told her I'd trade her strollers if it would help. So K has a blue and gray, unisex stroller for her little boy and Isla has a pink stroller. K also bought our swing base for the carrier and since our carrier is out of date in a couple months, she can take the fabric parts from it in hers to use instead of her pink stuff.

Isla's still working on mobility. She can get to a sitting position from an all-4s position but she tends to get mad and frustrated when she tries to do things like that. Not much progress on the babbling front, but we're getting more kisses these days. Lately she's decided that baby food isn't as tasty and momma and daddy food. We got a new bed that has a wall unit with mirrors over the headboard--she loves to stand at the headboard and talk to that baby. Yesterday we had pictures taken in our Hallween costume--I'll see if I can post a link to those. Tomorrow we're supposed to have our 9 month pictures taken. So busy!

More later--need to go shower and get moving!!

OH--I have a blog entry about Alison Kraus I need to post. I'm not sure what happened to the email I wrote it out in though. I'll find that and add it in a day or 2. Meanwhile, if you hear my baby crying, start singing "As I went down in the river to pray, studying about that good ole way...."

Later!

Friday, October 1, 2010

A splishin' and a splashin'

Guess who went to the pool tonight? Our gym has family hours on Friday evenings and the warm water pool is open for the kids. Isla LOVED it! She got the hang of splashing and seemed to surprise herself when she's splash herself in the face. Daddy dunked her a couple times and she was fine with it. There were other little kids there that she LOVED watching play--she'd watch them and laugh and squeal. It was so cute and she was adorable in her little Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duke swimsuit. (Don't tell Daddy but I also bought her a bikini at a garage sale this morning! He will NOT approve!)

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Busy week....

We've had a lot going on the past week. The class I'm teaching is taking up more time than I expected but I really like it. Our church small group started back up--we're reading Radical. Our discussion Tuesday night was really good. Wednesday nights P and I are meeting with a personal training. I really think R was trying to kill us last night and now I hurt.

Isla been a real sweetie the past week--ok, I can say that now while she's in her crib asleep and not screaming at me. She's a pretty opinionated little girl and let's her opinions be known. Still, she's a sweetie. Mom and I are trying to teach her to blow kisses. I guess we only do this when we're leaving though cause Isla has started smacking her lips when she's waving bye-bye.

Our favorite song these days is Down in the River to Pray. The version from Oh Brother Where Art Thou calms her whenever she's upset and she likes mommy to sing it to her as well. Last night I was singing to her and I thought she'd gone to sleep so I reached over the check something on the laptop. She sat up in my arms, leaned around to look me in the face and gave me the sweetest grin. She's also been pretty giggly before falling asleep lately. She giggles when I stroke the side of her face and when I give her kisses as she's falling asleep. Tonight we played a kissing game--she'd lean over and give me a kiss and then I'd give her one, then she'd give me another. It lasted for several rounds until a dog barked on tv and took her attention from me.

We're scooting backward and doing the army crawl. A few days ago, she decided to crawl over my leg and decided to bite my leg as she did so. We have some babbling, but most of her verbalizations are squeals and screeches. She does some /b/ sounds and managed da the other day. Close to dad-da. She also says hi every once in awhile.

The trouble we were having with staying asleep is much better. We found out it we lay her down and she fusses, it will last a total of 10 seconds. One night, there was literally one big "WWAAA-AAAAHHH" followed by two "wwaahs." Then she was asleep.

The Halloween costume is almost ready. My mom has the jumpsuit done, I just need to add some bedazzling to it. M found us some little blue suede shoes to wear with the jumper. Can't wait to post pictures!!

Lots to do over the next few days. Tomorrow I work until 11, then I'll come home and get Isla. We're having lunch with J and M at Pasta House. Then we're going to go see K and probably get groceries. Saturday we're going to MOPS for the first time and Saturday night we're having friends over for us to try out some Thai recipes on them. No plans Sunday. Next weekend we're having a garage sale so I need to finish getting stuff together and priced.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Lots of stuff!

We had a couple rough nights over the weekend. I think baby girl intended to take a late nap and was unhappy when mommy and daddy thought she should be down for the night. We kept her up later last night and things went a little better.

Saturday night she was rather insistent that she should be up and managed to take herself from her tummy-butt-in-the-air position to a seated position to raise her arms up for momma. She hasn’t done it again since, but she’s been working those legs around going from a seated position to her tummy.

Last night she was laying in my arms as we were winding down for bed and I ran my finger over her neck, just above the collar of her sleeper. TICKLE SPOT! She giggled and giggled. So mommy had to keep doing it. I love when she’s winding down for the night and gets really playful. She’ll lay in my arms smiling at me when I make faces at her, she’ll play with my hair, put her hand on my face.... Smile. Sigh.

Speaking of tickle spots, this baby giggles but I have yet to hear a real belly laugh out of her. Maybe because she doesn’t have much of a belly. One thing that tickles her is when Grandpa rubs the bottoms of her feet against his scruffy face. My dad has a 5:00 shadow 10 minutes after he shaves—he always has stubble. Anyway, one foot is ticklish and she’ll giggle and pull the foot back. The other foot apparently isn’t ticklish—she leaves it there.


I sorted through all Isla’s winter clothes this past weekend. We have SO many. Of course that didn’t me from buying more at a garage sale I went to. Or from going through a bag of stuff P’s coworker sent him for me to go through to see if I wanted any of. Now I need to go through her closet and pull out the summer sun-suits. We’re still having 90 degree days, but it’s too cool in the mornings and evenings for her to wear them. When I put stuff up I want to sort the 9 month clothes from the other stuff—she might be able to wear some of it next spring, depending on when the warm weather comes and how much she grows.

We’re having a garage sale in a couple weeks. I have so much to do to get ready. I started pricing stuff last weekend. I’ll continue with that and P and I will clean out the garage this weekend. It’s not too bad—I’d wanted to have a garage sale in the spring and cleaned out the garage then. I also have a bunch of little projects started that I want to work on. This class I’m teaching is taking up much more time that I expected, but I do like it. I think I’m starting to get in a pattern of what I need to do when and I’m starting to feel more comfortable with the computer platform. Good thing—midterm week starts tomorrow!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Pictures, pictures, pictures!

I uploaded some pictures tonight from Sunday's playdate with E, T, S & T's big brother O. Those had to load as a separate post. They were so cute together. There was actually some interactions. T is really laid back and didn't care when someone took his toy's from him. Isla wouldn't let anyone take her bucket. S is younger than the others and grinned at the little girls. E is so much more independent than Isla is. That mobility makes a lot of difference. T seems to talk more than Isla does--he was saying "ball," well, "bah" anyway. Isla has the yoga baby moves down--she can fold herself over and right herself.

We're still working at the crawling thing. I know one of these days she'll just take off and there won't be any stopping her. She's also practicing standing on her own.

Isla's doing really well eating puffs. For awhile she'd just pick them up, hold out her arm, and let them fall in the floor. Speckles loves her. Now she's getting them in her mouth.

We seem to be sleeping more soundly this week. I've been leaving music on in her room. I've also stopped getting her up for a bottle before I go to bed. So far so good with her eating totals.

The other pictures below were also taken Sunday. I love this month's Winston pictures--she was being a little ham. Later Sunday afternoon we went to the park to play a little bit.

Gotta go--have to check the discussion boards for my class.








Monday, September 13, 2010

Seriously....

That exersaucer is a laxative.
Hopefully P will soon realize the need to at least check to see if she's dirty when he takes her out of the thing, rather than just leaving it for me to find.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Easy...

Speckles is really gentle with kids. Isla loves her and keeps trying to pet, hug, love, pull her collar. I keep telling her "easy, easy" when she approaches Speckles. This morning we were playing in the floor and Isla grabbed at my face. I told her "easy" and she turned around to look at the puppy. Guess she thinks Easy is the puppy's name.

We can see toofer #3 tonight! It's just a tiny little nub but I think it's through the gums.

I swear....

This baby fills her diaper every time she's in the exersaucer 5 minutes. If this keeps up, I'm going to cut the fabric seat out, replace it with a plastic bowl and commence to potty training!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Tidbits

Long time, no update. I gotta get in the habit of doing this on a more regular basis--it's so much easier! Now I just feel like I have so many tidbits to share and I won't be able to remember all of them.

We went for our "6 month" pictures a few weeks ago--our photography had been on maternity leave so we were late for them. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the preview pic she posted...



I can't believe how big she is getting! We played outside a lot over the beautiful holiday weekend even though mommy was sick. She tries so hard to work those legs to push herself into a crawl and gets frustrated when she can't do so. She also gets upset when she wants to sit up. She hasn't begun to try to figure out how to get to that position.

I sat her in her crib Monday and she was SO close to pulling herself up to a standing position! I think if she hadn't had on footed jammies, she would have made it.

Ditching the pacifier was a good thing. She hasn't really missed it and stopped waking up for no reason during the night. She is waking up for bottles multiple times a night though. She's been going to bed around 6:30 or 7, waking up between 9:30 and 10 for a bottle, then again around 1 and 4. Eating is good though.

We still only have 2 toofers. Those top 2 will show up where we can see them just below the gums for a day or 2, then they'll retreat. This week we've been able to feel them pretty good. Isla likes to lean over and chomp to let mommy feel them.

Mom and I have known for awhile that Isla doesn't like to take care of her personal business when she's sitting down. Lately it's become obvious that her preferred position for this is standing in her exersaucer. Maybe this will help us down the road somehow potty training. I told P Monday when I put her in her exersaucer that she'd probably do a job while she was in there and sure enough, mommma knew what she was talking about.

We're babbling more and more all the time. For awhile most of her vocalizations were just screeches, screams, and various vowel sounds. Last weekend we really started practicing the "b" sound. Unfortunately we'd do this with exagerrated lip movements while eating.

Isla definitely lets it be known that mommy is her favorite. Sometimes I feel bad for whomever else (usually daddy) isn't her favorite at that moment, but mostly it just warms me that my little girl loves me. We're having some separation anxiety lately. Mom's started taking Isla outside as I leave in the morning to help keep her from crying.

What else? Oh, Isla LOVES her Leap Frog table and wants to stand and play at it all the time. She also loves walking. Both of these activities require assistance at this point, which usually means someone leaning over our petite little girl.

This weekend we'll take her 8 month pictures with Winston. Sunday Isla has a playdate with some of the babies of my coworkers. I can't wait to see how she and 9 month old E, 8 month old T, and 5 month old S interact and play. I hope they don't just sit and stare at each other! It it's okay with their mommies, I'll post pictures and video.

Oh, green peas are our favorite food lately. She'll screech for peas if she knows they're on her plate and we try to feed her something else. She's trying more and more "table scraps" too. She has several tiny bits of a breadstick at Olive Garden the other night. She grabbed some rice off my plate tonight. She was eating the pulp from my lemon one day. She also likes the soft inside of a tater tot, ice cream, pudding. She's not sure about watermelon.

Isla loves drinking from a juice box and has gotten the hang of the straw pretty well. She likes it when we get some water in straw covering the end with our finger and letting it run into her mouth. She started trying to suck out of it some that way so we started letting her try a juice box. We'd have to squeeze it a little at first, but now she can do it herself. It's funny to watch though. She doesn't realize she should keep her mouth closed around the straw so she makes the sucking motion with her mouth as she drinks. Tonight she kept screeching for some of her white grape juice as she ate.

A friend's stepdaughter has had 2 foster girls for 3 years and has been through a lot to protect them. She found out last week that their adoption will be final next week. I wanted to do something for her so I wrote this and framed it for her:

When Motherhood Begins…

The first hug…
The first wiped tear…
The first nursery rhyme…
The first scraped knee…
The first bad dream…
The first bedtime story…
The first picture colored together…
The first batch of cookies baked…
This is when motherhood begins

HBU
December 26, 2003

AAU
April 8, 2005

In my heart
August 15, 2007

Forever Mommy
September 14, 2010

Congratulations to the U family!