Sitting Like A Big Girl

Here is a video of Isabella sitting up for a few minutes! She is doing great, she can sit for long periods now. What happened to my little baby?

One More Picture Update!

Daddy made this for me. Mommy has a matching one.


I love my Daddy!




Look how I was sleeping, it made Mommy and Daddy laugh and laugh. This was the best night of sleep I've ever had!




Practicing sitting up.






I love to stand up and drool. I'm doing both in this picture! ; )

Highchair

I swear my house looks like a daycare center! It was small to begin with, but with the recent addiction of a swing, exersaucer, jumper, pack n play, and now a highchair, we definitely need a house upgrade! We were going to wait until we were back in the states to get a highchair but yesterday we found one we really liked and the price was right. Isabella seems to like it, she isn't doing well with eating though. She was doing so good, and now not so much. Practice practice practice!

Rendezvous With Nature

On Saturday the weather was so nice we just had to get out of the house. There is a little park here on base that everyone calls "The Duck Pond"... very original. There are actually a lot of ducks and some geese, and they love people, very friendly. We decided to take Isabella there so she could spend some time outdoors, feel the grass on her feet and all that. We all had a great time. Isabella even used the occassion to perfect sitting up on her own! She can now sit up for about 10 minutes at a time without assistance.

**This is one of my new favorite pictures! Love my noodles!

A Big Weekend of Firsts

My first time sitting in a high chair!

The first picture of my in a shopping cart!

(It's actually my third time)

My first time in the stroller without my carseat! I LOVED IT!

Jump Jump!

Isabella got a new jumper toy on Thursday, she loves it. Now if she would just jump!

They're Brown!

Picture Update

I was playing with Daddy and my toys when I decided to take a nap. Mommy just had to get a picture before they moved me to my crib.

I love helping Mommy cook breakfast!

I love my feet, they are so much fun to play with and stick in my mouth.

Man do I look like my Daddy or what?

I actually slept on my belly, dont worry, I would never do this at night so that Mommy could sleep!

Tag -- I'M IT!

My friend Lauren tagged me on her blog as awesome . (Are you sure?) This is what she posted on her blog, for the whole world to see, that made me cry.

"I think first I’d like to tag Nickie. She’s only been a mom for 5 1/2 months, but you’d think she’s been doing it all of her life - she’s just that natural. She handles each challenge with ease and grace, but still takes time to marvel at all the tiny miracles of motherhood."

This really means a lot to me, especially coming from a Mom that I respect so much. I especially love that Lauren knows what she want for their kids and makes no apologies for it. We are crunchy granola Mama sisters at heart!

Now I have to figure out 7 things that makes me an "Awesome Mom", we might be here a while. I know I have an awesome baby, but I don't usually think of myself as awesome. I'm sure there is no one in the world who is harder on me than me. But lets try....

1. First and foremost I think I am awesome because I married an amazing man who I knew would be a great father. Jonathan is the most amazing father I have ever seen. His relationship with Isabella warms my heart, there is nothing more beautiful to me than seeing them together.

2. Even though I hate feet I somehow manage to touch, and even on occassion, kiss Isabella's feet because I know she loves it. I can assure you there is no one else on this Earth who would get this treatment from me.

3. I make choices for my daughter and I don't let anyone make me feel guilty about them. I will not be guilted into making choices that fit the "norm" or comply to what other people think I should be doing. I respect the opinions of some people, but that doesn't mean that its right for my family. That's right, Isabella has never been to a babysitter (except when I was in surgery), and you can say what you want about me being attached I don't care!

4. I take lots of pictures! LOTS! And I document everthing! When Isabella is an adult she will know everything about her childhood. Her life will be archived in words and pictures that I hope will mean so much to her.

5. I'm not afraid to be myself, not anymore. I cry at movies (and TV shows, and songs, and......), I laugh too loud, I love to hug people, and I'm very close to my family. I have learned that if someone if going to love you, it has to be the real you. Pretending will get you nowhere! I hope that what Isabella learns from me is that there is no shame being who you are, faults and all. When she is a teenager I hope she can be proud of who she is and not feel pressure to be like anyone else. Don't conform to be popular baby girl, its not worth losing yourself.

6. I love to craft and do projects, some of it even turns out really cute. I know that when Isabella is older we will have so much fun making things together. I'd much rather spend time with her than send her away to watch TV or find something else to do to occupy her time.

7. And finally...I am easily excited and I get giddy over the little things. This is proof that you never have to grow up AND that sometimes the smallest things mean the most. This is a small fact that has been lost on so many materialistic people in today's society! I know Isabella has to get older, and bigger, but I hope she always has a little room in her heart to be a kid with us, always.

Now I get to tag some awesome moms that I know. This will be SO much easier than trying to figure out why I am awesome. First, I would like to tag my friend Tracie. Tracie is an amazing mom of 3 kids to which she dedicates all her time. She homeschools her kids, which is a job I could never do myself, all the while volunteering for everything under the sun. Her kids are adorable, well mannered, and a true joy to be around. They are all so different and she manages to give each of them exactlly what they need. Next I'm tagging my friend Suzanne. Suzanne has two beautiful girls and they are her world. Suzanne would never read a parenting book or be caught dead uttering the words "Well research shows that.....". She goes on her feelings because her "Mommy Heart" never lets her down, she knows what her girls need. While I'm sure she secretly laughs at me for my hippy parenting style she would never say so! She has gone through so much and in the past few years and she has kept everything together for the thing that matters most, Shelby and Cheyanne. And finally I'm going to tag Rachel. Rachel has a little boy that is just a little younger than Isabella. It was so fun being pregnant together, and being new moms has been even more fun. Through all the ups and down since the birth of her baby the one thing that has stayed constant is her love for that little boy. I love watching her be silly with him, sometimes I think I laugh harder than he does. One thing that I really think makes Rachel an awesome mom is that she is never afraid to say "I dont know". She asks questions, even if they seem outrageous, because she wants whats best for Riley. (Yes Rachel, that is hair on his balls!)

More Cereal

Silly me, I forgot to post the video of Isabella eating cereal again. This was Monday, and it was her second time eating cereal. She ate the WHOLE tablespoon that I fixed for her. She did much better, but as you saw from the other video she was really more in love with her cup than anything!

Isa's New Love

Isabella is IN LOVE with her Nuk sippy cups. I don't think we are going to have any problem at all weaning her from the bottle. She was cracking me up how agressive she was being. If she had teeth I might have lost a finger!

What's In My Mouth?

It's your tongue silly girl!

Isabella has never been one to stick her tongue out, the only time she would even do anything that looked like sticking her tongue out was when she still had the tongue thrust reflex. We have had some worry over her being tongue tied and having other issues with moving her mouth. Well out of nowhere yesterday she started sticking her tongue out at us AND blowing raspberries! I was so happy I almost cried, this is really big for her. I called her doctor even, he said its good news medically and that we should encourage her to stick her tongue out as often as possible. So, here is the video! =)

Mother's Day

Sunday was my very first official Mother's Day. I will take any chance I can get to say "I'm Isabella's Mom!". There has never been anything in my life that has made me feel so proud as being her Mom. She is smart, and pretty, and funny (already), I just cannot wait to see what the future has in store. Amazingly this blog is harder for me to write than I had imagined because there is just so much I could say on the subject. I wont write a novel, but I could. I'll just say that we had a great day and I feel so grateful to have my wonderful little family.

Pierced Ears

We finally got Isabella's ears pierced today! She did great, she didn't even cry. She let out a little yelp each time the earrings went in, but she didn't cry. NO TEARS! I was really grateful for that. She was obviously more upset over being held still than the piercings!

(I know people have very strong opions on this, and I respect their right to choose for their kids. I hope that everyone will respect our right to choose for Isabella. In other words, if you dont have anything nice to say, dont say anything at all! Thanks =) )

)

Eating Cereal

Isabella ate cereal for the first time last night. It was our "big deal" for her 5 month birthday. It started out nicely, but it didn't last. I edited out the end where she really freaked out!

Weekend Photos

I love playing with my feet, especially when its diaper change time.

Is it just me or do these glasses make me look like Elton John?