7 Months

Isabella is 7 months old now. She's learned so much this past month. She has perfected her sitting ability and very rarely falls over now, which is great because I don't have to constantly watch for her to fall. As long as she's on the carpet, she's pretty happy playing with a few toys. She loves waving her hands around too, and everyone gets so excited that she's waving at them. I don't think she knows what she's doing, but I let everyone else think she does. We'll keep that between us though.

Other big news, she's cutting her first tooth. She's been a little irritable about it, and I've been a little sad. It means the end of her sweet little toothless grin and the end of this phase of babyhood. On to eating and chewing...

She's pretty good with transferring objects from one hand to the other, and is on to the game where she drops her toys and waits for someone to pick them up. She just peers over her high chair and looks to see what happened to the toy and then looks at me expectantly.

She's babbling a lot now, but no words so far. John thinks she's said daddy several times now, but I'm pretty sure she's just making noises. He repeats "daddy" for her over and over again. Someone told us if she said "daddy" as her first word, it means you'll have a boy next time.

She's making no moves to crawl and I'm pretty happy about that. I like her staying still for a little longer. I've seen those babies at daycare, and they're unstoppable. As soon as you change their course from one object, you have to run to stop them on their next course of action. I'm not looking forward to that!

Isabella's first bath in the "big" bathtub

She loves to splash!

Her daddy is teaching her to play basketball. It probably is best for her to start early. If she has my athletic abilities (or lack of) then she needs all the practice she can get!

John's helping Isabella figure out what to do with the ball

Our first...

VIRUS!!! Yuck!

Yes, I realize that by bragging about how healthy Isabella's been; I was setting myself up. Eventually she had to get sick. We've been very fortunate that she made it to 7 months before getting sick for the first time. Well, Wednesday evening last week after getting back from our beach trip on Monday, I got the call. At 4:30 in the afternoon, Amy came up to me at work to let me know the daycare was on the line. Of course, I freaked out, wondering what could be wrong. I found out she'd thrown up several times, but didn't have a fever. I wanted to rush to get her, but I only had 30 minutes left at work. I stayed to finish, and then rushed to get my sweetheart. I was covered in baby vomit for most of the evening; I must have changed my shirt 4 times. She couldn't keep anything down. You could tell she was sick when she would throw up and then lay her head on my chest and close her eyes. She was so tired and weak, and I felt terrible for her. Thankfully, my sister is a pediatric nurse, so after many phonecalls, I calmed down and started giving Isabella pedialyte as often as she'd take it.



We made it through the night, but the next morning I was feeling sick. I won't get into the details, but let's just say I didn't handle the virus nearly as well as Isabella. John came down with a mild version of the virus by the following day. So, we ended up with three very sick people and a lot of yucky laundry to wash. Thanks to some wonderful family members, especially my aunt Kathy, my grandmother, and my dad, we made it through our first family virus unscathed. My aunt was so helpful taking care of us and cleaning my house that she got sick next day; so I owe her a BIG thank you for helping so much in our crisis. She was still volunteering to keep Isabella when I went back to work, even though she'd barely gotten over the virus herself. We're so blessed to have a wonderful family. It's the times when you can't do things for yourself that you find out how much other people love you.

A long weekend

We decided to take a long weekend and head out of town. We had a great time in Gulf Shores just relaxing and being a family. We never actually made it down to the beach, although we did see it from a distance. We got lots of much needed rest and spent time with family and friends. My dad and Karen came down, and we enjoyed a nice dinner with them one night, as well as a great afternoon of shopping with Sally and playing with Hannah Cate. John and my dad played golf on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, while me and Isabella played at the condo.

Here are a few pictures:

taking a little nap (sort of)

Isabella playing on the floor


Isabella and me at Lulu's for lunch
John and Isabella at Lulu's

6 months

Here are just a few of mine and John's favorites from her 6 month photo shoot!

They were taken December 27, 2008.

Happy 2009!

Here's to the beginning of a new year, a fresh start, and all that. John and I went for a wonderful date (just the two of us thanks to my Aunt Kathy) at Fox Valley in Helena. It was great food and nice to just relax and enjoy being together. John and I slept through the turning of the year, which officially makes us old! But I have to say that I enjoyed the sleep more than I would have enjoyed trying to stay up. We did play with the idea of trying to keep Isabella up to enjoy her first new year, but quickly dismissed that one.

I've only made one official resolution for the year, and I'm hoping by making it known, I will be held accountable to doing it. So, my resolution this year is to finish the quilt (I started while I was pregnant) by the end of March. Unofficially, I'd like to get into a more regular (or lets just say it... any) workout at all. I really need to get back to a strength training workout again. Although I've lost all my baby weight, I think I'm losing all my muscle along with it. So, there they are... my resolutions, even if they are way too generic.

I hope everyone had a wonderful new year and continue to enjoy 2009!

***We only received a few of these cards because they were a bonus from the 6 month pictures we had made. I will post some of my favorites at a later time!