9 months

Isabella is officially 9 months old, but she's been a part of my life for twice as long. She weighs 17 lbs. 10 oz. and seems to be growing so fast. She's learned so much in the last month. She's taking steps with mine or John's help. She walks on her tip toes, and is so proud of herself when she gets to her destination. Her grin is so huge and she bounces with such joy at her accomplishment. Of course, we're really proud of her too! She's still working on crawling. She's almost mastered going backwards, but forward motion is still alluding her. She gets so frustrated when she's reaching for some object and ends up pushing herself further away, but it's so funny. John had a glass of water on the floor and I told him that Isabella was reaching for it. He looked at her and said, "she won't get there," because he knew she'd end up moving away from it instead. We've recently moved her mattress to a lower level so that she can't surprise us by standing in her bed (and possibly falling over the side.) It's just more difficult putting her down in her crib now. I have reach so low, but she doesn't seem to mind.

She's regularly and more purposefully calling me "mama" now, which is so sweet. My heart melts whenver she says it. John starts saying "dada" to her whenever she does it, in an attempt to get her to call him instead. She's also learned wave bye whenever someone says the word, and she can nod yes also. She nods so hard that I think it has to hurt her head, and her expression is so serious that it's funny!

It's been a very fun, exciting month, which might explain why I've neglected this blog so badly. Isabella's keeping me so busy that I've barely had time to even think about getting online.

Isabella after an exhausting day

Snow Day

I don't keep up with the weather, but John did mention that there was a possiblity of snow flurries last night. We both laughed, of course. It's safe to say that 99% of the time, predictions of snow are brief to non-existent in Birmingham. So, when we awoke to the beautiful white landscape outside, it was quite a surprise. It was truly the perfect snowy day too. The power stayed on (a huge plus) and it was on a weekend (no worries about heading to work!) We got up and made pancakes and bacon and enjoyed a relaxing morning watching the snow fall. Then we dressed Isabella in some warm clothes and headed out to let her get a good look at her first snowy day. She wasn't overly impressed. It was pretty windy and cold, and a snowflake hit her eyelashes and she wasn't happy. But we got some cute pictures and video! Here are a few:

John and Isabella

Me and Isabella

Mimi, Dad, and Isabella

8 months

Isabella (as my grandmother put it today) is "legally" 8 months old. Time has truly flown. I can't even believe another month of her life has passed.

It seems like so little time has gone by, but so much has changed for her. She has two bottom teeth now, and she's eating more finger foods (cheerios, peas, crackers, etc.) She is looking more like she might crawl soon. She is pushing way up on her arms now, and kicking/pushing with her feet. She's not going far yet, but she's not right where you left her anymore either. She continues to babble constantly, which is really fun to hear. No words yet, but we're listening for them! Her personality is becoming more evident; she's generally a very happy little girl. She's always watching what's going on around her and learning new things constantly.

I fall more in love with her everyday, and it's clear that her daddy adores her as well. I've been told before, but it seems everytime I blink she's grown up a little more and I'm always surprised.

Isabella intently studying the peas she should be eating

Isabella's taken an interest in studying the law with her daddy

We made it

Isabella and I made it through the weekend without John and through Isabella's first ear infection. She's feeling much better now, but we saw the doctor on Friday and she wasn't feeling very good then. I've discovered that she loves (thankfully) the taste of amoxicillin and she can eat Cheerios. She couldn't get the cheerio to her mouth because it got stuck in her palm but she can eat them now. (My dad says that's the step before chocolate. I think he can't wait to let her try it, and I'm trying to hold him off for a little longer.) I was worried that her sleep pattern would be off again, since she'd been sick, but she did pretty well last night (9 hours and only up once.) So, we made it through the weekend with a few new discoveries and a now-smiling little girl.

Happy Birthday, baby!

It's John's birthday today! We celebrated John's birthday a little early because again, the army has decided that he should be away (this time in Mississippi) on his birthday and Valentine's day. You can probably hear the note of bitterness in my voice, but I do realize that the army can't take things like birthdays into consideration for every person before making these decisions. I just hate anytime that he has to be away from us, but especially for special occasions. Anyway, we still celebrated together last weekend. John and I had lunch on Friday and birthday cupcakes at Edgar's. Then I sent him for a surprise massage, which he followed by 9 holes of golf. (It was a beautiful afternoon, about 75 degrees and sunny.) Then we went to dinner at Ocean that evening. And for the big birthday finale, we went to see Ruben Studdard in Ain't Misbehavin' on Saturday. It was an awesome show, by the way. To top it all off, we had birthday cake with his mom and Martin following the show. It was a wonderful weekend.

So, happy birthday, baby! I miss you as always, and I hope it's a wonderful day!

Miss Independent holding her own bottle

I love this expression!

Sleeping patterns and Extreme measures

Isabella hasn't really gotten the hang of sleeping through the night. This isn't a secret to those who are around me and John because we're always tired. I think I've finally hit the bottom though, and have decided that it's time for drastic measures. So, we're trying the "cry it out" method. I've interviewed parents of all ages and most have tried this with at least one or more children. Most tell me that it works wonders, so we're trying it. On Thursday night we attempted it once and Isabella cried for a full hour before falling asleep. On Friday, it was better; she cried for 15 minutes and woke several times that night, but the crying didn't last any more than 15 minutes at a time. It's gradually decreased until last night, and she slept from 8:30 pm-4:30 am without waking! She only cried for 3-4 minutes when I put her down in her bed. Now I will say that I've "broken the rules" and picked her up from her crib when she's really upset and I've gotten her out of her bed to change her diaper, but I think we've all handled this adjustment very well. Now, if this trend will continue, I can begin my am workouts again and feel rested at the same time. I will be meeting my resolution, decreasing the frequency at which I seem to be sick, and improving my general mood, all at one time.

For those of you blessed parents that haven't had any sleep issues, be thankful. But be prepared for the next child because everyone I spoke with had some sleep issues with at least one! I'm praying that John and I are blessed with more children, but I'm hoping that the next one is a better sleeper!

Isabella is trying out her new umbrella stroller that grandma gave her for Christmas

Here she is demonstrating the rain protection

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