Just a little bit of Brooklyn. She is 7 weeks old in these pictures. I don't remember Isabella being as strong as Brooklyn this early. Brooklyn already pushes up on her feet when you hold her vertical. She already holds her head up when she's playing on her tummy or you have her on your shoulder. She is alert, constantly following my voice around the room. She also recognizes Nick and Isabella's voices. She seems to "watch" tv already, and focus' on whatever action is being performed around her. It's hard to remember that she's such a new member of our family. Feels like she's been here forever already!

At the beginning of December we went to "Christmas with the Angels", a day for the kids at the church. The other staff members were facilitating crafts and such. Brooklyn had kept Nick and I awake the night previous crying from 2:00am until just after we left the house for this event. We kept her in her car seat and placed her out of the way in the VERY noisy gym. Minutes later she was asleep and slept for many an hour.

Isabella wore herself out good with a lot of running around. There was a movie room which she tried out for a few minutes and cookies which she enjoyed. The crafts were probably a bit old for her, but I had dragged the family to the event so we were going to try them all.






First we decorated cookies. They had it all very well thought out. The cookies were huge angels. The icing was in small piping bags and there were small cups of sprinkles and such for decoration. Each kid got a set and went to town. Isabella ate more than she decorated. She would put a sprinkle on then clap her hands and say "horay" and eat a handful.















The finished product.













We moved on to the only other craft it seemed she could do. The door hanger advent calendars. There were huge diagrams on the wall and buckets of the pieces. All you had to do was choose a design, pick up the appropriate pieces and glue them on. All three of us worked on this one. Then Belle brought it home and promptly tore it apart. Along the bottom there was double sided tape and you took home a bag of angel confetti pieces. The idea was to put one on each day.

It's hard to find activities for a 20 month old to do I think. It seems that once she hits three her motor skills are supposed to jump to new heights. We'll keep trying though, I'm sure she enjoys it, at least I hope she does.

The Santa Claus Parade 2006

Isabella with her friend Madison snuggling in to enjoy the parade.

At the end of the parade my little hot chocolate stained babe was full of energy, but tired. Brooklyn slept through the whole thing all snuggly in her carseat.

This is a video of Belle enjoying the Santa Claus Parade. It was on November 12, but I guess it's better late than never to see these things. We went with Belle's older friend Madison. She's 6. It was a small town parade and Belle enjoyed it all. She didn't understand the big deal about Santa at the end or why it was over. She sang along to all the music and waved hello and good-bye to everyone!

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Usually we have conversation that goes something like this:

Me: "That's a puppy. What do puppies say?"

Isabella: blank stare.

Me: "Puppies say woof."

Isabella "Woof."

Today our conversation went like this:

Me: "That's a pupppy. What do puppies say?"

Isabella "Woof."

I have yet to pick up my jaw.

I think these two pictures best display how Isabella is doing with the adjustment to becoming a big sister. She absolutely adores Brooklyn and showers her in kisses and hugs, but there are many times when she sure wishes Brooklyn would go away so she could have mommy and daddy to herself again. Both girls are doing great and Isabella is definitely not a baby anymore. I sure wish she would sit still so I could cuddle her for a bit, but it's also fun to watch her play and explore. Her vocabulary is growing almost as fast as she is, but she hasn't entered the phase of conversation yet so my questions, (How was your nap?), are getting met with a lot of blank stares. I am very much looking forward to talking with my big girl instead of at her.
For now we'll just watch her clown around and continue to be amazed by how she grows everyday.

We've had a few rainy days here and Belle has been stuck in the house. Since it's become impossible for me to even think about touching my toes I'm not all that great at entertaining or keeping up with her anymore and so she has to find ways to entertain herself. She recently seems to have become addicted to Monsters Inc. She wont watch any of the Blues Clues we took on the road trip, I'm sure they are now worn out, but Monsters Inc is still her favorite. She bursts into laughter the first time Sully appears on the screen and actually sits completely still watching the first hour of it. Then she gets a little bored and starts pressing buttons inevitably ending up watching a portion in Spanish before I realize it doesn't sound quite right. It was adorable when she brought me the portable DVD player and then took a pillow to our recliner. I added the blanket to prop up the screen and then she snuggled in with her dolly and some Cheerios. I think this means we'll be skipping the "monster in my closet" stage!!

18 Months

Well folks, here we are at the 18th month update. I can hardly believe that Belle is already a year and a half old! It feels like just yesterday I was telling you all about her arrival. She has become quite the character in such a short time. In this picture she is wearing the grey shirt for the day and has taken the stripped one out of the laundry and is wearing it like a shrug. All of her own idea she just slipped it on that way. Earlier in the day she was wearing a strainer for a hat after eating all the grapes out of it. Such a munchkin.

For her 18 month check up today we took her into the doctor's office. We've been there a lot for my pre-natal appointments, but this time they called Belle's name and she walked in with confidence following the nurse. Then we stripped her down and she again followed the nurse with confidence to the scale where she proceeded to move the little weights, pretending she knew what she was doing. Then the doctor came in and they talked with each other, she just chatted in her jibberish a mile a minute as though expressing her health concerns. Then we got her all dressed again and she sat on Nick's lap for her needles. The first one went in and she didn't even flinch. Then the second one, which stings happened, and she didn't flinch until the plunger went down and then there was the howl, cuz it does hurt a bit. So Nick cuddled her up and the doctor said "Okay Belle you're doing great see you next week!" and she stopped crying immediately to say "Good-Bye. See ya later" and then went back to whimpering in Nick's arms for a few seconds. We then placed her on the floor and she led us out, getting a sticker from each nurse she passed on the way out. One of the nurses even told us Belle has become the highlight of her week! Such a great girl.

She is currently slightly above average in height and slightly below average in weight for her age. Growing to be a tall slim girl. Can't complain about that. She passed all the little tests they ask about. She can walk backwards, follows commands, and has at least 10-20 words. I was trying to write down all of her words this week for her scrapbook and she just adds new ones each day! She always says "hello" and her "good-bye" is always followed by "see ya later". You can understand every word she says even if her enunciation is not totally clear, like it's obvious she's saying squish, but not as clearly as I would. Very cool.

Then tonight we went to a BBQ for the church staff to introduce us formally to everyone Nick is working with. We were the youngest by at least 20 years thus making Belle 40 years the youngest. She captured everyone's heart. Even though it wasn't our home she said "good bye" to everyone at the door and gave everyone a hug goodbye. How adorable is that. She basically walked in a circle throughout the house and deck flutting from group to group. All through the night I heard little comments of "She's so cute" and "She's so good natured". Just the thing a mom wants to hear. At one point in the evening people started telling us we are doing a great job parenting and the women's pastor said I should start teaching parenting classes. And while that was flattering, I don't think I can take much credit, Belle is just a blessing- not only to us but to everyone she meets!

Well, Belle is continuing to grow, grow, grow. She hasn't gotten much taller or much bigger around, but she is growing so much intellectually and developmentally. She is now an avid climber and can do the stairs all by herself. She likes to help pour in the ingredients and mix together stuff when we're baking. She greets everyone on the street with a hearty "Hello" followed almost immediately by a "Bye Bye See ya!". She is mimcking back pretty much every single syllable word we say to her, and even trying some two syllable ones, (my favorite being kapeesh which she says a-peesh). She is learning to play with other kids, and I think we're going to have to work on sharing! She understands so many things we say to her, like when we say "It's time to go for a walk." she runs to the front hall closet and gets her shoes, then sits down so someone can put them on and proceeds right to the door. She gives kisses and hugs if you ask for them, she is learning to clap rhythyms and she is never far from a pencil and piece of paper a she loves to write. This week she learned to put her finger in front of her lips and say "Shh" which almost brought Nick to tears.

A few days ago we went for a walk and she started looking up. She noticed the clouds and the birds and trees that were right above her. She was talking in the language I have yet to understand, but was so excited she nearly toppled over backwards taking it all in. She's so easy going and everyone here adores her. We are so lucky to have such a social butterfly in our family. She already loves to party, staying up until 10:00 some nights-being polite and friendly the whole time, and we have to keep an eye on her as she already sees beer as free game if it's not in your hand!

I am very excited to see her begin to interact with her new brother or sister. She seems to really adore babies. Whenever a car seat is placed on the floor she'll run to it and crouch in front of it just staring and staring. And with all the new babies in our friends lives it's often the case that a picture is on the computer screen which leads to squeals of "oooooo, baby" in a soft cute voice.

This coming weekend we're making the move to a toddler bed, and I'm sure there will be many a nights of learning a new level of patience ahead of us, but we are both so very much enjoying our baby become a big girl!

Moving through the Eyes of Child.

While we were setting up Isabella's room we began unpacking clothes which I had to separate into the things she's outgrown and the things she is wearing now or will wear soon. In the top of the pile were some hats and Belle found this one. She successfully put it on her head herself and didn't take it off until she went to bed that night. Nick's first comment was "Oh my, she's trailer trash!" I guess because it was on her head a bit askew and it was a winter hat in the middle of a heatwave, but he soon came to the realization of the adorableness. Watching a child get excited about a new place to live and re-discovering the things they own is a very humbling experience. Reminding me to live one day at a time and to enjoy the little moments.

Another thing Belle learned while in the process of moving was how to lay down and get her hair wet all by herself in the bathtub. At the place we stayed the bath tub didn't have any type of anti slip on the bottom and Isabella accidently fell backwards once. After that accident she decided this was a fun activity and would fling herself backwards without any warning. Nick tried to catch her, but sometimes she was just too fast and for the next week or so she had really short baths to avoid any injuries. Finally I had the idea to tell her to lay down slowly, and she did! So now it's her favorite bath time activity, up and down she goes over and over.

First she psyches herself up for the drop down. It takes a few minutes.

Then she very slowly moves her arms back and out to the side while lowering her body. It's funny to watch knowing that one day she'll be able to do this quickly but for now it's quite the task for her to get her body horizontal.
She stays laid down until her hair is all wet, or rinsed out and then she quickly jets up out of the water and looks to who ever is bathing her for a clap and a "good job". Then it's just seconds until it all starts again, even after her hair is washed!
So much bath time fun!

Fun with Poppa.

I think the did this for about 45 minutes.

She's so big and yet so small. The first week we lived in Georgetown we stayed in a basement suite that friends of ours had just moved out of. They lived their with their son, (that's his nursery above), and the people who owned the house and lived upstairs go to Georgetown Alliance Church so they offered us to live there until the new tenants moved in August 1. We accepted and they did everything they could to make us comfortable. They provided a few toys for Belle and a few chairs for us, a tv an inflatable bed and even brought us dinner a few nights the week we stayed there. We were definitely grateful. Belle and I spent most of the week inside as it was a heat wave and we needed to adjust slowly. She adopted to favorite activities. One was rolling this ball around the entire place saying "Weeee" over and over and over. The other was going into the nursery, standing in the door way, saying "Bye Bye, See ya" and then closing the door only to open it again a few seconds later and repeat.

The first thing our move taught Isabella, how to climb. I was working and she was playing around the house. Things were a little too quite so I went to check on her. She had gotten up onto the ottoman and was clapping for herself. How great! She then proceeded to fall off as she thought she could get off the ottoman the way we do. I calmed her down and showed her how to turn around and climb down backwards, she's been unstoppable ever since!

We went to a wedding this weekend and this was Belle's get up. Isn't she cute? It's so fun to have her wear girlie clothes, and we rarely do that. Her hair still isn't long enough for ponytails or to hold barettes, but the hat is the perfect feminine touch and she actually leaves it on when she's outside! I think she had a good time at the wedding and I know she loves having her picture taken. It's so hard to believe she's already in her second "wedding season".

Some fun in the sunshine.

This weekend I got to see Isabella in action with other kids for the first time. We do our share of volunteering in the nursery, we've just always ended up in another room than Belle. And we don't know anyone in Calgary with kids, so she just interacts with adults.

However, this weekend we went to Edmonton and she got to play with some kids. I was watching her to see which stereotype she would fit, hoping she wasn't the bully and also hoping she wasn't the pushover. I think I'd have to classify her as the "Wal-Mart Greeter". Each time someone entered the room she went over to say hi and reached out to touch them, (she hasn't quite gotten hugs yet). It was cute, although it seemed a bit scary to some. She ran around the room trying out each new toy and although she wasn't the loner in the corner, she was content to play with her own things next to another child. It was nice to see that she didn't cry when another child took the toy she was playing with, and that she didn't grab too much when someone was playing with a toy she wanted. And I was super impressed when I said "Can you help me clean up?" and she did! At home I just scoop up her toys before bed, but we will now start including her in the picking up cuz I know she gets it.

But perhaps the best part for me was how she treated the newborn in the room. She gently touched his hair and smiled. From a distance she would watch him with her hands under her chin, studying his every move while cooing "oooh, ahhh". Although at one point I sat her a bit too close and her hands got away from her and he got smacked with a toy, (so sorry by the way), she did very good visiting a baby. I hope she enjoys our new baby just as much!

It was nice to see her play with other kids, I hope we see a lot more of it!

The Sears Portraits.

Here are the pics of Belle. I put all of them cuz they sort of tell the story of the day. The way she's giggling in the first one is priceless. Hope you enjoy them as much as me.

The Cute Ones

The Naked Ones

Encouragement.

Whenever the dove commercials come on tv, the ones that are to the tune of "True Colors", Belle will stop whatever she is doing and stand up stare at the screen and sway.

It encourages me so much to think she's a clean slate in this area, that body image and self esteem are not issues for her.

I hope we can keep it that way forever.

The learning curve continues here in Alberta. Belle has started working with a spoon. I try to give her something once or twice a day that she can practice on and this meal it's yogurt. She starts off so great. Her spoon dips in and is very full, but for some reason her first taste is always just sticking her tongue in it to make sure she likes it-and then WHAM the whole spoon in her mouth! By the end of the meal though she gives up and just dips her fingers in the bowl and licks them! Too funny.


She has also started walking! Yep, just a few steps at a time but she's getting the hang of it. She was just standing there and I started saying "left, right, left, right" which is what I say when I hold her hands and she walks. And she smiled and picked up her left foot and then her right. We started applauding wildly and now she will take two steps, pause for applause, and then take more. Too cute. I think it will still be a while before she's tearing off on her own, so I think the grad ceremonies are safe!

As you may have read a few days ago I got some awesome pics of Belle done at Sears. I went to pick them up and they were all there-minus the CD. Shoot. I tried to scan one in and put it on here but the quality really goes downhill after the scan, so you'll have to wait, maybe up to a week to see the pics. I put a nice story below with pictures so you can hold on until then.

I am also putting the pictures in the mail this week, so if you don't have one in your hand in two weeks, and you want one, let me know.

Isabella is doing amazing things on a regular, and lately, daily basis. Yesterday I was making baked apples for dinner. One rolled out of the cupboard and across the floor. Belle picked it up and began eating it like I do. I never showed her how to do this, and she just started doing it on her own. She ate a quarter of the apple!

We do not have stairs in our home, however just outside our door where we do our laundry there are stairs to the entry of our building. She has often crawled over to them and used them to stand up, but never tried to get up them. We've never showed her how. Then yesterday a lady came to the door to take a census and I was filling out her paperwork, I glanced down and there Belle was standing on the second stair! Ohmigosh. I ran down and got her right away so she wouldn't fall backward. Hopefully I'll get a pic of that when Nick is home and can make sure all is safe.

Her laugh has evolved to include a snort at the end and sometimes she chooses just to snort.

She is walking while only holding one of our hands which is nice for my back, but not yet taking independant steps. Her only word is still hello. Which I'm sure is because she's around me all the time, and I don't talk much. I'm trying though, but as long as she's walking by the time the baby is here, I don't mind if she's not talking.

She does a lot of things it seems whenever she has the opportunity and I hope I can continue to give her new opportunities so she can continue to amaze us every day.

Oy.

This picture really has nothing to do with the story, but isn't she just so cute in just her socks waiting for the bath?! What this picture doesn't show is that she bounces up and down going "na na na" (which I think means now), over and over again until we turn the water off at which point she claps and then lifts up her arms so we put her in.

But the story I wanted to share has not to do with the bath, but the bum. Yesterday we went grocery shopping and little miss over here let one rip, as soon as she started she smiled and as soon as she was done she giggled. Then Nick let one rip and she giggled for that too.

Oh my gosh, what have we done! We've already taught her to laugh when someone farts. Watch out future bible study groups, our girl is the prayer disrupter!

Best Picture Day Ever!

On March 25 Isabella and I went to Sears for her one year photos. She woke up having a good day and I knew this had to be it, we must leave the house RIGHT NOW and hope for good pics. Our last trip was in November with Abby and Jen Dalsin, and it didn't go so smoothly. I now fear being peed on every time we venture to Sears.

We dressed her in a beautiful outfit that she will also wear to Nick's grad. It's a bit big now, but it was still cute. We went walk-in and were lucky enough to get a time only 45 minutes away. So we went to the food court for lunch. We shared a plate of Chinese food and watched kids play on the indoor carousel. Both of which Belle found very intriquing.

We've had this photographer many times and she gets the best smiles from Belle. She popped her head out of the room to say they were about 10 minutes behind and Belle immediately recognized her. She started beaming.

That beaming did not stop. The photographer had some great poses and props picked out and in seriously ten minutes we had 9 picture perfect poses of her. Three backgrounds, some of her standing, some lying, some sitting, and we even got the coveted NAKED picture done.

Now, at Sears I am very frugal with my photo money. I much prefer the candid shots for my scrapbook to the posed and so it takes a lot for me to spend more than my $7.99 coupon. But today was such a day. I am not joking. I spent a whopping $200.00, (giving up my April scrapbooking day in St. Albert), and I cannot wait for the pics.

Part of the expense was that I got a high resolution CD of the session with a copyright waiver. Meaning I can print as many of the photos as I want anywhere I want and it's legal. I'm so excited for what I will do with those for my scrapbook!

The pictures will be picked up on April 11 and I will post all the poses for you to see. Then I'll mail out the pics and if you don't get one, it's not because I don't like you, it's because I didn't know you wanted one! But now I can print pics until the cows come home, so let me know and I'll send you one. Or if I send you a pose and you'd like another, I can do that.

I love good picture days.