Monday, July 2, 2012

Father's Day 2012

Our gift to the man we love the most, the man who makes this beautiful life possible and our family complete this year was a few special pictures...




It was a beautiful day the four of us spent together. We went to the Dinosaur muesum and to dinner. It was wonderful just to spend the day together being thankful for that wonderful man of ours : )

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Camping

Our first trip as a family of 4 was this past weekend. We went 'camping' in Colorado with Chris' family. Xander objected to our lack of sleeping in tents on the ground, but other than that a wonderful time was had by all! Here are some highlights...

Lots of walks...

 Fishing with Dad...

Ice Cream...

 Throwing ALOT of rocks in the river...

They had a really great park...



Isabelle always smiling...

A wonderful trip!



Wednesday, May 23, 2012

May

May has almost come and gone with out another blog posting. So much to do, so much to clean, but that doesn't mean I haven't been snapping photos like crazy!

Isabelle is growing like a weed and will be 6 months old this month! I just packed up her 3-6month clothes, I can't promise a tear wasn't shed. It's amazing that my last baby is already almost 6 months old, no longer a new born, almost able to sit up. She's rolling like crazy, and wants to crawl, but more importantly she wants to walk. I guess that's what happens when you have a big brother running circles around you. She's obsessed with Bailey, but we are pretty sure she just wants to eat him, a picture to follow, the cuteness at the expense of my messy house : )

Xander is doing wonderful as always. But if anyone wondered which is more difficult a newborn or a 3 year old, the three year old wins in this household! ha ha I'm constantly amazed by his innocence and intellegence. He's currently in love with sharks and dogs, he also has a fondness for fish. He has requested a shark birthday party this year, but we'll see if that's still his reply in another month or so. He has also requested a pink poodle for his birthday. He loves going to the park and he's very good at making friends. He's always stopping to see what's wrong with a sad child. We recently had a VERY complicated discussion about strangers and friends, as he thinks everyone is his friend, an idea I hate having to crush so so very much. But at least for now he still says I'm his best friend and thinks I'm the "MOST amazing cook in the ENTIRE world" so I'm happy! haha

Now the pictures... Enjoy!












Monday, April 23, 2012

Isabelle

Hi I'm Isabelle...

I'm currently obsessed with my feet...


I love my play gym...


I'm over 26 inches long...


I love carrots, green beans and peaches...


And this is my big brother, Xander!

Monday, January 30, 2012

2 months...

It's always a shock to me how quickly time can fly when you have little ones, but I think it's a bit of a shock to anyone. While the sleepless nights and constant feedings seem never ending, the days are actually being scooped out from under you. Isabelle is 2 months old today. It's still hard to believe that 2 months ago I went to the hospital at 5am and came home 3 days later with a beautiful baby girl. I always dreamed I'd have a daughter, and now I do. I constantly have a bit of guilt because I worry I'm missing each little step in her life, not eximaning each step, each milestone, like I did with her brother. Although I had alot more time then....

Since I don't have time to obsess over EVERY milestone and step little Isabelle reaches I think I'll focus on the important stuff. Like for example she loves her mobile above her crib. Xander never liked his or took notice till her was much older, but if you turn her's on she is instantly mezmorzied. I catch her staring at the one on her swing for long periods of time. I think it's their differences that stick out the most to me. I thought when I had Isabelle I had been through it all, but every child is so very different. Xander was loud and wild from the start, woke every hour and 1/2 to nurse (which I gave up a 4weeks because he was so difficult), screamed his little head off all the time, never went to sleep with out large amounts of rocking and singing, didn't smile until 6 weeks and hated anything but his car seat as a baby. Isabelle is quiet. She only crys when necessary. She nurses beautifully(which is such a relief to this mommy). She's slept in 4 hour chucks since birth (which made me really nervous the first week to be honest). She goes to sleep easy with no effort. She HATES her car seat, but loves her vibrating chair. She smiles ALOT, starting with the day she was born. Yes she smiled day 1, at her daddy, I didn't believe him till I saw it. I've never seen such a smily baby, and I love it. She'll look you right in the face and giggle at you. I'm finally getting used to all the pink and purple. I love staring at her closet, wall to wall pink, fluffy, feathery, it's all so sweet.

As far as milestones go here's what I've got, she's 9lbs 1oz and 23inches. She eats about 4oz at a time. This only matters because the other day I looked at Xander's 2 month blog. He was eating 7oz at a time and was already 10lbs 10oz, up nearly 5lbs from birth! He was 1lb less than Isabelle when born, but by this point he had already passed her. I'm not sure if the difference is he is a boy or that he was formula fed and she is breast fed, or that she just doesn't like to eat as much as him. She got her first round of shots, which I hated, of course. That night she slept 11 hours straight, scared us half to death, but I think she was just exhausted from a big day. And as of this week she is officially sleeping 8 hours a night! Now which 8 hrs is still a bit of an issue, usually it's 6pm-2am or right around there, which still does not allow for a full nights sleep for mom and dad, but we'll take it. I'm hoping when I start back to work this week she will fall into a new routine.

Yes, sadly, tomorrow I go back to work. While I am very grateful to have a good job that I really enjoy, I am going to miss my sweet girl terribly. I wish I had a choice in the matter, but I do not. So I am resolved in the fact that this is what God planned for me and my sweet girl and it's what right and best. Sometimes it's not always easy accepting God's plan, but I think if I don't have faith now I'll never make it through those first days with out her. Thankfully I am only going back part time at first so my days away from her will be fewer than the ones I'm with her. I am also thankful that she is able to go to my mother-in-laws for these first few weeks.

So I know some of you are wondering how is Xander doing in all this? He is doing wonderful. I don't think Isabelle has made too much of an impact of his life so far. She sleeps most of the time so he really only sees her a couple times a day. He kisses her and gives her a toy and tells her that he loves her. He includes her in all of his stories which is sweet, and the other day he told me she was his best friend. He is getting bigger every day. He likes to tell us silly stories about robot bunnies invading or the in depth relationships between his cars haha

He is doing great at school. I am always impressed when he comes home able to write another letter or spell another word. The other day he got a super star award at school for doing well in sign language. He shows me words all the time, which I am assuming are right, but I don't know much sign language, so you never know. His current favorite movie is the Land Before Time, which brings back a TON of memories for Chris and I, I'm pretty sure I saw that movie like 100 times as a child. I'm thinking it's about time to sign him up for some sort of sport because he has so much energy and loves to play soccer and basketball. He requests to play football or baseball often as well. I'm thinking we'll let him try a few things before he settles.

Well, that's it for now, I leave you with pictures from the last month...

Isabelle, 4 weeks old, and Xander...
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My bathtime baby...
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Mousey butt...
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Smiles for mommy...
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Monkey hat...
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Loving her Moby wrap...
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8 weeks old and all smiles...
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Mommy and baby 8 weeks old...
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Friday, January 6, 2012

Christmas

Baby's First Christmas...
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And it begins,

Christmas Eve...

Big Brother Xander anxiously awaiting the go ahead to open presents...
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Our first baby cousin Brayden enjoying his first Christmas too...
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This year he definitely got the hang of opening presents...
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Isabelle spent most of the night being passed around and cuddled in her sweet Christmas Eve outfit...
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Christmas Day

- Take 1 - home

Big Brother Xander REALLY got into Christmas this year...
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He kept saying, "Oh! This is JUST what I wanted!" as he opened each present...
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He now thinks, Santa, Baby Jesus and for some reason Monster Truck Mater are all watching over him to see if he's bad or good for next Christmas, he doesn't have the story EXACTLY right, but it's cute listening to him tell me...
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Christmas Day

- Take 2 -

Opening presents at Grandma Ruth's house...
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Baby Brayden & Aunt Danielle Christmas morning...
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Isabelle spent most of Christmas morning right here...
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In my arms : )

Christmas Day

- Take 3 -

Grandma Nancy's

Finally got a family picture!
(Note: this is the end of the day, we are all completely exhausted, and the picture is rushed and kinda blurry... but we got one with ALL of us!)
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We even got one with Grandma Nancy...
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Isabelle in her Christmas day outfit, Sadly by this point she was DONE with pictures and this is the only one I got that was halfway decent...
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I wish we had more pictures at mom's, but by the end of our 2 day Christmas marathon we were all pretty done with the picture taking.

This sleeping beauty sums it all up...
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I hope your Christmas was as blessed as our's!

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