Holiday Photos

So today we went and took some photos of Isabella for the holidays. They were so cute so I wanted to share them with you all. Our scanner had some trouble so there are some lines on them. They turned out really cute.

We also went and saw Santa in the mall earlier in the week. There was no one there and she was walking through the mall and she caught his eye and he caught hers. He was waving to her and she waved back, so we walked up and decided to see if she would say hi up close. She was melting all over the floor out of shyness and embarrassment. She is so funny with new people now. She cocks her head away and sometimes just falls down to the ground because she is being so shy. After wallowing on the floor in front of him for a few minutes she decided she was brave enough to sit in his seat with him, not on his lap, mind you, but in his seat. Santa was really nice and sweet to her. We decided to take a picture and then I paid way too much money to have a copy but it was her first time meeting with Santa so it seemed worth it to me. Did I mention how much I love Christmas and I am really enjoying sharing this season with Isabella. I think she is going to really like the tree when we get it up. She already loves the Hallmark snowmen that Doug has given me over the years. I need to get that on video so I can share that with you. It is hilarious!

Nonna and Pop-pop

Isabella is changing everyday. I can see how the wheels are turning in her mind and things are starting to click. She easily picks up any baby sign I throw at her, although she still chooses not to use her words very much. And she answers most questions you ask her with "Yah!" At least it isn't "no", right? The other day we were standing looking at all the pictures on our family wall and I was pointing out everyone to her. Then later when I would ask her where Nonna and Pop-pop were she would run over to the wall and point. It was really cute.
I think she will be excited to see them in person for Thanksgiving. She definitely likes to look at pictures and videos of her family. That's all for now. I will be sure to let you know when she suddenly starts talking...I am sure it will be any day now. :)

Not much going on, but so busy...

Well there has not been much going on, but I have still felt extremely busy lately. Isabella and I have been going to the chiropractor. I have been going for my back and hip and Isabella has been getting help with her in turned foot. It has been really helping us both. Cristina just left yesterday after visiting with us for a week. Chris was out of town so she and David came to keep us company. We had a good time together. I skipped the gym while she was here and instead we took walks and I worked out in the basement on the elliptical and with our dumbbells. It wasn't bad, but I was happy to get back to the gym today and Body Pump.

This past weekend I attempted to put Isabella's hair in a ponytail. It was adorable for the few minutes that it stayed up. I think we still need her hair to get a little longer until we can do a ponytail in the back, but it won't be too long now.

One day that Cristina was here we went to the Picture People in the mall and had David's pictures taken. He looked so adorable. Here is a picture of one of our favorites.
We had a good time and we really miss having Cristina and David around. It was nice to have them here.

So Isabella has a cold and is not feeling super great. She just sounds really horse and when she cries it sounds terrible!! She has been having issues with sleep since Saturday night. I think it is developmental and not because of this cold, which really came on late Monday. Nick and I attempted to go out for dinner on Saturday and left Cristina here with Isabella and Cristina asked what to do if she woke up and we said "well, she won't" and we had barely made it out the driveway before we got the call that Isabella was screaming bloody murder in her crib. Cristina tried to put her back down but she refused to be laid in her crib no matter what. Nick and I were waiting at the restaurant for our table and I decided I would just run home and put her back down and then I would come back and join Nick. I came home to find a totally out of sorts baby. She was so exhausted and would practically fall asleep in your arms but the minute you made a move for the crib she lost it. So I took her in the car with me to go pick Nick up from the restaurant after trying for about 20 minutes to get her back down. Nick asked for our appetizer to go and then we drove through the Chick-fil-A drive-thru at 9 o'clock at night and had a delicious date night of fast food. So much for our best laid plans to have a night out together. She has been having a tough time going to sleep and leaving our sides at night and at naptime. It is frustrating, but I figure "this too shall pass." Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. :)

Halloween Weekend

We drove to Jacksonville, NC on Friday to spend Halloween with my brother Chris and sister-in-law Cristina and baby David. Also, my parents live in the same town, but my mom was out of town until Saturday night for work. We had a great time on Halloween. We went trick-or-treating to just a few houses of people we knew in town. Isabella had fun running around as a bee and would "buzz" like a bee. Of course, it was super cute to us, just like everything she does.

The main reason we came in for the weekend was for David's baptism. Nick and I are his godparents. It was such an honor to be asked and we were so happy to be able to be there for the ceremony. He looked adorable. Here are some pictures from our weekend.

A week in review

So lets start out by saying that Isabella is getting toothy...meaning she has lots of teeth!! Here is a picture of one of her 4 new molars. She got all four in the same week! It was tough on both of us.

Well this week flew by. We kept really busy with our usual stuff and added in a couple play dates and preparing for our house guests. Here are some pictures starting with last Saturday when we all went to the zoo together.


Here we were watching the gorillas. It is tough to get tired of watching them. It is amazing to watch how much we are alike, especially the mothers and children.

Then Nick took Isabella inside the petting zoo. She was fearless, she wanted to run all over the place and pet all the animals.



Early in the week Isabella and I decorated a pumpkin with these foam pieces that stick to the pumpkin. I decided painting and carving is just too much for her at this age. I had fun doing it and Isabella did enjoy trying to put them on and take them right back off. :) Here are some pictures of her and her pumpkin when we took it outside.


Then we had a fun play date with Nathan and his mom Bridget. I am very excited to have made friends with Bridget. I feel like we get along really easily, like I have known her a lot longer than I have. It is nice to have a friend who lives so close too. They are in our community.


I also bought Isabella a great toy this week...a laundry basket. I got the idea from the Kindermusik class we attended with Katie and Gianna. We took her suggestion and attached Swiffer pads to the bottom so Isabella could clean my hardwood floors instead of scratch them. She really enjoys riding in it and pushing it around and watching Little Einsteins in it.


And in the midst of our busy week and all the teething I found Isabella chewing on Rockne's rawhide stick and I promptly removed it from play by putting it on the kitchen table...or so I thought.
Apparently Rockne has skills I did not know of.

We also got a Isabella a more traditional toy...a ball. She loves it too and does a great job kicking it around the house. She is looking to follow in her cousin Grace's footsteps and be the star of the soccer team.

So that is our week in review. You are all caught up now. Our house guests are all currently sleeping as their flights were all delayed last night due to weather in Atlanta so everyone got in very late...so it looks like everyone got to bed around 3 am. I went to bed around 1 am and then got up with Isabella at 6, which was my fault. In an effort to not have her crying wake up others I went in too quickly and right when I went to touch her she found her bunkin on her own and was ready to sleep and then I touched her and that was it, it was all over. So we are watching our 4th episode of Little Einsteins (we got the new Christmas Wish DVD), trying desperately to be quiet and not wake up everyone else, but poor Tom is in our loft and doesn't have a door to close. I hear little Braden is up. I guess Heather's sleep is ruled by the baby too. I will update after our weekend is over.

At peace with the birds and bees

...well, at least the birds.


Isabella is going to be a bumblebee for Halloween. Here is a little preview of just how adorable she is going to be. We also picked up black tights and a black long sleeve shirt in case it is chilly.

On another note, I am finally at peace for the first time since all this fertility stuff started. I think in making the difficult decision to choose "life" in the larger sense over my own desire to have another life inside me I have found peace. In doing that I had to decide that it truly is God's job to create life and my role is to assist Him should he choose to create another life in our family. It is not my job to create life and find a way no matter what the cost, as would be the case if we proceeded with IVF. I decided that I truly do have faith, something I think I only talked about before this challenge faced us. I have faith that God will take care of me and my family. That may mean that we will get pregnant again and have another healthy baby or it may mean that we will adopt another child in the future. Whatever happens, I know that we will be taken care of. You all know that one of the things I am not so good about is reading the Bible, something I hope to get better at. But yesterday I spoke with someone who mentioned a book of the Bible and how it spoke to what I was talking about. I read it and this is what I found and I guess this explains my peace.

Romans 5:1-5 "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access [by faith] to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us."

I say Amen to that. For one of the first times in my life, I stand facing adversity and know that the world is as it should be in this moment as I stand in the grace that God has given me. Thank you all for your prayers. I know that they really helped us and continue to bring us grace.

Oh, and isn't our bee just too cute? :)

A Day at the Park and then one at the Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we took some time to visit a nearby park. We were thinking an open field would be perfect for Isabella so she could run all over. She loved it! Here are some pictures from the day. She busted her lip on one of the playground things so you may see the swollen right side of her lip in some of these. Here she is walking around like she owns the place.
This is a classic photo of Isabella. She is just so full of life and such a blessing for Nick and I both.
She could not get enough of the slide.

Finally, before we left, she had to sample a little of what Fall had to offer. Delicious!

Today we spent the morning at a pumpkin patch about 4 miles from our house with the moms group I am a part of. We had a great time! Isabella enjoyed running around everywhere. There was a play area at the front of the pumpkin patch and Isabella had her run of that while we waited for the whole group to arrive.




Then we took a hayride (hated by Isabella) to the pumpkin patch where Isabella ran around and picked out two little pumpkins to take home with her. She was so cute and so funny.



She tried to stack one of the little pumpkins on the big pumpkin. It was really cute.
Then we walked back to the front of the patch and visited with some pigs and goats on our way. Isabella loved them all. It was a great way to start our day! You just have to treasure making memories like this. Here is a video from the pumpkin patch.