Isabelle is 8 months old... what?!

~you are still wearing size 2 diapers

~you are wearing some 9 month clothing still, but mostly 12-18 months

~you are such a big girl and seem to have evened out because you are so long... but you still have rolls which we are happy about :)

~we ran out of breast milk on 6/20, so you had formula for the first time on 6/21 and you don't seem to mind it, we are lucky you don't hate it!   I do still nurse at night before you go to bed and in the morning.

~some new foods you like, blueberries (such a mess), avocados (yay), organic puffs (of course I got the ones that are kale, spinach and collard greens and you LOVE them!)

~on 7/2 you drank from a straw and got your first tooth!!

~you are still so into the dogs... that's what caught your attention mid snap shot

~you still enjoy bath time, you love to play with your toys and splash water all over

~you are such a good sleeper, you still go to bed about 7-7:30 and sleep until 6-6:30

~you are so chatty and we swear you say da da and ma ma... more of your noises sound like words every day

~you love when dad snaps his fingers at you, puts the biggest smile on your face

~you twist your hands around, flap your arms around and kick your legs when you are excited 

~you give hugs and squeeze my face and neck, it's one of my favorite things

~you recognize when we leave you at daycare or the room and look for us or get sad, which makes me really not be able to drop you off at daycare

~you reach for us now, which is too cute

~you sit up so well on your own now

~you lean forward into the crawl position and rock back and forth, but you haven't pushed off of your knees to crawl yet

~you are so smart, you know what things are when you see them and don't fall for the whole 'it disappeared' thing anymore

~you love paper and the sound of it crinkling, so of course, you would not let go

To our sweet little mama, we can't believe you are 8 months old, you are so much fun and we just love being with you.  You are growing and changing every day and it's so fun to watch you become a little person.  You are the most amazing little girl and we love you so much!

Off to China!!!

I just wanted to send a quick note before I leave the states because you won't hear from me until next weekend (I know, tragic).. the Chinese government doesn't allow you to access social sites and apparently our blog is a "social site", so I will see you on the flip side and finish catching up when I get back (just a wk behind now!).  I have been thinking about this trip for so long because it's the longest time that I will be away from Isabelle and I can't believe it's actually here.. I think I have been so scattered lately that I didn't really get a chance to dwell on it, which is good.  For those of you who are wondering, Jacob is havng 'daddy day care' for the 7 days I am gone, so if any of you are in the neighborhood, you might stop by and make sure he isn't losing it.. kidding.. he will be fine, it will be such great bonding time for Isabelle and dad.. he has been instructed to send me lots of pics while I'm there, so that should help, but I am going to miss her (and him of course) like crazy, I already do.. thank goodness for Skype, but I can't wait to see her for real on Friday.  I will just be drowning in white rice and soaking in sweat (it's 99 degrees and 75% humidity), you're jealous, I know.  zaijian. 
Happy 8 months to Izzy girl!

Days before China...

So this week has been tough, I leave for China tomorrow morning and I keep thinking Isabelle is going to be mad at me.. I know she won't, but I am still super sad and feel bad to be leaving her for 7 days.  I have still been nursing her at night and in the morning so I bought a manual pump to take with me because it's much smaller and lighter than the electrical one.. should be interesting!

This has been her new thing, leaning over the side of her Bumbo to try and grab everything around her and I am nervous it is going to tip one of these times.

I know these are almost the same picture, but I just loved her facial expression in both of them...

 I had to get a picture of the bloomers that go with Iz's dress, so cute.

I got this picture from Jennifer while I was at work and it was the best thing ever, just made my day.. going to miss her.. love her.

First TOOTH!!!

Isabelle's tooth finally popped through!!  I was feeding her breakfast and saw a little white peaking through and was so excited, we have a tooth!  It's the bottom right and it's crazy how sharp the top of it is.  It seems like she has been teething forever, so it was so fun to see a tooth.  Iz was just as excited as we were, check out that cheese!

So these pics are from Friday, but I had to add them on this post because I made blueberries for Iz and she loved them... that's how I found her tooth on Saturday, she was chewing on the straw of my smoothie and eventually figured out how the straw worked and was super excited when she started to get delicious berries on her tongue, it was too cute. 

You can never have too many bath pics.. Iz still loves them.

Happy Birthday America!!

We had such a nice long Holiday weekend of family, friends + food... started out with the farmer's market Saturday morning where we had delicious breakfast from the tamale man (if you ever make it to the Lawrence Farmer's Market, you have to check this guy out, he makes amazing tamales, breakfast burritos and salsa.. you can even get 1/2 dozen frozen tamales which we have done.. make sure you are there by 9 (or earlier) because he sells out quick and there is always a line).

We got these beautiful carrots.. I just love fresh cooked carrots, you can't beat 'em!

Ash came in town on Sunday and it was so fun to see her and hang out... she walked around with Iz for awhile so I could make my desserts to take to Morgan and Zak's BBQ.. thanks Ash!

Kellie, Jack, Henry and Mike also came in town and it was fun for Iz and Hen to hang out... he really wanted to be in Isabelle's composer seat and was too cute playing with all of her stuff. 

Dinner time!

Hen borrowed Iz's high chair for his pb&j/cheerio feast.

I made this delicious strawberry cake for the BBQ, it's so good and super easy... 

~make a box of white cake mix (I used funfetti this time and it was really good)

~pour half in a bowl and mix in a package of strawberry jell-o

~pour half of the white and half of the strawberry in a cake pan (you will make two cakes), then swirl them together (I didn't swirl this one very much, I just stacked the other half with opposite sides on top of each other

~before stacking the cakes, spread about 1 C of cool whip (you can add 2/3 C sour cream and 2/3 C powdered sugar if you want, I usually just use the cool whip) and about 1 C of sliced strawberries (or until the top is filled)

~put the other cake on top of the strawberries, then cover with whipped topping and strawberries... of course I had to make it festive this time.

'Merica.

I also made some mini oreo cupcakes that were delicious (recipe from Laura, thanks again!)... you just fold in 1C of crushed oreos to 1 box of white cake mix (don't mix in with a blender, they will turn grey) and bake as normal.. delicious!  I also used Laura's frosting trick and added about 1 C of powdered sugar to a tub of frosting, then cut oreos into fourths and put them on top.

Iz and Hen in their pj's, ready for bed!  We kept trying to get them to take a good picture together, this one is probably my fav.

Hen trying to put the moves on and Isabelle is on the move..

he got her!

Jack and Henry, father/son.. too cute.

Ash and Kel and Morgan + Zak's.

{Monday}

We took Isabelle to the Fourth of July festivities at the park, it was super  hot, but we still had a good time.  They had a bunch of different restaurants set up around the park like a 'taste' and activities for the little ones... most people camp out to watch the fireworks but we left about 6:15 so we could get Iz fed, bathed and in bed, so we missed the show... first year we watched fireworks on the tube!

Dad and Iz.

My cousin shared a good tip with us... when you have the babe out in the heat, put a soft ice pack in a towel and stick it in the stroller/car seat next to them to help keep them cool (we put it behind Iz's head and it seemed to do the trick)... brilliant.

Happy 4th!  

Iz forgot to look at the camera.

I made spinach and chicken lasagna roll-ups for dinner and they were delicious.. we are always looking for recipes that we can make veggie and/or meat fairly easily and this was perfect.  For the recipe click on lasagna-roll-ups.. they are super quick and easy (I just substituted the chicken for frozen spinach, thawed and drained).

It looked so pretty when it was done.  Enjoy.

Friday fun day with the fam.

This is how I found Isabelle this morning and it just cracked me up, like, 'let me out mom!'

The fam came back in town and we met downtown for a delicious breakfast at Milton's (one of our favorite brunch spots)... Rio was so funny when he saw Iz, was climbing on the stroller and getting right in her face, Iz didn't seem to mind at all... after he was looking at her, he said, "I love her mom", it was the cutest + sweetest thing.

Iz just checking the scene at brunch... with her Sophie in hand of course.

She wants to grab for everything on the table now, so we usually give her a spoon to play with, seems to work.  We went into the toy store and were there forever.. Iz got a new little baby from her g.g. and she loves it, perfect for teething... she soaked the tag off before we left the store.  I think the store was so exhausting that she passed out.. I can't get over her eyelashes, I just love them.

Pic with cousin Linds... aunt Sher, gram and mom are in the background (gram and mom are way back there)...

We got one of the books in the mail that I ordered from Amazon (used, such a steal) for Iz, 'No Matter What', a work friend reco'd it and it's a sweet book... she loves the big pages.

Rio loved Isabelle's piano.. he was jammin' out on the mic.

Iz and g.g.

Isabelle can finally ride her Rody that she got from her Gigi when she was born, she figured out how to bounce on it (with a little help of course) and it made her so happy.

I had to add this pic because Jacob and Rio were 'fighting dragons' all afternoon (if you can see Rio's sword) and they were talking about how the dragons had called (on Isabelle's cell phone) and were out front ready to fight... so funny.. thank you dear for entertaining Rio (who now also loves Jacob, he was so cute).

Iz and gram.

four generations... love.

Thank you so much for coming to visit us in Lawrence (and for the sweet gifts for Isabelle), we had such a great time and are so glad we got to spend all day with you.. family is priceless, you can't beat it... it's the most important thing in the world.. we love you.