Abbey + Eric = love

Happy Wedding weekend to Abbey and Eric!

Cheese!  We were laughing so hard for this pic, I don't even remember what about, but something Jacob said (of course).

Lindsey, Bonny (our friend that lives in Germany with her husband came back for the special occasion and it was so good to see them), Sally

at the rehearsal dinner... just realized this looks like a pyramid with the bride in the middle... ha!

some of the dudes + Abbey... Andy, Ryan, Will, Chris, Jacob

this picture just makes me laugh.. especially with Ryan looking at them so serious, like he's trying to figure out what's going on.

 the beautiful bride.

 first pic: Katie, Sally, Bonny, Lindsey, Lizzy 

 on our way to the reception, enjoying some bubbly.

 sadly, this is the pic I got of the bride + groom, they are going separate ways and you can't really see their faces.. dang it!  At least you can see the fun decor, it all looked so great!

last pic of the night for us... we needed to go to bed!  We had so much fun in York, NE celebrating Abbey and Eric's special day, I'm so glad that I got to be a part of it.  Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Johnson!

Gram watched Isabelle, picked her up from daycare on Friday and then took her to her house on Saturday... she sent me these pics of Iz and when I got the first one, I was like, "wait a tick, is she tied to that chair?", so I called my mom and she confirmed that was correct and started laughing... it was pretty funny.. only my mom!  Oh and then I got the one of her with the pill bottle in her mouth and my mom said it had rice in it, so she made her own rattle.. once again, only my mom ;)!  I do have to say that she is very resourceful and innovative to make her own 'high chair' and 'rattle'.  So glad we are home now and don't have to leave Isabelle anytime soon!!

I forgot to add these pictures of Isabelle before we left on Friday..

 you can see her little tooth in this one... she was helping me pack.

I just thought this was cute, she was all about the shoes.. takes after her mama.

Happy 9 months to you...

Isabelle had her 9 month birthday on Monday while we were gone, so I took her pictures when we got back... I have been trying to get her in all of the vintage dresses we got from Kim (my mom's bf) because they are just too cute and she is about grown out of them, so this is one of them.  As you will see, we had such a hard time getting Iz to look at the camera and not at the beautiful picture my wonderful manager made for us (thanks again Laura!!).. I couldn't blame her though, it is super cute.
Dearest Isabelle, we can't believe you are 9 months old already!  You are almost 1!

*you are still wearing size 2 diapers
*you are still wearing size some 6-12 month clothing, but mostly 12 month and some 12-18 month
*you wear size 1 in shoes

*you have started to show some separation anxiety and you definitely get excited to see mom and dad
*you have about 4 bottles a day, about 7, 11-12, 4, 6:30-7, and I still nurse you for the last one before bed (the 6:30-7 feeding)
*you eat some fruit and cereal for breakfast, a veggie or fruit for lunch and a fruit and veggie for dinner

*you love food and it's so fun to try new foods with you... I don't know that there's much you don't like, you love bananas and like to try to hold them and eat them by yourself, which is not a good idea because you get too big of bites for your little mouth... and, you won't share them with me anymore because you want the whole thing to yourself, so selfish already.
*one of your favorite snacks and 'saviours' for us are the puffs... you love them, you get so excited when you see them, they make you happy, which makes us happy!

*you have learned to pick up food on your own and put it in your mouth

*you are on the move, you love to crawl and I can't just set you on the couch or bed anymore because you immediately lean forward and want to start moving... you have gotten pretty fast.
*you have 4 teeth now! Your first one is sticking up the highest and then you have a little one next to it and two that are coming through on top.
 *you still love all of your toys, especially things that make noise and light up.

Side note: We kept trying to sneak the paper next to you so you wouldn't see it and take it, but you caught dad doing it and it was pretty funny... you are too smart.

*you have started to have more 'hand gestures', you kind of wave (we are still working on it), you clap when you get excited and you throw your hands up in the air, like 'yay'!
*Papa also told you the fist pound, which you are still getting the hang of.

*you are so funny and have such a cute little personality
*you have an infectious smile and laugh, I absolutely love your laugh, it's the cutest thing
*things that make you laugh: when we tickle you (you are tickelish!), 'throw' you up and catch you, fly you around, when you drop something and we pick it up several times (you have figured that game out and think it's pretty funny) and your self, you will just chat and play with your toys and giggle to yourself.

You are such a happy girl and we are so blessed and lucky to have you as our daughter.  We love every moment with you, watching you grow and develop... one of my favorite things is to walk into your room in the morning and see your smile peeking through the rails of the crib, it is the best thing in the world and it is one of the many things I am going to miss about this age!

:: Family Vaca in the Bahamas ::

We ate dinner at Sea Fire Sunday night and then got ice cream after... Harper and Cooper are enjoying their delicious treat.

 Dinner before one of Jacob and I's favorite restaurants... Mesa Grill (Bobby Flay's restaurant), if you ever have a chance to go to one, you should, the food is unique and amazing!

 all the dudes {Kenny, Byron, Jacob, Cooper, Jeff, Joe}..

 and the ladies {Courtney, Harper, Emme, Vicki, yours truly, Ashley, Betsy}.

 Jacob and his 'mini me', Cooper.

 The Turpin fam in the Atlantis chair.

 We got adventurous Tuesday night and ate at a restaurant in town on the main island called Cafe Matisse... it was such a neat place, like a Bahamian house turned restaurant, and the food was delicious... it's one of my new favs.  We were a party of 13 (holy smokes, I know), so we got our own room upstairs with windows looking out to the patio, it was pretty great.

 The guys played golf at the Ocean Club course our last day (we left two days early to get back for one of my BF's weddings) and it's probably the most beautiful course + scenery I have ever seen.

Cooper, lookin' like a stud.

Isabelle while we were gone...

My mom watched Isabelle Saturday and Sunday and then Joe's sister Katie stayed at our house Sunday night to Thursday, so it was nice for Iz to still be able to go to daycare and stay at home.  I got this picture from my mom before we took off in at Atlanta... her and Iz hanging out on Mass... I love getting pics of her while we are gone, but it also makes me miss her more. 

Katie emailed me this pic from one of their mornings and I just thought it was funny, hands all in her mouth. 

Jennifer sent me these and I just absolutely love them, I probably stared at them for 10 minutes after I got them... the first pic said, 'crawling forward, trying to get closer to Ty' and the second one said, 'she made it!'... I just love her smiley face in both of them and how she has her hands on Ty and is looking at him like she's so proud, and he is not even paying attention to her... too funny.

I'm sure you are all thinking, 'how in the heck did she leave Iz for that long right after she left her for CO and has to leave her the weekend right when she gets back'... answer is, I have no idea, it was so hard, it was kind of sad because I wasn't looking forward to the trip because I knew I was going to miss her SO much... she is just so fun right now and doing so many things, growing up so fast, and I was missing it.  I had such a hard time with even deciding to go, but had friends and fam help me and convince me that she wouldn't really 'know' and that it was harder on me than it was on her (which I agree), but it was still hard!  And, you can't beat her face of excitement when she saw me coming to get her out of her crib Friday morning, such a huge grin.  It was so hard knowing that we only had a few hours with her before we had to drop her off at daycare and be on our way to Nebraska (don't get me wrong though, I was so excited to be a part of my bf's special day and spend time with my dear friends), but I just kept telling myself that I would see her on Sunday and that we won't be leaving her again, well, at least not anytime in the near future.  It's amazing what the little ones will do to you, totally change your life!  She's the best!

shoes...

just being a big girl, holding my own bottle.

My good friend Bonny came in town for Abbey's wedding and came by to meet Iz.. they were fast friends!  Thanks again for the adorable book, Isabelle loves it!

I bought Iz a pair of size 1 shoes because she likes to stand, but she stands on the balls of her feet, like she is tip toeing around, so I thought we should start putting shoes on her to help her flatten her feet out.  She was pretty funny and curious about them.

 We have some size 2's so I wanted to see how big they were, she will be wearing them soon enough with the way she is growing!

 Iz has started pulling herself up on things, makes me so nervous that she is going to nail her head on them, but so far so good.

 happy girl

We had blueberries for desert and no matter how clean we try to be, blueberries are always so messy for some reason... didn't help that she put her hands in it and rubbed it all over her face (it's even on her forehead)... couldn't resist this pic.