phone pics from the week..

one of isabelle's new loves... the graham cracker.

this is iz being so excited to see the dogs.. i just love it.

she loves to open and close the drawers... this side profile of iz looks just like me when i was little, it's kind of crazy.

i love how she sits up so straight and perfect.. thought this was too cute.

after her morning bottle.. she loves to hold her toothpaste!

sitting up perfect again :)

the graham.. 

she would prefer to hold it herself and take bites, but i have to regulate her every bite because she likes to take big ones.. and often, so her mouth gets so full.. danger, i know.

nice weekend with the fam...

Isabelle still loves her door jumper... it's kind of funny.

I just had to share this pic because Iz and I ran to the Farmer's Market and we were buying some cookies from this guy and he kept going on about how cute my little 'fella' was and that 'he' looked so happy, it was everything for me not to correct him, but I just didn't want to embarrass him or have that awkward, 'oh I'm so sorry', 'it's okay', conversation, I wasn't worried about it and I did have her looking pretty gender neutral that morning, my fault.

These pics just made me laugh, they are both like 'the thinker' statue.

Ohhh... the puff...

I just love this little grin of hers, going in for the puff..

We had lunch with Papa and Isabelle just wanted everything on the table (shocker, I know), dad did a good job of entertaining and dodging her far reaching arms.

Little did we know, it was band day, so we got stuck on Mass. for awhile until all the bands were done.. somehow Iz fell asleep/crashed in the midst of drums, horns and symbols playing.

We had a wedding Saturday night in Maple Hill (right outside of Topeka) so my mom was kind enough to stay the night again and watch Izzy girl.  I forgot my camera so I don't have any pics from the wedding and it was at a really neat place, pretty much in the middle of nowhere... I will post some once I get them from Kel ;).  We had a great time!

I just love this pic of gram and Iz smiling at each other..

We got to have brunch with Papa..

We went to Target to get a few things and Iz wanted to hold mom's granola bars.. the face of determination..

And, we got some towels (Target has great affordable towels by the way) and dad thought the perfect spot for 6 of them was right on top of mama.. she is peaking out, hello up there...

'The thinker' again...

Isabelle is such a great trooper, she is our little bud and there is nothing I love more than our weekends with our mama.

mama is 10 months old, what??!

This whole event was pretty funny because dad wasn't home to help be your distraction and you would not cooperate, we got one picture of you looking somewhat at the camera, but you are holding the beautiful page in your hands (one of my favorite ones, thanks Laura!)... oh well, we tried!  And, I started you out in the outfit you wore to daycare and then decided it didn't really match the paper (silly, I know), so I put the more fall sweater dress on, but your onesie was still peaking out.. I gave up!

~you are still wearing size 2 dipes and 9-12 month clothing

~you have 3-4 bottles every day with 3 meals and 2 snacks, we have been working on getting you on our eating schedule and it's nice

~I am still nursing you at night, but these 'milk bottles' (they definitely used to be milk jugs.. crazy how much they change!) are on empty 

~some new foods you have had and seem to like: egg yolk (hard boiled and you can't have the whites yet), blk beans, potatoes, lentils, cottage cheese (you LOVE it), mandarin oranges, graham crackers (you LOVE these too)

~you are all over the place, you never want to sit in one spot (exhibit A: these pictures)

~we lowered your crib bed because you stand up all the time and shake the side of the crib and we didn't want you to eventually crawl out

~you have started making new funny faces and noises with your mouth

~you chat in the car on the way home from daycare and it's one of my favorite things.. like you are telling me about your day.. love it.

~I usually sing to you before I lay you down and sadly, I don't know most of the words to the nursery songs so I make a lot of them up... can't wait for when you are able to correct me.

~you are still sleeping from about 7/7:30-6:30/7, such a good little sleeper

~we have a great routine on the weekends of waking up, having breakfast and going for a run, you are my best running partner

~when you wake up, you play in your crib for at least 30 minutes before you start to get antsy and need out, watching you on the monitor is one of my favorite things, you just click your music on and off, play with your glow seahorse (you love her) and chat away.. it makes me smile

~you are so funny and have such a fun, cute personality

~you point or use your whole hand to point at things you want

~you love when the dogs walk in the room, you get the biggest grin and reach for them and say what we think is 'dog'

~you still don't have much hair (as you can see), but it is growing!

~puffs are still a savior for us, if  you are upset, all we need is a puff and everything is better... at least for a minute or so until it totally dissolves in your mouth ;)

You are my sunshine (I do know all the words to that one) and the best little girl anyone could ask for.  We love you so much and have had so much fun watching you grow.  We can't believe you are almost one... it has gone too fast, I wish we could just freeze time for awhile so you don't grow up so fast... such is life.

Daycare is closed...

and I was secretly excited about it, I got another day with my little mama.

We started off our Tuesday making this super easy apple cider rice cooker oatmeal, genius.  It was so nice and easy to just throw all the ingredients in and push the button down.  It calls for apple cider and I didn't have any, so I substituted water and added about 2 T of applesauce and about 1 tsp of cinnamon and it turned out just fine.  It is so perfect to mix with fruit for Iz and she loves it.  I just keep it in the fridge and just dish a little out, I do add a little water or applesauce before I heat it up so it's not as thick.

  I found this wonderful website for baby food recipes {wholesomebabyfood.com} and anything you can imagine that has to do with food for your babes, it's so informative and amazing...  I love it.  I was just trying to find a recipe for prunes when I stumbled upon it and it shows the nutrition facts, why it's good for your babe and different ways to cook it.. I highly recommend this site, I am kind of obsessed with it, it just has so much great stuff on it.

this is what Iz was doing while I was making our oatmeal, it's one of her new things, she loves to pull to towels off...

looking satisfied that she got them down, like, 'there'.

and taking them down again after I hung them back up.

 we went for our morning run and it was nice and cool again, so Iz was bundled.

We had to go to the grocery store and I realized the infant car seat was in Jacob's car, it was a good thing we had bought the convertible car seat a couple weeks ago or we would have been stuck... you should have seen me trying to read the directions on how to install it rear facing, while entertaining Iz and getting it installed in my car.  And of course, right as we pulled into the parking lot, Isabelle fell asleep and fortunate for me, I couldn't just take the seat out and into the store, needless to say, I sat in the car for about 45 minutes and I was so thrilled about it.

 can I just say, I loved being at the grocery store during the week day, it was so nice and not crazy... funny the things that excite me these days.  This was Isabelle's first time riding in the cart like a big girl... she wasn't a huge fan of it.  

 we still sit in the Bumbo sometimes!  We bought some cottage cheese and mandarin oranges and I think it's her new favorite snack.. loves it.

 who is the cutest frog?

Iz has started doing the 'fish face' and it's the funniest thing.. I heard her making a smack noise and looked over and she was doing the fish face.. glad we caught it on camera.

I had so much fun being home with Isabelle for 4 days, it was amazing.. it's going to make for a long full week next week!

*Labor Day Weekend*

We started off the weekend with the first KU game and Izzy girl was such a trooper while we got stuff ready for the tailgate.  The picture on the right is kind of blurry but I still had to add it because Iz looked so cute with her arms up while dad was tickeling her.

Preparing the spread for the tailgate...

We had way too much food.. 

thanks for making the delicious 7 layer dips Marissa!

the dudes, anxiously awaiting to start tailgating.

now prepare yourself for Iz overload... I couldn't help myself, it was her first tailgate and all.. 

Isabelle was so unsure of the grass.. her face in the second picture was priceless (thank you Marissa for capturing that), she was picking at the grass like it was so gross. 

Iz and Uncle Byron

yes, that is a beer in her hands and no, it was not open.. the cold brew must of felt good on her teeth/gums because she kept wanting to put her mouth on it... I know, probably not the most sanitary thing we could have given our child, but what can you do?

Virginia, Marissa and Iz

thank you mom for coming and staying Saturday night so we could hang out and not have to worry about getting home by a certain time :).  Sunday morning was cool, it felt wonderful, like it's time for fall... it was weird to put Iz in her hoodie, pants and socks.

We walked to Munchers Bakery (it's like an old fashioned donut shop, amazing) to get donuts and The Merc to get the rest of our breakfast stuff.. I love that they are so close to our house.

~monday~

Iz and I went for a 4.5 mile run and by the time we got home, she was out...

I didn't want to wake her so I had Jacob come out and we walked about a mile until she woke up, it was a wonderful start to our day.

Isabelle loves the pooches, we are trying to teach her 'nice touches/pets', as she likes to squeeze and give them big pats.

This is Iz 'helping' me go through some of her clothes... every pile I made, she either knocked over or grabbed the clothes and threw them around, so helpful!  She also loves to rock her rocking horse, it's pretty funny.

We had a great 3 day weekend... if only every weekend was 3 days!