Isabel's summer

Well, it has been a busy but fun summer for Isabel. Mommy is still able to stay home with her two days a week, so we try to spend as much time outside as possible before the brief Minnesota warm weather passes us by! In the beginning of July, Grandma & Grandpa C came up from Florida for a visit for 5 days. It was so much fun to be able to see them again so soon and to watch Isabel get to know them and vice versa. Isabel and Mommy watched and refereed some fierce games of badminton over the backyard fence between Daddy and Grandpa. We concluded that Daddy plays dirty! :) Just kidding. We went down to Redwing for a day and walked around while they were here. Isabel did really well in her stroller during the day, especially considering that she only got about an hour and a half of naps all day when she usually gets four hours. (We paid for that when she woke up FOUR times overnight, but it was still worth it. She recovered the next day and then continued to sleep through the night like she had been).

In the beginning of August, we went up to the Gunflint Trail for our first Christenson family vacation, just the four of us (Daddy, Mommy, Isabel, Ginger). Our good friends Nick & Brenda Hall, and their two boys, Ethan (almost 3) and Owen (14 months and Isabel's boyfriend) came up the same week and stayed at the same resort as us, just in a different cabin. That made it fun because we could get together with all the kids a few different times. Isabel really likes watching other kids. They are so entertaining for her! Daddy got to go canoeing, we played with Ginger on the dock a TON (she would keep fetching a stick in the water all day long if we let her), we went on a hike up to the High Cliffs (Isabel in the front carrier the whole time and did GREAT!), and we even went out on a pontoon boat for 4 hours, and she did great during that too. She napped and slept just fine in the pack n play, and Mommy got a lot of down time in the cabin during her naps, to just relax and unwind. Mommy really enjoyed the 9 straight days with Isabel too because we got to nurse for those 9 days and Mommy got her first ever break from the pump since going back to work! I cannot tell you how nice that was!

About a month ago, Isabel began sitting up unassisted. She now can sit for well over 1/2 hour. We still put a pillow behind her if we walk away, just in case she gets interested in something up high and leans back just a little too far! She is learning to tuck her chin so she doesn't smack her head on the floor, but her head is so precious that I just can't risk it yet! She has bonked it a couple of times when she has gone over and missed the pillow! But nothing too serious! The funniest thing that Isabel has done lately is that this past weekend, she was talking to herself in her crib in the morning like she often does, and when I went in there, she was on her TUMMY in the corner of the crib and looking at me like, "What do I do now, Mommy?" She had never yet rolled from her back to her tummy, and we still put her to sleep on her back, so she had done that sometime during the night, or once she woke up in the morning. I suspect in the morning because I have still never seen her relax on her tummy, but Daddy says he has, so I guess we will never know since we can't sneak in her room when she is sleeping without her hearing us! She rolled onto her tummy two mornings in a row, but not since then. We will see if it becomes a habit.

We are just enjoying Isabel so much right now. We think she is at the most fun age that babies ever have. She is so interested in everything around her and is interacting with us and her environment all the time. She will sit and play with toys for such a long time, both on her own, and with Mommy and Daddy, or whoever will sit and play with her! I can almost see her learning something new every day! Yet, she isn't crawling, so we are not having to chase after her all the time. I just really enjoy this age and am trying to soak it all up, because I know it will be gone before I know it. I am trying to burn the memories in my mind and take lots of pictures! Hope you enjoy the two new albums I posted!