We are officially saying now that Isabel learned to walk! We suspect that she had the muscle ability for awhile now but just really didn't have a desire to walk because crawling was so much more efficient! Well, she thinks she is pretty cool when she walks now (and we do too!!)
Please click on the link below to see a video of Isabel walking across the living room to get the phone from Daddy. This video was taken yesterday, Friday 4/17. You will also see her do her classic, picking up the phone, putting it up to her ear, and saying "Hello?" (in Isabel-speak). At the end, she says her FAVORITE word, "Bye-Bye." She says Bye-Bye to pretty much everything...people, animals, inanimate objects, you name it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCsUXvEKkAc
Enjoy your weekend!
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Isabel walked across the room!
I am working from home today and I just so happened to be in the living room where the girls are playing with Jenna, to witness an amazing feat by Isabel!
Isabel grabbed one of Camille's shoes that was on the couch, and she wanted to put it on her foot. Jenna said "Come here, I will help you put it on," and Isabel stepped away from the couch and WALKED herself over to where Jenna was sitting on the other side of the room. We counted, and she took 8-9 steps before she got to Jenna! We of course let out a huge cheer and told her she was such a big girl! A couple minutes later, we got her to do the same thing over again and she took 10 steps this time!
Up until now, she has only taken about 5 steps at a time, so this is double that! Walking full-time is just around the corner! Oh my, what will I ever do with a true toddler??!!??
Isabel grabbed one of Camille's shoes that was on the couch, and she wanted to put it on her foot. Jenna said "Come here, I will help you put it on," and Isabel stepped away from the couch and WALKED herself over to where Jenna was sitting on the other side of the room. We counted, and she took 8-9 steps before she got to Jenna! We of course let out a huge cheer and told her she was such a big girl! A couple minutes later, we got her to do the same thing over again and she took 10 steps this time!
Up until now, she has only taken about 5 steps at a time, so this is double that! Walking full-time is just around the corner! Oh my, what will I ever do with a true toddler??!!??
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Happy Easter!
This will be Isabel's second Easter, but it really feels like her first, since last year she was only 3 months old and we were in Florida. We didn't take her to see the Easter bunny last year, but we did this year and will post the photo as soon as I have a chance to scan it!
We are headed down to Grandma Tina's house tomorrow for Easter after we attend the 9:00 a.m. service at Hosanna. We hope that Isabel takes a good nap in the car on the way down, and then that she will take at least a short nap in a pack n play during the afternoon while we are down there. We look forward to seeing our family and watching them get to know Isabel even more. She is at such a fun age right now!
On a side note I will take a moment to brag just a TEENSY bit about Isabel (mommies are allowed to do that from time to time!). I took her in for her 15-month appointment yesterday, and Dr. Williams was very impressed that she knows how to point to so many body parts (nose, teeth, ears, eyes, head, hair, toes, hands, tummy). Dr. Williams said that they don't usually expect to see that until a child is two years old! I think our parenting style is just to take every opportunity to teach her something new, but to make it fun like a game. That is how she learned those body parts, and also how she has learned to identify lots of objects in books, or certain toys when we ask her where they are. Isabel, your intelligence is a gift from God, and I will continue to pray that you will use it all for His glory and to impact the world and God's kingdom. She also has a pretty extensive vocabulary for her age...look out world, when she really learns to talk in complete sentences, I don't know if any of us will ever get a word in edgewise!!
Blessings on your Easter as you celebrate the resurrection of the One who saved us, loves us more than we can even imagine, and gives meaning and purpose to our lives.
We are headed down to Grandma Tina's house tomorrow for Easter after we attend the 9:00 a.m. service at Hosanna. We hope that Isabel takes a good nap in the car on the way down, and then that she will take at least a short nap in a pack n play during the afternoon while we are down there. We look forward to seeing our family and watching them get to know Isabel even more. She is at such a fun age right now!
On a side note I will take a moment to brag just a TEENSY bit about Isabel (mommies are allowed to do that from time to time!). I took her in for her 15-month appointment yesterday, and Dr. Williams was very impressed that she knows how to point to so many body parts (nose, teeth, ears, eyes, head, hair, toes, hands, tummy). Dr. Williams said that they don't usually expect to see that until a child is two years old! I think our parenting style is just to take every opportunity to teach her something new, but to make it fun like a game. That is how she learned those body parts, and also how she has learned to identify lots of objects in books, or certain toys when we ask her where they are. Isabel, your intelligence is a gift from God, and I will continue to pray that you will use it all for His glory and to impact the world and God's kingdom. She also has a pretty extensive vocabulary for her age...look out world, when she really learns to talk in complete sentences, I don't know if any of us will ever get a word in edgewise!!
Blessings on your Easter as you celebrate the resurrection of the One who saved us, loves us more than we can even imagine, and gives meaning and purpose to our lives.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
A mother's love
I just got back from North Carolina where I was on business for three days, and I wanted to write this journal entry for Isabel to have when she is old enough to read and understand the message that I needed to share with her tonight.
Isabel,
I love you so much that sometimes I can barely breathe under the weight of it. The depth of my love for you is so intense that sometimes it almost scares me with its intensity. Yet, I know that you are really the child of our loving Father in heaven before you are my child. He loves you with an unconditional love that we can never achieve here on earth, and my prayer is that you will feel some of His love through me as I nurture you, share smiles and laughs with you, comfort you when you are sad or hurt, and share your joy as you learn and grow each day.
I missed you so much while I was gone, tears were actually welling in my eyes on the flight home today as I was anticipating our reunion and getting to play with you for a couple of hours before you needed to go to bed. Times apart from one another are inevitable (and even good for us in certain ways!), and knowing that we will have them makes me even more committed to making our time together the most special it can be.
I hope that we always have as close of a relationship as we do today. I truly enjoy being your Mommy, and I hope that one day you will tell me that you truly enjoy being my daughter!
I love you, my amazing Isabel Noelle ("peanut")!
Love,
Mommy
Isabel,
I love you so much that sometimes I can barely breathe under the weight of it. The depth of my love for you is so intense that sometimes it almost scares me with its intensity. Yet, I know that you are really the child of our loving Father in heaven before you are my child. He loves you with an unconditional love that we can never achieve here on earth, and my prayer is that you will feel some of His love through me as I nurture you, share smiles and laughs with you, comfort you when you are sad or hurt, and share your joy as you learn and grow each day.
I missed you so much while I was gone, tears were actually welling in my eyes on the flight home today as I was anticipating our reunion and getting to play with you for a couple of hours before you needed to go to bed. Times apart from one another are inevitable (and even good for us in certain ways!), and knowing that we will have them makes me even more committed to making our time together the most special it can be.
I hope that we always have as close of a relationship as we do today. I truly enjoy being your Mommy, and I hope that one day you will tell me that you truly enjoy being my daughter!
I love you, my amazing Isabel Noelle ("peanut")!
Love,
Mommy
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Baby signs
Awhile ago, we made a parenting decision that we were going to try to teach Isabel to use Baby Signs (basically, these are variations of American Sign Language, to teach babies the common signs that would help them to communicate, before they have the verbal skills to say the words). We started very basic, using "More" and "All Done" during meal times, so that she could tell us whether she wanted more food or if she was all done, without having to get frustrated and bang her tray, scream, etc.
She picked these two signs up (not with 100% consistency, but pretty well) around 1 year old, and they were really helpful! So, we started with some other signs. It was pretty amazing because once she knew the two basic signs, it was pretty easy to teach her others. She learned "Hungry," "Thirsty," (which is the sign for "Milk" but is often used in Baby Signs to mean "Thirsty") and "Sleepy" by the time she was 13 months old. More recently, she has learned "Please" and "Help" and is learning "Thank You." (She has her own variation of "Thank You" which often happens with babies, but they will eventually make the sign correctly). She is also learning "Kitty" and "Puppy" ("Dog"), and our favorite one that she just did last night for the first time when Daddy was putting her to bed, is "I Love You."
Isabel definitely knows what she wants and when she wants it, and the signs are so helpful in her communicating with us, cutting down on her tantrums! We are going to continue the use of these signs up until she has the verbal skills to say the words. We have some photos of her doing "Hungry," "Thirsty," and "Sleepy."
She picked these two signs up (not with 100% consistency, but pretty well) around 1 year old, and they were really helpful! So, we started with some other signs. It was pretty amazing because once she knew the two basic signs, it was pretty easy to teach her others. She learned "Hungry," "Thirsty," (which is the sign for "Milk" but is often used in Baby Signs to mean "Thirsty") and "Sleepy" by the time she was 13 months old. More recently, she has learned "Please" and "Help" and is learning "Thank You." (She has her own variation of "Thank You" which often happens with babies, but they will eventually make the sign correctly). She is also learning "Kitty" and "Puppy" ("Dog"), and our favorite one that she just did last night for the first time when Daddy was putting her to bed, is "I Love You."
Isabel definitely knows what she wants and when she wants it, and the signs are so helpful in her communicating with us, cutting down on her tantrums! We are going to continue the use of these signs up until she has the verbal skills to say the words. We have some photos of her doing "Hungry," "Thirsty," and "Sleepy."
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
VOTE for Isabel in Cutest Baby Contest!!!
Hi family and friends!
We have entered the photo above (that we have always called Isabel's "photo of the year" in the Star Tribune Cutest Baby Photo Contest! 1,000 babies were entered, and we think she has a fighting chance of being the cutest one! Voting on her round is ONE DAY ONLY, March 11th, 2009 at 10 a.m. through March 12th, 2009 at 9 a.m. Central Time. The top 50 babies will enter the semi-finals, and the winner will receive $1,000!
You can vote once per hour, so especially if you are a blood relative like a Grandma, we are asking you to vote for Isabel as many times as you can tomorrow!
To vote, please click on the link below and follow the instructions I included below that:
http://startribune.upickem.net/engine/Details.aspx?PageType=APPROVED&ContestID=5242&SubmissionID=540688&IncrementNumber=1
· Click on the Registration tab to register to vote in the contest (you must set up a user ID and password in order to be able to vote).
· You will get an e-mail from Star Tribune to verify your registration.
· Click on this link and then you will be able to vote for Isabel!
· Click on the Vote tab
· She is in Round 3, so look for her there (or you can come back here and click on the link above which will take you back directly to her photo). Click on Preview, which will show you all the 200 babies in that round. Her photo is toward the end of those 200 babies, her entry number is 545 of 2,000, if that helps you to find her faster!
HAPPY VOTING AND THANKS!
We have entered the photo above (that we have always called Isabel's "photo of the year" in the Star Tribune Cutest Baby Photo Contest! 1,000 babies were entered, and we think she has a fighting chance of being the cutest one! Voting on her round is ONE DAY ONLY, March 11th, 2009 at 10 a.m. through March 12th, 2009 at 9 a.m. Central Time. The top 50 babies will enter the semi-finals, and the winner will receive $1,000!
You can vote once per hour, so especially if you are a blood relative like a Grandma, we are asking you to vote for Isabel as many times as you can tomorrow!
To vote, please click on the link below and follow the instructions I included below that:
http://startribune.upickem.net/engine/Details.aspx?PageType=APPROVED&ContestID=5242&SubmissionID=540688&IncrementNumber=1
· Click on the Registration tab to register to vote in the contest (you must set up a user ID and password in order to be able to vote).
· You will get an e-mail from Star Tribune to verify your registration.
· Click on this link and then you will be able to vote for Isabel!
· Click on the Vote tab
· She is in Round 3, so look for her there (or you can come back here and click on the link above which will take you back directly to her photo). Click on Preview, which will show you all the 200 babies in that round. Her photo is toward the end of those 200 babies, her entry number is 545 of 2,000, if that helps you to find her faster!
HAPPY VOTING AND THANKS!
Monday, February 9, 2009
Our first week back in MN
Well, as many of you know, we are back in MN, which is MUCH colder than Florida, despite the "warm" 30+ degree days that we have had a couple of times. But, in all seriousness, we are thankful to have escaped what was hopefully the last sub-zero temps of the season, the week we were in Florida!
Our week back has been interesting to say the least. While in Florida, Luke caught a cold, and two days before we left FL to come home, Isabel caught it . The plane ride home was interesting, with her coughing a TON and just generally uncomfortable..she did sleep an hour and 15 minutes which was AMAZING, but even while sleeping she was coughing some, so I felt bad for the people around us. However, there was such a SWEET lady who sat next to us. She was 86 years old and traveling all on her own to see her daughter in Minneapolis. She just delighted in Isabel and was not bothered by her coughing or crankiness at all. She was talking to her a lot and commenting on how beautiful she was. She kept saying how she wished she had a great-grandbaby but that none of her grandchildren had any children of their own yet, and she wished they would hurry up! She was a true blessing to have as a seatmate on a VERY full flight. Isn't God neat how He gets in the details like that sometimes?
So, Tuesday night Isabel's cold seemed to take a turn for the worse, and she was moaning a lot in the middle of the night like she might be in pain. I suspected it might have turned into an ear infection, so I took her in Wednesday morning and it turned out to be RSV , which is a respiratory virus that is basically a bad cold in older children and adults, but can hit children under 2 pretty hard. So, I sent Jenna home right away of course because we don't want Camille to catch it, and I stayed home with Isabel the remainder of last week and today. I caught the virus from her on Friday morning, and Daddy took care of both of his girls all weekend! The both of us are on the mend, getting better by the day, but I will be home with her again most days this week, to help Jenna keep the girls separated as much as possible but still be able to work mostly full days. Some people have said that RSV is no longer contagious 24 hours after the fever breaks, but Isabel never really had a fever, so that is hard to judge in her case. The biggest blessing of all of this is that she is not having any trouble breathing, she just has the cough and congestion that are typical of this virus. We feel very blessed by this, because I have heard of many other cases where the child is barely able to breathe and is sometimes even hospitalized to receive oxygen. She seems to be holding her own kicking this virus! Please continue to keep her in your prayers, as well as pray a hedge of protection over Camille and Jenna who will be rejoining our household tomorrow. We do not want either of them to catch it!
Our week back has been interesting to say the least. While in Florida, Luke caught a cold, and two days before we left FL to come home, Isabel caught it . The plane ride home was interesting, with her coughing a TON and just generally uncomfortable..she did sleep an hour and 15 minutes which was AMAZING, but even while sleeping she was coughing some, so I felt bad for the people around us. However, there was such a SWEET lady who sat next to us. She was 86 years old and traveling all on her own to see her daughter in Minneapolis. She just delighted in Isabel and was not bothered by her coughing or crankiness at all. She was talking to her a lot and commenting on how beautiful she was. She kept saying how she wished she had a great-grandbaby but that none of her grandchildren had any children of their own yet, and she wished they would hurry up! She was a true blessing to have as a seatmate on a VERY full flight. Isn't God neat how He gets in the details like that sometimes?
So, Tuesday night Isabel's cold seemed to take a turn for the worse, and she was moaning a lot in the middle of the night like she might be in pain. I suspected it might have turned into an ear infection, so I took her in Wednesday morning and it turned out to be RSV , which is a respiratory virus that is basically a bad cold in older children and adults, but can hit children under 2 pretty hard. So, I sent Jenna home right away of course because we don't want Camille to catch it, and I stayed home with Isabel the remainder of last week and today. I caught the virus from her on Friday morning, and Daddy took care of both of his girls all weekend! The both of us are on the mend, getting better by the day, but I will be home with her again most days this week, to help Jenna keep the girls separated as much as possible but still be able to work mostly full days. Some people have said that RSV is no longer contagious 24 hours after the fever breaks, but Isabel never really had a fever, so that is hard to judge in her case. The biggest blessing of all of this is that she is not having any trouble breathing, she just has the cough and congestion that are typical of this virus. We feel very blessed by this, because I have heard of many other cases where the child is barely able to breathe and is sometimes even hospitalized to receive oxygen. She seems to be holding her own kicking this virus! Please continue to keep her in your prayers, as well as pray a hedge of protection over Camille and Jenna who will be rejoining our household tomorrow. We do not want either of them to catch it!
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