Nastics! (aka gymnastics)

Bubble Time!

She looks so serious here but she really did have fun in the bouncy house!

Doing her stretches

If you look closely you'll see that Isabelle is taking her knee up to her mouth to kiss her knee. Her teacher tells them to kiss thier knee in an attempt to get them to stretch all the way down, but Isabelle cheats!

The rings are Izzy's favorite!

Izzy and her friend Annorah

Ta-Da!

Just finished doing a forward (or sideways!) roll

You should see her running across this trampoline, she gallops on her toes, we call her twinkle toes!

Izzy started gymnastics a couple months ago and she loves it. I hear the phrase "Izzy go nastics?" several times throughout the week. It's a really cute program. Since they are so young, the mothers join them and we start out by letting them have free play on the equipment. Next, they have to sit down on a "dot" and then they get a stamp on their foot. Then they are led by their teacher Miss Kim with their stretches and then a song that they dance along with. Usually after that they learn a skill and they each have to do it for their teacher to get a stamp on the other foot. Before they leave they get to do the bubble song where they chase after bubbles while the song is playing. Lastly, they all get on their bellies and do the bye bye song and the teacher goes around and says bye bye to all the kids by name. This specific day when these pics were taken was sort of a free day where instead of doing a skill she blew up a bouncy house for them to play on. Isabelle has a lot of fun with gymnastics and we'll continue it as long as she likes it!

20 weeks!!!

I have definitely grown in the last few weeks!! I'm only halfway and I feel like a moose:( It's ok, it's for a good reason!

Halfway there! The last couple of weeks I've been feeling great. My pleurisy healed up and I have more energy. I'm starting to feel the weight at work, by the end of the day my back, legs and feet are sore. Otherwise, everything is going well. Today we had our anatomy ultrasound. We prayed for everything to be normal and our prayers were answered. The baby looked great and all of his organs and measurements were perfect. The baby was cooperative and we were able to see some really great shots of him. We are so thankful to the Lord for our healthy baby boy.

Valentine's Day 2011

Here's a picture of the beautiful flowers Jeremy and Isabelle had sent to me at work, it was an awesome surprise!!

Here's pictures we took before church on Sunday before Valentine's Day. We all wore red, how corny are we?! We went to lunch at Olive Garden as a family a few days before since I had to work on Valentine's Day. However, Jeremy and Isabelle joined me for lunch at work which totally made my day. I love my family SOOO much and definitely don't need a holiday to remind me of that, but it definitely reminds me of how blessed I am.

It's a BOY!!

During the ultrasound the doctor switched over to 4d mode for a minute and we saw his face with his little hand up to this cheek...how precious!

Here is a butt shot. On top is his little booty with legs on both sides and his "boy parts" in the middle. We had our appointment a week ago and we still can't believe it's actually a boy, we are so very excited! It was just a regular checkup appointment, but the doctor did a quick little ultrasound for fun and the baby was very cooperative and showed his stuff right away! The doctor said everything looks great and we'll have our big anatomy ultrasound in a couple more weeks. We are so thankful to the Lord for blessing us with a precious baby boy.

Here is a belly shot of me around 17 1/2 weeks. As I write this I'm 18 weeks and I swear I've grown in just the last few days! I've been feeling the baby move some for a few weeks now. I'm excited for the upcoming weeks as I know I will feel him more and more. I've been feeling pretty good lately. I had the flu a few weeks ago and had a lingering cough that just wouldn't go away. From coughing so hard and so long I developed pleurisy, which is an inflammation of the lining of the lung. Unfortunately, the treatment is anti-inflammatory medication, which I can't take because I'm preganant. Pleurisy has been extremely painful with deep breathing, coughing and certain movements. I've had it now for a week and a half and it's definitely getting better, but not all the way gone. Over time it will heal more and more. After the pleurisy is gone I'm claiming a smooth pregnancy the rest of the way!

Izzy Lately...

Playing with her friend Annorah at the Children's Museum

Loving the new Clifford exhibit!

Really loves hanging out with her cousins

Mommy and Izzy sick with the flu :( It was a rough week, but we made it through!

Here we go Steelers!! They're loyal fans even though they lost!!

Our precious Isabelle changes every day. She's getting so smart and talks constantly. She's counting to 10 and almost has 10 to 20 down pat too. She can say all her ABC's and identifies about half of the letters. We're working on shapes and she's doing well with her colors too. When sickness and teething comes around her sleeping habits change. However, for the most part, she naps everyday after lunch from about 12:30/1:00 to about 3:00. She goes to bed for the night between 7:30 and 8:00 and sleeps until about 7:30/8:00 in the morning. Her eating habits change quite often. Some days she'll eat everything in sight, other days she hardly will eat anything at all. She still eats a good variety of food, so I'm thankful for that. I know it's normal toddler behavior but it drives me crazy when she won't eat!! She's doing great with her potty training. She wears her panties for most of the day and we're taking her out in her panties as well. She has the occasional accident and right now she refuses to poop in her potty, but we're definitely making progress! Our next step is to start the toddler bed. We really would like to have her potty trained, in a toddler bed and off the paci before the new baby comes, that may be wishful thinking, but we sure will try! She's such a love bug lately. She randomly comes up to us and gives us hugs and kisses and says "love u." Today she came up to me and kissed me and said Love You Mama. Then she went to Jeremy, hugged and kissed him, and said Love you Dada. She then looked at us both and said "love you guys!" lol We were cracking up. We love our precious Isabelle and know she's going to make a great big sister.

14 weeks!

I know this picture has nothing to do with my pregnancy, it's just cute!

I've entered the second trimester, and I think it's safe to say the sickness is gone!!! Praise the Lord!!! Just in the last few days I've felt pretty much completely back to normal. Since day one of week six I've been sick as a dog, nausea and vomiting day in and day out. It lasted almost 8 weeks and I was definitely at the end of my rope. It wrapped up with a couple days of a stomach virus (and more vomiting!) but after I recovered from that it was all over. The Lord knew I couldn't take much more! My energy is returning as well and I'm ready to enjoy the rest of my pregnancy. I had a doctor's appointment a few days ago and the baby had a great heartbeat of 176 beats. I have another appointment in three weeks. I won't be having my big anatomy ultrasound at that time, but the doctor said we could probably take a quick peek to see if we can tell the sex of the baby. I can't wait to find out what we're having! Miss Isabelle is doing great these days. She is learning more and more everyday and definitely keeps us laughing. Please keep our little baby in your prayers as he/she continues to grow and develop.

Christmas 2010

Christmas Eve night. I had to work until seven. Jeremy's mom, brother and sister-in-law were over and they had a good time just making dinner and hanging out together. After I got home, we let Isabelle stay up a little later so we could make cookies for santa and get them all set out for him. After she went to sleep we all got busy wrapping some last minute presents. Jeremy and his brother put together Izzy's kitchen and set it up for her.

Christmas morning, still sleepy but excited to see that Santa came!

She loved her vacuum and is such a good little helper

She was very intent when opening her gifts. She took her time opening them and wanted to play with each of them right then as soon as she opened them!

I know, I know, umbrella open in the house!! It's ok though, she loved it and had to try it out.

After all the gifts were opened, Izzy stumbled upon a large item covered in a sheet. She pulled it off and was soo excited to see her new kitchen. She started cooking stuff right away!

After all the gifts were opened, we all got ready and headed to my sister's house. She had a wonderful meal set up for us. We really enjoyed spending the rest of the afternoon there playing with all the new toys, and setting up some toys, and just spending time together.

Isabelle and Karli always have a blast together. Izzy just thinks everything Karli does is hilarious!

The Cousins!

The day after Christmas. Gotta love it, Izzy in her panties, new bunny slippers and pj shirt playing with her new kitchen of course!

We really had a wonderful, memorable Christmas this year. Isabelle still doesn't completely understand the whole Santa thing, but she got the jist of it. We also tried to explain the story of the birth of Jesus as well....hopefully it will all come together for her in the next couple years! In any case, having a young child at Christmas really brings a lot of magic to the holiday. This was Isabelle's last Christmas as an only child, but little does she know, I'm sure they will only get better as our family grows. Jeremy's mom, brother and sister-in-law were all here Christmas morning to watch Izzy open her gifts. Later that day we went to my sister's house and had a great time there. We really missed my parents, brother and his family on this day, but all in all it was a very special Christmas.