New York Trip

In the beginning of July Jeremy, Isabelle and I flew to New York for 9 days. Our first stop was Albany where we stayed a few days with my brother Thomas, his wife Elise, and their two kids Thomas and Leah. We had such a great time just hanging out with them. It was SOO hot up their, so we spent a lot of time at their local pool and in the baby pool in the backyard. For July 4th we went to Elise's parents' lake house to barbecue and play in the lake. I love my brother and his family sooo much and wish we could spend more time with them. However, I'll take what I can get, and we really enjoyed our visit with them. The kids got along real well and had so much fun playing together. From there, we went to my parents' house for a few days. We hung out at the house, went out to eat, and did some shopping. One day, Isabelle stayed home with my mom, and Jeremy, my dad, and I went to West Point and did a bus tour. In all the years I lived up there, I've visited West Point, but never did the tour. It was really interesting, and it was a beautiful day. Our last day in New York, we drove down to Long Island to go to my friend Danielle's baby shower. She's expecting her first baby at the end of August. My good friends Casey and Danielle were there as well. We all talk often and see each other whenever we can, but it was so neat to have the four of us together. By the time we flew home, we were all completely exhausted. We had a wonderful time, but it was very busy with a lot of traveling. Isabelle was such a good girl, she slept well, ate well and was pretty well behaved the whole time. We're so thankful we had a safe, fun trip!

Isabelle loved Mamaw and Papaw's porch swing

The whole gang!

Me and Izzy floatin' in the lake

My sister-in-law Elise and sweet baby Thomas

Leah and Isabelle playing in the water, Izzy loved the baby :)

Isabelle, Leah and Thomas in their 4th of July gear

Dad and Jeremy posing with cardboard cadets at West Point

Family shot while out at a restaurant

Isabelle hanging with the girls

Old Friends : )

Meeting Miss Ellie

Isabelle and Miller having a picnic on the kitchen floor

Pretty Ellie....love those thighs!

All 3 kids happened to just be in a diaper at one time, so we grabbed a shot

Isabelle playing on the arcade games after her first movie

Me and Ellie Belly!

About 3 weeks ago we finally got to meet Ellie! We had been trying for months to make the trip up to see that sweet little girl, but every time we were actually able to coordinate our schedules something would always happen...a child gets sick, someone comes into town,etc. So, things finally lined up right and off we went. Ellie is such a sweet and adorable little girl. We had so much fun playing with her. I couldn't get enough of those chubby cheeks and thighs!! Miller and Isabelle had lots of fun playing together and Isabelle actually got to see her first movie. A local movie theater does free movies for kids on Wednesday mornings so we packed up the kids and off we went. They lasted about 30 min before getting too antsy which wasn't bad for a 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 yr. old. It was a short little visit, but we had a really nice time. Thanks Jesse and Miranda for putting us up for the night, we had a great time and we love your beautiful little family : )

5 years

Stroll on the marsh walk

Out to dinner where we had our first date!

About mid July marks 5 years since Jeremy and I started dating. On our first date, Jeremy took me to this romantic little Italian restaurant called Old World. We had a wonderful time that night...and obviously things worked out for us! Memorial Day weekend we both had off together and decided to take Isabelle and have dinner at that same restaurant. Wow...what a difference 5 years makes! Here we are, married almost 3 years with a precious 1 1/2 yr old baby girl! It's been such a wonderful 5 years. I still tease Jeremy how he only ate about 1/2 of his dinner that night, and I remember thinking, wow for a big guy he doesn't eat much...boy was I wrong! He admits he was nervous that night and that's why he didn't eat much. Once his true colors really came out, I now can say he eats more than anyone I know!! We had a wonderful time having dinner as a family, followed by a nice stroll on the marsh walk.

Hair!!!

This one's a real good shot of her mullet!

Pigtails....yay!

My bald little girl is finally starting to get some hair!! Recently, the back of her hair has been long enough to put in pigtails and she looks like such a big girl. The top of her hair, however, is still thin but it's getting there. When her hair's not fixed, she's definitely sporting a mullet! I can't bear to cut the back, so I'm just waiting for it to even out. I love having a little girl and really look forward to fixing her hair more in the future!

The One Girl Tornado...

My daughter, Isabelle Faith, can completely destroy any room in about 3o seconds flat! We find ourselves calling her tornado quite often. Her little hands start grabbing stuff and things start flying all over. Sometimes we're both trying to get ready to go somewhere at the same time and Isabelle will completely be destroying our room without us realizing it! Other times when I'm trying to cook or wash dishes I let her play in a cabinet to keep her busy, and again another mess is made. Not to mention, she loves pushing the kitchen chairs all around the kitchen too. I've always been one to like things to be neat and in order, but I've learned to let go of that some since having a toddler. Every night I go around and clean up all the messes she made, just for her to do it all over again the next day! Why do I bother?? Oh well, I wouldn't have it any other way : )

Mother's Day 2010

Me, Isabelle and Karli at brunch

Sisters and their kids outside the restaurant

Mother's Day brunch with family

Thank you Izzy for making me a mommy :)

Mother's Day '09

I had such a wonderful mother's day this year. The day started with gifts and cards from my amazing husband and sweet baby girl. Isabelle and Jeremy got me a gift certificate to get my nails done with a pedicure. They also got me an awesome book by Dr. James Dobson, Bringing up Girls. I'm looking forward to reading it and learning a godly perspective on raising my daughter. We went to church then came back home for Isabelle to have a nap. After her nap we headed to Jeremy's restaurant, New York Prime, for a special Mother's Day brunch they were having. We went with my sister, her husband and two kids, and her husband's mother and grandmother. Jeremy's brother also came since his wife was working. The food was awesome and we had a really great time. With full bellies, we came home and relaxed the rest of the evening. I absolutely love being a mother. I love my daughter so much and can't imagine life without her. It was a great day, Jeremy and Isabelle made me feel so appreciated and loved.

18 months old!

I can't believe our baby girl is officially closer to 2 than 1...sniff sniff! In these past few months, I've really seen her turn into the vibrant little toddler that she is. Three months ago she was barely walking, but now she is running all over the place, climbing on furniture, and she just recently mastered walking on her tippy toes. She loves to play constantly, especially outside. She enjoys playing with her baby dolls, she loves books and balls, she's really into animals lately especially dogs (or dogdog as she says!). She also loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Special Agent Oso.

Her vocabulary has really been flourishing recently. She has about 15 words she uses regularly, but is trying new words every day. She can point to pretty much all of her body parts correctly and recognizes many other things. She likes to point out things in books as I say them.

Isabelle's eating habits vary from day to day. Some days she eats decent and others she eats hardly anything. At her 18 month appointment she was 20lbs 2oz and 31 1/4 inches tall. The doctor said she's still tiny, but she's staying on her same curve she's been on. We continue to give her a Pediasure everyday for the extra calories. At her doctor's appointment we also discussed the issues she's having with eczema on her face. We've tried many creams that didn't really work. The doctor was concerned that it wasn't getting better and that it was so bad during this season, when it's typically worse in the winter. She gave us a prescription cream that's working really well. However, she still is referring Isabelle to an allergist to make sure it's not caused by a certain allergen.

Isabelle's sleeping habits are great. She takes one nap a day after lunch. She'll usually sleep around 2 to 2 1/2 hours, sometimes 3. She goes to bed around 7:30 at night and will sleep till about 7 or 7:30 in the morning. When she's teething, she doesn't sleep as well. As of right now she has 10 teeth and I think she's cutting her bottom two molars.

These days, Isabelle's tantrums and meltdowns are becoming more frequent. We realize the terrible twos actually start around 18 months! We've been discussing lately that we think Isabelle is ready for the timeout method...we'll see how it goes! All in all, we are having so much fun with Isabelle. She's so playful and so funny, we are laughing constantly. She has such a personality. We love our sweet baby Isabelle so much and thank God daily for her. Above are some of my favorite pics from the last few months.