Izzy's Third Birthday

Izzy's Preschool Class



Singing "Happy Birthday" to Izzy at preschool







Daddy and his little girl



Being silly with her friends



I can't believe my baby girl is 3 years old!! To me, 3 seems so much older than 2! Anyway, we all really enjoyed her birthday this year. Her actual birthday was on a Tuesday and Izzy goes to preschool Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Me, Jeremy, Logan and Jeremy's mom came to Izzy's class and brought cupcakes and goody bags for the kids. It was so fun to watch Izzy at school. She was very well behaved and did everything the teacher asked of her. Isn't it amazing how kids can be so well behaved for other people?! After watching them do circle time, all the kids sang happy birthday to Izzy and then enjoyed their cupcakes, it was a lot of fun. After school that day, we went out to a pizza restaurant and met Karli and her daddy for lunch. Later that day after naptime Izzy opened her presents from us and other family members. Izzy loves to draw and color so we got her an easel and she loves it.

That Sunday afternoon we had a little party for Izzy at our house. We invited some of our friends from church and life group and also had some family. It was a nice day so the kids ran around out back and had fun playing in the playroom. We played some games and had tons of food, it was a really nice time and we appreciated all who came to celebrate Izzy's birthday.

It is so amazing to see Izzy become more and more of her own person everyday. It also amazes me how smart she is and how we have can have full conversations now! She's been very inquiring lately. If I say a word she doesn't know she says "(insert word here)"....what does that mean? while shrugging her shoulders and holding her hands up...it's too cute. She has always been quite the drama queen, but as she gets older she's really learning how to work it!! For example, yesterday she was pushing her play food cart around the house, and suddenly decided it was too heavy to push with all the stuff in it. I told her she was doing just fine pushing it before. She then proceeds to push it about two more feet, fall to the ground on her knees, and say "see, it's too heavy, I can't push it!" Quite the character for sure! Singing has definitely been her number one hobby lately. She comes with me to my women's Bible study every Wednesday and goes into a class. They learned "God Bless America" and she has been singing it non stop at the top of her lungs around the house for about two weeks now! She knows every word to it and actually sings it quite well :) I love my sweet Isabelle and am so thankful for her and the joy she brings to our hearts.

Halloween!

Izzy, Robert and Karli at Trunk-or-Treat



The cutest little hot dog you've ever seen :)



The blind ref and his little cheerleader

We had a really fun halloween this year. Our church had a huge trunk or treat event. It was a major way to reach out to the community with the message of Christ. This year around 45oo people walked through trunk or treat. There were about 30 trunks and a special pumpkin tent for the kids to walk through that told of how God cleanses us from our sin and puts His light inside of us. Jeremy and I both volunteered in the morning, I did greeting and Jeremy was helping with the food. Later we came back with the kids so they could enjoy the festivities. My sister Jill and her kids also came with us. The only drawback was the freezing temperatures and cold winds that day!! On Halloween night we hit the streets with the kids. Izzy was so fun at halloween this year. She actually got the concept of running house to house getting treats and she loved it. I was a little under the weather so I mostly strolled down the street with Logan while Izzy and Jeremy trick or treated, but we all had a lot of fun. Even though we moved to a different house in the same neighborhood, this side of the neighborhood is so much more fun!! In past Halloweens there were never a lot of kids out running around and we only got a few trick or treaters. This year, being on the other side of the neighborhood, the streets were filled with people and we got so many trick or treaters at our house we ran out of candy!

Busy Busy Busy!!!

I can't believe it's been so long since I've blogged! It's been a very busy couple of months. On September 22 we moved into our new house and we couldn't be happier with it. We have a lot of decorating we still want to do, but are pretty well settled in. I've also gone back to work since I've blogged last. We've adjusted pretty well to our new routine, but life has gotten very busy since then. Thrown in with all of this has been Halloween, Izzy's birthday, church activities, and family in town. I'm determined now to get my recent pictures organized and posted. So, there's lots to come, but above is a couple pictures to hold you over :)

2 months old

Watching the kickoff after church for the first Sunday football of the year

I really think she loves him now!

Sweet Logan

Yesterday, our sweet baby boy, Logan, turned 2 months old. I can't believe it's been two months since he joined our family. At his two month appointment he weighed in at 12 lbs. and he was 23 inches long. He's in the 50th percentile for weight and height. Izzy has always been in the 5th percentile for weight, so it's so different to have a meatier baby! The doctor said he is doing great and growing well. For about the last three weeks, Logan has been sleeping 7 to 9 hour stretches at night! It has been wonderful! He catnaps often during the day, but occasionally will take a good long nap. He continues to be a good eater and nurses about every 2 to 2 1/2 hrs during the day. He smiles all the time these days and has been cooing a lot lately. He is such a sweet baby, and I can already see some of his personality. He seems very sensitive, but easygoing. He doesn't cry very much and is pretty content. The days that he really isn't napping well at all he'll stay pretty fussy, but otherwise is a happy baby. Logan has adapted well to being on the go a lot since having an older sibling busy with preschool and playdates. It's so funny how different it is with a second child! With Isabelle I didn't take her out much and let her nap at home often. However, having an energetic 2 year old being cooped up in the house all the time doesn't go over too well! We just put Logan in his carseat and we're off! He will nap off and on while we're out and I'm getting more comfortable with nursing in public, but will often nurse in the car before we go in somewhere. I feel like we are now all pretty well adapted to our new family of four. Isabelle still is clingy and wants to be the baby, but she's getting better. She is also much nicer to Logan now, she really loves him. We are moving into our new house in a week, then I start back to work Oct 6th. Please keep us in your prayers as we make even more adjustments! I'm going to miss being home everyday with my babies. However, I am thankful to be able to return to a job I love full time, but still only working 3 days and having 4 full days off. It's been an awesome two months since you've arrived, I love you so much Logan Jeremy!

30th Birthday, 4th Wedding Anniversary, 1st Day of Preschool

Izzy on her first day of preschool, she wasn't feeling good so this is the best I could get!

Off to our dinner date!

As you can see, September 1st was a big day for us! With so much going on lately, my birthday really sneaked up on me this year! Before I knew it, the day had arrived and I had entered my 30's. Turning 30 had a little bit of a sting to it, but overall I'm excited to see what the next decade will bring. In addition, we celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. It's been quite a four years, but it's been awesome and I'm so thankful for my husband and my family. We started out the day taking Isabelle to her first day of preschool. She was a little under the weather, she had a cold for the last few days so she definitely wasn't herself. She was a little clingy when it was time to drop her off, but overall she did well considering she wasn't feeling well. We really love the school we enrolled her in. It's at a Presbyterian church not far from our house. My niece and nephew both attended there and I was always impressed with the staff, facilities and activities. They learn a lot of fundamental skills as well as learning about God. She didn't tell us much about it when we picked her up, but she seems to like it and her teachers are very nice. I can't believe my baby girl is in preschool :( I'm so proud of her though and I think this will be very good for her.

After picking her up, we came home for lunch. Jeremy, Izzy and Logan gave me a gift certificate to a spa for my birthday! I'm very excited to use it :) Next, I put Izzy down for a nap and headed to the salon to get my hair done. The hairdresser curled it all over after doing my cut and color for my anniversary dinner date with my hubby. It was very relaxing to have a little bit of "me"time and I really enjoyed it. A couple days prior my mom took me shopping for my birthday so I enjoyed that as well. I'm so thankful to my hubby for watching the kids both of those days so I could do special things for my birthday.

When I got home from the salon, Jeremy and I got ready and headed to New York Prime for an amazing anniversary dinner. Jeremy arranged for the table to be decorated with balloons, confetti and a dozen roses welcomed me. We had an awesome meal and really enjoyed ourselves while my parents watched the kids. The following week we went out to dinner with my parents to have a birthday dinner...gotta keep it separate! All in all, it was a great day at our house!

Crazy Girl!!

Isabelle has been so silly and so funny lately. Her personality is totally coming out more and more everyday. We are amazed at some of the things that come out of her mouth lately. In the picture above you can see the mess she had made on our living room floor. I swear the girl is a human cyclone! She can destroy a room in a matter of minutes. However, we are working very hard on cleaning up one mess before starting a new one! As you can also see in the above picture, she's sporting her straw hat. Lately, every morning when we come into her room to get her she has taken out her basket that has her hats in it and she's wearing one. She then proceeds to make Jeremy and I wear one of her hats as well (too bad I don't have pictures of that!)

If you look closely at this picture, you can see that Isabelle has her travel neck pillow around her waist and says it's her boppy like mommy! She puts her baby on it like Logan lays on my boppy when I nurse him. Surprisingly, she hasn't tried to actually nurse her baby dolls yet! She likes to say that her boppy is "Izzy sized!"

It is not uncommon to see Izzy sitting in this swing, or Logan's bouncy seat, or lying on his playmat. I understand there are probably some jealousy issues going on and she wants to be the baby. However, she is getting better with this, and thankfully she's light enough to not break his things yet!

Jeremy's mom was here for most of the summer and actually just went back home to Erie today. Mary drinks decaf tea everyday and Isabelle has joined her in this ritual. She has her pour tea in her little tea cup and Isabelle insists they put their cups on napkins.

Although she is in the prime of her terrible twos and having a little brother come along hasn't helped, I can also say that she's never been sweeter. She's been so loving and she will often just randomly hug me tight around my neck and say "I love you sooooooooooooooooo much!" She drives me nuts sometimes, but I couldn't love her more.

1 month old

Sweet sleeping baby

Hanging with Daddy

I don't think it will take too long to pass up Izzy in size!

All ready for his first time at church

Can't believe a month has passed already since our sweet Logan came into our lives. It's only been a short time, but I already can not imagine life without him. He is so precious and is really a good baby. He continues to grow and grow, he currently weighs just over 10 lbs. He is a good eater and is overall a pretty content baby. Like most, he cries when he is hungry, sleepy, dirty diaper, etc., but doesn't do much crying for no reason. For the first few weeks he was consistently up every three hours during the night, which was to be expected. For the last few nights, however, he has been sleeping in 5 and 6 hours chunks! (don't worry I was knocking on wood as I wrote that!) He has also started to make the occasional cooing sound and we've seen a few intentional grins. As far as his relationship with Izzy goes things are getting better. She is still competing for attention and acting out, but not nearly as bad as it was. She also still randomly attacks Logan, but again not as often as before! We've learned to never turn our back on the two of them even for a second! All in all, we're settling in as a family of four and really loving it. We are thankful for our precious son and the joy he has brought to us.