First Birthday Party!

We had Isabelle's birthday party the weekend before her actual birthday back home in Benton.  It was just a small family party and we enjoyed every moment.  Isabelle knew it was her special day because she acted very outgoing that day and didn't get shy from all the extra attention.  The little one would not dig into her smash cake and would only delicately eat frosting from her fingers.  What a little lady!

In her birthday shirt

 Smash cake

 Monthly photo banner

 Cake table

 Birthday cake and another photo of the smash cake

 Highchair banner

 Speeding in the walker

 Happy 1st Birthday Isabelle!

 With her great-grandma

 With her grandma

 My dainty little one

Christmas 2012

We had a wonderful Christmas back home in Benton.  We spent time with both of our families and it was extra special having Isabelle at home with us.  Last Christmas we were in the NICU waiting to take her home from the hospital so we didn't get to celebrate the holiday.  Belle had pinkeye, but she didn't let it stop her from having fun.  She even enjoyed opening presents!  Sean was opening a gift for her, and she was so excited that she jumped out of my lap and squealed with delight.  We started a family tradition of going to our church's candlelight service before we left town to go to Benton.  It was such a blessing to sing Christmas hymns with my little family this year and celebrate the birth of Christ. 

Opening the present we gave her before we left, a baby-sized chair

 Christmas with the Whetstone family

 All the cousins

Showing how much she loved her new couch

Love my new purse from the hubby!

 Christmas with my family

 Uncle Eric and Belle

 Such a ham!

Merry Christmas 2012

12 Months Old

Our sweet baby turned a year old on December 12, 2012!  I can't believe that she is turning into a toddler and is no longer a tiny newborn.  She has changed so much that I don't know even where to start.  She's 13 months old right now and is still not walking, but I'm not too worried about it.  Belle loves to pull up and cruise around on furniture and goes super fast pushing her walker around the house.  Here's a few highlights on what she's been up to the past several weeks:

•  At the 12 month checkup she weighed exactly 20 pounds. She has lots of teeth, the front four teeth on the top, front four teeth on bottom, & all her molars are coming in. Belle doesn't drool or get fussy though.
• She wears 12 to 18 month size clothes and a size 4 shoe.  She's wearing size 4 Pampers during the day and size 5 Fisher-Price diapers at night.  Her hair is getting so long, but she still can't stand having a hair bow in it to keep it back so I don't know what we're going to do. 
• Isabelle is off baby food now.  Her favorite foods are bananas, grapes, blueberries, cheese, crackers, turkey, ham, yogurt, pasta, anything sweet, french toast, peanut butter, scrambled eggs, etc.  Basically, she eats most things I give her and a lot of it.  My mom couldn't believe how she ate the last time she came to visit.  
• It has been a little harder transitioning her from formula to whole milk. J After trying since Christmas, she has successfully made the switch.  Now we're working on getting off the bottle.  Belle doesn't drink a bottle during the day anymore.  At daycare she'll drink milk out of a sippy cup just fine, but at home it is a little more difficult because she knows I'll give her water eventually.  I really don't mind because I at least know she's hydrated.  I still give her a night bottle because she won't go to sleep without it.  Sean wants to get rid of the night bottle and pacifier too, but I'm not quite ready!
• Our daughter is a great sleeper!  She usually goes to bed at 7 pm on the dot and has been waking up after 7 am.  At daycare she naps from 12:30 to about 2pm, and at home she'll nap longer than that and sometimes catnap mid-morning at around 9:30 am for 30 minutes or so.  We think she takes after her daddy in the sleeping department because she loves her beauty rest.
• With winter comes sickness and I'm just repeating to myself that she's building up her immune system earlier rather than later.  So far this fall/winter she has had thrush, only one ear infection that wasn't bad at all, several colds, and a constant runny nose.  This week we were worried that she had RSV, but thankfully she doesn't.  
•  I mentioned earlier that she is cruising and a busy body all over the place.  She crawls very fast on her knees now  She can also stand on her own if she doesn't realize it.  
• Isabelle got tons of new toys for her birthday and Christmas and enjoys playing with all of them.  Her favorite things to do are tear down block towers I build her with giant Legos, dance to any music she hears by wiggling back and forth and clapping her hands, and hide anything she can underneath the couches so she can find it later.
• She is in the mimicking stage now so she loves to pretend yawn, stick out her tongue, and blow on her food when she sees us do it.  
• Isabelle still just mainly says "mama" and "dada" and she came close to saying "duck" the other day.  We know she understands what we're saying because when we say point to your "nose, ear, etc." she knows exactly where it is.  The cutest thing she does is when I ask her to get a book, she will go get one from her toy box and bring it over to me so I can read it to her.
• Her favorite books are a book series about a puppy named Biscuit because she loves it when I read the words "woof, woof."
• The older she gets, the sweeter she becomes.  Isabelle will give hugs now and cuddle just because.  Our favorite thing she does is when we say "I love you" she will lay her head on your chest and snuggle.

Sweet Isabelle, this past year has been the best year of our lives!  Mommy and Daddy love you so much and could not imagine life without you.

 Happy 12 Months!

On the move

Her first time to see snow.  It snowed on Christmas Day (12/25/12)!

First ponytail

No more baby tubs, she's a big girl now!

Bad Blogger

I've been a terrible blogger lately, but i promise to update again soon. belle's 12 month post and Christmas is coming. Sean got me an Ipad for Christmas so I`m hoping that will help me blog more often. in the meantime, here's some memories i don't want to forget.

*We've been keeping the little one with us in the church service lately instead of taking her to the nursery. well, this momma's heart grew outside her chest yesterday when Belle started singing along by going ahhh and lifting her hand to the sky while we worshipped god together. 

*Isabelle and her daddy play on our big bed together and it is her favorite thing.  Sean will tumble her around and tickle her sides. she is so funny when she is sitting up and all of a sudden falls backwards onto the pillows always trusting there will be something soft to land on.

*Last night as I was rocking her to sleep she was giggling to herself as she was getting ready to doze. Those are the times I'm going to cherish when I look back.