Weekend Away

We weren't planning on doing much for our anniversary, but a couple of weeks ago my mom offered to come out and babysit Isabella for the weekend so we could get away. We took the opportunity and went to Sioux Falls for the weekend. It was a great time of shopping, catching a movie, and lots of eating out! We had a lot of fun, but I did find myself missing Isabella. Last night I sat in the hotel room and scrolled through pictures of her on Monte's cell phone, yikes - you'd think it had been weeks since I'd seen her! She was excited to see us today, but had a great time with Grandma.

Five years ago today

I married my best friend! We have gone through so much in the past five years, but it has only made us stronger (Although I don't wish to repeat any major health issues any time soon). I love our life together, and I love watching him with our daughter, what an awesome daddy!

Christmas with three 1 year olds

Cousins and best friends

All the grandkids (I think there's a couple that aren't crying) :)

Hmmm, I think you've got something in your eye, let me help you out with that!

This Christmas was -

exhausting, chaotic, and FUN!

Merry Christmas!

I will be away from the blog until after Christmas, I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Big Day

Isabella called me "Mommy" for the first time today, and has about 500 times since because I praised her so much the first time. Let me tell ya, there is nothing like the feeling you get when your child calls you Mommy for the first time. I'm still recovering emotionally! :)

Signing

For anyone interested, I found this good website about infant signing. I'm excited to start doing this with Isabella. This morning I showed her the sign to have her diaper changed, and she did it right away (she's such an imitator) I'm sure she probably doesn't know what it means yet, but she can do it. I picked out some that I want to teach her besides diaper change - hungry, thirsty, bed, help me, thank you, and daddy. This should be fun!

Growing Up

Isabella seems to really be growing up lately, I still like to think of her as a baby but I suppose she's not, really. It seems like her birthday was quite a while ago, it's hard to believe that the day she was supposed to be born (her due date) was only a couple of days ago! She stands up without holding on to anything and I'm sure will be walking by herself any day now. She's been done with her bottle for about a month now, which I was so worried about, but it was actually a very easy transition. She refuses to eat any sort of baby food and has moved on to all "real" food. She eats all by herself with her little fork, which is very nice for me! We opted to start giving her organic whole milk, as it is not from cows that have had growth hormones. I've never bought so much milk before, she drinks SO much! Another thing that is nice about her getting older is that she can communicate with us much better, I actually know what she wants. She points at everything she wants. She also lets us know when she is all done eating, all done playing in the bath, or just plain all done being up because she wants to go to bed. She does the sign for all done which works so good, I think I should teach her some other signs. Has this worked well for anyone else? I don't really know too many signs, but I'm sure it would be easy to look up on the internet. She says a few words other than her ma ma and da da that she's been doing for months. She now says "baby". However, besides referring to herself as baby, all animals are also babies according to her. She also says "bye bye" and "nye nye" for night night. She gives us hugs and blows kisses, can show you wear her ears, nose, and tummy is, but as much as I love this little girl that is growing up right before my eyes, I miss the tiny, helpless, little baby that couldn't do anything. It just makes me realize I could totally do this all over again.

Here we go again

This time it's me that's sick, and I pray Isabella doesn't get it! I feel so bad because Isabella and I were supposed to leave today to go stay at my sister's house for the week. I was going to babysit my niece until Thursday. I was hoping maybe I would be feeling better tomorrow, then we could go. However, she just called me and said she's got someone else lined up for the week, she doesn't want us bringing germs right before Christmas. I don't blame her, I wouldn't want that either! It's really not too bad, I have a fever and feel pretty "blah" but that's about it. Isabella is doing a really good job of playing by herself while I lounge around, so that helps.

So Creative

Isabella is obsessed with walking behind her little walker. However, she keeps having one small problem, anything she sees has to come with her while she is walking. This has become quite the problem as it looks very hard to try and hold on to the walker as well as a blankie, a teddy bear, a doll, various puzzle pieces, jars of baby food, my coasters, etc. So being the wonderfully creative mommy that I am (ya right! :) ), I fashioned this for her

As you can see, I have made her a lovely basket to keep all of her "treasures" in. What is it you might ask becuase you would like to have one for yourself? A ziploc container and electrical tape. She's absolutely tickled about it!

Learning New Things

This probably isn't of much interest to anyone, but I find it so interesting. I just received a book that I ordered about Crohn's Disease. Living with a husband with a chronic illness makes me want to do everything I possibly can to help him feel good and live a normal life. I feel that some of the things I can do for him are to always cook very healthy, made-from-scratch foods and try to do everything I can to reduce his stress level. Since diet and stress have a huge affect on Crohn's. So after skimming through this great book (I'll hopefully have time to actually read it after Christmas) I've learned that I'm not doing much good for the poor guy! The book states that healthy foods, such as anything with whole wheat, whole grain, etc are terrible for people with Crohn's Disease. That's about all I buy is whole grain everything! There is something in their gut that normal people don't have that makes them unable to digest and process these products. There is also a long list of certain fruits and vegetables that they can't tolerate as well, along with dairy, which we knew and he hasn't had in years. I'm bummed because many of the fruits and vegetables are our favorites that we have all the time. Yet I am very glad to know about them. So . . . we finally know why Monte feels absolutely horrible when we go to my parents and he feels great when we go to his parents. My parents eat the healthiest of anyone I know - all whole grains, all fruit and vegetables, all the time, and practically nothing else. On the other hand, Monte's parents, well - let's just say they are not the healthiest of eaters. It's so crazy because he always makes comments about how he always gets really sick at my parents and feels wonderful at his parents. He's somewhere in between here. So now I need to find a happy medium, I don't want to cook seperately for him, but I probably will have to sometimes. I still want Isabella and I to get the healthy whole grains and fruits and vegetables. I'm so glad to know this information!

Why?

Why do I do this to myself? I feel like I've gained five pounds in the last two days. Seriously. I've made five different kinds of Christmas cookies since yesterday, and I feel like I've eaten as many as I've made. And why did I have to pick up an extra bag of Hershey's Kisses, I knew I wouldn't need them all for the peanut blossoms. Oh yeah, and that bag of chocolate santas, well I had a coupon so I HAD to get them, right?!? I suppose, I better roll myself back into the kitchen and clean up my sugar cookie mess. Ugh, I'm not feeling so well, maybe it was too much frosting . . . or kisses . . . or chocolate santas . . . or it might have been the bon bons . . . or

Photo Session

I admit - I take a lot of pictures. I just love taking pictures, it has become quite the hobby for me, and I'm trying to learn a little bit more about photography. Here are the latest. If I didn't already have a family picture taken for our Christmas card I think I would definitely use one of these.

Busy, Busy

We arrived home from my parents on Thursday. It was so nice to go home and spend time with my family, I haven't done that in a long time. Unfortunately I didn't get to see my brother and his family because they all had the stomach flu, so I was disappointed about that. I was really looking forward to spending time with my niece and nephews. We went to see my grandma one day, and went Christmas shopping another day. I was a little worried about the car ride there and back. I have never driven that far (4 hours) alone with Isabella. She did okay on the way there, kind of whiny on and off and I stopped once to give her a snack. But on the way back, she literally never made one peep. I kept looking back thinking she was sleeping but she was just looking out the window. She doesn't sleep much in the car, I don't know why. She takes 3 hour naps at home, but even if I'm leaving right before nap time, she will only sleep about 30 - 45 minutes in the car. A little odd for someone who loves to sleep! Isabella loved playing the piano at Grandma and Grandpa's house, hopefully someday I will have a piano of my own. I miss playing so much. I don't realize how much I miss it until I go home and get to play.

Yesterday we went to town so Monte could get his haircut, he dropped Isabella and I off at Wal-Mart. I do not recommend going to Wal-Mart on a Saturday during the Christmas season. You might not come out alive! Luckily we escaped without any serious injuries. :)

We have some busy days ahead, as I have yet to do any Christmas baking and I told my mom I would bring all the cookies for Christmas. I have this week to do it, then we are celebrating Christmas with Monte's parents next weekend. The week after that Isabella and I are going to my sister's to take care of her little girl. Then it is Christmas! Advent seems to be flying by, but baking, shopping, etc. are not what's really important about preparing for Christmas anyway.

Wonderful Weekends

I have been home full time with Isabella for exactly one month now. I would have to say what I am enjoying the most are my weekends. The first weekend after I quit working felt so weird (but in a good way), Monte and I were both trying to remember the last weekend we spent home together as a family. We honestly could not remember when we had spent a weekend at home together!! It seemed I worked most weekends, and when I wasn't working we would try to cram trips home to visit family. Isabella and I made a trip to the bank this past Thursday to visit former co -workers, and now friends. Everyone I talked to asked me the same thing, "Do you miss working?" Ummm, let me think about that, NO. I answered honestly and told them ,no. I wonder if they thought that was weird! I don't miss getting up early, I don't miss the 50 minute drive, I don't miss the rude, mean customers that used to yell at me and threaten me for things I had no control over ( sure there were nice ones, too of course). I don't miss the drive home in the dark, always worrying about hitting a deer or some other form of wonderful South Dakota wildlife! And I especially don't miss only seeing my Isabella Ann for about an hour a day when I worked! I do miss most of my co-workers, some of whom I have become very close to, but we call, email, or visit each other so even that doesn't bother me. I am loving this time home on the weekends, relaxing with my husband and daughter. It's been four years since I haven't had to work on weekends, I am living the life I have always wanted, and I thank God for that everyday!

I may be on hiatus for the next week. Depending on the weather, Isabella and I plan to make the four hour drive to my parents to visit for the week. They live in the stone ages, as they don't have the internet! :)