Nine Month Checkup

Isabella had her appointment today, it went so much better than I thought it would. She had to have a blood test, which I thought she would cry through. She actually smiled during the whole thing! The nurse said, "Some babies cry, some don't, but I have never seen a baby smile the whole time!" She did cry after her shots - I always feel so bad when she gets shots!

She weighs 18 pounds 6 ounces (50th percentile) and is 28 inches long (75th percentile). She has really caught up! She started out in the 5th percentile, and at 6 months was in the 25th percentile. You definitely can't tell she was a preemie anymore.

We also found out today she has allergies. Her eyes get really dark circles under them with a rash sometimes. The pediatrician took one look at her and said she definitely has allergies. We don't know to what yet, he thinks they are environmental but it could be some type of food. He said we don't have to do anything right now because she is not bothered by it. This came to no surprise to us as Monte and I both have environmental and food allergies. The poor girl, she doesn't have a chance!

Weekend Fun

We arrived home today from our family get together. Isabella's first hotel stay went rather well, she still slept her usual 7:00 to 6:00. We were shocked to find out she was not afraid of the water! She must take after Monte's family because I was terrified of the water growing up. Even her two cousins about the same age as her didn't want anything to do with the water. My sister's little girl didn't even want my sister to be CLOSE to the water. She cried and cried until both she and my sister were safely several feet away from the pool! This morning we all attended Mass as a family which was really special, especially to my parents I'm sure.

I said she wasn't terrified, I didn't say she liked it! She never fussed or anything so it must not have been too bad.

Summertime Cut-outs

My nephews seem to like my cut out cookies, and since today is my nephew's sixth birthday I thought I would bring these to our get-together tomorrow. I've made all kinds of cut outs before but never watermelon cookies!

Trying Week

It has definitely been a long week. We have been without hot water for a couple of days. It was bound to happen - showers have been getting colder and colder around here! You don't realize how much you use something until its gone. Monte installed a new water heater last night, but when we still had no hot water today we knew something was wrong. We called an electrician to come and look at it. It was installed properly but the heating element was defective. So now we are going to have a bill for labor and a new heating element on a brand new water heater! I did call the place where we got it, though, and they were really nice. It sounds like they will hopefully pay for the electrician. Now we know how people felt in the old days, it's not much fun to heat up bath water on the stove! Also, now hopefully Isabella will have a better rest of the week since I figured out she's just HUNGRY! It's so easy to get wrapped up in all of the minor little things in my own life when something like this happens and really puts things in perspective. My prayers go out to all of the people affected by this tragedy.

9 months old today

I can't believe in three short months we will be celebrating Isabella's first birthday! I can't decide whether the last nine months have gone fast or slow - it seems like we have had her forever yet it also seems like not that long ago when she was a newborn. I'm guessing babies go through a big growth spurt around nine months because she is hungry ALL the time right now. I can tell she has grown too, her 3-6 month clothes are finally getting too small! Maybe she'll start catching up. I'll be interested to see how big she is at her dr.'s appt. next week, they always go by her adjusted age. Since she was a preemie, they say she is developmentally a 7 month old. She has also started a new thing- she's very clingy - which makes it somewhat of a challenge to just go to the bathroom! I know my niece is like that too, so it must be a phase. (And it's kind of nice to think that she doesn't want to be away from me) :)

Pictures

This weekend is my parents' 35th wedding anniversary, my whole family is getting together at a hotel for the weekend to celebrate. I am making my parents a scrapbook of all their grandkids, I can't wait to give it to them! These are some of the pictures I took of Isabella for the book -

Recipe

With all the hot and humid weather we've been having lately, I really don't want to use the oven. But we have no cookies in the house (and believe me - that's a problem!). I was going through recipes yesterday when I found this great recipe for no bake cookies. I haven't had them since I was a kid and they are so easy and delicious! They really don't take very much time at all.

No Bake Cookies

2 cups white sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup margarine

1tsp. vanilla

1 pinch salt

1/2 cup chunky or creamy peanut butter (whatever you prefer)

3 cups quick cooking oats

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, cocoa, milk and margarine. Bring to a boil, stirring occassionally. Boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat and stir in the vanilla, salt, oats, and peanut butter.

2. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto waxed paper. Allow cookies to cool for at least 1 hour. Store in airtight container.