My Sweet Girl - 18 Months

Wow, 1 and a half already! I finally got around to taking her 18 month pictures this weekend. Once again, I went the cheap way and took them myself. I think we'll go professional for her 2 yr. pictures, though.

Little Fishergirl

Fishing - her Daddy and Mommy's favorite thing to do. Today was her first time, she loved it!

How you know you haven't been anywhere by yourself in a while

(While driving) "Look at the cows Isabella, what do the cows say?" Oh yeah, I'm by myself!

Making Progress

Yesterday was the first time since Isabella was born that I have been able to vacuum without Monte being here to hold her! She has always been TERRIFIED of the vaccuum. She has some sort of odd love/hate relationship with it. She cries in terror when it is actually on, but if it is off she admires it from afar with the strangest look on her face, as if she is trying to convince herself it is okay. She pretends she is patting it and blows kisses to it, but the minute I turn it on you would think it was some sort of torture device! I'm getting sick of always having to wait for Monte to come home so I can vacuum, so I gave it a try yesterday without him. She did much better than I thought she would. She kept a VERY safe distance from it. She didn't cry, but she was constantly doing her "help me" and "all done" signs. If I would shut it off for a minute she would yell, "BACK, BACK" (as in put that thing back, Mom!). I hadn't put the vaccuum away yet when Sister came over for a visit. Isabella took Sister's hand and led her out to the vacuum, she then proceeded to go off in baby gibberish, pointing her finger, shaking it at the vacuum, yelling at it, and screaming "BACK" again! I wish I would have caught it on video.

Planting the Garden

Isabella and Daddy planted some of the garden today, while I worked up the ground for my flower beds. Unfortunately, it was extremely windy so we didn't get a whole lot done, hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Posing for a picture before going inside.

A New Summer Do

Not only did my blog get a makeover for summer, I also decided to get my hair chopped off! I'm pretty sure this is the shortest I've ever had it! I'm usually not very good about getting my hair even trimmed, except in the summer for some reason. I got about 4 - 5 inches cut off. Whenever the only thing I start doing with my hair is putting it in a ponytail is when I usually decide to get it cut. I had complete remorse after I had it cut, probably because I didn't like the way the lady styled it. It was all poofed out on the sides, and I looked like a giant mushroom head! I did all I could to not gasp when she turned me around so I could look at it in the mirror. Then when I walked out into the mall afterward, I saw a girl with the cutest ponytail and I about went into tears. But this morning after I styled it myself, it's growing on me. (And it is SO easy.)

Time Magazine

A few days ago I posted an excellent quote by John Paul II about a mother's role in the family. Today I deleted it. When I checked my sitemeter today, I saw that people were being referred here (more specificly, referred just to that post) by Time.com. There is an article about the whole stay at home vs. working debate and they linked to MY blog post!! (How did they even find that?!?) I just thought it was a lovely quote by a wonderful, holy man about stay at home moms and society, and in no way did I want to get into some kind of debate on the whole issue. I was not happy, well, scared mostly, because I know who almost everyone is that I see reading my blog. There are a few "regulars" I don't know, but I am also guilty of "stalking" :) other people's blogs without leaving comments. But this, this was just too much for little ol' me to handle! Although I love the quote I posted, I could just feel a backlash of anonymous feminist, anti-christian sentiment coming my way! My first thought was to make my blog private, so only invited readers could see it, but I'm not sure I am quite ready for that. So for now I just deleted the post, and a blogger error message comes up if you click on the link at Time. Part of me thinks maybe I should have left it up, as a witness to my christian faith and vocation to motherhood, but I really don't think the readers of Time need to know all the other details of my daily family life. I also should say that if I am on your blog roll, I don't mind at all - it's just this whole Time thing is a little too much!