All By Myself

Isha is becoming very independent and she is not afraid to let you know that she can do things herself. The other day at the park Isha got mad at a little girl because the girl was trying to hold her hand. The poor little girl, who is only 3 years old, couldn't figure out why Isha didn't want to be her friend. I had to explain to her that Isha doesn't understand that yet and that she likes to do things on her own. I have started letting her try to use the spoon by herself. It is a very messy deal, but she is so proud of herself when she gets a bite into her mouth. In order for her to eat I have to occasionally give her a helping hand. I know it is a little tacky to have the Halloween bib on at Easter time, but you got to work with what ya got!

Last night the Millers came over for dinner. We wanted to get together before we left for Texas. Isha was a total show off. She kept screaming at the top of her lungs and running around like a maniac. She definitely put on a good show for our company. Hartley wasn't sure whether or not she wanted to play in the balls, but with a little coaxing we finally got her in there. Here is our big girl. I have to say that Eric looks quite handsome with that purse!!! We had a great time last night and we can't wait to get together again.

A Visit From Great Grandma Carol

This week Isha's great-grandma Carol came for a visit, all the way from Seattle Washington. This is her second trip out to see Isha and I am so glad that Isha is getting to spend time with her. We had a very busy week. On Tuesday grandma went with us to kindermusik and on Wednesday we spent some time playing at the park. Yesterday we went to Ben Franklin and bought Isha this adorable foam fish hat for $0.77! What a bargain. She is going to be adorable at the pool this summer. We did lots of cooking while grandma was here also. It was fun to just spend some time hanging out and letting Isha show her great-grandma all the stuff she can do. Grandma was even able to see a few little temper tantrums. But most of the time was spent playing and snuggling. What a good week. Next week we are off to see Isha's grandparents in TX. Isha sure has a lot of people that love her. What a lucky little girl!

Into Everything

One of Isha's favorite things to do is play the piano. I will be busy doing something and I will hear the tinkle of piano keys. She has figured out how to do it by herself now so it is a constant attraction. I set her up on the bench and she loves to pound away. My piano playing skills are almost non-existent, even though I took lessons for 6 months, but I play a few scales and chords so that she can hear the sound of them. I hope she continues to enjoy music. Boy are we in trouble. Isha is in the climbing phase right now. The other day she got up on top of a box and she was so proud of herself. It makes me nervous because now I am wondering what she is going to try next. TA DA! Look what I can do! Playing on the swings at the park is another one of Isha's favorite things. She would swing all day if she could. She loves the feel of the wind on her face. She smiles and lets out great big giggles. I love getting out of the house and enjoying some fresh air. I think it helps wear her out which makes her take better naps, which is always a good thing!

Dinner Party

Yesterday evening we went to dinner at the Foster's house. Adrienne made us an amazing home made Italian meal and Lauren brought some tiramisu that she made. It tasted amazing! It was also really nice to get out of the house and do something different! Adrienne and Ben. Poor Ben is one of a very small number of boys in our group. All of the rest of us have little girls so Ben is always having to deal with lots of girls. I'm sure he is learning valuable lessons on how to deal with women. The other thing about Ben are his amazing blue eyes. He is definitely a cutie!

Hunter takes sitting at the head of the table very seriously. Not only does she sit at the head of the table, but she sits on the table! Mallory poses for the camera while sitting on her mom's lap. Mallory and Isha are always sharing hair tips and where to find the latest hair clip fashions. I have been so lucky to find such a great group of moms and babies to hang out with. Isha loves all of her friends and it is always fun to get the kids together to play. Here is our little monkey climbing all over Ben's chair. Isha had a great time playing with all the different toys at Ben's house.

Cutie Pie

Here is our little ragamuffin! It is getting hard to take pictures of her because she always wants to grab the camera. Isha has gone down to one nap a day and she usually sleeps until 5 pm so she has been staying up a little later. She loves to play with her toys after she has had her bath and gets her jammies on. She has a toy with a microphone on it and she has figured out how to work it. We will have to take a video of her singing. Busy, busy, busy! The other morning Isha got into the diaper bag and pulled the puffs out. She figured out how to get the lid off and she gave Stitch a big helping of apple strawberry puffs. He is loving this stage of her development!

Moving Up

Well it's official... Isha has moved out of the infant carseat and into the Britax Boulevard Carseat, aka: the big mama seat. Isha seems to like the new seat and I am sure she is going to love it even more when she can be turned around and see what is coming instead of what is going. Here is the poor old infant seat left neglected and displaced until the next infant comes along! I am sorry that I have been such a slacker about posting, but we just haven't been up to much lately. With the one and off weather and Daddy fighting a kidney stone, we have been laying low lately. Here are a few before bed pictures of Isha. She has this basket that she always tries to put on her head like a hat, but it ends up around her neck. She will put up with it for awhile, but eventually she gets frustrated and screams for it to be removed, and then promptly puts it right back on her head and around her neck. She is BUSY, BUSY, BUSY now. She is walking all over the place and getting into everything. The kitchen cupboards and TV buttons being her favorite things. She also has her two bottom teeth now and I think she is working on a few more. She is starting to look more grown up and do more big girl stuff. It is nice though that she is so little because that way I feel like she is still my little baby.

A Busy Day

Today was our first Kindermusik class. We had a great time. A few of Isha's friends are in the class so that makes it extra fun. (The little girl in the pink is Hunter, one of Isha's friends.) We did lots of singing and dancing and playing with bells and scarfs. There is even one song that we sing while we massage the kids. Isha really seemed to enjoy it and the teacher was great. She is good with the kids and you can tell that she loves what she does. This is her 10th year of teaching. After her afternoon nap we went to the park to enjoy the 70+ degree weather today. It is funny because when I read all the blogs from home they are full of snow day pictures and activities. Which we are just a little bit jealous about here, but it is hard to be too upset about it when you are able to get out and enjoy some sunshine and fresh air. Since Isha needed a bath anyways I figured I would just let her have at it for dinner. She doesn't seem to be a huge fan of pasta so I thought that maybe it would make a difference if I let her eat it herself. She did take a few bites, but most of it ended up on the floor. Which didn't bother Stitch one bit. This was left over pasta from Maggiano's, which is where Jai and I went to dinner last night for our 3 year anniversary. If she doesn't like Maggiano's pasta then there is no hope for the stuff I make at home. I am sure that eventually she will like pasta, I guess right now it is more fun to play with than to eat! I tried to catch a picture of Isha's new trick, but I wasn't fast enough. She has been sticking her finger up her nose all the time. She thinks it is so funny. I try not to get to upset because I know that the more upset I get the more she will want to do it. Hmmmm....I wonder where she learned that? Kids sure are gross! Isha is also very close to getting her bottom teeth. One of them has almost come through the gums. She is catching up.

Messy Girl

Not much has been going on these last few weeks. Just haning around the house waiting for the weather to get better and catching up from the holidays and the parties. The other day I gave Isha a bitter biscuit thinking it would keep her occupied while I cleaned up the kitchen. It definately kept her busy. These things should come with a warning on the box. I had to change her clothes and hold her under the sink to get all of the cookie off of her. If anyone is brave enough to try them I have almost a full box of bitter biscuits that I would be willing to give them! Ha Ha. Yesterday was wear red day for the American Heart Association's campaign for women's heart health. We dressed Isha up in her red heart jumper and headed down to St. Francis to join in the festivities. We stood out in the pouring rain and formed a heart around the fountain and had our picture taken. We acutally made it on the local news, but we were so small you could barely see us. So now Isha has made her television debut! Our neighbor Michelle was in charge of the event so she was there along with her husband Mike. Mike took a great picture of Isha and I standing behind the red dresses. When I get them from Michelle I will post them.

One Year Check Up

Yesterday Isha went to the doctor for her one year check up. She is growing and developing just fine and she has actually grown. She weighs 18 pounds and 5 ounces. I don't know how accurate that is since they were rushing because she was screaming her head off, but it is close enough. That means she has gained 3 pounds in the last 3 months. This puts her in the 10th percentile for weight. She has also grown a little over an inch. She is now 26 and3/4 inches. She still isn't on the chart for height, but he said as long as she is staying on the curve it is fine. It just means she will probable be petite. She is reaching all of her milestones so he gave her a clean bill of health. She received her chicken pox vaccine and now she is set for the next 3 months. I am glad she won't have to deal with chicken pox. It was like a right of passage when I was a kid. I remember sitting in half empty class rooms because the chicken pox was going around and I also remember itching like crazy and being miserable.

Isha's Baptism

Last Sunday Isha was baptized at St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church . Adam and Laura are her Godparents. I was a nervous wreck. I hate having to be up in front of everyone at church. Once we were able to sit down I started to relax. Last Sunday we also celebrated the baptism of the Lord so it was very fitting that we had picked this day for Isha's baptism. Father Don Lamey baptized her. She did great. I was afraid that when I laid her over the water she would start crying but she did fine. The crying started after the baptism. When Father Don picked her up to introduce her to the church she started crying. As soon as her gave her back and I put the paci in her mouth she was happy again. My parents were there and all of our neighbors were also there. It was great to have them there because they too will be helping us teach Isha about God. Shawn and Sara came down from Northern Virginia. It was great to have them here especially since Sara was there when I was baptized. After church we came back to our house and had a yummy brunch complete with blueberry french toast, breakfast pizza and fresh fruit. Isha opened her gifts from everyone and then went to take a nap! It was the perfect ending to a busy and wonderful weekend.

It's A Party

Last Saturday we celebrated Isha's first birthday with our family and neighbors. Here are some of the highlights of the party. We had a Hello Kitty theme so there was lots of pink girly stuff everywhere. Isha even had a Hello Kitty tiara to wear since it was her big day.

After everyone arrived we had lunch and then we opened gifts. Isha is one spoiled kid. She got lots of new toys, books, and clothes. She even got an adorable elephant picture to hang up in her room. When we get it up we will post a picture to show it off. After opening presents we had cake and it was a blast watching Isha eat her cake. We stripped her down to her birthday suit and gave her a cake all to herself. At first she just licked the frosting off of her fingers and then she found the cake. She tore big chunks of cake off and just kept stuffing her face. I think she would have sat there all day eating cake if we had let her. We gave her a bath and then let her play with her new toys and hang out with the party guests. We had a great day celebrating Isha's first birthday.

In other news... Isha has started walking. She can now take quite a few steps before loosing her balance and falling down. She still does a lot of crawling because she can get around much faster that way. She also likes to push her lion around. She goes like a mad women and it is funny because she can't get him over the threshold between the morning room and the kitchen and it makes her so mad that she screams and then bangs the lion up and down. This little girl does not want to be held back. After I come help her she goes on her merry way.

Isha has also had a tooth come through the gums. It is her front tooth on the top. Actually all 4 of them have come through, but they still have a long way to go. I don't see anything on the bottom yet, but I am guessing that any day we may see some teeth there also.

Happy Birthday Isha

Today was Isha's first birthday. We tried to take some pictures, but we couldn't get Isha to sit still so we decided to take a birthday video. If you don't want to hear us singing you should turn the volume down. If you are brave enough to keep the volume on then you will probably be wondering what the heck Jai is talking about every time he asks Isha to play Adam's letter. We had game night at the VCU hospitality house and we played bingo with some of the residents. Adam was the bingo caller and it was really funny when he would call out the letter O. It has become a neighborhood joke. Anyways, Isha likes to hold the O button down on her toy and it cracks Jai up every time she does it.

Back to the Birthday news. We went out to dinner for Isha's birthday and we were going to go to Brusters after dinner, for some ice cream, but we were too full and it was a little chilly outside. I felt guilty as we were driving home, but I have to keep telling myself that she doesn't know that today is any different than any other day. I have to remember that we will be celebrating on Saturday, so it isn't like we totally neglected her big day. I didn't want to put her to bed because that meant that her birthday was almost over. I can't believe that she is a year old. It has been an amazing year full of fun and hard work. Having a baby definitely changes your life and adds more work and stress, but it is all worth it. There is nothing as sweet as going in her room in the morning and seeing her beautiful smiling face. Of course, it is easy for me to say that because the beautiful smile was preceded by 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep!

Teeth...Almost

Happy new year everyone! We spent the evening eating fajitas and playing cards with Adam and Laura. Unfortunately Isha slept through all the festivities, but when she woke up crying a little after midnight I did go up and give her a happy new years kiss before tucking her back in. The other day I noticed that Isha is getting four teeth on the top. Nothing has broken through the skin yet, but they are close. There seems to be no activity on the bottom though. Who knows, maybe Isha will have teeth before her first birthday. Here is the great thing (I am knocking on wood right now) there haven't been any signs of teething other than chewing on her fingers. No drooling, runny nose or waking up in the middle of the night. I hope it stays that way! Isha is still enjoying all of her toys she got for Christmas. While she does love all her new toys, she has this fascination with the stairs. We have put up gates where we can but we have one set of stairs that we are still looking for a gate that will fit. Isha loves to head strait for the stairs and when she sees us coming to get her she starts moving even faster. Little stinker! Here is Isha munching on her space fruit. Gerber sells freeze dried fruit for toddlers. Isha likes the stuff, but it is way expensive (NASA must manufacture it) so I don't thing we will be buying much of it. We also got her a few of these snack cups. It has a special lid that helps prevent spills, but allows kids to get the snack out. Sometimes I wonder what parents did before there were all these fancy gadgets to make life easier. This will probably be our last post before the big birthday. The next time you see Isha she will be a big girl and maybe she will even have some teeth! Thank you to all of you who have taken the time to keep tabs on Isha and left your comments for us to read!

Merry Christmas

We hope that you all had a Merry Christmas. We had a great Christmas. We went to the Children's Mass at church on Christmas Eve. This was a little frustrating because even though we got there 25 minutes early we had to stand in the back of the school cafeteria. It was a little dissapointing because there were no pretty Christmas decorations to look at. But that really isn't the point of going to church so I guess it was okay. The message was wonderful and it was fun to see all the little kids in their Christmas outfits. Except for the little boy whose parents had dressed him in some horrible contraption that looked like Christmas leiderhosen (not sure about how to spell that). Poor thing, some day he will see pictures and be mortified.

We spent the evening with Adam and Laura. We had a wonderful dinner and then hung out while all the presents were opened. Isha loved stealing the bows off of all the presents.

On Christmas morning we got up and opened all of our presents. We took a video, but Jai has to edit it because there is an hour of tape, so stay posted for that. Isha tore some paper, but Jai and I did most of the work. Isha really enjoyed playing with all of her new toys. Santa spoiled Isha this year. She got an activity table, a dancing tower, a playland that even has it's own ball pit, a little walker that Isha can push around and practice her walking, bathtub toys and a few more things. I felt guilty that we got her so much stuff, but honestly when I go to my friends houses they already have all this stuff, so I guess we are doing okay. Isha also got lots of gifts from family and friends, so she made out like a bandit!

It was a wonderful day. Today we went out with all the crazy after Christmas shoppers and did a little bargain shopping. That is one good thing about her birthday being so close to Christmas. We can get some really good deals on stuff.

Christmas Pictures

Yesterday we went and had Isha's First Christmas pictures taken. Considering that she hadn't taken a nap that morning things went pretty well.

Of course when I went in there I had only planned on getting one Christmas picture and one baptism picture. Well 118 shots later we came home with way more pictures than we need. I should have told here that we didn't need 20 different poses, but Isha looked so cute that I just went along with everything. We picked this one for our $9.95 special. We liked the sneaky little grin she had on her face! One of these days these will turn up in your mailbox, but probably after the Christmas rush at the post office. If anyone is looking for a career change you should check into buying a Portrait Innovations franchise. That place was packed yesterday and with their sales tactics it is a gold mine. How can you say no to cute kid pictures? Isha was the cutest kid in the place. I know that all the other parents were thinking the same thing, by they were wrong! We had a great time yesterday and now we have some beautiful and fun pictures to remember Isha's first Christmas. We also did a few pictures of Isha in her baptism gown. Jai thought she looked Amish in her little bonnet. I have to admit that she does look weird because I am used to seeing her with all of her hair.