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.

Hanging With Dad

Here is Isha just chillin' with Dad. Actually they were sitting on the couch watching Wheel of Fortune. Isha is definitely taking after her dad, feet up with remote control in hand. This is another Jai thing. He always sits with his feet crossed like this and Isha does the same thing. Although I'll have to say that Isha's feet are much cuter! They are two peas in a pod. Yikes! Today we had some friends over for sugar cookie decorating. We had a great time starting a new Christmas tradition. I think I am going to be vacuuming up sprinkles for the next few weeks, but it was worth it! And one last bit of new! Isha took two steps all by herself last night. Jai and I were so excited. We had to bite our tongues because we didn't want to get too excited and scare her and make her lose her balance. It is so exciting to see her becoming so independent!

11 Months Old

Isha is now 11 months old. I can't believe that it is less than a month until her 1st birthday. Sometimes it makes me sad that she is growing up so fast, but I enjoy watching her learn new things. We put the Christmas tree up this weekend. We put the tree behind the stairs in the entry way. I miss having the tree in the family room, because there is nothing better than sitting by the fire and looking at the sparkling Christmas tree lights, but I didn't know how to keep Isha out of the tree. I am hoping that since it is out of sight we will be okay. I did let her check out some of the ornaments. She giggles every time we look at the tree. I am sure she loves all the pretty lights and colors. We went to church on Sunday and it was very stressful. Our parish is huge and parking is a big problem, especially during the advent season, when all the Christmas/Easter Catholics decide to go to church. By time you park and make it into church (and hopefully find a seat that hasn't been "saved") you need to be in church because you are definitely having some unchristian thoughts. Luckily we made it in and had a good time. Isha is pretty good in church. A little bit of wiggling, but no crying or screaming! I love this little outfit. I makes her look like such a big girl. It is hard to take pictures anymore because Isha knows what is happening and she wants to crawl over and steal the camera.

Isha Crawls and Stands

Check this out. Isha crawls and stands. She is growing up so fast. Where does the time go.

Mommy's Helper

One of the girls I work with gave Isha a big box of clothes that her little girl, Tatum, has outgrown. It has been fun dressing Isha up in all these new clothes. I can't thank Holli enough for giving us all of these cute clothes. While I was getting dinner ready, Isha figured out how to open up the cupboard doors. She was excited not only that they opened, but that there were treasures hidden inside. She has also discovered the dishwasher. If I could just get her to empty it when the dishes are clean! Actually I am sure that she would empty if it for me, but I don't think that the dishes would end up where they belong. The Millers came over for dinner last night. We haven't seen them in quite awhile. Hartley is now a year old. We put the girls in the pack n play while we ate dinner. They had a good time putting on a show for us while we ate. After a few minutes I had to bribe them to stay in there just a few more minutes with graham crackers. Hartley was so cute, she shared her graham cracker with Isha and then Isha tried to steel the toy that Hartley had. I guess Isha figured that if she was willing to give up food she would be willing to give up the toy. Today we got our first snow of the year. I tried to take a picture of it because it was so pretty, but it didn't really show up. But trust me there was snow and it actually helped put me in the holiday spirit. While Isha was taking her afternoon nap, I got all the Christmas decorations out of the attic. Yesterday Jai was in a car accident. Luckily he wasn't hurt and the other person was okay also, but the truck doesn't look so good. The whole passenger side will have to be fixed. I am just glad that Jai is okay! Scary stuff. Last night was also a little tough. Isha decided to get up at 12:30 in the morning and wouldn't go back to sleep. It took two hours to get her back to sleep. She has been sleeping through the night for so long that I was worried that something was wrong. Today she has been fine so hopefully tonight will be better. We are wondering if she is teething, but there has been no drooling or fevers, so who knows what is going on!

A Little Holiday Cheer

We learned how to do this from the Millers! Check it out. http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1139167546 Enjoy!

Hokie Football

The last two Saturdays have been spent watching Hokie football with Adam and Laura and Louis and Linda. Isha wore her VT cheerleading outfit to cheer on the team. Isha watching the game and snuggling up with her dad. Adam gave Isha a ride on his knee. She had a great time bouncing up and down. We also took a walk around the pond last weekend. Isha loves to ride in her stroller and be outside. The last week has been busy. We have been busy going to play groups and planning Isha's first birthday party. It will be here before I know it so I better get moving. Isha has been busy growing and learning new things. She has started to stand up without holding onto the table. Her balance is getting much better and now she can stand all by herself for about 30 seconds before she is down again. She has also started baby talking. It is so cute! She has little conversations with herself.

Technology Sucks!

Once again I have made a mess of the blog. I tried to change the layout with the pyzam layout and it deleted all my links. Then I tried to go back and reset everything and made an even bigger mess. For a few minutes I thought that I had lost the whole thing. I now have everything back but I can't edit some of the stuff. Hence the ticker showing up in the middle of the page. The dashboard doesn't give me the layout option anymore so until Jai gets home to help me out I am stuck with this disaster. Sorry!

Happy Thanksgiving

We went to Tony and Angela's house for Thanksgiving to enjoy a great dinner and wonderful friends. Isha just hung out and relaxed while all the cooking was going on in the background. Here is Isha's first Thanksgiving meal. She had already eaten her turkey and rice baby food because she couldn't wait for dinner. Since she had already eaten, Isha just had a sampling of all the good thanksgiving fare. She had some turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, mac-n-cheese, green bean casserole, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. She liked everything that she tried! After dinner, when we were all wishing that we could put on some stretchy pants to relax and let dinner digest, Isha was able to do just that. I put her jammies on and she had a good time playing and rolling around on the floor. A very happy baby. I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

An Evening Out

Yesterday we went out to dinner with our neighbors, James and Karina. They have had a very busy travel schedule these last few months so it was great to finally get together with them! I'm not sure what is up with the hand gesture from James. I'm sure that it was meant for Jai! There was a tree lighting going on at the mall so we thought we would check it out. We figured we would put our name on the list at P.F. Changs, do some wandering around the mall and then come back for some dinner. At 5:50 there was a 2 hour wait. I figured we might as well eat there because if we walk around and then go somewhere else we will still have a long wait on a Saturday night. So we bundled Isha up and took in the sights. We headed back to P.F. Changs a little before 8:00 and still had a 45 minute wait. But after 2 hours and 45 minutes we finally got a table. Isha was great. No fussing at all and the food was great. She didn't go to bed until 10:15 last night and she is still asleep at 8:30 this morning. Here is a picture from the other day. I wanted to get a picture of her showing off her cruising skills. She loves to use the bottom stair to stand up. She had these adorable tights on under her dress and her new little shoes on. I wish you could see the shoes, they are these adorable mary janes from Robeez. I will have to have her model them for you in a future post.

Ten Months Old

It is hard to believe that she is already 10 months old. She is crawling around everywhere and getting much better at standing up and walking around the furniture. She is still toothless, but who needs teeth when you are this cute. Here is the little fish that she holds onto all the time. He goes everywhere with her. Isha loves to play with us. She thinks it is lots of fun to crawl around on the couch and try to have us catch her. Now that she gets around so well it is a ton of fun to play with her. At first I was all stressed about her getting dirty or hurt and then I realized that you just have to let them do what they are going to do. You never learn anything or have any fun if you can't get a little dirty. Isha is also talking up a storm. It is all just babble and baby talk, but it is great to hear hear making new sounds and expanding her vocabulary. Here we are letting an escaped convict hold Isha. Actually if you look close you can see that it is Aunt Laura in her rain gear she got for going to Hokie football games. Isha isn't buying it, she still thinks Laure looks like a convict in her orange jump suit. Today we got a phone call that our friends from Fredricksburg where in town so we ran down to Carytown and met up with them. Then we went to Bottoms up for some pizza and visiting. Here's Isha getting a little snuggle time with her Uncle Tony. After lunch we went to the Children's Museum of Richmond. It is really cool, but geared towards older kids and jam packed on the weekends. We will definitely go back when Isha is older.

Visiting Daddy At Work

Capital One had a Halloween party for all the little ones. We dressed Isha up in her monkey costume and Daddy showed her off to all of his co-workers. Here is a picture of Isha with Jai and the guys he works with. Isha loves the men and she is such a flirt. She kept giving lots of smiles and giggles to all these guys. Dad is going to have his work cut out for him when it comes to keeping the boys away from Isha. Last night we dressed Isha back up in her costume and I walked her around to see some of the neighbors while Jai stayed home and handed out candy. My little helper. Isha pulls the clothes out faster than I can fold them and put them away. Now that she is crawling she keeps me very busy. It is definitely more work, but I enjoy watching her try new things and figure things out for herself. She is always so proud of herself when she discovers something new. I have been begging Isha to say mama and she finally did it the other day. She had been saying baba and over the last few weeks it has finally become mama. I was putting her pajamas on her on Tuesday night when she said it. Even thought I don't think she realized what she did, it was great to hear that sweet little word come out of her mouth.