October Already!

The end of the summer has flown by. It is hard to believe that fall is already here. We haven't been up to much lately so that is why there haven't been any posts. I will try to do at least one a week. I am sorry about being such a slacker. Our next two weekends are busy so we will have some fun stuff to post. Isha is changing so much. She is looking more like a little girl and less like a baby. She has almost all her teeth now and enough personality for two kids. She is very independent and still loves the word NO! She is learning new words every day and she is always finding something new to get into.

She is a total monkey. I spend most of my days pulling her off of stuff and praying that she doesn't fall and crack her head open. She is a daring little thing. She loves to crawl up on the speaker and dance. She has also started taking her arms out of her clothes. I hope that that is as far as she goes. The other day I brought her downstairs in just her diaper and was getting her breakfast ready when she went streaking past me totally naked! Here she is playing with Adam and Laura. Here she is riding around on the lion.

We joined a new mom's group so we have been busy making lots of new friends. We have also been going to Kindermusik and Isha really seems to enjoy it.

Twenty Months

Today Isha is Twenty months old. That means only four more months until her second birthday. It is hard to believe how fast time goes by. Here is a little update of what is going on with Isha.

Isha has two teeth coming in right now so that leaves here with 4 more teeth to go and a set of two year molars and then we are done with teething.

We just finished a round of antibiotics due to an ear infection. Luckily it happened before we left for Philly so that I could take her to the doctor.

Isha has learned to say NO! She loves to say this word and if you don't let her do what she wants to do then she will throw a big fit to go along with it. It is really frustrating because she screams and yells a lot these days. It is hard to be patient and just ignore the fits. Other times it is hard not to laugh. But this to shall pass and hopefully we have a civilized child once it is all over.

We are getting ready to start Kindermusik next week and I am really excited to get back into it. Now that Isha is a dancing maniac it should be a blast!

We are going to give potty training a try for the next week and see how things go. I am not going to get to stressed about it though. We still have lots of time, so if it doesn't work this time then we will try again next month. Here she is running around the house in Jai's shoes. It is amazing how well she can get around in these things.

Our Trip To Philadelphia

Last weekend we went to Philadelphia for a little family vacation. We had a great time and we really enjoyed getting to know this amazing city.

We took a tour through Independence Hall. It was pretty amazing to be inside the actual building where our founding fathers stared our country. We had some time before we went inside so we let Isha burn off a little energy. Hamming it up for the camera! Later on in the day we got back on the tour bus and stopped off at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. This is the second oldest Catholic church in the United States. It is so beautiful. These pictures really don't do it justice. We also went to the Franklin Institute Science Museum and we saw the pirate exhibit and went to the planetarium.

Once again I let Isha have the paci while we were out and about because I didn't think that all of the other tourist and locals should have to hear her throwing a fit. I know, I know I really just need to throw the thing away and learn to tune out the whining and crying.

Independence Hall Philadelphia City Hall

The building is so big that I wasn't able to get a picture of all of it. I don't think I have ever seen a city hall building that is this beautiful.

These are the steps up to the art museum that were made famous in the Rocky movie. Isha snuggling up with dad on the tour bus. Here is where Ben Franklin is buried. There is a tradition of trowing pennies on his grave so we all gave it a try! Poor Isha passed out in the car on the way back to the hotel after a long day of sight seeing (and eating a Philly cheese steaks) in Philadelphia.

Sesame Place

Sesame Place was lots of fun. Isha was able to go on her first ride, the Carousel! Dad took her on the flying airplanes and we all went on the big twirling balloons together. Dad braved the water and took Isha out so that she could get her feet wet. After the water we put some warm dry clothes on and got ready for the fireworks. These were Isha's first fireworks and I was afraid that she would be scared, but she loved watching them.

Summer Fun

We haven't been up to much lately, but I thought I would post a few pictures of Isha. This is one of my favorite pictures. Of course Isha isn't always this sweet to Stitch. She loves to chase him around the house with her toys and the worst part is the evil little laugh she has while doing it. Poor Stitch. Here she is munching on some banana. The girl is a great eater. She eats a ton and she loves lots of different foods. I hope she stays this way. I don't want a picky eater, but my guess is that one day she will turn on me. This week I decided to try piggy tails again and now her hair is finally long enough to stay in. We went to the pediatrician this month for her 18 month check up (a few weeks late because of scheduling issues) and Isha is doing great. She is 30 1/2 inches tall and 21 lbs and 4.5 ounces. That puts her in the 15th percentile. Isha came down with roseola a few weeks ago and she was covered in a horrible looking rash. Poor little thing, but now she is feeling much better and looking like herself again. She is also working on a few more teeth. We are up to 11 with one more on the way. It definitely makes her look more grown up now that she almost has a full set of chompers. Isha has also been really clingy lately. She constantly wants to be held, but only by me. She cries if Jai tries to pick her up. Hopefully this stage will pass soon because she is getting really heavy. One good thing is that she likes to give lots of hugs and kisses while you hold her so at least I am getting lots of love along with the back ache.

Dancing Queen

I have been promising some video of Isha dancing and the other night we finally got the video camera out and got some footage. The first video is her signature move.

Isha will dance to almost anything, but we have found that her favorite is hip hop. The girl can really get down to some Three 6 Mafia! Lolli Lolli seems to be her favorite. Unfortunately some of these songs have some questionable lyrics so her days of listening to hip hop may be numbered.

With dancing skill like this I see dance lessons in our future.

Isha's Trip to Idaho

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Isha and I are finally home from Idaho. The plane ride wasn't that bad. We even had an extra seat so that Isha didn't have to sit on my lap the entire time.

We had a great time visiting with everybody, but it is nice to be home so that Isha can see her Daddy!

Isha's New Do

Isha finally went for her first hair cut. We went to a cute little place called Pigtails and Crewcuts. It is especially for kids. Instead of seats there are cars for them to sit in while getting their hair cut, lots of toys and TVs to keep the kids occupied. These pictures are deceiving because there was actually some crying involved. We didn't go for anything to drastic. We just got the ends trimmed up and make it a little more even. The top layer is still about 1/2 inch longer than the rest of her hair and I probably should have had her cut it a little more, but we will get it next time. Isha didn't really like having to wear the apron. But she held still and there was no pushing the stylist's hands away or trying to crawl out of the car. In the end Isha came out with a cute hair cute that doesn't make her look any different than she did before. Here is a video of the haircut.

Happy 4th of July

We started our 4th of July celebrations at the Sweeny's second annual 3rd of July party. The party is on the 3rd so you can live it up the night before and then sleep in on the 4th since you have that day off. I love the way James Sweeny thinks. Isha is helping herself to the juice boxes in the drink bucket! On the 4th we participated in the Charter Colony 4th of July parade. The winners of the parade get a private pool party. Due to a lack of corporate sponsors and official government vehicles Hartley village did not win. We may not have had the biggest turn out or the rowdies bunch, but we definitely have the cutest kids. Here is a shot of all the Hartley Villagers! Getting ready for the parade to start. Saturday night we went over to some friends house for a great BBQ dinner. Isha and Hunter had a great time playing.

Crazy Woman

Yesterday we were out back watering the flowers when Isha grabbed a handful of dirt. I washed her hands off with the hose and she liked playing with the water. Pretty soon she was walking right in front of the hose while I was watering the flowers. She ended up a soggy mess, but she had a good time. I took her sopping wet dress off outside and Isha went to sit down and wait for me to take her inside. She is such a nut. She also loves running around with her bucket on her head and yesterday she actually ran into the cupboards while she had it on.

Isha's Little Dress

Isha is modeling her new dress that I made for her! It turned out really cute. I am glad I did the work and finally got it finished. We went to dinner last night with the Millers and had a great time. It was fun to see them and to let the girls hang out. Isha also gave us a good laugh. After dinner I took Isha out of her chair and the back of her legs were sticky. I turned her over to see what was stuck on the back of her legs and she lets out this huge toot! Everyone on the patio heard and they turned around to take a look at who had let it rip! I started laughing so hard that I almost peed my pants. It was priceless.

A Little Road Trip

This weekend we decided to hit the road and get out of town for a few hours. We used to take lots of road trips, but now that gas is so expensive we spend most of our time around Richmond so I was nice to get away. We went to Fredericksburg and walked around the old downtown area. We stopped at a little Irish pub and had fish and chips for lunch. Here are some pictures of Isha waiting for her lunch. Of course when I went to download photos from this weekend I thought I had lots of cool stuff, but all I had was these few of Isha and a blurry picture of downtown Fredericksburg and a headstone from 1752. I didn't post the headstone picture because it seems a little creepy to have that on your kids blog. After we got home from Fredericksburg, Isha took a nap and then we were off to the The Nile to have Ethiopian food for dinner. The food was amazing and Isha even had some of the chicken! We will definitely be heading back to this restaurant. Sunday we went to brunch with the neighborhood gang to celebrate a birthday. The amount of food that Isha ate was amazing. Here goes: 1/2 a sweet potato, 3 slices of cheese, 1/2 a banana and 1 1/2 pieces of french toast. I don't know where she puts all of that food. After a busy weekend we settled in to watch a movie and a storm came through. We saw this beautiful rainbow over our neighborhood. It really was this really eerie color outside. Even thought it was after 8pm it was really bright outside and there was this strange orange hue to the sky. None of it fazed Isha, she slept through it all!

Climbing All Over

I found Isha sitting on top of the wicker furniture in the morning room. This new found skill means more work for me. Now I have to get her down from the furniture because she gets up there and can't get down and then she starts yelling for someone to come rescue her. As if it isn't nerve wracking enough that she can climb up the furniture, she loves to stand on it and run around. She hasn't fallen yet so I guess I shouldn't be so worried. Once again she is wearing her shoes on the wrong part of her body. This weekend some friends came over for dinner and Isha and Hunter had a good time playing together. Giving each other a big hug!