Eating

We have been working on eating with a dish, plate, and spoon. She makes a huge mess but she does pretty well! She is eating yogurt here and half way through she decided that it would be easier to slurp it like soup. I had to give her credit for figuring that out!

"Mommy, are you sure I can't come with you??"

Grandma's stay with Izzy

While we were on our trip Grandma Di stayed with Isabel and the boys at our house. They stayed very busy shopping and playing outside and even had some visitors; great aunt Deb Stehlik and Grandpa Mark. I don't think Isabel missed us at all! I loved seeing her face Sunday morning when I walked into her room, she was like "mommy, when did you get here?"

This was the first vacation that I have ever been on that was "all inclusive"... I'm pretty sure they lost money on us. We had several restaurants and bars to choose from including an Italian place, a pool with a swim up bar with the seats in the water, a tiki bar with swings, and our favorite restaurant "Vista Del Mar" which had a beautiful view of the beach. Here we are sitting at a few of the bars and restaurants.

One of our favorite things that we did in Cozumel was snorkel. We went almost every day and because Cozumel has one of the world's largest coral reefs, we saw a lot of fish right off of our beach. I was a little chicken at first and I even jumped on Tony's back when we got near some really big fish, but I was doing a lot better by the last day. We saw a couple of ray's swimming on the bottom, lots of angel fish, a lobster, one giant fish under a rock (Tony swam down and looked at him, I quickly swam away) and a host of beautiful bright colored fish. I got stung by tiny little jelly fish that were swimming at the top and Tony kept telling me that they weren't jelly fish until we got out of the water so that I would stay in; he is so sneaky. We took some pictures with an under water camera so stay tuned for our adventure under the sea! Here are some pictures of the sunset.

Senior Rambo came and visited us pool side...

Here is the view from our villa... the weather was perfect!

Vacation

Tony and I flew in last night at midnight from Cozumel, Mexico. We had a fabulous time enjoying the sun, sand, and food and drinks. Of course I missed Isabel and the boys and it was hard because I could only call for a few minutes a day but we are both so happy that we went. Everyone in Mexico kept asking if it was our honeymoon and I have to say it felt like it was. We got lucky and upgraded our flight to first class on the way down and then they over booked our section of the resort so they moved us into the VIP section. We had a wrap around deck with a jacuzzi on it, huge suite with king size bed and kitchen, and a beautiful view of the Caribbean. We also got to use the members only pool, bar, and restaurant right below us. Things like that don't usually happen to us so we kept waiting to get kicked out; we had an amazing trip.

Climbing

Izzy's new thing is pushing clothes baskets and boxes around the house and climbing on them trying to get things down. She is really clever and daring... two traits that I wouldn't want to put together but... she is so darn cute! Here she is seeing what kind of trouble she can get into before bed.

Peanut butter and jelly face...

One Year Old

Being a "big girl" of one has its advantages... like peanut butter and jelly! Isabel is loving being one and finally enjoying those foods that were off limits as a "something-month-old". She also likes playing in the dogs kennel and in her toy box. I decided to quit nursing her last weekend and we spent a couple of nights crying (both of us), but now she is going to bed with no problems and sleeping 12 hours again. What an angel! Tony and I are going to Cozumel Mexico on Tuesday and Grandma Diane is coming down to stay with Izzy and the boys. I am very excited to go but I can feel the separation anxiety building in my chest already... I am sure she will have so much fun with grandma that she won't even miss me!

The cake got a little messy so the girls ended up in the tub! What a night! Thank godness birthday's only come once a year!

Yum Yum!! I made lasagna for dinner because it is one of her favorites. I also made her cake and decorated it myself. It is a ladybug in case you can't tell! It was my first time decorating a cake. Isabel loved it and cried when hers was all gone!

Isabel got so many cool presents among them were: a pony that whinnies and rocks, a coupe car that she can ride in, a princess chair and a DVD, many cool books and new outfits, bath toys, a puzzle and a beach bag, a purse, and a swing and money to help built a swing set. Here she is on her pony; what a lucky girl!!

Isabel got way more presents than she should could handle but she did a good job opening most of them. Luckily she had her cousins to help!

We had a lot of friends and family that came to celebrate including: Dave, Deb, Kelsey, Taylor, and Connor, Grandpa and Grandma Mark and Diane, Grandpa and Grandma Tom and Jodi, Andy, Jessica, Thomas and Gabby, Auntie Gina and Paul and Judy. Great Grandpa Don and Grandma Marcia couldn't be here but they were here in spirit. Here are a few of our guests enjoying the bar.. little Gabby felt like a "big" girl sitting there looking so cute!

The party begins... cousins Gabby and Thomas arrived and the girls started playing.

Izzy cuddling with daddy and auntie Gina before the party.

Isabel before the party got officially under way... she had two good naps in preparation : )

Isabel as a newborn... she was so cute!!! Still is of course!

Birthday Girl!!

Isabel turned one this weekend and we had a nice party to celebrate. On one hand I can't believe that year has gone by already, but on the other, I can't remember what my life was like before her. Reflecting back I truly believe that you have no idea what you're in for when you take that leap and decide you want to have a baby. I read book after book about motherhood, listened to many moms tell me what it was going to be like and how I was going to feel, yet I now realize that there is no substitute for life experience and no two people's experiences are going to be the same. I am thankful for all of the moms in my life that lend an ear when I need it or ofter advice when I seek it.

As for my little girl, everyday I wake up and feel like I am a better person because of you. I treasure every day as I am in awe of how fast you are growing and I dream every night of the wonderful person you are becoming. There are times when I feel sad because I feel like you are changing too fast but I always remind myself that I am lucky that I get to be a part of it and I can't wait to see what the world has in store for you. I am so proud to call myself your mom. I love you!