This is for Aunt Sandy in Ohio!

Hi Aunt Sandy!! Debbie told me how much you love watching Isabella's videos so you can at least see her in action. I posted one on here with her and her favorite stuffed animals, giraffe and tiger. They're almost as big as she is. I wish you could see her in person. I'm sure Debbie has told you she's quite the character. Peter and I have been talking about coming your way sometime this next year. So, I'm posting this video just for you! I hope you enjoy it. She's such a sweet little girl. You'll love her giggles.

We love you and we're happy to hear John is coming home soon. Love you bunches and Merry Christmas!

Santa Pictures, Birthday Parties & 1st Haircut!!

Well, it's been an exciting weekend and it's not over yet!! Last night Peter got off work early enough for us to go to Rivergate Mall and get Isabella's Santa picture made. I don't go there after dark, but anyway, she talked and talked to Santa and liked him, but she liked the TRAIN beside Santa much better. So, when it came time for her picture to be made, she got so MAD! As you can tell from her very unhappy little face. After the picture I bet you can guess what we did next? Took a train ride. I got in there with her while Peter took pictures. She was very happy with that decision.

After the train ride we went to the little play area and then to the carousel rides. It all took about 30 minutes and we left to come home. She's such a little stinker. I'll have to post some of the most interesting things about Isabella one day. I'm trying to keep them all in my head so I can remember them. But they're too funny.

This morning was my cousin, Curtis', birthday party. We went to his house and had all kinds of fun with the family. Isabella fell asleep on the way there so I laid her down in the twins room and she slept for an hour. That gave me time to talk to everybody! I finally woke her up and she had so much fun. Especially with the balloons, cake and ice cream. The loves of her life! Curtis is 11 and getting so big! We managed to get all the young little ones on the steps to get a picture of everybody. I was so glad we did. Who knows when we'll get a chance to do that again. Harrison fell asleep shortly before the picture was taken. Too cute!!

I decided I needed to go to the H'ville Walmart to look for a fireplace screen and some groceries so off we went. I was hoping to get Isabella's haircut by my sister Angie, but I wasn't able to get in to see her. We've been going back and forth for a while about an appt. time, but couldn't manage to get together. Isabella's hair was a mess! I was desperate to get her hair cut so I had a thought: Wonder if Walmart has a hair place? I know what you're thinking: You are getting your baby's 1st haircut done at Walmart? I know, so redneck of me, but like I said, I was so desperate! It was so stringy and I was tired of waiting, so yes, I did get her haircut at Walmart. Gosh, I know, so lame, but what's a desperate mommy to do? It turned out really cute. She layered the back and trimmed the bangs and sides. Finally, a head of hair that looks healthy! The only way I could get her to cooperate was to leave her in the buggy while she played in the candy bucket. Here's a few pics of that adventure.

My Birthday

Well, I finally started feeling good on my birthday! Peter's birthday was Monday, the 1st, and we all were still feeling pukey still. I felt bad for him. He didn't really have that great of a birthday this year, but we kind of celebrated both of ours together on mine. We had a cake brought up to us from Debbie. (Yes, his mom's name is Debbie too!) Isabella was VERY interested in our cake so she decided to jump right in it. Peter also surprised me and brought Isabella to my classroom yesterday! I was SOOO very shocked and happy! I never thought he would do that since we've been so sick and the house is such a mess. I thought he'd stay home and rest, but he didn't. He's such a thoughtful husband! It was so much fun to see her in the classroom walking up and down the halls and climbing in the loft. She looked adorable too. Way to go daddy! Later on we went to Kohl's and I spent a gift card I had then we headed to Texas Roadhouse. I LOVE that restaurant! Although I hadn't eaten a real meal in a week I was determined to eat something from there. I got a grilled chicken and baked potato and I didn't get sick at all. I was so glad I didn't feel sick afterwards. Isabella got a hold of the crayons and she's just now starting to color and "draw" on paper. She still seems to eat them though. When we got home she played with my balloons that Peter brought to work for me. She LOVES balloons! She talks and talks to them like they're the best thing she's ever seen. I took a video of her playing with them. Too cute. Thank you for all the great gifts from my family and friends. I love you guys so much!!

Here's my tag response from Amanda and Mom. It's the 4th file and the 4th picture in that file. It's of Isabella and Maddie (her cousin). I guess this was when they were playing at Uncle Shawn and Aunt Kim's house when the girls were in town. "Is" (my short for Isabella) was about 9 months old in this picture. They ended up going to the zoo and having a lot of fun that weekend.

I tag Leshia, Jennifer, Alison, and Courtney!

As of today...

As of today, we're all feeling much better. Thank you for your prayers and sweet comments. I really appreciated them so much! I think I'm the one with the most sensitive stomach right now, but I think I'm getting out of the woods soon. So, as far as we know, it wasn't a "bug" it was actually the stomach flu. I took Isabella back to the pediatrician last night and she said there's nothing else that I could do but let it run its course. I must have looked pretty rough because Dr. Johnson told me I needed to take care of myself :) She ended up giving me a prescription for nausea and told me to get Isabella some gatorade. That was about it. I figured that was what she was going to say, but I'm sure glad I got me some medicine while I was there. Anyway, here's how our Thanksgiving day went.

Since it was so nice outside I decided to let her walk around and push her pink stroller around. The stroller officially belongs to her now. She kind of took it over from our neighbor Gray. I told Krista I'd give it back but she said Isabella could keep it. She loves that thing. It doesn't even have a seat on it, but she doesn't care. She pushes it everywhere! We even took it with us to Chicago. You can tell in some of these pictures that she's pale as a ghost from being sick all night and day. Poor thing didn't eat until 7:00pm that night. She finally had mashed potatoes and a couple of chicken tenders which she scarfed down. I'm glad she ate something, although it did come back up about 3 hours later. I put a flashlight by her bed so we could look at her sheets through the night.

Here's Peter eating his Thanksgiving dinner that Amanda brought to us from Granny Beach's house since we weren't able to go. Thanks Amanda! It was good food. Our tree is up and has lights, but no ornaments yet. We've not been able to get that far. Maybe tomorrow. Our snow village is up. I love Dept. 56's Snow Village. Each year we visit Gatlinburg we purchase a piece or two. We don't have too many yet, but I still love putting them out every year. This year we bought a pet store. Since Isabella loves puppy dogs, we thought that fit us best this year. Two years ago it was a baby store since we were expecting and didn't know the gender yet. That's actually where we came up with the name Isabella Faith, in Gatlingburg. I remember riding in the car with Peter, Shawn and Kim and talking about names. The name Isabella sounded so pretty and I didn't know anyone with the name. I thought I was being unique until she was born which is when I started hearing her name everywhere it seemed!
Go figure.

I don't know about anyone else, but I sort of think she looks like me in these two pictures. She sure has her daddy's eyes, but I think she's resembling me a little more these days.

Here's my Great Grandmother's (Isabella's Great-Great Grandmother) snowman I got out of her attic last year. She passed away several years ago and Peter and I went through a lot of her and my Great Grandfather's Christmas things to remember them by. This is one of our favorites. It's very old as you can tell. We had it outside last year, but it kept falling over so we moved it indoors this year. I think she likes it.

Since she seemed to be feeling a little better after watching Thomas the Train about a million times, I decided to catch her in dance mode. She loves to dance to any tune. Here is a short clip of her dancing a little. She just bobs her head from side to side. It's the most halarious thing ever. She's definitely not being herself in the video, but she sure did try to liven up a bit later on. Enjoy.

We need prayers....

Now we're all sick vomiting and diarrhea. Please say prayers for us that this passes very quickly. Too tired to write anymore. Just wanted to ask for prayers. Thanks so much.

still saying "Happy Thanksgiving"

Well, I woke up this morning to Isabella talking as usual. I get her out of bed and it's still dim in her room because of her window shade so I didn't notice anything interesting. I got her a bottle as usual and she drank most of it. As soon as we got up off the chair she throws up everywhere! I make it to the hallway to get in the towel closet and she throws up again, I make it halfway to my bedroom to holler for Peter to help and she throws up again! By now our house is really stinking on this wonderful, beautiful, sunny Thanksgiving morning. So, I'm thinking....maybe it's the milk. Although it doesn't expire until next week it might still be bad so I threw it all out. I had to give her a bath because she smelled. After her bath she had a funny look on her face. I thought "oh no" here it goes. She throws up and throws up as much as she possibly can yellow bile from the deepest part of her stomach. With her face turning red and her laying right on me just puking away. Finally Peter says, have you checked her bed to see if she threw up last night? Of course I haven't, why would I think about that right now. So I ran into her room and sure enough she had puked ALL night. There was throw up all over her sheet in her bed. I just started crying because I felt so bad that I hadn't known she's laying in puke all night. She never once cried so how was I supposed to know? By now we've gone through 5 outfits and cleaned everything we can clean. Definetly need our carpets cleaned now. She's sleeping right now so I'm hoping she got it all out of her system when she wakes up. This is the first Thanksgiving where I've gone nowhere. Seems kind of weird to be home, but I'm just making the most of it. Just made myself a sandwich and some mac' n cheese out of a box! My Thanksgiving lunch :) Hope yours has been more enjoyable than mine. I think tonight may be an early to bed night for all of us.