My 1st Mother's Day

I had a wonderful 1st Mother's Day. Isabella got me a beautiful ruby necklace since that's her birthstone. Peter got me a director's chair for my classroom that I love. I've been wanting one forever. Mom got me a circle ruby necklace with a diamond circle in the middle of it. It was really pretty too. I didn't take pictures today, which I can't believe, but I didn't. So I had Peter take one of me and Isabella tonight. I looked terrible and Isabella was really cranky and tired, so I decicded not to post one. Don't think you'd want to see it. 0 u/0m/ i. u Isabella decided to jump on here and type a little something. Not quite sure what that means, but it kind of looks like "mom".? Anyway, I can't believe how many wrinkles I have now! I'm seeing them in all my pictures. I guess it's about that time, but it snuck up on me really fast. That's another reason why I'm not posting that picture from tonight. :) I can't believe it's Mother's Day. I absolutely LOVE being a mommy. I always knew I would, but now that I am I can say it and really mean it. She's just grown into this precious personality. You'll notice in some of these pictures just how silly she can be. She claps all the time, hugs all the time, still squeals, and loves to play with balls. Maybe she'll take after me and play volleyball and softball.

I am so thankful for my mom. She's such a sweet woman and so very thoughtful. I really love her and appreciate her for so many things. I can't imagine how hard it was to have two little twin girls at such a young age to raise practically on her own. I don't know how she had any brains. I feel like I don't have any a lot of the time and I only have 1. She's been keeping Isabella 3-4 days a week since she was 5 months old. She's so good with her. Isabella hugged her forever the other day because she hadn't seen her in a few days. Mom can get her laughing and squealing like nobody else can. It's so cute. Thank you Mom for all you do for me and Isabella. I love you so much! Happy Mother's Day! This first picture she's eating grass. I can't keep it out of her mouth!

Sweet Times Together

Isabella and I have been so busy lately. I try to get her out of the house as much as possible when it's pretty outside. This is her first spring/summer to be outside and she loves it! She loves to eat grass, swing at Krista's house, play with Tessa at Gigi's house, and go shopping (or strolling :) She went swimming for the first time at Vanderbilt Marriott this week. Her cousins were in town so they went for a swim at the hotel. She loved the water! She had her serious face on for a long time trying to figure out what the pool was then she started playing with Mattie and Mary making silly noises and laughing. It was so cute! She'll have a ball with swim lessons this summer.

These pictures are from dinner at Maggiano's of Italy downtown. It was so good! I couldn't believe how much food they give you. I ordered 1/2 order and I got so much food a whole family could eat on it for a week! My co-workers were happy, I took the leftovers to work for them. Isabella was so tired she was delirious, but she was so good at dinner! I couldn't believe how good she was.

These pictures are from the other night right before her bedtime. When she gets her second wind at night watch out! She gets so playful. This first picture looks like she might be crying, but she's actually laughing really really hard. She is so much fun.

She's been hugging all the time now. She hugs those she's with a lot. Me, Peter, Gigi, and Aunt Amanda. I love it! Oh it's so sweet when those tiny arms squeeze my neck. So sweet....

She loves peek-a-boo....

She loves her baby doll (she tries to pick the lashes off her eyes) and her
stuffed bear that snores......

Look at those bottom teeth. She has a total of 4 right now.....She loves her bear so much!

9 month doctor's visit

Ok, I guess I'm a camera freak. I take it with me everywhere. Today was no exception. Isabella had her 9 month doctor's visit today and she was very happy to be there (for a change!). No shots this time thank goodness. Goodlettsville Pediatrics is great. She has Dr. Johnson and I really like her a lot. While we were waiting in the room Isabella went crazy! She tore all the paper up on the table, chewed the tongue depressors, pulled the ear thingy off the wall, and talked, talked, talked the whole time. She finally started crawling last night too and she was attempting to crawl on the table. Oh, joys of a crawler. She looks so cute. She kind of drags one leg up and around while the other one is in the right position to crawl. It's funny to watch her. She also finally said 'dada' the other night. Peter was really happy. He keeps trying to get her to say it over and over again. She's said it about a million times today. Anyway, she weighs 17 pounds and 9 ounces. Here are a few pics from our adventure to the doctor.

Here is Isabella's 9 month picture for her scrapbook. I have got to get on that again. I was off to a great start and then back to work, and I haven't started back on it since. Anyway, this was taken before church on Sunday. I could not get her to smile for anything! I think she was a little constipated. It never fails, on the way to church she poops. I mean EVERY time! I know as soon as I get her out of the car I head straight to the nursery to change her diaper. I don't even have to look or sniff her. I just know, church, poop. It goes hand in hand with her lately. I can't believe she's 9 months already. My baby is growing up so fast!

Fun Times at the Zoo!

Today was a busy day. I had been planning on taking Isabella to the zoo for a while now. Peter's sister Stephanie and her girls Mattie and Mary came in town from Illinois this weekend so we all went together. Shawn and Kim, Alec and Matthew joined us. (Shawn is Peter's twin brother, as if you couldn't tell :) I love that Peter works there, but I really wished he could have walked around with us too. We really missed him. Isabella loved being outside! She mostly looked at the water, bamboo trees, and the other kids all around us. Not too interested in the animals yet. This first picture was when we first got there. She and her daddy posed for the camera first thing this morning. So precious....

Here's the whole clan of cousins: Matthew, Alec, Mattie, Mary, and little Isabella.

I had to get a sunglasses pose. She probably kept them on for a lengthy 2 seconds after this picture was taken. I just couldn't help myself though. I thought she looked too cute.

Uncle Shawn loves Isabella! I'm pretty positive she loves him too. I always wonder if she thinks he's her daddy. He and Peter are identical twins so I bet that's confusing for her sometimes. I remember when Alec was a baby. He'd think Peter was his daddy. It was pretty funny.

I think the giraffe was my favorite animal out there today. It was so pretty and it came so close to the fence. That was really neat to look at. Isabella slept through this part. She had had enough by the time we got to them. She snoozed for about an hour as we strolled along.

The ride home:

For the past month, Isabella has been squealing to the top of her lungs in the car. Not fussing or crying, just playing with her voice. Sometimes she kind of sings, yells, and squeals so loud that Peter and I can barely hear each other talking. We usually stop our conversation until she's done with the ear piercing squeals, then pick back up where we were. She's a mess. I'm so glad she quit screaming/crying like she did when she was about 2 months old. That was miserable. We couldn't go anywhere without her crying. I would usually have to pull the car over several times just to get to church! These days are much different thank goodness! Check it out for yourself......

Other pictures from the fun-filled day......................

Girls, Girls, Girls

My family has a history of mostly girls! Just look at these 4 cousins playing together at my mom's. There's Isabella, Tessa, Abbie and Lillie. Since Amanda is 13 weeks pregnant we don't know what she's having yet, but I bet it's going to be a girl. If it's a boy I will be very surprised! Curtis, my other boy cousin will be excited if it is I'm sure. Abbie and Lillie are the second set of twins (Amanda and myself were the 1st set) in our family. As you can see they loved their dance outfits. I wish you could see their sweet faces in this picture. They were all having so much fun with stickers, paper, and markers. I can't believe they all will be so close in age to
grow up together. Fun, fun, fun!

Isabella loved Lillie! She kept laughing and talking to her. It's so fun to see her interact with other kids. She loves them! Sweet, sweet faces!

Here's Papaw with little Greyson and Tessa. He's one of the few male cousins we have. He and Tessa share the same birthday.

Rub a Dub Dub, Isabella's in the Tub

Ok, so I finally got her out of the baby bathtub and put in her in the BIG bathtub for the first time. When she started trying to climb out of the other one and turn sideways and stand up in it I decided that stage was now over. On to bigger baths! I have to say it made me kind of nervous because my bathtub is really deep and I was afraid she'd fall over in the water quicker than I could grab her, but she did really good. As you can see, she loved it! She did circles on her bottom in it and smiled the whole time. What a big girl she is now!

Sink Time

The days are over of taking my time to get ready. I usually have a jewelry drawer with chewable jewelry for her to chew on while I get ready, but lately she has not been interested in anything but the mirror. So, I plop her up on the sink so I can get ready for the day. She started talking to herself in the mirror. It's so cute. Then the realized she could sit in the sink if she tried hard enough. In the meantime, my hair and makeup is usually half done and kind of not put together by the time it's all finished. But hey, it's just not that important anymore anyway.