Isabella's Milestone

Ok, I am really freaked out by Isabella walking now. I wouldn't say she's a "walker" yet, because she still loves to crawl, but she's really loving this new walking thing. I was talking to my friend Krista on the phone today and Isabella walked right past me all the way through the kitchen into the dining room. It was so strange to see that! She's still my little baby and I'm soooooo not used to seeing her walk around. I'm happy for her though. She's getting to be so big. Here's a video of her walking.

Peter and I had Tessa yesterday while Amanda was at the hospital. She and Isabella played in Isabella's water park on the deck. They had fun in their "birthday suit". It was cute watching them play. They always have fun together. Every time Isabella sees Tessa she squeals and laughs ready to be chased or chase her. I love watching them play.

Thanks! And keep 'em coming!

Well, not an hour went by after my last post that I talked to Amanda and a liver was on a helicopter being sent straight to Vanderbilt for Harry. Praise God! The doctors said he would not have made it another day if it hadn't come when it did. Harry still had hope. He kept saying "Come on, come on." Telling that liver to hurry up and get to him. He had the transplant yesterday about 2pm and was in recovery last night. He is still in critical but stable condition. Please continue to pray for his recovery and his kidneys that started to fail. He has to continue dialysis because his kidneys were shutting down, but he did make it through surgery successfully! Thank you for the emails and prayers being lifted up for Harry. Thank you friends for remembering them. Love you....

Urgent Prayer Request

I don't post this just for you to read. I post this because my sister's family needs your prayers urgently. So, if you feel led to pray for this family, please do so. Her husband's father is in ICU at Vanderbilt with liver failure. His name is Harry Tomlin. He has been given 1 week to live unless he gets a liver asap. He's stable and holding on for the hope of a liver at any moment. It's so hard to pray for a liver donor because that would mean someone else would have to die, but please pray God's will to be done for Harry. Pray specifically that he remains stable with no complications until a donor arrives. If something comes up they will have to take him off the list, and we don't want that. Amanda is staying strong for Greg and Greg is staying strong for his mom and dad. It's a stressful time as you may imagine. Please pray for them also to have the strength they need until his transplant is successful. We are praying for a successful transplant and no complications this week. Thank you for remembering them in your prayers.

Happy 1st Birthday Isabella!

Wow, what a weekend we had! I didn't realize how much work went into a 1st birthday party! :) I feel like I've been planning this thing forever. But in the end, it was so much fun and she was all worth it. I guess it seemed a little hectic because my sister-in-law and I made the birthday cakes. Only a mommy would work on a birthday cake for 2 nights and 1 morning starting at 5am! Kim and I baked the caterpillar cakes in two nights and then the morning of her party we iced them. Here's a before and after picture of the cake. I think it turned out pretty great. I knew what I wanted and didn't think I could get someone to make it like I wanted, so I knew I just had to make it myself. Thanks to Kim, the expert, I couldn't have done it without her! Thanks Kim! It was perfect.

After baking these, we spread them out on the table to get a feel for what we were into.

You don't even want to know how much money I spent on icing! Here's Aunt Kim working hard.

The finished product.

This is Isabella's cake for her to dig into. A smaller replica of the big cake.

She woke up that morning at 6:30am and I thought maybe she'd take a little snooze before we headed out to the park. Did that happen? Of course not! It was her party and she was not about to sleep. Needless to say, even without sleep she did not cry once! It was miserably hot and muggy. I felt so bad for my grandparents that came. I might need to rethink an outdoor birthday party for next year. Everybody was sweating! We hired a guy to do balloon animals and the kids loved it. Abbie and Lillie are playing with their swords. Here's some other sweet pictures from the party.

This quilt deserves special mentioning. My Grandmother "Granny Beach" hand quilted this for Isabella. She's made one for the grandkids and the great grandkids. Isabella was the final great grandkid that she is doing one for so this is extra special to me. She is in her 80's and still does beautiful work like this. She is a very special lady in my life and I love her so much! Thank you Granny for this gift that will be cherished forever. We love you.

It covers most of my kitchen floor.

Thank you to everyone who came and blessed her with a birthday present. Not seen here is a Kangaroo climber her Gigi got her and a River Run Water Park her Gram Gram got her. Thanks you so much! She loved it all!

Somebody's turning 1!

Isabella will be 1 on Friday! I cannot believe it. It feels like I've blinked and she went from being 1 hour old to 1 year old! Here's a newborn picture and a picture I took recently. No wander babies need so much sleep. They more than double in size in such a short time.

She's my sweet angel. I love her so much. The theme for her birthday party is caterpillars and butterflies. Here's a picture of her first look at her birthday shirt a sweet friend of mine made for her. Alison Harris of "Maggie Moo's Designs" made this for her. I worked with her last year at MCE. She designs custom made clothing and baby items for children. Love her work! You'll have to check out her blog.

I think she likes it. What do you think?

Laughs, Elmo, the 4th and the Fridge

Isabella does so many of the cutest things all the time that I could post all day if I had the time. But here's one of the cutest videos I've ever seen. She LOVES dogs! I'm not a big dog lover myself, or any type of animal lover for that matter. I love to watch fish in a tank, but I end up killing them all. Poor things. I just don't have the touch, but I think she does. She laughs, talks to them, and crawls after them when she can. So, here's mommy playing hide-and-seek with a puppet doggy. (Probably the closest thing she'll ever have to getting a dog. Not to mention her daddy is allergic to every kind of animal hair! )Hope you enjoy her sweet laugh as much as I do........

Some more funny pics of my little love bug.......

Would go to any length to kiss Elmo!

"4th of July here I come! Even though I'm scared of fireworks!"

Mom used to tell stories of when Amanda and I would shove each other into the refrigerator. One or the other would push the other in and close the door. She ended up having to tie the refrigerator door closed to keep us from torturing each other. This reminds me of those stories. Lucky for her, she gets the fridge all to herself....

"Yay! I finally got in! Mommy didn't close it before I could get there! Whew, that was close."

Fountain Fun

Today Amanda and I headed to the Polka Dot Market open house in Hendersonville and then went to the fountain at the Streets afterwards. Tessa loved the fountain. She played and played until one of the sprays went straight up her nose. She was pretty much done after that. Isabella didn't much care for it. I think she thought it would make boom noises like fireworks. She kept grunting and making an unhappy face so we just stood around one hoping she might not be afraid of it. By the way, if anyone ever plans to go out there, just so you know the water had a "wind sensor" and if it's really windy they won't come on. We found that out the hard way today. We had to wait about 15 minutes and it finally came on when the sun came out and the wind calmed down. Just enough time for us to eat lunch and then get wet.

She liked the "little" water fountain spray.