Baby Multitasking

I can increase my playtime productivity if I play with multiple toys at the same time......

Happy 10th Month B-day to our little girl!

Awwww, she looks miserable.....

.... not exactly something you want to her from the check-out lady at Walgreens, but she said it about our little darling. Isabella's latest ailment is pacifier rash. She doesn't even really use a pacifier all that much, but over the last few weeks a little rash on her face has really flared up and started spreading. At her ear infection checkup, the doctor told us to put some hydrocortisone cream on it and then keep putting on the Aquaphor and Vaseline. If it gets any worse, she might write her a prescription for it, but let's hope it doesn't go that far. I think if we just step it up a notch and are really diligent about keep her face dry and her pacifiers clean it might help. We are assuming it doesn't really bother her.... it just makes her look miserable.

Here's a pic with her buddy, Aiden. You can see a little of the rash.

Isabella's current favorite past time

Check out these videos of Isabella practicing her ball handling skills

New tooth and I'm pulling myself up on everything!

During Isabella's rough week we noticed that she has a new lower tooth. We have been watching her two upper teeth as they are coming in, in fact one of them may have started breaking through today. The biggest change in the last few days is that Isabella is pulling herself up on just about all of the furniture in the house. She started off about a week ago pulling herself up on a big block, and that has transformed to pulling herself up on the first step of the stairs. She is getting one of her knees up on the stair, but can't pull herself up to this point (which we are happy about). She has started standing up in the tub and once in her crib. We are going to have to continue babyproofing the house as she is making progress on becoming a real terror.

Rough Week

Antibiotics from her ear infection and a horrible diaper rash had us calling the doctor's office Sunday, Tues and Thurs. Note to self: always determine whether your daughter's antibiotic needs to be refrigerated or not. We missed that detail on the bottle a week ago on Wed. By Sunday, when I went to give her a dose, I noticed the color looked yellowish/off-white, rather than white. Realizing our mistake, I called the pharmacist to figure out what to do. We had to get a new prescription and due to insurance we had to give her more of a lower dosage. By Tues, daycare was calling about a bad diaper rash that had formed. So, off we went to the doctor on Tues night. She recommended a medicated ointment called Resinol, so it was back to Walgreens. Wednesday we hoped things would start looking better. No such luck. By Thurs daycare was calling to say the diaper rash was bleeding. So, back to the doctor she went. This time the doctor gave Jeff a recipe to make Magic Butt Paste (as soon as Jeff told me about it, I kicked myself knowing that Amanda's friend Erica had sent me the recipe a while back and I totally forgot about it) Poor little Isabella has just not been herself. I feel like she kind of gave up the fight after a while when we changed her diaper, no squirming, just crying, it broke our hearts. She finished the antibiotic Friday night and her diaper rash looks a little better. To add to the misery for Isabella the Hawkeyes lost on Saturday and the White Sox have not started out so well in the playoffs(Isabella has a $1 bet per game with Grandma Groves).

Celebrating Nine Months with another ear infection

Isabella had her 9 month appointment today on her 9 month Birthday. Isabella has not been feeling well as of late and was sent home early from Daycare yesterday because she vomited. Dad and Isabella had a lot of fun as Isabella appeared to be feeling much better. At today's appointment we found out she had another ear infection and will be on antibiotics again. She seems to be doing well with this ear infection and recovering from her cold. Isabella weighed in at 20 lbs. (70%), 28 inches tall (75%), and her head measured 17 1/8 inches (40%).
She has been changing a lot the last few days even. Isabella started clapping, dancing, pulling herself up to her knees, and sitting from a standing position. She has really taken off with crawling, she motors herself around the kitchen and living room to different toys. She has a little game where she'll throw stuff out in front of her and crawl after that, she can entertain herself doing that for quite a while. It is really amazing how much she can change in day.

Lil Farmer Isabella

We had a fun busy day on Sat. First, we did the Alzheimer's walk. It was right during Isabella's morning naptime, so she had no problem taking a nap in her stroller. It was a beautiful morning for a walk. Thanks to all of you who contributed to the cause!

Next we headed home, fed Isabella and watched the 1st half of the Hawks/Pitt game. At halftime we headed to the PAETEC company picnic at Bloomsbury Farm. I had never been there before, but it was a really nice place to have a company picnic. Isabella enjoyed herself sitting on a horse for the very first time (Aunt Jillian will love that!!), watching pig races, going on a hayrack ride through a cornfield, and looking at the animals in the petting zoo, and actually walking through a haunted house (we tested it first to see if it would be ok).

We are a little hesitant towards animals right now (a trip to PetCO really frightened Isabella the other weekend), but all in all she did ok. I would totally recommend Bloomsbury Farm for anyone with kids. This video shows Mom being a little more jumpy with the animals than Isabella.

Happy Birthday Gus!

Isabella would like to wish her cousin Gus a very Happy 2nd Birthday!



Here come the terrific twos!

We love you and miss you!!!

Isabella is on the MOVE to end Alzheimer's

This Sat. we are all participating in the Alzheimer's walk with the Pathways team. If you'd like to contribute online you can do so. https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=266678&lis=0&kntae266678=1F36FBD6B8D7426E8E414C7783205E06&supId=232523804

Today an estimated 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s. And with 78 million baby boomers approaching the age of greatest risk for this fatal disease, the need to find a cure is more urgent than ever.

This year, to support individuals and families living with the disease – as well as those who may be affected in the future – we are participating in the Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk® to raise funds and awareness for Alzheimer’s disease.

The Alzheimer's Association is the leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer care, support and research, and funds we raise will go directly toward supporting their efforts.

Although Isabella is getting pretty fast with her crawling, she'll probably get to relax in her stroller during the 1-3 mile walk in Coralville.

Aunt Nancy and Cousin Gus come for a visit!

As we mentioned earlier, a few weeks ago Aunt Nancy and Cousin Gus visited from NYC. It was a spur of the moment visit and we had a great time. They flew in on Wed and stayed at Grandma's in Cedar Falls before she closed on her house in Friday. It was an interesting stay since Grandma had sold everything from her house and the movers came that Thurs. (more on Grandma's move later) So everyone camped out on the floor and had a fun time. Robin went up to visit Thurs night to see the house one last time. Grandpa took Nancy and Gus to the Iowa State Fair on Friday. It sounds like they had a good time. They spent Friday night in Cedar Falls with Grandpa. Since Grandma had closed on her house, she came to stay with us Friday night. On Sat. Grandpa brought Nancy and Gus to our place.



We had lunch and then we went to the Ped Mall in Iowa City to let Gus play on the playground and run through the fountains.


As a side note, there was a news cameraman in the Ped Mall and every time we looked over it felt like this huge camera was pointed in our direction. Jeff happened to have taped a Bears Pre-season football game and the news was on after that and we were on it. The story was actually about an assualt that had occurred there the night before. So, as they were showing Gus playing in the fountain, they were reporting about an assualt - it was kind of funny. Gus took a break from all the action and decided he needed something from George's Gyro stand and went over to make friends. It made us laugh because George's is most popular with the after-bar crowd in the ped mall. We think it maybe means that Gus will end up coming to the University of Iowa - hooray!



After the fountain we ate outside at the Atlas. It was very yummy. The waitress told us she'd bring us an infant plate while we waited for our food. So she brought it out and sat it in front of Isabella. It had apples and strawberries . Too bad she's not quite eating apples yet with her 3 teeth. Luckily Gus was able to enjoy the "infant plate".

The next morning we hung out at home and Gus helped Jeff make pancakes.


Then we went to Coralville pool. All weekend long Isabella enjoyed watching Gus play. She also would let Gus take toys from her and she wouldn't complain. If we try to do that, she'll get a little angry sometimes. Gus was cute the way he would say her name - "Bella". He also always made sure to offer a little of what he was eating to Bella.

On Monday Grandpa came to take Nancy and Gus to the aiport and Grandma left for Florida. It was a really good weekend and Isabella is really glad Aunt Nancy and Cousin Gus could come for a visit.

Here a pic showing kisses from Gus

Happy Grandparent's Day!

Isabella would like to wish all of her grandparents and great-grandparents a wonderful day. Grandpa Groves came to visit and helped our landscaping (filling in the hole where our dead tree was) We've decided not to plant a new tree in its place just yet. Then Grandpa took us to lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings and Isabella was thrilled with the amount of "magic boxes" (televisions) there and all the action going on.

Isabella can't wait to see Grandma and Grandpa Kellbach who are making the trip to visit her this Thurs or Friday. Happy First Grandparents Day to them.

Grandma Groves is on an Alaskan cruise right now, so Isabella is hoping she'll get to send her love through this blog. They have internet access on cruise ships... right???!!

Isabella Crawls!

Check out this little cutie on the crawl. If she really needs to get somewhere, she'll resort back to scootin', but this getting up on all fours is pretty fun for her. We can tell she gets pretty proud of herself!