Another visit from Michigan relatives!

Last Sunday we had a quick visit from my Uncle Ron and Aunt Judy. They were on their way back to Michigan from a vacation in Colorado. It is nice that we are so close to I-80 so that we can be a quick stop for anyone traveling by. It is fun to have visitors! We visited a bit and Jeff made pizza for dinner. Isabella was on her best behavior and showed off all of her tricks. Uncle Ron even made her giggle alot. It was great to see them!

With her hands in her pockets and her pockets in her... dress?

I noticed the dress Isabella was wearing the other day had pockets in it. I thought that was odd, the dress is a size 12-18 month, why does a 12-18 month little girl need pockets, in a dress?

A reason this is noteworthy is that Isabella's Grandma Groves will not buy an article of clothing unless it has pockets. I remember many shopping trips with her in the dressing room, trying on something. She'd come out, we'd like the outfit, and then she'd say "wait, no pockets!" and back on the rack it would go.

So, I got out the camera to show the pockets to Grandma Groves as I knew she would approve. You couldn't really see the pockets, so I pointed them out to Isabella, trying to get a good picture of them. She became very intrigued by the pockets, never having ever known they were even there!

A blog post about snot

Isabella has been fighting a summer cold. It has been a bummer because her nose has been runny constantly. First it was her left nostril, then her right, and now it is kind of both and I think it has affected her throat because she is coughing quite a bit.

The first morning after we could tell she was starting to get stuffed up I went to her crib to get her. She pointed at her nose and said "nose" with sort of a disgusted look on her face, also like she was saying "what's up with all this snot? this is not fun". I said, "Do you need a kleenex?" and she said "yeah". I can't really describe how she says "yeah", but it is the answer to many questions I ask her and the tone just cracks me up. Along with this cold, Isabella has also started using kleenex on her own, even though she basically just rubs the snot all around her face. She also sort of blows into the kleenex. When she's done she'll either give the kleenex to me and say "dirty" or go throw it out in the garbage herself. I've noticed that kleenex are the only thing she's throw out with asking me if it is okay first (at least as far as I know). Normally, she'll find something on the floor that she thinks is garbage and show it to me and go "uh?" in a questioning tone (that is how she asks all her questions) and I'll tell her it is ok to go throw it out. With kleenex it is a different story, when she's done she throws it right out and then she'll often turn right around to me and go "nose? nose?" pointing to her nose, letting me know that she'd like another kleenex.

After a couple of rough nights of Isabella being miserable and coughing, I decided I'd better take her in to the doctor today. It turns out she has an ear infection in both ears again. The tube in her right ear is completely gone and the one in the left ear is not doing its job (although it could in the next couple of days). Our doctor recommended waiting until the fall to see if we think we'd better get her tubes replaced. This is because if she needs them, she wants her to have a good set of tubes through the winter months. Poor Isabella. Our doctor seemed really bummed that the tubes weren't doing their job. So, she's back on amoxicillin and we are on diaper rash watch again.

Our 4th of July

We had a really nice 4th of July. Jeff worked on the 3rd, but I had it off so Isabella and I hung out. She actually slept in until 9:30. Then we went for a jog, came back and changed into our swimsuits and headed to the pool. She was still pretty tentative at the pool, but had a fun time. She basically just likes to hang out at the edge of the pool and was still pretty scared of the splash pad.

Sat. morning we woke up to rain and were pretty upset because we wanted to go to the Coralville parade. We had plans to meet the Davis family there, but because of the rain they just came over for a playdate instead and we grilled out for lunch.
Here's a video of Isabella I took on the 4th but unfortunately I forgot you can only hold the camera one way when taking the video.



Later in the day we headed to the Quad Cities for a party at Jesse's house. Isabella had lots of fun playing outside there. It was kind of crazy because it was chilly that day, weird for the 4th of July! We left a little after before 9pm to head home and Isabella slept. When we got back to Coralville their fireworks were starting, so we watched from our car. Isabella woke up slightly at one point and I think she got a glimpse of her first fireworks, but she quickly fell back asleep again.


On Sunday we went to the pool again. This time Jeff came with us. Isabella went down the slide there about a million times. She just kept going down the slide and getting right back up to climb up again. Luckily there were not many people there so Isabella had the slide basically all to herself. Then, amazingly she decided to venture out on the splash pad a little bit. She was still very hesitant, but definitely getting more comfortable!

Happy 4th of July!

Isabella hopes everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July. We had lots of fun. More details later.

....

and she's going to hate me later for taking pictures of her in this ridiculous swimsuit.

Dinner with Elton John

Isabella looked really funny tonight at dinner as we ate outside. She had he sunglasses on and for some reason really looked like Elton John to me. I took a video of her at dinner so you can see for yourself. She is growing and learning new things everyday.

Visit to Cedar Falls

On Sat. we drove up to Cedar Falls to see Grandpa and check out the Sturgis Falls parade. We weren't sure if we were going to go because rain was predicted and it has been sooo hot. It looked like the rain was going to hold off and it did. We weren't really sure where we going to sit, so we just kind of parked and walked and saw an opening along the street and it turned out to be right next to Cathy's parents!! It was very nice to see them. Grandpa came and met us at the parade. Isabella was pretty good during the parade. She waved and danced a little. She wasn't too overly excited about the parade, but liked it when she saw animals or babies go by. Jeff thought the parade was lame. My high school class walked by since it was our 15 year reunion. I tried to fade into the crowd, but was spotted.



After the parade, we took a quick drive by my mom's old house since we had heard it was repainted. Here is a pic.



Next, we headed out to Grandpa's house. We checked out his little pond and then went over to the neighbor's to see her 4 big dogs. Isabella acted like her normal self. Very interested in the dogs if they weren't paying attention to her and scared to death when they got in her space.



We hung out at a Grandpa's for a little while longer and ate lunch. Isabella slept the entire way home.

Grandpa keeps tabs on Isabella's teeth

Isabella finally lets Grandpa hold her right before we left. She was fine with it, although she doesn't look like it in the pic.

Bump on the head

Isabella fell and hit her noggin at daycare today. This is the worst goose-egg she has ever gotten and it is even black and blue. The picture doesn't show it too well, but you can see it.

Happy 1/2 Birthday!

That's right. Isabella is a year and a 1/2 old. It seems kind of crazy. She's not scheduled to have her 18 month checkup until the end of July, so we won't have any stats until then.

I think she said the word "no" to me for the first time yesterday. It was right before bed. She went over to get her shoes and brought them to me. I said something like "You don't need your shoes, it is time for bed. You have your pajamas on. Now, please put your shoes away." She looked at me, kind of shrugged, said "no" and walked away.

Happy Father's Day and Happy Birthday, Grandma Linda!

Isabella would like to wish all fathers a very happy Father's Day. She also wants to wish Grandma Linda a very happy birthday! (Next year is a really big one for her!!!) We didn't really do too much special for Father's Day. We went out for lunch at Old Chicago. We didn't know it but they were having a pizza buffet which worked perfectly because by the time we got there it was well past Isabella's normal lunch time. Later that night we went over to Uncle John and Aunt Kristy's house for dinner. We celebrated Father's Day, Uncle John's birthday, Isabella's 1/2 birthday and my birthday - Kristy was just along for the ride. Isabella had lots of fun playing at their house, they have a toy box over there with different toys for her to play with. She's also very intrigued by Bob Sanders, the cat. Isabella also "had a ball" with their exercise ball in the basement. It is about as big as she is. Uncle John gave Isabella a chocolate chip cookie that she enjoyed a lot and got all over her face.


Isabella was also very intrigued as to why her highchair was sitting on the floor. She kept climbing right in and trying to put her bib on and attach her tray.


We noticed there was some drainage coming out of Isabella's left ear. I was surprised because she hadn't really seemed sick or anything. I knew to start using the ear drops for her, because the tubes were doing what they are supposed to. Jeff said we'd better take her to the doctor. Well, Jeff's instincts were right again, she has an ear infection in her right ear (not her left, because it was draining properly). So, she's on antibiotics and we are armed again with all sorts of diaper rash cream, expecting the worst. Isabella's been in really good spirits lately, though. No biting and not too many tantrums. At daycare they said she's become a big helper on the infant side of the room and always wants to help feed the babies their bottles.

Michigan Visitors

On Saturday, my cousin Jeff and family made a spur of the moment visit on their way from Michigan to Minnesota. The last time I'd seen their children, Jacob and Jessica, they were 3 and now they are 5, so that's quite a change in kid years. It was great to see them and the kids had fun playing with some of Isabella's toys. Isabella was content just to watch them play. It was a quick visit as it was in the middle of their long drive, but maybe next some we'll do some pre-planning and have some lunch here.


Sat. afternoon we made our first trip to the pool this summer. We've kind of discovered recently that Isabella is kind of terrified of water. Jeff sprayed a hose at her a few weeks back and she was really upset about it. So, we just took it slow at the pool. She gripped on to me for a quite a while and them we just sat at the edge of the pool. A little while later she got pretty comfortable and started running around, eventually she even was walking in waist deep water.

Time is flying by!

Aghhh! We've fallen so behind on blogging and posting videos and photos. I'll try to be better. Isabella has still been going through a rough phase. Biting and slapping/hitting at daycare. Tonight all she wanted to do was cry, she was just pretty frustrated about something. Here is a video of her eating strawberries from at least a week ago. She's really starting to learn how to use a fork and spoon and on most occasions doesn't want to eat unless she has one (or both) utensils in her hand.