14 Months...going on 14 years...

Today is Isabella's 14 mo. birthday. At this point, she has mastered standing up by herself in the middle of a room. She's attempted walking several times, but the most consecutive steps she's taken is 9. Her vocabulary is growing every day and as of now, is as follows:

banana: anana
Blueberry: brrrb
Strawberry: sbrrrrb
Raspberry: rrrrb
bye-bye: bah bah
Hi: hieeeee
Bear: bah
Cuddles: dee dee
more: Maaaaah


Until today, there were only 2 food items she wouldn't eat: banana and shrimp & sausage gumbo (David let her try it one night). I keep trying to re-introduce bananas b/c it's not the flavor she doesn't like, it's the texture. Much to my surprise, she let me try a banana again and this time, liked it so much she requested "maaaah."

Here is a video of Isabella standing up (over and over and over again): (I should apologize though. You'll notice her starting to walk at the end of the video and the camera shutting off. Believe me, it wasn't my mistake. The camera ran out of memory JUST in the nick of time. Gotta love technology sometimes.)



This past weekend we traveled to Austin for the wedding of David's longtime friend Greg Carlson and Melissa McCoy. We arrived at the hotel around 2:45 where we were met by Faye and Aunt Fonda. David insisted I not cry until Isabella was out of sight so she didn't start to cry. I really thought I'd gotten over the I-Don't-Want-to-Let-Her-Go stage because I'd really kept my composure putting her in Faye's car and closing the door. I was wrong. The moment the car started to drive away, I burst into tears. Oh well...maybe next time.


The rehearsal for this wedding was one for the record books. I've never witnessed a more rigid, strict, detailed format. They left no stone unturned. They had it "choreographed" from every head turn to each foot placement. It was quite interesting. It made me so thankful I had free reign at my own wedding. From the rehearsal, we drove to Driftwood, TX; home of the original Salt Lick BBQ restaurant (and the rehearsal dinner venue The Thurman Mansion). David and I had a bright idea earlier that day to stop and eat lunch at Rudi's BBQ (it's sort of a tradition). We hadn't even considered the idea they might be serving BBQ for dinner. Let's just say we've had enough BBQ to last us, well, 2 weeks (we'll be in KC and Fiorella's always calls our name). The rehearsal dinner was a lot of fun, but I forgot my camera so I have no pictures from it. Sorry.

David and I spent Saturday together doing something we hadn't done in a long time. We went to San Marcus' Prime Outlets. Wow was it everything we'd hoped for :) We found pictures for our Living Room (ok, originally they were for the Den, but when we got home last night and unwrapped them, we fell in love with them in the L.R.) at the Crate and Barrel Outlet. We found other great deals at various stores as well. We went back to the hotel and spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready. David headed off to the church (he was an usher) and I went an hour later with Michelle Daniels (her hubby Ryan was also in the wedding.) The ceremony was beautiful (it should have been considering the rigidity of the rehearsal). Due to strict Church policy I couldn't take any photographs there, so you'll just have to take my word as to how nice the ceremony was. From there we went to the reception at the Four Seasons Hotel. We knew from the venue it was going to be nice. Everything was done in great taste and was very simple and elegant. The beautiful evening was capped off with a unique send off for the bride and groom. Instead of the usual rice or bubbles, they used sparklers. It was pretty cool...

Here are the photos from the reception: