17 Months Old and News on the Move:

Long time no post...

So much has happened since my last post. We are in our new house and 100% unpacked. Yes, completely unpacked. It feels good. Isabella just celebrated her 17 month birthday. Hard to believe she'll be 1 1/2 next month. She's added some adorable words to her vocabulary. She says "shees" when smiling for the camera, she tells you "A wah waaah" for I Love You, She says "mine" (which I'm not thrilled about - damn Sesame Street). If you ask her what she wants for dinner she says "umm. hmmm (with her finger up to her mouth)". Her favorite game is "goodnight (nigh nigh), good morning (moni). She loves to dance with her dolls. She can identify most family members in pictures by name. She says the alphabet with me and can successfully identify 3 letters (O,A and I). She likes to draw with Crayons (ca ca), sing Twinkle Twinkle (ti ti), take "bites" of my food (byes), hold my hand (hine) and walk around the house and several other precious things. She just gets cuter every day.

She is LOVING the new house. She's seemed to feel right at home since the first time we toured the house. It was an instant connection for her. I truly believe that. She has some "favorite" activities in the new house she didn't have in the old one. Because of how her nursery is set up, she has an additional bookcase/storage unit visible in her room. In one of the cubbies I keep her hats (winter hats, sun hats, etc.). She loves to walk from the Den to her room by herself (which is quite a distance for her), pick out a hat, put it on and come back into the Den to model it for David and me. She does that about 2-3 times, each time modeling a different season's hat. It's hilarious.

I built a gift set her Grammy and Jiddo had given her for her 1st birthday (a cradle, highchair and stroller for her dolls) a couple of days ago. She's obsessed with the stroller. She pushes every doll she can get her hands on. She's actually gotten pretty good at maneuvering the stroller down the halls and into the rooms. "Cuddles" has gone on quite a few "joy rides." Poor bear.

Isabella is enrolled in quite a few fall activities. On Mondays she still has her Playgroup. Tuesdays she goes to Little Gym where she does physical activities like obstacle courses, somersaults, jumping, running, flipping with mommy's help and singing songs. She absolutely loves it. She's always exploring and getting involved. She politely applauds every child when they do a good demonstration of an activity, but REFUSES to demonstrate herself. I guess she doesn't like the spotlight (yeah right!). She's so outgoing I just am so proud. On Wednesdays she doesn't have any organized activities, but we usually meet up with some of her friends to play. Yesterday we "hiked" a 2-3 mile trail at the Plano Nature Preserve. She was great for the first mile and a half, but got a little hot and bored after that. I was panting and gasping for breath, but I forgot that riding in a stroller isn't the most exciting activity. On Thursdays she has her second round of swimming lessons. She's up to 8 or 9 seconds under water. She's a little fish :). She LOVES swimming on her back now which she despised before. She's come a long way. On Fridays she starts Music Together this week. For 45 minutes they sing, dance and play instruments. It's her favorite. She's so involved (I know this because we did it last Spring).

That's about it as far as updates go. With the exception of a couple of minor (ok, not so minor - we discovered last week a small fire had occurred in the attic a little over a week before we moved in. We were terrified because it happened over what is now Isabella's room. We had electricians here all week fixing it and replacing wires and breaker boxes. Everything is repaired or replaced and we are safe as can be.) things in the house in the first week, the process has gone smoothly.

We hope you all get a chance to see at one point or another. It's a great house.

Here are a few pictures of Isabella and some of the house (only a couple of rooms): I'll post more later today or tomorrow of the rest of the house.


*In the group of pictures you'll see a couple of Isabella in her old room on moving day. She had a nap in there while we cleaned the house. We had to take some photos of her in the room she slept in when she came home from the hospital. It was harder for me than it was for her. She couldn't have cared less...