developments!

so what's isa up to these days? well, alot. she took four steps today in the baby pool at swimming lessons. apparently a few dozen new toys and lots of new little faces is enough to get her going.

and she also says thank you now. ok, actually it sounds more like "tank do" but close enough right? right. she only does it when she gives something to you (which she does with everything she picks up). a typical interaction would be:

isa: hands the mommy some dangerous object she picks up
the mommy: gasp thank you for the scissors isa!
isa: nods heads tank do.

stuffed animal wrestling...

nothing like a little afternoon rough housing with the stuffed animals.

Bib inspection

Isa does this several times a day. She goes over to her high chair and systematically pulls down one bib after another. Then sits in the pile and inspects them. Maybe she'll toss a few around for good measure. And then she is on her way, off to the next corner of the house to dismantle something else.

cha ching!

this video cracks me up. isa never really gets to play with money, as it just grosses me out. (do you have any idea the nastiness that lives on money? yuck.) but she got to the purse this morning and well, i let it slide this once. lucky for all of us, we got a cute video out of it ;-)

Return of the PJs...

Some of you may have noticed that Isa is actually wearing clothing in the last few posts. Sigh of relief. It is actually cool enough to get dressed these days! She can sleep in pajamas again! The Mommy loves Miss Baby in her pajamas. She is even more soft and snuggly and sweet it seems. Now we all know the clothes don't make the baby but who can resist cute PJs? Exactly.

Speaking of which, the Mommy was pleasantly surprised to find that these fabulous orange and yellow striped Hanna Andersson zippers still fit. They are size 2-6mo afterall. I guess that's a benefit of having a little peanut of a baby... those cute PJs last even longer. Sweet. And for those you not already obsessed with Hanna Andersson pajamas-- go check them out. They are organic cotton, they last for-e-ver (through multiple kids), they are amazingly cute, quick to put on, and not coated in nasty fire-retardant chemicals.

Cruisin'

Here is a video of Isa make the rounds around the kitchen. She cruises everywhere now and keeps taking more and more steps independently. First it was only one, now it's three and sometimes four. But she still isn't convinced that walking is any better than crawling. Often she will take a few steps towards an object, then look down at her feet and start to crawl.

Oh, and don't forget to look at her right eye... you can see the faint hint of her first shiner. She came head to head with the bedrail on Monday. And she came away with a black eye to show for it. Considering how ugly it appeared at first, it's actually not too bad of a bruise. Got write that one down in the babybook eh?

Upside down baby....

Isa loves to be upside down these days, in any form she can manage. Whether that's just being held upside by her feet, doing headstand and looking through her legs, just about any way, shape, or form is entertaining. See for yourself.

And yes, we know we haven't updated the blog in several days. Although we do appreciate you all pointing that out *mild sarcasm*. We have been up to our eyeballs in busy-ness and the Daddy was out of town for three days. So there. Not another word! *wink wink*

My Etsy Shop Is OPEN! Woohoo!

phew. i am beat. it's been like a sweatshop around here for the past week! lots of sewing, cutting, stitching, cursing, etc. but it's done for now. the etsy shop is open for business! *ahem ahem*

a little disclaimer, the photos are a work in progress. we are trying our hardest to figure out how to take good pics with the point and shoot. but for now they'll have to do (thanks to the daddy for his patience on this one!). the shop name is mountain aven baby. being that aven is isabel's middle name and the common name for the flower (her namesake, obviously) is the mountain aven, and it's baby stuff for the most part... well you get it right? anyway, the shop is a little bare bones at the moment with a simple black and white banner and not much else. but it works!

there are a handful of items listed already... lounge sets, onesies, bibs. they will take a few days (yes, days!) to appear in any search you may do. but for now you can go straight to the shop and see what's available. and then, hopefully, do some shopping! i will be listing items daily so please keep checking back. and please give me a shout if you want something specific or another size, etc. you get a 10% discount just for mentioning this blog! ohhh.

without further ado...

domestic diva?

have vacuum, will travel? as mentioned in the previous post, isa loves to move large objects around the house and the vacuum, oh the vacuum... it has wheels! that much better for moving! unfortunately the kitchen is only so large so it helps to have a grownup around to make the corners and turn the vacuum around to go across the room again.

fun with chairs...

isa gets a kick out of pushing large objects around the house these days. i think it makes her feel like a big girl. chairs are her favorite. but apparently she doesn't quite know the power of her own strength just yet, as the video shows!

Happy ELEVEN Months!

HAPPY ELEVEN MONTHS ISABEL!

the new sling: an action shot

ah yes, bring on the comments! is he mowing the lawn with a baby? gasp! the horror! yes, he is indeed mowing the lawn while holding the precious babe. but wait! the point of this photo, in addition to showing how wonderful the Daddy is, was to get an action shot of the new baby sling! the Mommy thought about this all day. she wanted to post a pic of the baby sling, in thanks to our friend Erin, with whom we traded some handmade clothing. but the Mommy was not up for photos today. so when the Daddy took Isa out for a mowing session, the perfect photo opportunity arose. and there you have it. so now that it's all clear, stroll on over to Bluebird Baby and see for yourself what fabulous slings she has to offer. thanks again Erin!

baby talk

someone told us recently that we should be sure to get isa's sweet baby voice on video... because it wouldn't last for long and before long we wouldn't remember what it sounded like. so we did. and we thought we'd share.

babyproof...

not so much.

Isa says:

Can you hear me now?

South Pass City

And a few pictures from yesterday's visit to South Pass City. After we walked around, took in the sights, read the placards, etc we met some old friends from Ohio who just happened to be on their way through town. Ok, no one just happens to be on their way through South Pass City, in truth they went out of their way to come have dinner with us! There was a wonderful time had by all and just in case anyone out there was wondering, the food at the Atlantic City (next mining town over) Mercantile is great and well worth the drive up!

Summer time...

It was the perfectly cool summer day on Sunday up at South Pass City, an incredibly well preserved mining town about 45 minutes outside of Lander. It made a good tourist attraction for the visiting grandparents and a nice place for Isa to hang out. We were even treated to a nice little rain, ok sprinkle, as we left. Ah, summer.

the mommy gets a job

ok, well sort of. if you count working out of your basement then it's official. she is sewing for money these days, with three custom orders already! and a few bag sales too! *happy dance* this all came about by accident really, but apparently jagoe is a good confidence booster and talked the mommy into setting up shop. one minute it's a casual conversation over coffee, then suddenly it's a business plan. and here we are. thanks to many of you for all your help and wisdom. *wink wink*

so what is she sewing and how can i get some, you might be thinking? cute little baby clothes. like those lounge pants miss baby was modeling in previous posts. they come as a set, with matching applique shirts. the custom list includes two in blue zoo and one in sushi. who knew sushi would be so hip with the 3 and under set? and then there are bags and bibs and little diaper cases, too.

it's strictly customs at this point, until the loads of fabric and blank onesies arrive next week. then the mommy will be churning things out like hot cakes. there will probably be an etsy shop as well. so stay tuned, as blog readers will get a little discount for their loyalty! if you just can't wait that long, send me a shout out in the commments section and we can talk business!

fun with...

...washclothes? lucky for us, she is easily entertained!

hallelujah.

after what seemed like forever, the new washer is here. and connected. and washing diapers. ha-lle-lu-jah.

Sushi anyone?

Miss Baby makes a nice little model for all the new pants the Mommy has been making. It's also pretty convenient for her poor little knees. With it being summer out, and often quite hot, it's hard to justify putting clothes on her. I mean, who wouldn't want to hang out in their undies all day if they could? Right. But these jute rugs are brutal on her little legs so why not kill two birds with one stone... the Mommy plays dress up and Miss Baby gets to avoid rug burn. Perfect. Hopefully one day it will be cool enough to actually wear the matching shirts too. Come on September!

Isa says:

Do these pants make my butt look big?

Remember when...

A little trip down memory lane. This was Isa's second or third hike, but her first time in Red Canyon. She was a few weeks old. *sniff*

Breakfast chit chat...

apparently twelve hours of good sleep will make anyone cute and chatty first thing in the morning, coffee or not.

'Morning Little Sleepy Head

Miss Baby put her sleepy pants on a while back and hasn't taken them off since. We've enjoyed nearly a week of very restful nights and very lazy mornings. She's been sleeping in until 8:30 or 9:00am lately and frankly, we just aren't sure what to do with that much sleep. Take last night for instance... she went to sleep at 8:30pm, after thoroughly enjoying some outside BBQ time with our neighbors Lee and Sam, then proceeded to sleep straight through until 8:30am this morning. You do the math. Not once did she wake. Not once did she nurse. Whoa.

With all this sleeping-in she hasn't taken a morning nap in about a week either. Normally she would be going down for a morning nap at around 8:30am. But since that's when she's actually waking up lately, we figure it might be time to cut that nap out. And much the Mommy's surprise, this has worked out just fine. With the exception of this very moment, she has not seemed tired or fussy before her long afternoon nap-- which has been anywhere from 2.5 to 3 hours this week. So, who knows how long it will last but it's been nice so far.

Tug o' War

sorry it's a little dark on miss baby's face, but we were under the table. of course. i mean, where else would you play tug of war?

Na na nananaaa!

Here's your daily dose of Miss Baby cuteness. She is exploring lots of new places these days, including under the computer table. Her new favorite. There are lots of blinking lights and other shiny things down there so you can't blame her eh? As you can hear in the beginning on the video she is saying, "Naanana nana na na" alot these days. Though the Mommy is not totally sure what this means, she is pretty sure that Isa is saying, "it's boiling hot around here, why don't you people get some air conditioning!"

this is what happens...

...when isa takes a three hour nap. the mommy spells with flicker.





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