Rain, Rain Go Away!

Isabella made it through her first Tropical Storm last week! We were very fortunate to not have any flooding at our house. There are many areas around us that are still completely flooded. The only issue we had to deal with was having a 10 month old cooped up inside for 4 days straight. We did alright the first two days, but on the third day I could not keep Isabella away from the door. She and Maggie would sit and look out and bang on the door in hopes I would let them out. :)

Silent Night

Anyone who has been around Isabella when she sleeps knows she needs three things...her pacifier, her bear, and her sound machine. Isabella had a hard time sleeping for any length of time when she was born, so we gave white noise a try. It always seemed to calm her and help her sleep for more than 15 minutes. For weeks we tuned in static on the radio while she slept. It's actually hard to keep static on a radio all night long. We'd be woken up to random programming coming through the station in the middle of the night. After a few weeks of that, we finally went out and bought a sound machine for her. It has a waterfall setting that sounds just like static. Ever since then we all (I say all because the noise comes through the monitor) have slept with static. Last night we decided to turn it off, and she did great! Much to our surprise we did not hear a peep out of her all night. The only reason I kept waking up was because I kept thinking the monitor was off. I'm not used to no sound coming out of it. She also made it through her naps today without it. And we thought she'd be carrying the sound machine with her to slumber parties. :o) I hope the pacifier is this easy to give up!

Vacation

After 10 months, Jeff and I decided we were ready to try a vacation without Isabella. Before heading to St. Augustine for a few days, we dropped Isabella off with her Nana so she could begin a vacation of her own at The Villages. She spent the first part of the weekend with Nana and Papa taking golf cart rides and partying on the square.

Papa taught Isabella how to appreciate music. She took this opportunity to show off some dance moves. I wonder where she learned those moves. ;o)

Isabella spend the second half of the weekend with Grandmamma and Granddaddy. She was reunited with Maggie as well. Maggie was especially happy because Isabella frequently feeds her from her high chair. Here Isabella is relaxing at Lake Sumer Landing with Grandmamma and Granddaddy. She enjoys watching the line dancers that come out in droves when music is playing on the square.

Isabella also enjoyed spending time with the Duanes and Ditmores. Here she is dancing with Karen.

Isabella had a great time with everyone! We missed her a lot, but we appreciated the "time off".

The Little Gym

Isabella and I have been going to the Little Gym every week this Summer. Today was the last day of Summer classes. We've really enjoyed the classes, and she's learned lots of new things. It was also Isabella's last day as a "Bug". She's graduated to the "Birdie" class next semester. Isabella was so excited that Daddy got to join us today for her last class.

Taking a ride on the parachute.

This was supposed to be leg exercises. Isabella was playing her own game.

Hanging from the bar. She actually hung by herself with Jeff's hands on top of hers.

The biggest event of the day, which of course we did not have the camera ready for, was her beam routine. The instructor helped Isabella step side to side down the beam and when they hit the middle she did a somersault on the beam! Miss Jackie started to flip Isabella upside down, and Isabella put her hands down and tucked her head all by herself. We've done somersaults, but never on the beam. We were so proud! Isabella was also proud of herself. When I took her from the beam Jeff and I both heard her say "I did it". Really, that's what it sounded like. :o)

Isabella crawling away from us without even a little look back to see if we were coming too. She was on a mission to get to her friends (well, them and and the bells Miss Jackie had).

Isabella and her teacher, Miss Jackie.

Picnic

This weekend we took Isabella for a picnic in the park. She loves being outside, so we thought we would take advantage of the "cooler" temperatures on Saturday (it was only 90). She had a great time watching everyone in the park and actually sat still for more than 2 minutes! Isabella also had her first ride down a slide.

We have Lift Off!

Tummy lift off that is. Isabella has been army crawling for a few weeks and this week she's got her tummy off the ground and is fully crawling. She's getting faster and faster each day. Here's some video of her crawling.

Her tummy is not the only thing she's gotten off the ground this week. Isabella's two favorite things to get her hands on since she has been crawling are the outlet covers (I thought those were supposed to deter babies from plugs!) and of course anything electronic. We thought the computer was safe and out of her reach on the chair, but she has quickly proved us wrong...

She decided not to give us any time to get used to her crawling. She wanted to do it all in one week. Isabella's pulling up on anything and everything. Hopefully we'll have some video of her walking some time soon. :)

Welcome

We decided it was finally time for us to join the world of blogging! It's been a big week for Isabella, and it's made us realize how quickly she is starting to achieve major milestones. We figured we better start getting these written down somewhere before we cannot remember when they occurred. When asked to comment on the new blog, Isabella stated the following: