The rellies are coming, the rellies are coming

Also know as - my house is a disaster from construction, we have had a slam packed weekend of fun, I have too much to do and I keep sitting down to knit, check blogs, e-mail,Facebook and any one thing to keep me from actually starting on cleaning my house.

This is partly because on Tuesday we will be getting a 3rd patio door put in the house. So I know it is only going to get worse before it gets better.

Today all of the hard work has paid off however, I was visiting with one of our dear neighbors at our church fall festival and she shared that she always thought it was so unfortunate that our house looked so sad from the outside. She also said she had to keep reminding herself that Todd and I are a young couple, and she was once there as well. Now she drives by and smiles. She was not the only one with complements, its amazing living in a small community how everyone keeps tabs on each other. I love it!

We will all soon be keeping closer tabs on another loved one. After a long haul, my grandmother is moving from more than 4 hours away to the town where my parents live, just 30 minutes away from us. She has maculardegeneration and has lived with in 10 miles of where she was born 83 years ago. This transition has taken it's toll on everyone.

It's amazing that even when a family does not bicker or fight how emotionally draining it is to begin caring for your parents as they once cared for you. So knowing that an incredibly challenging time in our summer is soon coming to an end, I need to pull up my big girl knickers, get some sleep and begin the cleansing of home, heart and mind, to stop avoiding and get things done.

Maybe the guests will just look out all of our new windows and enjoy the view instead of looking at my dirty house!

On a side note I was listening to Beyonce "if you like it, then you should have put a ring on it" when Isabelle was done with her bath and doing her usual run around naked time. She stopped, put her hands on her hips and popped one hip out, then started shaking her little butt. It was adorable. Turns out all the girl needs is a beat to start bustin' a move. I'm pretty sure that I was much more of a trouble maker than I remember to deserve a child so spirited as her, not that i would change it even if I could.

19 months ago to day

19 months ago today we welcomed her into the world. Today we all did the pee pee dance to celebrate going Pee in the Potty 5 times today! Oh how our lives changed such a short time ago. We would not be complete with out you Isabelle, our Turkey Burger.

Where have we been?

I swear we have been swinging nonstop since Grandma found this in her garage last weekend!
OK not nonstop but really for about 45 minutes every evening.
That face makes every minute worth it.

Other happenings- the Ducks are HUGE! seriously who know ducks could grow so fast! (photos coming soon). We will be planting pumpkins this weekend and the wind is sucking the life out of me. For the past week it seems like we have has constant 45 mph winds. It's warm but the wind just makes me feel frazzled. Oh well. It doesn't keep us from swinging so that is something to be happy about. I promise to get back in the swing of things soon (no pun intended!).
What have y'all been up to?

Luv you

This little girl said "luv you" today. She made my mothers day complete! Not only was she PERFECT in church but she also said "luv you". There is nothing else that will melt your heart like your child saying "luv you".

This week has been wonderfully hectic with the start of a brand new schedule with my new job. We leave the house a little earlier in the morning but not much, which is great! We are home at the same time and I am loving the new job. Now I just have to fit in a work out and cleaning the house into the schedule. However it's so hard when you have a little pumpkin walking around.

I got the pumpkin costume at a garage sale on Friday. I was going to pack it away but apparently miss Isabelle has other plans. She put it on with her new sunglasses and we just about died laughing at her. This week has also come with a myriad of new words not only "luv you" but e-mail, red, ball and bowl. All her words are becoming more clear and succinct. She also said her first sentence on Saturday morning. She found her baby doll under and blanket and said "It's a baby." I again was in shock. How can this little child be speaking in sentences already.

Obviously I'm a little sentimental today being mothers day and all but there is no feeling like watching your child grow.

It's HERE!

The Vanity is here and it's GORGEOUS!

Outside girl

This is my girl outside 2 weekends ago. She is going to be our little dirt ball because she loves to be outside so much. It's amazing how much better she is a walking on grass this week from last!In the mornings now I let her walk out the door, hold her hand down the 3 steps (because we are WAY TOO BIG to crawl down the steps, that's for babies!) and then she is off! She turned around and give me this smile this morning while kicking up dirt in the driveway! Little stinks pot! I cannot wait to spend every Friday with her!

ABCDEFG lskdjjsldkjfslkjdf LMNOP

My little girl can say her ABC's! ok some of them, not all the letters but a good portion are distinguishable. We were in the car last night and while Todd and I talked up front Isabelle was in the back babbling. When our conversation paused Todd and I heard "ABCDEFG garbblegarbble LMNOP garbblegarbble". I was so excited that I almost pulled the car over to kiss her!

B-A-T-H

We will no longer say "Bath" at our house, it will only be spelled out. If you say "bath" in our house you will have to immediately be forced to give one little princess a bath. Tonight at 7:15 I said "Isabelle do you want a bath tonight" she started a 50 yard dash to the bathroom. She looks over the edge, gets the bottle of Johnson's baby wash and throws the whole bottle in the tub and says, "Bath? Bath!" So be warned, if you say "Wow what a nice Bath tub" you will be rolling up your sleeves and giving Isabelle a B-A-T-H.

Cousin Time

Addy, our niece came to visit on Sunday afternoon to give her mom and dad a break because they just had a brand new baby boy on Tuesday march 17th! Isabelle and Addy had a great time and they are getting much better at sharing and playing together. I'm excited to watch them as they grow!

Here he is! Theodore Mark. He was 8 pounds 2 ounces and just beautiful!

Could this be why she doesn't sleep?

For the record Isabelle is not really drinking a sun drop here. But it was hilarious how she carried it around and pretended to drink from it for about a half and hour.

There are pink horns under that hat and a boogie man in our house.

This is the face of a child that cried for 3 hours the previous night. She just wanted to be held. I was trying to be Super Mom and let her cry it out. It was painful. She was dry, she wasn't hungry, she didn't have a fever. I went down the check list and finally Todd said that turning the lamp on in her room helped her sleep.

This is little miss after her Oreo cookie for dessert last night... does that have something to do with the boogie man? Who knows??

Progress and Vocabulary

So I don't have any pictures today of our remodel but I can tell you we have made a lot of progress in the last week. The cement board is up around the tub, there is a brand new window in the bathroom and in the bedroom. We have a vanity and top along with all the fixtures we need including a toilet. We picked out paint and now I just wait patiently as Todd ticks things off of the to do list. He officially entered week 3 of the lay off. Which if we all do our math correctly leaves him 2 weeks to finish the bathroom. However we leave next Tuesday for Phoenix for 4 days, 3 nights quick trip to support everyone's favorite baseball team!
We have a family member who works for the Milwaukee Brewers and will be in Phoenix for their spring training. So we are making a trip down to see her and the team play. We are all excited. It will be Isabelle's first trip on an air plane. Don't worry there will be copious pictures from the trip.
In other Isabelle news she has starts to say so many new words this past week it's incredible. She can say animal, apple, and her first sentence "Hi Baby!" and this morning she said "Hi Dad." Todd was frying up some bacon when she said this and he turned to look at me with bewildered amazement and then a knowing look that we are now all in trouble. It's like a switch has been flicked on. I can't wait to see what she comes up with this week.
I will post more photos tomorrow however Todd wanted to clean up the construction zone before I put pictures up.

Tuesday Morning

Good Morning Everyone! Happy Tuesday!

This is a block model of our daughter. I think that dad is having more fun with the new blocks than Isabelle!

Close Up

The only way Isabelle will let me take her Picture now is close up.

This one cracks me up.

If I say just wait there while I take your photo I get this face. Pure frustration.

Here is my favorite outfit to put her in right now.

I used to have a lamb named Wonk. I called him Wonk because he had one ear that would perk up and the other one was "wonk". Wonk was taken to slaughter one fall afternoon and I never got to say goodbye. Isabelle's pig tails on Friday reminded me of Wonk.

1st Birthday Party

The party was a while ago but here are some photos. Erica my friend took the top two. I LOVE THEM! In the last one Isabelle is trying to put on her new shirt.

13 months Old Today!

Happy 13 month birthday Isabelle!

Here are some new things that you have done in the past month. - You have all sorts of new sounds for animals including a cow, dog, cat, sheep, pig, horse, duck, chicken, and every ones favorite the tiger. You are picking up new words every day including Truck, PJ's, grandma and many more. Your favorite song is "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and you are working hard on the motions. You have a new mad or frustrated face everyday that brings your father and I to tears we laugh so hard. ( I swear we are laughing with you). You suddenly love to be surprised, startled and chased. Your grandpa Neumann spent a good 20 minutes making you jump and chasing you on Sunday. I've never heard you laugh so much in your life. Also This past week you learned how to stand up for yourself and fight back.

On Thursday you were at Grandma Neumann's with Addy. Grandma went to the bathroom and suddenly heard crying. As she started to leave the bathroom you and Addy were headed right for her. You were fine but Addy was in tears. She told Grandma that you had taken her crayons away. Grandma looked in your hands and there were no crayons. Then she looked in your mouth and you had all 4 crayons in your mouth. Way to go girl!

Thank you for all the joy that you have brought to our lives. We love every second of watching you grow even if it's in the middle of the night and you say "HI" in the most chipper voice!

Love you- Ma

Some fun pictures

I'll admit it, I need to get my but in gear and up load photos to my computer from my camera, however I'm not exactly sure where out connection cord is. I'm pretty sure it's right next to Isabelle's juice glass that she mysteriously lost on Sunday. We are not sure where in our house the purple juice glass has gone. Todd thinks that she is trying to make jail house hooch. We'll find out soon enough, hopefully.

Luckily for you and me we have a few pictures to share from the camera on my phone.

Here is the smartest baby in the world putting on her mamas mittens that we in her diaper bag.

Someones got her new shoes on!

Here little miss is opening up a birthday gift that came to her via mail. She was pretty excited and it included lots of ooohh's and pointing.

And here is our trial run of the BACON EXPLOSION! It was wonderful, need the Neumann tweaking but over all WONDERFUL! You all can expect it to be seen at many a social function.

Other wise things are pretty calm around here. We are all anxiously awaiting Friday because Todd is taking a 5 week voluntary layoff from work. During that time he will be working on the bathroom and hopefully completing that before we leave for Phoenix in early March.

Oh What a Big Day!

This last week has been so much fun. Isabelle is learning new things every day! Last night I asked her to go get a diaper form daddy and bring it back to me and I'd change her. And she did it! She also said "diaper". She is adding new words to her vocabulary every day. The newest one on a consistent basis is "Addy". That is her 2 year old cousin that lives next door. They spend a lot of time together and it's so much fun to watch them grow and learn to play together.
Yesterday Isabelle got her first set of squeaker shoes. What are Squeaker shoes you ask? They are exactly what they sound like. Every time that Isabelle takes a step they squeak. It's really funny when she starts to walk fast, almost run, it's just one long squeak instead of separate steps. They sound like they would get old fast however they were really born out of necessity. With the squeaker shoes we can tell where she is at all times.
Now when there is no squeaking and no talking then we know she is doing something she isn't supposed to.
Also this week I have realized how grown up my little girl is. She know what she wants all the time and can get her point across quite well. It's amazing how much has changed in a year. Last year at this time we were just beginning to understand each other and now it's almost like having a conversation. Oh how the time flies!

Full of It!

Last week Isabelle wasn't quite herself. She Threw up lunch on thursday and Friday. I said thats enough and made Todd take her to the Doctor to see what was wrong. If it was a virus I could live with that, however if there was something we could do to make her feel better I was ready and willing to do so.
After the appointment Todd and Isabelle came to my office and I asked- "So... what did the doctor say?"
"Shes full of S*$^" Todd said.
I was like "What? Who? The doctor? Explain!" I mean really we are talking about my daughter here a short explaination of 4 words was not going to do it.
Turns out that is exactly what Isabelle was. She was full of it. Poor thing was constipated. She had been going but just little rabbit turds as we call them so I totally didn't suspect constipation. However after a weekend of Miralax and lots of diluted pear juice our little one cleared out her system sunday and monday.
I cannot wait to tell Isabelle that story when she is old enough to appreciate her fathers humor!

Walking

These are hilarious pictures of Isabelle walking. It looks like she is running but not quite yet. I give her 2 days and she will be running!

This is Isabelle running away after her bath--- Todd also admitted after this bath in the sink that we need to get the bath tub soon!!

I got ahead of her. I loved this shot with one leg up.

Happy 1st birthday late Isabelle! Mama and Dada are so proud of you for walking!