More Isabella

Yet another post about Isabella -- I'm starting to feel a little bad, like all I talk about is Isabella instead of Amelia, but Isabella has been in such a funny little phase lately. First of all, on a sweet note, last night at church we had what we call "5th Sunday Singing" - anytime we have a 5th Sunday in the month we have just a time of singing and testimonies. Yesterday Daddy asked Isabella if she wanted to sing in church with him and she said yes - so last night, she got up on the stage with Daddy and sang "Jesus Loves Me". Talk about a mommy feeling like crying!! When we were driving into the church parking lot I asked her if she was still going to sing with Daddy and she said "I gonna be scared!" But she did really good, it was so sweet, she acted a little shy at first, but then Daddy held her up and held the microphone and she did just fine! Then Kenny got a laugh because he keeps asking me to sing with him on these nights and I don't (on my behalf, he does normally wait until that day, doesn't have a song in mind, we've never practiced, I already get nervous in front of people......) But last night one of the teen girls came up to me and said "Will you sing with me tonight, Eddy's going to play the guitar and the song is just......" So here I am, knowing the song and realizing that since Kenny and I work with the teens and are wanting them to be involved that if I say no, I'm now not being the example I should be. I swear, I think my husband must have put her up to it! Of course, I had to do it. When I came back to my seat Isabella said "GOOD Job Mommy!" (She's the pro now, you know) Then Isabella absolutely had me in stitches --- as a little background, last summer we went to hear a group sing and some of the people around us would raise their hand to praise the Lord - well as soon as they did it, so did Isabella. And of course, we were cracking up because here was a little 18 month old raising her hand like she was praising! So this started at an early age. :) Last night, Isabella had gone across the aisle to sit with Makenna and her grandma. Well, during one song a man at our church, in his 80s, stood up and put both his hands in the air - stayed there for a few seconds and then sat down. As soon as he sat down, I saw Isabella scoot off of the pew, stand up and throw her arms in the air, stand a few seconds and then quietly get back up on the pew. I wish you could have seen it because it was so funny. Its probably not a good thing that she copies everything, but it is awfully cute!
Oh - and I just took a picture this morning of Isabella so you can see what her "new haircut" REALLY looks like. She woke up this morning and her hair was a mess (as it always is in the morning) but it was also a little flat so it made the "bangs" flat on her head rather than curling like they normally do. Go ahead, Gasp in horror!!

Slide Show for PRESENTS

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PRESENTS!

(For the slide show above - I copy and paste in here like Slide.com says, but then it tells me it can't accept it, so that's why I have to post it seperately)
Friday while we were eating lunch the Post Lady brought a package to the door for Isabella. She was SOOOO excited. My Aunt Rosie (that would make her Isabella's GREAT aunt) had sent Isabella a package full of little presents. Mean mommy, I made her finish lunch first then I let her open her presents. I made a little slide show again since there were so many pictures (& presents) I wish I would have videotaped instead because she was so cute saying things like "WOW my little teddy bear!" "Aunt Wrosie gave me lots of presents!" "Woo-hoo, another present!" As you can see in some of the pictures, I tried to get her expression as she opened them, her eyes would get all wide as she saw what her present was. Then even when she had more to open, one of the presents was a book and she sat right down and looked at her book before opening the next present. She then wore her necklaces for the rest of the day as well as all day Saturday. So we want to say Thank you to Aunt Rosie!!!

Oh and my mom told me that my Aunt wanted to make sure I knew she hadn't forgotten Amelia, just thought she wouldn't enjoy getting a package as much -- but I think she was just as happy with the new toy that she got! :)

Oh my..... my girl

Do you remember when I wrote this about Isabella having that mischievious little personality that I had hoped for? Well, Wednesday night I decided that I should be more careful what I wish for. I had just gotten home with the girls, Kenny was at the church waiting for the teens to be picked up and I got Isabella ready for bed, had to clean up a dead bug on the floor, had to clean up poopy pants - literally!, was getting Amelia ready for bed and realized Isabella had gotten rather quiet. So I called out "Isabella, where are you?" She came into the room with her hand behind her back and I asked her what she was doing. THIS is what she was doing...

Before you think she was cleaning out our drains, she pulled her hand from behind her back and had a pair of scissors and calmy said "I cut my hair - in the trash" (WHAAATTT????) Sure enough, I looked in the trash and found some of her hair -- but I didn't think it looked like that much. So I sat her down, gave her a time out and then decided to take her hair out of her little piggy tails and comb it. I combed it and more hair came out, and more and more..... I just felt like crying! Actually, Isabella said "I made mommy sad?" "Yes baby, you made mommy sad because you disobeyed and touched scissors, (not too mention her beautiful hair is being chopped up)....." So now if you ask her about it she will droop her shoulders, drop her head and say in a pitiful little voice "I made mommy sad" (This child really knows how to work the sympathy!) So she has given herself little bangs, I still feel like crying and this is what her hair looks like now:Ok, I realize you can't really see it well in the picture, but that little tiny bunch of hair on the top of her forehead in the middle - that's as long as it is. And before anyone says, well you should have kept your scissors put up -- they were, the only problem is, I can't think of anywhere high enough to keep them out of her reach, she climbs everywhere, can open any door or drawer and why did I think it was a good thing last week when she was with a little friend and she was the only one that could cut?!? On a lighter, more pleasant note Amelia has been changing so much in the last couple weeks. She is getting around everywhere -- she no longer is rolling everywhere but instead is doing either the inchworm crawl, pulling around in the military crawl, and even throws in a cute "downward facing dog" yoga stance every now and then. I really need to learn how to put a video on here, so ya'll can see her, its so cute!

She also started really saying Da-Da this Saturday. Kenny was thrilled because Isabella actually said Ma-Ma first even though he was told that all babies say da-da first. :) So now she is becoming a real chatterbox. She also has been giving kisses and its so sweet. I'll hold her in front of me on my lap and say give mommy kisses and pucker up and she will lean forward and give me a little open mouth slobbery kiss. Too adorable and melts my heart!!! For at least a couple days I've decided to change my music on my blog to one of Isabella's favorite songs because even with her new crazy hairdo (and other crazy antics that she does) I still feel like both of my girls always give me a little bit sunshine on my cloudy and rainy days!!
**Edit: I found that I didn't have to totally change my music, now I have one song play after the other I just can't figure out how to get it to not start over with each new view....

Scarface

I am feeling so special right now -- Ok, maybe not special, but I have been chosen by Mary at Owlhaven to be a Very Interesting Person because I am ..... talented? beautiful? ..... No, because I am a scar face! :) She had written about her own scar last week and asked if anyone else had an interesting scar story to post it and she would pick the most interesting. Well, shouldn't you know it, no one else had a story where a cat attached to their face. I am so privileged --- wait, I shouldn't be excited about this should I? Anyway, here's her post just in case you don't believe that I am really interesting! Here's her scar stories, where you can find my post/comment, or if I MUST, I will post it back here. While you're there look around a little - I think you'll enjoy her blog!

Fall Festivities

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Thought I would post some pictures from this weekend - I had so many I wanted to post so I tried to do a slide show - I think you can click on the pictures and just see them if its going to slow or anything. I really don't know, this is the first slide show I've done on here. Friday night, we took the girls to Boo in the Zoo. Isabella went as - what I told her was - an Asian Princess. People kept asking where I got her little "costume", but this little outfit was mine when I was her age. My dad got it in Japan and my mom has saved it all these years. I was excited that it fit Isabella this year. It was so thin, so I got some pretty red asian looking material and put it underneath. She looked so cute and loves dressing up!!! Amelia was a little bumblebee and an adorable one at that. This is the same outfit we had gotten Isabella her first year. I didn't get as many cute pictures of her because she was sleeping and I had to wake her up just to get her dressed and leave, but I'm planning on dressing her up again -- so I'll try to do a little photo shoot then. Isabella loved Boo in the Zoo this year. She kept talking about all the costumes she saw - "Look, Cookie Monster.... Loo0000k, a butterfly...." She was so cute and then she would walk up to the tables and say "Treat please" and then look around like they should have been giving her more. :) Then Saturday, we went apple picking (barely any left) and to the pumpkin farm with our friends, Randy and Andrea and their little girl, Makenna. Isabella and Makenna are only 1 month apart in age and they are such cute little friends. We had actually all gone up there to meet with a group for families adopting across cultures - but it was more of a "lets get together, see whose here and then do your own thing" than a "lets get to know new people" kind of thing. We all had fun though and we got a couple cute pictures to boot!

Lessons

I have to tell a sweet little story that happened today. Isabella was playing with Amelia and didn't realize that I was watching them (at first I was watching with a little smile because lately Amelia has just been belly laughing at Isabella and its so cute) well, then Isabella for some reason hit Amelia -- not hard enough to make Amelia cry (which we all know wouldn't take much) but still I could tell it was a mean hit, not a tap on the head. I had to give Isabella a time out and then afterwards I sat her on my lap and decided to try and talk to her about being a big sister. You see, lately I have noticed alot of siblings (not in my family, in case anyone is worried :) that really don't like each other. Now I realize they will fight, they might not always get along or have the same friends, but by golly, I am going to do my best to have my girls love each other! So anyway, I sat her down and told her (yes realizing she's only - well almost 3) that she wasn't allowed to hit anyone, etc. but that she needs to be sweet to her baby sister. That God gave her her baby sister and He wants her to be a good big sister, etc. Then a few minutes later, I went back into the kitchen to make lunch and I heard her talking to Amelia and she said "Mia, God gave you to me." (In her own little sweet 2 1/2 year old voice) It was so sweet.

Tomboy

Ruffles on her legs
Hairbow in her hair
Bracelet on her wrist...




Tomboy in her heart!

Happy Birthday

Before you think this is a picture of some weird "paint" experiment, yesterday was my mom's birthday. Wednesday, I asked Isabella what she wanted to make Noni for her birthday (really thinking she would want to paint or cut something) instead she said "a hairbow". Hmmmm, don't think I've ever seen my mom with a hair bow in her hair, so I told her Noni doesn't wear hairbows, and asked if there was anything else she wanted to make her? "A birthday Cake!" So we decided to make her birthday cupcakes. Isabella loves to get her little apron on and help mommy cook. (Actually, I asked her, "What do we need to wear when we cook?" and she said "A TATTOO!" - man I wish those people at the restaurant would have just told her they were giving her a sticker!) I thought it would be more fun for her to make them colorful so we mixed some batter with food coloring and used that. Here's a picture of her rather proud of herself after the cupcakes were all done (and cooled, obviously) We did ice them and she put sprinkles on them, but I didn't take a picture of that. (Oh and notice the Chick-fil-a cup in the top pic, Isabella said she needed "lemon juice" while she was cooking.)
Happy Birthday Noni!!

Love Thursday

I've posted this picture before, it was taken at Easter when Amelia was 1 month old. This wasn't a posed picture, you know, where you say "Sit there and kiss your cousin!" When we first brought Amelia home and for a couple months afterwards, my nephew Garrett would ask us if he could kiss Amelia's hand. I just happened to make sure I got a picture of it! Thought it would be Ok if I posted this picture again since it is LOVE THURSDAY!!

Sweet little face

Since I have been a bad mommy and not posted a picture of Amelia in 10 days, I decided I better get to it. I don't know if you can tell as much in b/w but she has got the major teething drool going on. Even with the drool, she's got the sweetest little face with her pretty eyes and cute little grin. And I think she likes getting her picture taken - just tonight I got the video camera out to video tape her beginning attempts of crawling - and as soon as she saw the camera, she pushed herself up on her arms and gave me a big grin. And looks at those little cheeks, is it any wonder that I have to kiss them a thousand times a day?!

No Cheating

This week I have seriously started dieting/eating healthy/getting back to a healthy lifestyle - - whatever you want to call it so why couldn't I have found these at Target last week?!? I LOVE Milano Cookies and last night I saw that they have special marked packages to support Breast Cancer research this month. So, if you like them, go get some and enjoy a few extra for me!
Oh why could I not have found these sooner?

Pappack

I had to upload these pictures for my aunt - who is referred to by all the second generation cousins as Aunt Nu Nu. While we were up for the Ladies Conference, she gave me a bunch of books for Isabella as well as this little backpack with books in it. I talked to Isabella while mom and I were on the way home and I told her that I was bringing her something from Aunt Nu Nu -- well, as soon as I walked in the door, she said "I open my present?" This child forgets nothing!! Well, she LOVES books and she was even more thrilled about the backpack. Yesterday for most of the afternoon she walked around the house with her backpack on and FULL. There are probably 10 books in their (Dr. Seuss size) and it is kind of heavy, but she refused to let me take the books out. Actually, I thought I had convinced her to let me take the books out, but then as soon as they were out she said "I want that one in my Pappack, and that one, and that one...." until they were all back in the backpack. Thankfully, the other books she gave her were too big to fit in it, or she would have wanted them in there as well. I had to take a couple pictures, because she was just too cute - and she was more than willing to pose for the camera this time and show off her new "pappack". So, she has now been saying since Sunday night "Aunt Nu Nu give me my present, I go see Aunt Nu Nu?, I miss Aunt Nu Nu", and such. :) The only problem -- well, I have to constantly read Horton Hatches the Egg AND my little girl is looking too grown up with a backpack on and I'm seeing the future school years coming way too quick!!

Women, Worship and Weight Gain

This past weekend, my sweet husband watched our two girls so that my mom and I could drive up to the mountains and go to a Ladies Conference at my aunt's and cousins' church. It was a wonderful time of getting away and worshipping the Lord. And I was amazed at how much work had gone into this conference. Everything was decorated beautifully with a fall theme and they had all kinds of door prizes (which you know women love to get free stuff!) And I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the speakers and the singing groups. Just to hear how the Lord works in others lives and see others praising the Lord as well! And the food ---- OH the FOOD! I have to say I was very impressed with their Pastor, he organizes the meals and gets men to help him cook and serve it and let me just tell you, you may think that men would serve us hot dogs and mac and cheese, but on the contrary, we had a ton of good home cooked food and LOTS of it!! (Hence the weight gain :) All together it was a wonderful time and as much as I hated leaving my hubby and girls for the weekend, I was very glad we went. And I do hope that next year I will be told again when this conference is (Hint, Hint) so I can plan to go again.

Silly & Soapy

What is it about almost 3 year olds (or at least mine) that can take a simple, routine thing and turn it into craziness. Every night we have the same ritual with Isabella -- she goes potty, washes her hands, washes her face, brushes her teeth, etc. Well last night after she washed her hands, I gave her more soap to wash her face and went to my normal stance of holding back her hair when all of a sudden she went nuts with washing her face -- starting with her hair! Honestly, it took all of 2 seconds! I said "Oh, Isabella - stay right there" and of course I had to go get.... a washcloth?, the rod of discipline?, ... No, my camera! :) On a daily basis, this child cracks me up with her antics even when some of them are much messier than this. The people who know me well have on several occasions made the comment that it's amazing that I got the exact personality in a child that I had hoped for. I know, call me crazy, but I always said I hoped I would have a child with a little mischievious personality. I do believe I got my wish!

LOVE Thursday

Kenny took this picture of us napping in California when Isabella was finally able to come out of the hospital and to the hotel with us. We had to make a "make shift" bed for her for a few days (although she spent even more time sleeping on one of us.) I was already so worried that I wouldn't hear her when she woke up and the fact that she wasn't even 5 pounds made me want to hold my hand on her so I would always know she was ok or maybe it was just the fact that I wanted to feel her, so afraid I was going to wake up from this wonderful dream. I used this picture for a scrapbook page and I found the poem below that I thought was so fitting for it. I know women who give birth feel this way as well, but it seemed to state my feelings so perfectly, because I didn't have 9 months to wonder about her, to get to know her in a sense, to know what she felt like when she moved, to hear her little heartbeat, and I wasn't there the day she was born. So, literally, overnight I was thrown into being her mommy and from the very first minute that I saw her sweet face my heart was overflowing with love.

How can I love so intensely someone I barely know?
Someone who has said not a word and shared not a thought.
Someone who has yet to see the page of the calendar turn ...
I look for a hint of a smile as I hold you close ...
Through the night, I check your cradle. Looking for the rising and falling of your chest and straining to hear your soft breaths ...
How can I love so intensely someone I barely know?
I didn't know it was possible -- until there was you, my little miracle, my little mystery.

I've been tagged!!!

I have never been tagged before, but Barbara H over at Stray Thoughts has tagged me with a four word Meme. It is where one person tags a others to give their definitions or what comes to mind for 4 particular words, then that person tags other people with 4 different words, etc. She called it "Do You Know What I Meme?" :) The words she gave me were Boggle, Images, Wheels, Bible. So heres the first things that come to my mind. (I have also decided to ask Isabella what she thinks and her responses will be under them in purple

Boggle: The game! I don't own this game, but I love it! I've always been into word games, well other than crossword puzzles, they drive me nuts. Now I feel like I need to go buy the game Boggle -- do they still make it?

Boggle -- She wiggles her head around and says "Like that" (Oh, how I wish you could have seen her little bobbling head she did when I asked her what she thought Boggle meant, I'm not sure if she actually remembers the bobble head that daddy has at work or if this was totally made up -- most likely the latter)

Images: Since I am such a camera hound, this obviously makes me think of the gazillion pictures I have stored on my computer that I have yet to have printed out. And just thinking of all the precious memories that a simple image can bring!

Images-- "Running" - No wait - "Crying" - No wait - "Bagel" - No wait - "What is it, Mommy?" :)

Wheels -- Those things that we need on our car, they always need replaced at the worst times, always cost us too much money, and the thing that we ended up with a huge bolt (yes bolt, not nail) stuck in a couple months ago!

Wheels -- "wheels go, round, round, round" (From the Wheels on the Bus song)

Bible: The most important book, God's Word, our true source of encouragement and direction. Also the first song Isabella learned to sing (at least yelling out BIBLE at the end)

Bible -- "for the Bible tells me so, little ones Him belong, they are weak, He is STRONG, Yes Jesus Loves Me....... (wish you could see the face she gives when she says STRONG!)

Ok - so I am going to tag my friends Becky and Kris (didn't put a link to yours, wasn't sure if you would want me to. :) , and my cousins Melva and Sheryl and IF they want to play along, their words will be Ball, Heart, Sheep, Sister -- Ok and before you think I'm totally weird for picking those words, this is how I did it -- I asked Isabella these questions "What's your favorite toy?, What's your favorite treat? (thinking she would say ice cream, instead she said heart) What's your favorite animal? (Why she said sheep I have NO idea) and Who is one of your favorite people? (to which she responded A-mia, her knew nickname for Amelia)

Little Black Bella

Isabella has decided to inform me that she is black. I know, it kind of surprised me too! :) While she was watching Sesame Street she said "Elmo's red, Grover Blue, Big Bird's Yellow..... Bella's Black" At first I thought, Hmmm, where did she hear that? Even with Amelia being our little brown sugar, I wasn't sure where she would have gotten that idea. And quite honestly, Isabella doesn't notice skin color - yet. And just so I don't give anyone a wrong idea- no I'm not saying we are teaching her to be "color blind", she just happens to be 2 1/2 and will still look at pictures of a baby -- lets say my baby pictures for instance where you see a pasty white baby with blue eyes -- and still say its baby sister. :) Then I thought well, maybe she is noticing the difference of skin color and thought I would say "No, you're not black you are..... light brown with yellow undertones?!? (gotta be politically correct and get the whole hispanic/asian/caucasian in there) Then I realized she wasn't looking at skin at all - she was talking about her hair. If Elmo is red because his "hair" is red, Isabella is black because her hair is black. So I guess I need to inform all of you that everyone in this house is either dark brown or black. :)

Hide and Seek

Now, where could Amelia be?


Come out, come out wherever you are........


Oh, there she is, under the couch!

Pumpkin Patch

Today we took the girls to the pumpkin patch and it was a perfect fall day for it. I don't know if I will post any of the other pictures or not, but these are my favorites. I LOVE the picture of Amelia!!!! Isabella's, well, I love her and I think she looks like a little prissy pumpkin here, but she has been so hard to get pictures of lately. Actually, she was the one who went over to this pumpkin and sat on it, she just didn't want to give me her beautiful dimpled smile. She IS looking at the camera, so I take what I can get. Still a cute picture of her, but hopefully she will start getting better at smiling for me. Actually, I can't blame her, there were pumpkins everywhere, tons of other kids, lots of different animals to see, toys to play on, etc. She is just way too interested in having fun that slowing down to smile for a picture is a bit much to ask. :) Then when I put both of the girls together, I'm constantly saying "Amelia, Isabella, Amelia, Isabella...." trying to get them both to look at the same time! Most of the pictures I took of them together, Isabella would be looking to the side or Amelia would be looking at Isabella, but the picture below is my favorite! And not because its the best picture or frameable quality, but because it gives me a little glimpse of what life will be like.....
We asked Isabella to hold onto her baby sister and this is what she did. And instead of Amelia giving a confused look or crying, she was laughing about this. It was so cute that I had to take a picture. She really does enjoy when her big sister plays with her, even if she's almost putting her in a head lock. :) So, I didn't get a beautiful picture of them that I can frame and hang on my wall, but the fact that I can tell they love each other -- that's enough for me!!

Love Thursday

This was taken last year, at the beach, and it was Isabella's first time at Build a Bear. We all knew right away what she would be choosing! I decided to use this picture for Love Thursday because, well, I love it! I love the fact that a year ago she was so crazy in love with Elmo, I love that she used to call him Melmo, and I love that she decided to snuggle with him when she looked in the mirror.

Child Labor

Ok, before you actually get me for child labor, she asked mommy if she could do this. And honestly, I was surprised how well she did - I only let her go down the hall (this was her also trying to maneuver it into her bedroom) but that vacuum cleaner is so heavy and hard to push. I didn't even think she'd be able to push it, but she's a strong little girl. The picture I really wish I could have posted was of Amelia though. I've mentioned that she's my emotional one, the one that scares easy, etc. She even got scared yesterday when I had a towel wrapped around my head and Sunday at church, the people behind us laughed at her little raspberry noise and she started crying --- I have NEVER seen a baby this emotional at this age. Anyway, she is DEATHLY afraid of the vacuum cleaner. She was in her little entertainment system and when I turned the vacuum on, she got so scared -- I think it even scared Isabella because she kept trying to hug her. So I turned the vacuum off and decided that I would try to hold her on one hip and vacuum with the other hand. As soon as it came on, she didn't cry, but she grabbed my neck so tight and buried her head down into my chest. Kind of sweet, but I hate that she was so scared. I guess I'm going to be getting really strong arms unless I start vacuuming after daddy comes home. Or better yet, I'll cuddle her and he can vacuum. :)

Good Eatin!

Amelia ate her first cereal today and as you can see, she LOVED it!! She would have eaten more if we would have let her. We'll just see how she likes the real food like peas and broccoli!

Awareness

Although, I had just decided on a kind of lighter burgundy color for the background, I remembered that this was October and it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. So, I've changed my background to pink in honor of this. (I read to do this somewhere, but can't remember where!) I'm also going to try and post some different good ways to support this in my little "Shout Out" area in the right column. I would like to recommend to all that we use some type of pink in our blog to show our support! I know that my Aunt is fighting breast cancer right now and most of my friends have been affected by it somehow in their family. And maybe everytime we see pink on our blogs as well as ones we read we can say a prayer for all of those who are fighting with breast cancer right now!!!

My first Shout Out is one that my cousin Sheryl (my aunt that has breast cancer is her mom) found and its the tastiest one of all! :)

I had to post another little funny Isabella moment. I was just sitting here at the computer typing an e-mail and Isabella went over to Kenny's guitar. She said "Play guitar daddy? PLEASE! Play twinkle star?" To which Kenny responded "Oh, I'm sorry baby, that's sweet, but I stink" As mommy, who seems to know how my child thinks, a smile crept across my face. Then Isabella walked over to Kenny and went Sniff, Sniff "You don't stink daddy! Silly daddy! Play guitar." To which Daddy then took the guitar and strummed a few notes.