So Many New Things To Try

Isabelle is officially done with "baby" foods and on to adult foods only!  We were suppose to start phasing the baby foods out around 9 months and introducing more table foods.  We had been giving her Gerber Stage 3 foods at 9 months and have slowly began introducing more and more "adult" foods.  A couple days ago we finished off the last of the baby foods we had and she is now completely off them!  I personally really liked the baby foods since I know she would eat pretty much anything, I know they are healthy for her, and they were easy to feed!  The adult foods are fun too however, since she gets to try so many new things.  They main difference is that it takes much longer to feed her the adult foods.  Partly because she likes to feed herself and partly because we cut everything up into such small pieces, the preparation takes awhile!  In addition since Isabelle is no longer on formula (she never did take it in her sippy cup) we also give her a mid morning, mid afternoon, and small bedtime snack to help supplement the nutrition and calories from the formula.  With all this it seems like she spends lots of time eating!

Here is a glimpse into a daily feeding with Isabelle!

Breakfast:  Banana Oatmeal, fresh fruit and water.  Her fruit usually consists of 3 or 4 different kinds of the following:  fresh strawberries, bananas, peaches, blueberries, blackberries, pears, pineapple or raspberries. 

Breakfast in her pajamas

Mid-Morning Snack:  Gerber makes a great toddler yogurt in a variety of flavors; peach, banana or strawberry.  She usually has this in addition to some type of toddler cracker or bread and water.  The yogurt is a great way for us to make sure she is getting her calcium.  Isabelle loves it!

After her morning nap she went for a swing!

Lunch:  Lunch can vary but usually consists of Gerber Lil Crunchies, a vegetable, fruit and half a "sandwich".  We have been giving her whole wheat bread with cheese and some deli meat (usually smoked turkey or chicken) all torn up into little pieces.  This takes a long time to feed as she is getting use to the meat texture and chews it forever! :)  Today I thought I would change things up a bit and I grilled the sandwich with the cheese and turkey.  Lets just say she wanted NOTHING to do with it.

There was a slight incident with some softened carrots at lunch today....so I had to change her and wash the clothes.  She had fun crawling around in her diaper!

Mid-Afternoon Snack:  This can vary as well, but typically it would consist of applesauce or another type of fruit cup with no sugar.  Sometimes she will have some crackers or bread with this and sometimes she won't.  Today I made biscuits using Bisquick Heart Smart baking mix and she had half a biscuit with some pineapple. (Kind of random now that I type it out...but she enjoyed it....and really enjoyed every time I said 'biscuit'....she was laughing like crazy!)  Usually she will have some white grape juice with this as well.

Dinner:  For dinners I am trying to give her what we (or more like Kevin since I am such a picky eater) are having for dinner.  Usually she ends up having raviolis, hopefully a vegetable, maybe some cottage cheese or anything else that seems dinner appropriate. :)  Tonight I made a pizza/pasta casserole for Kevin and she shared that with him, along with a little more biscuit, and some steamed green beans.  Actually she was not fond of the green beans.  So I tried them in a food chopper and she still didn't want them.  It seems to be a trend the past couple days that she does not want her vegetables.  All we can do is keep trying or maybe go back to stage 3 in vegetables to make sure she is eating them!  Hopefully she is not taking after me, as according to my parents and my baby book I refused all veggies at 9 months on! 

Feeding herself dinner!

Bedtime Snack:  Usually a toddler cereal bar...either apple cinnamon or strawberry banana flavor! Yummy!

Eating her bedtime snack with Daddy.

So there you have it....our day of lots of feeding!  Hopefully we can start trying more and more new foods (and some more vegetables) since there is so many new foods for Isabelle to try!

A Short Vacation

What a weekend.  Simba's move to my parents actually turned into more of a short vacation for him.  Yes that is correct, we have Simba back home now.  He was refusing to eat or drink water from the minute we left my parents Saturday, and seemed "depressed".  I am sure he would have been better if we had given it a couple weeks but Kevin and I thought it would be best to get him home.  (Not to mention my constant crying for two days).  Anyways...I drove up there last night and brought him home.  He perked up when he heard my voice and when we got him home he ran to his food bowl and ate.  And ate.  And ate. 

Simba made himself right at home again!

The only reason he is home is because he will be spending all his time shut into our bedroom.  He is only allowed out when Isabelle is sleeping and her door is shut, we are in the basement playing with the door shut, or we are gone.   Other then that he is shut in our room.  Which really is not too bad of a life for him, considering even if our door was open he would be in our room anyways sleeping.  I am sure that when Isabelle is older and in a toddler bed and can get up and out of her room at night then he will probably be heading back to my parents to live.  But if we can give him another year or so happy with us then that is what we wanted to do.  But as always, our first concern is and always will be Isabelle.

Loves sleeping on my robe on our ottoman.

Isabelle is very happy to have her brother home....although she will barely ever see him.  But we did let her see him this morning while holding her and she gave him a big smile!  She loves her brother Simba!

Safely playing in the basement with Simba upstairs!

Loves putting her toys in the cup holders on the couch!

Welcome back home Simba.  We all love you and are glad you are home with us....if even just for another year.

A Very Hard Decision

Well this is one post I am not excited about writing.  Not even a little bit.  Anyone who knows me knows how passionate I am about animals.  All animals.  Actually all living things.  So needless to say my love for our cat Simba is beyond words.

I got Simba when he was only 7 weeks old.  He instantly became my little boy.  From the first night I had him he slept snuggled up on my pillow.  I love this cat so much. This is where the very hard decision comes into play.  Those who know Simba know he has a very distinctive personality.  From the day I had him he was always very aggressive.  I figured he is a little kitty and would grow out of it.  Well he didn't.  He likes to randomly bite, and bite hard, and the keyword here is RANDOMLY.  I knew that something would have to change when Isabelle was born.  Kevin and I hoped he would grow out of it, hoped he would just stop.  But he hasn't.  He has never ever bit or scratched Isabelle but he has gotten way to close and it was just a matter of time before he actually did.  Simba has spent the past several months shut in our bedroom for hours a day (and all night).  We try to keep him away from Isabelle, but with her becoming more and more mobile it becomes more and more hard.  It's not fair to have him literally shut in a room for the rest of his life.  And I really don't want Isabelle to never be allowed in our room and to grow up afraid of cats.  Kevin and I would take Simba biting us everyday for the rest of our lives if it meant he was here with us, but the risk of him biting Isabelle we are not willing to take.  So after much thinking, talking with Kevin, and much crying, we decided it was time for Simba to go.

Now the only place I would ever take him would be to my parents house in Ames.  They had our two cats growing up for over 18 years and know cats inside and out.  They know my love for Simba and more importantly they love animals just as much as I do (if that is even possible).  So today Kevin, Isabelle and I drove Simba up to Ames with all his things (think hundreds of toys).  The good news, he made himself right at home, jumping on furniture, eating, going up and downstairs.  The bad news....he is there and not at home with us.

I keep reminding myself that I did what is best for Isabelle.  It is my responsibility to protect her and to always and forever put her first.  So yes, I miss Simba terribly and have shed many tears already today, but when I see my little Isabelle I know I made the right decision....as hard as it was.  (And yes I do plan to visit him in a couple days!)

We love you buddy. You will always be my little Simba.

P.S.  Here are some pictures of Isabelle playing recently

Sleep. Shots. Store. Shade.

Sleep:  After breakfast today Isabelle and I went on a wagon ride as we often do.

This is her as we were just starting out  (doesn't she look old here!?!)

This is 10 minutes into the ride.  Sound asleep.

So yes, I tried to adjust her head, I tried to wake her up, but she was out.  So we went home.  And then when I got her out she was up and ready to play until her normal 10:00 nap time! 


Shots:  Today I got my seasonal flu/H1N1 vaccine! I was so happy to hear that Walgreen's is now offering them.  After lunch today I took Isabelle and went to get the shot! They did say I was the first one in their store to get it, although I am not surprised considering they just started doing this yesterday.  I did call Isabelle's doctor and they don't have hers in yet, just the mist which she can't have, so hopefully they get it soon.  So anyone who wants to be vaccinated along with me....head over to Walgreen's! :) 


Store:  The new Walmart opened in Grimes today.  Normally I am not too fond of Walmart but considering it is about 1 minute away I thought I would check it out.  It was packed!  You would have thought it was the Friday after Thanksgiving....no where to park.  The store is as nice as they have been talking about.  Wide aisles, lower shelves, LED lighting, but her diapers are more there then at Target! We did get a new sippy cup and some groceries for Isabelle but that was about it.  I am sure we will be making several trips there for items here and there, considering its open 24 hours, but it will definitely not be replacing my love for Target!


Shade:  Isabelle enjoyed some nice play time outdoors today in the shade!  She loves playing outside but gone are the days of her sitting on her blanket playing with her toys.  She loves crawling around in the grass, loves looking at (and crawling very close to) the dog next door, loves the flag on our house, and today pushed her Disney Princess car around in the grass!  She had a great time and got a big smile on her face when she saw daddy arrive home from work!

4 years ago today....

Four years ago today Kevin and I started dating.  I am so happy to have him in my life.  He is the best husband I could dream of and my best friend in the world.  Not to mention that he is the most devoted, loving, caring daddy to Isabelle.  I love you Kevin! Thank you for being you. Thank you for loving me for who I am.  Thank you for working so hard to support our family so that I can stay home with Isabelle.  Thank you for loving our daughter as much as you do.  Isabelle and I are the luckiest two girls in the world to have you in our lives!  Happy four years!

I could not get this picture to post without being fuzzy! My apologies!

And did you really think I would have a post without some Isabelle pictures?  Here are some of her playing indoors on a rainy day. 

Amy and Ray's Wedding Weekend

We had a busy couple of days as Kevin's older sister Amy got married to Ray on Saturday in Des Moines.  It was a wonderful weekend and we couldn't be happier for the two of them.
Friday evening, Kevin had the wedding rehearsal and Isabelle and I met up at the rehearsal dinner at Noodle Zoo in downtown Des Moines East Village.  I had never been there before and I must say it looked beautiful inside.  Isabelle had a great time seeing everyone and especially enjoyed walking around (although I don't think she was too fond of her socks I made her wear to keep her feet clean :)   Isabelle and I had to cut the evening short as it was past her bedtime, so we headed out early.  As Kevin was walking us to our car we realized we hadn't taken any pictures at the actual rehearsal dinner.  So here are some of us outside Noodle Zoo!

Classy black socks :)

Our attempt at a last minute family photo with a very tired little girl :)

Saturday the wedding ceremony was at 4:30 at Capitol Hill Lutheran Church.  The ceremony was beautiful and Amy looked beautiful as well (I loved her dress!)  Ray and Amy wrote their own vows from the heart, which made the ceremony even more special.  Isabelle did great at the ceremony (despite me having to wake her up from her nap to make it on time) and made sure she let out several happy screams to daddy up front to make sure he saw her, which of course he did!

 

Isabelle and Uncle Dan

Our little family

After the church was cleared, Isabelle was a big helper crawling down the aisle and picking up the flower petals!

Isabelle with the flower girls (and her newest cousins) Elaina and Emily

The reception was at The State Historical Museum which was actually right next to the church.  Isabelle enjoyed her dinner I brought from home of spaghetti and meatballs and green beans with rice.  She LOVED crawling up the carpeted stairs over and over and over again!  As soon as she got to the top I would take her down again and up she would go!  Isabelle started getting very tired after dinner so I made an early exit to get her to bed. 

Isabelle with her Aunt Amy and now Uncle Ray!

Holding on tightly to Elly!

Grandma and Isabelle

Me and my munchkin

Sleepyhead

We finished the weekend off with brunch and gift opening at the newlyweds home on Sunday.  Congratulations to Amy and Ray Seidelman!  We had a wonderful weekend celebrating you!