Soooo Happy....paci update

This morning Lee and I were getting ready in our room and Isabel walks in with an extremely happy face. She looked soooo happy. I noticed she had something in her hand, so asked her to show me what she had. Well, it was a paci she had found...somewhere. I asked her ever so sweetly, "Is that Kate's paci?" Isabel looked at me ever so seriously and said, "I-bel's." Mommy couldn't fool her.

Really though, she has been doing great with no paci. She doesn't get it at all at night now, and goes down very well. Every now and then I'll give it to her for a nap or part way through a nap if I think she needs to sleep longer than she did, but it's rare. All in all, I'm pleased with her progress and glad we did it when we did.

At Isabel's last Dr. appt., our Dr. was telling us how his son was turning two and they were going to wean him of the paci. He was like, "you want to do it for us." Our response, "no thank you!"

Maybe she's not quite ready...

Isabel had her 18 month check-up yesterday. Other than an ear infection, she is doing a great. Her vocabulary is way above average, she continues to remain tall and skinny, she didn't get any shots, and she was in a very pleasant mood for the Dr. Although she did manage to toot right in front of him, she did say "excuse me."

For the most part Isabel is taking one nap now, but the last week I have found her asleep while I have had her playing by herself. One day, she was in her bed playing with toys. The next time I check in on her she was fast asleep. Today, she was doing blanket time in my room. I went to check on her and she was fast asleep on the floor. Now, it could be because she is sick or medicated, so we'll have to see how things go once she is healthy again. Maybe she's just not quite ready for one a day. I know I'd take two if I could.

That's what I need

Lee's comment: "That's what I need."

In response to this bumper sticker we saw on a truck:

D.A.D.D.
(Dad's Against Daughters Dating)

Holidays

We've had a nice weekend celebrating Valentine's Day and President's Day.

What's better on Valentine's Day than donuts...nothing for Lee and Isabel. I like them, but they love them! So we went out to Remke bakery and had a nice relaxing breakfast.

We basically hung out the whole day as a family. It was really nice. That night we put Isabel to bed and instead of going out, we cooked a delicious Valentine's day dinner complete with steak, baked potato, and broccoli and cheese. It was yummy!!! We got out the fine China and candles and it was an awesome time...complete with no restaurant noise, no waiting forever for your food, and no tips. Checkout the steaks!:)Today, President's Day, we wanted to do something special. I had the day off from watching kiddos, so Lee took the day off too and we took Isabel to the Newport aquarium. She loves reading about aquatic things in books, so we thought she would like it. Her new favorite word is "octopus." She did like it. On the way home, she talked about the fish, sharks, penguins, turtles, frogs, birds, etc. We could not get Isabel to look at the camera while in the aquarium, there was just too much to look at.Isabel touching the starfish. I think this was her favorite part. She picked it right up and flipped it over.

We ended the morning with a fun lunch at Johnny Rockets. Isabel ate mostly french fries...which was a treat for her. All in all, it was great day!

ABC's....WHAT???

Last night we stayed home from small group cause I got a bad migraine. I was laying in bed and Lee was giving Isabel her bath. I could hear them talking and playing. I heard Lee start to sing the ABC's song to Isabel. Lee goes...A, B, C, D, E, F, G...and then stops. All of sudden I hear from Isabel...H, I, J, K....WHAT??? Wait a minute...where in the world did she learn that? I think Lee was shocked too and to make sure it wasn't a fluke I heard him repeat himself...sure enough she did it again. I'm amazed how she is learning so quickly. She's starting to sing songs a lot now or request to hear certain ones on her CDs we play in the car. It's been fun.

On another note, I had a check-up yesterday and the baby seems to be doing fine. I have my ultrasound in 3 weeks. We are excited to see more of this little one. The last two times (well the only two times) I have gone both Drs. I have seen have predicted a boy. Yesterday the Dr. thought it was a boy cause it was moving all over the place when she was trying to find the heartbeat, and then when I told her about my headaches she said, "oh yes, definitely a boy." We'll just see in a few weeks.

My new love...well, at least for now

What is that I'm talking about? Our new vacuum!!! Ta-da!!! I used to dread vacuuming. Mainly cause I thought it was a waste of time cause my vacuum wasn't doing anything anyway. Over the weekend we finally purchased a new one! It is so awesome! We have vacuumed two days in a row, not cause it needed it a second time, but it just makes our carpet feel so good and look so clean. We did our research, borrowed a consumers report from my parents on vacuums and found a great one, for an even cheaper price than expected. So, for now it's my new love...at least until I get sick of vacuuming again. I'm not really sure if Isabel loves it as much as we do, but I got a couple pictures of her helping daddy.

Pregnancy thoughts

I feel like I haven't talked about this pregnancy that much, mainly cause I don't feel pregnant most of the time...maybe that's what happens with your second? Here's just a few thoughts as I approach 17 weeks.

• I've started to feel the baby move around every now and then.
• I can still sleep on my tummy somewhat, which I'm enjoying cause I know it will soon be a thing of the past.
• Why is it that I can't be like every other pregnant woman and have my body temperature increase? I really am freezing all of the time. Lee says my body's thermostat is broken.
  
• I have no inkling of whether it's a boy or girl, but I'm excited to find out
• I wonder how Isabel will adjust to her new sibling. She LOVES baby Kate, but Kate goes home...how will she deal with this baby not going home?
• We haven't even discussed names really
  
• I didn't remember how long maternity shirts are
• I hope to stay healthy the remainder of the time, and feel blessed I've felt so good
  
• We are truly blessed
• I tell Lee I'm tired about every night, last night he said, you don't need to tell me anymore, just tell me when you are not tired...okay hubby.
  

Quick Update: Isabel is doing better each day not having her paci. We have had to give it to her on occasion, like last night at small group, so she would fall asleep. She hasn't had it for naps all week though and has been doing well. Nighttime sleep we have our good nights and bad nights. I'm glad we didn't quit when we at times wanted to. Thanks for everyone's encouragement.

Quick "mimi" update

Well, this has been interesting. I actually think the first day of no mimi went better then the second. She only slept 45 min. the whole day yesterday. We got home from church and she fell asleep fine, but then woke up 45 min. into her nap with a dirty diaper and then couldn't go back to sleep after I changed her (sigh). Again, she went to bed really well, but kept waking up and going back to sleep about every hour. Finally around 1:00 a.m. she woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep so we ended up giving her one and she was out for the rest of the night. I feel like we failed and caved, but she needed sleep and we both needed sleep. We are going to try again today and tonight. I feel bad cause I feel like she has nothing to comfort her when she does wake up. She sleeps with a little lamb, but that doesn't seem to do anything, it's kind of just in bed with her more than she sleeps with it. I thought of putting a pillow in her bed, but I asked her if she wanted one and she said, "no." Of course. Any ideas anyone? I guess I have to keep remembering she has slept with a paci for how many months...it's not just going to be great in a couple of days.

Sat. we were going to go sledding with a friend, but apparently the whole state of KY is sold out of sleds. We checked/called everyone to see if we could find one and no such luck. So we just decided to play outside in the snow for awhile. We had a fun time.