Christmas morning video

'Tis the season with friends

'Tis the season with family

Isla's First Christmas

We journeyed to Holly for most of this past week to celebrate the season. Wednesday night my mom hosted the Hammes family for dinner. Thursday night we had the Allens over for dinner, and all the Hammes and Allen kids stayed for drinks and laughs. Friday night we had the Salisburys and Eatons over for Christmas Eve. Christmas Day we headed to Monica's, and Isla quickly learned the art of ripping wrapping paper off her presents. We made it home safely early this afternoon, though we still have much unpacking to do. Isla has been a busy bee playing with her activity table, Zany Zoo cube, Violet puppy, Busy Ball Popper, Mickey Mouse airplane and some other new toys. We still have a wrapped present under the tree for her, but we've decided to wait a few days to give that to her. I need to get her 'baby' toys in storage to make room for the new ones!

10 months old

It's really hard for us to comprehend that our little Isla is already 10 months old. She's a wild and funny little lady. She's still not crawling, but she rolls and rolls to get wherever she wants to be. She's eating pretty much everything that we eat, and she really enjoyed all the rich food over the holiday season (we think her belly certainly shows that!). She's still a champion sleeper, and we comfortably left her with her first real babysitter, Lauren, a couple of weeks ago. She took her third plane ride when we traveled to Minneapolis earlier this month and was a champion traveler, and her next trip will be to San Diego in early February. She has a new little fake laugh and fake cough now, and she knows that doing certain things will make us laugh. She loved seeing so many family and friends over the holidays and having so many people around. Her top two teeth broke through this past week without too much trauma, so we're anxious to see what her smile will look like when they are fully through. We just feel so blessed to have such a happy and fun and healthy baby in our lives!

Visit from the Eastmans

We were so happy that the Eastmans were able to fit us into their trip back to Colorado and Nebraska for the holidays. They spent the night with us on Monday, and we spent the evening catching up and laughing and sipping bubbly. We wish that we'd had more time with them but we so happy they were able to stop by and meet Isla for the first time.

Minneapolis Trip

Isla and I journeyed to Minneapolis on December 12 to visit my best friend Geri and her little bubbas. They had just gotten a huge dumping of snow, so we all stayed cozy inside catching up and oohing and ahhing over the kiddos. Isla loved Baby Camden and Brody wasn't sure what to think of Isla playing with his toys. It was so so so great to spend a lazy week of quality time with Ger, and it certainly won't be as long between our next visit! Many many thanks to my husband for organizing this surprise trip!

Little bookworm

Isla has started taking a real interest in her books, so we've fit it into her nightly routine to read her a couple. Right now her favorites are 'Goodnight Moon' and 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'...two classics.

A visit with jolly ol' St. Nicholas

As you can tell by the photo, Isla wasn't the happiest to be sitting on Santa's lap. She didn't freak out, but when we had round #2 with him to try to get a 'happy' photo, she did scream a bit. We've been trying to teach her to say 'Ho Ho Ho'!

If you're happy and you know it...

We've sang this song to Isla for many many months, so it's so much fun to see her recognizing the song and joining in with the clapping!

9 months old

Isla turned 9 months on November 22. She's made so many developmental changes these past few weeks. She now claps her hands. Says Mama, Dada, bye-bye and Papa...or noises that sound very similar to those words. She has done her first sign language for 'more' which ties in with her eating more and more table food. We try to give her whatever we eat, as often as possible. She loves chicken enchiladas, her morning oatmeal with banana and all the fruits and veg we've given her. She hasn't really turned her nose up to anything yet, so we'll just keep broadening her tastebuds. She's still a super sleeper putting in 12+ hours each night and taking 2 naps each day. She is so happy and smiley and loves being arounds people. She hasn't gotten any stranger anxiety as of yet, so long may that continue. At her 9 month appointment, she checked out healthy as can be and is in the 40th percentile for height and weight. She hasn't showed any true signs of crawling yet, though we set her up on all 4s, and she just collapses to her belly and rolls wherever she needs to get. She continues to bring more happiness and joy to our lives every day. We feel so blessed to have a happy and healthy baby in our lives!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so much to be thankful for with little Isla, so it seemed fitting that we host Thanksgiving at our house. My Aunt Jane and John flew in from Wichita and my cousin Jenny flew in from Austin. My parents were here, along with Monica, Stacey and the boys. Isla loved having a full house, always having someone to play with and be the center of attention. Everyone left yesterday evening, and she's been looking around all morning for company to entertain her. We all ate too much, drank loads of fabulous wine and enjoyed quality family time together. Bring on Christmas!

Yes, the tree is up!

In preperation for hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year, I am trying to be on the ball and get as much done in advance as possible. Thus, last Wednesday, I put up and decorated our Christmas tree. And, it had to be pink for our little princess Isla this year. It's a good thing she's not able to crawl yet, though she did roll over to the tree and try to grab at the ornaments. She doesn't seem as intersted in it lately. Just wait until there are some presents under it!

Visit from the cousins

That's actually a happy face from Isla

Isla's cousins Rhett and Spencer stopped by for a bit yesterday. Isla just lights up when they are around and is thoroughly entertained by them. She gives them hugs and loves to pat their hair. She's going to love having the house full over Thanksgiving!

First snow

It's been an incredibly mild fall, but winter finally hit us this past Tuesday. I formally introduced Isla to the snow on Wednesday morning, bundled up in her snowsuit, hat and mittens. She wasn't sure what to think of it, especially when she took off one of her mittens and stuch her little hand straight into the snow. Brrrrrr!

Spencer's birthday weekend

Our nephew Spencer turned 4 yesterday and we headed to Eads for the weekend. We got to see Rhett's 5th & 6th grade team win their football league championship on a warm Saturday morning. Spence had a big party yesterday, and Isla loved all the action and time with her cousins!

Happy Halloween

Isla's first Halloween started out with a bash at our friend Stephanie's on Saturday evening. It was so fun and cute to see all the babies dressed up, though the costumes didn't last long. Sunday we dressed Isla up and sat on our front porch to greet our trick or treaters. She was a patient and tolerant little monkey!

Pumpkin Patch

We headed to the pumpkin patch today with my friend Stephanie and her little boy Wyatt. It was a gorgeous fall day with temps in the high 70s and glorious sunshine.