She Did It!

Isabella pulled herself up to her feet in her crib!! And was very proud of herself, I might add. Such a smart baby!! The day before she turns 8 months, and she can pull herself up. I don't know that I am ready for her to being growing up already!!

Week Update

Wow, I hadn't realized that I hadn't written anything in a week. Oops. LOL

Last Saturday, we took Isabella to her first concert. A bunch of country singers, down at the fairgrounds a few miles from our house. She did really well. Played on a blanket, felt grass on her feet for the first time, danced with Mommy. She even fell asleep for a little while!

She's also pulling up in her crib these days. Jeff lowered her mattress so she can't pull up too far. She wasn't overly happy about that little manuever. She pulled up to her knees on one of her toys the other day, and fell backwards. She wasn't hurt, but she was MAD. Baby has Daddy's temper. Haha.

She likes to crawl around the whole house now, so I guess we're finally going to have to install that second baby gate. Add it to the list of weekend chores.

We're been dealing with car issues for over a week now. The stress of that is most likely why I have not been writing. Just too annoyed and stressed.

And the fun really begins

We installed our first baby gate yesterday. Isabella is definitely mobile nowadays. She goes forward, backward, sideways, whether it be scooting, crawling, or the army crawl (which is the cutest darn thing!). She is fascinated by the baby gate. It's funny. I guess we're going to have to baby-proof the rest of the house now, too.

She's so cute when she gets to where she wants to go. She will look up at me as if to say "See, Mommy, I did it! Are you watching?!" It's quite adorable.

Pulling up is next!!

She is getting too big too fast for Mommy. Haha

Ladies' Night Out & Crappy/Fantastic Day

I went to Olive Garden with Mandy, Aunt D, and some of the ladies from church tonight. It was so much fun. They are mostly all old enough to be my mother, but what a riot they are! I debated on going; I have hardly gone out since having Isabella. But I figured Jeff gets his occassional poker night, so I was going to take this opportunity. I didn't even call/text home to see how it was going. I am very proud of myself. Olive Garden is one of my favorite restaurants. Stuffed chicken marsala. MMMMMMMM.

The day started out pretty crappy. Isabella spit up formula out of her nose...twice. It took her doctor three hours to call me back, and then he was kind of a jerk. I was thinking before of changing pediatricians; now I know we definitely are going to do so. I don't need to be told I am doing a bad job raising my baby.

Isabella made the day all better because she CRAWLED to me!!!! A few feet...forward. Up until this point, she has been crawling or scooting backwards. It made my day!!

Yummy Sushi!!

Last night was a lot of fun. I haven't had sushi since before I was pregnant with Bella, and we haven't ever gone to a place here in Tucson. Last night we went to Oishi with Jeff & Julie, J.D., Tara & Eric, and Steve. From the outside you might think this place was somewhat of a dive, but let me tell you, the sushi is amazing!! Spicy dragon roll, spicy tuna roll with crunch, and the philadelphia roll. Soooooo yummy. Friends doing sake bombs, spilling beer on the table, JD taking funny pictures, our friend Jeff already intoxicating and making funny comments. Julie talking too loudly because two sake bombs in she was DONE. Hilarious night out. Made a lot of the stress of the past few weeks seep away.

Jeff and I watched a movie when we got home. Just relaxed and got ready for bed. It was the perfect end to a perfect evening.

I want to go for more sushi!!

Sept 11th

I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing this day 8 years ago. I was lying in bed, bundled under the covers, watching the news. I saw the 2nd plane fly into the tower, and I couldn't believe it! I thought it was fake.

The day only got worse. I found out later that one of my friend's dad was working at the Pentagon and they didn't know where he was. His office was on the destroyed side of the building. A few horrifying, long, scary hours later we all found out that he had not been in his office at that time, in fact he wasn't even on that side of the building. Luckily, he had had a meeting on the other side of the building. He was definitely shook up, but fine physically.

Eight years has gone by really fast, and yet it seems to be yesterday every time the anniversary hits. Perhaps because with the war still waging on, it seems neverending.

My thoughts and prayers go out to anyone who lost someone on this day, or anyone who knows someone who did. And to John Ritter's family, because he died on Sept 11th a year or two after the horrible tragedy in NY. My thoughts and prayers go out to anyone who need them today.

September 10th

Today is 4 years since my godmother's mom died. I miss Grandma Yonnie immensely. She was a wonderful grandmother to my two "cousins," and I am sure she would have been just as wonderful with Isabella. My godmother is missing her a lot today, and we are going to go out to lunch and grocery shopping to help take her mind off it for just a little bit. We're going to try out 'Java Edge.' We haven't been there before, but they are supposed to have great sandwhiches.

Later, I'm going with my friend Mandy to her OB appointment. I recommended my OB to her, and she wanted me to go with her today since it is her first appointment. None of my friends have ever asked me to go and hear their baby's heartbeat before. I'm excited. Baby Venable will be here in March. I'm sitting in for Ray today since he won't be back from deployment until November.

We've invited Mandy over for dinner, as well. Chicken piccata and garlic mashed potatoes. It's going to be really yummy.

Labor Day Weekend

We had a wonderful, fun weekend! Saturday was bbq day. A bunch of our friends and their kids and my aunt, enjoying an inside bbq. It started getting really windy just before everyone arrived, so Jeff bbq'd outside and we ate his awesome burgers inside. We keep a banquet table in the garage for just such occassions. The evening ended with the best downpour we have had all summer. It last for well over an hour, just pouring rain and lightning. Amazing.

Sunday morning and afternoon were just relaxing time. Isabella played in the exersaucer or on the floor while Jeff studied one of his Firefighter exam books and I watched Netflix movies online. I love that option! Especially over a long weekend where two of the days are nonmail days.

Sunday evening we picked Jeff's brother Russ up at the truck stop. He was driving a load through Tucson so he spent Sunday evening and all day yesterday with us. We hadn't seen him since our wedding in June 2008, AND he was the first person in Jeff's family to make it out here to see Isabella. He took to her, and her to him, right away. They had a lot of fun together. We took Russ to Guero's for "Sammy Dogs," which are one of Jeff's favorite things. Have you ever had a Sonoran hot dog? Well, these are two Sonoran hotdogs on one bun. They're huge. The guys ate those, I had a regular Sonoran hot dogs. Poor Isabella just got pears out of a Gerber jar. LOL.

Yesterday was pure relaxation. There was a 'Criminal Minds' marathon on A&E. I love that show! We watched it all day long. The guys cooked up some ribs, with an incredibly glaze that Russ made. Russ fell asleep on the couch and Jeff did some more studying. Isabella threw up on me. Apparently that was the highlight of her day because she giggled afterwards. Little devil. Spitting up on someone is funny to her. She always laughs afterwards. I'm just glad she was eating again, after the hectic last week of trying to get her to eat and failing (she's getting two more teeth in, at the same time. Sigh). We had to take Russ back to his truck last night, but we're very glad he could make a visit.

And now, since Jeff had yesterday off, we are in a short work week. Hopefully the weekend will get here soon. We have a fun weekend planned.

isabella wearing Uncle Russ' hat

BBQ Fun

The bbq was a HUGE success. Burgers, hot dogs, beans, deviled eggs. Yum yum. Lots of friends, cutest babies EVER. We got some really cute pictures. And, to top it all off, it POURED just after dinner. It was the best rain storm we have had all season. What a nice way to end the summer. Wait, does summer end in Tucson? Just kidding.

Tomorrow, Russ will be here. I'm excited that someone from Jeff's family is finally going to meet Isabella. It's so expensive for us to fly to the East Coast to see anyone. It'll be a nice addition to the Labor Day weekend, since Russ will be here until Tuesday morning.

3 Day Weekend

I'm looking forward to the three day weekend this weekend. It's going to be busy, but awesome.

Tomorrow, we're having a huge BBQ at our place. I'm praying for no rain until Sunday. 15 adults and 4 babies will be better served in our backyard than inside our house. LOL. I'm happy so many of the people we invited are coming. Having it on Saturday instead of Labor Day probably helped in that endeavor. Burgers, hot dogs, deviled eggs, salads, beans, pie, cookies. Friends and fun. I'm looking forward to it. I need some fun.

On Sunday, Jeff's brother Russ will be here. He will be the first person in Jeff's family to meet Isabella. I'm ECSTATIC that someone is finally going to meet her! He'll only be here for a few hours, but he rearranged his truck route so he could visit. I thought that was nice and thoughtful of him to make the effort. The probability of us going to NY anytime soon is extremely slim.

Not sure what we're doing on Monday. Hopefully something just the three of us. A little family time will be nice. Soon there will be two more adults in our house, and our little family will be very crowded, so I hope we can get in a lot of family time just the three of us between now and then.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day weekend

She's Torturing Me!!!

Isabella is so cute and innocent on the outside, that it is hard to believe she is so evil inside. LOL. Just kidding. But she is seriously torturing me, which seems to be her favorite pasttime. I should have seen it coming.

She rolled over at 3 months, and did so about twenty time in two days...but refused to roll over for Daddy or Grandma or Uncle T. She, in fact, didn't roll over again for more than a month. I was beginning to think I had imagined it. But then she finally started doing it all of the time.

About a week and a half ago, she crawled for the first time. I mean, really crawled. Forward. She had been scooting around on her tummy for weeks, and then BAM! she finally got it. She even sat back on her bottom from a crawling position on her own. Jeff actually saw her do this, so I know I didn't imagine it. But she refused to do it in front of anyone else. For the past week and half, it seems like she has been trying to do it again. She gets in the correct position and rocks back and forth. She can more or less crawl backwards. But no forward motion, and no pushing herself into a sitting position. So, now I am beginning to think maybe we had imagined it, or made too much out of it. Something.

And then...yesterday I go in her room to get her up from her afternoon nap. And there is my sweet little devil...sitting up in her crib! I was so proud of her, and she was happy and giggly, and it was a wonderful moment. Thinking we've made progress, I put her on her blanket with some toys...and she throws herself down, gets on all fours...and nope. Rocks back and forth, getting frustrated when she doesn't go anywhere. *Sigh*

Why must she torture me? Why?!