buescher blog

"snow" day

2010-12-15T09:22:00.003-05:00

We had our first snow of the season on Monday. It was just a small dusting but that didn't stop Isabel. The minute she saw the snow at 7am, she insisted that she put her new boots, coats and mittens on and go play in the snow. I'm glad that we had made the trip to the mall last week to pick up some winter gear at LL Bean.

I think Isabel has a false sense as to how often it snows. She clearly remembers all the snow we had last winter and keeps asking about the snow and when the snow is going to come back.

Buescher Blog to go "private" in 2011

2010-12-08T13:27:00.003-05:00

As the year 2010 comes to an end, I've starting thinking about the "r" word...you know, resolutions. I usually don't make new years resolutions, but am hoping to make and follow through with one this year. I'm resolving to blog more. Not for those of you who read the blog (though hopefully it will be a bonus for the few that do follow - mainly the grandparents & uncles), but for me and the girls. I've been really bad on recording milestones, pictures and lets not even mention the word baby book. I do have a lot of things I'd like to remember, like the fact that Mia started clapping Thanksgiving morning for Uncle Romes and waved goodbye to Geoffrey as he left for work yesterday. So by making the blog just as much about writing as the pictures, I can record little snippets of our life, and someday when I have more free time, I can use the blog to remember what and when things happened, and put those memories into a scrapbook for the girls, just like the detailed books Carla and I used to spend hours on back in our VT days.

Since I'm not really keen on having random people reading whatever it is I might be sharing, and I know Geoffrey's never been entirely comfortable about the public nature of the blog, I'll be turning on the private setting come January. If you'd like to be able to view the blog and its new random nature after that date, please shoot me an email or leave a comment (as long as you are a friend or relative, I'll already have your email address so no need to post it), and I'll add you to the list.

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season. Our tree is up, the bottom half being very tree heavy after Isabel loving placed each non-breakable ornament on the tree. A yellow construction paper star tops the tree. "Mommy, we need a star on our Christmas tree, just like on Charlie Brown" and some garland I picked up at CVS a few years ago winds its way along the tree. It might not make the cover of Martha Stewart Living, but it is my favorite decorated tree to date :). I can only imagine how good it will look next year when both girls get to decorate it. Have I mentioned how much I love having daughters? :)

And with that, little Mia seems to be up from her nap. Today was her 9 month check-up, complete with shots, so I'm guessing she is a bit sore.

Family Pictures

2010-11-18T09:59:00.003-05:00

When you get bad at blogging what do you do..."pay" someone to do it for you! We had family pictures taken on Saturday at the house by the very talented Susan Solo. You can check out her blog post and some of the great moments she captured here.

http://www.susansolo.com/blog/?p=1740

Maybe over Thanksgiving I'll post some of what we've been up to...but I wouldn't hold your breath :).

September catch-up

2010-09-28T21:13:00.005-04:00

Fall is here and I'm not sure where September has gone, but here are some pictures of the past month.

2 weekends ago we headed south to Richmond for a wedding followed by a quick trip to VA Beach for the airshow. Victoria stopped by before we left and surprised Isabel with this Virginia Tech tutu. Isabel was so excited and has loved dancing and twirling around the house in it. I think it compliments the jersey quite well :). She also brought a VT bow for Mia, which I need to fashion to a headband and will look a little better than my homemade one.

I'll have to leave the airshow pictures up to Geoffrey. Isabel spent most of the day with Geoffrey and Grandpa Buescher at the airshow, while Mia and I hung out at home with Grandma Buescher. We all had a great time but agree the trip was too short.

A few days later Grandma and Grandpa Schaeffer flew into town. I didn't take many pictures, but did get a few of the girls doing some fun things after watching the game on Saturday.

Mia really enjoys watching the pugs and this was one of her first chances she has had to snuggle with Gizmo (who seems to be her favorite). She loved getting to sit with him, wack him and pet him.

Isabel enjoyed her first taste of kettle corn at the St. Mark Fall Festival on Sunday. She was not a fan of the cotton candy that I tried to give her as a special treat. Oh well, that just meant I got to eat it all :).

Isabel enjoys mimicking mommy, as I am often pushing on of the girls in the stroller and wearing the other in the Ergo.

Monday we spent most of the day in the playroom, as it was very rainy. Mia was playing on the floor when Isabel decided to snuggle with her...and then asked if I could take a picture of her with Mia. I took quite a few and got a few winners.

Isabel is loving life as a panda bear (her new classroom) and is taking dance class there on Tuesday which she seems to be enjoying. Mia is getting used to her new classroom, but doesn't seem to have an interest in sleeping there. Mia has her first tooth and is working on a second. She also has crawled in short spurts and can go from laying on her belly to sitting up all by herself. I've begun the task of baby proofing Isabel's toys (moving all the small, choking hazards to tubs out of Isabel's reach that will only be done with supervision), since it won't be long before Mia is into everything.

It's Hokie Season

2010-09-09T21:23:00.003-04:00

My babies are getting big! Carla snapped these great pictures of the girls over the weekend at a couple different pre-football game events. Although the hokies didn't win on Monday, these pictures have helped to lessen the blow :).

Normally, I am not a fan of bows...but Monday Mia just looked too much like a boy in her VT romper, so I made up a VT bow for her. I think it will be making an appearance for all the games.

And here is Isabel, looking quite grown up, driving her golf cart a neighbor passed onto us.

Time seems to be flying. Mia started to school with Isabel Monday and it is nice to have them both in one place. Isabel is now a Panda Bear and Mia is a Junior Infant. The girls are doing well and both are thriving. Isabel continues to be a little chatterbox and is constantly asking questions. Mia is sitting up for longer periods of time and is already getting up on her hands and knees and trying to move forward. She had her 6mo appt this past Wednesday and measured at 27"...which is the 90th percentile. Another tall Buescher girl!

Booster Seat Test Drive

2010-08-13T21:45:00.002-04:00

It's almost time for Mia to start solids...so hard to believe! During Isabel's later than usual nap on Wednesday, I pulled out the booster seat, gave it a cleaning and let Mia test drive it. I think she liked it...provided that Mermaid and green bean are on the menu!

Isabel's First Trip to Chuck E Cheese

2010-07-30T15:25:00.002-04:00

(and we're back). It appears neither of the grandmas could view the videos on the mac site, so no need to pay for a service. Back to blogger we go.

This will be a quick post and I may go back and play catchup on the past month, or might not. We'll see.

Anyways, for Isabel's 2nd birthday, Uncle Eric had "given" Isabel a date for Chuck E Cheese. This past Friday, Eric took the day off and I dropped Eric and Isabel off at Chuck E Cheese, then went to the mall and was on stand by, should he need something...mainly if Isabel had an accident (she is about 90% potty trained).

Isabel had a great time, though preferred the rides and slide to the games. Uncle Eric did get a chance to play some of the "big kid games" and won enough tickets for Isabel to come home with some great prizes - a bracelet, a ring with a foot on it, a foam block, a rubber fix and a top. The morning was finished off with lunch at her beloved Chick-fil-a, and Unc even joined us, since we were right over by Orbital. Eric still has over half the tokens he purchased, so I envision another trip later this year. Below are a few pictures that Eric got with his camera phone.

Uncle Eric and Isabel will all of her prizes

We've Moved

2010-06-30T08:46:00.002-04:00

No, not our house...but our blog.

I'm not sure if this will be the permanent web address or not, but for at least the next 60 days you can see updates and pictures here...

http://web.me.com/buescherfamilyblog/Site/Blog/Blog.html

A little catching up...

2010-06-17T21:11:00.010-04:00

I knew things would start getting a bit crazy as I prepped to go back to work, but didn't think I'd go this long without an update...oops.

We have a busy and fun-filled weekend ahead as we will be celebrating Mia's baptism on Saturday. Both sets of Grandparents and Uncle Romes will be arriving on Friday and we can't wait to have so much family together.

Isabel has loved shoes since the minute she knew what one was. I had forgotten to take the shoes upstairs that I had worn in Coelle's wedding over Memorial Day. I was getting lunch ready when I hear "clunk, clunk, clunk" on the tile floor in the foyer. I come out and this is what I see.

I managed to get a quick video as well, but will have to post that later. I asked her where she was going (since she was walking away for me) and her answer was the typical "going shopping." I asked her what she was shopping for and her answer "some new shoes." Sigh...I am not a big shoe person so no idea where she gets it from!

Now that Mia can sit in the bumbo for longer periods of time it makes it easier to get soem sitting up photos. Getting them to smile at the same time though is a bit trickier and something I have not yet mastered.

On June 6 we headed up to Baltimore to celebrate cousin Jack's high school graduation. Isabel had a great time at the graduation...when most people were getting bored of the name calling, she was still excited to clap for each and every graduate.

During the speeches, Isabel was occupied by my cell phone. "you there?" as she likes to say?

Isabel "had" to bring her hokie bird...though really we encouraged her to, as Jack will be attending UVA in the fall.

After the graduation we went back to Aunt Monica and Uncle Howard's for dinner.
Isabel and Jack are buddies. She even shared her precious duck (given to her by Aunt Monica) with him. Or maybe it was just to distract Jack so she could play with his girlfriend, Audrey.
Every graduate needs a massage, right?

After dinner Isabel announced "All done. Want to go play with those dogs!" So Ben was happy to join Isabel on the sheepy (a sheep skin rug) and play with Buster and Lola (not pictured). Geoffrey took this picture as he couldn't stop laughing at the fact that I was finishing Isabel's milk after she was done.

Isabel still loves to be a big sister and help Mia. On one of our morning stroller rides she thought Mia needed her hippo.

She is also good about rocking the car seat while I get my shoes on before we head out to get in the stroller.
Isabel loves her easel, and it is really neat to see her trying to draw differing things

Future engineer? Isabel loved helping me take the plastic feet out on this chair so that I could put felt on it.

Geoffrey had been out of town (his second trip in 3 weekds), so Isabel and I made him a welcome home sign...I didn't think I would get her back inside though. She now loves sidewalk chalk!

Geoffrey brought Isabel a shirt back that says "chocks away" and has 3 airplanes on it. As you can guess, she loved it.

Isabel was running a low grade fever on Saturday and decided to take a nap at 10:30 in the morning and wound up sleeping on the couch for 3 hours. This is the first time she has ever fallen asleep by deciding that is what she wanted to do and napping on a couch. I'm still not sure how she didn't fall off, since she moves around a ton in her big bed.
Daddy and Mia spent some time catching up by "watching" the world cup.
Happy 28th birthday Unc! Isabel and I made him a carrot cake.

Our sweet little Mia, just as happy as can be :).

Time is flying

2010-05-15T13:29:00.006-04:00

I can't believe how time is flying. I felt like with Isabel time really sped along, and now with Mia things seem to be going even faster. I return to work in 2 weeks (still part-time) and don't really know where the past 10 weeks have gone. We've been busy and I just love spending time with my "2 girls" (Isabel still loves to use that phrase).

Two weeks ago on a dreary day I asked Isabel if she wanted to make cookies. She of course said yes. I asked her who we should make cookies for (assuming her answer would be daddy) and she replied "for Chesapeake!" (Chesapeake is a monkey stuffed animal). So we made cookies and Isabel helped decorate them. Chesapeake didn't get to sample the cookies and Isabel never asked to eat any of the cookies she helped to make.

Here is a shot of Chesapeake, who often sits in the "eat seat" before dinner and eats a lovely meal of plastic food.

In addition to placing Chesapeake in the eat seat, Isabel often finds it is a good place to feed her herd of My Little Ponies (which were Aunt Megan's when she was a little girl). She moves them from room to room in her shopping cart and then places them all just so in the eat seat.

Mia has really started enjoying spending some time looking at the creatures hanging from the activity mat, or ocean as we call it. She smiles and moves her arms and legs and makes cute little baby noises. Isabel has discovered she too loves laying in the ocean with Mia, and they often lay there together in the morning while I get breakfast ready.

(Mia's not so sure about sharing her toy with Isabel)
Geoffrey has been hard at work in the yard and garden (pics to come later). He's been on a mission to rid our yard of weeds the pesticide free way- by hand. Isabel also enjoys weeding...but she needs to be watched as she hasn't quite learned the difference between weeds and plants we want to stay.

Happy little girl with her chicken hair!

Daddy reading to his girls.

A super smile of Mia's. (I have to apologize to Mia though for the bad camera angle).

And finally some tummy time shots.

Our garden is doing great and we have tons of things growing. We have a ton of lettuce and will be enjoying many salads the next few weeks along with tacos, wraps and salads. Geoffrey harvested radishes this morning which I'm going to braise tomorrow. I'm not sure if we even like radishes, but they are fun to grow.

Finally, Isabel went to her second air show yesterday and had a BLAST. She went with Daddy and Uncle Romes and stayed awake for the whole day...though she was pretty exhausted when she got home. I'll have to get the pictures from Geoffrey, but I know she had a good time, when grace went something like this before breakfast (Isabel "leads" grace and usually names the things on her plate that she is thankful for)

(Sign of the cross) - Dear God...Thank you for Blue Angels...Thank you for trees...Thank you for airplanes... She eventually got around to being thankful for the pancakes, grapes and turkey bacon on her plate!

Sisters & Smiles

2010-05-03T09:09:00.003-04:00

I'm a bit behind on blogging, but these things happen when you are busy with 2 little girls :). I'm taking advantage of a quick free moment to get these pictures up, and maybe tonight if I don't fall asleep too early I'll play a bit of catch up. In the meantime, here are some pictures of Isabel and Mia I took last Friday morning. Mia has started to have more smiles that past couple of weeks and I was able to capture a few small grins from her while Isabel joined in the fun.

Now its time to go and play with the stacking cups that Isabel rediscovered. It looks like it is going to be quite rainy today, so I'll be trying to come up with a few new things to keep us all entertained. And if I'm feeling really brave we'll all venture to the grocery store this afternoon!

Easter 2010

2010-04-14T20:58:00.007-04:00

Mia will be 6 weeks old tomorrow. Time feels like it is flying...well except for at night when our sweet little girl decides she doesn't want to sleep. We are all doing well though. Isabel is still excited to have her sister around and has yet to ask for her to be "put back" so that is a good sign. Mia is growing and is now wearing only 3 month clothes...her newborn clothes have been turned into doll clothes.

We have now given Mia a bottle twice and both times she sucked it down, and couldn't have cared less that it wasn't straight from mom. Geoffrey was amazed as Mia took her bottle better than Isabel ever took a bottle from him. After all the trouble we had with Isabel and bottle refusal, this is quite a relief to know that when I return to work in June that Mia won't be putting up the same fight her big sister did. Isabel has also decided that she too can pump. She places my exercise ball pump on her belly. She was also kind enough to announce in Safeway on Sunday (after Geoffrey called to say Mia was hungry and I told Isabel we had to finish shopping so I could go home and pump) "Isabel pumps on her belly...and mommy pumps on her neeepple!"

After a wonderful 6 weeks of paternity leave, Geoffrey returned to work this morning. So far so good. We all got out of bed around 7 and after Isabel finishes her breakfast (she is the world's slowest cereal eater), we'll be getting dressed, taking Isabel to school and Mommy and Mia will be running some errands and hanging out at home. Life is good :).

Below are my favorite pictures from Easter. We spent relaxing 5 days in VA Beach and it was the perfect vacation for us.

Isabel on the trip down...what more can I say?

Isabel watching the duck outside the kitchen window.

Isabel sporting her new pink sunglasses that don't requie an a velcro strap like her yellow ones.

March Catch Up

2010-03-30T11:35:00.005-04:00

I finished getting all the pictures from my memory card since the birthday and tummy time post, and grabbed my favorites to post below.

Geoffrey is currently growing a beard (not that it was hard to miss), as he is taking part in a "beard off" with some of his co-workers. The field started with 7 or 8 guys, but now has been reduced to just a few, mainly because some of the guys wimped out. Since Geoffrey is home on paternity leave, he was allowed to email a picture since he wouldn't be in the office. He received high marks...though I'm not sure it was completely due to the beard :).

Each day Mia is having more and more alert time. Here she is enjoying the view from Daddy's shoulder...

2 weekends ago we had some really nice spring weather. The uncles came over early for some corn hole fun and Isabel decided she too would play the game.

She also enjoyed gathering up the bean bags and bringing them back to Uncles Kevin and Eric.

Geoffrey has been doing a great job of taking care of me and Mia, but also making sure the house stays in order. When it came time to vacuum last week, Isabel rode around in the Ergo with him, as she has developed a major fear of the "purple vacuum."

Daddy and the 2 girls

Uncle Romes stopped by for a very quick visit last Thursday. He brought Isabel a copy of The Butter Battle Book which he started reading to Isabel.

I brought out another costume yesterday, a lion suit, which Isabel wore for the entire afternoon. I didn't put up the pictures, but she only wore the lion suit and a diaper, refusing pants and a shirt.

Mommy and Mia taking a little rest while Isabel "pretends" to sleep as well.

We are all doing well and I can't believe that Mia has been with us for almost four weeks. Time is just flying.

In other news, Isabel slept in her big girl bed for the first time last night. Isabel has had a full-sized mattress in her room since she has been born, that she knew would someday be hers. Back in January she requested to sleep in the bed, but that only lasted about 15 minutes before she asked to move to her crib. Over the weekend she mentioned "the purple bed" (it has lavender sheets on it) and last night asked to "go sleep in purple bed." So I read her 3 books from the bed and she went to sleep. We did make the mistake of not putting the side guard on and she went THUD in the middle of the night, but was in such a deep sleep it didn't phase her. Geoffrey asked if she wanted to go back in her crib and from our room I heard, "purple bed" where she slept for the remainder of the night. She sure is growing up and I think its time for me to hurry up and finish her quilt, since it seems like her purple bed is going to be the bed of choice and it might be time to say good bye to her crib.

2 Girls Doing Tummy Time

2010-03-30T11:02:00.003-04:00

Eric commented on Sunday that I hadn't updated the blog recently...so I told him I'd work on it Tuesday while our new windows (yay!) are being installed. I am amused that Eric was the blog requester, since he and Kevin see Isabel and Mia at least once a week.

A little over Mia's 2 week birthday her cord fell off and tummy time began. So far she tolerates it better than Isabel did at this stage and Isabel also enjoys partcipating. Whenever she and Mia are doing something together (tummy time, sitting with mommy etc) she refers to herself and Mia as "the two girls"...so here are the two girls doing tummy time.

Kisses from Isabel. Isabel LOVES to kiss her little sister which just melts my heart each time she does it. I know that at some point there will be some jealousy, but until then I'm going to enjoy the fact that Isabel has nothing but love for Mia.

"2 Girls!"

French Fries, Cakeballs, Pizza and Milk

2010-03-16T12:09:00.010-04:00

We enjoyed a wonderful birthday celebration for Isabel this past Saturday. Although she still doesn't quite get what a birthday is, she did enjoy opening presents and getting to dine on her special birthday dinner - all picked out by Isabel with the exception of the peas I added to "round" out the meal. It just goes to show how good the memory of a young toddler is, as pizza, french fries and cake balls are something that rarely make its way onto our plates...and even less often to Isabel's plate.

I currently have Mia sleeping away on my chest (I'm enjoying a few hours of quiet time with just her), so I'll keep the words brief.

We almost didn't make it through the rest of the presents after Isabel opened the big bin of blocks from Grandma and Grandpa Buescher. At least every five minutes she would stop what she was doing and ask "play with blocks?"

What is this frilly thing?
A tutu! Made for Isabel by Mommy. She kept talking about Katy Duck, who is a character in one of her favorite books who has quite the collection of tutus.

Duck and flower window decals that of course had to be opened right away and placed on the nearest window.

A set of heart shaped bracelets...

...all of which had to be placed on her arm before the festivities could continue.

A set of butterfly hair bows...that all four had to be placed in her hair and on her dress.

A baby "ergo." It is really meant to be a front doll carrier, but since Isabel can only relate to riding on our backs, we made it work for coffee baby to ride on her back. My guess is once she sees Mia riding around in the Ergo on the front, coffee baby will also move to her front.

We got Isabel a little sleeping mat/combo for when she no longer sleeps in a pack-n-play on trips. Of course she had to try it out, but it doesn't work too well while wearing a baby on your back.
This works a little better...
Uncle Eric is pretty excited about taking Isabel for her first Chuck E Cheese experience and gave Isabel a voucher for "a fun filled afternoon of pizza and games with Uncle Eric on Chuck E Cheese." I'm oh so glad that Eric is excited about this and I can avoid a visit there for a while :).

Unc's gift of a dancing Brobee (a character from a show called Yo Gabba Gabba which Isabel had never seen since she doesn't watch TV) started off ok...

..but once it started moving, talking and swinging his arms she became quite scared...
...backing herself into the corner while whimpering "all done, all done, put away, put away." Luckily on Sunday and Monday she enjoyed watching the Brobee dance from the comfort of Mommy or Daddy's lap. I'm sure eventually she will learn to love dancing with the Brobee.

At least she didn't keep a grudge with Unc and was happy to play blocks with him while Mommy got dinner ready.

Isabel is really into hearts, so I made that the "theme" of her birthday. It helped that valentine's day was near her birthday so I stocked up on all things heart related - a hearts table cloth, heart dishes and bowls and heart straws. I'm sure with two little girls these items will see lots of good use throughout the years. Isabel was delighted with everything and loved the heart tablecloth.

Unc especially enjoyed drinking beer through his heart straw.

Since Isabel had requested cake balls, I made a small cake for the more traditional birthday cake.
Isabel got very sleepy during dinner, so blew out her candles after getting into her PJs.

MMM, cakeballs. Happy Birthday Isabel!

Mia Alexis

2010-03-11T20:44:00.006-05:00

Mia Alexis joined us on March 5, 2010 at 7:47 am weighing in at 7 lbs 4 oz and measuring 19.75" in length. She surprised us all by arriving almost 2 weeks early, but everything fell into place. Uncle Eric stayed with Isabel while we headed to the hospital and Grandma and Grandpa Schaeffer arrived from SC later in the evening to relieve Eric until we left the hospital on Saturday. Mia is doing great, is a champion nurser and is sleeping well for a 7 day old baby.

We are settling in as a family of four and Isabel has really taken to her little sister. It certainly helps that she also has Grandma and Grandpa Schaeffer here to play with, and Mommy and Daddy are enjoying the extra sets of hands.

Many pictures have been taken and these are just a few of my favorites from our first week.

Miss Mia after getting weighed, measured and checked out.

A very happy Daddy with his littlest girl. I was still in the process of recovering from the delivery (and will spare you all the details). :)
Later in the afternoon, Geoffrey went home for Isabel and brought her to meet her little sister. She walked into the room and immediately was looking for "baby Mia." She was delighted to see her, gave her many kisses and didn't seem to mind at all that I was holding her.
A happy Mommy (feeling much better) with her Mia bean.
We were discharged from the hospital on Saturday night, and Mia work home the same "baby hokie" hat that Isabel had worn home.
"I don't like this carseat!!!"

"OK, that is much better."

Mia was kept toasty warm by the beautiful afghan that Cousin Rita had made for her.

Our first morning home, Isabel was excited to see that Mommy, Daddy and Isabel had come home in the night. She continued to love on Mia during the day.

Mia enjoying some good awake time.

Daddy snuggling with his girls. (Yes, Isabel was wearing a Tigger costume)

On Tuesday Geoffrey assembled the Bob Duallie and we went on a nice (and short) family walk. Mia wasn't so impressed with the ride (the infant car seat adapter had yet to be delivered), but Isabel loved the ride and getting to look at Mia.

And finally, some super great pictures from today. Isabel wanted to hold Mia and did such a great job.

Random Friday Fun

2010-02-27T16:08:00.003-05:00

Just a few random shots from Friday. Isabel has become very interested in picking out her own clothing (I usually allow this on days we aren't going to work/school), and Friday she insisted on wearing a new dress I'd picked up for spring/summer. In addition to the pink dress, we found a NASA sticker which immediately had to go onto the dress. She loved wearing the sticker and kept pointing to it saying "a NASA sticker!" all day long.

It is no secret that Isabel loves ducks...probably stemming from her love of Emmy Duck, her special sleep friend. I picked up this halloween costume at the end of the season last year and at least once a day now she asks to wear it. Sometimes it stays on from morning until night. After finally charging both of my cameras, I remembered to snap a few duck pictures.

Mia's Room

2010-02-21T15:55:00.006-05:00

Tuesday will mark 37 weeks and I definitely am slowing down and taking more naps. My hospital bags are almost all packed, the car seats will be installed this week and Mia's room is done. Although Mia probably won't be spending much time in her room those first few months (besides many diaper changes), it has been fun getting her room ready and seeing Isabel's excitement as she goes into "Mia's ROOM!!!." I hope she is equally excited when we bring her home from the hospital :).

Fun With Brick Blocks Fun with Brick Blocks

2010-02-05T16:34:00.003-05:00

Back in the day, my mom and dad took the time to save 1/2 gallon paper milk cartons, put one into the other, so there would be two solid ends and then covered them in "brick" contact paper to make giant brick blocks. My brothers and I had countless hours playing with them (they were rainy or snowy day favorite). I was super excited when my parents told me they had saved them and planned to bring them to Vienna during one of their trips.

When we got our third snow of the winter on Tuesday night and playgroup was cancelled for Wed morning, I knew we had to do something fun or else we both might go crazy. So I got the blocks from the basement and Isabel had a blast. She enjoys rotating between stacking them herself (sometimes with help), other times just making lines with them, or having them stacked up as walls to knock over. Her favorite is when Geoffrey makes a snowflake (??? not sure why she calls it this) around her and she gets to bust out of it all at once. Since we have more snow, I've left the blocks out and will put them away early next week when hopefully the snow melts, and we can once again get outside.

January Snow

2010-02-05T16:24:00.002-05:00

Isabel is definitely my child. She just loves the snow. We had our second snow storm of the season last weekend, and after her nap she climbed onto her red chair in the playroom, looked out the window, then looked at Geoffrey and said "play in the snow?" So we suited her up and she went out with Geoffrey while he shoveled the driveway. My snow pants aren't exactly fitting these days, so I stayed on the porch and snapped a few pictures before I got too cold. Isabel had been outside for about 30 minutes before I had to bribe her to come back in. Her face was getting very red and chapped, and it was time for her to warm up. She finally came back to the front steps after I promised we'd have a warm treat - hot chocolate...although she wasn't very impressed and opted for normal white milk.

Sunday it was back outside to play in the snow again. Since it had stopped snowing I ventured off the porch and was at least able to capture this one picture where she was looking at me. I'm guessing that we'll be heading out into the snow again over the next couple of days, as we get covered in another 12-30 inches, depending on who you ask.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

2010-02-05T15:39:00.003-05:00

This video is for the Grandmas (and of course Grandpas) who have been hearing for a few weeks now about Isabel's new found love of "singing." I'm not sure we have a future singing sensation on our hands, but I'm glad that she enjoys singing as much as I do (and I certainly don't have the gift either).

If you are wondering about the large knife, don't worry, it is plastic and Isabel was busy cutting a creation with play do while we caught her musical debut on video.

First Trip to the Air & Space Museum

2010-02-05T15:26:00.004-05:00

I've been bad about blogging. I have no excuses except that I'm busy growing little Mia and prepping for her arrival, while soaking in all the one-one-one time I can get with Isabel, before she has to learn to really share. I'll keep the words brief, but am going to try and get up some of the pictures from January.

Geoffrey took Isabel to the Air & Space Museum for the first time on the 8th of January. She had a great time, but wasn't too interested in posing for pictures. She enjoyed riding on the metro, although with such a long ride there and back, and a 12:00 nap time, they didn't get to spend as much time there as Geoffrey had hoped.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-05T20:13:00.013-05:00

We spent a wonderful Christmas here at home in Vienna, and were once again joined by Grandma & Grandpa Schaeffer, along with Unc and Uncle Eric for all the Christmas festivities. As usual there was cooking baking and decorating, pierogi making, and lots of fun with Isabel mixed in with more good food. We took a crazy amount of pictures and these are my favorites that jumped out at me during my first pass in iphoto. Warning - there are a lot of pictures, but I'm hoping with the quantity that the pictures will do most of the talking for me.

Christmas Eve Morning

The Myers - Schaeffer - Buescher wheel of baby swiss tradition continues...

Isabel was napping during the main cookie decorating, so we saved a few for her to do after she woke up.

I'm not sure who is having more fun with the turtle puppet...Unc or Isabel.

Our Ukrainian Feast. This year I decided that we should dine on my grandmother's china for Christmas Eve, since she was person Ukrainian and kept this tradition going.

Christmas Eve dessert would not be complete without cookies and milk. Isabel insisted on drinking her milk from a Santa mug.

Christmas Day

Isabel ignored or didn't seem to care about all the presents that had appeared during the night. She was more interested in pointing out her favorite ornaments. It worked out well as we were able to wait for Unc and Uncle Eric to arrive, and then enjoyed a nice breakfast followed by the present opening.

Eric modeling his new snuggie.
Isabel kept chanting "help help" while trying to shove the handle to her shopping cart in anywhere she thought might work.
Luckily it didn't take long to put together and she was ready to take off through the house.

Uncle Eric demonstrating the proper stick horse riding technique.

Unc thought it was time for Isabel to receive her first set of golf clubs.

I have to say that I think Unc and Uncle Eric were the shining stars of Christmas. After Isabel had opened all her tree presents and discovered the play kitchen (passed on by Aunt Megan - thank you!), Isabel was taken to the play room, which had been overtaken but a clubhouse, tunnel, tent and another tunnel combo. It is insane, and luckily all but the clubhouse are easily taken down. She had a blast climbing through the maze and the fun has continued.

Eric thought he'd have no problem crawling through the tunnel. HE made it out, but barely...

No Christmas dinner with the Schaeffers is complete without the plate of black olives and gherkins. Isabel really enjoyed having the olives placed on her fingers and eating them that way.

Not a Christmas shot, but since Geoffrey was behind the camera for almost all of Christmas, I later realized I didn't have any pictures of him with Isabel or us as a family. Oops, mental note to self for Christmas 2010. Must take at least one family photo.

The day after Christmas we were joined by Uncle Peter for a quick visit. Isabel really took to him and enjoyed bringing him some food she cooked. Peter was pretty amused by his "princess steak"...a mini steak served on a pink princess plate.

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that 2010 is off to a great start. We've been working on small things around the house, and of course getting Mia's room ready. We painted both Isabel and Mia's rooms this past weekend and I'm hoping to have all the decorating/preparation done by the end of January.

Happy 2010!

A Snow Wonderful Weekend

2009-12-23T13:19:00.005-05:00

Saturday morning we woke up to about 6" of snow on the ground and the snow just kept on coming. It was very pretty (though not as fun shoveling out of it for Geoffrey) and we enjoyed having a very low key weekend stuck in the house all together.

Before the snow got too deep, we put Isabel in her snow bibs, along with about 3 layers of clothing, her sherpa lined jacket (not waterproof) covered in her rain coat. I give you Isabel aka our little sumo wrestler.

Waiting for daddy to shovel off the landing before we headed out into the snow.

Checking things out. Ever since the snow a few weeks ago, Isabel has been quite interested in the snow, and I was hoping we wouldn't have a repeat of the first time I introduced her to the snow.

She didn't mind walking in it, so I took that as a very good sign.

And then she probably spent a few minutes just poking at the snow piles and grinning with delight.

Uh oh. Daddy, what on earth are you doing?

Isabel's first snow angel. Geoffrey moved Isabel's arms and legs for her. She gave him a very strange look, but didn't get upset, though did ask to get "up up" after not too long.

We ended our brief time in the snow with a ride down the slide.

Weeeee!

The rest of the weekend we spent inside, with the exception of Geoffrey clearing the same spot for the pugs, and then shoveling the driveway on Sunday.

I had a few more things left on my baking list, and decided to finish them up on Saturday. Isabel just loved being able to help, especially stirring. Here she is working on the glaze for lemon ricotta cookies.

I asked Isabel if she wanted to help ice the cookies and she chanted "icing! icing!" So I put her in a t-shirt bib, gave her a small bowl of glaze and she went to town. I was shocked that she didn't try to eat any of the cookies or glaze. She took her job quite seriously and finished 5 cookies in the time I finished the remaining 4 dozen or so.

Isabel and her masterpieces! I'm guessing she is really going to enjoy decorating sugar cookies on Christmas Eve day.

Today we spent the morning preparing for Grandma & Grandpa Schaeffer's arrival. Isabel helped me make beets and horseradish (a Ukrainian food), and did a great job dumping in the horseradish. We also made the filling for pierogies and should be all set for our pierogie making party.

Merry Christmas Adam! (As Eric used to always say on Dec 23rd)

Looking Like Christmas

2009-12-17T20:38:00.005-05:00

It has actually been looking like Christmas for a few weeks now, but I've been slacking on downloading pictures and updating the blog. It seems that nesting (if that is what you want to call it) has hit hard and early, as I never really felt this during my entire pregnancy with Isabel. I think it really just has to do with the fact that I know I won't have time to do all these things after Mia arrives, like organizing the basement, painting the girls' rooms, organizing the pantry, hall closet and the list goes on. So most nap times (when I'm not napping) are spent doing the above and usually any down time I find. Its not a bad thing though, and I'm loving all the organization. It is also getting me excited about decorating a second girl's room (this one will have a pink theme) and if all goes to plan, Mia's room should be "hers" before my parents arrive next week and our hobby room will be converted to a guest room/hobby room combo.

Of course you wanted to know all of that, right? Anyways, onto the pictures. Me, my mom and Isabel decorated the majority of the tree the Monday before Thanksgiving. The hallmark airplane ornaments that Geoffrey has been collecting since the series began were hung a week and a half later, during our first snow fall. So far Isabel has not messed with the tree. She loves to point out the different objects, occasionally will touch it (and we then remind her "no touching") but never yanks, pulls or has attempted to climb the tree.

She took her job very seriously and figured out how to open the loops and attach the ornaments to the tree. Of course many wound up in the same spot, but that was fixed later on.

Trying to make the felted dog sit. Because dogs are supposed to sit, right? This one was a bad dog (as she often calls the pugs) and didn't want to sit.

A little under 2 weeks ago we had our first snow fall and got about 5-6". It was perfect. The snow started Saturday morning and had melted away from the roads by Sunday afternoon. We went out early to drop Geoffrey's car off for its check-up, and made a quick run to Magruders, a local grocery chain...that just so happens to have a cookie club for kids. Isabel has caught on very quickly that a trip to Magruders means a cookie. Luckily she rarely finishes it and will share it with mommy or daddy.

Here she is, proudly displaying her cookie in front of the tree.
Putting the final touches on the tree with Daddy. Geoffrey enjoyed using this as a teaching moment and explaining what kind of airplanes each model was, and a little background on the aircraft. I should have taken notes...
The snow after about an hour. I'll give you 3 guesses as to who dressed Isabel, but I'm thinking you'll only need 1...

I had already planned on making a snowman cake for Eric, as a babysitting thank you, so it was appropriate that it did indeed snow. I bought the pan 3 years ago from William Sonoma, but had never used it. It was a bit time intensive to put together (and eventually wanted to fall), but I think it will be a fun tradition to bake a snowman cake with the girls when it snows.

The finished product. A week later the cake was gone. I didn't get to try a piece but Kevin and Eric told me it was quite good.
I assembled the cake at the boys' condo and also helped them get their tree set up. Isabel was excited to help decorate another tree.

This is what happens now when you ask Isabel to say "cheeeeze."

It seems that the DC Metro Area could be getting quite a bit of snow this weekend...I've heard rumors of up to 8". Looks like I might be adding a snow man cake to my big list of baking for the weekend. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Sour Cream

2009-12-17T20:28:00.003-05:00

These pictures are a bit old, and somehow I missed them on my last card download. They made me laugh, so hopefully they might make you laugh too.

Upon returning from SC, Isabel and I met up with Nicole and Makayla at Tequila Grande, a quasi-mexican place in Vienna. Isabel had been eyeing Nicole's sour cream from her fajita platter most of the evening until she decided to go for it (Nicole was ok with this). I was so glad I had my camera because we were all cracking up. Apparently Isabel has been missing out, in the form of sour cream.

Going for it...

Finger lickin' good.

Sour cream gets high marks.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-07T16:02:00.007-05:00

We traveled to VA Beach for Thanksgiving and had a wonderful time. We spent 4 days there, and in addition to celebrating the holiday, we also made a trip to the aquarium (those pictures have to get off my cell phone still), flew radio controlled airplanes and fed geese twice.

We arrived late Tuesday night and as soon as Isabel was awake on Wednesday and went downstairs, she made a bee line for the toy bin that Grandma Buescher keeps (and keeps adding to). She immediately discovered this magnetic drawing board which captivated her the whole 4 days. She was also introduced to airplane cookies. At first she thought it was just an airplane and was content to flew it around.

She gave me a strange look when I told her to take a bite, but did try. She then got a big smile on her face and exclaimed, "Cookieeee!"

Thanksgiving morning Uncle Romes was kind enough to take a picture for our Christmas card. This is one of the silly ones we won't be using.

We then had some fun watching Daddy fly his remote controlled airplane.

Isabel also had a ball running through the leaves while Daddy and Grandpa raked.

We first tried to feed geese on Friday, but it started raining on the way over. We still fed them, by throwing bread from the window, much to Isabel's delight. Saturday was more dry (though still cold), but the geese didn't mind and neither did Isabel. We bundled up and got ready to head out.
Isabel took her job of carrying the bread very seriously.

This goose decided he wanted to be closer to the bread, and left the pond and wandered right up to me and Isabel.

And a few shots of our little monkey, who loves to climb up anything...although her favorite is trying to climb up Daddy when he holds Isabel by her hands.

We hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Stay tuned for pictures of tree decorating and our first snow of the season.

Victoria & Chris' Wedding

2009-11-28T16:11:00.004-05:00

On November 14th our good friends Victoria and Chris were married in a beautiful ceremony at the Carnegie Institution of Washington DC. Although not the official match maker, I was responsible for bringing Chris to Orbital. He met Victoria on his first day there (he and Victoria worked on a small 3 person team) and the rest is history. I had the honor of standing up with Chris as a member of the groom's party, a first for me. The girls (Victoria, her maid of honor Georgene, and the moms) were pampered by both a hair stylist and makeup artist as we got ready for the big day. Thank you Victoria for that special treat...especially for a 5 month old pregnant lady.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so until the professional pictures become available, I just have a few pictures I copied off a snapfish album, so the quality isn't great.

There were 6 bridal party members, 4 males and 2 females. Georgene and I were told to pick out a long dress we liked...what could be easier. Lucky for me, the dress I picked out 3 months earlier fit the baby bump perfectly.

The happy couple!
Their first dance was "fly me to the moon"...very appropriate for two space enthusiasts and Orbital employees.

Congratulations Chris and Victoria!

Aiken in the Fall

2009-11-28T15:44:00.005-05:00

I'm trying to catch up with November and am starting with the beginning of November. Geoffrey had a long work trip at the beginning of the month, so Isabel and I used the trip as a good excuse to fly for Aiken for a week. We had a great time and Isabel loved the warmer weather, and of course extra attention from Grandma and Grandpa. Our flight down was smooth for the most part, minus a few tears when boarding the plane and a 20 minute delay getting off of the plane. The flight attendant claimed I didn't need a seat belt extender (I did) and her seat wound up almost becoming a permanent fixture of seat 1A. It wound up taking 2 pilots and the flight attendant to free the carseat.

Isabel has really been mothering lately, and always insisted on feeding her penguin and hippo...and they had to wear bibs.

Already taking after mommy, having fun with coupons.

Isabel saw Grandma using the watering can and decided she could help as well. She attempted to get every last drop out of the already used watering can.

Who needs toys? One of Isabel's favorites from this trip was a small, round laundry basket that she enjoyed sitting in.

Isabel decided that her baby needed to take a ride on this horse and string. She later attempted to sit on the horse which didn't work nearly as well as the baby did.

The silly fur hat was my Grandma Schaeffer's and made a great dress up item.

Grandpa taught Isabel about drawing on the window condensation.

Isabel was excited about one of the new sleeper's we bought for Mia and tried to make off with it by climbing upstairs.

Of course a trip to Aiken would not be complete without a visit to feed the ducks.

The flight back went very smoothly, with no tears or stuck car seats (this time we insisted on the seat belt extender). We had such a great time, but were happy to be home and to welcome Daddy back a few days later.

MIA and Mia

2009-11-19T12:41:00.002-05:00

Just a quick update to let you know that we are not MIA. The past couple weeks have been pretty busy. It all began two weeks ago when Isabel and I boarded a plane to SC and Geoffrey boarded a plane for some work travel. The week was followed up by three lovely events surrounding the wedding of Victoria and Chris (I was in the wedding). Throwing in work, an airline delay on Geoffrey's end, a few CPR classes and normal life with an active toddler, one isn't left with much time to blog or download pictures. Hopefully next week I'll have a major update on the photo end, as there are plenty of good ones to share. Geoffrey and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary on Wednesday and are lucky enough to be having my mom come up for the weekend so we can take a short getaway, just the two of us. To say that I cannot wait would be an understatement.

As for the other part of this post - we have a name! No middle name yet, but we will be naming our second daughter Mia. Isabel is actually mostly responsible for coming up with the name. After the sonogram we had been talking about names and would jokingly ask Isabel what we should name her sister. At one point, she started chanting "Mia, mia, mia." thought it sounded more like "Meeea, Meeea, Meeea." Geoffrey and I both kind of looked at one another and said, Hmm, I really like that. Mia?! We let it sit for our respective trips and decided on Friday that would indeed be the name. I love being able to call the bean by name now, and Isabel likes to identify clothes that are Mia's (we got a few new things in Aiken), and will point to what will be Mia's room and say "Mia's (pause) room" very matter of factly. We hope she will be just as excited to meet Mia, as she is about naming her room, clothing and other items that will be the baby's.

Happy Halloween

2009-11-06T14:23:00.002-05:00

Halloween this year didn't happen quite as we planned, but that is how life goes with little ones :). The Thursday before Halloween Isabel spiked a fever of 103 and by Friday was almost up to 104. We knew that the lovely H1N1 was going around, so we called the pediatrician's office and Geoffrey took Isabel in. A course of Tamiflu was prescribed and we were to treat it as the flu, as they have all but stopped doing the H1N1 test because the test can give a negative when indeed the child has the virus. Friday night was rough, her fever went to 104.5 and she was up many times a night just needing some comfort. As a parent, I don't think there is anything worse than seeing your child sick and in pain. My heart goes out to those parents who have to experience this on a regular basis, as we've been super lucky with this being Isabel's first major illness beyond a cold.

Isabel's fever started to break Halloween afternoon, but we knew that trick-or-treating was not in the cards for her. She had no interest in carving the pumpkin and just wanted to be held and cuddled, and we were happy to oblige. She went to bed early Halloween night and woke up without a fever Sunday morning, feeling a little better, but not her happy little self. A bit before lunchtime, she expressed interest in wearing her "bug" as she calls it, and we got her dressed and let her go trick or treating in the house and on the front porch with our leftover candy (although she didn't get to try any, since we only had butterfingers and she isn't supposed to have peanut products until age 2). She had a good time for about 15 minutes or so it and it was so nice to see a smile back on her face.

So what exactly do I do with this pumpkin?

Ohhh, it holds neat stuff. I'm not quite sure what this candy stuff is, but it makes fun noises when I squeeze it.

You mean I get another one? Yay!

I had hoped to get her to pose with the pumpkin I had carved, but she really wasn't into posing and we didn't want to rock the boat with our happy girl.

We asked her if she thought the pumpkin was hungry and she immediately decided he was...

...and apparently he was hungry via his eye.

That's more like it. Pumpkins eat with their mouths too.

During her time of being sick, Isabel had little to no appetite, and on Sunday I was getting a wee bit concerned. I asked her if she wanted some ice cream (the last time she'd had some was in July) and she responded "ICE CREAM!!!" Which Geoffrey and I thought was a good sign. So we let her eat as much ice cream as she wanted (a whopping 2 tablespoons), all while wearing the stocking hat that she insisted on modeling. We think she might have been cold and achy, as she kept repeating "boo boo" about every 5 minutes, but wouldn't point to a specific part of her body. Poor Isabel.

As a final sick day treat, we decided to see if Isabel would enjoy watching the fish from "Finding Nemo". She was interested in watching the first 30 minutes or so and calling out "shish!" each time a fish came on screen. Geoffrey snapped this picture of the excited fish girl after returning from a trip to the mall to buy Isabel a coat.

By Tuesday Isabel had pretty much returned to her old self. She is happy again, laughs a lot and is eating food and drinking her milk and water as she did before. Whether or not it was H1N1, we'll never know, and I'm hoping that enough vaccine will come around that she can get her second dose in 2 weeks (she did receive her first dose 6 days before coming down with her fever) and we won't have to worry about it period.

We hope that everyone had a great Halloween (or post Halloween) and stays healthy!

Healthy Baby Girl

2009-10-28T21:59:00.003-04:00

Just a quick post to let everyone know that my 20-week ultrasound went very well today. Baby GIRL Buescher is healthy with all major organs and bones growing as they should be for a 20 week babe. Isabel seemed to enjoy the ultrasound and we have gotten her to say "sister." We are excited to welcome another girl into our family, and all the dressing up, tea parties and teenage hormones that will come with it...though Geoffrey is already talking about needing to move out of the house for a few days each month 15 or so years from now :).

Seems that things have progressed a bit since Isabel's 20 week ultrasound. The radiology office where we went no longer does print outs, and instead saves the key images to a disk. Baby Bean (we don't have a name just yet) kept moving around and seemed to have no interest in sitting still. The tech even turned on the 4D imaging quite a few times (which I still think is a bit freaky), but only was able to capture one good face picture, as the rest of the time baby Bean had either her hands or feet covering her face.

Here are a couple of our second daughter's first photo shoot.

Pre-Halloween Fun

2009-10-26T19:46:00.006-04:00

Last Wednesday afternoon, Isabel and I headed to Cox Farms for their Fall Festival with friends from the St. Mark Moms' group. It really isn't a farm at all, though there are some farm animals. They have big kid and little kid play area and some really great slides, that would be fun for adults even without the kids.

Isabel had an absolute ball and we were both exhausted by the end of the evening.

Here she is enjoying some time on the wooden train with her friend Elise (in the orange).

Isabel was in almost constant motion the entire time, but I did manage to convince her sit for a picture on these hay bales.

Here she is playing in the corn box. Just like a sand box only with dried corn...and what a great idea, since the corn stays and doesn't come home in your shoes and clothes.

Here we are on our first slide...

And next on the BIG slide.
Isabel took a break in the stroller while we waited for our friends to go on the hayride. Apparently it is very bumpy and pregnant women are highly encouraged to avoid it.

On the way out, Isabel got to select a small pumpkin to take home. She loves her pumpkin and insisted on keeping it on her lap in the car for the trip home.

Sunday we were supposed to head to Frying Pan Farm Park with my other moms' group, but it was very cold and we opted to meet indoors at our home. Although only 2 of the 10 toddlers were able to make it, we still had a wonderful time.

Isabel the lady bug and Sarah the duck.

Isabel loved Sarah's costume, as I think it reminds her of her other duck emmy, whom she sleeps with at night. She felt the need to check out Sarah's beak...

...and then her webbed feet. Sarah was a great sport during Isabel's inspection.
Alec was dressed as a puppy and wouldn't let the fact that his hat kept covering his eyes stop him from playing.
With the help of a few crackers, we convinced the kids to take a group picture. You can also see a bit of my halloween decorating above (the picture frames will be filled with halloween pictures and come out during October each year).

I tried to squeeze in one more pre-halloween event last Friday by letting Isabel watch my favorite Halloween movie, "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." Since Isabel doesn't get to watch TV, she really had no interest in the movie, even though I was sitting with her and talking about what we were seeing on screen. We only made it about half way through, and that was with lots of movement and pointing to things outside. The only part of the movie that caught her eye is when snoopy was "flying" around on his dog house. Isabel decided he was on a helicopter and kept saying "airshow, airshow!" Oh well, maybe next year we can start the tradition of the great pumpkin.

Happy Halloween everyone. Isabel can't wait for her second school parade followed by pumpkin carving on Saturday and actual trick-or-treating (though mom or dad will have to keep the treats).

Airplane & Air Show

2009-10-25T20:54:00.007-04:00

I'm still waiting to get the pictures Geoffrey took, but until that happens, here are some pictures pre-air show of Isabel and her airplane, followed by some pictures taken by Grandma Buescher.

As I'd mentioned before, Geoffrey worked like a mad man to get Isabel's VT airplane completed for the airshow. He arrived home Friday afternoon and put the finishing touches on the airplane before giving it to Isabel. She was thrilled and is loving that she has her own "airpeen" to fly around. So far the only casualty has been in the form of 4 broken prop blades, which we knew would happen, as the kit wasn't designed for a rotating prop. Geoffrey will be working on his own design in the coming weeks to make something a bit more toddler proof.

The weather at the air show was just plain crummy. It was cold and and the cloud "ceiling" was really low...which meant most of the jets weren't able to fly. Isabel still enjoyed herself as you can see in the pictures below. I was also grateful to be able to borrow a super warm sherpa lined jacket for Isabel. She was toasty warm the entire time and I think I'll be purchasing one of these in a more girly color. Thank you "Aunt" Megan for the use of the coat :).

While things weren't flying Isabel entertained herself by securing the strap once used for her infant car seat...its nice that little things can provide such amusement.

Isabel and I stopped for some pictures at this airplane at Geoffrey's request. I couldn't tell you what kind of airplane it is, but will find out.

We spent the remainder of the weekend relaxing with Grandma and Grandpa Buescher. Isabel enjoyed playing with the toys from the "special bin" and reading some new books...even a board book version of Cinderella. Both Dad and Grandpa had to roll their eyes at this one.

And finally, some fun(ny) pictures of the family. I asked Grandma B to take a family picture of us, but didn't realize until after I saw these that sitting on an overstuffed sofa that reclines doesn't make for the best photo angle. But, we at least have a picture to send in with Isabel to her classroom.

More pictures to come later this week of our adventure to Cox Farms and our halloween play date. I'd hoped to get those pictures up tonight, but I'm loading pictures to order prints (I'm ashamed to say it has been a year since I last printed paper pictures), and it is slowing down bloggers ability to upload.

Toddlers Talking...a mixed blessing :)

2009-10-19T15:43:00.003-04:00

We are back from a nice and relaxing weekend in VA Beach. It was supposed to be filled with airplanes, airplanes and more airplanes, but Mother Nature had other plans. We did make it to the air show for a couple hours on Saturday and Isabel loved what she saw and had a great time. There will be pictures from the weekend coming shortly, but I had to post this little funny story from the weekend.

Sunday morning we were at the 7am mass, sitting in the cry room, since Isabel is not quite ready for the sit still and be quiet routine of going to church. Because we were there so early, a lot of the older folks decided it would be better to sit in the cry room instead of the regular church (scared of germs maybe?). We were the only people there with a child, but there were at least 10-15 other adults listening to mass there as well. About halfway through, my pregnancy bladder told me I needed to take a quick trip to the ladies room. Isabel started getting upset that I was leaving and crying "mommy!", so Geoffrey whispered in her ear that I was going to the bathroom to "pee pee", which settled her down. About 5 minutes later I return and Isabel starts saying with delight "Mommy pee pee! pee pee! pee pee!" I'm surprised that nobody started laughing, as I could barely contain myself. Thank you my sweet Isabel for sharing such wonderful information with the others in the cry room. It will definitely be a while before we start going to mass in the main area. :)

Just a little update...

2009-10-13T02:42:00.002-04:00

...though not an overly exciting one. I can't remember if I've taken any pictures this week (bad mommy), but anyways, they are on the camera, which is downstairs, and it is currently 2:45 in the morning, I'm not tired, but don't really feel like moving from the office :).

Anyways, last week was just another normal week, with the addition of 2 doctors appointments. Isabel had her 18 month check-up and passed with flying colors. She continues to grow following the 90-95th percentile for height and 50th percentile for weight. She only screamed for about 5 seconds following her shots and gave the nurse a very nice, though tear filled "bye" as the nurse left the room with the empty syringes. Our pediatrician noted all of Isabel's words and made me promise that I wouldn't get all worried if this next child doesn't talk as early or often as miss Isabel. Provided we have another illness free winter (could we be so lucky as to have 2), we won't head back to the pediatrician's office until baby bean's 2 week check-up. Eeek!

I also had an appt last week and all is well with baby bean. Though really all they do at this stage is check the heart beat, but its always such a wonderful sound to hear. I received orders for my 20 week sonogram, which will be October 28th. Hopefully this baby will cooperate and in addition to counting fingers, toes, measuring bones and looking at organs we should also be able to find out the sex of this little one. Geoffrey played a cruel joke on me a few months ago saying "I think this one should be a surprise" (not that there is anything wrong with surprises), and I told him "you can have a surprise and I'll find out myself!" We haven't done too much in the way of discussing names, but I'm guessing that is also a trait of a non-first born, since free time isn't quite the same with a toddler running around. I'm also finally off of my anti-nausea meds, and keeping food down, which makes me happy to know by body can function on its own. The meds were a life-saver though for the 2 months I was on them.

Stay tuned for some good airplane pictures! Geoffrey has been working like a mad man after Isabel and I have been going to sleep on a model for Isabel. She is constantly wanting to play with her paper models, but we want to keep them intact, and at 19 months (today!), she doesn't quite grasp the term "gentle", though she will repeat it and nod as though she understands it perfectly. It will be a simple model, reinforced internally to hopefully prevent breakage, and won't have any external landing gear, antenna etc. The color scheme will be maroon, orange and white with a few special VT additions. I'm sure Isabel is just going to love it.

Alrighty, I'm going to head back to bed and hope to catch a few more ZZzzs before heading into work.

New Babies

2009-10-02T19:29:00.004-04:00

No, the real baby isn't here yet (still 24 weeks to go) but we do have some new babies in the house. At playgroup on Tuesday Isabel fell in love with her friend Anna's baby doll. I had given Isabel the doll I had as a child, but she has shown little interest in it. This other doll, which was slightly bigger and more life like (?), caught her eye. It was about time for Isabel to have her own baby anyways, so after work on Thursday we stopped at Target. It seems a lot of other parents had the same idea, as this was the only "normal" baby left in the store. All the others talked, cried, went potty or some other crazy stuff I wasn't interested in. This doll happen to come in a set with a stroller, and so into the cart it went. I took the doll out once we reached the car and she happily held and talked to the baby the whole way home. Once we got in the door, I opened up the stroller which made Isabel's eyes light up. She knew exactly where the baby should go and off she went. She didn't stop but for a few seconds, so it was hard to get good pictures, as the SLR was upstairs. But I think you'll get the idea that she loves this baby and certainly enjoys the stroller.

Taking a quick break.

And now back to the business of strolling.

Now let me turn and go the other way.

When I ask Isabel to smile, she puts on a big goofy grin and shakes her head from side to side. Which works well if you catch her facing, and not so well at any other time (those pictures went to the trash can).

Giving the baby a kiss.

And now a hug...

It seems the baby needs her pacifier.

Yep, that should do the trick.

Its only been a day, but I have really enjoyed seeing Isabel take to this new baby. I think (hope) it will help her to have a baby of her own to take care of come March, when she has to adjust to the real baby being in the house.

As for the other "baby", this one is mine, but isn't the type of baby you think of. Earlier this year I decided that I wanted to start a business, a CPR and First Aid training business to be exact, following the model of my mother's previous business in Richmond. I came home one day from work, announced this to Geoffrey and he responded "well then do it!" So I did. My initial focus will be teaching moms and dads what I consider to be invaluable life saving skills. I completed my instructor course in May, filed the appropriate paperwork with the state, enlisted my very talented brother-in-law Peter to design a website and now am officially open for business. The company is called Heart Pro and you can view the website at www.heartprocpr.com . I'm just a wee bit excited about this, and have very high hopes of what I can do and who I can help in the future. So wish me luck, as I'll certainly need a bit of that too!

Monkey Monkey Monkey

2009-09-25T12:44:00.007-04:00

This post is for my cousin Rita (well really my dad's cousin, who is more like his sister and more like my aunt) who sent Isabel such a sweet surprise that arrived yesterday.

Isabel and I got home from school/work around 5pm and arrived to a package on the front step. Packages are always exciting, but extra special when there is something homemade inside. Rita wrote in her note that she originally made this blanket for the new baby, but when she heard Isabel was in the "monkey" class at school this year, knew it should be hers. And wow, did she hit the mark. Isabel LOVES this blanket. After I helped her get it out of the box (it has a good bit of weight to it, with 2 thick fleece layers), I grabbed my camera and captured the following. Unfortunately no video, as the first thing she did was make monkey noises upon seeing the monkeys on the blanket.

Isabel being silly with her new blanket.

Checking out the extra soft fringe.

Giving the blanket a hug.

This blanket feels good on my belly Mommy.

It is also really good for practicing my yoga!

Hmm, its been a long day. Yup, it passes the "good to nap on test."

She wouldn't let go of the blanket and carried it around with her for the next 15 minutes. Which meant mommy was at the other end of the blanket (so it wouldn't pick up dog hair from the floor) carrying it around like the train of a dress. It joined us for a diaper change (draped over the side) and I finally convinced her to leave it on her rocking chair so we could take the dogs outside.

This morning she immediately went for the blanket, climbed onto it and the rocking chair and just rocked back and forth. She then grabbed it and I carried her and the blanket downstairs into the playroom. I'm guessing this blanket is going to hold a very special place in Isabel's life for quite a few years to come.

Have a great weekend everyone. Go HOKIES!

It Must Be Genetic...

2009-09-23T12:45:00.002-04:00

...a Bueschers love for airplanes that is. Of course Isabel has been learning lots about airplanes since day one from Geoffrey, but lately she is looking for them whenever we are outside and listening for them, naming them, imitating them etc.

Last night during her bath, the following took place.

Splashing in the water, playing with toys etc, all of a sudden Isabel says "Airplane!" (though sounds more like airpeen). Yes, Isabel, that is an airplane, as I too hear the noise from outside. Isabel - "VRRRRRrrrrr." As I try to say something else I get a "no!" (as in no, don't talk), and she sits, absolutely still in the tub, focused on the noise until we no longer can hear it, then bath time progresses as usual.

I'm guessing that a) Isabel will really enjoy the Oceana air show this year and b) it won't be before long that Isabel can identify more airplanes than her mom. She already can identify a firefly, that Geoffrey has on a shirt. Don't ask me what a firefly is though. I'll tell you a glowing bug, which isn't the desired answer...

Our Trained Monkey

2009-09-16T15:33:00.003-04:00

Isabel is at that age where she is taking it all in, and we've been working on teaching her animal sounds and body parts. At times, its almost as though she is a trained monkey, showing off her tricks. Other times we ask and she decides she has better things to do than show off.

The first video shows her doing some of her animal sounds. At the end she is distracted by a loud noise out front (the workman putting away the stump grinder) and as you can see, it takes a few attempts to gain her attention. The second video is of her pointing to various body parts. Enjoy!

Beginning of September

2009-09-14T13:17:00.005-04:00

We kicked off the month of September by watching the hokies take on Alabama. Although we didn't win, we had a lot of fun watching Isabel run around in her hokie shirt for the first 5 or so minutes of the game. Here are a couple shots of Uncle Eric and Isabel during the pre-game (Uncle Kevin was in Atlanta for the big event).

The Tuesday after Labor Day meant back to school for Isabel. Isabel is no longer a Junior Infant and is now in the "monkey" classroom. She did great on both Tuesday and Thursday, which surprised me since Isabel is usually slow to warm up in new situations. She seems to like the new classroom and new toys, especially the transportation table that has lots of airplanes. Here she is on her "first day of school" both with and without her new school shoes. Gotta love pink :).

This past weekend Grandma & Grandpa Buescher came up for a visit. I didn't really take any pictures, but we all had a lot of fun. Saturday afternoon was our neighborhood picnic (which I was in charge of), and Isabel enjoyed the moonbounce slide, which she rode on twice. I wish I'd had my camera, but it will have to wait for next year. It is a BIG slide and she just loved it.

This morning I made the mistake of leaving the hokie bird on the table during breakfast time. Because it was in sight Isabel insisted on holding the hokie bird in one arm while eating with her free hand. It made for a silly sight, but won't be happening again. I explained that stuffed animals were not welcome at the table, which I'm sure she completely understood :).

Isabel got a balloon on Saturday, and had a great time playing with it yesterday, since it was partially deflated. Geoffrey decided to take a little video of it.

Let's Go Hokies!!!

2009-09-05T09:12:00.001-04:00

Isabel was excited to wear her Hokie t-shirt this morning, in preparation of the start of Hokie football tonight. Go Hokies!

Big Sister In Training

2009-08-31T13:50:00.006-04:00

You know that things are getting back to normal when new pictures have been posted :). After a tough week my body seems to be adjusting to the meds and things are getting back to our usual state of chaos.

Isabel definitely understands what a baby is...though I think she hasn't a clue that the baby we keep talking about will be living with us as of March. Its fun to see her get excited about seeing babies at church, the grocery store and even in pictures. She also discovered baby Kathy, one of my baby CPR manikins (more on why I have those in a later post). She insisted I bring her out on Friday morning and spent at least half an hour in the kitchen with her. Then, later on in the day she would get the idea of a baby in her head, and go off looking for her. I need to find a better replacement for Kathy, and one that is realistic looking, since she is not nearly as interested in her baby dolls as she is baby Kathy.

Here is Isabel carrying the baby around.

Giving the baby a kiss.

Inspecting the baby and preparing to identify her body parts.

Ear...

A nice hug for the baby.

Apparently baby Kathy wants to take a ride.

Or maybe she wants to go in the playroom.

Actually, she did want to take a ride. In the basket of the riding toy.

Repositioning the baby.

Or perhaps she'll just lay on the riding toy.

Alright, I'm bored. I've had enough of baby...

Although Isabel has her very loving and tender moments with "the baby" she also very much enjoyed standing the baby on its head and then letting it topple over. I'm thinking she won't be left alone with the real baby for a long time after he/she is born.

And, because I'm feeling so good, a couple bonus pictures. Isabel enjoys accessorizing, and loves to wear her sunglasses inside the house. She will hold them up to her face until someone attaches the velcro in back.

Of course every little girl can't stop with the sunglasses, so often mom's workout watch is added to the mix.

Ramblings from a pregnant mommy

2009-08-27T19:00:00.002-04:00

I know, I know, no pictures. I'm hoping to get around to that this weekend, as there have been lots of fun things to be captured. In the meantime, I feel I should give a quick update on me and "the bean" as well as catch everyone up on some of Isabel's developments, something that doesn't always come across in pictures.

The bean and I are doing well, though we had a rough start to the week. As you could tell from my last post, I'd been getting sick a lot. Well, that came to a head on Monday when I was unable to keep food or drink down for the entire day and wound up in the ER for IV fluids. All is well and I'm now on some great anti-nausea medicine and it has made a HUGE difference.

Isabel continues to thrive and has picked up on the fact that this thing called a "baby" is now in the picture. Although if you ask her where the baby is, she will lift her shirt and point to her belly while saying "ba-beee." Too cute. Hopefully when my belly grows a bit more she'll get the idea that the baby is actually in Mommy's belly.

Isabel's biggest developments recently have been in the language department. Her vocabulary is now too big for me to name all her words, and it seems like each day she picks up a few more. Often times she'll simply repeat a word, or attempt to repeat more complicated words. My 2 favorite words are osprey and eagle. She is fascinated by Geoffrey's Peterson's Field Guide for Birds, and can actually identify the eagle and osprey...though it takes a couple listens to really figure out what she is saying. I think she is going to be a lover of birds like her dad. Isabel has started to put words together, saying things such as "more cheeeeeese." It is simply amazing to watch this little person take shape.

Finally, I must brag on Geoffrey a little bit, as he probably doesn't get mentioned in this blog as often as he should. In addition to being great with Isabel, and spending every other Friday at home with her while I go to work, he CLEANS ALL 3 BATHROOMS while Isabel naps on these days. Of course with me being sick, he's been pulling a lot of extra weight, taking care of dinner, giving Isabel her bath and putting her to bed all while working longer than "normal" hours. So a great big thank you to my wonderful husband and Isabel's super dad. We are very grateful for all that you do.

Sweet Little Isabel

2009-08-18T18:33:00.002-04:00

I know I mainly use this blog for picture updates, but I had to share the following story that played out at our house yesterday evening.

Yesterday afternoon I was spending some quality time staring into the toilet for the second time in half an hour (keep reading if you can't guess why), and feeling pretty darn beaten and just crummy. Isabel was around and comes running over to me chanting "hi hi hi" in her cute little soft yet super happy voice and brought me a toy. As I finished my "session" I looked over at her, hoping I wouldn't scare her too much, as I'm sure I looked just lovely. She then took another step towards me, gave me a kiss on the cheek, then threw her arms around my neck and gave me the biggest hug ever (this coming from a girl who usually doesn't give hugs regularly and kisses are usually prompted). I just melted and the tears welled up in my eyes, as I just couldn't get over the sweet little signs of love Isabel had given me...and at a time when I really could use them.

So, if you hadn't guessed it by now, I'm pregnant...10 weeks along to be "exact." Baby #2's due date is March 16th...just 3 days after Isabel's birthday. We couldn't be more excited about expanding our family and welcoming another new life into this world. Being pregnant for the second time definitely is much different from the first. Now that we have Isabel, she remains our focus, instead of pondering "what fruit or vegetable does the baby compare to this week?" I'm definitely experiencing quite a bit of morning/noon/night sickness, and am hopeful it will come to an end here soon. But, as I know from my last pregnancy, the time is totally worth it, sick or not sick. I hadn't planned on sharing this news primarily through the blog, so please forgive me if you haven't received a personal phone call or email. As you can imagine life is pretty crazy, but we wouldn't have it any other way. Stay tuned for future postings to include the life of "baby bean" as we are calling the little guy/girl for now.

Vacation 2009: Part II - Hilton Head, SC

2009-08-17T13:31:00.007-04:00

(My apologies for the delay in getting these up. Blogging pretty much takes a back seat to usual "to-dos.")

After 3.5 days in Aiken we headed to the coast to Hilton Head. We arrived just in time for a friendly game of tennis. Isabel and I went along as observers. Unfortunately, I couldn't find her hat, and wound up fashioning this this. Poor thing doesn't know just how silly she looks.

Not too impressed by the tennis racquet...

Back to the beach...she was slightly more impressed by last year, but as you can tell from the pictures, seems that the ocean still is not high on her list.

Uncle Peter joined us later and tried to see if Isabel was interested in some beer...thankfully she wasn't!

Watching turtles being fed.

Isabel had a blast playing with her 2 beach balls inside the house.

Of course no visit with Grandma and Grandpa Buescher would be complete without a paper model of some sort. Grandpa B had already made a flamingo with folded wings, then decided to take some artistic liberties to create one with wings extended.

The final product...and it arrived safe at home and currently is sitting on our buffet in the dining room. Isabel likes to point to it during meals and say "Burrr" (her way of saying bird).

Isabel enjoying an early morning beach walk with Grandma, from the tops of Dad's shoulders.

When she got bored she walked holding my hand.

And just a silly picture of Isabel wandering around the house with her penguin and hat. She loves hats and if she discovers one usually wants it on.

Sounds like the little one is up from her nap, so time to turn the computer off and go back to reading books and playing :).

Vacation 2009: Part I - Aiken, SC

2009-08-07T09:24:00.009-04:00

Bear with me, this and the next post will probably be long. We had such a wonderful time on both legs of our SC trip and did so much that I had a really hard time picking which pictures to post.

On Thursday, July 23rd I headed to work extra early (4:30am early) to get some hours in while Geoffrey and Isabel stayed at home. While at work Geoffrey packed up the car and fed Isabel lunch. I arrived home, packed that last minute cold items in the cooler and we all jumped in the car, pulling out of the driveway a few minutes before noon. We took longer than usual stops at snack time and dinne to give Isabel time to run around and expend some energy. So we were pretty pleased when we made it to Aiken a little before 10.

On Friday, I think Isabel had what was probably the highlight of our trip. We knew Isabel was a fan of ducks after seeing 2 at G&G Bueschers, but this took things to a whole new level. Friday afternoon we went to a man made pond in my parents neighborhood complete with ducks. The pictures probably speak for themselves, but she was so excited. She was "quacking" like a duck, shrieking with delight, pointing in all directions, chanting "duck, duck, duck" and had such a grin on her face. She wasn't the least bit scared, even after one grabbed a piece of bread from her hand.

After breakfast Saturday morning, Isabel, Geoffrey, Grandma Schaeffer and I headed to a blueberry farm about 20 minutes away. Blueberries are probably Isabel's favorite fruit, if not food, so we knew she'd enjoy the tasting part at least.

Things started off well, and she actually picked a few.

Hmm, this container looks awfully empty.

Grandma helping fill her container

Isabel and Grandma. Isabel had just discovered the blueberries in her container and was now more interested in eating than picture taking.

I asked the guy if we should weigh Isabel before and after our picking session, and he just laughed. Guess kids eat free at the blueberry farm.

After eating her weight in blueberries, Isabel decided to help pick some from the comfort of Dad's shoulders. I really enjoyed the farm as well and hope to find a similar place around here. Well until we grow our own blueberry bushes.

We didn't slow down after berry picking and made a quick stop to change before heading to the pool. Isabel really seemed to enjoy the water and started getting a little too confident at the end and would try to walk away on her own in the baby pool.

Dad teaching Isabel how to blow bubbles.

And a shot of Isabel and Dad in the big pool.

We had ice cream for snack a few days, and on Saturday I decided to save the bottom part of my waffle cone and let Isabel have her own small-sized waffle cone. Although she doesn't seem to be a huge fan of sweets (she turned down a cupcake at school this week and instead ate fruit) but ice cream is apparently ok.

You stay away from my ice cream!
Ice cream is definitely finger lickin' good.

You mean this is all I get?

Our adventures continued Sunday with another trip to the duck pond, followed by a visit to the horses that live at the main gate entrance to Woodside. I couldn't resist taking a picture of the warning sign posted on the fence.

The horses came right up to Grandpa, which probably had to do with the bag of carrots and apples in his hand.

Isabel wasn't too impressed with the horses. She didn't dislike them, but definitely didn't have the reaction that ducks, dogs or cats do.

We went to brunch at the club on Sunday and then took a few pictures at the house with the timer. Only bad thing about using a timer is that you lose the person on the other end who can make funny faces and noises to get the kid to look in the direction of the camera.

And now some personal favorites of mine, as they bring back memories of when I was a kid. The boys and I had this grill when we were younger and would spend hours "grilling" hamburgers, hotdogs and steak. I was impressed that mom had saved it as it was perfect for Isabel to play in the driveway while we cooled off from our walk. We had walked the back 9 of the golf course (which was closed) and Isabel picked up a paper cup and ball along the way, which I guess also taste good grilled.

Phew. That might take the record for longest post ever. Hopefully I'll get the Hilton Head pictures up in the next few days!

Dad's Little Pilot

2009-07-20T19:54:00.004-04:00

I'm not sure this method of flying will prepare Isabel for a future as a pilot, but its a start. "Uncle Sam & Aunt Megan" (Isabel's Godparents), passed this airplane rocking toy onto her. She is the perfect age for it and absolutely loves it. The best part is when she spins the propeller and says "VVVVVRRRRR." (trying to imitate Dad's airplane sounds). Unfortunately she doesn't do it on command and wouldn't get off the plane on this particular day.

Mommy's Little Chef

2009-07-20T19:23:00.006-04:00

After a nice early morning run with Isabel, combined with some blackberry picking, it was time to make pancakes. Isabel was getting antsy while I paid attention to the griddle and not her, so I decided it was time she made herself useful and put her to work...well really just kept her occupied thinking she was helping. She loved stirring the remains of the liquid ingredients and was very happy until breakfast. I think we have a little chef on our hands. (and please ignore the sweaty mom in some of the pictures)

I'd also like to add that I do not make it a habit of putting bows in Isabel's hair for stroller runs and walks. She is definitely turning into a little girl, as she brought the bow to me on Saturday and pointed to her head...and repeated the same thing on Sunday.

Mom, I need a taller stool. Its hard to stir when your shoulders are below the bowl.

You know what they say, two hands are better than one.

I'll use this scraper to get the good stuff mom forgot.

See Mom, this is how you do it.

Cows, BBQ and Purses

2009-07-13T12:53:00.005-04:00

I'm still working on catching up the blog from our Ohio trip, but these pictures were easy enough to upload.

This past Friday was Chick-fil-A's annual "dress like a cow day." I'm sure Isabel will give us a hard time one day, but hey, isn't it worth dressing a little silly for some free Chick-fil-a? I should have taken pictures before we left, since by the time we got home Isabel was ready for her bath and bed, but did semi-cooperate for these photos. I should have made Geoffrey put on his cow ears...but I am not that cruel :).

On Saturday we had a big cookout at the house. We usually have an annual Christmas party, but have decided that a yearly summer BBQ is the way to go, where kids can run around without risk of breaking furniture and there is more space. We did have a bit of rain, but nothing too major.

Here's Isabel checking out some of the beer, making sure it was safe for party consumption.

Feels heavy, that is a good start.

The box has the right "spring" to it when I wack it.
And it supports my weight. I think the beer passes the Isabel test.
I of course got busy once we had a lot of guests arriving, but did get this picture of Isabel watching a game of cornhole prior to dinner and the rain.
And on Sunday, while I was taking a nap, Geoffrey snapped these pictures. Seems Isabel is ready to go shopping.

Checking out the purse.

Outta my way dad. I have some shopping to do!

See ya!

Another use for the baby bathtub

2009-07-06T10:35:00.004-04:00

I realize its been a few weeks since I have blogged. We've been busy busy this summer and spend almost a week in two different Ohio locations. I'll hopefully get to processing my photos from our visit to Canton to celebrate my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary and our visit to Dayton spent with Geoffrey's grandparents.

In addition to the normal summer things I'm trying to work on better organizing our house and all the "stuff" that seems to accumulate. We are very lucky to have all the extra space we do in our house, but one of the downsides to this is that I tend to move things to unused rooms where it sits and sits, instead of making its way to the basement or its proper place. A fine example of this is Isabel's baby bathtub. We finally stopped using it a couple months ago, but instead of taking it to the basement to store with the other baby items I simply moved it to the guest room. Motivated by an overnight guest tomorrow, I decided it was time to get that room back into guest shape (my sewing stuff had also made its way in there but thats another story).

While getting the bed ready Isabel discovered the baby bathtub and squealed with delight. She immediately had to climb in...I guess she has fond memories of it. She must have sat in there for at least 15 minutes which was great since I was able to get the room back to about 95%. The only downside was when we left and shut the guest room door. Isabel was not happy, so she reached for the door knob, stretched up on her little tip toes and opened the door. I thought it was a fluke, so I shut the door again, double checking it was indeed closed. Nope, not a fluke, within 3 seconds she had it opened. Oi. We'll be heading to BRU after naptime to get some additional door knob covers.

Anyways, I brought the tub downstairs and put it into the playroom and will take it to the basement during naptime. Once again, she climbed in and I was able to snap a few photos. Enjoy.

Inspecting the scraps from a quilt I'm working on. Not sure why it is so fascinating.

Trying to put one around her neck like a scarf...just a wee bit too short.

Looking quite pleased from her tub.

Ducks, Geese & VA Beach

2009-06-16T19:45:00.005-04:00

We spent the past weekend in VA Beach and had a wonderful time visiting with Grandma & Grandpa Buescher and catching up with old friends. We left for VA Beach shortly after Isabel woke up on Friday, and soon realized that traveling during the longest awake period she has each day was a bad idea. Thank goodness it was just a 3 hour trip and not the longer trips we have planned for later this summer. We'll definitely be modifying our travel times to better align with Isabel's sleeping schedule.

After a failed attempt at an afternoon nap, due to falling asleep for 30 minutes in the car, Isabel was back in action. She was just delighted when 2 ducks appeared in the backyard. I wish I could have been on the otherside of the window. There is a bay window in the kitchen which was perfect for a little Isabel to sit and watch the ducks from.

The window seat also worked well for a post duck-watching tickle.

After his cousin Ben's valedictorian speech, I had asked Geoffrey if he still had has valedictorian speech. He muttered something about if he found it he'd give it to me but wasn't going to make any great attempts to locate it. While we were home he went through a drawer of HS stuff and not only found his speech (which I did get to read), but a whole lot of awards (Isabel - your dad was/is a big dork). Isabel had fun displaying the various medals Michael Phelps style.

Saturday morning we went to a local pond to feed the geese. I always loved feeding ducks/geese as a child and still do as an adult, so I was especially excited to get to share this activity with Isabel.

Heading out with our stale bread.

Feeding the geese. Grandma B got some great shots and I'll definitely be getting some of them printed...the ones below are my personal favorites.

Fun times swinging with dad!

Our exciting morning continued at Uncle Peter's house, where we got to check out his amazing garden. Isabel wasn't so impressed by the garden, but loved getting to see Stella dog again. Its a good thing the pugs weren't around, as they might have been jealous. Isabel definitely loves her pugs but she loves LOVES Stella.

Isabel also enjoyed checking out Stellas bedroom aka Stella's crate.

It was especially fun to get to play with Uncle Peter from inside the crate.

We spent the rest of Saturday relaxing and I actually started reading a book during Isabel's naptime, while Geoffrey took a nap. It was so nice to have Isabel down for a nap with nothing to accomplish. Saturday night we helped celebrate Elliott's 30th birthday with a bunch of other friends from VT. It was great getting to see so many people and to not have to worry about rushing home since Grandma Buescher was watching Isabel.

We left Sunday morning but I was able to catch this picture of Grandma B and Isabel reading. We had such a great time and I'm looking forward to more relaxing later this summer on our various out of town trips.

Pugs Love Hats (according to Isabel)

2009-06-08T19:50:00.007-04:00

2 posts in one day, another record I know. I just couldn't wait to get these pictures loaded as they crack me up. After Isabel's nap we came downstairs to get ready to head to the grocery store. General was sleeping on the couch next to a hat of Isabel's she had left there. The hat is actually an Easter bonnet that Grandma Schaeffer had gotten her, but she wasn't a fan of it at Easter time...but boy what a difference a couple months make. She loves that hat, wears it around the house and especially loves having Mommy and Dad wear it. It seems that she also decided the pugs would like to wear it, as she made a mad dash to General the minute she saw him laying there next to her hat, when the following took place.

Oh General, you look so beautiful in this hat.

See, you can even sleep with it.

Yaaaaay! Such a pretty hat!

See Mommy, he looks so nice!

Perhaps a slight tilt would suit you better.

Hmm, or maybe not.

Are you dreaming about your hat?

Here, this will block the light out while you sleep.

Or you can just stick with the more casual, back of the head look.

You like that style? Yaaaaay!

(Grabs hat, and bolts to the dining room towards her next victim).

Oh gizMOOOO! I have a surprise for yoUUUU!

Not so fast mister. You might not listen to me but my Mommy knows how to make you sit and stay.

Now stay right there while I put this on your head...

(something distracts Isabel, and she is off again, leaving 2 confused pugs and a hat behind)

When Dad's away, the girls shall play :)

2009-06-08T12:39:00.005-04:00

Geoffrey was out of town last week, so there wasn't much extra time for blogging etc, since by the end of the day I was usually pretty beat. Isabel and I had a great week, but were also ready to have Geoffrey back. Not that I don't usually miss Geoffrey, but this is the first trip post Isabel that I think I really missed him. (if that makes any sense). Now that Isabel's personality is really coming out and she does so much, I really missed getting to share with Geoffrey all that Isabel had done during the day or at school. And I think he missed Isabel the most of any trip, as he know that she was doing such fun stuff and was always on the go.

One day last week I was trying to send a quick email on the computer while Isabel was also in the office. She decided that she wanted a better view and cleared off the box and papers that were on top of our filing tote and climbed on up.

She then got bored and decided it was time to get down. Now that she has discovered this great spot, she makes a beeline for it everytime we go into the office. Which means I really don't have time for quick emails anymore, as I can't keep my eyes on the monitor and on her well enough to do either.

We had A LOT of rain last week. Friday it once again was raining and I had the great idea to make Geoffrey's (belated) birthday cake while Isabel was awake. I prepped most of the ingredients the night before but failed to look at the second column of ingredients where sour cream was listed. So we had to make a quick trip out in the pouring down rain to get sour cream, as I had already started mixing things and couldn't let all the chocolate I had melted go to waste :). So I put Isabel in her raincoat, which definitely runs BIG and we headed out.

Poor girl. She doesn't realize that she is dressed like the Gorton's Fisherman.

Friday just happened to be National Donut Day, and Dunkin Donuts was offering a free donut with the purchase of a drink. I hadn't planned on participating with all the rain, but hey, we were already out so it would have been communist not to go, right?

Isabel even got to celebrate with a taste of the donut. She wasn't a fan of the cake part and pretty much played in the chocolate frosting.

Geoffrey got back just a little bit later than scheduled on Friday and was very excited to see his belated cake in the fridge. We have been enjoying it (a triple layer devil's food cake with dark chocolate frosting) ever since :).

Sunday afternoon we headed to Baltimore for Geoffrey's cousin, Ben's, high school graduation from Gilman. It was a beautiful day for the outdoor ceremony. Ben is the one in the middle. I'm not sure if its a private school thing, but the boys (its an all male school) wore matching khakis, blazers and ties instead of caps/gowns.

Isabel and I spent most of graduation on the side lawn walking back and forth. The ceremony was only an hour and she wore herself out. She was very happy to be reuinited with her duck at the end.

And finally, a few random shots from this morning. I LOVE this picture. People are always telling me how much Isabel looks like me, but I think she looks like Geoffrey. I need to get ahold of a picture of Geoffrey has a child, because she looks so much like him as a child in this picture. Or maybe its just that she is being a big goofball, which she definitely gets from dad.

Our garden enjoyed all of last week's rain and is thriving. Although the tomatoes are still quite short, many of them are covered in flowers. We have about 10 green beans that are almost ready to be picked and snap peas that should be forming from their flowers shortly. Our squash were doing well until somethign came along and ate the flowers...

And a few shots of Isabel on her "new to us" (gotta love freecycle) little tykes slide/playground. It is the perfect size for her and she just loves climbing up the slide (with a spotter of course) and standing on the platform. She also enjoys going down the slide but needs some support still.

Have a great week everyone! Time for me to run and get some stuff done around the house before Isabel gets up from her nap.

Just give me the WHOLE ear of corn

2009-05-31T20:13:00.004-04:00

Tonight for dinner I did the usual take whatever we were having for dinner, cut it up into small, non-choking size pieces and place onto Isabel's tray. Let's just say that worked for a little bit. She ate her peas, her chicken sausage and bread no problem, but was not at all impressed with the small kernels of corn on her tray. I was able to distract her for a while but she kept pointing to the ear on my plate. So I figured what the heck, I'll let her try, but certainly didn't think she'd actually get any corn off of the cob. If anyone should have known the power of her sharp little chompers it should ahve been me. I'm not sure what was more fun, actually seeing her get corn off the cob, or just trying to the different methods until she found one that worked. The uncles were over for dinner as well and really had a good laugh. I think I'm onto something here though. If ever we need to keep Isabel occupied (and quiet), give her an ear of corn. Unfortunately I don't think that method will help us out in church at all...

So, before I ramble on any longer, here is Isabel and her first corn on the cob.

Going for it...

Perhaps the underhand grip would work a bit better...
(FYI, the "flat" looking portion is where I had cut some corn off for Isabel)

What, you've never seen a baby eating an ear of corn?

Perhaps Mommy was onto something and I should remove the kernels before eat them...

Nope, she was wrong. Eating it straight from the source is waaay better.

See all the progress I made! Mmm, corn.

A Pea, her pugs and a spatula

2009-05-30T14:15:00.004-04:00

Most of you probably know by now that Isabel has the nickname of "Pea" which came about after I calling her sweet pea a while, which then got shortened to Pea. Lucky girl, we know :). Anyways, I got a call at work yesterday from Geoffrey who said "your little girl is chasing the pugs around with a spatula." Unfortunately he was unable to get a video as the camera was upstairs, but this morning during breakfast on the sun porch, she once again grabbed her spatula and went to town. As you'll see in the first video, General was not so enthused by this new game...but that didn't stop Isabel!

Random May Photos

2009-05-26T14:16:00.008-04:00

Not a whole lot going on at the Buescher household, just the usual chasing after Isabel :). She has really perfected her walking and cannot be stopped. She loves to walk in the house and in the backyard and of course to chase after the pugs.

I've been itching to put Isabel in this dress since she got it for her birthday and a couple Fridays ago the weather warranted a sundress...though I should have thought twice before taking her outside to play in the dress. Things were fine while she spun the blocks on her miniature playground...

But then she decided to make a beeline to the teeter totter. Which would have been fine except we'd had a bunch of rain earlier in the week and I didn't think that there might be water in the foot wells. Oops. Isabel was certainly pleased to find the puddles to play in.

Just another day of Isabel head butting the pugs. She finds it really funny to ram her head into the pugs and thankfully they don't seem to mind.

My new favorite shirt. A co-worker of mine brought Isabel this shirt back from Wallops Flight Facility...check out what it says :).

Isabel is really into doors and the baby gates, of which we have 4 of. 2 at the playroom entrances, one at the top of the stairs and one at the bottom. She loves to go through the gate and then shut it. If she gets too far from the gate and realizes it is not shut, she immediately heads back to the gate to shut it before continuing on her next adventure.

A bowl of lettuce. How's that for random? Well, this is pretty special lettuce, as it is the first from our garden. The spinach isn't so happy and is already going to seed, but our romaine and butter lettuce is doing GREAT. I was thrilled when I could harvest enough leaves last week for a side salad. It will be even better later this season when we can have big salads where all the veggies come from the garden.

On Friday I snagged a sweet deal on this like new Burley D'Lite bicycle trailer from Craigslist. I took it for a short spin on Saturday to make sure I could handle it (let me tell you, hills are quite the workout with this thing). Isabel wasn't too sure to make of it at first, but seemed to enjoy it.

Monday we went to the W&OD trail and took an 8 mile ride to Anne & Jon's and back. It was so nice to be out as a family on our bikes. Eric took this picture for us upon our return. We then rewarded our cycling efforts with a yummy Memorial Day BBQ.

In other non-photo news, Isabel has been talking/verbalizing herself a lot more. Some of her words are more clear than others, but it is obvious that she recognizes many different things around her and is picking up words quickly. A prime example was yesterday while I was getting things ready for the BBQ and Uncle Eric was sitting with Isabel while she ate her lunch. He had brought a bag of goldfish over and kept pointing the the fish on the bag saying "fish." All of a sudden I heard a cute little "fish" come from Isabel. It was fun because tonight she could then say "fish" after I showed her one of her bath toys, also a fish.

And finally, a video from Saturday. Apparently Isabel had been going non stop (I was at a class) and was so tired that she started falling asleep during lunch. Geoffrey couldn't help himself and took this short video. Reminds me of being in college when you'd see students trying to stay awake during long boring lectures...

We hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend! I can't believe that summer is almost here.

Walking the Halls

2009-05-13T18:57:00.005-04:00

I'm going to assume that Isabel was inspired by our long run this morning to do a bit of her own "training." Isabel has been walking more and more each day, but tonight she took it to a whole new level and was intent on walking from one end of the house to the other, which she did over and over and over...complete with her duck in tow.

Be sure to have the sound on, as she makes some pretty silly noises while walking...and her little feet slapping the floor are also pretty funny to listen to. You can also see that she is um very graceful..."about as graceful as a drunk elephant" as Uncle Eric would say.

Here she is leaving her bedroom heading down the hall to our bedroom...well really to the gate to hopefully catch a glimpse of her beloved pugs.

And now here she is leaving the bedroom making a beeline for the craft room. (Time to start keeping this door shut until we reorganize so that all of dad's dangerous model building stuff can be kept behind closed and locked doors.