Big Sister In Training

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

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

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

(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

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!