In the Great Green Room

We don't have a telephone, red balloon or a picture of the cow jumping over the moon (have you figured out what I am referencing yet), but we do have a nice green room for Isabel to play in. Anyone that has ever been to our house knows that I usually tend toward the neutral side of things, sticking to soft earth tones. But, a few months ago when the PB fall catalog arrived it showcased a room painted in this bright and cheery color called Jalepeno Pepper. After flip flopping for months on whether to paint the playroom this color or a light gray, I took the plunge and couldn't be happier. We love the new color of the room and I'm so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone. Now I get to work on some fun artwork (the current airplane art will move to the office), new curtains (since the old ones were beige) and throw pillows. I'm on a hunt for fabric, as PB wants to charge $25/yard for the serafina fabric I love, and I'm not going to be paying that! Once the weather warms up, we are planning to do built in cabinets/bookshelves around the fireplace (the green storage bins will stack in shelving underneath the bookshelves). The brick will get painted or covered by stone and I'll build a new mantel. Stay tuned for the transformation :).



The "thing" stuck in the upper left hand corner is a Pteranondon that Geoffrey and Grandpa B made in early Feb. It is made entirely of cardstock and is pretty darn cool. Isabel loves it, especially when Dad imitates the sound of a Pteranondon.




Isabel had fun testing out my new grilling basket that I received as a birthday present. The thing is heavy and I was impressed that she could actually pick it up.

Licking the spatulas clean after I made her roasted red pepper and white bean puree. You can also see that massive amount of snow we got Sunday night...close to 8 inches.

And of course some pictures of Isabel's favorite past time...harassing err hanging out with the pugs.

Isabel will be turning 1 in a week and a half...eek! We can't wait to celebrate with her and are also looking forward to having both sets of grandparents visit. It will be a fun filled weekend of food, cake and fun :).

11 months old

Isabel is now 11 months old!

Although she didn't like the cold snow, she had no problem going after the cold tub of ice cream. ..

Eating...err "playing" with the tambourine.

I took this picture about 2 seconds too late. The pugs were lined up waiting for their dinner and Isabel cam along and stopped right in line with them. Of course by the time I had grabbed the camera she had decided that waiting with them was not longer fun and was off to explore something else...probably the water dish in the laundry room.

We got a little teaser/taste of spring this past week and took advantage of it with a stroller ride. Isabel was so happy to be back outside and also enjoyed going outside in the afternoons with the dogs, since during the winter we just wait on the porch while the dogs do their thing.

And more pug harassment. One of Isabel's favorite early morning activities is to find and harass the dogs. Luckily they continue to be very tolerant of Isabel and her antics...I'm not sure I would enjoy someone pulling on my ear or poking me in the mouth!

Happy Valentine's day everyone! As we told Isabel, we won't be celebrating with gifts, but rather with word of love...and chocolate!

Not SNOW Wonderful

The forecast was calling for snow today, so I was quite excited when Geoffrey told me it was snowing as he got back from walking the dogs. To keep with the snow theme, I dressed Isabel in her "think snow" long sleeved onesie and we headed to daycare and then work. The snow continued to fall so I decided to leave work a couple of hours early to pick up Isabel well before the evening commute. After a failed attempt at a nap (I think she is teething) I decided that Isabel needed to experience the white stuff for herself. I put her in the 24 month snow bibs that I had purchased for next winter, rolled up the legs and layered on a couple sweaters and her little fleece coat. I did put mittens on her but she kept pulling them off as soon as I had one on, so I gave up, knowing I wouldn't keep her out long enough to matter. I grabbed the camera and we headed outside. I set her down in the backyard and before I could even raise the camera to my eye level, she had plunged her hand into the snow and I was met with the expression below, combined with some very loud cries (screams) of displeasure. Oh how I wished that I had chosen to video that first snowy moment instead of photographing it!

I wiped off all the snow from her hand (after taking the 2 pictures above) and tried to get her to smile, but she was having none of it. She just kept looking at her hand and wondering what in the world had just happened.

So the 15 minutes it took to get all bundled up was followed by less than 30 seconds of fun in the snow. Hopefully next year she'll get to enjoy it a bit more :). We headed back inside and I took off all the snow clothes, and replaced her wet shoes and socks with a pair of fresh socks.

With her favorite kitchen "toy" and yoohoo friend (that pink furry thing) she was feeling much better.

Stay warm everyone!

Pancakes!

Isabel got her first taste of pancakes Saturday morning...and I'm sure that you can tell by the pictures that it was love at first bite. This is the pancake recipe that I grew up on. My dad used to make them almost every Saturday morning...sometimes getting fancy and making shapes like hearts, mickey mouse etc. I'll have to try that the next batch. The pancakes are super healthy, made with oats and whole wheat flour, and hers have the added benefit of being made with Mom milk (trying to use up my small freezer stockpile).


Hmm, what is this strange thing on my tray. Its HUGE!


It feels warm...I wonder if this is toy or something to eat?



No sharp edges, that is a plus.

Oooh, I broke a piece off. Tastes pretty good!

Oohhh, so this is how you eat pancakes.

I LOVE PANCAKES!!!

All done Mom! I'm ready for my fruit now.

As you can see, we are pretty well stocked for the next few weeks with plenty of Isabel sized pancakes :).

Fight FOCA (Freedom of Choice Act)

I try to avoid sending politial emails but realize with the blog I'm not forcing anyone to read what I have to say. That being said, I feel very strongly against legislation that is in works and am hoping you will consider signing the petition to fight the Freedom of Choice Act (also being called the Freedom to Kill Act). You can read the specific text for the bills below


(Senate)

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:S.1173:

(House)

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.1964:

(From the Fight FOCA website)

FOCA Would Wipe Away Every Restriction on Abortion Nationwide

This would eradicate state and federal laws that the majority of Americans support, such as:
Bans on Partial Birth Abortion

Requirements that women be given information about the risks of getting an abortion

Only licensed physicians can perform abortions

Parents must be informed and give consent to their minor daughter's abortion FOCA would erase these laws and prevent states from enacting similar protective measures in the future.

Happy New Year

I realize I'm a bit late with the New Years greetings...

We rang in the new year a bit early by celebrating the wedding of our friends Randy & Katherine. We had a great time catching up with Carla, Jonathan, Martha & Patrick, but had to leave before the official new year to get Isabel to bed.

Isabel continues to perfect her crawling skills and has gotten quite fast. Never wanting to stay in one place for long, she is always off trying to explore new areas of the house. She has started cruising along the furniture and even climbed up the whole flight of stairs earlier in the week (with Mom right behind her). Time to get a gate at the bottom of the stairs! (we already have one up top for the dogs).

Isabel had her 9 month checkup last week (at 9 months, 3 weeks) and she is growing like a weed. She remains in the 85% for height and has dropped down a bit to the 50% for weight. The pediatrician thinks she is going to be long and lean...just like her dad and mom I suppose. She continues to enjoy her solid food and is eating more "chunks" of food (cheese, chicken, pita etc) in small pieces. We'll go back on the 16th for her 1 year checkup, which I just can't believe. I'm sure this is something all moms and dads go through, but the time has just flown and I wish I could slow it down. Yesterday at work when I went to pump, I even got a little sad thinking about the fact that I would soon not need to pump anymore! As much as I don't like pumping, it is nice to just stop those few times during the work day and do something for Isabel.

And now for some pictures.

Isabel loves to crawl after the dogs. Here she is wacking General with her small pink elephant.

Ready...Set...GO! Isabel and General preparing to race.

Isabel has been getting tips from Dad on how to play the xylophone (its Dad's favorite toy).

Although not so interested in reading the books yet, a favorite activity is pulling up on the shelf and removing all the books by dropping them onto the floor.

Playtime! Last Friday Michael, my friend Liz's son, joined us at home for the evening while his parents were on travel. They had fun playing and it was interesting watching 2 babies at once. I was very happy that Geoffrey was also there to help.

Isabel wasn't too sure about the whole "sharing" concept. "Wait, what? You want to play with my hippo?!?!"

Isabel, General and Gizmo looking for squirrels.

Once again, who needs toys when you can play with kitchen gadgets. Isabel discovered the stack of strainers that I have under the microwave. I have now given here a few for her kitchen "toy box" and the rest will be stored away, safe from Isabel drool.

Painting the bucket with a basting brush. The basting brush is her favorite "toy" of the kitchen items I have given her to play with. I never realized it could have so many different uses!

Isabel's First Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas here in Vienna. Grandma & Grandpa Schaeffer joined us from Aiken and we spent the day before Christmas decorating Christmas cookies and making pierogies. Yummy. Unfortunately Isabel was battling her first true illness of her life (minus a couple colds here and there) and had a fever for a few days. She didn't let it get her too down and definitely enjoyed the extra attention and getting rocked to sleep each night by Grandma. There are tons of pictures of Isabel taking in all of the Christmas fun (wrapping paper, tissue paper etc). Since it will take me a while to sort through all of hte pictures, I've tried to post a few that jumped out at me, and hopefully will give you all a taste of what Christmas was like for Isabel.

As I mentioned earlier, the wrapping paper and tissue paper were much more exciting than any of the actual gifts. Isabel was much more interested in digging the old paper out of the recycle bag we started, than opening up any new presents.

I thought we had found a winner, and that Isabel might actually open this present...

But instead it simply had to undergo the Isabel Taste Test

No, we didn't get Isabel oatmeal for Christmas. Grandma Schaeffer was right on in guessing that Isabel would decide that the oatmeal container was a wonderful toy, and not just a way to wrap a present.

Isabel received a hokie bear from Uncle Romes (a bear dressed in a hokie costume), although we are all a little worried about what kind of fan she will be, as she tossed the hokie bird aside in order to get back to playing with her tug boat and ocean friends bath toy set. Later on she seemed ok looking at the bear, and we're hoping it was just a freak incident and that we don't have a Wahoo on our hands.

That's about all for now. Hopefully I will get to some other pictures later. In the meantime its time to cut Geoffrey's hair so he won't look like a furry q-tip at a wedding we'll be attending.

Happy 2009!