Happy Halloween!

Isabel here. I'm not crawling yet but getting very close. I love getting up on my hands and knees and moving my arms to get to different objects. Eventually I get frustrated and revert to laying on my belly and stretching.

Mommy got me some new toys...one of my favorites is this dog that makes noise and plays music when I squeeze his ear, tummy, arms and legs. He's great!

Here are some pictures of me helping mommy with the pumpkin!

Today Mommy and Grandma took me to my school to join with my classmates in the annual halloween parade. I got to ride around in the 6 seat stroller. I sat next to Michael who was dressed as a GT yellow jacket. I reminded him that the Hokies beat them this year :). One of my teachers, Miss Debbie dressed like a pumpkin.

I got to see my friend Jack too! We enjoyed playing together on the mat at school while Mommy and Anne enjoyed some treats.

Everyone liked my dragon costume.

I've been very vocal today and have been making lots of new sounds. Jack and I had a great conversation at school, but I'm not going to tell you what we talked about :).

I had a great morning with Grandma. We sang songs, played with my toys and ate some yummy food. Here's a video mommy took of me after eating my squash, as she was quite amused with my new vocal talents. http://s206.photobucket.com/albums/bb94/heatheranne226/?action=view&current=MVI_4046.flv

I also went trick or treating tonight at Mr & Mrs Lyons house. They gave me a paper dixie cup for my treat and I enjoyed chewing it until Mommy took it away.

Ok, I am up past my bedtime so should probably go to sleep!

Random Pictures

I'm hoping to get a real blog update later this week, but for now figured I would put some random Isabel pictures up. Enjoy!

Martha & Patrick's Wedding

We traveled to the Eastern Shore of Maryland this past weekend to celebrate the marriage of Martha & Patrick. It was a beautiful wedding and we had a great time. Isabel was quite the party animal and decided napping was not going to be a part of the regularly scheduled events. I think she wore herself out and was pretty happy to get home to her own bed.









Martha's sister, Amy, decorated these pumpkins in honor of the big day.




After the ceremony, the bridal party took a boat to the yacht club, where the reception was being held. The weather was perfect and the boat ride was a nice time to relax before the reception.





The new Mr. & Mrs. Callahan :)





Carla and Jonathan, who were married just over 2 months ago.
All three of us are now Mrs :)





The Buescher Family.

The meal ended with this gorgeous sunset and tben the dancing began!

I Love Jet Noise

Thursday we headed to VA Beach after rush hour had died down to spend a long weekend in VA Beach with Grandma & Grandpa Buescher, and to watch the Oceana Air Show.

Friday we were lucky enough to have our good friend Elliott take us on a tour of his squadron, The Red Rippers', hangar. We got to see some neat jets up close and I actually had fun doing something airplane related :).

This is the type of airplane that Elliott flys. I should know what type of "F" it is, but I don't. Hopefully Isabel will do better with her aircraft identification skills.

After the hangar, Elliott arranged for some simulator time. Cameras aren't allowed, but it was pretty darn cool. Geoffrey got to sit in a real cockpit with Elliott as his co-pilot and he got to fly around Oceana and even practiced landing on a jet. I am worried that his MS Flight Simulator isn't going to be hacking it and he'll be asking for a real simulator for Christmas. I have a feeling that the price is a little out of reach though.

Saturday morning we woke up to wind and grey skies. That didn't stop us and we headed to the base for the first day of the airshow. As you can see, Isabel was so excited to be at an air show. She didn't seem to mind it though, and I have a feeling she will enjoy it more in the years to come.

Here is Isabel with an Osprey. It took off Sunday and Geoffrey, Grandpa B and Uncle Romes went to watch it.

Isabel and I didn't stay long, but we did stop by the Red Rippers' booth on the way out to haggle Elliott, who had the duty of manning the booth. We had hoped to get something for Isabel, but their stock was limited and Geoffrey was the only one who found something in his size.

The jets might not have been all that exciting, but getting to take a real bath instead of bathing in her baby bathtub was definitely the highlight of Isabel's day. She squealed with delight, splashing all around and making a complete mess of Mommy.

We've also been full speed with solid foods. After the avocado, we introduced rice cereal and have now moved onto bananas. Yummy. Isabel also got a taste of some salsa at a Mexican place Friday night (at the suggestion of Grandpa B), but she wasn't too impressed. Nor was she impressed with the chip we also let her lick. Bananas on the other hand are quite tasty and she has gobbled them up. This week we'll be trying sweet potatoes, peas and maybe some apples.

6 Months Old

Isabel got her first taste of solid food this morning...but here are a few pictures from yesterday before we get to the good stuff.

You might recall the hippo that Uncle Kevin sent to Isabel last fall. It was a 6mos & up toy, so I pulled it out a little early and let her play with it. I think she likes him :).

And now for the food. Although most people choose to to start their babies off on rice cereal, Geoffrey and I decided to do things a little differently. I had done quite a bit of research on the matter, and after talking to Doctor Grandpa, we decided that avocado is much tastier than rice cereal, and since it was a recommended first food, we made it THE first food. And I think you'll be able to tell from this video (click the link) and the pictures below, that it was well received. She didn't spit it out and licked the first spoonful clean, although much did wind up on her face. She at about 5 small spoonfuls before deciding she'd had enough. She had eaten her liquid breakfast about 1/2 an hour before the avocado, as this first month or two is more about getting her used to how one eats solid foods and the tastes, not so much eating for nutrition, as milk will remain the biggest source her nourishment.

Almost 6 months

On Saturday Isabel will be 6 months old. 6 months. That sounds so old...I mean, that is one half of a year. I really wish I could freeze time...

We've still been laying low, although our Saturdays will most likely involve VT football for the upcoming months.

Tech opened up by playing ECU, and although the Hokies didn't win, Isabel got her first tast of Hokie football and is ready for more. She will definitely be getting good use out of her VT onesie that Coelle got for her last fall.


Isabel with one of her favorite toys...a stuffed airplane of course! Taking after her Dad and his love of planes already.

Last Tuesday, Isabel started to "school" aka daycare. We call it school because I think it sounds more fun, and the center is actually run more like a school...they even have a PTA. After spending her Tuesdays and Thursdays at home with a sitter all summer, Isabel was looking forward to getting out of the house and making some new friends. She seems to like it and has been very happy each day when I pick her up. It was definitely much harder on me emotionally dropping her off somewhere versus just leaving the house in the morning with her in Geoffrey's care, but after 4 days I'm getting used to it.

Here she is on her first day of school, with her duck in tow.

All smiles...perhaps she was happy since she got to wear jeans with her onesie.
This Saturday also marks a very special occasion...the introduction of solid food. She did manage to sneak a bit of coleslaw dressing in at our neighborhood picnic this past weekend, when her hand landed smack in my plate and then immediately went into her mouth. Minus the coleslaw dressing, its been strictly mom milk until now. The spoons are ready to go, I've been reading up on making baby food and Isabel gave final approval on her booster seat. We'll be sure to take lots of pictures, and maybe even a video of the big event.
Finally, this picture is for Grandma Schaeffer. She requested that we capture a picture of both Isabel and Uncle Eric with their feet in their mouth. Isabel wasn't too interested in feet chewing for the picture, but you get the idea. Maybe we'll catch a better shot while watching the GT game this weekend.