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!

Crawling, Crawling Everywhere

Isabel has been crawling everywhere and is really mastering this new "skill." Last week after I had gotten her coat and hat on, she decided to crawl after General while I was getting my coat. She always looks so pleased with her self when she makes her way out of the playroom towards her target.

Today while I was eating lunch Isabel was again crawling around. Apparently the door stop is very fascinating...I'm not sure why we even bother giving her real toys to play with!

Of course while I was busy taking pictures, Isabel decided to make a dash for the rest of my lunch. She was quite disappointed when I did not allow her to finish the carrots and green peppers.


Isabel kneeling at her activity table. It was only a week ago that she figured out that she could go from sitting to kneeling, and not 5 minutes after taking this picture I went to put the camera on a bookshelf and turned around to find her standing. Of course I didn't get a picture of that, as she was done too quickly.

Hope that everyone is staying warm! We had a bit of snow on Saturday and I'm hoping for more.

Pictures, pictures, pictures

Since I've been slow to post pictures, I grabbed a bunch that I thought were fun and posted them below. Maybe someday I'll find the time to do more regular blogging.

Before the pictures, just a little bit of news. In addition to crawling Isabel has also been babbling. She makes sounds that sounds like words, her favorite being dad, but she doesn't just use the word on dad. She will say "dad" to the pugs, to the toys, to me...whoever she happens to be looking at when she feels the need to "talk." Since she started crawling she's also been working on pulling herself up, but she has yet to be successful. She will hold on if we raise her to a standing position, but I think it will be a while before she has the strength to start cruising and then eventually walking. She continues to broaden her taste for new foods, and has moved onto chicken and mashed cauliflower with garlic. The only food she hasn't cared for is potatoes...but really, who would like potatoes if you had to eat them mashed without salt!


Isabel has discovered that the pugs love Cheerios...and therefore love being around her during cheeriotime. General wanted to help me clean up by removing the cheerios that had fallen through to Isabel's lap.



Isabel has a large collection of teddy bears, and her favorite seems to be "Alcatraz", a bear that Uncle Romes made at Build a Bear when she was born.

Story time with the bears. She is reading her favorite book...which is her favorite because it remains the only book she can chew/put in her mouth. From left to right is Dayton, Raleigh, Alcatraz & Canton. We named the bears after the cities where the people who gave her the bears are from. It makes it easier than saying "bear with the red ribbon" and is a nice way to talk about the people. Not picture is Beaufort the pug and Odgen the bunny.

Isabel is fascinated by my laptop, and if I am typing with her around, she now tries to get near it and hit the keyboards. She has erased a few emails and even hit send before I was done with one. Luckily it was only to Uncle Kevin.

We spent a lovely Thanksgiving day in Baltimore with Geoffrey's Aunt Monica, Uncle Howard, Cousins Ben & Jack and his immediate family. Isabel's favorite part of her first Thanksgiving was playing with Jack's drum sticks. She went to bed right before we sat down for dinner, so unfortunately didn't get to have a taste of her first Turkey.

And here are a few more pictures of Isabel just being her normal happy self.

Isabel now loves crawling over to the gate where the dogs usually start hanging out close to dinnertime, begging to be fed. Her face lights up the minute she sees a pug over there and now that she is mobile, nothing will stop her from getting to the bars to see "her pugs."

Finally, if you click here, you can see a video I shot of Isabel crawling. She certainly isn't going to be winning any speed races, but slow and steady gets her where she needs to go.