Happy 1st Birthday Isabella!!!

Before...

After



Whew! what a week we have had! I'm so sorry for my lack of blogging lately, but with Tyler's homecoming, trying to get back into the routine of things and then Isabella's birthday, we have been going non-stop it seems! Tyler was finally able to come home last week! Pictures to come soon...we are so happy to have out sailor home and I am happy to say that he and Isabella are pretty much inseparable now. He and I had good intentions of throwing her a big 1st birthday party, but the longer his deployment got extended the more we just wanted to have a small private little family party.
I decided to make her cake myself instead of buying one...I just feel like there is something so special about making my baby's first birthday cake, plus, I had so much fun doing it! I want to to shout out some special thanks to all of the family back home for their phone call birthday greetings, the beautiful cards they sent, and of course, the moolah! we had SO much fun spending it all at Gymboree...our favorite place! even Isabella gets excited whenever we go into the store now, she starts kicking her little feet and bouncing in her stroller because she knows that store is especially for her. She pretty much made out like a bandit...we had her birthday money, but when we went in I won a %50 off my ENTIRE purchase coupon! I was in heaven, I was able to buy her anything and everything we fancied, ( and that was quite a bit :-P ) So thanks again MamaJo, Granddaddy Plaas, kristina, Grandma Newman, and Brittainy!
Lovie and Granddaddy sent her a beautiful new story book, an absolutely adorable, organic cotton baby with her own little baby carrier and blanket, and her very own subscription to her first magazine! It's a magazine especially for babies and it's called Ladybug, how cute! I can't wait to get that first magazine in the mail so that we can read it together!
Auntie Gaye-Gaye has sent her a birthday package in the mail, so when we get it, I will be sure to post about it...how much fun! we just love getting packages.

Tyler and I went to Toys R Us and each chose a toy for her. I chose a wooden Zoo animal pull-along toy since she loves anything with wheels, and Tyler chose a Noah's Ark set, we bought her a balloon which she loved and played with more than any of the toys she received, and then the grand finale of the day! we turned her car seat around to face the front. My baby is all grown up now! I was almost sad to reach this milestone...but then after I drove with her like that I realized how much more convenient it is. I still feel like she's growing up way too fast..it seems like just yesterday I was bringing her home from the hospital in her little newborn car seat and now she's a bubbly little tot sitting in the backseat bobbing her head to the music.