The Case of the killer bedhead

Enough said.

A word a day

Isabella is at that age where she literally learns to say at least one new word every day. It's so amazing to me that I can work so hard to teach her a certain one, but it's the words she just picks up by listening to everyday speech that she ends up repeating over and over. Sometimes to my delight and sometimes to my embarrassment.

She recently began saying "sit" I'm not even going to go into the argument that took place between Tyler and myself over that one. We finally figured out she was actually saying "sit" when we were sitting down for supper one night and she pointed at her highchair and emphatically declared, "SIT SIT!!" It was like she was desperately trying to clue us in.

I was cleaning up the living room this morning, throwing shoes into a basket, when Isabella came toddling up to me holding one of Tyler's flip-flops. She held it out to me and said "shew? shew?" I had to crack up because her pronunciation of the word is more like when I take her shoes off and smell her feet, I always say "Shew-wee Bella!" Anyways...I just realized that now more than ever I need to start being super conscientious of everything, because there's two little eyes watching me, and these days she's a sponge soaking up every action, which she very effectively proved to Tyler and me the other evening when she started picking her nose right in front of us. Uhm...how do I teach her that you do that at home and not in public?

Ok, for all the grands and great-grands I'm including an updated list of ALL the words she says now, and as soon as the battery charger Tyler ordered for our video camera comes in, I'm going to include a video post, can't wait!

Cheese
Duck
Quack-Quack
Shoe
Sit
Hi!
Yes
No!
Bye-bye
Pool
Bird
Tweet tweet tweet
Book
Bubble
Peekaboo
Yum-yum-yum
Ball
Baby
Slide
Whee!
Yay!
Gross

and my personal favorite, "Tickle tickle tickle!"

Well, I think that just about does it!

A nice day

Today was just one of those all around wonderful days. Tyler was let out of work super early so that he could take me to the other side of the Island to get another ID made (I lost mine, he HAS to be present when my ID is issued) What we thought would be a day of tedious drudgery turned out to be one of the most pleasant and beautiful drives we have been on in a long time! After driving through miles and miles of lush green mountains and going through a few tunnels, the horizon lit up with bright aqua marine blue. Oh my goodness, I was absolutely sick that I did not have my camera with me! but who knew driving to a marine base would be so scenic? The mountains would just shoot up out of the ocean at random and you could tell by their shape that they had been formed thousands of years ago by dripping molten lava, once rocky and gray but now beautiful and lushly green. The contrast of clear blue ocean and bright green was absolutely breathtaking....so was the fact that we were driving along on a bridge perched precariously on the side of a Lava Mountain about 800 feet in the air. Oh my...

Anyways...aside from our beautiful drive and a pit stop for fresh, hot McDonalds French fries (YES!!) we went on a nice, long walk tonight and when we got home there was pretty much nothing to do but loll about. So Tyler gamed, and I crafted. Here's my outcome...now tell me, does anyone have any ideas for what I could use/do for my ugly rough edges along the outside of my collage? The center of the collage is the front of my baby shower card my sister Brittainy designed herself. I always loved this card. The scrap of sheet music is actually from a piece of sheet music I sang highschool. No, I never throw anything away.



You see the beaut. there in the orange polka dots? her daddy shopped and shopped online one night and ordered her that little ensemble from Hartstrings...he even sprung for the matching cover-up! My man sure knows how to shop! As soon as it came in the mail yesterday he dolled her up and they dashed to the pool. The dynamic duo left me at home to enjoy an hour or so to myself. He came home frazzled, wrapped up in a hot pink towel and toting our soggy and squirmy toddler who was repeating the word pool over and over again.

When Daddy comes home for lunch

Isabella is finally down for her nap this afternoon...this WOULD be the ideal time for me to get a lot done around the house...but instead I think I will just sit here a moment and give you a glimpse of what our afternoon looked like. Usually, Tyler rides his bike to work, but today he took the car, so Isabella and I were honored with the rare treat of having him home for lunch!

Isabella always gets very excited when her daddy comes home and is usually more well behaved for him than she is me, so goes the woes of motherhood. What is typically a food-throwing, sippie cup-chucking, leg kicking battle for me at lunch, is a nice, pleasant, all-smiles event for Tyler. Hmph!





The little stinker! all smiles in her high-chair!

After lunch it was play time. She loves putting her wooden zoo animals into her pink grocery cart. Thanks Auntie Kelsey!





She talks to one of her little wooden people...



Then she peeks over the baby gate to watch while Tyler and I clean up...




And then Daddy whisks her away to take her afternoon nap! Notice not even a backwards glance in my direction?



Well, I suppose I can't put my house work off any longer. Hope everyone is having a nice, calm, uneventful day. :)

Insomnia is expensive

What do I do at night when my husband is away and I simply cannot sleep? I shop for my princess of course! I found myself on the website for Willow Tree Toys tonight...I absolutely LOVE these toys. Not only do I not have to worry about them being made in china, because they are one hundred percent organic, but just look at how much imagination they encourage! as opposed to all those other toys out now that pretty much do everything but make your kid a latte. Growing up, my favorite past times were reading and playing outside. I remember my mom would give me old dishes she didn't use anymore and I would spend countless hours outside playing house with my dolls and making mud stew and mud pie and mud cookies...you name it, I made it!...out of mud. I can only hope I will pass down my love of mud to my little Belle.

So yes! I couldn't help myself, I love fake food sets! I ordered this wooden food groups set for Isabella and am extremely pleased with my purchase even though I know I got shamelessly taken advantage of when it came to shipping. $17 just because I live on an Island! geezy petes guys! we island children need toys too...



I was absolutely smitten with this little tin full of wooden chocolates...but I had visions of performing Heimlich Maneuvers and quickly clicked to the next page. It's still very charming and when she's old enough to know better I will absolutely be buying this!



I want this kitchen. She MUST have this kitchen. I am seriously contemplating a part-time job so that I can buy her this kitchen and the fridge that goes with it, and the wooden dishes...and the wooden accessories....and ALL the wooden food! ...oh my.



If you have children and you think you have will-power of steel go to this website...I bet you can't leave it without at LEAST buying the wooden lollipops? or perhaps you're more of a cloth pizza type of gal?
http://www.willowtreetoys.com/

Happy 4th Everybody!

We went to a big celebration on base, Isabella certainly had a wonderful time! she got to pet piggies, bunnies and goats at the petting zoo, then we rode the Merry Go Round, just look at her holding on so tight! she and Tyler rode a huge slide that looked like a shark's mouth, we ate LOTS of cotton candy and then finally, Isabella tried to steal everyone's Cokes while we watched a beautiful fireworks display. Isabella wasn't even scared! She kept looking up at the sky and saying "wow!" She started to get pretty tired towards the end, so she kicked back and relaxed on top of daddy :)










I hope everyone had a wonderful fourth of July!

The Bella Bullfight-Ole!

Lately, one of Isabella's favorite games is charging into this fabric while I wave it around for her. It reminds Tyler and me of a bullfight the way she stamps her little feet in anticipation and then runs head first into the billowing satin. She likes the way the material feels on her skin so we take her little shirt off and she'll gather up the satin and just hold it up against herself. What's really funny is when the static electricity makes her red hair stand up on end, she really does look like a little bull!

Other than playing pink-satin-bullfight, we've been super busy cutting molars! poor little baby, cutting teeth is just so hard! She also said her first sentence yesterday! Tyler had just gotten home from work, and she was on the floor playing with her books, when he walked into the room she nonchalantly looked up and said "Hi Da-Da!" then went right back to her reading, leaving Tyler and me dead in our tracks with our mouths agape.

I'm proud to say that she has graduated from walking to running, which has resulted in about 2 dozen bruises, one goose egg on her forehead and a bloody lip. Yes, we've been very busy.