preschool, stuffing bears, and a sleeping baby...

My job this month is to find a preschool for Isabella to attend next year. You may ask yourself, why is she looking for a preschool in JANUARY? Well, here's the deal, apparently, preschool is serious business these days. I know, I don't quite understand the whole thing either. Preschool, big deal right? It's that place you send your four year old to paint and play for a few hours. Nope, I guess that's not the case. Parents these days seem to think preschool is going to make or break their child. If your child goes to a good one where they do more than play, then you'll have a genius on your hands. If they go to one of those loser preschools where they paint and play, well, basically, your kid will amount to nothing. Of course I'm being facetious, but you wouldn't believe how crazy parents get about preschool. Come on people, IT'S PRESCHOOL! Well, anyway, I'm joining in this masquerade because of course I want a genius (just kidding, actually geniuses are annoying and socially awkward). Next week Isabella and I, with Isaac in tow, will tour several schools in the area and then I'll make a decision that will obviously set the stage for her future. Wish me luck!

For Christmas my sister-in-law sent a bear-making kit to Isabella. As we were putting the stuffing in the bear, Isabella said, "mommy, I love stuffin' bears!"

Once again, I forgot to upload my pictures in the right order...

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One of Isabella's favorite things to do is play in the snow...

her next favorite thing to do is play in the office where her animals have some serious discussions. Today she came out of the office and said that the giraffe was staying with the bear and the sheep and the elephant until the monsters came and took him to the cross...

Almost every night she lines the animals up and places them on their sides so that they can go to sleep.

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At the end of the day, Walter and I often crawl in bed and talk about how amazingly different Isaac and Isabella are. I can already picture Isaac as a young man. He'll be kind and sweet and so affectionate with those he loves. Yesterday a friend asked me if I am trying to savor each moment with Isaac because I know that he is my last. The answer is no. I guess I don't really see it that way because I really love and enjoy watching Isaac and Isabella grow and change. Yes, the baby years go quickly, but I am so excited for what is ahead and I so look forward to the relationships we'll have with our kids as they get older. I was thinking today, as I put Isaac down for a nap, how much of a personality he is getting and this is so exciting for me because babies are really just blobs that happen to look cute--they don't do anything and I like when babies start doing things. We were eating dinner at a restaurant last night and a man waved to Isaac and he actually waved back!

Walter wanted pajamas for Christmas and during his days off I successfully convinced him of the merits of wearing pajamas all day...

grabbing for the camera strap

In the Little Bear zone--trust me, it's a good place to be...

Last weekend Isaac was taking a nap in his room and when he woke up Walter went in and laid next to him. Isaac wouldn't stop screaming so Walter brought him over to me and he immediately fell back to sleep. He's a mama's boy (for now...soon enough it will be all about daddy)...


And I leave you with this quote that I recently read in a parenting book and what I think is a good reminder for any parent (unless of course if you agree with the Wall Street Journal article from last week):

"Nothing you become will disappoint me; I

have no

preconception that I'd like to see you be or do.

I have

no desire to foresee you, only to discover you.

You

cannot disappoint me."

-Mary Haskell

the stats are in...

Isaac Joseph K.

age: nine months

weight: 13 pounds 7 ounces

height: 24 1/4 inches

status: Tiny but Mighty! (that's my new phrase for him)



Winner of the smile award...

My sister and I meet once a week for dinner. When she was still in school we met for lunch and then once she got this amazing temp. job as a mail opener for a bank, we decided we needed to start meeting again otherwise we would only see each other once a week and that is unacceptable! (I hope my sarcasm did not go unnoticed--unless you do think opening mail is an amazing job, then I'm sorry I offended you)

Because it's so cold in the evenings and I want to hibernate in my house, she just comes over here. Last week I said, "did you see the pictures I posted of Stella?!" "No, I just checked your blog this morning, did you post again?" "Yes, you have to see these pictures!" So I showed the pictures to her and was proud of myself and Stella's newly found talent for balancing things on her head and said, "It was so much fun! Now I'm trying to think of other things to balance on her head!" Jesse said, "seriously, you need to get out more if that's what you consider fun."

If you've been keeping up with my blog, you know that I like to take pictures of Stella where she is smiling and showing her pearly whites...

Okay Stella, time to smile!

Come on, you know you want to...

Nice try. How about you try to touch your ear with your tongue...

Close. Okay, time for a smile!

You remind of the Beast in Beauty and the Beast when he tries to smile. I think you need to practice some more or you might scare people away.

For anyone who is afraid of dogs, I promise, she's just caught mid-yawn.

Last Wednesday we celebrated Christmas with Walter's family. For about a month Isabella has been talking about Gabe (her cousin) coming to visit. And let me tell you, those two played until they dropped, which was every night around 8:30.

Walter and I were looking forward to hosting his family's Christmas at our house and I was working with Rosie to prepare brunch for everyone. I'd decided to make quiche and was dreading making pie crust. Why did I need to make pie crust? Well, because if you know me, you know that anything with partially hydrogenated oils is not allowed in our house, so that means no frozen pie crust. But it does mean, lots of butter! Yeah, don't ask me to explain. After reading about this pie crust, and the promise that it was an easy and forgiving recipe, I went for it. Fear no more! Pie crust is super easy to make!

Though I'm not too crazy about Barbies and the unrealistic body image that they project, Isabella had been asking for "those big princess dolls" ever since she saw them at Target a few months ago. I knew that Gisela got them for her but definitely did not expect the excitement or hyperventilating that occurred before she'd even unwrapped the box all the way. It went like this: big gasp, oh my goodness! the princesses! the big dolls! oh, JUST WHAT I ALWAYS WANTED! JUST WHAT I WAS ALWAYS DREAMIN' ABOUT!!!!! And then, just as quickly as they were exclaimed over and even before Walter birthed them from the massive amounts of tape and plastic attachments that secure them to the box so that it takes ten minutes to get them out, she'd moved on to the remote control truck we bought for Gabe. Then the battle began over who would get the remote control. And as I peeked in the living-room as I was cleaning up the kitchen, who was playing with the barbies...Julie, Gisela and Rosie.

The next day, everyone thought it would be a wonderful solution to buy another RC truck for Isabella. After we set up Isabella's we realized that the controllers controlled both trucks. Talk about a disaster! When Gabe thought he was controlling one truck, he was really controlling the other, and then they were both screaming because their truck wasn't doing what they wanted it to do...AAAAHHHHHHHHH! Actually it was pretty funny for the adults but not so funny for Gabe and Isabella.

After snagging some free furniture from one of my mom's friends, Walter set up a very nice man cave/playroom for himself (and the kids) in the basement. Of course that meant Jon and Walter played Super Mario for three days. Thankfully though, I had the opportunity to play Settlers of Catan--oh how I miss playing board games!

We had a lots of fun spending time with family, eating lots of food, and lots of treats. Because I was so tired of Isabella asking for treats, cookies, and chocolate, I threw all of it out a few days ago. We never have that kind of stuff around and she was seriously starting to drive me crazy.

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Mommy! I drew a rainbow! And to my surprise, she really did draw a rainbow!

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Gisela got a new camera from Annemarie and Scott...

      

Isaac got a balloon that he demolished in one day...



Some quotes from our house:

-"Mommy, I can't a-lieve (believe) you did such a good job making dinner!"
-"Mommy! guess what?! when I grow bigger and my bottom grows bigger I can wear your underwear!" Um, not so sure about that...
-Walter: "Isaac, can you please scream more quietly."
-Me: "Isaac, your name is supposed to mean laughter, not scream your brains out."
-"Daddy, I just wish my barbie princesses could be real. Wouldn't that be so much fun if they were real?"
-During a heated discussion at Church between Maya and Isabella, Isabella said, "Oh, I give up." Then Maya said, "well I give down!" Oh, they make me laugh!
-We don't spend much time talking about Santa so I shouldn't have been surprised when Isabella opened her stocking and said, "mommy, did you sneak these clips in here?" She caught me!

Isaac:

-He learned how to clap last week!
-He has two teeth
-He still does not like to sleep but I think I'm managing pretty well despite the fact that I am very forgetful and have a hard time forming a complete and understandable sentence when speaking. Actually, this morning I started the Keurig coffee maker and turned around to see that I'd forgotten a mug and the coffee was streaming down. Thankfully there's a little reservoir that collects the drips (or a whole cup of coffee).
-We're working on adjusting to the helmet. He's worn it a lot in the last few days and even took his second nap with it on! We're also getting better at nursing with it on.
-Next week he has his nine month check up and he will also have a follow up appointment with the plastic surgeon this month.
-He is not crawling but is practicing turning in a circle while sitting. I don't know, seems to me like crawling would be easier.
-He says ba ba and da da. Neither of these mean anything in particular. They're still just noises to him.
-He thinks Isabella is absolutely hilarious.
-He loves to take baths. When I sit him next to the tub and turn the water on he starts to laugh with excitement.
-He enjoys playing with food but gets the most disgusted look on his face when a cheerio or something else is actually in his mouth.
-He can pick up small items, like cheerios, with his forefinger and thumb.
-He loves to cuddle with me and the place he is happiest is in my arms (which is usually where you can find him).

Happy New Year!