Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Isabelle: 9 Months!

Dear Littlest,

I feel like all of the sudden your first birthday is right around the corner!

Despite the fact that you look so big these days and are doing so many fun new things.... you are still immobile!  Yup, you can sit up for a long time, but you stay where we plop you.  And you often cry about it, which I think is due to frustration at not being able to move.  That, combined with the fact that you are getting more teeth.  As of right now you have three teeth.  The two bottom and your right lateral incisor on the top.  That incisor was your second tooth to come in, which is kind of funny.  You look a bit like a vampire ;)

You have started eating finger foods and are really into feeding yourself these days.  I think we are officially done buying baby food (at least the kind that we have to spoon feed you), because you have no interest in that anymore.  You just want food that you can pick up.

 Your first taste of puffs!  (P.S. Wild hair, don't care.)  This was at Pap and Meemaw's house about a week after you turned 8 months.  They bought them and I remember saying, "I don't think she can pick them up yet."  You proved me wrong right then and there!  And it's been fingers foods all the way since then.


Speaking of Pap and Meemaw's house, here is your first ride in this little car that they have.  You LOVED it!  Gahhh, you are looking so big!

Back to food.  Your favorite foods these days are grapes and meatballs.  You could eat both of those all day long.  Oh, and bananas.  You have a banana almost every morning for breakfast.  And if you are ever cranky while I'm getting food together (AKA: every time), I put you in your high chair and dump a bunch of Cheerios on your tray.  And that occupies you for awhile.  

I have weaned you to nursing three times a day since you are so distractable now.  You nurse anywhere from 2-5 minutes per side and then you are done.  Which is kind of nice, because we are done quickly.  So I nurse you when you wake up, before your second nap, and before bed.  It's a nice little schedule, but the only problem is that you are completely uninterested in a cup of any kind, so that's literally the only liquid that you get all day.  I keep offering it, but you haven't started using a cup at all yet.  I've tried a sippy cup and the straw type.  I've also tried sticking a bottle on your tray, but you won't drink that by yourself either.  So we'll keep working on it.

You have started to wave and clap your hands on demand which is so cute.  And you always mimic your sisters if they are doing either of those things.  The love and adoration you have for your big sisters completely melts my heart :)

You do lots of babbling, but no real words other than Mama and Dada.  I really do think you know us by those names now.  And you will often say them on demand.  Here's a little video:


And, call me crazy, but sometimes I swear you say "All done".  Like when you are finished nursing.  You turn your head to the side and say the same thing every time, which sounds like "All done."  But, I may be crazy ;)

You haven't been shaking your head "no" as much lately, but you still do it from time to time.  Your newest fascinations are clapping and waving.  And you have started reaching your arms out for us when we come into the room!  If I am holding you and Daddy walks in, you reach your arms out for him to hold you and it's so cute!

You still love the baby carrier and are always pretty content in there.  I put you on my front and face you out, and you are happy as a clam.  I guess I could put you on my back too, but I haven't tried that yet.  The LilleBaby carrier is what I use ( I bought it when you were born) and I really like it.  Much more comfy than the Bjorn in my opinion.  

Oh my gosh, you had your first taste of ice cream this month, and boy did you love it!!  We were at Pop and Grandma's cabin for the weekend, and we didn't want to leave you out of the ice cream festivities :)




You and Pop

Lots of firsts this month... First real pigtails!


Where's Izzy?  This is how we entertain you these days.  Dump your entire bucket of toys in front of you and let you have at it.  Because, of course, you won't crawl to get anything, you need them all within arms reach ;)


All dressed up for a Mother's Day family photo shoot :)


And a little video of course:


Your 9 Month stats are as follows:

Weight: 17lbs 2oz (28th percentile)
Length: 28.25" (67th percentile)
HC: 45.5cm (87th percentile)


 And here are your 9 month pics:

You are at that stage where it's getting harder to take the pictures because you are obsessed with the sticker, and you are trying to peel it off and crumble it constantly ;)



This was not your happiest of photo shoots.  I had a hard time getting a smile once I put you down on the blanket.  I think you were mad at me because I wouldn't let you have the sticker.  But, as you can see by the crumple factor, you managed to get it a few times ;)


I even brought Daddy in to get you to smile, and this is the best he could do.  You were pretty much on the verge of tears the whole time, which we are kind of used to with you in general ;)  But this month you have been a bit more cranky and needy, probably because you are so uncomfortable from those darn teeth :(

Well Izz, you are 3/4 of a year old!  You are so interactive and you love to be entertained.  It's a good thing you have some amazing older sisters to fulfill the entertainer role ;)  Your biggest loves are your family, food, and being held.  For as much as we fretted over you not eating well in those first few months, you are more than making up for it now.  If there was food on your tray all day long, you would eat all. day. long.  

You hair is as long as ever, and you are in desperate need of a trim, but I just can't bring myself to do it yet.  For now we'll just live with barrettes and hair ties to keep your hair out of your face.  

You can sit up and play for a long time.  You can stand up while holding onto furniture.  But you are still immobile.  You won't even roll more than one time.  You make sure to get off of your tummy, and that's it.  But you are following suit with those sisters of yours, so it's all good.  I'm happy that you'll stay where we put you for now... although I do think you will be happier once you're mobile.

You're still a pretty good sleeper, napping twice a day and sleeping from about 7:30PM - 6:30/7:00AM.  Your naps are variable in length and sometimes the morning one is longer, sometimes the afternoon one is longer.  We never really know how it's going to go.

You smile at us whenever we look in your direction, but we darn sure better be picking you up once we've glanced at you.  Or you will let us know that that is what we are expected to do ;)  As long as you are held or you're outside you are pretty happy.  I'm so glad the warmer weather is coming so we can hang out outside more.

My littlest lady, I love you to pieces!  As I say to you every morning, every night, and multiple times in between, "Your mama loves you Iz!"

Love, 

Mommy

Friday, May 13, 2016

Christmas 2015!

OK, so I am a few short months late on this one.  Ha ha!  Somehow life really gets in the way of this blog.  (I can't imagine how, with three kids ages five and under, ha ha!)  But I want to record the big life moments and holidays so that we can always look back on them, so even though it's May... let's talk about Christmas!

This Christmas was one to remember in more ways than one.  It was Izzy's first Christmas, which is always special :)  And the girls are old enough to really look forward to it and love it, which was awesome to experience.  And my dad ended up needing emergency heart surgery on Christmas Eve.  Yup, that last one was a zinger.  Plans got rearranged, but we all came together to love and support one another, and in that sense, it was amazing.  Dad recovered beautifully and we are all so very thankful for that Christmas miracle.

But back to the beginning of the season and Christmas jammies!  And oh my gosh I forgot how wild Izzy's hair was, ha ha!



Aw, we have Mike reading them the 12 Days of Christmas.  They loved that book this year and you could often find all of us belting out the song on car rides during the month of December :)


Addy and Emmy loved their Christmas dresses and would have worn them daily if I let them.  So what better thing to do while all dressed up than get married... and have a baby... and go to the hospital.  Watch the video to see what I'm talking about ;)


We had breakfast with Santa at the girls preschool:




We went to a Christmas tree farm to pick out the perfect tree.  We went with two trees again this year.  An artificial one in the office for everyone to see from the road when they drove by and a real one in the family room for us to enjoy.  Real trees are messy and they are a pain, but I love them just the same.  There is something about that tradition of picking out your perfect tree every year.  And the scent, you just can't beat it :)


Ha ha!  That's Izzy all nestled in between us!  All you can see is her hat!

This is one of my favorite pictures of the girls!  On the hayride after finding our tree :)

Family selfie!

The train!  All three girls really loved the train around the Christmas tree.  Even Izzy was mesmerized by it, and if she was cranky we could just lay her down next to the tree, turn the train on, and she would calm down :)



Decorating the tree:




Oh and Santa!  We met Santa literally four times in a week this year!  He was everywhere ;)


We decorated gingerbread houses with Addy's class:


Izzy is ready for the season:

I love this picture!  Ready to meet Santa (again) at Bass Pro Shop :)


Planting candy cane seeds:

The result!

Year two with these monogrammed outfits:

Izzy's first ponytail!

Emma's school holiday party:  




She was the only one in class that had a solo!



Time for Addy's class holiday party!




A snip it of Addy's show:


Izzy got her brace off three days before Christmas!  Happy girl!


First time in the doorway jumper!

And first time in the jumper:  (She loves that thing to this day!)

Christmas Eve photos:


Izzy's patience wore thin ;)


Santa came!

Christmas morning!!!






Addy's favorite toy was the Elsa guitar:

Emma's was probably this driving wheel:


Aunt Tina gifted them with an awesome girls day!

Ha ha!  Family:




The girls with their cousins Aiden and Caleb:

As I am looking through my pictures I realize that I didn't get a Hetrick family photo this year :(  Darn!  We must have been too busy having fun to take pics.  But there was our Christmas 2015!  It was a wonderful season, and we have so very much to be thankful for!  Merry Christmas... in May ;)