Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Isabelle: One Year!

Dear Isabelle Leigh,

We made it!!! You are a year old and officially no longer a baby.  I cannot believe it.  While I would never claim that the past year has been easy, I'll admit that I am sad to not have a baby anymore.  Although this is the most fun age!  You love to laugh and clap and crawl and wave.  You throw your arms up in the air when we say "How big is Izzy?".  As soon as you lay eyes on us you start crawling over as fast as your little legs will carry you with a huge smile on your face.   You make us laugh every day, and we utterly adore you :)

Speaking of crawling, you are a crawling machine now.  You're like a little motorboat and you can get around just fine, which I think has made you happier in general.  Once in awhile you will pull up to standing as well, but no cruising yet.  And you haven't been too interested in steps, but I know that day is coming.

You love to pretend that everything is a phone, which is hilarious!  You are always putting things like a brush or a toy up to your ear and saying what sounds like, "Hello?"  I love it!



Your big answer for anything we ask is "Uh uh".  Your sisters get a kick out of asking you all kinds of questions, knowing that your answer will always be the same:



And while we are on a roll with videos, you love to talk!  You have full on conversations with hand gestures and everything... we just wish we understood your language!



And you are so loud!  So, so, so LOUD!  We always say we never met a louder lady.  You love to squawk, and squeal, and yell.  Maybe that's what you have to do to be heard in this house.  But every morning you are up before your sisters and it is impossible to keep you from yelling and waking them up.  Maybe that's all part of your plan.  You are getting up around 6:30 or so, which I am trying desperately to push back to 7:00.  But sometimes you are so loud in there, that I have to go in to try to prevent you from waking your sisters with your squawking.  But you're still a good sleeper.  You sleep 11-12 hours at night without waking up, and you take 2 naps during the day for an hour or two each time.  So I truly can't complain about your sleep.  We are just a 7:00 hour family, not a 6:00 hour family.  The sooner you learn this, the better.

You love books, and I am always finding myself feeling guilty that I don't read to you more.  When Addy was a baby her bedtime routine was so, well, routine I guess.  She got a book every night without fail.  I will admit the same is not true for you.  By the end of the day, it's all Daddy and I can do to get all three of you bathed and in bed.  We do read sometimes, but not every night.  You love Goodnight Moon, just like your sisters did.  I know it won't be long before you're pointing out everything in the book.  (Sidenote: We do read during the day, so don't go thinking that no one ever reads to you ;) )

Big news this month is that you got your first haircut!  So very desperately needed, ha ha!
Before

During


And After!  (You would not cooperate with a picture at the salon, so this was taken the next day)

You still have six teeth, and though it looks like you might get some molars soon, none have pooped through yet.  You were at the doctor a few weeks ago for your first ear infection :(  Our first girl to get an ear infection (of course it was you, ha ha!).  So you had a 10 day course of amoxicillin, and now you are good as new.  But it had to happen while Mommy was away for the weekend and your poor self was so miserable the whole time.  I felt so bad for you.... and for Daddy.

We are officially done with nursing, and we stopped about a week before your birthday.  You were so over it by then.  Most of the time it was a struggle getting you to nurse for even a few minutes once a day, so rather than keep fighting it, I figured you were almost a year old anyway, so we threw in the towel.  I'm lucky that all three of my girls ended the nursing process without a fight.  It was never a big emotional thing for me, as I know it is for many mamas.  You were over it, so we quit.

At your one year doctor appointment you FINALLY reached the 50th percentile for weight!  Yay!  It makes sense because you eat like a horse these days.  You are definitely a better eater than both of your sisters.  You're still in that wonderful stage where you eat almost anything that is put in front of you.  But we have such a hard time getting you to drink.  You won't finish a whole sippy cup in an entire DAY, and even bottles are a struggle.  You maybe get 10-15 oz of fluid a day.  We have still been giving you a 5-6 oz bottle of warm whole milk in the morning and night, and you drink that OK, but throughout the day you won't drink much.  You always just push it away.  We need to start weaning away from the bottle soon, so I wish you liked a cup a bit more.

But Dr. Zimmerman wasn't worried, so I guess I won't be either.  Also, we had your hemoglobin rechecked, and you are no longer anemic, so that's great news!  Your hemoglobin came up from 8 at your nine month appointment to 11.8 now!  No more iron supplements :)  

Here are your stats:

Weight: 20 lbs (50th percentile!)
Length: 30.75 inches (91st percentile)
Head Circumference: 47 cm (92nd percentile)

So all good news there!  You got four shots at this appointment (including the flu shot), which was awful for this poor mama's heart, but you tolerated it like a champ, as always.  You never needed Tylenol or anything and you didn't get any weird reactions or fever.  

The five of us went to OC, MD for the weekend this month, so Mommy got to see you play at the beach, which was great!  You are not a fan of the ocean, but you liked the little tide pools and you liked playing in the sand :)





You loved the surrey cart!  The wind whipping through your hair was right up your alley :)


Other random notes:

You have your own toothbrush and you love it!  If you are cranky we can just hand you your toothbrush and you're happy as a clam:


We went to two amusement parks in a week's time and you were a trooper!
Dutch Wonderland

Knoebels

And last, but not least, we have your 12 month pictures:

You are always fine in the beginning...

And then it progresses...


We had a little family birthday party for you on your actual birthday, so that will be my next post :) 

I can't believe my feisty little baby is one year old!  This year has been a complete whirlwind, and the jump from two to three kids has been a large one for us, but you make it all worth it Iz.  You are fun and funny and loud, and shall I say, spirited ;)  You keep us on our toes and you have the whole family wrapped around your finger.  I could smooch your cheeks all day long... and sometimes I do.  I love you to the moon and back Busy Girl.  Happy first birthday!!


Love,

Mommy