It's Summertime

Yesterday was the first day this year that it's hit about 90 degrees. And what better way to celebrate than to go to the pool? It was so much fun. The pool is within walking distance from our house. We went later in the day after Izzy had taken her nap. She loved it! She had a few moments when she didn't really know what to do, but for the most part all three of us had a great time. I have many fond memories of that pool as a kid and it was almost surreal now taking my own child there. I can see us spending lots of time there during the summer!

Updates!

Our Mother's Day trip to the zoo.

I haven't posted in awhile, so just thought I'd update on how our little family is doing. Izzy is now 13 1/2 months old. She's walking all over the place, pretty much running at times. She has started saying a few words. She can definitely say baby, hi, bye, dada, & mama. We're pretty sure that she also tries to say dog, ball, kitty, & Ted (the name of our next door neighbors dog). She is still doing her baby sign language as well, which we're finding to be very helpful, especially when she's eating. Art and I are doing well too! I've joined a Mom's group in Loveland that I've enjoyed attending events with. Gives me a nice outlet and gives Izzy lots of little friends to play with. Art joined the Free Masons not long ago and has become more active in that recently. Overall, we're all doing great! We're so happy that it's started getting warmer again so that we can ride our bikes all around town. We've been starting a little nightly ritual of taking Izzy to the park. She is becoming quite brave and will even go down the slide by herself. It's a fun way to get her nice and tired right before bed time! In other exciting news, we have a new addition to our extended family, baby Lorelei. Not sure what Izzy thinks of her new cousin quite yet, but Art and I sure do like having a new baby niece to hold. Congratulations to John & Noel! It's been an eventful last couple of months & I'm sure that the next few will be just as adventuresome!

Art & Izzy playing with the dog next door.

Izzy & her buddy Eden at our trip to the farm.

And She's Off

It's official, Izzy can walk. After we got home from play group today she hasn't stopped walking. A few days ago the farthest she would go was about 10 steps, at the most. But today...she's walking all over the house without falling or taking a break. She's so funny because she is carrying around things too. Hopefully she'll decide to show off her skills for her birthday party on Sunday! Here is a video of her walking, this is nothing distance wise compared to how far she's been going throughout the day.

Learning Everyday

It's very hard to believe that Izzy's 1st birthday is just around the corner. It seems like we just brought her home from the hospital. She took her first steps a little over a month ago, but since then has seemed to have lost interest in walking. She'll still stand up occasionally, but she won't move those little feet. She seems to be much more interested in "talking" instead. Art and I have taken advantage of this by teaching her to use baby sign language. She most definitely knows the sign for "milk." She's also very good at doing "eat" and she's getting better at "more." This morning she was eating cheese for a snack and I showed her the sign for "cheese" again. And well, have a look at the results...

(Oh and she's got this new little face that she does where she makes her mouth into an O. This is the first time we've actually caught it on video.)

Bazinga

It warmed up really nicely here for a few days and we had lots of fun playing with Izzy in the back yard and at the numerous parks around our neighborhood. Lo and behold, it was 70 degrees two days ago and now we have almost a foot of snow on the ground.
After I've been going to a play group with Izzy once a week, I decided that Izzy has hardly any toys compared to other kids. Although she'd play with a paper plate or a deck of cards all day and be just fine! One of the toys that she loved over at a play group member's house was a little piano. Seeing as how it's promoting music, we had to get it for her. It's an early birthday present.
Our little one isn't so little anymore when it comes to eating. She won't eat baby food anymore. She pretty much has to have what mama and dada are eating. This particular morning I happened to feel ambitious and made pancakes. She liked the bigger pieces better.
And last, but not least, Izzy's fancy hair do. She has lots of hair now and it's very blond like mine was when I was a baby (Art too). I don't know what happened at lunch that day, but she rubbed her gross hands in her hair and her hair felt like it had gel in it. So naturally, I had to make her a little mohawk. It's slightly hard to see, but it's definitely there. Izzy looks like such a big girl in all these pictures, our little one is growing so fast!

New Tricks

Our little Izzy turned 10 months old the day before Valentine's Day and a few days later...she took her first step. She has now perfected going from a squatting position to standing. She started doing that on Monday. Then on Tuesday she took a step. She's so proud of herself after she stands up that she claps for herself most of the time. She hasn't taken more than one step, but you can tell she's thinking about trying it. It just amazes me how fast she picks things up. One day she couldn't stand up and all and the next day she could. Several times today Art and I just sat there and watched her try all her new skills. This evening when we were watching some tv, she even stood up on our bed and jumped. It would be hard for me to stand up on a squishy bed and she did it over and over with no problem. Here is a video of her standing up on the bed. She got pretty close to the edge at one point (as you'll see, I almost drop the camera to catch her)!

Valentine's Day

In Loveland there are lots of traditions around Valentine's Day and one of them is all the hearts that get put up around town. This year I was lucky enough to have my sweetheart get a heart for me. Thanks babe, I love you too!