Eleven Months

This is unreal.  In less than a month I'll have a one year old.  Most days, I can't even believe I get to be the mom of this adorable little girl, let alone a ONE year old.  I think I'm in denial.  Isla, you are my little valentine today (sorry, posting this a day late..).

11 Months you were 18 pounds 6 ounces fully clothed and inches long

No doctor appointment this month, which means the above measurements are complete estimates.  Some days I feel like she has grown so much and yet she is still tiny compared to most kids her age.  

Not much has changed this past month regarding Isla's schedule.  I'm breastfeeding her 3 times a day and trying to get her to drink formula in between.  Some days she doesn't mind it, but other days she refuses to drink anything besides water and milk from me.  We've tried different formulas and changing to an assortment of bottles/sippy cups, but still haven't found a winner.  I'm trying to not introduce a new bottle, since she is so close to 12 months and most doctors want to start weening off the bottle at one.  So now I worry that she's not getting enough milk most of the time and that she isn't getting enough nutrients.  Ugh, it's so hard.  I really don't produce that much any more, so feeding her from me all the time isn't really an option either.  She does eat solids really well and I try to make sure she is getting a variety of healthy foods.  Most mornings she still gets oatmeal, but she also loves pancakes/waffles/french toast and yogurt for breakfast.  I made her a few homemade kale, strawberry and banana packs that she loved.

This girl still loves to eat.  Her favorites this month are muffins, especially bran muffins.  She really loves texture vs most pureed food anymore.  She eats anything that we are eating, including an afternoon eating some pizza from a local brewer.  She was obsessed and actually got mad when we stopped feeding her.  Her favorite things are those she can bite and pick up with her little fingers.  If she hasn't felt a certain texture before, she likes to squish it before trying to put it in her mouth.  She is getting pretty good at feeding herself.  In the last week, she really enjoys holding the spoon, but mostly plays with it.  We got her a new highchair, so now she can actually use our kitchen island as her tray.  She also loves to watch your reactions to banging her hands or sippy cup on the counter.  She knows she's not really supposed to be doing it, but checks to see what our reaction would be.

Sleep on the other hand has been terrible this month.  I swear, we've only had one or two good nights.  We have definitely had some rough ones.  I think that she's now waking up every time she ends a sleep cycle, which means 10:30 and then between 1-2 AM.  Then, she has decided now that she is going to wake up at 5 AM.  I am SO tired some days.  I'm not sure what to do now that she can stand up.  She literally wakes up and immediately stands up in her crib and cries.  I think our goal this month is to stop picking her up and figure out how to keep her in her crib all night.

For some reason, she also wants to be a little beaver and gnaw on the table.  She's done it a few times, and I've had to tell her no.  She didn't get any new teeth this past month, but I feel like they are on their way.  I'm kind of surprised that it is taking so long for the next ones to come in.  She also has started to bite a few times.  From what I can tell, she mostly does it when her teeth hurt her.  I have to sternly tell her no, which she gets her upset.

Isla is still in her 9-12 month clothing.  I got a few new 12 month pieces, and they are huge on her.  Her cloth diapers haven't changed, but her disposables have gone up a size to the 3s.  She actually has been wetting her diaper at night, so we do try and change her once when she gets up.

It's crazy how fast this last month flew by.  I swore Isla would be walking, but she is still too scared.  She really does have the capability to walk on her own.  She has great balance and in the last week has been standing for quite a while with out realizing she's balancing.  She knows to walk with our fingers and actually will come and grab your pointer fingers to walk.  If you are hiding a hand, she will search for it if she wants to walk.  She also has stopped a few times and not wanted us to hold her hands.  Not sure why she was doing this exactly.  She is also climbing up on everything she can.  Her favorite evening activity before bed is climbing all over me and D on the couch.  She is like a ping-pong ball, bouncing from one person to the other.

Other new things she has discovered this month are waving and saying 'hi'.  It's not really the word hi, but she does make a higher noise every time she waves, and I tell her to say hi.  It's adorable. She looks at her hand as she waves it and wrinkles up her nose.  She also has perfected her high five.  She will slap your hand multiple times on her own now.  We've gotten her to clap a few times, but haven't worked on that quite as much.  The 17th of January was the first day she really started saying Mama and directing it towards me.  Mostly she is still just jabbering it all the time.  Isla also has gone back to adding Dadda in her vocabulary.  She is really good at knowing what things are.  We work on momma, dadda, dog and cat as well as noise associations with those two.

She has been so much fun this past month.  She adores being outside and even has gotten her hands dirty in the leaves a few times.  Isla gets ridiculously excited when we tell the puppies we are going on a walk.  It's the best thing ever.  Steel is so good with her.  She adores laying on his butt and feeling his fur.  He doesn't even care if she crawls all over him.  I still have to watch her, in case he gets up.  I don't want him to send her flying!

Sweet baby, I can't believe how beautiful you have become, inside and out.

Ten Months

TEN months, eek!  Isla my dear, you are the sweetest little girl.  You give the most passionate hugs and kisses that I can't get enough of.  This first year is flying by, and I'm holding on as much as I can.  In the last week, you look so much older.  My little baby resembles more of a toddler than a baby.  If only I could bottle up each stage with you, because they are going too fast.

10 months you were 17 pounds 6 ounces and 27.5 inches long! 

No doctor visits until one year, so we estimated the above measurements.  Isla figured out the scale in our bathroom and will walk up to it and try and sit down.  She first bonks her head on the wall, because she is staring straight down.  It's terribly cute.

There are so many times that I feel like I'm just making up her schedule and the things I'm doing.  Is she getting enough?  Am I nursing enough?  If I change something will it affect her sleep schedule??  I have a few resources I'm using as a guide, but I try to read Isla's cues.  She hasn't been super interested in nursing during the day.  So about a week ago, I thought it would be a good idea to pump and just let her drink milk from the bottle/sippy cup during her snack times.  I wanted to encourage her to drink milk from a sippy cup and to have her eat more finger foods during snack time.  Well, as of a few days ago, she is now refusing the bottle and really doesn't seem interested in drinking milk from anything. My stubborn little girl.  I want to make sure she is drinking enough during the day.  She loves water, but I know she also needs the nutrients from my milk, so I'm thinking of changing it back to nursing 3 times a day, which is still down from the 4 we were doing.  If it works out, she'll nurse at 7 AM, 10:30 AM and 7 PM.  She eats breakfast at 8 AM, snack (after nursing) at 10:30 AM, lunch at 12 PM, snack at 2:30 PM and then dinner at 4:30 PM.  She is still growing and isn't starving, so I guess we are still doing okay.  

The biggest achievement with her eating has been her ability to pick up a small piece of food with her fingers and put it in her mouth.  I am pretty sure I think everything she does is cute, but this really is!!  Seeing her little fingers move it around until it's in the right spot and then shoveling all her fingers in her mouth, if need be, to get it in there.  It makes me smile.  She typically gets oatmeal with a fruit for her breakfast.  Occasionally I'll give her some pancakes, but oatmeal keeps her iron up and she loves it.  For snacks, she can't get enough of anything in bread form.  I don't like to feed her a ton, but she has had banana bread and corn bread.  Isla is all about anything I can feed her with my fingers.  Lately she's had a grilled cheese sandwich - the girl loves cheese.  She also will eat a ton of meat, which really surprised me.  I've made an egg scramble for her a few times (eggs, sausage, cheese) that she gobbles up.  Her chompers are getting really good at chewing up bigger pieces.  The only thing she isn't crazy about is a pea/carrot mix and avocado.  Her favorite sippy cup is actually a Camelbak water bottle.  She loved mine, so I decided to get her a kids one for Christmas as well.    

She got her two top teeth in this month, and I'm so exhausted!  When she was getting her first right top tooth in, she also had a super runny nose and congestion.  She wasn't sleeping well and there were even two nights that I held her sleeping so it wouldn't all build up in her chest.  I'm still not sure if it was caused by her teeth coming in or if it was really a cold.  The first top tooth cut through on December 30th.  The left tooth came in on the 8th of January.  She still seems to be chewing on everything.  This might just be her adjusting to the new teeth or her getting more teeth.  It starts to feel like a constant battle, poor baby.  She doesn't like chewing on a ton of teething toys, but lately it's been the plastic rings or a new teething tooth brush I got her.  Wouldn't it be nice if all the teeth came in at once? 

I feel like this month was all over the board for her sleeping.  She'll go from multiple nights of sleeping the full 12 hours, to waking up mid-night and being up for 2-3 hours.  Ugh.  Most of the terrible, long nights are related to the teething and congestion she had.  The long nights are even worse, since we know she can sleep all night.  In the last 2 weeks, D has been the one to go in there.  It really has helped keep her sleeping.  If she sees me, she typically wants to stay up longer.  I don't mind staying in the warm bed!!  Her nap schedule changed slightly.  If she sleeps until 7 AM, then she goes down for her first nap at 9 AM.  Then she will be awake until 1 PM for her second nap.  I still typically get one good nap out of her.  Since we ordered most of our holiday gifts online, I dealt with packages arriving/dogs barking and waking her up a few times.  We still keep the white noise on for both bedtime and for her naps, but it won't muffle our crazy pups.  

 Isla is officially out of most of her 6 month clothes.  Most of her onesies are still 9 month, but her leggings/pants are 9-12 month.  No changes on her diaper size this month.  Still wearing cloth diapers about 75% of the time.  Since it's freezing on our cement floor, Isla has to wear socks or shoes walking around the house.  My mom made her some great cloth shoes that we can easily put on.   They allow her to run around because they don't slip all over the place like the socks do.  

This girl is SO ready to walk. She really has good balance, but is too scared to walk with out having both hands being held.  She'll climb and crawl all over me, picking herself up and going all over the place, but not crawling on the ground.  I really would be surprised if she is not walking on her own after this next month.  Our day basically involves walking around the house with her.  Yes, this is exhausting, and my back hurts!  lol.  She loves to stand on the outside of her jumper and play with the toys.  As of 2 weeks ago though, she refuses to go in her jumper.  Instead she resorts to the lovely flailing of the body that they somehow learn to do.  She will stand at the coffee table and play with D's keyboard (luckily it has an 'off' setting).  We also have a box that is an L shape that she loves to stand by.  Since finding out that it's the perfect height, we have her toys on top and have paired it with the couch/foam flooring underneath.  She still adores climbing all over Steel and running around the house with the dogs.  We got her a walker for Christmas, but she still isn't 100% confident walking with it.  This week has been the first time she is really gotten close to crawling.  She is up on her knees a lot, but typically gets too frustrated before figuring it out.  I see her mobility changing a lot this next month.  

Isla had a great Christmas.  She really enjoyed tearing the wrapping paper and waving the tissue paper all over the place.  She got spoiled with the walker, Christmas pjs, Elmer swim school classes for the spring, The Night Before Christmas book and a dolly in her stocking.  Then she got even more from my family and D's.  We had a great time with her and even went to see the Trail of Lights one night.  She made it through about half of the trail before wanting to really be asleep.  Holidays with her are the very best.  

A few fun things she has learned this month include learning to high-five.  She doesn't slap hard, but will put her hand up to yours if you say 'high-five'.  We are working on clapping and waving hi and bye.  She likes to yell really loud and then look at you for a response.  She typically does this in the mornings.  Isla also will place her hand on her mouth, with her index finger inside by her cheek, and open and close her hand.  It makes the same sound as running your finger over your lips and it's really cute.  Every once in a while she gets excited and waves her hands up and down hitting her belly.  Isla is using her voice a lot more, so most actions involve some kind of noise.  

We've been trying to get out of the house, but it's been so cold here.  She is still going to swim class, but I'd also like her to have more play dates.  She really does enjoy being around older kids.  We were at a friend's home and she was really enjoying playing with their one year old.  Isla just needs to be walking and they would be all over the place.  Isla gave her a big open mouth kiss before she left.  A few of her favorite toys this month are her little Einstein radio, plastic rings, the Toot Book, and The Little Owl's Night book.  We are also still trying to get her to really say mama and dada.  She was definitely saying her 'd's more.  The last week or so, the m sound is getting a little better.  She recognizes who we are by the name, but doesn't say it to us specifically.  It's been such a fun month.  I can't wait to see how she changes and grows in month 10.  

Nine Months

Isla Katherine, you are officially nine months old!  You have been in our world for longer than I carried you and somehow you are just three short months from being a one year old.  I want to soak up every single minute with you!

9 months (+1 day) you were 17 pounds (19%) and 27 inches long (49%)! 

Nine months means that we head back to the doctors for a visit.  The visit was pretty easy this time around.  The only shot she got was a flu vaccine booster and then tested for lead/iron.  She passed on both fronts, which I was happy about.  The doctor thought that her top teeth would come in within the next month.  She said that she wouldn't be surprised if she was walking fairly soon as well.  Overall it was a good visit.

Sometimes I don't notice how much she has grown, since I get to see her most of the day.  I was shocked to put on a onesie, that used to be huge and was now almost too small.  That's when I decided I needed to go through her clothes and remove all the 3 month and even some 6 months clothes.  Baby girl is getting growing away!   She is wearing mostly 6 to 9 month onesies with 9 month pants.  I've even gotten her in a few 12 month pants, but we have to roll up the bottoms, since they are still a little long.  D and I have noticed that she's lost some of her baby fat she had around her face and thighs.  We are still doing naked time with her at night and her little bum and belly are just the cutest.  I might be a little bias, but she is almost too adorable to handle.  We officially moved her diapers to the next size, which basically means that we snapped them up to the 2nd snap to allow for the diaper to extend around her hips.  There were a few weeks where this was a little awkward, but now they are fitting her nicely.  She still is wearing some normal diapers and the disposable inserts a few times a day.  They are nice since they allow her more movement, but I still prefer the cloth diapers hands down.  We've tried to put Isla in shoes this month, because this girl LOVES to walk EVERYWHERE.  I estimate that she is about a 2-2.5, but she still doesn't like to have them on.  She curls up her toes and makes it really difficult to get on.  Mostly you'll find her running around in socks.

The schedule for Isla eating didn't really change this month, but her quantity increased.  She is nursing still 4 times a day and then eating solids 3 times a day.  The amount of solids is about 4 ounces for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Breakfast typically is Stonyfield plain yogurt with fruit that I've cut up or pureed.  I was getting the flavored ones, but they add organic sugar into the yogurt and I think that's unnecessary.  Her favorite yogurt combos are blueberries and banana or strawberries and banana in the plain yogurt.  I also started giving her a small amount of oatmeal mixed with either of those combos instead of yogurt which she likes as well.  I feel that the yogurt gets the bowels moving, so to me that's a great start to the day (avoiding constipation!).  Lunch and dinner for her always involves a veggie and a fruit.  I've tried to add meat in the mix, but she's not super excited about it.  We've had some fun combos that she likes, especially kale and bananas.  Her favorite veggie is still peas.  She is happy with any fruit, but doesn't love anything super tart.  She was crazy for pumpkin pie and actually really enjoyed turkey, potatoes and gravy left overs from Thanksgiving.  She gobbled those up!  The schedule that I use does suggest a slightly modified variation for her eating schedule as of 8 months old, but I don't think Isla is ready to give up one feeding with me (which is the main difference).  I'm curious to see what the doctor says about our schedule, but it's working for us right now.  She is getting better at chewing, but still can't handle hard, chewy pieces.  She tries to swallow with out enough chewing and then chokes on it.  She is fine with the chunky pieces, but nothing hard.  So we will see what this next month leads to.  I try and adjust her schedule when I'm noticing changes in her patterns, thus leading the changes.

The hardest thing for me this past month was, of course, leaving her for 5 days.  I think it was good for both of us, but I sure missed that face.  I was still pumping while I was gone, but dumping it out (which is the saddest thing ever!).  I also went through my entire reserved milk while I was gone, so the last day she had formula.  Moving forward, this means that while I'm away at work or for whatever reason, she will get formula.   I will pump if I'm at an event and need to, but I'm no longer pumping extra to add supply.  I probably should, but it feels unnatural to me and I don't enjoy it.  I know she is still getting great nutrients form the formula and she's had only my milk for almost 8 months.  It shouldn't feel like a failing moment on my end, but at times I still feel that way and I'm not sure why.

I would like to say that her sleep this month has been better, but that's not the case.  She was doing pretty good before I left for 5 days, but now she is back to wanting me more throughout the night.  I don't let her cry it out, but I do let her fuss a little before going in.  The main element that I'm trying to get back in her routine is to have her comfortable with out me having to pick her up.  Now that she can move more, especially on her tummy, she lifts up her arm and showing me that she wants me to pick her up.  How do you say no to that?  So I may love her a little too much, but I'm okay with that.  She really doesn't want her daddy through the night, unless I'm not here.  That means that I get to get up every time this munchkin decides she wants to be awake.  Lately she is either sleeping through the whole night (not as often as I'd like) or she is up multiple times.  I think the most frustrating one is between 9-11 PM.  I know this one is just a comfort thing, so I should just let her be.  She is getting through a sleep cycle and just wants me when she wakes.  She typically falls asleep almost immediately if I do pick her up.  So we are still working on this sleep thing, but overall she isn't the worst sleeper.

A little blurry, but this is how excited she gets for Usher's ABC song

This month we haven't had any new teeth come in, but that doesn't mean she hasn't been chewing on everything!  Those two bottom teeth that she has are so super sharp!  I don't tend to stick my finger in there to feel around anymore!  My favorite variation of her smile is when she crinkles up her nose and sticks out her bottom jaw showing her teeth.  When I got back from my trip she was doing two new things.  She was babbling like crazy.  No real words yet, but she does love bababaaaba and occasionally I've heard a maaaa in there, but typically that's only when she is upset.  I'm still waiting for the full on mama.  I'm guessing she'll say dada first.  I love watching her little mouth move when she is making sounds/words.  Her lips are so cute as they curve and change for each of the new sounds.  She has started to yell more, because she figured out that she can.  The two main things we are working on currently with her are waving and clapping.  Neither have stuck yet, but we will keep at it.

The second thing that she was doing when I got back was scooting herself backwards.  She still has yet to crawl, but she will push herself back and rotate herself in a circle.  She doesn't roll a ton, but is starting to realize that she can walk up on things and pull herself up.  It's funny, she is perfectly content sitting and observing.  Maybe it's because the dogs run around enough for her.  In most situations she is more of an observer.  She likes to watch everything before she really gets involved.

Bath time is still one of Isla's favorite times.  She is officially bathing on her own.  She sits in our claw foot tub on the mat and I pour water on her (to keep her warm) while D washes her.  Isla has quite a few bath toys, so she is usually occupied by either a foam letter/number or the floating turtle that shows us the water temperature.

My little monster is really walking up a storm.  I swear she would walk around all day long if you let her.  She stands on her flat feet (not her tippy toes) and flies around the rooms.  She chases the puppies and we really let her lead when she is walking.  We try and hold her arms down so she gets a better idea of how it feels to walk on her own. There are times that she is walking so fast that her legs can't keep up.  I call her a little penguin when she does that.  Most days she is following a pup or wanting to look outside.  I wouldn't be surprise if she is walking in the next few months.  Once she figures out her balance, we are SO in trouble.  She still likes reading books, which is what we do right before she takes a nap.  We usually get through two or three before she is over it.  When she is playing with toys, her favorite has been the stackable rings.  She figured out that she can hold one in each hand and she was obsessed with doing that for about two weeks.  She would just hold them and rotate her hands back and forth.  We got to hand out with some friends and Isla was trying to keep up with her friend Jordan, who is almost two.  It was really cute how she would just look up at her and follow her all over the place.

We are still in swim class until the end of January.  In the past few weeks, she's gotten really good at kicking in the water.  She will use both legs and kick at the same time.  Sometimes she will even make excited noises as she is kicking about.  We also love going to BookPeople's book reading they have on Wednesdays.  I enjoy having her around other kids, so we try to get out when we can.

Had to include her Christmas photo with Santa - Note her hand all tangled in his beard.... 

My darling daughter, I adore you.  I can hardly wait to experience the Christmas holiday with you!

Eight Months

Eek, EIGHT whole months.  This can't be true... Isla, bug, you are the absolute best part of my day, everyday.  This past month has been so much fun.  You have become such a ham and your strong little personality is really starting to shine through.

Eight months you were approximately 16 pounds 2 ounces (which dad estimated with clothes on) and 25.5 inches long! 

Note the photos are super dark this month... this daylight savings is for the birds

I did my best to estimate all of her measurements this month.  Luckily we didn't have a doctors appointment this time, so we will have to wait until next month for a fully accurate measurement of her growth.  We haven't changed Isla's diaper size, so she is still in the smallest section on the cloth diapers.  I've loosened the diaper to the next (larger) size a few times, but still think the smallest fits her best right now.  The last month, we've started having her play time be in disposable inserts, which just makes the diaper a little less bulky and we think easier for her to move.  It's gotten much colder here the last few weeks, so we are really starting to layer her up.  She fits into 9 month bottoms, mostly because of the diapers.  They are a little long, but with socks, it keeps her feet warm.  Tops, she really varies based on brand.  She is in some 9 month shirts, but most are still 3 or 6 month.  She is pretty good about laying on the changing table while I'm changing her diaper or clothes.  She doesn't mind her diaper changed and recently just realized that she loves her feet.  She usually will grab them and put them in her mouth as I am changing her.  The only thing that she just hates is having her arms pulled through her shirts.  I can't figure out why, but she always gets fussy until after her arms are in.   Can we talk for a moment about how cute little girls clothes are?  OMG, so dangerous.  I want to get so many.  I can't even handle some of the adorable holiday items.  I need to figure out what she is going to wear for the holidays and get some cute PJs for Christmas!  I am hoping to start some new fun traditions.  What are your family traditions with a new little one?

This month Isla is really loving solids.  She definitely adores time with me and is still breastfeeding, but her digestive system is more in line this past month.  We have had a lot less issues with constipation.  She starts most mornings with yogurt, so I think the probiotics have been helping.  I need to start branching out and giving her more options and chunkier foods.  Right now her favorites are bananas, apples and sweet peas.  I've started mixing kale and bananas, which she enjoys too.  A funny thing that she started doing in the last week is recognizing my chest for food.  She will be sitting on my lap and just put her head down in my chest.  It cracks me up.  She still feeds 4 times a day and then eats solids 3 times a day.  Every once in a while she wakes up at night and will eat as well.  The sweetest thing that she does when she is nursing is play with my hair.  She's also started playing with her own hair.  I just love watching her hands when she is nursing.  The are the sweetest things.  She likes to move her hands on my arm and on my face.  

We starting doing a little more sleep training this month.  We attempted to do a few tests with letting her cry for a bit, but that was terrible.  She is so stubborn and she wouldn't settle down.  I couldn't take it and honestly, didn't want her to have those negative feelings going to bed.  One day was enough.  However, I was not going to be fighting her/rocking her in my arms every time.  She was getting too heavy to keep doing that.  So, we starting doing another method that we both felt comfortable with.  Instead of holding her for the whole time, I would hum a song to her (30 seconds to 1 minute) and then put her down.  I would tell her it's time to take a nap and wrap her up in a blanket.  We now kneel by the crib and gently rock her to sleep.  Sometimes she just goes to sleep on her own with out rocking/comforting.  The biggest change regarding sleep this month was her making the switch to sleeping on her tummy.  On the night of October 21st/morning of October 22nd, she rolled from her back to her front in the middle of the night.  Needless to say Isla was pissed when she realized she was on her tummy.  A few nights later, October 23/24 was the first time she rolled over and then continued to sleep on her tummy.  Now, that's how she prefers to sleep.  We will wrap her in the blanket on her back and then roll her over on her tummy for bed.  She loves it and actually has slept from 7 PM - 6/7 AM for the last 3-4 nights.  It's lovely.  

This month Isla got TWO teeth in!  I was SO excited when I saw her first tooth coming in.  We were getting groceries on October 27th and she was sitting in the stroller, being her hammy self.  She opened her mouth wide, with her tongue pushed back, and I saw the white/clear part of her back gum.  I was surprised how far back teeth actually come in.  Sure enough, I felt her gums and the tooth was partially poking through!  It was Isla's bottom right tooth.  I had noticed her pulling on her ear some, drooling a bunch and the not sleeping was a huge sign days leading up to the tooth breaking through.  I couldn't believe it.  Isla then was chewing on everything in sight.  The poor baby, she got a slight fever, but not much.  We did give her some teething tablets and Tylenol a few nights to help with the pain.  I spotted her 2nd bottom tooth coming in on the 8th of November.  Both teeth are working their way up, but they are definitely present.  She now loves to rub her tongue on them.  She likes to eat cold foods and push it towards the tooth/front of her mouth.  It has to be the strangest thing to get teeth in.  They are sharp little things!  She is pretty good about not biting me, but there have been a few instances.  Mostly, it's when her teeth are hurting her, I think she hopes it will help.  I tried pulling her off and loudly saying ouch, but she gets super scared and cries quite a bit.  In talking with a friend, she said that you actually should push her in, so we are going to try that next time.  Luckily it really is a rarity.  

No words, as of yet, from her little mouth.  She makes noises like crazy, but no actual words, just lots of babbling and making noises.  She isn't crawling yet either, but she likes to walk all over the place with some assistance.  You pick her up and hold her hands and she will do the rest.  In the last week, she has started to sit more on her knees in the crawl position, but no movement.  I still see her developing on the April 1st date vs the 3 weeks early birth date.  Isla is pretty great at sitting on her own.  She still isn't a crazy, wiggly mover.  She would much rather sit and observer everything.  We also started having her nightly bath in our claw foot tub, which is exciting.  She loves it and I had to get her a few bath toys to play with as well.  I've been sitting in the tub with her most nights.  It's nice to have some play time on the busy days right before bed.  

Right now, Isla is loving her jumper.  She could stand in that thing and jump for hours.  She also really loves walking and following the puppies.  She giggles when Bella sniffs in her armpits, when I'm holding her hands as she walks around.  Steel is still the best thing ever to her.  She enjoys riding on his back and usually wants to put her face on his back and eat him.  Isla loves reading books and we have started going to book readings.  She is so funny and just stares at the person reading the book.  She is such an observer.  Other fun events we've gone to is a children's sing-a-long and swim class.  I love having her around other kids and she just soaks up everything going on.  The last week she has done so good swimming.  She really gets into kicking and gets her little booty moving up and down.  She has such good time in the water.  

Also, have to share Ilsa in her Halloween costume.  I wanted it to be a family costume, but didn't want to have to put a lot of effort into D and I's costumes.  I think it was the perfect outfit for her.  My little sunshine! 

Pumpkin, I can't believe that I won't get to hold you for 5 days straight.  I miss you just thinking about it.  You are such a momma's girl, but I know you will be completely spoiled by your daddy and grammy while I'm gone.  Love you more than you know. 

Mother-Daughter session with Michelle Boyd Photography

Michelle Boyd is beyond amazing.  When she asked me if I would do a mother-daughter shoot, I couldn't say yes fast enough.  I knew the images she captured of Isla and I would be beautiful, but these are breathtaking.  I can't thank her enough, these mean the world to me. 

Isla at 6 months old