Christmas Pics

Christmas Eve, we all went to Christmas in the Park. It was super cold but the kids had a lot of fun looking at all the lights and the fake snow. Izzy had her first bag of chocolate chip cookies and loved them! It was so cold that I gave in!

Our Christmas tree looks huge when Izzy stands next to it. The flash on my camera makes the tree look less green than it really is. It lasted for a month and the needles started to fall out. We took it out today, good bye tree!

Christmas Day! Presents! Izzy's first Christmas where she's old enough to open gifts and share the moment with her cousins. She was actually more interested in the paper and tags. She got a lot of great toys! I'm going to have to start packing some away....

Girl Please!

People have been asking me recently if I care for this baby to be or a girl. Of course the normal answer is as long as the baby is healthy we don't care about the sex. That is always the truth except that the more I think about it, the more I want this baby to be a girl. But if in the end, fate plays a joke on me and I do have a boy, trust me, I will do whatever it takes in my power to not let him grow up useless! He will have to be just as responsible as his sister and pull his weight! My little brother is a senior in high school and still can't do his own laundry! My sister and I have been doing our own laundry and taking care of ourselves ever since we could remember. I can't honestly remember the last time my mom even touched my laundry!

The other day I was trying to rest and as I was lying in bed, I tried to remember to a time when Ben and I had no major responsibilies. I tried to think back to when we were back in college and had our own apartment, no pets and no chilren. Just the two of us. No worries, nothing. They were such blissful times! We would walk around Shadyside and get coffee at Starbucks and watch the snow fall. There were so many cozy moments. Did I ever wonder what married/family life would be like? I don't think so... I was never the girl that dreamt of having kids and a family. Not that I didn't want it but I didn't think I ever thought that far ahead. Fast forward to present day and things are so much more complicated. I love Isabel and Ozzie but I don't love the drama. I want things to be simple. It sounded so simple when my doctor told me to take 2 weeks off for rest. It has not been restful at all. I don't think she remembered that the holidays were around the corner and on top of that, add a toddler and family members, it would just be wishful thinking.

The More the Merrier

We are happy to announce that we are expecting another little one! We found out several weeks ago back in October but waited till I was at least 12 weeks along and also when we told our families the news. The new addition to our family has a due date of July 4th but since I am choosing for an elective C-Section, he or she will be here on June 27th, 2009. People that know have asked if we were planning to do this since Isabel and this new baby will be 22 months apart. We didn't do either. We just went with the flow. After all that I have gone through at work, I am glad that there is happiness in this occasion.

The progress is this: I am totally sick. I can't hold anything down and I've lost at least 5lbs. My obgyn has put me on two weeks of medical leave through the New Year so I can get some rest. I'm SO tired! Sometimes I quietly freak out about how I'm going to get through this since I already have a toddler. OH and I don't care that other people have a million kids already and they did it. I AM tired and that's all that I'm worried about. Other people in my opinion are just insane if they think it's easy.

So the news is public!

Merry Christmas!

Holiday Cookie Exchange

My parents group met at our house on Saurday to have our first holiday cookie exchange and potluck. The turn out was amazing! All the families that joined us were wonderful and the kids all got along great. I think Izzy had so much she was wiped out by 1:00pm and took a super long nap.

Here is Miss Popular posing for daddy's camera.

She's playing with Ryan and the left and Rylan on her right. There was a reason why we had her play room set up the way we did. It was the perfect place to host playtime. All the kids loved her toys and it really kept them busy for several hours. We had plenty of toys to go around. It was a great turn out and we all made some new friends that we hope to see more of in the future.

Life in Prison

My sentence was delivered at 10am in the morning today. The last few weeks, like every company out there, OSH has been going through lay offs. This week, lay offs hit very close to home. My division announced their final re-organizational structure and some people had to be let go which was very suprising. Just in the last week, our senior vice president stood up in front of us and said that we would be fine and there would be no one leaving. I mean, today, I saw evil corporate leadership at work. Where did business ethics go? Anyhow, I had gone to work this morning ready to face my fate in being laid off. I was actually very happy. I would take it as a sign to be home and spend more time with Isabel. I didn't think it was the end of the world. At 10am my senior vp called me and he and my boss told me that they were promoting me! You would think I would be happy right? Except that I got a pathetic raise and more work, I would still be working for my boss, the most horrible person I have ever met. Honestly, if Hitler didn't have that gay thing going on, she would be his match. If she were not racist then she would be equally matched with Kim Jong-il. This is a woman who has serious mental and emotional issues. You know those Law and Order Special Victims episodes that you watch with and wonder where all these emotional issues come from in those psychopaths and rapists??? Yea, well they stem from middle class Caucasian America. I literally wanted to die in my chair as they were telling me this. I would have a lead buyer role but it felt like as if someone stabbed you but you didn't die, instead you were paralyzed. All the times I've gone to HR and senior leadership in the past two years have utterly failed. To have my boss watch me squirm as she sits on her high horse makes me sick to my stomach. I don't think I have ever felt so low. This economy seriously needs to get better soon, I need out!

Izzy and Her Play Group

Izzy had her first play date with her meet up group last week. She and the other little ones were so cute. It was a wonderful turn out and we met some really nice people. Auntie Cindy came to help out and also to play. We ended staying at the mall even after play time was over to do a little shopping.

At this age, the little ones don't know how to interact with each other. Most of the interaction consists of staring at each other and just observing.

Izzy has started brushing her teeth a few weeks ago. She is totally good at it and knows that there's a routine every night before we go to bed. She actually has two tooth brushes. One manual one for her to brush and an electric one that I use while she's distracted. There's also the "Brush Your Teeth" song that we sing. It's hilarious!

Happy Halloween!

We couldn't decide what to dress her up as this year and luckily I was in Crazy 8 one day and saw this one piece costume. It was simple and totally her. She's a lizard, dinosaur, swamp monster thing.

Izzy ended up wearing this to school and then to Valley Fair where we tried to go trick or treating but there were so many kids there. It was overrun with kids in costume. I don't know if we're going to go again next year, it was insane!

All she wanted was a balloon and I think she ended up with 3 pieces of candy and some stickers. She was more interested in watching the other kids.

Her school had a parade at 10am that morning and all the kids were dressed up in costume. It was the cutest thing! She's definetely my little monster!

Updates

Time is flying by so quickly. We can't believe that it's the end of October already. We tried taking her to have her pictures taken on Saturday but Izzy ended up just being crabby so we only had about 3 good studio shots. It's so different now from when she took her 6 month pictures. She's so much more aware. About 3 weeks ago we bought her a Step 2 Kangaroo playhouse. At first she couldn't figure out how to climb it so we were okay leavng the second story up but just this past week she learned how to climb up the slide and get onto the second story. Of course when she got there, she couldn't figure how to get back done and would try to just "walk" off. That triggered us taking the slide and the 2nd story off till she gets a little older.

Step 2 makes such cute products that we ended up getting a playhouse for my parents house in Morgan Hill. Well actually it was a gift from my parents that we picked up. It's so cute I have to get a picture! It has a working doorbell, a kitchen, and a phone.

Izzy has 7 teeth now and is eating a ton of solid food. Her favorites are pastas, bread, and cookies. She actually would eat anything we eat which makes going out to eat much easier. We are weaning her off the bottle so now she has her sippy cups during meals and then only bottles in the evening. We end up usually with 2 total which I think is major progress. I'm not totally strict about the bottle and I know that eventually she will just drop it completely so it's not much of a concern with us. She's already pretty good with normal cups too but I think the bottle just helps her out in the evenings before bed time. My little girl is getting bigger by the day!

Pumpkin Patch

This time last year, Izzy was just a few weeks old when we went to the local pumpkin patch. This year, she's totally walking around and has grown up so much. The sad thing is that afterwards, she got totally sick.

She was totally unsure of herself at first. She's not a big fan of grass...

Izzy finally gets into the groove and started to arrange the baby pumpkins. We wanted to buy the ones she picked out but there were way too many. We ended up with 4 baby pumpkins.

Playdate!

Last Sunday we had the Hernandez family over for a playdate. We don't know anyone else with kids so this playdate was really important to Izzy. After a few minutes of shyness, Izzy and Lexy were totally into playing with each other. It was so cute! The last time they were together at Catherine's house, Izzy had just started walking and couldn't really do anything that the big kids were doing. Now, she's all over the place!

The Raider game was on which was more to keep us all entertained.

The two of them speak gibberish and I don't know if they really know what they're saying to each other but it's totally cute watching them. Oh I wish everyone lived closer!

Auntie Cindy

So today was really Cindy's last day with our family. She officially moved to her new apartment in the city and will not be staying with us any more. For those of you that have followed Isabel's Nanny Diaries, Auntie Cindy has been an incredibly important player in this past year. Back in January when I went back to work, Cindy quit her job, moved in with us while she was figuring out her next step and became Izzy's full time nanny. I want to say that since we were 4 years apart growing up, the last few years have brought us closer. In the past year, we have become extremely close. It is amazing to have a sister who is completely independent and head strong but will drop what she's doing at a moment's notice to be by your side. Throughout my pregnancy and even at the hospital, I swear, the 2nd person to Ben was her.

I am SO grateful for everything Cindy has done for our family this past year and her never ending love for her niece. I am very lucky to have someone like her in my life to rely on. Actually I am truly lucky: I have an incredible family around me and would do anything for me. I am very happy for Cindy as she moves on and lives a fabulous life (on a budget of course) in the city but deep down I'm really sad
and hope one day soon we can go on another journey together. We love you Auntie Cindy!

Happy Birthday Baby!

It was Isabel's first birthday today. I can't believe it's been one year already! Time flies! Anyhow, here are some pictures from her birthday dinner. We kept it really low key, just family. We went to Buca Di Beppo since we knew it would be loud and there would be lots of pasta for her to eat. She LOVES pasta

About that shiner on under her right eye... She was throwing down in daycare! Just kidding! No one noticed the bruise until it showed up. Izzy doesn't cry when she gets hurt so it's hard to say where she got it exactly but my suspicion is that it came from one of her remote controls. She loves to wave it around and bang on things with them. She's hit herself in the face while throwing them around. Poor baby!

She's on the phone with Uncle Anthony: "Yea it's my birthday, whattup?"

The royal family with the birthday girl digging into her own little cake.

Our magical nanny Aunt Cindy, who can cast spells and make spoons float. Oh, that's just Izzy throwing her spoon around again.

Hot Summer Days

This is the last posting before Isabel turns 1. I can't believe that time has gone by so quickly. When other moms told me how quickly time flies, I didn't think it would be this fast. One year ago she was born, 9 months of being pregnant, and then of course the time it took for her to be conceived. I can't believe that it was all at least 21 months...more than 2 years. In about 25 hours she will be officially one! There is nothing more joyful than seeing my two little ones side by side!

Wacky Hair Day

The ridiculous baby photos have started! I am determined to have some fabulous pictures for Isabel's senior year yearbook. Last Thursday was wacky hair day at school and here she is with the wackiest hair do that Aunt Cindy could possibly do. We tried to hold it down with product but her hair was so fine that by the time she got to school it had deflated. The hair lasted through breakfast and most of the car ride though.

So Izzy is incredibly mobile. She is super fast and can pretty much run if she really wanted to. I can't believe that she started to walk before she turned one. It's amazing where she has come from. She started off as a zygote.... and look at her now. My little girl!

Funny Expressions

I'm not one of those crazy moms that posts up the same pictures of every little action from the same scene (thanks Kate for pointing that out to me) but in this group of pictures I thought it was hilarious! Izzy was wearing her white robe from the Gap and I put her in her high chair for breakfast. At the same time, I grabbed a white bib too. The combination ended up looking so funny that I had to take a picture. I noticed later that she had a different expression in each one with the final one being a super awesome smile. I had to! She's totally cute!

Sleep Patterns

We noticed awhile ago that Izzy moves quite a bit when she's asleep at night. Before when we used to rock her to sleep, she would always start in the same position. Now that she's older and can go to sleep on her own, we wonder at what position does she end up falling asleep in. It's hilarious! We check on her before we go to bed and she's always has her little booty in the air. It's so adorable! We thought we would be rocking her to sleep forever but as it turns out, Izzy can fall asleep on her own listening to her bedtime music. I can't believe she's almost 1!