Isabel's New Toy

I've been researching online about the best baby toys to buy for our little princess and found two really cool items. Both of them are from Tiny Love. For some reason, Tiny Love is hard to find and I couldn't find them at Babies R Us, Toys R Us, or Target. They had have sold out of them or something. The one pictured here is the Symphony in Motion Farm Animals mobile. The cool thing is that it has all the black and white swirlies that catch her attention. She LOVES this mobile. Plus for me and Ben, it has a 15 minute timer and it's battery operated, so no more winding up an old school mobile that lasts for only a minute. It plays Mozart, Bach, and Beethovan too. The other item I got her was a Clip and Go mobile which is battery operated and can go with her anywhere. We haven't really tested that out yet but for our Vegas roadtrip in two weeks we'll see how that goes! By the way, I have to say that even though I despise the brick and mortar Walmart stores, I am so happy with their online service. I paid only $1.50 in shipping and I received both items in 2 days. They have one of the fastest shipping services EVER! And their photo department's speed is insane! It costs just a teeny bit more for one hour service and it's totally worth it!

An update on the Bugaboo.... We tested it out today at the mall and it has awesome handling! It's super smooth and can really turn well. I purchased the Graco adapter, the cup holder, and a new Graco Safeseat for it so now she can just sit in her new carseat without getting out. It takes a little getting used to but I have no regrets! Also, we went to Fresh Choice for dinner and the Bugaboo's handle bar can be adjusted so Isabel can sit right next to me at the table with the wheels underneath so she's super close. I can't wait to test it out at the park!

You Know You're A Mother When....

YOU GIVE UP HANDBAG SHOPPING! Not. Well when you start choosing items like strollers over handbags! So in a freak shopping splurge after HOURS AND HOURS of research...this is what we brought home on Saturday (see below).

Yes, I was out of my mind. Before I had Isabel I was a sane human being only splurging on items with the letters L & V on them but after being a victim of stroller envy I had to find a cure. It was ridiculous to think that after all I've accomplished with having a baby that I would let myself feel so sad about a stroller (of all things). Actually it wasn't even this stroller! I had wanted a Peg Perego pretty badly but after a lot of research and store test drives I realized that the Peg Perego was ill constructed and just a ton of hype. I didn't even watch the Nanny Diaries so I had no clue that the brand was featured in that movie. I was really disappointed that the Peg Perego Plika was made so poorly. It was wobbly and unstable, really poor materials too. Oh well, it did look nice in pictures though.

Which brings me to the above... I had decided that to cure my "sickness" (and yes, after all this my wallet is very ill) I needed to head straight to the top, that way there would be no questioning anything in between. I took Ben and showed him the 3 models Bugaboo had and he actually chose the Cameleon anyway, well, I guess he only knows the best! The new Bee was ridiculous, the sales woman couldn't even work it and it looked sooo complicated for something that was intended to have the ease of an umbrella stroller. The Frog was great EXCEPT if you're short! The handle bars don't even adjust and for the amount of $$$ you're dishing out, isn't that expected to show up? I didn't realize how much I liked the stroller until I was playing with it. It's a really beautiful item. See, this is what I mean, this time last year I would NEVER had fallen in love with a stroller nevertheless chose it over a Marc Jacobs handbag. Oh Isabel, what did you do to me?

Isabel Having a Conversation with Mommy

This is a video of Isabel having a conversation with us after she has just finished eating. She's usually talkative after meals but in the last couple of days, she has gotten even more talkative and louder! It's so amazing to hear her babble and she knows who we are. She can see our reaction and respond to them. It's soooo incredible! I can't wait to hear her speak her first words! My brother Chris was over and of course Ozzie wanted to join in on the fun.

Just a note: Ignore the absolute ridiculousness of my babytalk and the quality of the video, it came off my camera. I refer to "cherries and strawberries" in this conversation and that refers to the cherries and strawberries on her outfit. No we're not THAT crazy....

A Family Outing

On Saturday we went to Vasona Park as a whole family. I love that park and ended buying an annual pass. It's so nice to get out and enjoy the nice weather. Ozzie had so much fun! I couldn't have taken him with Isabel by myself, it would have been too much!

Isabel is awake! She was asleep for most of the time.

Daddy and Ozzie walking on pier thingy. Ozzie wasn't scared of this one, he was scared of the bridge though.

Okay, we found out that Isabel can keep herself amused when dad's playing the Xbox, especially hockey. She's totally enjoying watching all the players (black dots to her) skate around the tv screen. Sometimes when we rock her to sleep, we play music videos and she likes Bjork and Daddy Yankee right now.

Isabel had her 2 month check up today at the pediatrician's. She received her first set of shots and that was a traumatizing experience! Well I was so sad when I saw her little body jolt when the nurse stuck the needle into her thigh. Poor little thing. The first two shocked her and she cried for like 10 seconds but she wasn't expecting the second 2 shots. She was NOT happy with those... She was sooo happy too before the shots and was babbling to the doctor. Poor thing! She has grown so much! She's now 11 lbs 14 oz. She's almost 12 lbs!

Vasona Park - Part 2

I took like a million pictures today so I have to break it out into parts! Here is Isabel actually awake on our walk after lunch. She spent it asleep for most of the time. The stroller bouncing around really puts her into a deep sleep.

Don't these trees look beautiful??!! What you don't see is that there are a million ugly fat spiders in them! Well I'm sure there's millions of them in the park. We saw this huge fat ugly spider (like the size of a large acorn) using its web and climbing down from leaf on a tree. Right in front of us... I like nature but not that much! Spiders should do their jobs way up high and not be seen. It was soooo disgusting that we avoided walking under trees the rest of the day. Too bad we camped out UNDER a tree during lunch (that would be Jess's idea)!

We found a playground for Lexy to play in.

The ducks and geese in the park are so used to people that they just walk around with no problem whatsoever. It was so nice to see all the wildlife around. Soon they will be gone for the winter so we have to hurry up and enjoy the park before it gets too cold!

A Girls Day @ Vasona Park - Part 1

Today was sooo much fun! Jess and Lexy came to San Jose to visit us. We decided that instead of staying indoors and being cooped up, we would have a little picnic at Vasona Park. Vasona Park is on the Los Gatos Creek Trail and links up a bunch of parks throughout south San Jose. It's one of my absolute favorite places to visit. The dog park at Los Gatos Creek Trail is one of the nicest in the county. Vasona Park has everything! From playgrounds to animals and even a train! Here are the girls getting ready for their outing. Look how they are so well behaved!

Okay, so our picnic wasn't conventional, we decided to go through the McDonald's drive through because we were starving! If you are not a parent, you have no right going through a drive through! Just kidding! I never loved the drive throughs as much as I do now. It's become very hard to even "cook" a meal when there's a little one around.

Isabel is getting her lunch too but it wasn't as good as my fries and double quarter pounder with cheese...

Here is Jess and Lexy! Lexy is growing up so fast I sometimes think she can totally understand what we're saying. I can't wait for Isabel to get to her age! I want Isabel to see and enjoy all the wonderful things around her, like the park!

Bathtime!

Ben is really good at giving Isabel her bath. I always thought she would be really fussy and hate it but she LOVES her bathtime. She yawns when she's sitting in her tub so it must be really relaxing.

Isabel and daddy.

What a little model! She knew mommy was taking her picture and had to look. She has been growing up so fast and now she's able to track people when they talk to her. She's also getting more interactive and communicative. She smiles and coos when we speak to her, she think she's having a conversation with us. It's really cute!