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!

It's Been So Long

I haven't been blogging because frankly, I didn't have any new pictures to post! We have been using our camcorder a lot more recently so there haven't been too many pictures. Izzy is loving school. I drop her off in the morning and it's pretty much "see ya later" and she goes off to do her own thing with her friends. One time I dropped her off, her and 4 of her little friends were hanging onto a ballet bar, dancing around in front of a mirror. I wish I had my camera! The nice thing is when I pick her up, she gets super excited to see me. Funny, it's like Ozzie when he goes to daycare too. **SIGH** My two little children.

Her milestones so far:
1) Getting really good at walking, she can walk all by herself now for quite sometime, no need to hold our hands anymore
2) Her third tooth came in, the top one. The one next door is peaking out a little.
3) She can way goodbye.
4) She can stick out her tongue at you.
5) She can shake her head and also nod.

Each day she does something super cute!

On another note: If anyone needs to do any research on contractors, exterior/interior painting, masonry, etc... Let me know! My remodel offically broke ground today! Hopefully all the projects will be done by the first week of September. Yes, wishful thinking but I am holding out hope. The new house is going to look so awesome. It's loads of headache but I'm hoping it's worth it.