7 Months Old "and Growing...."

Izzie's been pretty sick lately, so we (mostly Lynnell because she's a fabulous mom) have been doing everything we can to make her happy and keep her mind preoccupied. Here's one thing that I have been trying. I have fun, but I feel like a fool. I don't know why. I know that Lynnell, Izzie and I have been the only one's that have seen this... until now. I guess pulling someone around in a laundry basket that doesn't find it as amusing as you intend it to be seems ridiculous. I do it anyway. It's fun I guess.




Here's one of the little munchkin with cotton in her ear. Yes she had an ear infection. No we didn't put hot oil in it. Yes that's an old wives tale. The doctor gave her some stuff that helped to numb her inner ear to relieve the pain. Sometimes I thought she was going to pull her ear off of the side of her head. When the medicine would wear off she yanked on that thing like it was time to get a new one. She pulled through though, and now it seems to be back to normal.


One day Izzie and I were playing on the floor with her toys, and I started to stack them. I made a little house out of the books and piled some others so they made a tower. Izzie was intrigued. She just sat there as if it was amazing that things could be put together like that (yes, I was thinking SWEEEET!). So, the next day I was in Toys-R-Us with a friend buying toys for the kids ministry at Mosaic, and I saw the sweetest blocks ever. They were foam, so I knew Izzie could safely chew on them (because she chews on EVERYTHING) and they were firm enough to build sweet castles and what not. So I got them with the hopes that Izzie would think they were the sweetest things ever. She did, and we built some sweet stuff. And of course Izzie chewed on them the whole time while trying to reach what I was building so that she could destroy it. (Notice how Izzie is still trying to lick the block in the second picture since it's not in her mouth. Crazy kid.)



As I said, we do anything to keep the poor child happy while she's going through her ailment. Here she is trying to catch my tongue.


I mentioned Izzie was sick. I know you are asking yourself "how bad can it be?" Well, you know how you feel when you are sick? That I-could-die-right-now-and-be-better-off feeling. Then you realize that you don't look as bad as you feel. Then there's the times when you look worse than you feel and everyone notices. Well, Izzie felt as bad as she looks in this picture.


Here's the same enthusiastic look just after we built the ultimate castle with the new blocks.


She looks pretty bad I know, but despite the ear ache, nasty congestion, sore throat and lungs full of phlegm she still has fun in her Rain Forest Jumper.


This is exciting. I did our taxes on Saturday, and guess what. We had an addition to the family. It was fun to answer "Yes" to that question for the first time. So much fun that I decided to share the moment with you.


Here is Izzie and mom getting ready to go fridge shopping. This is about a week into Izzie's plague, and in this picture she is feeling much better (to our relief).


Another new event: Izzie has graduated from sitting in her car seat to sitting in the stroller. SHE LOVES IT! She sits there and laughs and coos at everything that goes by. If I could see her face without tainting her observational curiosity I would bet she's wide eyed and smiling. It was great. Very entertaining and rewarding for a parent.


Here we are later that night playing blocks.

I was trying to figure out what to build when suddenly I realized that I could build a replica of Izzie. Don't believe me? See for yourself. I even got the arms right and everything.


OK, so I added a hat and made it stand up, but I thought it was pretty good.



Here's my baby girl sleeping. I could resist another sweet (as in innocent not ill or cool... that's right, I used the word ill) picture like this.


Last but not least; Someone told me that kids love boxes, so I figured I'd try it out on Izzie to see what she thought. She had fun for the first 5 or 10 minutes, and then like a switch she was done and wanted out. It was cute. We played peek-a-boo for a while, and then like everything else with a hint of resonance, we played it like a drum.




Yesterday Izzie was seven months old. Yay! She's developing fast now, and it's amazing to watch. Right now she's learning how to wave. She watches us wave, and then she holds up her hand and rotates her wrist. As she does it, she stares at her wrist in amazement as if to say "Holy cow! I can do it!" It's great. I'll try to catch it on video next time.

Catching up on January

2008 has started off just as fun as 2007 left off. It's been kind of cold here for most of the first part of January with a few warm days here and there. So, most of the time we hang out at home or go find something indoors to do.

Since we have started feeding Izzie food from a jar in December, we've added quite a few items to the menu. It seems like she is still weirded out about the food thing. She still gets the what-the-heck-is-this look on her face when we feed her, but it is becoming more fun for her. Here she is getting ready to eat something... maybe bananas if I remember correctly.


Izzie still really likes the dog she got for Christmas. Sometimes I think that she thinks it's alive. Here she is hanging out playing with Dog (as I like to call him).


Here's another picture at the table. Yes, she's always a happy baby.


Bath time has become a lot of fun for Izzie. She loves to play in the water and splash around. Here's a couple of pictures and a video to show you just how fun it really is.





On one of those warm days we went downtown to walk around, get some fresh air and exercise. We parked on the South Side and explored that a little bit, and as we were headed downtown a train went by. It was the first train that Izzie has seen. She heard it coming (obviously) because it was blaring it's horn the whole way. She did her best to sit up to see what it was, but she was strapped in. I spun the stroller around so that she could see it. She just stared.


One night Nell and I were eating apples for a snack. It just happened to be the night that we were going to give Izzie applesauce for the first time. So, Lynnell let her suck and gnaw on one of the apple slices. It must have been the best thing ever because she couldn't get enough. You would have thought that she was a starving little girl by the way she was after that apple. The grossest part of it all was when Lynnell actually ate the apple slice after Izzie juiced it with her gums. GROSS!



I took a video of the event just because it was so hilarious to watch her suck on that apple, so here it is.



One night Izzie had the giggles like crazy. It was so cute it made my eyes water up. It was one of those proud parent moments when you remember how blessed you are to have such a wonderful gift from God. Here she is laughing at mom doing nothing.



That was about the first half of the month. We also bought a house, so look for an upcoming post about that. I was sick for a few days, and it looks like Izzie got what I had. It's pretty unfortunate because it is very miserable, but she's holding up like a trooper. I will try to post about that soon.

Izzie's 6 Month Shots

December 27th marked Izzie's 6 month mark on this wonderful planet. It just so happened that she also got her shots that day. As always, she was unsuspecting. Her little mind didn't even put two and two together... doctors office + nurse = PAIN! Luckily that's not always the case, but up until this point it has been. It kind of bums me out, but not really. At least now I know she has a beefier immune system. I guess that's something to be thankful for.

Anyways, here we are sitting in the waiting room. Izzie is staring at a very old lady that had a voice that defined raspy. The first time Izzie looked at her the lady said "you are a sweetie." At that point Izzie turned and looked up at me, stuck her bottom lip out and gave out a waaaaaaaaaa. It was stinking cute, but I felt bad for the lady. I'm sure that not too many people warm up to her, so I did my best to be nice to her by giving her a legitimate excuse.


Here's Izzie weighing in for the fight... THE FIGHT FOR HER LIFE... Well, that's the way she makes it seem when she gets stabbed in the leg with a pen. She weighed a whopping 18 pounds even. That's dang big for a baby only 6 months old. According to the doctor she was in the 90th percentile for weight. That's right, she's already ahead of 90 percent of her peers. She's already showing some great traits.


She also came in at 26-5/8" for height. I guess it's length when all you do is lay down, but that's good enough to put her in the 75th percentile for height. Yep, she is taller to make up for some of that weight.

Here she is getting her ear hole examined. She digs the doctors tools now. When he pulls them out, you can just see her eyes light up and the wheels start spinning to figure out how to get a good grip on them.


Here she is getting the oral immunity booster or something. If you ask me, this should have given it away. Izzie should have remembered what was going to happen next and just walked away.


Here it is! She only had to get 2 shots (or stabbings if you will) this time which was half of what they normally are. That didn't make a difference when it came to letting people know. She cried just as hard as with the four shots.


I snapped a few pictures immediately afterwards, but I think this one captivates the devastation to Izzie's little spirit. Check out the sad look; I still feel bad for her. Oh well, it is over. Good job baby.


Here is mom holding Izzie on the elevator ride down from the office. She was done crying after a few minutes, so at this point all she wanted to do was cuddle. As you can see, she's pretty good at it.


Anyways, that's what the 6 month shot experience was like. Hope it was more enjoyable for you than it was for Izzie.