Let's get back to blogging...

So, it's been a rough week and a half. For those of you that don't know, we lost a pretty special little boy in our family last week. It's been rough, especially for my sister, Andrea, but hopefully the healing can begin. My sister has been AMAZING...no other words..just amazing, and I hope and pray that time heals the wounds that she and her family have.

Ok, so in the healing spirit, I'd like to focus on something positive, namely Miss Izzy. Wow, has this little tot developed a personality. As Harold, my friend from work, told me the other day, "The worse curse a mother can give her daughter is to be just like her" (or something like that...I'm not good at remembering it EXACTLY). Anway, WOW, was this ever true. Everyone's always said how much Izzy looks like Joacim...Joacim this, Joacim that. Well, I can pretty much guarantee that anyone that is around Izzy for more than an hour will certainly see that she got her personality from me. At least her fiery, defiant, tempermental side. :) This little girl is going to wear me down!!!

I think it's so fun to watch her in a group setting. We went to my friend's son's birthday party a couple of weeks ago, and there were several kids around Izzy's age. She didn't cry, but rather would just sit and watch everyone...like she was just assessing everyone to see what they were all about. And she didn't warm up immediately, but by the end of the party, she seemed totally unaffected by everything, and was crawling over complete strangers on a mission to get a ball. This is where I think she's a lot like me. I know that I don't like to put myself out there in a group of strangers...I like to sit back and wait...watching people...assessing them, and wait for people to approach me.

What else is she doing now...well, she's really crawling (and not the funny little thing with her leg), but REAL crawling (at least when she's not thinking about it;) And the other day, I was lying on the floor and she crawled over to me, pulled herself up using my knee and then let go. I've been "testing" her the last few days to see if she could balance...didn't really mean to do it but we were playing one day and she did it, so I thought I'd try to see how long she can do it. She's up to about 25 seconds right now, and she let's go of my hand most of the time when we're playing to try it out for herself. I don't think she's going to crawl very long at all...which is AWESOME and TERRIFYING all in the same breath.

Ok, I have a LOT of things I need to get done. Joacim is travelling this week (longest time he's been gone since Izzy was born), so we're flying solo. Joacim's become my true 50/50 partner, and I'm acutely feeling his absence..not just because he's not asking me a MILLION questions (heehee), but because I've had to feed her, go to the grocery store, drop off the recycling and put her to bed so far, and then I've gotta do the dishes and still shower. I'm exhausted, and this is only day 1. Waaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!! But I'm going to enjoy my guilty pleasure (American Idol) and eat my bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy....

Ok, enough of this "poor me" stuff...I don't have photos today, but I've got some videos to share. My memory card on my camera is full, so I'll HAVE to work through some of the photos soon, but this will tide you over for now...

Here's Izzy working with the sippy cup:


Her new wheels:


Really crawling now:


Her first visit to the playground:


More raspberries:


More bubbles:


Hopefully you've got a smile on your face now!

She's almost crawling....

I can't tell you how tired I am of poopy diapers. There. I admitted it. There are some parts to parenthood that are glorious, like watching her smile and learn things, and then there are other parts that just suck, and poop is one of them. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that we've changed around 13 poopie diapers since yesterday. I'm pretty sure that it's because of her upper teeth coming in...can't see the teeth yet, but this has got to be it. Oh, for the love of all that is good and holy, please why won't these teeth come in so the pooping can cease?????

On a lighter note, Izzy is just days away from "officially" crawling. I say "officially" because she's mobile, but I wouldn't exactly call what she's doing "crawling" yet. See here for yourself..


It's so fun to watch her try to figure this out...which leg goes what way so she can get to where she wants to go. We realize that we must baby-proof..and FAST. She's already discovered that she's quite fond of the DVD player, the volume control on the receiver, the fireplace tools, Murphy's food bowl, and my purse (this one I didn't really expect until the tween years, but my girl's a quick learner :) And probably more funny than Izzy's form of mobility is Joacim's reaction. He said something so funny tonight that I almost spit my dinner across the table. Of course, can't remember it at all right now (can I still blame baby brain on the complete disappearance of my memory????), but whenever I do, I will make sure to post it here.

Of course, along with the mobility, comes the word "NO". I already feel like I'm saying it all the time..."No, Izzy...not the DVD player. No, Izzyboo...not mommy's camera." et cetera et cetera....And let me tell you what...Izzy does NOT like to hear the word No. Not one single bit. She does this pitiful little fake cry, complete with tears and all. I try to tell Izzy every day (even if she can't understand me), that I hope she grows up to be something artistic...well, based off of the last few days, I'm guessing she's going to be an actress, because this little girl is a DRAMA QUEEN! :)


Izzy also loves to stand now...anywhere...living room, bathtub....you name it, if there's something she can stand against, then that's wherre she wants to be. As evidenced the other night in these photos..






It's SCARY! I mean, I'm always worried that she's going to fall and hit her head. But I also realize that I can't watch her every single second, and that she's eventually going to fall down, but that's a good time to teach her to get right back up and try again, which is what Joacim and I are really trying to do. We try not to make a big fuss if she falls over, instead trying to make it seem as though she's done someting really fun. It's working so far...I just hope it keeps going.

Also, we've planned our first vacation with Izzy involving an airplane. w'er going to be heading to Ft. Lauderdale in April for a short little vacation. Joacim wanted to go see Iron Maiden (yes, you read correctly...:) and their last show (I think) is in Ft. Lauderdale, so he said that if he was able to get a ticket, that we were going. Well, success in the ticket purchasing department, because we've got our plane tickets and hotel booked! A big THANK YOU to my friend, Rebecca, for finding what looks like a really nice hotel. Anyone that knows me very well can vouch for the fact that I'm incapable of doing these kind of these easily, so any help I can get is very much appreciated. I'm nervous about this trip, only because it's our first with her on a plane, but I think it's going to be a lot of fun! Definitely looking forward to it!

Another video post - raspberries, ready to crawl

I'm really sorry these videos are so dark! I'm going to have to upgrade my recording device, me thinks!

Here's Izzy balancing on her own (warning: faceplant at the end :)


Here she is trying to balance again...


Here she is eating cottage cheese...


And here she is "crawling" backwards...


This one is really cute...her and pappa blowing raspberries!