A diva is born

"No autographs, please!"



PS. Auntie Sharon and Uncle Nappy - see what Isabelle's favorite baby of the moment is?

Baby's got a new ride

Still in her pjs and looking very tired, Isabelle wastes no time getting in her "sleigh" and relaxing in the morning, waiting to be pulled around the house.

Classic Isabelle

No captions needed.

Deer spotting

Auntie Kera and Uncle Eric have a beautiful backyard that backs up to a wooded area that deer frequent. Eric, an avid hunter, feeds them (just to torture himself since he obviously can't shoot the Bambis that his kids watch every evening). So sure enough, after dinner, a deer sauntered into the backyard and began eating. Isabelle was mesmerized.


Isabelle and Lilly watching the deer.

Isabelle getting very excited about the deer, waving and shrieking and banging on the sliding door.

Ethan trying to explain that the deer can hear us, even inside the house!

Isabelle signing "Where'd it go?", mournfully, over and over, after the deer left.

Which reminds me that I guess I never updated Isabelle's stats on her 13-month birthday... her signing repetoire now includes hi, doggy, more, eat, all-done, fan, banana, play, where, swim, cheese, thank you... that's all I can remember right now. Her favorites are definitely more and where! She can say hi, doggy, and meow fairly clearly, and has words for baby and help, but they sound more like "dady" and "ama," respectively. She has about 6 teeth - front top and bottom through, two more on top showing partially - and I think the rest of her gums are about to erupt, but it's hard to tell where next! According to our bathroom scale, she's 22.5 pounds; she hasn't sat/stood still long enough to try to get her height!

A visit with the Namey clan

Gramma, Addison, Eric, Ethan, Lillian, Kera, me, Belle, Jay, Tanya

Cutie Addison grew and grew since Christmas! She is 3.5 months younger than Belle, but just about the same size!












Our attempts to get all the kids in one shot with the grandparents - no easy feat!

Since she's not been in daycare at all since February, Belle was a little wowed at all of the activity, but she had more fun than her expressions here show!! Thanks to Kera and Eric again for hosting all of us (as usual). And best wishes to Auntie Kera for a speedy recovery from her surgery!

Bellie-Bow

While we were playing at Gramma's house one morning, Isabelle found the bag of bows and barrettes I had packed. She took them out one by one and handed them to me to put in her hair... I was amazed because usually she tries to take them OUT of her hair! So here she is with her full collection.

A visit with "cousin" Lilly

Isabelle got to hang out with my friend Andrea's little girl, Lilly, while we were home last weekend. My mom watches Lilly, so she is definitely part of the family. This is the only pic I snapped, but Auntie Andrea has some of the girls in the tub together that I hope she'll send me and then I'll post. Lilly has been asking to take a bath with Isabelle since Belle was born - nice to know we can make dreams come true ; )

13 months old - a day of celebration!

Isabelle's 13 month birthday was yesterday, and to celebrate, we joined Uncle Jay Cross and his family in their celebration of his graduation from Duke Law! The three amigos were reunited (Jay, Jay, and Tico), Auntie Jessica and I got to play dress up (and buy some new shoes, which weren't conducive to walking, thus the bare feet), and Miss Belle entertained us all. She did amazingly well during the long-ish ceremony at Cameron, and continued to rally (after a mini nursing session in the handicapped stall of the arena bathroom) until 11pm!

The comic moment of the evening came at the end of the night... I left the restaurant to change Belle's diaper in the trunk of the car. I put the keys on the lip of the trunk so I wouldn't shut them in the trunk. Well, I shut the trunk and they weren't IN the trunk, but they were stuck where I'd left them, half in, half out! The three amigos came to the rescue, prying the trunk up just enough so we could pull them out. Phew, disaster averted. And many laughs! Tico, we hope your fingers are okay!

Flag girl

Isabelle snagged my pack of highlighter flags (Post-It of course) and they occupied her for a good three days.



"Eyes, mouth..."

"Hmm, where next?"

Water table cutie

Isabelle did not nap this afternoon, which meant that the only way to keep her happy this evening was to be outside. One pitcher of water and one water table later, we had a photo op on our hands... check out the one where she managed to get pine straw right up her little nostril!
(The fact that I just called it "pine straw" is a clear indication that I've lived in the south for too long!)

Swappin' spit

Two pre-requisites for viewing these photos:

1. You must be a dog lover to understand.
2. You must not dwell on the thought "Where has Quinn's mouth been lately?"