I'm a big sis now!

Isabelle became a big sister yesterday! She is loving "her baby" and wants to hold her every chance she gets. Things have been a bit crazy since the birth, but we hope to get settled in to our new routine soon.

Please check http://www.thenameynest.blogspot.com/ for the new blog!

Tutus, part two-two

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

(Keep in mind she's dancing to nursery rhymes, not techno!)

I'm not sure where the discussion of ballerinas has come from lately (maybe the few minutes of So You Think You Can Dance we've let her watch?), but Isabelle has a new found interest in dancing and her dance costumes. So tonight she put on a little show. She is her own DJ, using her "music table" to play 5 second songs ranging from Mary Had a Little Lamb to Allouette (and some indistinguishable ones in between). She danced so hard in this orange outfit that she broke the strap, so we had to switch to pink.

Brownie batter

My little helper helped herself to the yum left over in the batter bowl. She's a girl after my own heart.

(And aren't you impressed at how much I've loosened up over the past year... for her first birthday I wouldn't even let her have a "real" cake with icing... now I'm letting her eat brownie batter with raw eggs in it. Super.)

Meow!

Yesterday Isabelle was prowling through my make-up as I was getting dressed and found the "whisker" pencil from Halloween. I promised her we could do cat faces after school. So after dinner, I retrieved the pencil and Isabelle decorated all of our faces.

There was a little girl, who had a little curl...

...right in the middle of her forehead! Not sure where this lock came from - or where it belonged - but it hung out on Isabelle's forehead long enough for me to get the camera.

Happy Birthday Wishes for Dodi

Hope you have an awesome day Tunnelman!! We love you!

Belle-y and belly

Almost 34 weeks!

Fingerpaint fun

Taking a listen

Like most grandfathers, Dodi brought his collection of stethoscopes with him on his visit. Isabelle enjoyed listening to the different heart and chest sounds on his special iPod.

Zebra diva

Hangin' with Geege on the couch... and sporting her zebra shades.

Changes are brewing...

Isabelle has had to manage the bulk of the changes around here lately: peeing in the potty, moving rooms, sleeping in a big-girl bed, starting pre-school... Now the change is coming to you!

As we prepare for Belle's little sister's arrival, I've started working on the new blog. This one will continue to be active until bambina is born, but then we'll switch over to http://www.thenameynest.blogspot.com/ so that both girls will have some space. Any feedback on the layout/content welcome in the meantime!

Fun with Gigi and Dodi

Isabelle has been in her glory this weekend, getting to "play all day" with Gigi and Dodi (or Geege and Dod as they've been shortened to). No video/pics yet of "Tunnel Man", but he's been one of the highlights - that will no doubt live with us long after Dod packs up and drives home tomorrow.

Little Scientist

It's been a while since Isabelle participated in a study at Duke, but we got a call that the cognitive development lab could use some help with studying tool use, so Isabelle happily helped out! It was a pretty cool experiment, introducing a tool and then asking Isabelle to choose between two to rescue an animal from a tube. Since there were animals involved, Belle was all about it!

Dress-up fun!

Jay's former colleague Suzy got Isabelle some adorable dance costumes from a charity sale at work... Isabelle needed to try them on as soon as she got home. Thanks Suzy!!

First day of "school"

Isabelle started her Mon/Thurs morning pre-school this week... a bit of a rocky start, but she seems to have fun there - when she's not crying!

Four days of beachy fun!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Look who's in her big-girl bed!

Last night was Isabelle's first night in her new bed, in her new room! She did great - except for waking up an hour earlier than usual.


Bed head? Check.

Showing me her "proud" smile.


Demonstrating how she slept.

Hugging her turtle who helped her through the night.

The big bed. The cute bedding we ordered won't get here 'til July, but at least the curtains and some decorations should be here this week. Right now Belle likes the echo effect of the blank walls!

This is how we poo it

Whatever works, right?

Gotta love s'ghetti!

Note that Isabelle clutched her fork in her right hand through the whole meal... and proceeded to use her left hand to shovel it in!

Strawberry pickin'!

The local strawberry patches are all open, and we're lucky to have one a mile down the road! Belle and I took a little trip there yesterday and my little helper held the bucket, picked some good ones (and some bad), and sampled her finds...