Isabella at 11 months

What a fun age!!! She is getting so big but still is so little. She is still only about 17 pounds and is just barely ready for 9mos size clothes. She is petite and oh so sweet. Issie started doing all kinds of new things this month. She is now walking (short distances) and eating all kinds of finger foods like green beans, noodles, eggs, fruits, chicken and more, and she is becoming much more of an explorer. She is serious a lot of the time, staring you down with those big blue eyes but once you get her giggling it is super contagious. Lately she has been really making herself laugh, really laugh, like the big belly laugh. She did it when she pushed the little car walking around the house for the first time. She did it when she took her first steps. And she did it when I let her play in the bathtub without her seat for the first time. I think she is so proud of herself and thoroughly enjoys her new freedoms in mobility. She also loves books, much more that Jack or Kadie at this age, she will sit and play with a board book for an hour. She loves Jack and Kadie. She loves playing "chase" and keep away. She is still mesmerized watching them play, I think inside she is just waiting til she can run with them. Here are some of our favorite snapshots of this stage....

Watching the dogs, longing to be able to go outside with Kadie.
Crazy child in the bathtub. She is hilarious, flopping around in 2 inches of water and laughing so hard. I cannot believe she does not have bruises all over from hitting the side so many times.

One of her favorite places to be, under the table. I always laugh when I see her there, it is like she is putting herself in a little jail. She loves being under things and she loves being upside down.

Here's my public confession. I am usually the parent that is afraid of the kids getting hurt ( partly my control needs in my personality and partly from being a Physical Therapist and seeing the worst case scenarios of everything), but Brad has always been much more afraid of the kids falling down the stairs than I have. I guess I always think, we will just teaching them to do stairs and then it will be fine. Isabella has not even noticed the stairs yet, so I have not been great at putting up the gate. Brad said she is going to do it anytime and we will be sorry, I said she is not even interested. Well today, I thought I heard her playing by my bedroom door when I was cleaning up lunch, but apparently she was exploring some thing new. By the time I found her she was on the top step and again, laughing her big belly laugh. I am pretty lucky I found her when I did as she was just about to dive down the steps when I got there. Sorry Honey, the gate is up now. Anyways, we proceeded to spend the next 40 min going up and trying to teach her how to go down backwards. She much prefers going up and every time I turned her around to go down backwards she would just start going back up. I think it will be awhile before she gets it. I am sure practicing the stairs will consume the next few months.

Cutie pie.

Kadie took this, as I worked on teaching her to go back wards, not quite getting it yet.

The famous walking bike. Jack got this bike for his first birthday and each kid has loved it. Issie has been pushing it around the house and Kadie loves giving her rides around the house. That bike has really been worth the $19 we paid for it 8 years ago!

Walking to Jack. She loves her big brother.

Well that is the scoop. She will be 1 next month! I cannot wait to celebrate that with all of you. We love you Isabella.

Jack-- Fall Soccer

The Cheetahs

Like I mentioned earlier, I have become a total soccer mom. Running from practice to practice during the week and game to game all day on Saturday. Jack is on a U10 (under ten years old) team this season and is just absolutely loving it. Our friend Nello recommended putting him in the Timbers U10 Academy this summer and the improvement in skills and confidence is just incredible. It is fun to watch him play and to see how much he totally loves it. I wish I was able to put some action shots but I am not the good of a photographer. Here are my personal version of his team photos. Keep up the good work Jack, we are so proud of you!!

"These shoes are made for walking....

and that's just what I'm going to do. One of these days I'm going to walk all over you."

Issie is officially walking! These are her new shoes. It is sad to say she did not get the Roobeez her sister did but the Target brand. They are cute and I believe will work the same for a fraction of the price. Anyways, she has been flirting with the idea of walking, standing in the middle room and up on her feet all the time, using one finger for balance as she walks along the wall and pushing the car around the house. But today she took 4 steps in a row and was so proud of herself. And then proceeded to do it again and again. It is amazing how little she looks when she is walking versus crawling. Another little peanut of a girl. She is still wearing 3 months old clothes in this picture! It is exceptionally difficult to catch her on her feet with the delay of digital camera but I finally caught it this afternoon. I know our lives are going to change around here.

Got Milk? Apparently Not.

I find it pretty ironic that I dressed my little Isabella in this cute little "got milk?" outfit today of all days. She turns 11 months this week and we were home sick today. Today was the day I think I have finally come to accept that my milk is running out. As for all of us, I think, breastfeeding is a blessing and a challenge. I have blessed with pretty good situations but it seems this time around it has been a little more on the challenge side. I don't know if it is because I am older so I have less of a milk supply or if she is just too much of a snacker and complacent with whatever she gets or if maybe it is always hard like this but with her possibly being our last baby it just feels more emotional.

In one sense, I am totally ready to be done, but on the other side it is sad to know I will be done. Then there is the transition. I am usually a rule follower but I have started all of my kiddos on whole milk when they were about 11 months (not the recommended 1 year mark). I don't know why but I just would prefer not to do formula (especially for only 1 month), if I don't have too.

So back to today. She just does not seem to get anything anymore and with her being sick she seems pretty frustrated. I absolutely did not want to initiate whole milk when she already had a cold but I did. First I tried to go straight to the sippy cup and she did OK but did not take much. So I gave it to her in a bottle. I think being a little sick it just was a bit more comfort to have the bottle (especially since there was actually something coming out when she sucked).

So I am grieving and praying she does not have a reaction to dairy. I am excited to see her growing up and toddling around but it is definitely a season passing and I am rarely ready for that.

Grandma Kramer (May 6, 1927 to Sept 14, 2008)

My dad's mother passed away on Sunday. She was diaganosed with lung and bone cancer less than 3 weeks ago and passed away much more quickly than anyone expected. Her husband of 50 years died 3 years ago and she was just ready to go and be with him. She lived next door to my dad for all of my life. She was a master gardener and a wonderful cook. She always had something to send over for us to eat when we were in town. She lived a long, healthy and fulfilling life and will be missed. God bless you Grandma.

Elenor Kramer, 81.

Kadie's First Soccer Game

Watching a bunch of 4 and 5 year old little girls play their first ever soccer game is something I recommend to everyone. At this age they play 3 on 3 with no goalie. It is hilarious and heartbreaking. For the first time in most of these little girls lives they are thrust into some mild form of competition. Up til now, they have been taught to share and take turns and give other people a chance and all of a sudden the same parents that have been shoving that stuff down their throats are yelling, "go get that ball", "take if from her", "get it away". The girls were shocked and some started crying, most of the other team refused to play and Kadie's team often just ignored the coach and let them "have a turn to get a goal". At one point, Kadie came to me and said she would only play if I could promise her it would be her turn to get the goal. Soon they pretty much gave up, started hanging on the goal posts, looking longingly at the playground and waiting not so patiently for snack. I am not sure if it is this age or if Kadie is not wired to be a soccer player. Time will tell. Here she is posing with her pink soccer ball and pink uniform. What are the odds that out of all the teams and color choices that her team would get pink uniforms. It was like the cherry on the top for Miss Kadie Girl. She loves pink.


I caught the one time Kadie actually looked like she was running for the ball, I actually think she was running to do a ballet move but I could be wrong.

The favorite part of the game, snack time! It was very hard to get the girls to go back out for second half. We had to remove the snacks and use them as a bribe.

Laying on the blanket, watching the other girls play. She is having so much fun.

Kadie's favorite spot, hanging on the goal posts. "It's just like gymnastics when I do this mom". Great!

Kadie's #1 fan. Issie.

First Days of School

Well the last 2 days have been the busy back to school days for Jack and Kadie. Jack was super excited and had a great first day yesterday. He has an awesome teacher, his first male teacher. And all of his favorite friends are in his class. And he has a new bus driver. He was on cloud nine getting off the bus. It was a good day.

Our Fourth Grader!

Then today was Kadie's first day of Preschool. It was not quite as smooth of a day. First off, Kadie totally bit it on the retaining wall yesterday and got a big goose egg on her nose, making for a sad first day of school picture. Then on the way to the bus for Jack this morning, the van got a flat. Jack hitched a ride with another family and we went back to the house to get the truck. After loading up the girls we realized the truck had a dead battery. Then we realized the jumper cables were in Brad's car. Fortunately we have plug in battery charger so we could charge the battery. Both girls crying, and mom a bit upset as well, we finally got to Kadie's preschool (an hour late). She was happy to be there and of course did not want to leave when I came to get her a short 2 hours later. A bit bumpy but we survived.

Kadie at her first day of Preschool