Balls everywhere!

Today was good. The kids slept late and the day went by really fast. I'm looking forward to the long weekend, not really sure what we'll do yet. Probably go to Thanksgiving Point and maybe see the Sharks 3D movie there if the kids cooperate. We had dinner at Cracker Barrel, Thursday is their turkey dinner special and Corey loves that so we usually go on Thursdays.



Isabella got her first PEZ dispenser today. I got her the Over the Hedge one (it's the turtle) and she had a blast with it. She couldn't figure out how to get the candy out with her hand so she used her teeth. It was really something to watch.


I decided to get the kids a ball pit today because I figured they'd really enjoy that. We went to Toys R Us and found balls pretty cheap but the only inflatable pit they had was really small (like only John would fit in it.) I was planning to just buy a cheap kiddie pool but of course all the stores have gotten rid of those already and are putting out seasonal things now. I was really bummed but then came up with a great idea. I stuck all 200 balls in John's crib. It worked great and then went crazy playing in them. John laughed hysterically the whole time and Isabella kept jumping up and "falling" down. I still want to get a kiddie pool and then stick their little slide into so that Isabella can slide down into the ball pit. I'm sure I'll find one eventually and for now this works.

We finished up the evening with a fun chat with Nana on the webcam. Both kids were so tired and fussy though. Isabella rarely get like that at night but she was just a crying mess at the end. They're both fast asleep now (the way it should be.)

Balls all over the living room floor (not a great idea.)
John playing in the crib.
He loved being covered up.

Bath Time!

Tonight was bath night. Sadly it doesn't happen as often as it should. Good thing we usually stay inside our nice air conditioned apartment. Isabella loves to play in the water and generally has a wonderful time in the tub. There's just that little part where we wash her hair. She totally flips out when you put water on her head. And the problem only seems to be getting worse as she gets older. She thrashes and screams and tries to climb out of the tub so then water ends up everywhere and I get soaked. It's just so frustrating. I've tried everything I can think of, even these stupid little visor things that keep the water off her face, she screams anyway and rips it off as I'm trying to pour water. Now I just hold her down let her scream and get it over with, but I HATE baths because of this. John doesn't like it either but he just sucks it up and deals with it. After I wash her hair she quickly forgets about it and starts playing.

John got to use his new sitting up skill in the bathtub for the first time tonight. He loved it because he was able to splash so well. His little seat really makes it hard to get his hands in the water. He only fell over twice and it didn't seem to bother him too much. Then he went into the seat for the rest of the bath.

After tubby time we were in the living room and Isabella kept trying to grab the microphone on the computer and kept saying "Nana, um Nana, Nana." She really wanted to talk to Nana. It was the cutest thing. It's the first time she's actually let me know she wanted to get on the webcam. She's such a sweetie. John was up late anyway after the bath so he got to talk to Nana too and he loved it. The webcam is great, way better than talking on the phone especially with kids.
You should see the face I had to make to get her to smile for this picture. She was way to busy playing to stop and smile for the camera. Good thing she has a crazy mommy.

The stroller

This little doll stroller is Isabella's favorite toy. She will just push it around the house forever, and usually sticks strange items in it rather than dolls (like cell phones and shoes.)

So last night I get this bright idea to put John in it, because he'd just look so cute (and he did.) Isabella got so terribly upset that he was in her stroller though and spent the whole time whining and trying to push him out. So I got my picture of course and took him out. Isabella then wanted to sit in the stroller too, because John got to. I let her for a minute but then she'd get out and want back in. I normally wouldn't care but I knew she'd end up hurting herself so the stroller had to be put away. The poor girl fell apart, it was the end of the world (hers anyway.) And of course all Mommy's fault. She was totally upset until she went to bed.

I pulled it back out this morning and what did she do? Tried to climb back in it of course. Luckily she stopped trying after I told her no this time.


She's sitting at her little table right now with an empty bowl and a fork eating a very elaborate and make believe meal. She does it so well that I swear she's actually eating something every time.

More Therapy

Just another boring day here. John had physical therapy this morning. It went well as usual. Becca was very happy with his progress. He's now sitting unassisted, getting out of the sitting position into crawl, and getting up on his hands and knees rocking. He's even pushing up to stand every now and then. Now we're working on getting into the sitting position by himself, which is a lot harder to do. She comes back in two weeks and I guess I won't be surprised either way, if he can do it by then or not. He's pretty predictable and can certainly do what he puts his mind to, but I'm not sure he's motivated enough on this particular thing. Oh and Isabella cried today when Becca left because she wanted to go with her, I guess she's because fond of her. She is of course the lady with the HUGE bag of fun toys. Isabella has so much fun when she comes because she always brings lots of different toys everytime.

Happy Birthday Daddy

Today is Daddy's birthday, of course it's pretty much over now. Last night he stayed up till midnight to watch the clock hit 12:00, he even counted down the seconds like on new year's. So cute. I made him a cake last night to take to work today. I tried a new recipe for buttercream frosting and it was sooooo yummy, I'm definitely using that from now on and will probably never buy the ready made junk again for a cake. Miss Isabella got into the cake last night while I was making the frosting though, I was so upset because I wanted it to be perfect. It wasn't too bad though. And then I left the left over bowl of frosting on the table and this morning she climbed up and got into that. She has been so bad about getting into things lately, I don't know what to do with her. Good thing she's so cute.

We went to Chili's tonight for a birthday dessert, we had dinner at home though. It was good and Isabella was so cute eating away at it and covered in chocolate. Corey took some pictures with his cell phone but we're having problems getting it to send them to my e-mail. Hopefully it works soon because they were pretty cute.

Lets see, we went to Lowe's over the weekend because we got a gift card at the company lunch. We bought the kids those foam letter blocks for the floor but they kept pulling out all the letter and it wasn't working well in their room so we took them back. We got a rug instead with all the little roads on it. It's pretty cute, it's got a fire station and bank and a farm and everything on it. Isabella doesn't have any cars to use on it yet though but had some fun with her Little People figures on it.

John's got physical therapy in the morning so I need to finish cleaning up the apartment. It's really not that bad but I hate the mess. I just haven't been able to find the motivation to really clean everything at once. That seems to be the only way to actually make it look clean.
Eating the frosting
In big trouble
Wild Man
Playing on her new rug

Silly face


Playing with the farm

Well we went to the water park today. It really wasn't much fun at all. We had a good time at the company lunch, I didn't like the food thoug (big surprise right?) and the kids won prizes. Then we went around the park, half the power was out so the big rides weren't running. The places was just so crowded and the lines were insanly long and you couldn't walk around because all the people standing in line were in the way. We went to the water area and by then the kids were asleep so Corey went on the slides a couple times but he said the water was freezing cold. At the end we let Isabella run through the water fountain near the entrance, that was the best part of the day. She had so much fun running around and trying to catch the water. We're still planning to go back in two weeks as we have tickets to get in free, but I'm not looking forward to it as much now.

Isabella climbed up onto the bookshelf to throw a fit.

She got the sweeper broom out and swept the kitchen, then went and did the living room and went back to the kitchen.

After cleaning she climbed up at the table and decided to help herself to some of Daddy's birthday cake (for the second time that day.)

Our little man with his newest boo boo. I swear these kids are becoming so accident prone.

We had a good day. Got off to a late start, well an early start and then went back to bed. John decided to get up too early and be miserable. Isabella slept super late since John wasn't in the room.

John got ahold of a sippy cup of milk and had a pretty nasty reaction. He was totally miserable for about an hour but some benadryl, diaper cream and a nap made it better. It was hard to watch though, I haven't seen him in that much pain in long time.

Squealing with delight (his new absolute favorite thing to do)








He climbed up on the stool and got stuck. Finally got down and then repeated the whole process over and over for almost an hour.

The button eater

John has taken to the habit of trying to eat buttons. Corey's work shirt is now missing two button, one I managed to get out of John's mouth before he swallowed it (thread still intact.) And I later caught him trying to eat the buttons off his new disney shirt. Naughty boy.

The new crib is wonderful, John's been sleeping till 10am since we got it. I'm so absolutely in love with that. He sleeps longer at naptime now too. I guess that old pack-n-play just wasn't comfy enough.

You can see his new brusies in the picture, he's added more since I took that. He's into everything and and seems to have no fear. He climbs all over Isabella and when she tries to kick him off he just laughs and keeps going. I love watching them together, I can't imagine Isabella not having him around. She would be so lonely (and probably even more anti-social.

Isabella climbed into the box herself, but when I put John in there with her she was MAD!
Playing together in their room. John seemed to really enjoy the Little People set, he'd never played with it before.

11 Months

John's 11 months today (well for the next minute since it's almost midnight.) I can't believe it. Next week he'll be the age that Isabella was when he was born, how weird is that? I find it quite sad too, I would have loved to be having another baby but I'm also really enjoying my time with just these two. There's plenty of time left for more babies.

John is absolute in love with being on his knees now. He's pulling up (onto his knees) on everything and trying to climb over stuff. Getting into lots of trouble and I just noticed tonight his little forhead is covered in little bruises but falling so much. He's a tough little man though and doesn't seem to mind.

I wanted to update last night but our internet has been out the last two days. I've been going crazy without it. Life is no fun at home all day when I can't get online. But I got some extra time with the kids so it's all good I guess.

Last night we took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese. Isabella loved it there and we all had so much fun. She loved riding on the little ride on toys and playing the little kid games. They have skee ball (is that how you even spell it?) for little kids where you just drop the ball in (she loved that.) We're planning to go back soon (before flu season starts.)

This Saturday we're going to the water park (a different one this time.) Corey's work is having a Lagoon day so we got tickets super cheap. I can't wait and neither can Corey, I doubles as a good birthday activity for him as his birthday is on Monday. Then we go back on Sep. 9 for another Lagoon day that's free. So we'll get in lots of last minute summer water fun. Too bad Erin's not here though with her digital camera and water proof case. I probably won't even take my camera with me.

John hanging out in his bumbo outside



"helping" me play the game. And I'm NOT wearing my orange shirt this time.

Riding in the car with the doggy
Riding the horses

John's new shirt fits great Nana! And he looks super cute in it. He's getting better at sitting up, but as you can see is still a bit wobbly.













Isabella's shirt on the other hand is a bit too big, seriously will this girl ever start growing?

John just hanging out in his new crib.

Finally a crib!!!

Today was good. We all slept in late, well John woke up but watched tv quietly while Corey rested on the couch. The days are always much better when we all sleep good. We went to Thanksgiving Point, of course our official Saturday destination. We've got to make good use of those season passes we bought. We ended up seeing one of the movies there at the IMAX which we've never done before. We had a few minutes before it started so we made a quick run of the museum first, and I do mean quick, we pretty much just walked through it really fast.

We saw the African Safari in 3D, it was only about 45 minutes long which is perfect for the kids. It was pretty neat, I really wanted to see the 3D shark movie but it wasn't playing at the time so I hope to see that one next time. We ate lunch at the Deli there which was yummy as always. It was 4pm by the time we finished lunch so we left without going to play in the water at the gardens.

We went to Babies R Us to look at cribs, we had hoped to put one in layaway but they don't have that there. How dumb is that? No layaway at Babies R Us, that's one place that definitely needs it with how expensive baby stuff is and how much stuff kids need. Anyway we ended up just buying one which I wasn't planning on. I hate spending big chunks of money but Corey convinced me. I've really been wanting to get John a crib as his little pack-n-play is pretty junky. So I love the new crib, the box didn't fit into the van through the side so we came home and took the bench out and Corey went back and got it. I got it all together and I love it, John really seems to enjoy it too. He layed in it and kicked his little feet like crazy.

I still need another crib mattress though, I can't afford one right now because we spent all the money on the crib. I stole Isabella's mattress off her toddler bed for John's crib. Still haven't decided where I'm going to have her sleep tonight, right now she's asleep on the living room floor next to me. Hopefully I can find a cheaper mattress at Wal-Mart, I'm not spending $100 on a baby mattress.

When we put the bench back in the van I adjusted it and it's much better now. We had the middle row taken out before and the kids were in the back which gave us tons of space but getting them in was a chore. I found a position in the middle that I didn't know was there (the rug was hiding it) so now they're in the middle but back farther. So now we can get them in super easy and Isabella can't kick the seat (now I know why my parents yelled at us so much for kicking the seat, it's awful.)

I'm feeling pretty sad tonight, just found out one of the babies from our online preemie board passed away this morning. She fought for 8 and a half months in the NICU and was finally doing so much better. My heart just breaks for her mother, they were finally so close to getting to bring her home and she went downhill so fast. Makes me thankful for every minute I have with my babies.

Oh and I finally got Isabella's and John's pictures updated on the website, but after two hours of trying to update the family pictures I officially give up. Stupid internet is just NOT cooperating with me tonight so I'll do it later.

Isabella upset about going through the carwash, and this time John got scared too. When one of them is scared and cries the other always freaks out too, it's so cute.

Me and the babies (they're almost both toddlers though)
John eating french fries for the first time (he loved them)

The new crib, Isabella wasn't happy about being put in there.

We went to the hot tub tonight and I took my camera along, which I don't usually do. So I figured I'd share some picturess. The temp of the hot tub was perfect, warm enough for us to be comfortable but still not too hot that Isabella couldn't get in with us. She had so much fun playing in the water and splashing around.

John took a shower with Daddy when we got home. His new formula is so gross. It's tropical punch flavored (that was the cheapest) and he doesn't like the taste. I'm having a really hard time getting him to drink it, and in case you didn't know tropical punch flavored vomit is NASTY. I thought the regular stuff was bad but this is awful. I'm hoping we'll all adjust a bit and next time I'll order the unflavored stuff.

John was quite confused in the shower, I could tell he was scared but he shows it differently than Isabella. Isabella would have just been screaming and thrashing about. John just looked worried and confused. He's a lot tougher than her.

Isabella in the hot tub (ignore me in the picture, she sure does look like me though)



John and Daddy in the shower, see his worried look.











He looks cute even in a pink bunny towel. And he of course puked right before I took the picture.

I just got this picture of John. I of course put him standing up but he stayed. You can see his knees are locked which is not good, we still can't get him to bare weight in his legs without locking his knees. But this is still an improvment. And notice how he's smiling, before he would just cry when we'd try to get him standing.

I finally got John's formula that I ordered. Turns out it came last week but they mailman delievered it to the apartment office and they just didn't tell us. This is the second time that's happened. Makes me so mad that no one bothers to inform us. At least put a note in our box saying the package has arrived. John's been suffering on a formula he doesn't tolerate well for no reason now.

I think the kids and me are coming down with a cold. At first I thought I just had allergies but Isabella's had a runny nose and now John's coughing a little bit. Good thing it's Friday, if they're going to be sick they better do it while Daddy is home. I think we'll have some lunch, watch a movie and take a nap.


He got in the postition all by himself. He's been doing this more and more. He's also almosted mastered going from sitting to crawling postition without falling. Well that one still needs some work but he's getting close.

Well we had a good day here, John woke up way too early again but other than that it was great. The kids played so well with each other. I even managed to get a good shower while they played quietly in their room, they didn't make a sound and didn't destroy anything.

We have two little trash cans that we keep out on the patio and put the stinky diapers in, today the kids were outside playing and Isabella decided to bring them inside. I guess she was trying to help me or something, anyway there was a giant spider in one of them and I totally freaked out. Luckily Corey got home a minute later and saved me. I HATE spiders, I'm not sure I'll be letting the kids play on the patio for a while.

We had dinner at Cracker Barrel, I haven't been in the mood to cook lately. Isabella loved it and ate like a little piggy. Then we went over to Albertson's to look at cake's since there's a lot of birthday's coming up in our house. Corey wants a cake to take to work with him and we found a cute construction one which is perfect since he works for a construction equipment company. I also found the cake I'm gonna get for the kids party, it's not quite as cute as I hoped but it's Madagascar which is going to be the theme so it'll be good enough. I'll be making John's little cake myself, egg, milk, soy and everything else free (yummy.)

Well the kids are rolling around whining and Isabella is sticking pacifiers in her mouth so I think it's bedtime. Oh now they both have pacifiers, definitely bedtime.

John, how cute is that smile?



This is him ready for a nap. Notice his left thumb in sucking mode and his right sleeve is messed up, he was using that as a blankie. When he realizes he's falling asleep he gets so upset.


Up on his hands and knees


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