Travis's ambitions

Apparently Travis has been thinking about what he wants to do when he grows up. The other day, he went with me when I took Isabella to the doctor for her one year checkup, and he was so impressed with our Pediatrician that he decided he wanted to be a doctor when he was older. During the visit, Isabella had to have her one year shots, so of course I held and comforted her. On the way home, Travis was thinking hard and finally said to me, "Mommy, I want to be a 'Mommy' when I'm bigger." I asked him why, and his response was, "So that I can hold and kiss and hug and cuddle with the baby." I explained to him that he would be the Daddy, and that Daddy's can do those things as well.

A couple of nights later, he again told me he wanted to be a doctor when he was "big like Daddy," but then he had a very concerned look on his face and said, "But I want to be a Daddy, too!" not understanding that he could be both. It was really cute! It's so funny how kids process all the information that we take for granted that is common to us!

By the way, we're still holding out hope for him to become a Major League Baseball player :o)

Isabella's 1st birthday!

This past year has absolutely flown. It's so hard for me to believe that my little girl is already ONE! We celebrated Isabella's first birthday with friends and family on her actual birthday, since it happened to fall on a Saturday. Here is a picture of her at her party.

It was wonderful to have my parents out here for her party. They were such a big help, and of course it was fun to spend time with them. Travis especially loved having them here and keeps asking to go see them! My mom was given the task of decorating all 3 cakes, and she did a great job. The main cake was a huge cupcake-shaped cake. Then we also had a butterfly-shaped pull-apart cake for the kids. And lastly, we created a 3-tiered mini cake for Isabella's "smash" cake.

We did the cake last in the evening, and she was already worn out from all of her birthday fun, so she didn't make a huge mess with the icing like I was hoping for - for picture's sake! Kevin put her hands in it, and she played in it just a little. But then it was back to thumb sucking and hair twirling - yes, with the icing ending up in her hair. Still not the all-out, icing-all-over-the-face picture I was hoping for, but cute none-the-less.

We ended up spoon-feeding her some cake and ice cream, a decision that haunted us that night. Since she is not used to sugar, she was up ALL night. We only got 2-3 hrs of sleep, and of course the next morning was Easter! We all look a little tired in our family Easter photo.

Here's Grammy & PopPop with the kiddos.

Isabella's One Year Stats
Weight: 19 lbs, 8 oz. (25th percentile) She's only gained 10 lbs, 7 ounces since birth (9 lbs, 1 oz)!!

Height: 30 1/4" tall (83%)

Head circumference: 17 3/4 (50%)

7 teeth

Words: MaMa, DaDa, WOW!, Ut-oh, Thank You

She took her first official step at her party (not on purpose) when another kid took the toy she was leaning on from her, but she is not walking yet, and that's just FINE with me!

I took a ton more pictures at the party, and you can view them all here.

Snow much fun!

A few weekends ago, we had 20 inches of snow! It was so pretty (looking at it through the window)! I was glad I didn't have to go to work in it, although Kevin did. Everything was closed, and even church was cancelled. Travis had a blast shoveling the snow from the grass back onto the driveway that Kevin cleared. I got to go out with Travis for a few minutes while Isabella was sleeping. It was great packing snow, so Travis & Kevin built a snowman a day or two later, and we all had a snowball fight. Unfortunately, the snowman melted pretty quickly! It was definitely the best snow we've had in a long time!

Everyday Life

It seems life doesn't ever slow down. I keep thinking to myself, "after such-and-such is over, I'll have some time to do 'whatever.'" But it never seems to work out that way. I keep thinking, man, I really need to do my blog... well I guess tonight's as good a time as any to start. I also think, well there's really nothing overly exciting to blog about... but as I look back over the past year, SO much has happened, from the birth of Isabella, to the little everyday things like her learning to wave and give sweet kisses... things that I never want to forget. So here I am, wishing I had started and kept up with this long ago.

I'll give you a run-down on where we are right now. Isabella is crawling ALL over, and has been for quite a while. She will walk if you hold her hands, but is still unsteady and doesn't quite have enough strength. Travis started taking steps a few days before his first birthday, but that is only 2 1/2 weeks away for her, so I think it will be a little after that. But that's ok... I'm in no hurry for her to be running away from me quite yet :o) She and Travis are best of friends. He loves her so much, a little TOO much sometimes, and wants to hold her and pick her up and play with her all the time. She gets a little tired of being pulled and yanked though!

Travis is so funny. He's figuring out how to try to be funny on purpose, too! Like when we're in the car, he used to fall asleep from time to time, and we'd lament over the fact that he'd never get to sleep that night. So now he pretends to have fallen asleep, and he's really good at it! Then he'll start giggling his little giggle and get one of his huge smiles on his face. Cute.

I got an embroidery machine for Christmas from Kevin, so we set up a "play" area for me in the basement with an L-shaped desk (that used to be in our office when it was upstairs), so I've been spending a few "free" moments down there playing. I've had fun making some cute holiday-themed pants for Isabella, and have sold a few on eBay. Just a side hobby.

Kevin spends most of his free time these days playing "wrestlin'-basketball" with Travis. It's kinda like tackle-basketball in the basement. Travis is relentless, constantly asking him to play that or hockey. It's fun to watch...Travis says that Daddy is his best friend. Once the weather warms up, we'll all be back outside to watch Travis hit the ball over the fence. He went out by himself the other day when it was 68 degrees here and was hitting the ball off the tee. First one - over the fence. We need a bigger yard!

Kevin is also starting "Phase 2" of the kitchen, so he tries to work on that - when Travis allows! We're just adding some cabinetry above the fridge to hide the junk that always ends up there, like the bread, extra juice bottles, etc. He's also making another "display cabinet" for above the pantry. AND if I'm a really good girl, he might even make some wasted space between 2 cabinets into an area where I can put my baking sheets and long/tall items like that. We'll see :o)

WELL, that's enough for now. If I don't start posting regularly, please prod me to do so! Life goes by way too fast, and I don't want to forget a moment.

"Trust me friend, 100 years goes faster than you think, so don't blink."

Quick Catch Up

Welcome to our world! We wanted to start a blog so that we can stay connected to all of our friends and family even though we are not near most! This way we can post pictures and our happenings and stay in touch.

Here's a very brief overview of our lives up until now to catch everyone up. Kevin & I were married in September 1999, and we now have a 3 year old son, Travis, who is all boy, and an adorable 4 month old daughter, Isabella. You'll be sure to see lots of pics of them in the posts to come.

That's all for now! I'm off to take a quick walk with Isabella before her bedtime, and Kevin and Travis are outside riding bikes, Travis's very most favorite thing to do these days!