Lots of pictures

Karoline loves to hold Isabel when we go over to her house.


This is Avery walking her lizard down the hallway. She loves to walk her animals.



My little smiler...


Looks like her Daddy with his computer...

Avery and Karoline love reading together.







I've been slacking in my picture posting. I have lots that I'm sure the grandparents would love to see. We had a busy couple of weeks and weekend. Over the weekend I went away with the girls to Tahoe to scrapbook. Scrapbooking is not my favorite thing but being in the mountains with good friends, a glass of wine and being able to sleep in are! I even got 4 layouts done. Isabel went with me but Avery stayed behind with Ryan. They had a great time but I think they wore each other out! He took her to Six Flags on Saturday and they did a lot of stuff. Unfortunately neither of us took a camera!
This is my last full week home. I go back to work next Tuesday. I really enjoy my job but since I enjoy my children more it would be wonderful to stay home. I just concentrate on the fact that I am very blessed that I only have to work 3 days/week and that I have a very flexible boss!

A week ago Sunday Ryan and I took the girls to the Oakland Zoo. It was a fun family day and of course Avery loved the animals! Ryan and her also went on a roller coaster. Ryan had to hold on tight to her and we don't think it was her favorite thing. She did love the Merry Go Round though!

Isabel 7 weeks!

I will have some other pictures to post today but for right now I want to get these "professional" pics of Isabel in. Once again my friend Kelly was kind enough to take some pictures for me. This time the subject was Isabel. We tried to get them done on her 1 month birthday but due to scheduling issues we just got to it Monday. I'm actually happy about that as over the past 3 weeks she has gotten even more expressive so the pictures are much better than they would have been earlier. Of course that makes it harder to pick which ones to frame. Ryan already teases me that I have so many frames that they have become our "wallpaper". I can't help that I have such cute kids that I can't choose just a few pictures.

Girl's Weekend!

We had a great weekend out here. My 2 best friends from High School, Ali and Sara, flew out to see us! They wanted to meet Isabel and since Ali moved to Seattle we can't all expect to meet in Indy anymore.
It was very exciting as Ali is 25 weeks pregnant and looking so cute! It was a shock to me every time she would walk in the room. I am so excited for her. Even more exciting is the fact that she is also having a girl. That means all 3 of us will have had girls the first time. How crazy is that!Avery and Isabel kept us busy enough as it was.
On Friday we drove up to Healdsburg to see our other HS friend Kathy. She and her husband have a winery so we wanted to check out the new tasting room. It is a great winery (Kokomo Wines, check them out they are very good!) and we enjoyed getting the personal tour. We felt so special as we totally bi-passed the the tasting counter and Josh took us around. They have a little girl Iris and I can only imagine what fun she will have growing up running through the vineyards!
Other than that we went shopping and just talked. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends!

Iris and Avery eating Merlot grapes



Ali and Avery in front of one of the grape vats.


Aunt Sara and Isabel.

Ali will be furious that I posted this pic since it was first thing in the morning but you can see what a natural she'll be!

How our lives have changed but our friendship hasn't!

Isabel cooing

Here is a very long video of Isabel "talking" to me. It is definitely something only the grandparents will want to sit through!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

She's smiling!

Isabel is 3 days past her month "birthday"! She is growing and developing nicely. I can't believe how much they change in a month. She is lifting her head, tracking with her eyes and smiling. They are funny smiles but smiles nevertheless.
We went to the doctor yesterday and he said she is looking good.
Weight 9lb 12oz 75%
Height 22.25in 95%
Everyone says that they think she looks like Ryan but from these pictures you can see she definitely gets her "chins" from her mom!
Isn't she beautiful!

More video

Here are 2 videos. The lizard we found on a walk but it wouldn't eat the bugs we gave it so this is when we let it go.
The other is Avery taking care of Isabel.

Getting so big

Here are some pics of the girls over the past week and a half. It's been warm again so last week we had Karoline and Sydney-Kate over to "swim" in the pool. They had a great time but actually preferred playing in the house. The heat is supposed to break today so this might be the last time we blow up the pool!
I also wanted to get some more of Isabel especially in the purple outfit. We have some professional pictures taken of Avery in the same one and at the beginning they looked identical. Now Isabel is putting on more weight and they are starting to look different. Isabel is so much "chunkier" than Avery was. She has rolls that Avery never had. It is too cute. She also has a bit more red in her hair that is very visible in the light. She might turn out to be a strawberry blonde! She is such a delight to have around. So easy-going and cuddly. She is just such a comfortable baby and it feels like she always been a part of the family.
Avery loves to "pet" her and help out. If she even starts to cry Avery is either running over there or yelling at me to get her. I know I have to come running in the room if she starts to cry and Avery is around. The other day I was in the kitchen and Isabel started to cry and when I came in the room Avery had picked her up from the couch!!! She was actually doing a pretty good job of carrying her but it freaked me out. Needless to say we had a little talk about that but I still don't delay if Isabel starts to cry! It was hard to be too mad as she was just trying to help.



Isabel's first bottle. I was afraid she wouldn't take to it very well since she doesn't really like pacifiers but it was just fine!


Isabel in the stroller. Avery's seat sits over this part that lays down flat. It's a great system.



Chasing after an airplane.

Karoline put this green rocker in the pool as their "boat"!

Funny video

Avery was dancing in her room and it was too cute. I couldn't help but laugh as she made herself dizzy and fell over.