Pool Time

Last week we took Isla to the neighborhood pool for the first time. She wasn't really sure what to think. They have a baby pool with water sprayers that at first she wanted nothing to do with, but by the second or third time we went she was all excited about them. She also enjoyed floating in the lazy river and "jumping" into the big pool.
























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Fist Haircut

Ryan finally let me get Isla's hair cut! We went to a kids' salon and it was super cute. She was so distracted by all the toys and other kids that she really didn't mind getting her hair cut.
Before








After








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1 Year

I know everyone always says this, but I really can't believe my baby is a year old. She just gets more amazing every day. This spring really flew by and all of the sudden it was time for Isla's birthday. She had a great party and we are so lucky that so many family and friends were able to help celebrate. Before I get to the pictures, I wanted to recap some of her developmental milestones.
Weight/Height: She is 22 lbs and about 30 inches. Basically around the 75% for both.
Walking: She has been walking since about 11 months old. It took her so long to crawl that I thought(hoped) she would be a late walker, but no such luck. Once she was crawling and figured out how much better it was to be independent, there was no stopping her. After a few weeks she was pulling up and "furniture surfing". It wasn't long before she took her first steps and it's been a blur every since. She is all over the place and into everything now.
Eating: She is still a pretty picky eater which is no surprise if you know her father!  She will usually try cut up food on her tray, but will immediately spit out any chunks of food you try to feed her yourself. She doesn't like texture very much, but we are working on it. She does love bananas, yogurt, some fruits, crackers, cheerios/puffs, and of course Pappy's ribs.
Teeth: She still just has the two on the bottom. We can see the two top ones are about to poke through, but not quite there yet.
Language: She is babbling a lot more now. Mainly Da-da, but some ma-ma's every once in awhile.She has started to mimic what we say to her so I'm sure it won't be long now before she is saying all kinds of things.
We had a whale/beach themed party for Isla's first birthday and I think she approved!




Rocking Chair from Nana Breard












Isla and her cousin Reagan




















Cousins!!!








Another Cousins shot in outfits from Grandma Siffring




Siffring Family photo

Uh Oh

We have an official first word - "uh oh". Isla has been babbling for quite awhile now. She will say mama or dada, but not on command or in context. Uh oh is the first word we can get her to repeat. This morning while I was dropping her off at daycare, she dropped a toy and said "uh oh". It was adorable! She has also started using her sippy cup more and more. I just can't believe what a little person she is becoming. She is just so smart, sweet, and adorable.







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7 months

Isla is 7 moths old. I can't seem to keep up with blog in order to report all that she is doing now. She is reaaaallly close to crawling. She will use her arms to spin in a circle and will go backwards on her tummy. She can get up on her hands and knees but just sways back and forth at this point. She is definitely mobile though. I will put her on her owl mat with lots of toys and the next thing I know she is stuck under the TV armoire. I really can't take my eyes off her for a second now. She is basically all over the place. She want to grap everything in sight.

She is becoming a little more vocal now. She will say things that sound like hi or da da, but nothing for real yet. She is still usually her happy little self.

We finally stopped swaddling her. It worked well for so long and I was really hesitant about stopping, but it was a pretty easy transition. She was flipping over onto her stomach while swaddled, which made me really nervous. So now we just put her to bed and tuck a blanket around her. She immediately turns onto her side to fall asleep and eventually ends up on her stomach. We've been cluster feeding her at night in hopes that she doesn't wake up at 3am wanting to eat. Sometimes this works and other nights it does not. I still haven't quite figured out the trick. I'm wondering if she might be going through a growth spurt and is just hungry.

She is doing very well with her solids now. She gets them three times a day. Her favorite dinner time toy in the highchair is a wooden spoon. I think I will need to stock up on them. The first one I gave her was actually a very nice one from Sur La Table that ended up on the floor and chewed up by a certain small black dog that will go unnamed. We've been through most of the cereals, fruits, and veggies. I haven't given her meat yet b/c those just look disgusting. I'm not sure I can stomach spooning it out and feeding her!

She just loves all the pets. She lights up and smiles whenever she sees them. She does a good job of softly petting them while I supervise her.The dogs love the attention and the cats, at least Sashimi, tolerate her. Soju just runs away. I can't wait for her to be able to chase the dogs around and give them a taste of their own medicine.

Here's a picture of her first thing in the morning. We put her to bed with her hair still a little damp and this happened:

Christmas Recap

Isla's first Christmas can be summarized in one word: TOYS! She got a ton of toys, all of which make noise (thank you Nana Breard)! She didn't quite master opening the presents, but she loved the tissue paper. If I would have let her put it in her mouth, I think that would have been her favorite thing of all.

We spent Christmas in Little Rock with my side of the family since we spent Thanksgiving in Nebraska with Ryan's side. We usually switch back and forth each year. We went to Church on Christmas Eve and then had the obligatory viewing of It's a Wonderful Life. Although I think I passed out on the floor before the movie was over. We opened presents on Christmas morning with my dad, Sam, and MG. Then we headed over to my mom's for more presents. My mom definately spoiled Isla as there were a ton of presents and they were all for her! She got lots of great stuff and I know she will enjoy playing with it all.

Here she is with her new "laptop". This picture is pretty scary. She looks just like her dad!

Here a few pictures from Christmas Eve. She is wearing her Santa Baby outfit from Grandpa Stadter that was just adorable.

6 months

While I was traveling for work, Isla turned 6 months old. I was gone for almost a whole week and this is the longest I have been away from her. It was difficult to not see her smiling face everyday and to give her hugs and kisses whenever I wanted. I did get to facetime with her several days and that helped. I have several trips this winter for work and I'm not looking forward to leaving her again:(

I noticed the other day that I still keep saying/thinking "I just had a baby". I guess I need a reality check that is has been 6 months. It still seems like we are trying to get in a routine or get a handle on having a baby. I guess that's probably how it will be from now on. It seems like whenever we get something down, it changes. I can't get over how big she has gotten. It's hard to remember how small she was when she was born.

At her 6 month check-up, she weighed 17.8 lbs and was 27 inches long. I'm surprised how "tall" she seems all of the sudden. Hopefully she will get her daddy's height and not be a shorty like her mom. Here's a picture of her at Thanksgiving with Grandpa and Grandma Siffring.

Isla loves the jumperoo! It keeps her attention longer than any other toy. Unfortunately, it also tends her get her systems moving and can be a bit messy!

She is sitting up on her own now and enjoys sitting and playing with toys. We couldn't get her to really sit for very long until we discovered the trick. We went to her daycare for a family night and they sat her down with a mat full of toys and she was perfectly content. We weren't giving her enough toys! Now we just load her up and she will play by herself for much longer. At the family night, Santa was there for pictures and she did great! She didn't have a care in the world and gave a big smile for the camera (as always). She is quite the ham!