In reference to her grandparents' generosity

Madelyn says, "Hey, you know when they come visit, it's like our birthday every time."

Nine Months Old

Isabel is 9 months old today. I would say "I can't believe it.", but I feel like I say that every month. She's such a little joy. Her current schedule: wake between 6 am and 7 am; bottle; sleep until 8:30; eat breakfast, play and nap around 10; up from nap and bottle around 11:00; eat lunch, play, and nap around 2:00; up from nap and bottle around 4:00; play, eat dinner, bed around 7:00.

She's crawling around everywhere, is trying to figure out steps, pulls up on everything and everyone, and has gotten much more chatty. She says, "da da da" quite a bit, and I've heard the occasional "ma ma". She doesn't eat much (shocker!) but really likes deli meat, cheerios, kinda liking yogurt lately, pancakes and loves black beans. We tried spaghetti a couple of nights ago and that was a pretty big hit. She isn't crazy about fruit, which is pretty puzzling to me. I think she has a very sensitive pallet and anything slightly tangy or sour is unappealing to her. She refuses to eat baby food.

She's pretty cuddly, and that's new to me. Of course, I really like it. She has the cutest way of burying her head in my chest or JD's when she's shy. She's also the clingiest of my kids and is the only one to cry when being dropped off at the nursery at church. They promise us it only lasts a second and she's always happy when we pick her up.

With this update, I have one question: Why is it when JD picks her up from the nursery, she's all smiles and giggles, but when I pick her up and she spots me, she immediately bursts into tears?

Like Father, Like Son

JD decided to knock a little mowing out of the way before we headed to the pool, hence the swim trunks and no shirt. When I came out to check his progress I saw that Pierce had joined in on the action.


Madelyn wanted in on the action, too, but she was worried about her roly poly. I told her that it was time to put it back on the ground. She wanted to know why she couldn't keep it, and I explained that God had designed them to live in dirt and not in our house. She seemed satisfied with that answer.


And she got the other mower and went to work.

Isabel's Favorite Toy

Yes, electric cords. She can spot them a mile away.

A little look into the kids' week

The kids got to go to Granddaddy's farm today. They've been wanting to do this for a while, so I'm glad they got the opportunity. I spoke with them for a few minutes and Madelyn informed me that they cut the wheat with the combine and that she caught a little fish in the pond.

Sounds like a successful day to me.

Thanks to Jay for the picture!

What to do...

We're two-thirds of the way toward an empty nest for most of this week. The big kids are hanging with my in-laws, and Isabel is getting a glimpse of being an only child. I don't think she really notices anything different, but it sure is quiet around here. What have I done with all of my freedom? Well, nothing exciting because I do still have an 8 month old around, but yesterday I ventured to T@rget, which is something I never do (unless it's an emergency) with the kids anymore. After Isabel woke up from her afternoon nap at 4:30, I found myself trying to remember what in the world I did when it was just Madelyn and me. Today I went to S@feway, ditto on the never doing it thing. I took Isabel with me to vote this morning. There's a primary today in our congressional district. She won the poll workers over with her Cheerio filled smile.

Last night, we went to a new parent orientation for Madelyn's school. We've decided to send her to our church's school, at least for next year. It goes through 8th grade and has a great reputation academically. I feel confident that this is the right decision for next year. We'll reevaluate after we've seen how things go through the year. I'm getting excited for her, and I know she'll do great. As I was listening to the speakers at orientation last night, I kept thinking how amazing it was that Madelyn is 5 years older than the day she was born and that I haven't aged a bit. Ha!

That's the word here.

Last Weekend

Last weekend, we kicked off the summer along with the rest of America. The "big" kids went canoeing on Burke Lake with JD, and on Monday, we, along with the rest of our community, went to the pool. A great time was had by all, and the kids picked up right where they left off with their swimming skills. Madelyn jumped right in; Pierce was "nervous" at the beginning but was kicking his feet hard by the time we left. We've been back to the pool twice this week, and each time, Pierce has gotten braver. Hopefully, he will actually get in the water with his teacher during swim lessons tomorrow. Last week, it was all I could do to get him to dangle his feet over the edge.