Isla Joyce {15 months}

Weight: 20.14 lbs (21%)

Length:  30.5in. (53%)

Eating: She is eating 3 solid meals a day with occasional snacks if we go too long between meals.  Her current favorites are avocados, broccoli, peas, black beans, corn, cheese, yogurt, blueberries, strawberries, watermelon, kiwi, mango, and bananas. 

Bedtime: 8:30 pm

Awake: 8:30 am

Naps: One nap around 3pm-6pm

Diapers: size 3's 

Clothes: still in some 6-12month & 12 months clothes, but if I buy something new I buy 18 month clothes.  In shoes she wears size 2 or 3.

Favorites:  books! she loves books! she also loves her cozy coupe car, eatting, sippy cups of milk, going for walks in the stroller with Ruby, playing with Ruby, giving hugs and kisses to Mommy, Daddy, & Ruby, Baby Einstein on the ipad, and playing with the iphone or ipad. 

Latest Tricks: Sooooo close to walking, but not yet there! She will only try to walk when it is her idea, if you try to make her she wants nothing to do with it.  She is a super fast crawler, and can walk really well with just holding one of your hands.  She can also get up to standing from sitting with out holding on to anything. She has taken up to 37 steps in row by herself, but still prefers to crawl! She understands a lot of what we say! If we tell her a simple command she will usually do it.  She can label most of the parts of her face, but really loves pointing to her nose and ears :)  She really loves baby sign language.  She can sign "more", "all done", "please", "thank you", "book", "milk", "open", and "baby". She likes signing more than talking but so far she has said, "mama", "dada", "La Palmera" (that the name of the mall here in Corpus and she really just does a funny tongue roll when you say La Palmera :)) "Please", "yeah", "Sarah" (for her Aunt Sarah), "YaYa" (for her Lolli who we might all be calling YaYa if Isla decides that is her name!), "RaRa" (for her Aunt Cara) and "Birthday".  She has just started to try to mimic sounds. 

Easter

Well its been 7 months since I last blogged, my sweet little 7 month old that I last blogged about is now a crazy 14 month old! I'm going to try to play a little catch up until we get to present day!  Sadly, I was bad about taking monthly pictures and keep up with her stats after 7 months.  And, I was also bad about getting my good camera out.  iphones have made it too easy to capture those moments I would usually get my camera out to capture.  So now I will attempt to catch up on the few things that we have done that I did take pictures with my big camera!

This was Isla's first Easter and first time out at camp! I had been looking forward to bringing my baby to Easter at Laity since last Easter when I was 8 months pregnant at camp.  As usual we had an amazing time.  As soon as we drove through the front gates Trevor had me pull Isla out of her car seat so she could ride in his lap.  Yes, Isla, you drive in the river!

The one thing I was nervous about going into the weekend was the sleeping arrangements and how it would work with a baby.  We ended up putting her pack n play right next to my bunk in the "girls cabin" and she slept like a little angel!

Last Easter we hiked circle bluff when I was 8 months pregnant so this year I kindly let Trevor know it was his turn to haul Isla up there :) She loved riding in the backpack!

We got a few family pictures taken at the top.

And just for comparison sake...

We also were able to tour the new headwaters family camp campsite and have our Sunday morning Easter service in the new pavilion.  After the service we took advantage of the beautiful setting of headwaters to take some more family pictures.

After we left camp on Sunday we went to Grammie and Pop's house to celebrate Easter with my side of the family.  We had an Easter egg hunt with Ainslee and Hattie and Isla got her first Easter basket full of goodies!

Easter is definitely one of my favorite holidays and I had fun getting to share it with Isla for the first time this year!

Isla {7 Months}

Weight: 17.3 lbs

Length:  25 in.

Eating: nursing 5 times a day and 1-2 meals of rice cereal and baby food.  She's still not eating a lot of baby food, she had a little cold this month that kinda threw her off and she stopped wanting to eat so we are still recovering from that.  So far her favorite food has been peaches.

Bedtime: around 8:30pm

Awake: around 8:00am

Naps: Naps were also really thrown off from her sickness this month :( Still taking two naps a day but they aren't as long as they used to be. Typically 40 minutes-2 hours if I'm lucky!

Diapers: size 3's

Clothes: still fitting in some 3-6 months, 6 months, 9 months, and 6-12 months.

Favorites:  the exersaucer, all her new Christmas presents, paci, being out and about and smiling at strangers that talk to her :) 

Latest Tricks: whistling (although she does not know she's doing it :)), doing push ups when she's on her tummy, waving but we still can't tell if its on purpose but she has waved to her Lolly while video chatting and to Ruby, and she's got the pincher grip down with her thumb and pointer. 

 

Isla {6 Months}

Weight:   15 pounds 10 ounces - 45%

Length:  I can't remember the measurement but it was in the 43%

Head Circumference: Can't remember this either :/

Eating: nursing 5 times a day and starting to try baby food once a day, so far she's tried avocado, sweet potato, carrots, rice cereal and bananas.  She is not a huge fan of any of it yet but I think we are getting there slowly.

Bedtime: around 8:30pm

Awake: around 7:30am

Naps: either two 2-3hr. naps or 3 shorter naps

Diapers: size 3

Clothes: 3-6 months, 6 months, and a few 9 months and 6-12 months

Favorites: Her exersaucer, Ruby, the stacking ring toy, paci, swinging, squealing, being tickled  

Latest Tricks: being a more stable sitter, saying "dada" (but not really in context :)), finally rolling both ways, belly laughing, sharing her paci by trying to put it in your mouth, and starting to kinda reach for Mommy when someone else is holding her and passing her back to me! 

Isla {5 Months}

Weight: We don't go to the dr. this month so I'm not sure...
Length: 
Head Circumference: 
Eating: nursing exclusively about 5 times a day
Bedtime: The time change kinda threw us off, but before that she had been getting super sleepy around 8:30.  She wants to go to bed a little earlier now but I try to keep her up until at least 8.
Awake: Again the time change messed us up :( She had been waking up around 8:15.  Now its more like 7:15.  She is still waking up randomly in the middle of the night but usually will go back to sleep if I reswaddle her and put her paci back in.  I'm dreading having to stop swaddling her, the miracle blanket really is a miracle and I don't know what I will do without.
Naps: 2-3 naps a day, either two long naps or three short naps.
Diapers: size 3's
Clothes: 3-6 months and 6 months
Favorites: She loves this kinda creepy toy that was a hand-me-down from her cousins.  It makes lots of different noises and its cheeks glow and it makes her smile everytime!  She also loves her sophie toy, Ruby, peek a boo, books, and when you make funny noises with your mouth.
Latest Tricks: Smiling back at strangers that smile at her, sitting up!, trying to make the same funny noises with her mouth that you make, very good at rolling tummy to back but still fighting rolling back to tummy! (she will get almost all the way over and then realize what she doing and roll back over real quick)


 

Baby's 1st Halloween

Even though Isla will never remember this Halloween I still wanted to make it special for her so we could at least have pictures for her to see when she grows up.  I love looking at the pictures my parents took of me as a baby, and especially love looking back at all my old Halloween costumes!  So our first Fall photo op was taking Isla to the pumpkin patch near her Lolly and Pops' house in Houston.

Then I had to copy the idea I had seen from a friend a few years ago and have seen all over the internet recently...

On Halloween morning I dressed her up in her "Baby's 1st Halloween" outfit.

And then she had a play date with her buddy Judah and she shared her pumpkin with him :) 

I carved her pumpkin last minute while she napped and then dressed her up in her bunny costume when she woke up.  We took a few quick pictures and then left the candy on the doorstep and went to some friends house.

Hanging out with Nacho with only half a stache :)

We might have scarred her for life by sticking her in a pumpkin and strapping a bunny nose to her ears :), but I have a feeling she has already forgotten and will laugh when she looks back on these pictures someday!

 

Isla {4 months}

Weight:  13lbs 3 oz. (40%)
Length:  24.88 in. (70%)
Head Circumference: (44%)
Eating: nursing exclusively about 5 times a day
Bedtime: still not on a strict schedule anywhere from 8-10
Awake: between 7-10, but it doesn't correlate with when she goes to bed! I've tried to figure out what makes her sleep in longer, eating later or going to bed later, etc. and I haven't for the life of me figured it out.  I think she just likes to keep me on my toes!  She had a few nights of waking up crying several times in the middle night just wanting her paci and I was afraid that she was going through the "4 month sleeping regression"  but then she went back to sleeping through the night.
Naps: she is taking great naps!  I started swaddling her in the miracle blanket for naps and she sleeps great.  On days that we stay home all day she takes 3 really great naps anywhere from 1-3 hrs. She doesn't nap as well on the go anymore but will usually make up for it by taking a long nap when we get home.
Diapers: size 2's
Clothes: 3-6 months and 6 months
Favorites: eating, her toes, recently her thumb, her paci, really anything that can go in her mouth :) She loves smiling at Daddy when he gets home, and loves trying to grab Ruby's tongue when she licks her hands!
Latest Tricks: Sucking her toes, grabbing toys, pulling her knees up under her body during tummy time, drooling :)

Labor Day Weekend

Trevor took an extra day off of work over labor day weekend so we had a long four day weekend to go play at the farm in Hempstead.  We drove in late when Trevor got off work on Thursday night.  Isla slept the whole way there and then went down for the night pretty quickly once we got there.  We all slept in on Friday morning and just hung around the house.  After lunch we got our swimsuits on and cooled off in the pool.  I think we have a water baby on our hands because she loved it!

She loved it outside so much that we hung out all afternoon by the pool, she even napped on a lounge chair in the shade by the pool.

Logan and Sarah came out later that afternoon and we fished a little.

Then we went to our favorite local mexican restaurant, Las Fuentes, for some dinner and margaritas!

The next morning everyone except Isla and I went out dove hunting.  Little Miss and I slept in again and then got dressed in our best camo to support everyone in their hunting efforts.  Later that day Mallory and Rob and Trevor's parents all joined us out there.  We all swam some more and then the boys and Sarah went out for an evening dove hunt.  

While they were in the field we walked over to the stables to introduce Isla to the horses.

I think meeting horses wore her out because she was getting super fussy.  A couple of us tried to calm her down and make her happy again, but were unsuccessful.  Then Pops, aka "the baby whisperer" took her and she got so relaxed and calm in his arms, eventually falling asleep.

That night we cooked some of the birds that they had gotten that day and some steaks and potatoes, yum!  The next day we did a lot of the same; swimming and hunting.  I got a cute video of Isla swimming with her Pops before they left to go back home.

It was her first real "laugh" that I got on video! She sure does love her Pops!  Sunday night it was just Rob & Mallory with us.  The girls enjoyed some more pool time while the boys went hunting again and then we enjoyed a lasagna dinner and cheering on the Baylor Bears.

Monday we all slept in again, Isla slept the latest out of everyone until 10:30!  I think she was on her best behavior because she wants her Aunt Mal to give her a friend soon and wants her to think that babies are a piece of cake! ha! She loves her Aunt Mal a lot too!

We all packed up and headed out around lunch time.  It was a great Labor Day weekend!  So thankful that little Miss Isla loves weekend trips as much as her mommy and daddy do!