Isabelle 1 year old photo sesh

 

I've been meaning to take some "real pictures" of Isabelle for her 1 year milestone. But the weather was cold, rainy and windy for the entire month of May. Finally, it warmed up and the sun came out, and yesterday we had some good lighting so I went for it.

Unfortunately, it was her nap time during my first attempt, so I only got a few pictures:

(Eating mulch and grass....) Then she tried to eat a dirt clod and Madelyn snatched it out of her hands, and she started screaming and wouldn't stop. So I put her down for a nap and we tried again a few hours later.

[eating more grass]

 She is toddling everywhere now!

 

 ♥♥

 

 

 She is so precious and beautiful and we love her to pieces!

Btw, her dress is from Truffles Ruffles (but I got it through a zulily sale).

 Then daddy came out!

 

 

 Love those gappy teeth!

 Then we attempted some pics with all three kids.

 Finally, one I can put on our wall!

Isabelle is walking!

Our little princess has started walking! She took her first steps at 11.5 months (just like Luke) and yesterday she really started taking off (at 12.5 months just like Madelyn).

For the past month, she has mostly been getting around by knee walking and crawling still, which she is very speedy at:

I've known that she was capable of walking, she just had to get brave. It's the best when she claps her hands! SO CUTE!

Isabelle's first birthday bash

Isabelle's birthday bash was less of a bash and more of a hastily thrown together family party at the end of a very busy day of school and errands. But Mark at least had the day off, so that was nice!

 The birthday girl started off Year One with a bang. I had just changed her stinky diaper and was scooping out the litter box (my life is so glamorous) when I heard shouts from the bathroom. Mark was in the middle of cleaning out the fish tank and was dumping the dirty water and Isabelle wandered in and Oh! Look at all this water right here --I've never been able to get to it before and went for a splash IN THE TOILET. Yes.

I  have a feeling that I'm going to have a lot more gray hairs by the time she finishes her toddler years.

Anyway, we cleaned up and changed clothes and Mark showed her the music video to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." He says it is our girls' life in a nutshell.

Then she watched Sesame Street, which is her favorite part of any day.

Later that day, we had my sister Maria, Shay, Emery and Nora come over for pizza, cake and ice cream.

 

 Isabelle gave out free snuggles to Shay and Maria.

 Getting warmed up with an un-frosted cupcake

 Present time! She got completely spoiled by us, her cousins and two sets of grandparents. And her great-Gma Mary sent a card and a brand new fiver like she always does.

 I made her smash cake from scratch (a vanilla cake recipe that was a total disaster) and the cupcakes were a boxed pink velvet cake with added chocolate mini chips.

 Happy birthday to you, sweet girl!

 She thought this cake and the was the BEST THING EVER. She got the frosting up to her armpits.

 A bath was necessary.

The sweetest thing was watching her give her new baby doll loves and a kiss.

What a precious girl and we love her so much!! Happy birthday princess!

Isabelle is 12 months old!

Isabelle is 12 months old!! That year went by so fast. It seems like this just happened:

May 14, 2014 (Birth story here!)

 

She still naps in her swing, but now she's so heavy it has a hard time swinging anymore.

These comparisons are killing me.  

I don't think I ever uploaded these videos, so here is one day old Isabelle getting dressed to go home from the hospital, and Luke feeding her when she was 6 days old. ♥♥♥♥

I miss my tiny, sweet newborn but I love this age as well!

12 months of Isabelle.

 12 month stats!

Weight: 19 lbs. 4 oz. (42nd percentile)

Height: 29 1/4 inches (54th percentile)

Likes: Her family, Tiger, her binky, Sesame Street (especially Elmo), Baby Einstein videos (especially the puppet shows), cheese, mandarin oranges, bananas, anything savory flavored, dancing, shimmying, eating mom's chapstick, wiping diaper rash cream on her head, baths, being held while she sleeps

Dislikes: Doesn't like her hands to be covered by blankets/towels, hates holding still for diaper changes, getting dressed and getting her nails clipped

New skills: Imitates (holds phone to ear, puts on sunglasses, brushes hair, wipes face with cloth, etc.), rolls from back to front, waves, comes to find me when she has a dirty diaper, standing, taking a few steps, walking on her knees

She wears size 12-18 month clothes in most things, size 3 diapers and doesn't like to wear shoes, hats or swimsuits (too restricting). She has 8 teeth. She has had several colds, a couple of ear infections and gets diaper rash very easily. But when she's healthy, she's happy! Always smiling and making us smile.

 Eating her toes is another favorite.

 Wiping her face clean


 Erasing

 

 She is growing lots of wavy hair in the back, which we are all thrilled about.

When she wakes up from her nap, Madelyn always says "Mom!! Look at her mussy hair!!"

 She still has a ways to go getting hair on top. :)

She and Tiger have come to an agreement that he'll stop running from her if she'll pet nicely (instead of grabbing his fur) and refrain from screeching at him. She is doing better at that.

She usually takes a morning and afternoon nap, but sometimes an evening nap as well (or she refuses to fall asleep till evening and then she's up super late). She is a night owl anyway and won't go down for good until around 11:00 pm.*

Yawn.... Every time she "goes to bed" at 9:00 pm I get excited but she always wakes up again and is raring to go for a few more hours. She also almost always wakes up around 12:30 am and fusses until I put her binky back in and/or hold her. When she's sick or teething, she usually ends up in our bed at some point in the night.Which is why she still sleeps in a playpen in our room!

*I don't have the discipline or the inclination to do anything about this. I'm just saying this is what she does. (I am a laissez-faire mom.)

 With my mom, Carolyn

I love this look on her face, haha

She is really enthusiastic about making messes around here. She drops food and stuff off her high chair on purpose (leans way over to watch it fall), gets into the cat food/litter, the silverware in the dishwasher, the laundry, the trashes, the toilet paper, dumps toys, empties bookshelves and plays in the fridge every chance she gets.

Her favorite fox

 

Shopping for a baby doll before her birthday.

We absolutely love this girl to pieces and are so glad she's in our family. Here's a bunch of short (15 seconds for most of them) video clips of all the cute things she's been doing lately. We love you, Isabelle!! ♥♥♥♥

Saying "Hi!", her first word other than mama and dada. She also tries to meow by saying "Ow".

Rocking in her car seat. You have to entertain yourself somehow.

"Bubububububububub"

The princess wave.

Morning scrunchy face. She smiles like this if she likes you.

Rolling over and trying to walk.

The story is: She learned how to roll over from back to front last Christmas when she was around 6 months old. But after she did it a couple times, she never bothered again. She gave it another go a month ago, and that same day took four steps on her own (which we didn't catch on camera). Since then, she hasn't really tried to walk again, unless you count that she walks on her knees. I am okay with that! She gets into enough stuff as it is!! Oh and now trying to change her diaper is a complete JOKE because she just rolls over and crawls away. Rascal!