It's official!

We have a tooth!!! It broke through last night/this morning sometime. :) And she's still gnawing away at everything! :)

First time in the Pool

We went to the pool for the first time today. :) Belle LOVED the water! I suspected she would since she loves bath time so much! She is so much her Daddy's child - a little fish in the water! She never cried or fussed (until she was ready to be done). I thought she might since the water was a little chilly, but nope! Not our little girl! She just started bouncing right away in it! I even sat her down in the water and it was up to her chest and she just splashed! What a cutie pie! Then we put her in her little race car float toy and she loved it. We took her to the big pool instead of the wading pool and she loved it! She was kicking her little feet and floating around. Then we got kicked out of the big pool because you apparently can't have diapered babies in there... so, we went back to the little pool for a while and let her play a while more until she started fussing to let me know she was done!

Here are some cute pictures from today.
This is her "tanning". (really, i just had to put her sunscreen on, so i layed her down...)
Me and Belle in the wading pool.
Super cute picture. She was splashing herself in her face.
Here is our little princess in her princess hoodie with a crown (from grandma lumsden)


Finally, a little video from right before she got fussy... she was spinning herself around in circles. :)

Oh yeah - I just wanted to tell you all that last night, I went to dinner with Julia and Belle and I got home around 9 and I got her to bed about 9:30. Well, she slept through the night AND slept in this morning - until 9:45!!!!!!! It was awesome!!! I was so rested when I got up today! :) I'm hoping for another one of those nights, but I put her down at 8 tonight, so maybe I'll at least get until 8 tomorrow morning! (One can hope!) :)

Pancakes

I gave Belle some pancakes today for the first time... It was her first solid food and I thought she would like them... I guess I was wrong! Here are a couple pictures and then a video... By the way, I tried honey nut cheerios later in the day and got the same result!Excited about this new food in here hands.
Not so sure anymore...

Trying the pancakes (after she crumbled it all up...)

teeth too?

I'm thinking we are officially in teething mode... we now have two little bumps on the bottom! I'll keep you posted...

Here's a picture to from a couple weeks ago... cracks me up every time! :) She's such a hoot!

Rocking and Rolling

Here's a little video for you. She started out sitting, but ended up on her tummy and she was being goofy rolling over and giggling. :)

Whoa

Upgraded Isabelle to her new "big girl" carseat today! She looks so tiny in it but she seems very comfortable. The infant seat that we had is only good up to 22 lbs and as of last Wednesday, she was 19lbs 8oz. I got some coupons last week for 15% off car seats at Babies-R-Us so I went last weekend and picked up 2 of them and saved $60! Can't really beat that! Plus - I put them on our Babies-R-Us card and got 180 days no payments or interest! :) (side note - my dogs are snuggled up on the couch sleeping - Elwood with his head on Jake's butt as a pillow... it's too funny - had to comment). Anyway, I'll have to get a picture of her in her new seat and post it.

Also, I overpaid on one of my credit cards last night so I had a nice credit on it and we decided, instead of waiting for them to get around to issuing us a refund check, we would go get the new vacuum that we've been wanting because I saw it on clearance for $349 two weeks ago (from $499). So I got there today, and it was down to $249!!! So I asked someone if there were any other one in stock or if it was just the floor model and turns out, it was just the floor model left. So I asked the guy if all the parts were there and stuff. Then there was this piece sitting there and I was pretty sure it actually went with the animal hair vacuum ($549 - and not on sale), but I asked the guy if it went with this one? He said "well, I'm not sure, but I'll give it to you". ROCK ON! And then he says "oh - and because this is the floor model, you get an additional 20% off". I couldn't believe it!!! So, I ended up getting a $500 vacuum for $200 AND I got the additional pet thing for free, which is the only difference between the one I got and the pet one, so essentially, I saved another $50 on that. I was STOKED! I haven't used it yet, though. I was too tired when I got home and I just don't feel like it now! Tomorrow I will play with it though. I know how nasty these floors are - I'm just curious to see how much of the nastiness this new vacuum pulls out because our old one is really not picking anything up anymore... well, I take that back - it still picks up a disgusting amount of dirt and dog hair, but you can always still see a layer of dog hair on the floor AFTER vacuuming...

Well, anyway, I guess I should go get some rest. Nick has a softball game tomorrow. Hopefully they don't get mercied again!!! haha!!! :)

My very own Cabbage Patch Kid!

Sick Baby - Update

Well, we went today for x-rays. The good news is, the x-rays were negative, so that means no asthma, no bronchiolitis and no pneumonia. The bad news is that we still don't know what's causing this cough. Hopefully it's just allergies and the meds she's on will start helping soon! In the meantime, we are going to do some serious cleaning this weekend to see if it's maybe something in the house??? We do have a dust factory in here... Who knows?

Anyway, other news - my cousin J.R. and his wife are going to be in town next weekend and are going to stay with us for a couple days. That should be fun! I'm excited to see him! It's been a lot of years!!!

Sick Baby

This is my frustrated post for the week... As some of you know, our little Belle has been sick on and off since she started daycare - no big deal. Well, starting the first week of April, she got this nasty cough and runny nose and I gave it 2 weeks to run it's course, thinking it was just another cold. After 2 weeks, I decided there was probably more to it, so I took her in to the doc. Diagnosis #1 - cold (let it run it's course) and ear infection. Remedy #1 - antibiotic. After that visit, we scheduled our next visit for 3 weeks later to make sure the ear infection was taken care of. So, 3 weeks later (5 weeks now), she still has this cough and runny nose. Diagnosis #2 - allergies. Remedy #2 - benedryl as needed. So, we went to Wal-Mart and went to pick up some Benedryl, but there is no Benedryl for infants, only children. I thought "okay, let's try that". So I pick it up and read the label and it says "Do not use on children under 2 years of age". Huh? So, why would I buy that?? Clearly I was not looking at the right thing and Wal-Mart must not carry what kind the doctor wanted us to get, because obviously, my (at the time) 5 month old falls in the "under 2 category", so we didn't get it and I was just going to ask the doctor about it at her 6 month well baby visit. Two weeks later, at her well visit (7 weeks now into this cough), doc says everything is fine and isn't concerned with the cough. The next week (yup - 8 weeks), she develops what I think is thrush, so back to the doctor she goes. Diagnosis #3 - thrush and reflux. Remedy #3 - meds for the thrush, boil all bottles, nipples and pacifiers 20 minutes a day and previcet once a day for the reflux. Well, we've been giving her the reflux meds for 8 days now and the cough seems to be getting worse. I mean, this little girl is coughing so hard her little eyes are pouring and her face is turning purple. Half the time, she gags so she almost throws up and none of us are getting any sleep because the cough is worst at night, so we are up every hour or so giving a drink of water or replacing a coughed out pacifier. Well, Monday, I made a trip to CVS at 4am (thank goodness for 24 hour service!) and got some Benedryl (yes, the children's stuff that says "do not give to your infant", but the pharmacist assured me it was the right stuff, and so, in my completely exhausted state, I said "okay" and got it). Got home, gave her 1/2 teaspoon, as directed. Well, it didn't help the cough so much as just knock her out, but it gave us all some relief and we all got a couple hours of sleep. Tuesday, we gave her Benedryl all day and still the cough is going crazy. Today, back to the doctor. Diagnosis #4 - ear infection (other ear this time), possible allergies, possible cold - basically - "we have no idea why your 6 month old has been coughing like crazy for the past 9 weeks". Remedy #4 - another antibiotic for the ear infection (hopefully this one won't cause thrush - see where we're going with this?), singulair for the possible allergies and keep taking the previcet for the possible reflux (which I am convinced she doesn't have or she would likely be screaming her little head off when she spits up, which she doesn't do) and finally, chest xrays to rule out athsma and something else (Nick took her and doesn't remember what the other one is). So, we are halfway through week 9 of this nasty cough and runny nose and I have to take her to get chest xrays. I bet that's going to be fun! Still, no resolution though, which I am completely frustrated about - could also have something to do with the fact that I haven't gotten more than 4 hours of continuous sleep in more than 9 weeks (except when Howard and Gloria were here and I got a nice long nap)... Who knows... anyway, that's my rant for the day. I will keep you posted on how our little munchkin is doing. That said - I'm off to bed! (Power is about to go out anyway - lights keep flashing!)