Goodbye 2007

Well, the year 2007 is coming to an end and as we look back, we can definitely say that it has been a great year. We were able to welcome a wonderful new addition to our family. And despite the constant tiredness and occasional frustration, we are still excited to have welcomed Isabella into our lives. And as Christmas has just passed, we are so grateful for the generosity of our friends and family.

Here are a few pictures and a quick video to share at the end of this year. We look forward to sharing more with you over the coming months and years.

Isabella with her Grandpa Gallahan


Aunt Teresa and our little Santa Baby


Isabella in the new outfit that her cousin, Katlyn, gave her for Christmas


And Isabella getting excited over some green beans. Yummy!


Happy New Year to all of you!!

Some new milestones --- Yeah!

So we have two pieces of big news -- Isabella rolled all the way over and she is eating baby food now. We started her out on applesauce (she's been on rice cereal for a while) and she loved those. We then moved to pears which she also loved. Carrots were introduced yesterday and she even loves those. We'll try some other veggies and fruits over the next couple of weeks. She gets very excited and sometimes a little impatient, but she definitely enjoys her food. We'll see how it continues.

Here's Isabella enjoying her carrots.




And here is a funny picture. Her life is so hard!

Christmas Time is here again!

Christmastime is here again, and of course, we're busy as can be. This unfortunately has been a rough week. Monday was a good day spent baking with Tammy's sisters at their mom's house (she has the most room). They baked 9 different things and didn't finish up until 9pm. The finishing touches will be completed on Saturday and gift plates made up. Tuesday started off great with Ken off of work. A day of errands and Christmas tree shopping. Ken had never bought a real tree before so that was fun to see his excitement. Then Tammy got sick. She came down with a really bad cold and was running a high fever. Unfortunately that meant little sleep for her. Aunt Linda came and stole Isabella in the afternoon, despite the first snowstorm of the year, and whisked her away to Grandma's house so that Tammy could take a nap. Ken was a sweetheart and took Isabella to his mom's house on his way to work this morning so that Tammy could sleep in. It was much appreciated.

Ken is extremely excited in that he went to the Redskins game tonight. His tickets were free!!! He said his seats were near the field in a corner of the stadium, but definitely good seats. At halftime the temperature was 26 degrees. YIKES! He left at halftime, along with quite a few other people.

The Church Christmas Party was last Saturday. We were in charge of decorations. Things went well and were kept simple. Linda and Pam did family portraits for people at church. So of course, before the party started, they had to play with the borrowed camera and did a photo shoot of Isabella. So here are some of the pictures from that.

Happy Turkey Day!

Turkey Day has come and gone and all went well. It was quite busy, but a very nice day. Ken played in the annual Turkey-bowl with some guys from church and was quite sore afterwards. Then Ken and I deep fried a turkey for dinner with his family. This is the second year we've fried a turkey, last year for my family, this year for his. Both years it has turned out great. It was a long and tiring day though. Even for Isabella. Such a rough life to get passed around to everyone and cuddled all day. Friday was of course "Black Friday," the biggest shopping day of the year. Ken of course was busy at work....the curse of working retail. Linda, Pam, and I were going to hit some of the early bird sales. However, it was easier to give them a list of the few things I wanted and have them get those items. So Pam and Linda hit the sales at Walmart and Target. Then we all met at Mom and Dad's and Mom and I made them breakfast. I believe it worked out well for all.

Isabella did make her first non-well baby visit to the doctor this week. She sounded terrible and had a rattle in her chest and a bad cough. So we called the doctor. Of course, they said she must be getting over some virus, but didn't prescribe anything and said to just wait it out. That was Monday, its now Saturday night and she's doing great. Her teeth bother her every so often, but otherwise she's doing good. We'll see on Monday if that's still the case...she gets her 4-month shots on Monday. Can you believe she's 4 months old?!?

Here are a few pictures just because they're cute.

Isabella trying out her grip


Uh-oh ---we're going to have a thumb-sucker




Isabella likes her Bumpo seat (yes they've been recalled, but I'm not the idiot parent that puts the child in the seat on an elevated surface and walks away)


This is Isabella with her cousins from Ken's side -- Tiffany, Mike, and Katlyn. Tiffany put the headband on Isabella. Can we sing "Let's get physical, physical." =D

Where has November gone?

It seems like it was just Halloween and now Thanksgiving is next week. CRAZY! Isabella is growing like a weed. She weighs about 13.5 pounds now. Big girl. She rolled over on Sunday with some coaching from her Uncle Mike. She has rolled over a couple more times this week with a little help from Mommy. She wants to crawl so bad but she needs to figure out first that if she pushes up with her arms, she can see a whole new world. She loves to sit up...thank goodness for Bumpo seats! She is talking like crazy. There are some nights that she will talk over Ken and I when we're having a conversation, or she will yell at us if we're not looking at her when she's talking. Its quite funny.

Here are a few pictures...just because she's such a cutie. The first one was Ken trying a hat on Isabella that was given to us as a gift. The second is her in her carseat all bundled up. She just looked so cute, I had to take a picture. The third is Ken trying to feed her with a spoon. She's been getting cereal bottles for a few weeks now, so we thought we'd introduce the spoon and see how she did....Not well, she's not quite ready for the spoon yet.

Halloween

Isabella was able to enjoy her first halloween. She was a little princess. Which, of course, she is anyways!

Just a short update

So this is my first week as a Stay-at-Home Mom. But let me tell you, its been a busy week. Monday, my visiting teachers were supposed to come, but they cancelled because they had sick kids, so I went and hung out with Mom for a bit. Tuesday, Ken and I left Isabella with Grandma Gallahan and we went up to the Temple. That was very nice because we hadn't been in quite a while. Wednesday, a group of the stay-at-home moms from church had a potluck lunch. Thursday, I had a going away lunch for a former co-worker and girls night that evening. But so far today, Friday, is looking fairly quiet. Hooray!

But the big news this week, Isabella is definitely sleeping through the night. (Hopefully I don't jinx it now!) She's been going about 7-8 hours for the last couple weeks. We upped her bedtime bottle to 6 ounces and now she sleeps 10 hours. Woo hoo.....that means sleep for mommy and daddy. Here's a couple new pictures. One of her in the too cute Bambi dress that her Aunt Anne sent to her from Europe. The other two are of our little pumpkin head.

A couple videos

Ken wanted to start a blog since everyone else is. No, honestly it is much easier to post pictures, videos, and news.

Here are a video of Ken playing with Isabella. Isn't she getting so big?