Happy Family

Now that Izzy knows how to roll over, it's fun to put her on the floor and lay there with her. It's also kind of needed, since she forgets how to roll from her tummy to her back, and gets frustrated when she is stuck. Unfortunately, Raisin and Eden have always considered a person on the floor as their own personal chair to lay on. So, we've had to do some retraining with them, so that when we are on the floor, they don't sit on us as we play with Izzy.

Here are some recent pictures of Chris and Izzy on the floor, and Raisin joining in.

No matter what we do, for some reason, Rai thinks that the blanket is on the floor for his own personal use. Plus, he likes to stay with in sniffing distance of Izzy.



Rai is also a big fan of Izzy's bows. He loves to nose them, which works out fine for Izzy, because she loves to touch Raisin anywhere she can. Her personal favorites are his paws (which is crazy, because he doesn't really let anyone touch them, but her!), and his ears and his lips. She also loves to kick him whenever he's within foot distance.



And here's one with Eden. She doesn't really like to be super close to Izzy. Just close enough to keep an eye on her.

Flipbook - revisited

Please take note of Izzy's crazy hair (it's her bedhead), and her crazy tongue.

Peek-a-boo

Now, I know that most parents say this about their child at least once in their lives, but Izzy is really smart! I was playing peek-a-boo with her around the coffee table, and she kept looking right where I was, before I even said anything! I would pop out from behind the corner of the table, and she was already looking right at me, so I said to myself, Izzy must be psychic! I mean, I've always had a little bit of intuition (in fact, when Chris and I first started talking, I told him he was NOT allowed to fall in love with me, and we were NOT going to get married...so I must have known that he was going to do those things...right?). Anyways, clearly, Izzy doesn't get her psychic-issitude from me. So, I went to plan B. I looked under the coffee table, and lo-and-behold, she was looking right at me. The little smarty pants was watching me move around the table, from under the table. That's pretty smart, right? Or...I'm easily impressed.

Anyways, here she is, caught cheating at peek-a-boo. She doesn't care, because she knows that the amount of time it took me to figure it out was enough to prove that she is already smarter than me. Oh, and don't mind the revealing neckline. It's not usually like that...she just scooted forward a little and it got pulled down. Now, that excuse won't work when she's 16, but at 6 months, it's okay.



Looking from the prior picture to this one, notice that Izzy has lowered herself down. She recently realized that her hands and arms have the ability to move her up and down. Ahhh, progress.



This is from the left side of the coffee table. She thought it was funny that I was moving around the table and taking pictures from underneath it.



And this is from the right side of the table, up close. She was having a ball with picture peek-a-boo.

Brett Favre - An homage...

Izzy has long been a Packer fan, from her early days when she wore the onesies even though they were too big, to the later days, when she rocked the Packer wrist rattle. Her earliest memories are of football games, and her fondness of the sport has never waivered.

So, the greatest sadness of her life (thus far) was the news that Offensive Machine Brett Favre had decided to retire. She had seen him play her whole life. Who would be the QB of the Packers now? The thought of someone else leading Green Bay to victory had never entered her mind. But after seeing the tearful retirement press conference, and hearing his strong, valid reasons for retiring, Izzy decided that she could support Brett's decision with a smile, though tremulous it may be.

Here is Isabelle supporting No. 4. Her smile is her brave face.



And in this one, she is leaning to the side, as if questioning all she knows, for today, the "rock" of her football knowledge has shifted, and she is left to rebuild the dream, reminisce about old times, and restart her journey in the game that is called "football."



And here, notice that Izzy's eyes are rimmed with redness. Though she may try, she cannot hide her sadness about Favre's retirement. She constantly watches "There's Something About Mary" over and over, for a glimpse of the one who is now lost to her.



Recovering, she leaves us with another smile. Her arms are reaching up, as though showing that she will carry on, the trooper that she is.

Izzy, the Lorax tree

Izzy's hair is FINALLY laying down on her head, like a normal person. Well, it's down for the most part. The back still is stubbornly sticking up, but half-heartedly. It makes her look like the trees from the Dr. Seuss books.

She's Gotta wear Shades

One of the great sadnesses of my life is that I can't wear the cool sunglasses. I literally cannot. I don't have the right shape face. I have no bridge attached to my nose. And my cheekbones are so prominent that my glasses hit my cheeks well before they touch my nose. Sadly, Izzy seems to have the same "handicap". But since she's so young, Chris and I are trying to start her off on sunglasses before she knows they are supposed to sit on her nose. That way, she'll always think that they are supposed to rest on her cheeks. Here are some of our recent attempts.

These sunglasses have completely missed her nose, but she's trying...good sport.


Here, she's wearing the sunglasses that are kid sized. They still don't sit on her nose. But they sure are cute!


We've given up on wearing the sunglasses as they were designed, and now are just using them as accessories.


Here, Izzy is going for the "I'm so cool" look, but may just look like she had one too many sips from the boob.


And this one is...from an early 90's high school movie, where at the end, they catch candids of the actors, and then the pictures fly into a yearbook. She reminds me of Seth Green in "Can't Hardly Wait", except only in looks. She's nothing like his character in personality. Thank God!

Dear Hannah...

Dear Cousin Hannah,

I apologize for taking so long to thank you for the stuffed animal cat that you gave me over the Thanksgiving Holidays. But, in my defense, I was only 2 1/2 months old at the time, and could barely see past my own hands. Just recently, my Mom introduced me to the cat, who at the time did not yet have a name. Since then, Dad has named it Cat-a-Miranda (or for you sailors, Catamaran-da). We don't have a specific spelling for her name yet, since neither she nor I can write. I like her a lot, though. I especially like her ears and her tail. Usually, I like to bite on the noses of my stuffed animals, but since Catamiranda is so big, her nose doesn't fit in my mouth. But her tail is perfect, and when she's facing me, I like to grab her ears and give her hugs. Mom took some pictures of me and Catamiranda (I guess that's how we're going to spell it), so that you can see how much I like her.

Here we are. Catamiranda likes to sit on my lap.



And in this one, she moved forward so that I could bite on her tail. I especially like the ribbon on her tail. That way, she's not naked.



In this one, I got so excited by her tail that I mistakenly kicked her away from me.



Because of the kicking mishap, Mom moved us to the papasan chair, so that if I kicked Catamiranda off of me again, she would just roll back on.



In this one, I am clearly going for her tail again. I didn't find out that she had ears until later on that night.



Oh, and Catamiranda is also a favorite of Raisin's. He has tried to steal her away from me twice already!

Thanks again for Catamiranda. When you come visit me next, maybe I'll fit into the princess dress you gave me. I love you, Hannah! Please give hugs and kisses to yourself, and then some to Ellee, Isaac, Josiah, and your Mom and Dad.

Love,
Your favorite cousin - Isabelle