Almost walking

Here's the proof that Isa B is tttttthhhhhiiiiiissssss close to walking.

Today we went to the Little Gym with a friend across the street and then out to Bellevue Square just to be out and about. Our first stop was Pottery Barn Kids. They had a little shopping cart that was just Isa's size. Up until today she hasn't figured out "push toys." She pushed them but then wouldn't move her feet to keep up. Didn't work so well, as you can imagine.

Well, today she just took off with the shopping cart. I think she walked around the entire store....

This was the scene about 1 minute after we left the mall. :)

A few new pics

Reading all about being a Cougar (you can never start too early)

Meeting our new friend Gracie at the airport. Welcome home!!!

Her new backyard swing. Super fun.

Playing in a bouncy-house. Also super fun.

Yes, we're still alive

I know, I know. We've been gone for quite a while. But it's been uber-busy. (Yep, that's the only excuse I can think of.....)

So, here's the quick version of what we've done in the last three weeks:

- Isa went to the fair for the first time and loved seeing all the animals. Petting the sheep and the bunnies was quite exciting.

- We had her delayed 12 month check up. She was in a particularly stellar mood (a mirror to admire herself in and loads of crinkly paper on the exam table- wooha!!!!!). The Ped even asked if she was always this "animated." Yes, she is. :)
Stats: 25% for both height and weight (just under 21lbs and about 29in)
She stopped crying about 5 seconds after her shots because the MA gave her animal crackers.

- Unfortunately, her PPD came back positive (I thought we'd done this when she first came home, but maybe we didn't... or maybe I forgot to come back to have it read.....). Luckily, her chest X-ray was negative but we'll be starting meds tomorrow.

- Isa is now pulling up on EVERYTHING in site. She cruises like a champ. I predict full-on walking by Halloween, if not before. She'll walk holding onto my hands but she still walks on her tiptoes. You can never start your ballet training to early, you know.

- She is also sleeping through the night about 90% of the time. Granted, she often wakes up at 5, which is too early for this mama, so I still throw in bed with me. But 7pm-5am is superb. I wish I could get that much sleep.

- Naps are still hit and miss. Twice this week she's taken a 2 1/2 hour nap in the middle of the day which I LOVE. I can get so much done, it's amazing. It's a bit touchy as the evening progresses because she's been awake so long. And somedays she still definitely needs 2 naps. So, I'm just going with the flow right now.

- Great news on the job front. We're in the process of moving my only in-office job to remote status. That will mean I can add more hours (and thus more money- yeah!). I also am in talks with another hospital for a new contract, which would be gi-normous. Fingers crossed that it will go through....... I might actually be able to save money. What would that be like????

- I'm also taking 2 classes this semester so that I can take the Certified Tumor Registrar exam next spring. My Medical Terminology class is entirely online and I think I'll be able to keep up. The 2nd semester of A&P is every Saturday morning. Hoping I can keep up with that because, honestly, being able to take all the tests from home with my book at my side really helped my grade. I don't think my brain can actually hold that information in it right now.

So that is the speed version of the last month or so. I'm sure I'm missing things that I'll think of later. I'm too tired right now to try and load pics from my camera, so I'll pinky swear to post some tomorrow night.

Sleep revisited

We don't have too many sleep issues anymore, thankfully. Isa still goes down each night around 7 p.m. About 98% of the time she'll put herself to sleep right away which is wonderful. We've been able to phase out the middle of the night bottle now that she's eating better during the day. However, she still wakes up around 2-3 a.m. She isn't ready to be fully awake yet but she's done with her crib. In the beginning, I would try to get her back down in her crib. That took at least 1/2 an hour and she would typically keep waking up every hour or so until 7 a.m., when she wanted out of the crib for good. Since I am up until around midnight working, that was a rough schedule.

Oddly enough, one of the reasons our many travels to CA went so well this summer is that Isa actually slept all the way through the night at the hotels when she was in bed with me. So, one night, in a fit of desperation at that 2 a.m. wake up, I just brought her back to bed with me. Low and behold, she snuggled up against me and went right back to sleep. So did I. It was amazing. And so we've fallen into that pattern. She still falls asleep in her crib, but when she wakes up in the wee hours, it's just so much easier to bring her into my room. Some people I mention it to think it's a bad habit (and part of me agrees), but mostly I think that it means we both get enough sleep and I get even more Isa B snuggle time. Win-win situation.

As for daytime sleep, I think she's moving towards one nap a day. She never took a long morning nap (30-45 minutes tops). Several times last week she refused to take the morning nap entirely and simply took an earlier afternoon nap. So, this week we're going to try just the one nap a day. Today we had a playdate at 10, when she would normally go down, so she was distracted during her normal "sleepy" period. We got home around noon and she promptly fell asleep in my arms. :) We hadn't had lunch, so I worried she'd just wake up instantly from hunger if I put her in her crib. We got a nice 2 1/2 hour nap together on the couch instead! She made it happily until about 6:30 and went to bed easily. I'm hoping this continues to work because if I could get a 2 hour stretch during the day when she naps, I could get TONS more done.

Hmm... speaking of, I suppose I should go do some dishes.....