Waiting for Isa B

Is there anyone still out there?

2011-10-26T22:16:00.000-07:00

After much prodding from various folks (ahem.... Bekke....) I'm going to make an effort to pick the blog back up. Right now I'm working 4- yep 4!- jobs and life is rather busy. So, at least for now, I'm going to just post snippets and a few photos. Nothing too in depth because I just don't have time for it. And apologies for those of you with whom I'm Facebook friends, there will likely be lots of overlap.

One of our conversations on the way to ballet today:

Isa: Mama, do you know what "stink" means?
Me: Yes, "stink" means it smells bad.
Isa: No, Mama! "Stink!"
(we then go back-and-forth several times, during in which Isa gets increasingly mad that I'm wrong and then, finally-)
Isa: You know, Mama, "stink", like the dinosaurs are "stink"!
Ahhhhhhh........

And picture from our recent trip to Disneyland:

Watch out Beyonce!

2011-05-02T21:21:00.000-07:00

(And, yes Porter, those are Elsa's old jammies that you gave to us over a year ago- they still fit!)

Recap

2011-04-12T18:31:00.000-07:00

So, before I lose the 2 readers who still wonder what is going on with Isa B, here is a recap of the last 2 months:

Isa got sick.
Isa gave up her paci. (see previous post)
I got sick.
Hellacious first week without the paci.
We spent 3 days in the car with my parents driving to Arizona. IT SUCKED.
We got to Arizona. Things got better. We saw good friends and several Mariners' spring training games.
We spent 3 days in the car driving home. It was much, much better than the trip down.
We tried to adjust to being home.
I worked a lot.
Isa decided to give up naps for good.
I got sick.
Isa got sick.
I got sick, yet again, this time with some sort of flu.

And there you have it. More to come when I can actually stay vertical for more than 10 minutes at a time.

Barfing and babas and braids- oh my!

2011-02-18T20:36:00.000-08:00

Tuesday morning Isa started coughing. According to my friend Christina (who watches her on Tuesdays while I work), she was tired and whiney all day to go with the coughing. Wednesday morning she continued coughing but was generally herself until the afternoon when I happened to feel her forehead and realized she was really warm. Her underarm temp was 101.5. Yikes! She slept fairly well that night and I was hopeful that she was going to be better in the morning. However, Thursday morning she had a coughing fit so intense that she vomited.

I probably shouldn't complain too much because it's only the 3rd or 4th time she's had a fever and the very first time she's ever thrown up. Even as a little baby, she rarely spit up when I burped her. She's unbelievably healthy and that leaves me completely unprepared for helping a sick little one. It's even tougher because she's still too little for any cold medicine. There's really nothing I can do but snuggle her. Luckily "Mama-medicine" is fairly potent stuff!

Today she was doing quite a bit better. Still coughing but no fever at any point. When it was time for her nap, we looked all over the house for "baba" (her pacifier) to no avail. She had hidden it somewhere and neither of us could find it. I tried getting her to sleep without it but she hemmed and hawed for over an hour. No major tantrum, she just wouldn't settle. I searched thoroughly while she was in her room and eventually found baba hidden in a pile of My Little Ponies. Instead of giving it back, though, I decided it was an ideal situation- today would be the day we broke the Baba Habit! Cold turkey, just like when I forgot her bottles on a vacation. I tucked her in for the night about 1/2 an hour ago without a fuss and haven't heard a peep since. After all of my worry about how difficult it would be to break the paci habit, it was shockingly simple. (Fingers crossed that she doesn't have a delayed reaction later this week!)

And finally braids... I found a new blog via Facebook today all about styling curly hair. The little one on the blog appears to have hair identical to Isa and after poking around a bit, I found some reasonably simple but adorable styles to try. I decided to start with this one, minus the knots. I gave Isa an early bath, then we sat down to watch Anastasia and make some braids! I think I did a reasonably good job, especially given how little experience I have with braiding. The parts aren't the straightest and the braids could be both tighter and smoother, but not bad for a first try. I definitely need to figure out a better seating arrangement for our braiding sessions, though, since trying to get at the right angle to do each braid was tricky.

And, on a final note, I haven't ditched Weigh-In Wednesday. The battery in my scale died the week after my first posting and my brain couldn't seem to remember to put a new battery on the shopping list. I finally did last week and this Wednesday, my weight was 185.5. Not much weight loss for 3 weeks but if you've visited my other blog you'll see why it's going slowly. I need to do a better job of homemade goodness without quite so many carbs and fat. Sure has been tasty, though!

3 years ago today....

2011-02-11T23:26:00.000-08:00

February 11, 2008

The happiest, busiest, loudest, most-sleep-deprived, wonderful 3 years of my life.

Weigh-in Wednesday

2011-01-19T20:58:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to do this post for a couple weeks now. 2 weeks ago I chickened out and last week I was sick. This week I have no excuse. (Say it with me: proactive... proactive... proactive... proactive)

I really need to lose some weight. Well, not just "some" weight- at least 40 pounds. I am, admittedly, a fan of reality TV and a new season of The Biggest Loser just started. What's the first thing they do on the show and then the big moment they work towards each week? Everyone stands on the scale and shows the world their weight. In the name of being proactive, I've decided that once a week I'll weigh in and post my weight on the blog. My own little version of The Biggest Loser. Hopefully it will give me extra accountability and motivation to stay the course.

It's a bit scary to put myself out there like this, to admit how heavy I've become. But then I realized that if you know me in person you might not know the number on the scale but you already know how big I am. If you don't know me in real life then really, why should I care that you know my weight?

Oh, and sorry but you're not getting a photo in a sports bra and spandex shorts ala The Biggest Loser to go with the number. I'm not that brave!

Here goes:

186.5

Stylish!

2011-01-15T21:27:00.000-08:00

Christmas in Pictures

2011-01-05T01:43:00.000-08:00

It turns out I have many fewer pictures from Christmas than I thought I had. Or at least fewer pictures that I ought to post online- early morning, no makeup, in her jammies shots of my sister didn't make the cut no matter how adorable Isa was in in the photo. Now that's sisterly love!

Bacon jam- homemade presents for friends

Decorating sugar cookies with Grandma- I think more sprinkles went in her mouth than on the cookies

Our traditional Ethiopian Christmas Eve feast

Perhaps the greatest present Santa brought- her own "makeup" case

The new ruffled-tush jammies that Grandma made Isa. She made me jammies from the same fabric
but I discovered on Christmas Eve that I'd forgotten to pack them.

Oh, the Pillow Pet madness!!!!

It was all too much for Soona-puppy...
Of course, this is how we all looked by mid-afternoon.

The Ousting of Cranky Mom: Part 1 of a Yearlong Saga

2011-01-01T09:20:00.000-08:00

(I promise there will be a belated Christmas post with glorious pictures, but I really felt I needed to get this post out first)

2010 was a rough year because whenever I got to a point where things were falling into place, life would implode a bit. I spent the year feeling as though I couldn't ever get ahead. No, scratch that. I spent the year feeling as though I couldn't even stay afloat.

Which sucks. A lot. And has turned me into Cranky Mom. Cranky Mom misses a lot of the joy in raising a talkative, amusing, full-of-love 3 year old. Cranky Mom experiences only the stress, remembers only the tantrums, sees only the piles of undone laundry/toys/dishes. Cranky Mom yells too often. Cranky Mom relies too often on TV and can go for days without leaving the house, even to just play outside. Cranky Mom is stressed out, exhausted, and on auto pilot. Cranky Mom simply reacts to life rather than living it. I really hate Cranky Mom.

Time to oust Cranky Mom!

I've never had much luck with New Year's resolutions and last year's To-Do List was only moderately successful. However I really like the idea of having some sort of motivating principle or goal for the year and a friend suggested the One Word Resolution. Totally brilliant but much harder for an overly wordy person, like myself, to do. After much deliberation....

My word for 2011: PROACTIVE

Sounds a bit strange, but let me elaborate. I am surprisingly good at recognizing my own failings and the things in my life that I most need to work on. However, I never seem to get around to actually doing the work to fix those problems. All those things that make me exhausted and cranky, well, most of them are within my power to change. I just haven't changed them.

Take the 40lbs I wanted to lose for my sister's wedding. I did manage to lose about 15lbs but post-wedding, have gained it all back. I am not a newbie to weight gain and loss. I know exactly how I gained the weight and I know exactly what I need to do to lose it. But have I stopped my excessive nighttime eating? Have I utilized opportunities to add exercise into my routine? Nope.

I've complained about the shambles of my finances to you all before. But have I done anything concrete to try and help myself- made an actual budget, found extra work, made an appointment with the bank to talk about mortgage help? Nope.

So there you have it. The word that I want to strive for in 2011is proactive. As Nike would say, Just Do It. I'm going to stop sitting back and waiting for life to fix itself. In the (spoken all too often) words of my darling Isa, "I do it myself!"

Because I am a glutton for punishment, I decided I needed a challenge this year to really keep myself present and involved in my life. Something tangible that I could use to monitor my progress in taking back control of life. A way to be accountable to the goal of being proactive. Enter the experiment: http://www.myhomemadeyear.blogspot.com/ Follow along as I attempt to revamp my life by going homemade. Intriguing, no?

Don't worry, for the three of you that still read this blog, I'll still be blogging here about Isa B and the pitfalls of Mama-hood. And, hopefully, a bit more consistently.

Surprise Me Sunday- A to Z Bread

2010-11-07T11:39:00.000-08:00

Okay, so this isn't really a true Surprise Me Sunday recipe. I have been baking A to Z Bread for many, many years. It's a recipe my grandma clipped out of a newspaper and has been handed down to my mom, then me. It's a basic sweet bread recipe where you insert 2 cups of pretty much any fruit or veggie. The surprise part is how much flexibility you have with the recipe. I rarely make it the same way twice.

I'm sure you've heard the expression "Cooking is an art but baking is a science." And that probably holds true for many recipes. When you bake following the recipe exactly tends to be very important. But honestly, you cannot mess up this bread no matter how much you mess with it. (Well, maybe you could ruin it if you completely forgot an ingredient.) I make substitutions ALL THE TIME based on what I have on hand or how healthy I want to be. No white flour? Substitute wheat. No white sugar? Substitute brown. Want to avoid the oil? Substitute yogurt, applesauce, etc. Or make it a combination of the two. Batter too dry? Add some milk or juice. Experiment with additional spices. I've done all of those things to the recipe and while it may alter the texture of the finished product some (especially if you do all yogurt instead of oil), it's still very, very tasty. And easy.

It's called A to Z Bread because the original recipe had fruit/veg suggestions for almost every letter of the alphabet. Here are the ones I commonly use. Feel free to ask for additional letters if you want but you're really only limited by your imagination.

Apples, grated
Applesauce
Bananas, mashed (Isa loves to mash them with her hands for me!)
Carrots, grated
Pears, chopped
Pumpkin, canned
Zuccini, grated

A to Z Bread

3c flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1c oil
2c sugar
2c fruit or veg
3 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 325. Grease & flour 2 lg loaf pans OR grease 2 muffin tins.

Sift together dry ingredients and set aside.

Beat eggs. Add oil & sugar; cream well.

Add fruit/veg and vanilla to egg/oil/sugar mixture.

Add dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.

Pour batter into pans/tins.

Bake 1 hour for loaves (until knife in center comes out clean) or ~25 min for muffins.

Halloween

2010-11-01T14:01:00.000-07:00

This year for Halloween Isa dressed up as Princess Tiana. My mom made her a costume which looked spectacular, though I am probably a bit biased. I was surprised by how many people had no idea who Tiana was, but I suppose the first African American Disney princess isn't as big a deal to others as it was in our house!

And what "accessory" did Princess Tiana need? Why, a frog prince, of course. We dressed up Papaw as her frog prince, which Isa thought was hilarious. Note the little crown on his hood! (And please excuse the fact that this photo was taken against the messiest wall in my house...)

First we went Trick or Treating down at the shops and restaurants in Columbia City.

Then we had pizza for dinner. I told her she could have 1 piece of candy while we waited and she chose a Tootsie Pop, but then said "all done" after only a few minutes. You can't really tell from this photo, but I'm wearing a Pink Ladies jacket.

After dinner, it was back up the hill and onto Trick or Treating in our neighborhood. Dad and I took Isa around while Mom stayed at our house to pass out candy. Despite horribly rainy conditions on Saturday (and again today), Halloween was totally dry and not too cold. I bought 2 bags of a KitKat/Reese's cup mix (75 pieces per bag) and by 8:00, we were out of candy. Much busier than last year but at least I don't have lots of candy leftover to be munching on. :)

Surprise Me Sunday

2010-10-24T17:11:00.000-07:00

I dubbed this month Clean Out the Pantry Month. In that vein, every Sunday I've cooked a meal, entirely unplanned, from whatever I find in the pantry and/or fridge. Thus Surprise Me Sunday. I think it may survive past October because it's turned out fairly well so far.

Earlier in the month I made a falafel and hummus and the following week it was chicken soup with leftover Ethiopian vegetables. Last week it was a spicy lentil soup (I added berbere) with toasted tortilla wedges and quark, which is sort of a cross between cream cheese and sour cream. Tonight's meal was basil stir fry over rice. Had basil, 1/2 an onion, orange pepper and green beans that needed to be used up. Rice in the pantry. Voila. Very simple but quite tasty.

There are several benefits to Surprise Me Sunday dinners. Most obvious, of course, is that the pantry and fridge are slowly becoming less cluttered. Random food stuffs don't get lost in the back of the pantry for years on end and fewer veggies mold in the fridge.

Less tangible is the boost to my confidence in the kitchen. I am not afraid to admit that I am not a great cook. I don't feel confident in my ability to experiment or deviate from recipes. And while I haven't tackled anything overly ambitious (yet!), just winging it with easy menus helps immensely. Eventually I'd like to make Surprise Me Sunday into a bit of a challenge ala Chopped. Take truly random ingredients and find a way to make them into something delicious. Or at least edible.

So stay tuned to see what surprise meal each Sunday brings!

Gonna do it Glee-style

2010-10-18T20:26:00.000-07:00

Here's what happened last time.....

Isa turned 3! It was hot, hot, hot (note everyone trying to stay in the shade). There was a sprinkler and butterfly cupcakes handmade by yours truly.

Isa decided she was finally ready to be potty-trained! One morning I changed her into big girl underpants and she never looked back. Sorry, no photos of that milestone. :)

On a weekend when the grandparents took Isa, I changed her room into a "Big Girl Room" complete with canopy over the bed and a chandelier. It was very well received!

We went to several baseball games with Grandma and Papaw. Isa can sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" all by herself. Now if she'd just do it on camera....

And we went to the Puyallup Fair. There were fake cows to milk and real bunnies to pet.

We attended an event with our adoption agency down in Portland. It was fun to see so many other adorable habesha darlings, as well as our attorney who was visiting from Ethiopia. Isa had a blast at the Portland Children's Museum.

And that's what you missed.....

Not okay

2010-08-31T19:11:00.000-07:00

Too exhausted to coherently write anything for the blog right now.

Instead, let me send you here for a great post.

And, even though it probably goes without saying, it's NOT OKAY in my world either.

Busy, busy, busy

2010-08-10T23:41:00.000-07:00

As you can see from the date of the post (why does Blogger use the "start" date rather than "posted" date??) I started a draft of this post several weeks ago and didn't get around to finishing it. So here it is. Better late than never, right?

Heritage Camp was amazing this year. Isa was old enough to participate in more events and really interact with the other children. There were quite a few little ones there this year and they all had a blast. We met up with old friends and made quite a few new friends. The weekend in pictures:

playing an Ethiopian drum

Ephraim looking rather pleased with the addition to his harem (Elsa, not so much!)

Smile, guys!

Sawyer was such a good sport

Best buddies :)

Solome & Isa looking lovely in their traditional dresses

Isa hearts Sawyer

Dancing- lots and lots of dancing

Also lots of hugging

Isa admiring the habesha grandma's jewelry

Our travel buddy and big-girl friend "Rusalem"

On the Monday after camp we watched my friend Amanda's daughter Kaylee for the day. Kaylee is almost 11 months and very mellow. The only snag came when she resisted naptime so I put her in the Ergo, bounced and sang to her until she fell asleep.

Confession time: I've been seriously feeling the urge for another baby lately. I blame all my friends and family who have added gorgeous babies recently. I was hoping that having Kaylee and Isa for the day would show me exactly why I don't want another baby anytime soon but she was too darn easy. Having to snuggle a little baby to sleep was so lovely. Way to make it worse, Kaylee! Luckily, there isn't a chance in hell that I'll be able to afford another adoption for many years. If money was no option, I would probably be filling out paperwork right now.

On Tuesday, I was only an hour into work when Christina called to say Isa had a fever. This is only the second recorded fever that Isa has ever had. Given her unbelievably strong immune system, I know that any fever on her means she's really sick. She had a low-grade fever all day Tuesday. The fever was gone on Wednesday, but she was still really lethargic- she even took a 4 1/2 hour nap!

Happily, by Thursday morning she was fine. Which was good because Friday night my sister got married!! Isa was supposed to be the flower girl but, in true nearly-3 year old style, wasn't able to scatter her petals properly after a couple tries at Thursday's rehearsal. Mollie doesn't think that preschooler antics during a wedding are cute, so she decided to relieve Isa of her duty. I was pretty disappointed, but honestly should have known it was going to end up that way. Isa certainly can't be relied upon to do anything properly without a fair bit of practice and even then, because of her age, remains pretty unpredictable. Fortunately, she seemed to forget that she was supposed to be party of the wedding and was a model little one sitting with her cousins during the wedding and the reception dinner. As soon as the dancing started, Isa hit the floor with her cousin Caroline (wish I'd thought to put my camera in the diaper bag so I could show you pictures of those two!). She danced from about 8 until after 11. By the end she was essentially asleep on her feet but if you tried to pull her off the dance floor, she would protest loudly.

Sunday after the wedding we went to a Mariners game with my parents. Isa loves baseball, primarily because Papaw works at the stadium. Anything associated with Papaw earns high praise in Isa's book!

Up next.... a belated post on Isa's 3rd birthday and our trip to Glacier National Park.

Just to tide you over

2010-08-02T23:42:00.000-07:00

A long, juicy post will come tomorrow or Wednesday with all the details of the last month. But here are a few brief nuggets of info.

We have a new car! It's a 2008 Mercury Mariner. I thought I'd taken a pic of the outside but now I remember that the camera batteries died right after I took the first interior shot.

Isa B is officially in print!

We went to Ethiopian Heritage Camp last weekend. Lots of wonderful photos, but I find this one especially endearing:

More to come.....

Preschool Update

2010-07-05T22:45:00.000-07:00

Well, after much deliberation and long talks with my parents and then the preschool director, it was decided that Isa will take a break from preschool. All the crazy behavior is shouting that she's just not ready yet for preschool. On many days, there is a single teacher for the 5 children and that means no real one-on-one time. So Isa is misbehaving (in BIG ways!) in order to get that attention. We'll keep in touch with Sprout and maybe she'll be ready to try again in the fall. I really think that this preschool is a great fit for her if/when she's ready for that much time away from me, in a group setting. She did well when it was twice a week but three times a week was too much with everything else we have going. If money were no option, I'd just continue to pay the full price and send her twice a week. But our budget can't take that.

There were lots of tears on my end about this decision, primarily because I LOVE this preschool. I love the director and teacher. I love the other kiddos. I love the location. I love the entire vibe of the school. And while logically I know this has nothing to do with my parenting, it still feels like a parenting failure that my child is the one having major tantrums. It's pretty devasting when your child has such extreme behavior issues and difficult not to take it personally. Plus-let's be honest- there's also a part of me that is selfishly sad to be losing my scheduled baby-free time each week.

The upside is that we'll have more free time again. And this summer is already grossly overscheduled and a little less running around will be good. There are lots of friends that we haven't seen in months because there just hasn't been any time to get together. Without MWF school, there will be more opportunities for my parents to take Isa for overnights. Then today we took my car into the shop for a tune-up and found out that there are some major repairs needed. For example, the left front wheel could have broken off at any point- yikes! It isn't worth putting that much money into the old car, so any saved preschool money will be used towards a new car.

The 2010 to-do list is really turning out to be a bust!

Et tu, Isa B

2010-07-02T13:54:00.000-07:00

The last two weeks at preschool have been dicey for Miss Isa B. Last Wednesday she started throwing things and Friday it got so bad that they called me to come get her. She was throwing toys AT the other kids and I could hear her wild animals screams in the background.

After racking my brain, all I could think was that it had been a very hectic couple of weeks. She was going to sleep a little later because of the longer days and still getting up by 6 a.m. So maybe she was harried and sleep deprived (a combination I know well). And she just snapped.

She spent the weekend with my parents and seemed to do well. Monday and Wednesday this week she did much better at preschool. A few minor incidents of throwing or hitting, but easily redirected and no tantrums. Pretty typical preschool stuff. I thought perhaps the previous week had just been a fluke.

Until today. When I got a call that she was again throwing. The teacher would put her in the "take a break" beanbag and instead of waiting until she'd calmed down then rejoining the group, Isa would sneak back into the room, grab something and throw it, then go back to the beanbag.

On the way home today, I asked her about it. Here was our dialogue:

Me: Isa, Miss Rachelle said you had trouble with throwing again today. Why were you so mad?

Isa: (in a sad, soft voice) I want to be with you.

Me: Don't you want to go to preschool?

Isa: No. I want to be with you.

*sigh* It's hard to argue with that. It isn't a necessity. She doesn't have to be in school because I'm working. It's supposed to be a treat for both of us. She's not yet three and she's definitely a Mama's girl. Maybe she simply isn't ready for preschool yet. To be honest, that's exactly why I didn't go to preschool- I wanted to be with my mom instead.

And now, lest this post become too depressing as I think of the loss of my morning free time, I leave you with a goofy picture of Isa, Space Cowgirl. (She's wearing a pseudo-cowboy hat and astronaut vest.)

Are we there yet?

2010-06-24T22:19:00.001-07:00

I started a post about how fed up I am with my life at the moment. And everytime I'd type a sentence or two, I ended up deleting them. Too depressing. Too whiny. I felt guilty for even feeling whiny when I know that my life is actually pretty darn good.

I have a mostly great kiddo. This week not really, but in the grand scheme, she's wonderful.

I get to work from home. It can be exhausting to work at night but I like not having to be at work 8 hours a day Monday through Friday.

I have a really wonderful support system. Case in point- my parents are taking Isa this weekend so I can have a few days off.

And yet, I'm having a week where all I can do is look around and think "Is this it?". Because I feel like we're just scraping by with so many things and I'm tired of it. In the great American tradition- I want MORE. More for both of us. And quite honestly, more from myself (which would probably result in more for Isa).

I don't want a life full of different people or places or experiences. I guess I just want to rearrange all the pieces into a more appealing picture. More vibrant. More awake. It's a rather daunting task and I have no idea where to even begin.........

(And now I'm hitting publish before I can erase this entire post as well!)

This week in numbers

2010-05-29T14:52:00.000-07:00

(Warning- this is a post where I brag rather relentlessly about my child. Read at your own risk!)

2 - more photo shoots for Chasing Fireflies (this time for the holiday catalog)

18 - approximate hours spent driving to/from those photo shoots

7 - hours slept by Isa in the car on the first day

2 - hours slept by Isa in the car on the second day (guess which day was an easier drive)

3:30 - a.m., time we left the house on Wednesday to get to the shoot

3 - adorable outfits modeled by Isa for the upcoming holiday catalog

2 - dinners from McDonalds eaten this week

630 - dollars earned by those two photo shoots (woo-ha!)

20 - number of fabulously healthy and now super clean teeth that Isa has

This week Isa was called for another shoot with Chasing Fireflies. The shoot was down on Mount Hood in Oregon, a 4+ hour drive from Seattle. Wednesday's call was at 8:15 a.m. and I decided the easiest thing to do was simply drive down in the wee hours that morning. Otherwise it would mean driving down late Tuesday, paying for a hotel, and hoping Isa fell back asleep after getting her from the car to the hotel. It was just easier for me to get up at 2:30 and pack her into the car where she, as anticipated, went right back to sleep for the majority of the drive. When we were released Wednesday afternoon I assumed that meant we were entirely done. But Thursday morning the agent called and said they wanted her back. By that point it was too late to make it down on Thursday, so on Friday we made the trek one more time but with a more reasonable call time of 1:00 p.m..

The room adjacent to the work area was open for families and in between Isa's shots, she got to play with lots of other children. Everyone had toys and food, which kind of became communal property for keeping all the children happy. That's actually where most of our time was spent and not on set. On Wednesday, we were there for a total of 4 hours but less than an hour of that was actual "work." Same thing on Friday- 3 hours there and less than 1/2 an hour working. A pretty easy way to earn money!

All the shots were outside in the snow, which should be gorgeous, but conditions were pretty miserable with blowing icy snow. The crew did an amazing job holding up umbrellas and scrims to keep the snow away from the kids. I'm not sure that Isa even noticed she was outside in the cold as she was hamming it up, singing songs for the crew and saying silly things to get laughs. On Friday, her shot was with an older girl (in little sister/big sister holiday dresses) and Isa totally upstaged her! After shooting them together, we had the girls wrapped in blankets waiting to do individual shots. The photographer asked who wanted to go first. I was all prepared to do the Mama thing and suggest Madeleine go first so Isa could warm up a bit more. But, no- Isa threw the blanket off her shoulders and declared it was her turn. And then all through Madeleine's solo shots, Isa continued to sing and dance.

I cannot wait to see the final shots in the catalog! I'm trying very hard not to turn into a Stage Mom, but it's hard not to be excited and proud. At the photo shoots she did such an amazing job. I hadn't expected her to be quite so easy to work with and get a good picture from- she certainly isn't that way when I take out my camera. She stood where she was supposed to, smiled nicely, and was incredibly entertaining. When the photographer tells you that your child should have her own TV show, it's hard not to glow with Mama-pride. Who knows if/when she'll have another casting, but she did a really good job this time and also had lots of fun. (And, let's be honest, money is tight around here and $770 this month for her simply looking cute is pretty fabulous!)

In other news, on Thursday morning, Isa had her first dental appointment. Again, she was a total rock star- sat there in the chair, opened her mouth when asked, closed it when asked, let the hygienist do everything (cleaning, flossing, fluoride treatment) without any fuss. I was very impressed. The dentist said that we needed to lose the paci in the near future. I almost hugged him when he added "which I know is easy for me to say." I'm contemplating strategies and timing now but am very apprehensive about actually discontinuing it!

No photos from the modeling gigs, obviously, but here are some shots from the dentist:

ETA- Okay, I have tried about 12 times to fix the messed up paragraph formatting/spacing. For some reason what I see in the draft is not what Blogger publishes. *sigh*

Isa B, Isa B, where for art thou Isa B?

2010-05-18T20:30:00.000-07:00

Caught in the swirl of busy-busy that always seems to surround us, there's where!

Preschool continues to be wonderful for both of us. Isa loves, loves, loves going to school with her new friends and I really enjoy having the free hours every week. They've worked on recognizing their own name, made beautiful art projects, learned about body parts, and are now studying birds. The neighbors just got new baby chicks and Isa has told me about meeting them many times. Yesterday she also told me "Mama, birds fly because they have wings. People no have wings so we don't fly." As an added bonus, she almost always uses the potty at school (more on that later).

Several weeks ago we heard from the modeling agency about a casting call. Once we got there, the first few outfits went well. Isa smiled nicely for the photographers, looked adorable in the clothes. And then it all fell apart. Major meltdown due to hunger (the snacks I brought weren't enough it seems). The photographers were amazingly cool about the whole thing- simply said to go have lunch and then come back. I was shocked that they wanted to see more of her after hearing the screams but we did as told. Apparently they liked what they saw (before and then after the drama) because they booked her! It's for the fall catalog for Chasing Fireflies. She did an amazing job at the shoot. I don't think she was in front of the photographer for more than 15 minutes and they said she was done. There isn't much modeling work for toddlers here in Seattle, so it may be another year before we're called again but this first time was fun for everyone.

There are potentially big happenings on the potty training front as well. Sunday post-nap Isa told me she wanted to use the potty and then actually did! Usually potty-time is initiated by me and resisted by her. After the potty, she put on a Pull-up and promised to keep it dry. And then she did! After the second successful trip to the potty that afternoon, Isa wanted her big girl underpants. I thought "what the heck" and got a pair out for her. It was only an hour before bedtime and those big girl underpants stayed totally dry. Yesterday I put her in the Pull-up from Sunday afternoon. By the end of the day, it was clearly past its prime but still dry. Wooha! Of course today, while she was at Christina's house, there were many fun distractions and regular potty time didn't happen. But I'm hopeful that she's finally decided she WANTS to be potty trained. At this point that's really the only thing holding her back because I know she's fully capable of doing it.

But here's what you really care about, right? I can hear you all screaming "shut up woman and give us the photos!" :)

Check out the ponytail- a full 5 inches off the top of her head! Looks like a beehive doesn't it?!?!?

Snuggling with Auntie Mollie and Soona-puppy

Looking so very stylish in her big girl underpants, rainboots and Fancy Nancy purse!

And finally, last week we watched some videos from when she was really little. Right now Isa LOVES playing "little baby" and so she, of course, wanted me to put the blanket on the ground so she could recreate the video.

The original (it's long but OH MY GOD, wasn't she cute?!?!)

The remake (okay, she's still pretty cute!)

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

2010-04-25T10:25:00.001-07:00

There's no way around it- paying my mortgage each month isn't easy. We live a paycheck-to-paycheck existence and it's stressful. But I just can't bring myself to sell the house and move somewhere cheaper. I LOVE Seattle, this neighborhood, the people on my block. Maybe someday it won't be such a struggle but in the meantime I'll find a way to make it work because this is such an ideal place to be, for both of us.

While I knew that this was a very diverse area, a recent article affirmed that my zip code is actually the most diverse in the entire country! During the adoption process I never had to worry about raising a black child in an all-white environment. In the larger neighborhood, whites are the minority. Plus, Seattle is a very liberal city and I never feel like we stand out. It isn't unusual to see families with two dads or children whose skintone doesn't match their parents. And while general diversity is wonderful, even more important to us is that there is also a very large Ethiopian community in Seattle. Within walking distance of our house, there are 3 Ethiopian restaurants. We eat at the closest one almost weekly and Isa will actually ask for injera if allowed to choose a restaurant for dinner. (Well, sometimes she chooses pizza, but it's pretty evenly split!) It's something small but it helps make " 'Opia" part of her normal routine.

The Ethiopian community in Seattle is a wonderful resource. Everytime we attend a community event, we are welcomed with open arms and Isa, of course, charms the pants off everyone. One organization holds bimonthly gatherings for families that include cultural presentations and dance lessons. I believe they have Amharic lessons for older children as well. Because these events are always scheduled smack in the middle of naptime, we had yet to get to one. Yesterday Isa went down really early for her nap, so I decided to wake her in time to join in. It was a blast! Isa found another 3 year old to run around and dance with.

Our block is amazing as well. The first weekend I had my house, my dad and I were painting when we heard a knock at the door. It was the neighbors bringing over freshly baked cookies (still warm) to say welcome to the neighborhood. I had no idea that people did that nowadays! Every summer there's a big block party and pre-Isa I would join neighbors to sit on their front porch in the evenings drinking and talking. We have a lovely old library, tiny cinema, a dozen or so restaurants with a wide variety of cuisines (Mexican, Caribbean, BBQ, Italian, Thai, etc), a Farmers' Market in warmer months. I've said numerous times that when we need a bigger house, I'd rather find a way to add onto this house than move.

Last Sunday was gorgeous and warm. I was reminded again why I love this neighborhood. The school playground down the block from us was swarming with families playing in the sunshine. When we got back from playing, the neighbors were out front having a picnic and Isa decided to insert herself into the fun. Gracie brought out her facepainting kit and while I went into our house to fix dinner, Isa sat next door being turned into a clown. Here is the result of Gracie's handiwork on her mother and Isa:

So, somehow I will find a way to keep paying the mortgage. Because it really is worth it.

Schoolgirl

2010-04-09T13:30:00.001-07:00

Today was Isa's first day of preschool!

Until June she'll be going to school Monday and Friday, 8:30-12:30. When she finishes with Wednesday morning ballet classes, she'll be in preschool Wednesday mornings as well. The school is within easy walking distance (when the weather permits, which sadly wasn't today) and I absolutely love her primary teacher. She's someone I would be friends with outside of the school in a heartbeat. Plus, her daughter is very much like Isa, so I know she's prepared to deal with Isa's over the top personality. It's ideal in so many ways.

Isa was beyond excited, although perhaps most of all about the fact that she got to bring a lunch with her. Teacher Rebecca told me that Isa grabbed her lunchbag from her cubby numerous times before it was actually lunchtime. I cut her cheese slices into heart shapes last night to make it a bit more special but I'm not sure she even noticed.

She had zero trouble saying goodbye to me which was good and bad. Much easier for me to not have to deal with tears, but sometimes a Mama does want to feel like she'll be missed! I got a little teary-eyed leaving her there. I knew it would be bittersweet. These mornings apart are going to be so good for both of us but I feel a bit guilty sending her off when I don't really need to. And it just reminds me how quickly she's growing up.

I went straight to the gym after dropping her off. It was so lovely to do a hard workout and go right home to a shower that could be as long as I wanted it to be! Then my friend Autumn came down for brunch to celebrate the big day. I have a long list of fun projects to do in my new free time and I'm going to add in a little more work as well.

Not surprisingly, Isa had a glorious time! They did artwork, made peanut butter balls, and did lots of playing. She had tons of things to tell me about her preschool and was also so thoroughly exhausted that she went down for her nap without any fuss (a bit of a problem in the last week).

On another note, for the first time today when I asked Isa to smile for a picture, she did it. And a real, nice smile not the usual cheesy face she normally makes. Nearly as exciting for me as the start of preschool.

my big girl with her princess lunch bag

eating her peanut butter balls with Auntie Autumn

YUM!

today's artwork (bad pic, I know)

2010 To-Do List

2010-04-03T16:34:00.001-07:00

I realize I'm about 3 months late posting this, but I promise they have been on my bulletin board since January. This year I decided to forgo New Year's Resolutions in favor of a 2010 To-Do List. For some reason resolutions seem made to be broken. I'm constantly making daily to-do lists anyhow, so why not a yearly one with all the big things that really need to get done.

So, here it is:

1) Declutter & organize: okay, this is more of a "motto for the year" rather than a to-do item since I think it will be continuously happening all year long.

2) Lose 40lbs in time for my sister's wedding in August: down 10lbs already!

3) Potty train Isa: umm... I've still got 8 months, right?

4) Get Isa into preschool: DONE! She starts on Friday.

5) Cut credit card debt in half: this one is going to be a tough one. But so far I've at least stopped the outflow on the credit card. The only things I've charged this year are big things like Heritage Camp.

6) Isa's readoption: yep. Lazy me has yet to do the readoption. Isa isn't a US citizen yet and legally, she isn't even "Isa."

It isn't too daunting a list but every item is pretty darn important. I'm looking forward to checking them all off!

Why moms go deaf

2010-03-31T15:05:00.000-07:00

Every week Isa goes to a friend's house while I'm in the office. Every other week I return the favor and watch my friend's boys (ages 5 and 2.5) while she's working.

They are wonderful little guys and the three kiddos really interact more like brothers and sisters than just friends a this point. It's an amazing arrangement- free childcare for both of us and a day-long playdate for the little ones.

Anyhoo.... Here is a snippet of how a good day looks- and SOUNDS- when they get together. This particular afternoon, they were giving a performance and I was the audience. It was followed by a parade which was pretty much what you see in the video, just done walking around the house. Oddly enough, despite the decibel level, this sort of child noise doesn't bother me nearly as much as electronic toy noise.

Got Hair?

2010-03-28T14:23:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows that Isa B sure does!

When I met her at the ripe old age of 6 months, she already had enough hair for little tiny ponytails on the top of her head.

Within a few months, it was long enough to all go into two ponytails.

Now it's long enough to all go up in a big, poofy ponytail on the top of her head. When I make the effort to braid her hair after putting it in two ponytails, the braids are nearly 6 inches long. When I comb it out during bath time, her wet hair reaches down to her waist! (I have a picture of that somewhere, but can't find it....)

And what does all this hair mean? Why- LOTS of hair accessories, of course!!!

Today I decided to re-organize them and was shocked at just how many she has. There are:

56 plain barrettes

41 fancy (bows, twirly ribbons, etc) barrettes

9 headbands

15 rubberbands with fancy ends (plastic balls or flowers)

15 terry cloth bands with attached bows

7 butterfly clips in assorted sizes

(And a box of tiny colored elastics for braids- too numerous to count!)

Here they all are:

Now where in the world am I going to put them????

And the Bad Blogger Award goes to....

2010-03-21T23:52:00.000-07:00

ME!

5 or 6 weeks since my last post? Seriously? I hate when huge chunks of time simply fall away without my noticing them.

And the saddest thing is that there really isn't a compelling reason for the silence. Well maybe there is. Life here continues to move along at about the same pace. I am a big fan of stability and routine but it admittedly doesn't make for the best blog material. There were days I wanted to pull up the blog and thought "but what am I going to say?". Taken as a whole, our life is pretty mundane. Perhaps I ought to just post a single funny Isa quote each day. Because there are always entertaining things coming out of her mouth!

Probably the only interesting that happened in the last month was that we kicked the Find-A-Preschool campaign into high gear. Isa was on the waiting list with 1 preschool, I applied to another (haven't heard back), and a third flat out said there would be no morning openings. It wasn't looking promising. Luckily I belong to a Yahoo group for parents in my neighborhood and got a post about a new preschool opening up. The provider was doing part-time daycare but as her daughter was now 2 1/2, she was planning to transition into a preschool. I immediately responded that we'd love to come have a look. The visit was a huge success. I really felt like we were old friends just having a playdate with our children. And so I jumped at the chance to reserve a spot for Isa. It's truly ideal- easily within walking distance of the house, from 8:30-12:30, and only 3 days a week (which had proved impossible to find in our neighborhood). And, the preschool is starting up on April 9th! In the very near future I'll have free time 3 days a week and I'm just not sure what to do with myself.

I have taken barely any photos in the last couple months, which is really pathetic. And, as it is already past midnight as I type this, I'm not going to take the time to load them from the camera and then onto the blog tonight. But I promise it won't be another 6 weeks before I get them up. :)

2 years! (a day late)

2010-02-12T09:25:00.001-08:00

(Due to an oh-so-fun bout with stomach flu, this post is a day late. So, just pretend that this is the 11th of February, okay?)

2 years ago today....

2 years! So hard to believe. It feels like she's always been here. It's hard to remember life without her and yet the time is moving much too quickly. They've been the most difficult but by far the most joyous 2 years I've ever experienced.

(And I reposted the videos in the last post since they seemed to be so problematic for everyone. Hopefully they'll work this time.)

Weekend Recap in Photos

2010-02-09T23:02:00.001-08:00

As always, we had a glorious time with Porter and Elsa. Here are some highlights:

Dinner the first night- pizza!

Toes!

It definitely wasn't a quiet weekend.

Wrestle-mania

What a trip to IKEA will do to two busy toddlers

Pretty girl meet....

...cheesy girl

Looking WAY too sophisticated

Two peas in a pod (er, log)

Best Buddies

Elsa hearts Pelican

And a few videos to give you a very good idea of how entertaining the entire weekend was. It was a boisterous weekend, full of LOTS of talking, singing, and playing.

And, yes, in the bathtime video the off-camera dialogue of the Mamas is almost as amusing as the girls themselves. I didn't realize just how silly I sound when I'm talking with or about my child. What's with all the "we" talk?

Growing up

2010-02-03T23:14:00.000-08:00

Everyday Isa seems to be moving further and further away from babyhood. It's exciting and sad for me all at the same time. I have selective amnesia about the early months home. The sleep deprivation doesn't seem as horrible as I know it was but so many of the other memories are still intense. I loved having a baby and I fully admit that I miss that stage. Isa was a remarkably easy baby, so there wasn't a lot of crying. Just lots of snuggling and playing- and not so many fights at the dinner table!

Toddlerhood certainly is entertaining, though. Isa is a total ham. She has recently started acting out scenes from her favorite books. Usually she chooses another character in the story for me to play. ("I, Lily. You, Mr. Slinger.") When she's not acting out a specific story, she's often pretending to be an animal or making up little scenarios for the two of us to act out. We get "stuck in the mud" a lot- a game played by lying down on the couch and pretending to be stuck. We hide from imaginary monsters. We have lots of dance parties!

She still sings ALL THE TIME. In addition to our usual repertoire, she often makes up her own songs. She'll essentially narrate the day for me in song. Sometimes it makes sense. Sometimes it's simply a string of words with a melody. Unfortunately, it's most often done in the car, so no videos for you to hear.

Lately Isa's been all about "making something new." I have one crafty kid on my hands. Which is fun but a bit tricky at this point since the crafts she can do (without getting too frustrated) are a bit limited. Here she is using her new fingerpaints. (Side note- Crayola Color Wonder products are fabulous. Certainly not as intense in color as the real deal but NO MESS!)

A glimpse at the future. I'm sure to see this look again, though perhaps not with a pair of fairy wings on her back.

We're still slowly meandering down the lane towards potty training. Bit of a set-back with last week's poo issues. Her buddy Evan figured it out last weekend. His mom was also easing into training when it just sort of clicked and bam!- he used the potty all weekend with only a couple accidents. I'm hopeful that spending every Tuesday with him will convince Isa to get trained as well. To help encourage her, we have a new Potty Chart at the house. Every successful trip to the potty will earn her one sticker. When she fills up a row, she'll get a treat (fruit snacks, M&Ms, etc). Note there are no stickers up there yet.....

And lastly, I have FINALLY turned Isa's carseat around. She didn't care that she was rear facing and so I never took the time to wrestle with the Britax. But I've been having trouble with my lower back recently. On Tuesday, as I reached to put Isa into the seat I felt a muscle in my lower back actually POP. Extreme pain! So today I (carefully so as not to further injure my back) turned the beast around. I was pleasantly surprised by what I found under the seat. Not nearly as bad as I had expected, although the seat did yield quite a bit more.

On Friday we head down to CA to visit Porter and Elsa for a nice, long weekend. Expect tons of glorious adorable photos of the girls together!

Warning- TMI ahead

2010-01-27T23:57:00.001-08:00

11:30 p.m. run to the store for toddler suppositories. 'Nuf said.

Isa-isms

2010-01-25T20:05:00.000-08:00

Anyone who has read this blog recently knows that Isa is INCREDIBLY verbal. Shockingly verbal sometimes. Which can be dicey- I really have to watch what I say because she will parrot back everything. She has started to memorize her books and will randomly spit out lines from them. Sometimes it takes me quite a while to understand what she's talking about even if the words are fairly clear. And, honestly, sometimes it's just really, really funny. A few examples:

Right after Christmas, she ran into the living room with her face in her hands and told me, very dramatically, "I devastated!" (Thank you Fancy Nancy!)

We were wrestling/snuggling on the couch this week. Isa unclipped her pacifier from her shirt, clipped in on me, and tried to put the other end in my mouth saying "Put your paci in and calm down." (Hmmm... she may have heard that line a few million times....)

Today we were taking a long walk around the neighborhood. We passed a dog behind a fence that barks loudly everytime anyone goes by. On our way back, as we neared the fence, Isa started yelling "No doggie! No barking! Be 'siderate!" (i.e., "considerate", learned from one of her books)

And finally, an example of the wonderful things she parrots back. She ended up in my bed last night and woke this morning at 6:45, adament that she needed to "go pee-pee in potty." Inner groan but I rolled out of bed and got her into the bathroom. I was gritting my teeth trying to be patient about the exceedingly unpleasant wake-up. As I helped her take off her jammies, she hugged my legs and said "I love you mostest. Wide whole world." It didn't feel quite so unpleasant after that. :)

(And, yes, yes, I know that I need to take some photos and get them posted. Wrist slap noted.)

The P Word

2010-01-18T15:33:00.000-08:00

As in potty.

We've flirted several times with potty training. Back in September she started telling me ahead of time when she would poo. Since she was also in a phase where she hating having her diaper changed and would be physically fight me each time, I thought we'd try potty training. No dice. Too soon.

Later in the fall, we tried again. Unfortunately, the cat was also really sick and after a single afternoon of cleaning up 3 toddler puddles and 2 cat pukes in less than 3 hours, I called it quits.

In the last month Isa has asked several times to wear her big girl underpants so I figured why not try. I remained hopeful that she'd be one of those kiddos that trains in a day. (I'd read the book afterall!) As with all toddler training , I kept up a constant stream of reminders "When we wear big girl underpants, we ONLY pee in the potty" or "You need to keep your big girl underpants dry", etc. And intellectually, she got it. She could walk through the entire process with her potty and could tell me how it was supposed to go. But she didn't quite recognize how to get to the potty BEFORE going pee all over the floor. I'd get frustrated after multiple accidents and the diapers would go back on.

Soooo..... I decided that I needed a change of focus. I'm just not going to be able to handle a week straight of that many accidents without totally losing my patience. And so what if my child doesn't train in a day? She'll get there eventually, right? We put the diapers back on and I told Isa to let me know if/when she wants to use the potty. Over the last week she has started at least telling me when she needs to go pee, although she often refuses my suggestion to go sit on the potty. She taught several of her stuffed animals to use the potty which is quite funny to watch.

Now, admittedly, she has discovered that this can be used to her advantage. Twice after being put down for nap or bedtime I heard her calling me "Mama, need to use the potty!". While I know that it's partly a delay tatic, I want to encourage her, so I get her out of the crib and off we go. And you know what?!? Both times she did go pee in the potty! Woo-ha!!!

(Here's where I was going to insert a cute new pic but turns out I haven't loaded anything new since Christmas. Oops. So, here's a repeat of a cute shot from her first time wearing big girl underpants back in September.)

January Eats

2010-01-09T20:32:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I realize we're well over a week into January and I've just now finished the "monthly" meal plan. Better late than never. Here's what we're eating for the rest of the month:

Jan 10 - meatloaf muffins with roasted squash
Jan 11 - sesame chicken & soba noodles
Jan 12 - leftovers
Jan 13 - tuna noodle casserole
Jan 14 - leftovers
Jan 15 - parents' house
Jan 16 - take-out, etc (Isa at parents' house)
Jan 17 - pork chops with cherries, mashed sweet potatoes
Jan 18 - lasagna
Jan 19 - leftovers
Jan 20 - leftovers
Jan 21 - friends' house
Jan 22 - honey teriyaki chicken with pineapple & rice balls
Jan 23 - leftovers
Jan 24 - pork soft tacos
Jan 25 - sausage with peppers & onions, polenta rounds
Jan 26 - leftovers
Jan 27 - Paula's mac & cheese
Jan 28 - leftovers
Jan 29 - rosemary chicken with ravioli
Jan 30 - leftovers
Jan 31 - leftovers

I'm happy to post recipes if anyone wants them. Isa has been rather obsessed with soup lately and will eat large quantities of it for lunch. I'm hoping to make a big pot of soup at least once a week for lunches and freezing. If any of those are big winners, I'll post about them as well.

The Sigh

2010-01-03T23:33:00.000-08:00

We've had a rough week in terms of nighttime sleeping. With the double whammy of nearly a week spent at my parents' house and the excitement of Christmas, Isa's had a lot of trouble going to sleep and then staying asleep at night now that we're home.

A couple nights she resisted being put down at all which is very usual. Once I finally got her to stay in the crib, she'd eventually wake up and start yelling "Mama, Mama". She'd be wide awake in her crib and stand up asking to be rocked again. She'd get hysterical if I didn't pick her up. One night she did that every 2 hours, all night long.

Well, a couple nights ago, I went in for the first back-to-sleep rocking session, feeling rather frustrated and impatient. Isa cuddled right into my chest and I put my chin down on her forehead while we rocked forward and backward. After about 10 minutes she started doing what I call the Maggie Simpson- very loud pacifier sucking. This always indicates that she's in a deep sleep. Before I could stand up to put her back in her crib, she sighed deeply. And I was instantly sucked back to the first several months after she came home. Back when she was very small, I used to have to rock her until she was deeply asleep or she would wake up the instant I laid her down in her crib. I used to wait for that heavy sigh to know that she was asleep enough to put down. I can't remember the last time I held her long enough at bedtime to hear that sigh.

And suddenly all the frustration was gone, replaced by the bittersweet knowledge that time is moving much too fast. I can now rest my chin on the head of the baby that used to fit neatly on one forearm. I need to savor every one of these late night sessions because someday- sooner than I want to believe- she won't need to be rocked back to sleep and I know I'll miss hearing that sigh.

Christmas Picture Extravaganza!!!

2009-12-30T14:16:00.000-08:00

We had a fabulous, fabulous holiday! Isa even told me on Christmas morning that she heard Rudolph on the roof and saw his nose blink. (Yes, the night before I may have made a bit of suggestion about things one might hear on the roof on Christmas Eve but she offered that all on her own the next morning!)

Here is the last week or so, in pictures and video:

O' Christmas Tree!

Santa Baby

Santa brought Isa a new tricycle!

Santa also made her a fancy rack for her new dress-up clothes.

Modeling her new princess skirt and wand.

Buzzy Bee costume (one of my ballet recital costumes from waaaay back when)

Playing "Legos" with Papaw.

Drying Soona off after a pretend bubble bath.

Taking the new tricycle for a spin outside.

And now for a little entertainment... For your holiday enjoyment, Isa will now sing you Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (in appropriate costumage) and then Frosty the Snowman.

Finally, what happens when toddlers wake up at 6:15, spend a few hours in the blissful craziness of Christmas and get a bit hyper.

Sh-boing

2009-12-18T12:29:00.000-08:00

These last couple days I've been feeling very Grinch-like. But not the Grinch from the start of the movie- the one at the end whose heart has sh-boinged out of the screen because it's just too big!

Lately things have been running very smoothly around here. Christmas decorations are all up, both inside and out. The majority of the shopping and wrapping was completed last weekend when my parents had Isa at their house. The house is even reasonably clean. It's so much easier to be in relaxed and enjoy the holidays when the to-do list is short.

Isa is getting more and more excited about Christmas. She is quick to spot and point out any decoration we may pass. She wants the tree lit all day and lets me know when it's dark outside so we can turn on the outside lights. We've even done several Christmas projects so she'll have gifts to give (no further info as several of the recepients are probably reading this). Today in the car I heard her softly singing "so to honor Him... pa-rum pum pum" over and over again. I just can't sustain any sort of crankiness with a child so filled with Christmas spirit.

We've watched Rudolph about 20 times in the last 2 weeks. Seriously, that is not an exaggeration- we watched it 3 times on Wednesday alone! Last night she put on her Santa hat and wanted me to be Rudolph. So I got down on my hands and knees. She rode on my back around the living room yelling "Merry Christmas!" Oh how I wished I'd had a way to videotape that. We may re-stage it tonight just because it was so darn adorable.

My heart is just so full right now that I'm sure it's going to sh-boing out of my chest at any minute!

Everyone relaxing for yet another showing of Rudolph

Playing in the snow at Papaw & Grandma's house

Post-snow hot cocoa to warm up

And now I leave you with a holiday performance by the Little Drummer Girl:

December's Menu

2009-12-08T23:28:00.001-08:00

Due to popular demand (er... 1 person's demand), here are the meals Isa and I will be eating this month.

First, let me say that I choose recipes with a two primary objectives- easy and relatively healthy. If it takes more than 20 minutes to prep the dish for cooking, it's out. I want fewer ingredients and things that need a minimum of work to be ready. Perhaps as I gain more experience with cooking I'll be willing to expand out to more complex recipes. For now, it just doesn't matter. Isa would be happy with boxed mac n' cheese and hot dogs, so things don't need to be fancy. And, obviously, since one of my main reasons for cooking complete meals is to lose weight, anything too high in calories or fat is out as well.

I've found if I cook 3 times a week that is more than enough to last us the entire week. Most recipes are made for a family of 4, so we have plenty of leftovers. The calendar is great because I can schedule in leftover nights, put the easiest recipes on the nights where there is less time, and also cross off nights where I know we'll be out. Our dinners now fit smoothly in with the rest of our schedule. (Yeah!)

So here it is (starting with today):

12/8 - Coconut beef curry & noodles
12/9 - Leftovers
12/10 - Leftovers
12/11 - Out for the evening with a friend
12/12 - Leftovers (from previous evening)
12/13 - Down to parents' house
12/14 - Chicken with smashed potatoes & peas
12/15 - Watching a friend's children (dinner at her house)
12/16 - Sausage & peppers with crispy polenta
12/17 - Leftovers
12/18 - Leftovers
12/19 - Maple-glazed stuffed pork
12/20 - Leftovers
12/21 - Moroccan chicken & couscous
12/22 - Leftovers
12/23 - 12/28 - Down to parents' house
12/29 - Breakfast for dinner
12/30 - Turkey & roasted red pepper meatloaf
12/31 - Leftovers

Santa!

2009-12-07T22:04:00.000-08:00

**My apologies upfront for this post being a bit of a tease. I don't have a scanner so I can't post the accompanying photo tonight. I'll do my best to get you all a visual in the very near future.**

As the title suggests, today we went downtown to visit Santa. Isa got all dolled up in her new Christmas dress, matching bows, and fancy new sparkly red shoes. Grandma and Papaw came up to join us for the fun. We rode Light Rail downtown, which Isa enjoys and is, thankfully, easy to navigate with a stroller. We went straight to Macy's to see the big guy himself. (FYI- if any of you happen to live in Seattle, definitely go to Macy's and not Nordstrom for your Santa experience. Shorter lines which are entirely indoors, fabulous Santas and this year the photos were printed right then and there. But I digress.... )

Isa is already, at the tender age of 2 and 1/4, a Christmas freak. Which is a good thing because it means she fits right in with our family. Yesterday I pulled a Santa hat out of the decorations box and she proceeded to wear it all afternoon. We went to Target still in her festive attire and she made sure to shout "Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!" to fellow shoppers every few minutes. She has already started learning the words to Jingle Bells, Frosty the Snowman, and Little Drummer Boy- aka Rum Pa Pum Pum. Every time we pass Christmas lights she says "Decorations!" or "Ooh La La!" (That little phrase comes courtsey of Fancy Nancy, who we love and adore.) I'm having a ball watching her enjoy all the fun things that the holidays bring.

So it should come as no surprise that my girl was THRILLED to visit Santa. Some of the small children in line before us had to be coaxed onto his lap. Not Isa B. When it was her turn, I set her down and she walked right over with her arms up for Santa to pick her up. The baby wranglers tried to get her to look forward with her hands neatly in her lap and smile for the camera. No dice. Isa is a total ham, but never on cue for the camera. You've got to catch her in action. So, clever Mama that I am, I said "Isa, can you give Santa a hug?" Voila! Santa photo magic!!! (This is the place where you have to use your imagination and trust that I'll be able to get the photo posted eventually.)

After that we rode the Holiday Carousel, which Isa was excited about until the moment her tush sat on the horse. Then she flipped out but I forced her to sit there because the benches were all taken. Afterward she proceeded to tell Grandma how she went up and down the horse, as if she hadn't been crying most of the time. Right...... A little snack at Starbucks and off to see the amazing gingerbread house display at the Sheraton. Then home again on the train. Busy, busy Christmas-y day!

Call off the search parties

2009-12-01T23:59:00.001-08:00

We are alive. Can I pretend that I was doing the Anti-NaBloPoMo? Unlike past absences that were usually due to rough times, this month has been lots of goodness.

There isn't much to report on Isa over the last month. Her language skills are developing at shocking speed. She speaks in full, reasonably long sentences all the time now. Often the sentences are even grammatically correct. I don't need to translate for her as much anymore because everyone else can understand her as well. I'll try to capture some conversation on video although she tends to clam up as soon as the camera comes out.

I think we've also started turning the corner between babyhood and childhood. Tantrums are down to a respectable limit (hey- she's still 2!). I don't need to worry about her getting into all the "off limits" things the second I turn my back. We have even started doing simple craft projects which I'm thrilled about. It's nice to have some options for filling the cold, wet mornings when we're stuck inside.

The big changes this month have been for me. I've felt for the last year or so that my life is slowly spiraling out of control. I'd gained a lot of weight, had been struggling with lots of fatigue due to my crazy work/Mommy schedule, and generally felt like crap much of the time. I was struggling to keep up with work and finances were a big mess. The house was rarely clean and we ate quite a bit of unhealthy, easy to prepare food. I felt like I was failing in ever aspect.

A very good friend of mine recently finished school to become a registered dietician and I asked if she'd take me as her first client. I figured that it would be beneficial to both of us, but honestly never expected to have it be this successful. We've made lots of little changes that never feel like too much work and after only 4 weeks I feel like things have turned around.

I now make a monthly dinner menu plan so I don't have to stuggle with what to cook/eat each evening. Funny how something so small can be revolutionary in my world! It took away the stress of "Oh my God- it's 15 minutes until dinnertime and I have no idea what we have in the fridge!" (which usually resulted in a meal of noodle with butter and parmesan). It means that we're eating healthy, balanced dinners and I'm cooking again, which it turns out I really do enjoy.
My parents gave me their ancient exercise bike and my sister gave me some free weights that she no longer uses. So now I have a simple home gym down in the basement. There really isn't any excuse for me to not get down there and exercise during her naptime. Plus, heading down to the basement means laundry gets done on a regular basis. Woo-ha!

My nutritionist also started me on an adrenal fatigue supplement which is GLORIOUS! I feel awake during the day now which means I don't want to stay collapsed on the couch all the time. It's the next best thing to truly being well-rested, which is something I sadly can't make happen with my schedule.

This week in our session, we decided it was time to start working on weight loss and I'm feeling very motivated. My sister finally set a date for her wedding- August of next year. I'd like to lost at least 40 lbs by then, which I think is realistic but will require me to be pretty motivated.

So.... that is the LONG version of what's been going on this month. And if you actually made it all the way through this wordy post, here is your reward:

Frick or Freat!

2009-10-31T21:38:00.001-07:00

Isa has finally started to understand the concept of holiday, although she doesn't quite understand that they're separate events. Thus, when asked about Halloween she would sometimes respond "Santa!" or "Happy Birth-o-ween!". The idea of dressing up in a costume and getting candy- that she totally understood.

Isa had a glorious time going trick or treating (or, as she would say "frick or freating"- haven't quite gotten the tr sound down yet). It was touch and go at first. A few children showed up really early and so Isa got to see the huge stash of Tootsie Pops I had hidden in a bowl up high. She flipped when I wouldn't let her eat one before some dinner. She finally choked down about 1/4 of a quesadilla and I decided not to push my luck.

The rest of the evening was wonderful! As usual, she charmed the pants of most everyone. A few blocks over one house does a huge haunted house experience which Isa wasn't too keen on. We (obviously) didn't go in, but even the scary music coming from the house was too much for her, so we quickly moved on. She even enjoyed helping hand out candy to others after we got home and amazingly didn't flip when I took the bucket of candy away after her allowed 2 pieces.

Let the candy-eating begin!

My little ladybug

The take!

And now the sugar has kicked in....

... only to crash back down, along with Auntie Autumn & Uncle Ben.

Move over June Cleaver

2009-10-12T20:17:00.001-07:00

Not only does Isa clean the house while wearing heels, she does it in the (nearly) nude! All she needs now is a string of pearls.

On a more serious note, 2 years ago I was sitting in my office when the phone rang. It was an area code that I didn't recognize, but I got calls from cancer registries in other state, so I thought nothing of it. Turned out to be my agency calling. I started to get a tingling feeling in my stomach when Tami said "Are you sitting down?" I asked if I needed to be and she said "I know who your daughter is." Just thinking about those words still brings tears to my eyes. From that point, I think the only words out of my mouth were "Oh my God." Over and over again. A few minutes after hanging up the phone, I got to see the most beautiful photo I've ever seen:

And here she is now, shouting "Tada!" and looking shockingly like the big girl she is rapidly becoming:

Why I need a nap

2009-10-06T20:08:00.000-07:00

Wanna see something cute?

2009-09-30T23:07:00.000-07:00

All I could get her to make was one of her funny faces and my camera batteries died soon after, so this is the only pic of her first time in her new real ballerina leotard, tights, and shoes (which you can't see). I'm bummed that we can't take photos or video in our Mommy & Me class because she is beyond precious. She ADORES it!

(And yes, that is a single ponytail on top of her head. As if you needed further proof that she has an overabundance of hair....)

Potty training part 3/4

2009-09-28T23:37:00.000-07:00

Sooooo........

Last Thursday was a total bust. In hindsight, I should have scrapped the idea of potty training altogether after the morning started off on a horrible note. Yep, hindsight and all that.

The morning started at 5:15 when Squiggy came into my bedroom and projectile vomited all over the floor. As I was cleaning that up, Isa woke up yelling "Mama! Mama!" I went in to her room, she stood up in her crib and promptly asked "Mama's room?" Ordinarily if she woke at that hour, I would throw her in bed with me but there was still kitty puke on the floor, so that wasn't an option. After some rocking I got her back down and continued to mop up the floor. Fun, fun.

By 6:30 Isa was up for good. It was a cranky morning (for both of us). Finally, sometime around 10, she was in a good enough mood to change into the big girl underpants. We had a good hour or so of sitting on the potty every 15 minutes and checking for dry pants in between. Then she had an accident in the kitchen. Cleaned Isa and the floor, changed her into clean underpants, and we practiced multiple times hurrying to the potty the next time she had to go pee. Less than half an hour later- huge flood on the living room floor.

And that was the end of potty training. Mama was just not ready to deal with any more bodily fluid clean-up. (Or so I thought- the cat puked all over the bathroom about an hour into naptime and I got to clean that up too!)

I thought I had two big aces up my sleeve for potty training- Isa LOVES her big girl underpants and she HATES to be messy. For example, I have to keep a washcloth at the table because she wants her hands cleaned numerous times during each meal. So I thought that she would really dislike having an accident and that would help motivate her to use the optty. Alas, while she has mentioned quite a bit that she got her big girl underpants wet, it doesn't seem to bother her.

Honestly, if she didn't try to scratch my arms off on every other diaper change, I wouldn't be so motivated to try potty training this early. But she does, so we'll give it some time and try again. (Hopefully the kitty will cooperate as well!)

Potty training part 1/2

2009-09-23T20:34:00.000-07:00

Today after ballet class, we headed to Target. Initially the trip was to get a few things for me and try to find a leotard and tights for her. No dice on the leotard or tights, but I decided it was time to buy big girl underpants so we could start the potty training process on Thursday.

Isa was THRILLED with her new big girl underpants. She clutched them the entire way through the store, on the ride home and then carried them around the house. I had explained to her that she would get to wear them tomorrow and kept harping on the fact that you have to use the potty when you wear big girl underpants. I planned to re-read the potty training book I had tonight and be all ready for training in the morning.

Isa B had other plans. As soon as she woke up from her nap she demanded to wear her big girl underpants. So I decided to go ahead and try. She did great when we were at home- sat on the potty on regular intervals (although nothing happened) and in between we would check the underpants to make sure they were still dry. Unfortunately, we had plans to have dinner at a friend's house and (obviously) Isa wasn't taking those underpants off! I asked her every minute on the car ride over if the pants were still dry- happily, they were. They remained dry from 3:30 until 6:30, when an accident happened. By that point, we had both gotten distracted and I hadn't reminded her to try the potty in quite a while.

Tomorow we have nothing planned, so we can stay home and really focus on using the potty all day long. I already have pull-ups to use at nap time and she'll probably stay in diapers at night for quite a while as I have no plans to move her out of the crib anytime soon. But I'm hopeful that we'll be able to move to big girl underpants during the day from now on.

Isa B has been throwing major fits during diaper changes for a while now, so I'm looking forward to being done with them. At the same time, diapers are the last real "baby" thing we have and I'm kind of sad to be officially moving into little girl-dom.

Here she is- in all her big girl underpant glory!

I am a girl

2009-09-21T20:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long absence. I feel like I've finally started to pull myself out of the funk I was in for the last month. Isa's doing better behavior-wise (with the exception of meltdowns at nearly every meal), which helps immensely. The rest of my world is slowly falling into place again as well.

Happily for me, Isa has turned out to be a lot like me personality-wise. She's a thoroughly independent and outspoken gal who happens to also be a complete girly-girl. She likes watching baseball and football, but does so while holding a baby doll. I firmly believe there's no reason you can't have a closet full of heels and a basement full of power tools!

Here she is showing off her feminine side:

Tea parties with Grandma & Papaw

We started Mommy & Me ballet classes, which Isa adores.

Whenever the music stops, she immediately says "More? More dancing?".

I need to get her a leotard and tights but for now the tutu will suffice.

One of her favorite costumes- the tutu and princess crown.

This girls LOVES the phone (both real and pretend).

And finally, here she is showing off several girly-girl skills in a single video. I have to admit that she does a stellar job walking in some fairly tall heels! Once she gets the hang of the heels, what does she head straight for? Her purse, of course.

Exhaustion

2009-09-05T00:10:00.001-07:00

I'm currently in the throes of sheer, utter exhaustion of the mental/emotion variety, which inevitably turns into the physical variety.

Crappy things in my personal life in the last month or so. Continued weight gain means nothing in my closet fits. My cat was diagnosed with triaditis (inflamed small intestines, pancreas, and liver) as well as possible pancreatic cancer. Isa continues to "be 2" from time to time and I just don't have the reserves to be as patient about it as I would like. Which, in turn, makes me feel guilty.

So that's pretty much it from here. I'm really hoping that the end of summer will mean the schedule will return to normal, allowing me time to try and dig out from under all this muck.

In the meantime, here are a few, much belated, birthday shots- in slightly random order. I haven't had the time to load the shots another friend sent via email so you may see some more in the future.

We so rarely get good shots of both of us- I love this pic!

Mmmm... cupcake!!!

Can you tell that she enjoyed opening presents?

Blowing out her candle.

Yummy snacks for the birthday girl.

The big 0-2

2009-08-17T11:56:00.001-07:00

On Sunday, my baby turned 2. How in the world did she make it to 2 so darn quickly? Didn't she just turn 1? It's just not possible that it has been a full year since then.....

Saturday, I planned a little party for friends here in Seattle. Isa's had some trouble with her final set of molars and was a bit crankier than usual all week. Luckily ibuprofen was working well and I was hopeful that we'd be meltdown free. But, in true Isa B form, she decided Saturday morning was the perfect time for the sh*t to hit the fan. She started by waking up at 5:30. I physically CANNOT get out of bed that early. By 6 am she had raised the decible level considerably and I forced myself up. Ugh.

Her big gift from me was an easel with a chalkboard on one side and a big roll of drawing paper for the other side. I made the mistake of having it out for her that morning thinking she would play with it and leave me free to finish setting up for the party. She went straight to it and within a minute or two was throwing the crayons. The rule in our house remains "if you throw something, it means you don't want it". I take the thrown item and put it up on the mantel. Thus, the crayons went away. Mad about that, she then decided to attack the easel and start ripping up the paper. So, the easel went away to my room as well. At this point Isa started making hideous, non-human sounding tantrum screams. Sounds I'd never heard from her before. She spent the next several hours either flipping out or sitting on my lap with her paci. There was no in between. Medicine didn't make her feel any better. Suffice to say, no shower for me... no party set-up... Luckily Autumn and her fabu husband Ben came over early to help or I would have been greeting guests in my pajamas!

Apparently, having someone other than Mama around snapped Isa out of her crazed state and she returned to her normal cheerful self. The party was really just a big playdate with the addition of cupcakes and presents. Everything went swimmingly. Food was eaten, children ran around the yard, grown-ups chatted.

Isa got very excited when everyone started singing Happy Birthday to her. She blew her candle out, without any help, in one good puff. Then came the presents. She would pull the paper off a present and run around shrieking with happiness just to see the box underneath. It was pretty adorable. After presents, I herded everyone back outside to eat the cupcakes. She enjoyed the cupcake much more this year than she had last year.

The only "incident" happened towards the end of the party, as Isa was playing in the sandbox with her friend Solly. I've worked really hard to get Isa to understand that "sand stays in the sandbox." She was carrying a half-full bucket of sand around the yard and I told her to please go put it back. She walked over to the sandbox and just as I was about to thank her for listening.... she leaned over and dumped the entire load right on her head! For most children, this wouldn't be a real problem. But you've all seen the amount of hair Isa has. Quantity of curls plus the fact that her hair is liberally coated with conditioner each morning means that sand doesn't just brush out. *sigh*

Sunday we had a party with family which was a little less eventful (thankfully) but also very fun. She shares a birthday with my sister's fiancee, so they had a joint birthday BBQ for Taylor and Isa.

And today, she had her 2 year checkup. She is now 32 inches tall and 25 pounds, which puts her around 16th percentile for height and 30th for weight. I was a bit surprised about the height. She's just soooo much taller than she was in the spring. I figured she was going to be at least the same percentile as she'd been at 18 months (30th percentile). But I guess the fact that 2T pants are still 3 inches too long should have clued me in.

And, finally, let me apologize for no pics. I was much too busy to take photos at the parties. I will be getting pics from the friends who did take the time to pull out their cameras and post them- hopefully soon.

A week in pictures

2009-08-02T20:40:00.001-07:00

More to come when I have the time but here are some pictures from our (very, very) busy last week or so:

Family Picnic

Playing in the sandbox with cousin Caroline

Being pulled behind Uncle Tim's boat

Dinner with new friends Martha & Eyerus

Playdate with Solly & DeDe

It was HOT! Time to cool off in the pool.

Ethiopian Heritage Camp

Three adorable girls- Amara, Elsa & Isa

Ethiopian nursery rhymes

Best buddies :)

Best buddies in their lovely Ethiopian dresses

New friends

Crazy wrestling time!!

Letters from my past

2009-07-22T14:22:00.001-07:00

I know I'm mentioned before that I am a pack rat. Capital P, capital R, card carrying member of the Pack Rat nation. Unfortunately I happen to live in a very small house- just over 1000 sq ft. When it was just myself it wasn't too bad. But now there's a toddler running around with all the necessary toddler stuffs. Plus I work primarily from home, so there's a big computer desk in the livingroom and piles of work materials. I'm starting to drown in clutter. And you know if a pack rat thinks it's cluttered, then things have gotten BAD.

So I've resolved myself to clearing things out. Last night I thought I would start with an easy task- a hatbox full of old letters and cards. It turned out to be much easier to toss the majority of them in the recycle bin than I had anticipated but what a trip down memory lane! Amid all the old Christmas and birthday cards, there were several gems. Here are some of the things I found (of which I did keep a few):

- postcards my grandparents sent me when I was as young as 6
- the note from a friend who had just "stolen" my 8th grade boyfriend, begging me to still be her friend (I was one of her "most cherished" friends but, apparently, she never considered just not going out with Josh)
- letters my mother sent me- one every day- when I was away at camp for the first time
- a letter my sister sent me at camp which is just plain hilarious (I think she was about 10 at the time)
- notes sent back and forth during middle school where my friend Melissa and I did our best to think up crazy, intricate folds
- quite a lot of letters from the Australian students we hosted for a week each year in high school
- several letters from the boy I have, not so secretly, been in love with since I was about 13 (yes, a good part of me is still in love with him, but I think he's getting married this weekend)
- the first letter my mom wrote me after dropping me off at college freshman year and the letter my dad wrote me after driving me to college the following year (both of those made me cry)

I guess being a pack rat does have it's upside now and again.

Confessions of a lax parent

2009-07-12T22:46:00.001-07:00

Anyone who knew me in real life, pre-Isa, (including myself) would have sworn that I was going to be a very uptight, type-A, generally frantic parent.

In some areas, I have exceeded my own expectations. I will fully admit to being a top-of-the-line "hoverer". I rarely let Isa out of my sight in the first months, even for a few minutes. I got all nervous and edgy when my sister carried her away at a family wedding. I knew she was safe, but still.... We didn't spend a single night apart until this spring, more than a year after she had come home. I'm working on this particular fault, but it's a tough habit to break.

And so, I was shocked to discover that when I compared it to others, the totality of my parenting is actually quite lax. I submit the following:

- Isa is a pacifier kid. So much so that early on, I bought a clip and have kept it attached to her nearly constantly. She drug that thing around, clipped to her chest, I'm sure picking up loads of germs. (I like to pretend now that her iron-clad immune system is due to this particular lazy behavior of mine.) We have ZERO plans to eliminate the paci anytime soon.

- I didn't discontinue pre-sleeping bottles until last month and only then by accident. Admittedly, I was planning to do it this month, just squeaking in under the 2 year mark.

- I hadn't planned to co-sleep, however we did just that for well over six months simply because it was easier for me to throw her in my bed when she woke up at 2 a.m. than try to get her back to sleep in her crib. It wasn't an attachment thing- it just garnered me more sleep. She even rolled out of my bed twice (landing reasonably softly on a suitcase by the bed both times) because I never put up a bedrail.

- I think I made a total of 2 baby food meals ever. The rest came from jars. And it wasn't even always organic.

- On that note, I think she first tried french fries at the tender age of 10 months. Isa would probably tell you that her current favorite foods are quesadillas (we eat a lot of those, and yes, she can say it) and pizza (which we don't actually eat often but Isa has become fixated on). We love carbs.

- I've never even considered getting her own seat on any of our many flights despite all the safety stats. In the beginning, I knew that she'd prefer being held and now I'm just too cheap. Sadly, only one more flight left before I'm forced by law to ante-up.

- She watches TV. Probably too much TV. But there is no other way that I can survive getting up at 6 a.m. everyday. Thank God that Sesame Street comes on at 7!!

- I still have a baby gate up in the house because it's easier than baby-proofing the bedrooms, bathroom, and hallway. Getting very tired of stepping over that, though, so I may be forced to stop being so lazy on this particular point.

- She doesn't always brush her teeth each day. I'm trying to work this into the bedtime routine, but I find I sometimes forget it.

- Her carseat is still rear-facing. I can pretend that this is because it is so much safer, but a big reason is that I really don't relish having to wrestle the Britax into the forward facing position.

And finally, photographic evidence of my laxity. A photo taken a few weeks ago. You can clearly see that she is chewing on a small plastic wand (almost certainly made in China and thus toxic), pacifier clipped on, and it's hard to see, but those are Halloween jammies in the middle of June.

Mish-mash

2009-07-02T23:31:00.001-07:00

A random mix from the last couple weeks:

in her loverly princess crown

Super Isa!! (the towel cape goes so well with her fabulous morning hair)

loves, loves, loves to swim

Here's a pic of my very first attempt at braids. Very, very, very simple since I am completely inept at hairstyling. Isa loved them. A couple times she grabbed them and pulled herself around like they were handles. It also allows you to see just how LONG her hair is when the curls are pulled straight. We'll do this 'do several more times, then maybe I'll attempt multiple braids in the ponies and move from there. Not sure she'll sit still long enough for much more than that at the moment.

Several years ago I saw a cartoon of a mom looking in on her sleeping children. She was telling her husband "I wish I could think of them as sleeping and not just recharging." Well, ever so often Isa wakes up from her nap FULLY RECHARGED. She bounced around like this for at least 45 minutes the other day. She doesn't want out of her crib, she just wants to play like a maniac in there.

Good deed for the day

2009-06-25T00:08:00.000-07:00

Borrowed from my friend Bobbie's Facebook page:

Become a Bone Marrow donor, all from the comfort of your home...and it's FREE! Enter the promo-code PIF070109, save your 52 dollars, and possibly save someone's life. Neat-o! https://donors.marrow.org/

I used to work at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where bone marrow transplants where first pioneered and always meant to get typed for the bone marrow registry. When you sign up online they send you a kit with cheek swabs, so you don't even need to give blood to be typed. It's especially vital to do if you're not Caucasian since it is often very difficult to find a matching donor for minority or multi-racial patients.

I'm all signed up. Now it's your turn. :)

Firsts, lasts, and some stuff in between

2009-06-20T12:37:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy several weeks around here!

I was gone for 5 days at the beginning of June for a work conference. Everything went swimmingly. Isa and Grandma had a lovely time back in WA, with the exception of the unusually hot temperatures and my lack of AC. Papaw and I had fun exploring New Orleans and stuffing ourselves silly with outrageous delicious food. I was suprised to really enjoy several days with truly free time and wasn't as anxious about the separation as I had anticipated. It was quite a treat to be on a plane without an active toddler! I devoured all 4 of the Twilight books during the trip. Highly addictive stuff......

After only 1 week home, Isa and I took off for MN to visit friends, none of whom had met Isa yet. We stayed with my friends Katie and Chris who have a daughter who will be 3 in September. Isabel was VERY excited for her friend Isa to come visit! Isa, in turn, was thrilled to get to hang out with a big girl. Isabel's potty was quite a novelty as well. No action yet, but at least Isa was happy to try it out numerous times. The girls did a remarkably good job with sharing and taking turns; as only children, it wasn't something that they were used to doing on a consistent basis.

We had a lovely visit although Isa was a bit sniffly and seemed unusually cranky on Saturday. I thought she was having allergies, as the cottonwood was flying as thick as snow. But, when she woke up in the wee hours of Monday morning, refused to fall back asleep and WAILED continuously, I began to get suspicious that it was more than allergies. A few times she pointed at her ear and said "boo boo," so later that morning we headed to Urgent Care. Sure enough, Isa B had her very first ear infection! By that evening, after a dose of ammoxycillin and some ibuprofen, she was, thankfully, almost back to her normal happy self.

As for the "lasts"- smart Mama that I am, I forgot to pack a bottle (she was getting them only before sleeping times). I had been planning to start the weaning process after we got back from vacation but this seemed advantageous. Katie could always pull a bottle out of storage if necessary, but I figured why not try without and see what happens. Well, absolutely nothing happened. I'm not sure Isa even noticed the bottles were gone. I really thought she'd protest the changing of her routine much harder and I was terrified to do anything that would mess up our fairly easy sleep routine. Why fix it if it ain't broke, right? :)

When I spoke with my mom after getting home she said that she was sad to think that she'd no longer get to rock Isa to sleep with her bottle. I, of course, hadn't actually processed that fact until then. Because I hadn't planned to wean on the trip, I hadn't paid much attention to what ended up being the last bottle. I love that Isa is getting older and learning so many amazing things, but with the phasing out of each of the truly baby habits, I get a little sad.

But, now back to happier thoughts and some cute pics from our trip to MN:

holding hands in the car

driving the cars at the zoo

blowing bubbles with a friend at a barbecue

3 of my favorite people!

Maybe she IS listening

2009-05-30T17:26:00.001-07:00

One of the rules in our house is "no throwing." It's the rule Isa hears most often because whenever she's tired or frustrated or cranky, she likes to chuck toys (or anything else she can get her hands on) across the living room floor.

When a toy is thrown, I put that toy into a time-out up on the mantle and she doesn't get it back until the next morning. Since she often just moves onto the next toy to throw, I wasn't sure that this approach was actually teaching her not to throw.

This afternoon, Isa put an old-school Little Person on her finger (yeah for the toys from my childhood that my parents saved!). Then she flicked it across the floor. Before I could say anything, she turned to me and said "no throwing." Then, she picked up the Little Person, walked over to the mantle and held it up for me to put in time-out.

I sat there with my mouth wide open. Hurrah for self-disciplining! Now if she'd just remember the rule and apply it BEFORE doing the action......

New Orleans or bust

2009-05-29T13:05:00.001-07:00

In the wee hours of the morning on Sunday I leave for a work conference in New Orleans. I'll be gone until late Thursday night. It's the first time I'll have been away from Isa for more than a single night. I'll admit to being a bit panicked, although also fairly excited about the idea of 4 nights in a row of uninterrupted sleep!

My dad is going to tag along with me- he's always wanted to see New Orleans and this is his chance for a free room at the Sheraton in the French Quarter. My mom is going to come up at stay with Isa at our house. I've put together a bunch of ideas of how to spend the time here at home- directions to the closest playground and a nearby beach, how to get to the Arboretum, directions to the zoo since I know my sister is coming up one day to do that with them. Now that the weather is finally nice, there's always the option of just walking up and down the sidewalk, playing with rocks (her current favorite activity), and the sandbox and little slide in our own backyard. Doesn't it look like todder paradise in our yard now?

I know that she'll be fine. I think the days will actually be harder on my mom than Isa. :) I guess I'm more concerned about the fall-out once I get back home. Extra-clinginess? A few more meltdowns? Who knows?

And we won't really have time to do much recuperating. The following Thursday, we're flying back to MN for a visit so that all of my friends from college can finally meet Isa. We're staying with my friend Katie who has a daughter, Isabel, who will be 3 in September. (I know, funny isn't it? Katie & Isadora plus Katie & Isabel) While I'm not looking forward to the plane trip with a now very active toddler, I know Isa will have a BLAST back there. And I can't wait to show her off.....

On that note, here's a belated birthday wish for Katie in MN (with a little improv at the end):

Isa-bot

2009-05-13T15:06:00.001-07:00

Sometime in the last couple weeks, some evil doer stole my darling, sweet Isa B and replaced her with a constantly short-circuiting Isa-bot.

She goes from happy to wailing in 2 seconds flat. For no obvious reason. And then back to happy again when you aren't looking. This is especially apparent during meals. She has gotten very adept with a spoon or fork, so she's mostly feeding herself lately with utinsels rather than fingers. She can be in the middle of a bowl of food that she's enjoying, suddenly throw the fork across the table and start sobbing. Why? Who knows?

Another sign that the Isa-bot is obviously malfunctioning is her erratic sleep schedule. Today, for the second time in as many weeks, she slept until 9:30. That's right- 9:30 a.m.- 3 hours longer than normal. Even after this morning's sleep marathon she was ready for a nap by 1 and has been asleep for 2 1/2 hours.

Granted, her last 3 incisors are tthhiiisss close to breaking through her gums and in the last month (based on clothing fit) she's had a HUGE growth spurt- she's grown at least an inch, likely more. So perhaps everything from her mouth on down just hurts from all the outward/upward progress. That would make me cranky, too.

Or maybe I do have an Isa-bot on my hands. In that case, anyone know a good robot repair shop?

ETA- Final total for today: she slept an extra three hours this morning, took an almost three hour nap, and went down like usual at 7. CRAZY!

It's oh so quiet

2009-04-30T10:03:00.000-07:00

In an effort to provide me with a little more time sans Isa, my parents graciously offered to start taking her for an overnight once a week. We dubbed it "Grandparents' Day" and today is our first one!

This morning they drove up and swept Isa away. They have outfitted their backyard with a climbing toy of some sort as well as a sandbox. They'll spend today playing at their house and then she'll spend the night with them. This will be the first time she's ever woken up without me there, but I think the combo of Grandma and Papaw will be more than enough to keep her happy. Tomorrow they have another fun day planned playing with my sister, who Isa adores. I'll drive down in the afternoon and we'll likely spend the night again before coming home on Saturday.

As I mentioned, I've never had a night off in the 14 months or so that we've been a family. I just wasn't ready until now. I was also waiting until Isa was reliably sleeping through the night because it just wasn't fair to force anyone else to watch her until then. I'm a bit apprehensive- not about whether she'll have fun or about my parents watching her or any of that. I'm worried that I'm going to be too lonely without her constant chatter all day. Silly, no?

I have a list about 4 miles long of things to do. After they left I took a shower- with no one else in the bathroom but myself (gasp)- and now have a mud mask on my face. Extravagent! It's highly probable that I'll paint my toenails at some point today and I expect a nap is also in my future. Shocking! Tonight I'm going out for drinks and dinner with my friend Autumn as a late birthday celebration for her. Scandalous! And I know you'll all be surprised to hear that tomorrow morning I have no plans on getting up at 6 a.m. :)

Of course, there are also plenty of chores to be done around all the fun stuff as well. I do an acceptable job of keeping the house picked up but it could really use a deep clean and full-on organization. I hope to get some extra work done to try and catch up from the missed work when we were in Kansas City. Laundry is a never-ending job around here as well. I expect to get a fair number of those things done, too.

But for now, I'm going to wash off my mask, pour myself another cup of coffee, and watch The View in my now silent living room.

Happy, happy, happy

2009-04-18T00:12:00.000-07:00

Isa's favorite new word is "happy."

Two little videos of her from today using her new favorite word. As you can see, she decided her socks were better suited as gloves.

Almost famous

2009-04-07T19:25:00.000-07:00

It's probably not a surprise, but people tend to comment on Isa when we're out. "She's adorable." "She looks a little doll." etc.... (And then she starts "talking" in her not so delicate voice and the image is shattered!) I have to admit that it's quite fun to bask in her reflected glow. Honestly, when I go out by myself it's a bit disappointing, as no one pays any attention to me whatsoever.

I even get to experience a little bit of fame from time to time. Last summer/fall we walked into an Ethiopian restaurant with another adoptive family for lunch after church. As we walked in a mom at one of the tables seemed to be staring at Isa. Since her family included a beautiful habesha baby, I assumed she was just pleased to see some other adoptive famlies. Not quite. She said "That's Isa B!" and told me that she followed our blog. Seriously- what are the odds?!? Turns out they live in the same town as my parents, which isn't too terribly far away. So, fame has it's rewards- we've had several play dates with this family since then and adore them.

But perhaps, in the not-so-distant future, we'll be experiencing a little fame beyond our tiny pie of the blogging world.......

Another comment that I got on a fairly regular basis was that Isa should be in modeling. I certainly wasn't going to go out and get head shots or such nonsense, but the idea of perhaps a little extra income just for Isa being cute wasn't a bad idea. So, on the recommendation of a friend, I signed Isa up with a local modeling agency. Nothing crazy- just emailed some of my own photos to the agency with Isa's stats. They said there wasn't a big market for infants/toddlers in this area, but they'd like to keep her info on file. Fine by me.

Well, they emailed last week to get updated stats and called today because a client is interested in seeing Isa! Unfortunately, the go-see (yes, I watch America's Next Top Model and have all the lingo) is on Thursday, when we'll be in Kansas City. Keep your fingers crossed that the client is interested enough that they'll wait and see Isa next week.

I'll keep you posted.....

Pack Rat

2009-03-24T21:27:00.001-07:00

Last week I did the seasonal cull of Isa's clothes. Now I have yet another large plastic storage box full of outgrown clothes to put in the basement. There is very little space in the basement, yet virtually every item got packed up rather than bagged to be given away. As I packed it up, I remembered when she wore all the various items and it made me a little sad.

You see, I'm keeping all these clothes because deep in my heart I'm hoping that Isa won't be my one and only. I want another little girl to wear those dresses someday. I want to get to do this wonderful Mommy-thing again and I want Isa to experience the joy of sisterhood.

But the reality is that I'm single and not in a career that pays a lot. I live in Seattle, which has a high cost of living and my mortgage payment eats away at least half of the income I bring in each month. Add in all the other bills and I'm lucky if I have anything left over. I am actually pretty far in the hole after being down one contract for several months last fall. I certainly can't work 70 hour weeks the way I did pre-Isa in order to speed up the debt repayment and grow my savings.

We also don't have the space for another family member. We live in a teeny 1000 sq ft house with 2 small bedrooms. Sometimes I feel we are literally busting at the seams in here. There's no way that two children could share the room Isa is currently in. And having the money to either buy another house or- ideally, since I LOVE my neighborhood- add onto this house may never happen (see the previous paragraph).

Honestly, another adoption is not something that I plan to pursue in next several years, even if there were no material obstacles in my way. And life could take a million different turns in the coming years opening up all sorts of new doors. I guess I'm just a little sad when I think that everytime Isa does something for the first time, it may the only one of those "firsts" that I get to experience.

In the meantime, I'm going to continue my pack rat ways because you just never know. Those dresses may come in handy some day.......

Ahhhhhh..... sleep.....

2009-03-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

I love it. I miss it. I am jealous of my old self who occasionally took a 4 hour nap on the weekend to recharge. But I must admit that lately things on the sleep front have been decidedly good.

Ever since the Daylight Savings time change, Isa has been sleeping from 7-6:30 (or sometimes even 7!!!). Rarely a peep during the night and if she does wake up, all I have to do is re-tuck her in, whisper "Night-night" and head out. I've found that not closing the door entirely at that point works wonders.

Daytimes are also peachy-keen at the moment. Naps are rarely less than 2 hours and this week, they've been 2 1/2-3 hours. As I type this, she's 5 minutes away from 3 hours. The house is mostly clean, I've paid bills, read a magazine, and now I'm blogging. How wonderful is that? Yesterday I got a 2 hour nap in which might account for at least part of my extra-good mood today.

Oh, and I do realize that I am likely jinxing myself by writing all of this. Should I come back next week lamenting the loss of all sleep decorum, you can all tell me "I told you so."

And here's a bit of Isa B-liciousness. A few pics from last month, since I didn't get many up:

You can never have too many books (nor apparently too much hair)

Say "Cheese!"

The "Look" (aka, What You Talkin' 'Bout Mama?)

Visit recap

2009-03-11T19:55:00.000-07:00

So, we're back and settled from our lovely, lovely weekend away. *sigh* Back to work.....

Isa actually slept for much of the flight home, which was a welcome relief. She did okay on the flight down, but it was so much more relaxing to not have to keep her entertained for the entire time.

We had amazing weather our entire time down in CA- sunny, high 60s or low 70s. Not so up here in Seattle. About 3 minutes before landing- BAM!- all the rooftops are covered in snow and it's swirling everywhere. Blech. Luckily, it was very localized and we didn't have any in our actual neighborhood.

Isa had her (late) 18 month appointment yesterday. Our MD forgot to give me the sheet with her actual measurements, so I'll give you those once the paper arrives, but she did jump up over the 25th percentile for height for the first time and remained steady around the 50th percentile for weight. Perfectly on track for all her developmental milestones and, as usual, she charmed the pants off everyone in the office! And, as usual, the trauma of the visit meant she took a 3 hour nap, which I appreciated.

Here are some more photos from our time in CA. I can't even express how much we love Porter and Elsa. It's so wonderful to find a kindred soul during the crazy adoption process and to then get the opportunity to visit them post-adoption, keeping the girls in touch, is priceless. I just wish we weren't a 2 hour plane ride away!

As promised....

2009-03-08T20:27:00.001-07:00

....well, sort of. I'm being incredibly lazy and making you go to Porter's blog to see the hysterical video of our little darlings. They were the exact videos I was going to post anyhow. Seems silly to do the work twice!

Enjoy. :)

Visit to Elsa and Porter

2009-03-07T20:39:00.000-08:00

This weekend we braved the folly known as airplane travel with a toddler to see two of our favorite people- Elsa and Porter. Mommy needed a little vacation, we (of course) were desperate to see them since it had been about 6 months since the last visit, and it was a good trial run for the much longer flight we'll taken in April to Kansas City. (Note to self: Isa no longer zonks out for the entire flight. Bummer.)

To recap for those of you who don't know, Elsa and Isa are just about a week apart in age and were roommates at Toukoul. So (as Porter told me just now) the girls have had a relationship for longer than we Mamas have. Elsa came home a month or so after Isa and we got the great pleasure of seeing her at Toukoul to take some additional photos and video for Porter.

We saw them twice last summer and the girls got along fine, although at that point in time they didn't really interact. Now they're both 18 months and very, very, very chatty as well as mobile. Suffice to say, this visit has been MUCH more interactive. The girls are a total riot together. Porter has a large metal umbrella stand that makes quite a bit of noise when rocked back and forth. Apparently, this is the height of comedy in the toddler set because both girls practically fall over with laughter when doing this.

Today I got to watch the girls while Porter rowed in the wee hours. Excellent pajama time. After Porter got home, we all played at the park for a bit. Much fun was had although Isa experienced her first cut lip injury and Elsa managed to face plant directly onto a step, resulting in some immediate swelling. After the park and lunch, it was off to a birthday party for an Ethiopian friend. Amazing homemade Ethiopian food and lots of other habesha kiddos to play with. Elsa and Isa had a great time (as did the Mamas).

Tonight's bath was hysterical. Last night, not so much, as Elsa decided she wanted nothing to do with having her hair combed out. Tonight, however, it was all fun and games- and LOTS of splashing. Isa seems to think that most anything Elsa does is cause for laughter and Elsa enjoys the receptive audience.

Honestly, they get along better than I had hoped for. I thought they would enjoy each other's company but still do a lot of parallel playing. Instead, they are constantly laughing at each other and really acting like buddies. It is such a thrill to see them together and to know that we can keep their special bond going strong.

There will be plenty of videos and photos tomorrow. I forgot to bring my camera-to-computer cord and Porter's is in the room where Isa is now asleep. So, no downloading from the camera tonight! Prepare yourself now for the extreme cuteness........

Rewind- February 14th-February 20th, 2008

2009-02-21T13:11:00.000-08:00

Well, my grand plans for daily blogging about last year's trip were smashed to pieces by the combination of a lovely cold and having to work every night last week. So, here is an abridged version of our final days in Ethiopia (although it still makes for a very long post).

The 14th was Embassy day. We picked up the kids in the morning and brought them back to the guesthouse. The other family with us was checking out the twins for good that day, so we met with the Toukoul doctor before leaving. Here is what she said about Isa's health- "Hayat likes to sleep." That was it..... and we'd already discovered that. Almost anytime she was held for very long, she's pass out.

Mom had made a special Valentine's Day/Embassy day dress for Isa to wear. She looked adorable but she wasn't very thrilled about having to change.

The Embassy appointment went well. The upper waiting room was about 100 degrees! Isa did fine at first and then started to wail. We went downstairs to the MUCH cooler and completely empty 2nd waiting room and she calmed down.

When I dropped her off that evening, I could hear her wailing as we pulled away and it made me both thrilled (yeah- maybe she misses me!) and upset to hear her so sad.

Friday morning we left for Dire Dawa. It was a very long 9 hour drive there. Our driver spoke minimal English, which made for interesting "conversations." I think he was just as amused by our even more minimal Amharic. We also had a friend of the Ferez family (founders of Toukoul) with us. He was visiting Ethiopia on holiday and wanted to see as much as possible; we were happy to have him along.

Once we got out of Addis Ababa, the scenery quickly changed and I felt like we were getting a glimpse into what Ethiopia truly looked like. We saw herds of camel along the sides of the road. We passed actual Toukouls and drove through towns where the people were dressed in colorful traditional garb. Unfortunately, we were in a van for all of this so very few pics were possible....

There was a mix up with the hotel in Dire Dawa. The Ras 1 hotel was being renovated and we had been booked in the Ras 2. It was less than ideal. Our room smelled strongly of body odor and there was a large bucket of water in the bathroom you had to use to flush the toilet. But, the whole reason we were there was to see where Isa was from. I'd have slept in a tent if that was the only option.

I spent the vast majority of our time in Dire Dawa fighting back tears. Every time we went out I looked intently at the faces around me, knowing that Isa was related to someone here and thinking maybe I'd see her features in someone we passed. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was so blessed and there was a woman here that was grieving the loss that blessing.

We got to visit the local SOS EE orphanage where Isa spent her first 6 months. The women there were so wonderful although I know they all wondered why the ferenge was bawling. I got to see the picture they took of Isa when she first arrived in their care and they had a coffee ceremony for us.

After visiting with the SOS EE center, we spent the afternoon in Harar, an ancient walled Muslim city about 45 minutes away from Dire Dawa. We were lucky enough to secure a great guide, which made all the difference. I think we saw nearly every inch of the city and the maze of streets would have been incredibly confusing without a local to help us. Almost everywhere we went, little children would run along side us yelling "ferenge." We visited a coffee plant and bought several pounds to take home. Our driver in Addis said that Harari coffee is considered the best coffee in Ethiopia, so I definitely needed to try it!

On Sunday, we drove back to Addis. That evening we went to dinner with our drivers at a hotel which had a traditional buffet as well as dancing from various regions in Ethiopia. It seems quite staged for tourists, but was fun nonetheless.

On Monday morning, we checked Isa B out of Toukoul for good. I signed the necessary paperwork and they handed me her little medical file and her card hanging on the wall. She was 100% officially mine now! Before taking her out for good, I got to see Elsa to take additional pics and video for Porter who would be traveling in about a month. Elsa was a doll- oh, those dimples! I was holding her when the nurses brought Isa in. Isa fussed at me as if to say "Hey- you're MY mom!" and promptly threw up on the nurse to make her displeasure known. But, we got video of the girls together for the first time, which is priceless.

I found out that Isa had been sick with a fever and vomiting on Friday, which explained why she was so cranky and lethargic the first days we met her. She was so much more alert on Monday and I finally got to witness her now-legendary vocal abilities for the first time.

Tuesday morning we stopped by Toukoul II to take pics and video of Ezra and Olivia. They were so tiny! Ezra just hung out in the nurse's arms but Olivia WAILED. It was actually kind of funny.

We did some shopping on Tuesday. I bought Isa a beautiful Ethiopian gold cross, which I'm planning to give her at her Confirmation. We bought several dresses, which was a fun experience. We went to several shops. I would pick out a couple dresses I liked and Aster would haggle with the owner. If she didn't like the final price, we got back in the car and went to another shop to start the process over again.

We flew home Tuesday night. Again, I was overcome with the urge to cry as we left. I know that we'll be back but that first flight away from Ethiopia was tough. There were 11 other children on our flight home and I felt fairly guilty that so many children were leaving their birth country even as I was overjoyed to know that we were headed "home."

We had a short layover in DC where I guzzled Starbucks- not nearly as good as Ethiopian coffee, of course, but welcomed after a 17 hour flight. Isa slept almost the entire time from Addis to DC as well as the next flight from DC to Seattle. A model traveler. Dad and Mollie met us at baggage claim. Isa was smart enough to wait until after Mollie had passed her to Dad before puking.

I wish I'd done a better job of journaling while we were there. I know that there are pieces of the journey that I've already forgotten. I did take lots of photos, so that helps. It was such a whirlwind. And, honestly, if I had the money we'd have gone back to visit this year!

Rewind- February 12 & 13, 2008

2009-02-13T13:56:00.000-08:00

Well, Blogger was having issues last night when I finished work and since it was nearly midnight, I just didn't feel like slogging through.... So, here are two days worth.

On the morning of the 12th, we met with the lawyer to sign all the Embassy paperwork. After that, we drove over to Toukoul and checked the kiddos out for the day. Isa arrived looking dainty and adorable in head to toe pink with her hair done in different ponytails from the day before. It was wonderful to see that the nannies obviously took such good care of her.

Back at the guesthouse, we just snuggled on the babies and got our first real taste of parenting. Toukoul had sent bottles with us, so the babies all had lunch. Well, actually, Isa decided that she'd just rather sleep than eat. So, we took a nap together.

On the morning of the 13th, we did a little touring around Addis, including visiting a beautiful, fairly new Orthodox church.

Then we went to the Ethiopian History Museum. We were lucky to get a wonderful guide- other tourists even ended up tagging along with us because he was so funny and knowledgable. Unfortunately, Lucy- the most famous exhibit in the museum- was actually in the States while we were in Ethiopia. I especially enjoyed the top floor of the museum showing Ethiopian art.

Of course, we ended the afternoon by visiting the babies again in the afternoon at Toukoul for some love and a bottle.

During all this time, the guest house proved to be a great refuge. As I had noticed the first day, it was noticably cooler and quieter as soon as you got inside the gates- a nice change from the hot, dusty, noisy streets of Addis. The veranda outside our room looked out over the garden and was a great spot to sit and read. Or, you could just watch the giant tortoises lumber around. The staff was wonderful and the cook made very tasty Western-style meals (although I did wish we'd gotten at least 1 traditional Ethiopian meal at the guest house). Yes, the rooms were a bit primative but quite comfortable. Most of the linens were the same ones that were sold at Toukoul, beautifully embroidered with traditional Ethiopian designs. Every morning we woke to the sounds of calls to prayer at the nearby mosque. There was fresh squeezed orange juice for breakfast and, of course, the world's best coffee. We could take as much bottled water each day as we needed. Our drivers were wonderful- especially Solomon. Honestly, when we go back, I'll look into staying there again.

Rewind- February 11, 2008

2009-02-11T19:17:00.001-08:00

Nearing the end of the long plane ride, the sun came back up. Looking out the window, we were over the Sahara. Vast expanses of desert. Later we flew over the Nile. It was just amazing. All I could think was "I'm in Africa.... I'm in Africa."

We landed and waited in the line for our visas. Everything went smoothly. We changed some money and grabbed our luggage. Thankfully, no lost luggage for any of us. At the luggage carousel we met our lawyer and he explained how the day would go. Tired as I was, I was secretly hoping we'd go straight to Toukoul. But, instead the plan was to head back to the guest house, unpack, and rest a bit. After lunch, we'd FINALLY get to head over to Toukoul to meet our children.

We split up into two cars. I, selfishly, made sure that Mom and I got into the car with our lawyer since the second car seemed hastily arranged and I wasn't sure the driver knew where the guest house was. (My suspicions were confirmed when the car with Joe and both their moms got lost, arriving to the guest house well over an hour after we did with several interesting stops along the way!) On the way to the guest house we got our first glimpse of Addis Ababa. First impression- a really large city with lots of people and crazy drivers. I was exhausted and the combination of heat and smog made me nauseated. But soon we were pulling off onto a side road and honking at the gate of the guest house. Inside the walls it was much quieter and cooler. I felt comfortable immediately.

The side garden at the guest house.

The doors to the annex rooms (where we stayed), directly across from the main house.

The 2 tortoises that live on the grounds and the back ends of a couple of the pet dogs.

We met the guest house staff, unpacked, and had a very nice lunch. Then our drivers showed up and it was time to head to Toukoul!!!!

They were expecting us and within a few minutes of sitting in the visiting room, the twins were brought out. I waited, not so patiently, for another minute or so and there she was..... Dressed in an adorable dress and little red sweater, hair up in a bunch of teeny-tiny ponytails. I went up to the nanny holding her and "hi". Isa thought that was funny, apparently, because she responded with a little grunting laugh. We did that a few more times and I finally took her from the nanny. I was thrilled to see her smile because she was so serious in all of her update photos. We spent a couple hours just holding our babies and cooing at them. The nannies brought in bottles for us to give them and after that all three kiddos fell asleep on their deliriously happy new parents.

Hi Mama!

I'm even cuter than my photos!
Oooh... Grandma has glasses....

I'm bummed this photo didn't turn out because I think it would have really captured the emotions of that first meeting (sleeping with her head on my chest was her favorite thing- I think we spent 75% of our time in Ethiopia in that position!)

The rest of the evening is a blur. I know we had dinner back at the guest house and I'm sure turned in very early. Really, who the heck cares what happened at that point because I had finally held my Isa B!!!!!

Rewind- February 10, 2008

2009-02-10T23:53:00.000-08:00

We arrived in DC in the wee hours of the morning on the 10th. Luckily, there was a coffee shop right near our gate so we could refuel. We met the other family who would be staying at the guest house with us- Stacy, Joe, and both their mothers. They had 9 month old twins- a boy and girl- waiting for them. It was comforting to have another family sharing all our same emotions and apprehensions.

Finally we boarded the plane. Already it started to feel like we so much closer to Africa, as most of our fellow passengers were habesha.

There was a mother and grandmother seated diagonally from us with two gorgeous little girls. Later in the flight, I watched as the mother put the baby into the bassinett knowing that in not so many days, I'd be doing the same thing on our return flight. The flight attendants cooed over both the girls. When the older girl (maybe 3?) fell asleep, they put a larger bassinett up and settled her inside so that her mom could have a break. I thought this boded very well for the return trip as well- should Mom and I need the help, I knew where to turn!

Granted, 17 hours is a very long flight, but it went by so quickly. I think I was able to sleep a bit but certainly not much. Too much excitement, anticipation, cramped airplane seats..... I swear they fed us full meals every 3 hours. The little bag of flight "goodies" they handed out (eye shade, toothbrush- even socks!) was adorable. I think I probably read and re-read the info the agency gave us about the Bole airport a dozen times so that I'd know where to go once we arrived. Doesn't seem like much to fill so many hours, but somehow it did.

Rewind- February 9th, 2008

2009-02-09T19:15:00.000-08:00

I realized that I did a fairly poor job of documenting the trip and so for the next 11 days I'm going to rewind the blog and detail the trip to Ethiopia, day by day. Here goes:

One year ago today, I got on the red-eye flight to DC that would start my journey to finally meeting Isa B and bringing her home. I was surprisingly calm in the last weeks leading up to the big trip. Not so much by Saturday night. I was excited, terrified, ready to burst into tears at any moment. The bags were packed and ready to go. Important documents checked and double-checked. And then it was time to leave for the airport.....

At the time it felt so surreal and honestly, a year later, it still does.

I didn't take any pictures during the flights to Africa, so here's a recent pic:

Isa-bina Ballerina

A little smackerel

2009-02-05T21:19:00.000-08:00

Just a little tidbit for today.

In addition to Isa's usual "num-num" you'll also hear her say "I like it" in response to this wonderful breakfast treat. You'll also hear myself and both my parents in the background. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we all got such a great cheering section for doing nothing more than eating?

This one is especially for Porter:

I am a wimp- part II

2009-01-29T00:11:00.000-08:00

We had a hellacious weekend.

Isa decided that the crib was now a place to be feared. Instead of putting herself to sleep for naps or at night, as soon as her bottle was done she started crying. It was hard to see. But when Saturday night wasn't as bad as Friday, I thought that maybe CIO was going to work for us. Then came Sunday.....

Sunday it was as if Isa's evil doppleganger had taken over. My normally happy, sweet child was cranky and downright mean. Every toy or book she picked up was thrown angrily across the room. I eventually had to just remove most of the toys and books from the room altogether. I had to put the gate to the kitchen back up because she wouldn't stay out of the drawers and took to throwing the cookbooks as well. She hit me whenever she was frustrated (often!) and even hit the kitty. When I held her arms so she couldn't hit me, she'd try to bite me. She took a miniscule 1 hour nap, which didn't help the situation. I was beside myself- several bouts of tears and plenty of my own frustration.

I decided that if the trade-off for guaranteeing she stayed the entire night in her crib was this personality, then it just wasn't worth it. I'd rather have her end up in my room and get back happy Isa who took 3 hours naps and happily put herself to sleep.

So, I cracked. Sunday night I just rocked her after her bottle until she was asleep. It took about half an hour and then I layed her in her crib without a fuss. I didn't hear from her until almost 7 the next morning. Hmmm.....

I did the same rocking at her nap on Monday. Again, it worked fairly well, even though she still only slept for an hour. Luckily Bobbie & Quinn stopped by, so we had a lovely distraction post-nap. Monday night she was so exhausted that she pretty much fell asleep drinking her bottle and I had her in her crib within 15 minutes. Didn't hear from her until 6 the next morning!

She did well yesterday at Christina's house and slept all the way through the night yet again. Today she virtually fell asleep in the highchair during lunch so I figured I could try putting her straight in the crib after her bottle (as we used to do). Success! She rolled over on her tummy and took a 2 1/2 hour nap. Tonight was business as usual- in the crib after bottle, not yet asleep. She woke up once this evening from what I think was a bad dream (based on her crying). After only a few minutes of rocking, I was able to put her back in the crib.

So.... I guess I can't say that CIO was unsuccessful, because she's slept through the night 3 nights in a row and I've heard her fuss, then put herself back to sleep, on several occasions. And, now that she's back to her previous personality and back to the previous positive sleep habits, I don't feel quite so horrible about having done it, even though I didn't really follow through. How's that for wishy-washy?

And finally, I do know that I need to stop writing these loooonnnnnggg boring posts and start putting up some pictures. Maybe tomorrow. :)

I am a wimp

2009-01-24T09:25:00.000-08:00

I am trying my best to have a backbone when it comes to this whole crying it out process. But we have several large strikes against us. First, as the title suggests, I am a complete wimp when it comes to listening to Isa cry. Second, she is a toddler not an infant. Finally, she is very opinionated and stubborn.

Yesterday she refused to go down for her nap and since I was exhausted, I just put her in bed with me and we took a nap together. When it came time for bedtime, she did the same thing. I knew she was tired but as soon as I put her in the crib, she reached her arms up and started crying.

Instead of slowly petering out like last time, she just continued to cry. I thought that perhaps her molars were hurting. So, after over an hour of fairly consistent (more on than off) crying, I went in with some medicine. I didn't take her out of the crib, but held her face until she calmed down. Eventually she started to drift off and I figured I needed to leave again. More wailing....

Another 45 minutes or so of crying and she eventually fell asleep. Only to wake up half an hour later sobbing. I cracked. I went in and rocked her- she fell asleep very quickly in my arms. But, of course, when I eventually put her down in her crib I was greeted with another round of sobbing.

I finally had to just call my mom (I was, no suprise, also crying by this time) for some reassurance that I was doing the right thing and that I did, indeed, have the guts to stick this out. She made the smart suggestion of putting on earphones to drown out the crying. My house is the size of a postage stamp, so there is just no escaping the sound.

So, finally, 3 hours after going to bed, she went to sleep for good. Just to rub salt in my wound, she woke up again at 2:30 so I could do another round of listening to her cry. This time after I tucked her back in she sobbed "night-night" over and over and over again. At least she ended up sleeping until 7 this morning.

She did the same thing at nap time today but I just planted myself on the couch for my own nap. Tonight's ordeal was about an hour, much less intense than last night thankfully. She just squawked a couple times loudly (about 3 hours after falling asleep) but has apparently put herself back to sleep. So maybe this whole CIO thing actually does work.

I am exhausted. Emotionally and physically worn out by this whole thing. But I think it has to be done. I haven't spent a night away from her yet and one big reason is that she's not sleeping through the night. It would be really wonderful to have a night off in the future. (More importantly a morning off!)

*sigh* As my mom said last night, 95% of parenting is a joy but that other 5% is tough!

Freedom

2009-01-18T23:50:00.000-08:00

Several new and exciting developments here in Casa B.

I finally decided to stop being lazy about baby-proofing by simply gating Isa off to just living room. I did some major cleaning and organizing in the kitchen. I was able to put anything that should stay out of Isa's reach either up high or in baskets where she couldn't reach them. When she woke up from her nap on Saturday, she had the great joy of no baby gate between the living room and the kitchen! She's done a great job of not opening cabinets and drawers. The best part is that I can now cook without her freaking out because she can come and go as she pleases. Hopefully this will also mean healthier food in our house instead of the uber-quick stuff we've been eating. (The lovely, organized kitchen definitely makes me want to cook!)

The next goal will be removing the large play yard "fence" that blocks the living room shelves and a glass front cabinet that Isa used to love to bang on. Very good motivation to get that area cleaned up and organized just like the kitchen. I'm pretty confident that we'll be down to a single baby gate (to block off the hallway to the bathroom where the litter box is) in the very near future.

In other news about freedom, tomorrow is our last post-placement visit with our social worker. I imagine Ann will be very surprised to see her now, since she was last here in July when Isa was just starting to pull to standing. So much has changed in the last 6 months!

And finally, in what I hope will lead to more freedom for me..... I finally let Isa cry it out this evening. She usually goes down in the evening without a fuss. Tonight was no different but about 1/2 an hour after going to sleep, she woke up crying. When she does that in the middle of the night, I'm rarely ever able to get her back to sleep in her crib. She'll fall asleep easily in my arms, but as soon as I try to put her down, her eyes pop open and she starts wailing. I usually just put her in bed with me because she will (almost always) fall right back to sleep. Well, that wasn't really an option at 7:45 tonight.... I knew she was exhausted and after I got her to sleep in my arms without too much trouble, I put her in the crib. Not surprisingly she woke up, started crying, and put her arms up to be picked up. I simply said "It's night-night time", covered her with her blankets as best I could and walked out. She cried steadily for about 5-10 minutes and then off and on, with increasingly longer pauses and shorter crying jags, for another 30 minutes or so. It was tough. Obviously, I have very little stamina when it comes to listening to Isa cry. :) Fingers crossed that this will finally lead to full-on sleeping through the night.

Jabber Jabber

2009-01-13T22:29:00.000-08:00

As February and our 1 year family anniversary nears, I've been reviewing the old pictures and videos from when she first came home. I thought I should do some "Isa through the last year" posts. By now you should all know that Isa is incredibly vocal and has been from the time she came home. So I thought I'd start there.

Exhibit A: 6 months- Definitely a morning person

Exhibit B: 7 months- Talking to imaginary friends on the ceiling phase

Exhibit C: 8 months- Politician or preacher (you decide)

Exhibit D: 15 months- Dub-a-dub

Exhibit E: 16 months- Mamamamamamamama

And finally, just this morning Isa started putting words together. She has a pretty good vocabulary but it was all single words until now. On the way out the door this morning she said "bye bye kitty" instead of just "bye bye".

In the not so distant future all this jabbering is going to be intelligible. Isa certainly has an opinion on everything and I can't wait to actually know what she's been ranting about all this time!

To train or not to train...

2009-01-08T23:41:00.000-08:00

Warning- topic ahead that most likely will be of interest only to other parents of toddlers. A preemptive apology to the rest of you.....

A few weeks ago Isa started telling me when she'd had a poo. Granted, she has some pretty obvious signs when she's doing her business so I usually already knew that she'd done it. Still, it was cute to watch her walk over the baby gate that goes to the hallway with her bedroom (and thus changing table) and tell me "poo poo" indicating she wanted her diaper changed. Well, last week she started telling me BEFORE she had the poo. This is certainly not happening 100% of the time but it makes me wonder if it means we're ready to at least experiment with potty training. If nothing else, I could try putting her on the toilet when she gives me the warning and maybe avoid changing a few poopy diapers. That's not a bad thing, right?

But, in reading through my various baby books, this sort of half training is never mentioned. The books deal primarily with what to do when children are ready for the whole deal which I knew we aren't at this point. Isa definitely can't undress herself, isn't waking up from naps dry, or for that matter, giving me any sort of indication that she even notices that she pees. This will really be as much Mama-training as anything else.

So, fellow mamas (and others), what do you think? Get her a potty and give it a try? Just wait until she's actually ready for full-on potty training? Is it worth the hassle? Would it even work?

And just to make up for this whole topic, here's a video of Isa being her usual wacky self:

Christmas in photos

2009-01-04T15:02:00.000-08:00

Final snow accumulation- unheard of here in moderate Seattle....

Ready to decorate the gingerbread house

How she actually "helped" with the house

Ooh- snow AND Auntie Mollie. What's not to love?!?

See, even when you tip over, sledding is fun.

Our Ethiopian feast for Isa Day.

Think she likes cupcakes a little?

Hanging her stocking (and totally ready for bed!).

Christmas morning- Auntie Mollie aka Rudolph.

Her new rocking giraffe, George.

A large bag on the floor- WAAAAYYY more fun than any of those silly presents

Back off- this is MY bag!!!!

And finally, this is the best video I was able to shoot of her saying "Ho Ho Ho." She walked around saying it constantly and would clam up as soon as I pulled out the camera. We were in Lowes yesterday and the man in line behind us was large, with a big full beard. Isa waved and said "Ho Ho Ho" until she got his attention. Happily, he played along and Isa was thrilled.

Christmas (the short version)

2009-01-03T10:19:00.000-08:00

I haven't loaded my pics from the last couple weeks yet, so this will be the quick synopsis, with photos to follow...

Thanks to Uncle Taylor, Isa and I made it down to Olympia the Monday before Christmas. The roads in my neighborhood were pretty dicey and I doubt my car would have done it (if I'd been able to get it up the hill, that is).

Christmas was wonderful! Isa fell madly in love with Santa. Every time she'd see Santa on an ornament, card, etc, she'd yell "Nanta" and start waving. She even learned to say "Ho Ho Ho" which is incredibly amusing. Other favorites of the season were Rudolph ("Ru-rolf") and snowmen ("Noma"). She and Auntie Mollie had a blast playing in the snow. Being pulled around in the sled is thrilling, even when you topple over.

Apparently Isa was a very good girl this year because she made out like a bandit. My parents got her an adorable red kitchen and the play food to go with it. I got her a shopping cart and the dishes for her new kitchen. Auntie Mollie and Uncle Taylor got her George, a rocking giraffe. The family we do a childcare swap with got her a baby doll and stroller.

I was surprised at just how "well" Isa actually plays with the kitchen. I knew she'd like it because she loves playing with the kitchen at a friend's house but I thought she'd just have fun opening doors and shutting them. Instead, she put pots on the stove and stirred them. She would pretend to eat with one of the little forks and even pretend to chew! She also loved to feed both her doll and George. She learned to say "Wawa" during the Christmas break and would go up to the kitchen's faucet, fill her glass, and then drink it. I guess I really need to be careful what I do and say because I have an incredible little mimic on my hands!

My dad and I came back up to Seattle on Saturday and were able to move my car (finally). However, when I walked into the house, it was a whopping 45 degrees. I couldn't get the furnace to kick on and since the planned oil delivery had been missed due to the snow, I thought I was out of oil. They made the delivery on Monday but when we all came up on Tuesday, the house was still frigid and the furnace a no-go. So, back to Olympia we went. Dad came up early on Wednesday to meet the repairman and we eventually had heat.

Now we're home and I'm doing my best to reorganize after the holidays. It used to be tough to get the few new things I got for Christmas into my overstuffed house but now I need to contend with rocking giraffes and kitchen sets! Any excellent excuse to do some long overdue sorting and culling. We'll see how that goes.....

Hopefully photos will be up tomorrow. I'll try to load them tonight.

Snow, part II

2008-12-20T12:20:00.001-08:00

Well, our piddly little snow from last week melted off on Wednesday. A new storm was supposed to come through that afternoon but we didn't see a flake the entire day. I woke up on Thursday to about 3 inches of new snow and it was still snowing. It kept snowing.... and snowing.... and snowing... and finally stopped in the evening, leaving us with at least 8 inches!

Isa looking outside at all the new white stuff

Out front in the morning

The patio table by afternoon....

I put out our snow attire for yet another round of fun. But Isa took a 4 1/2 hour nap (!!!) and by the time she woke up, it was almost dark. So, we just spent the day cozied up inside.

On Friday we decided not to head down to Olympia as planned (weekend fun with Zoo Lights and the Nutcracker wasn't going to happen!). However, I heard from my manager in Everett that roads up there were in pretty good shape and the freeways seemed okay as well. I thought it might be my best chance to get up there to pick up work materials since it could only be done on a weekday and another big storm is scheduled to come in tonight with as much at 10 more inches of snow (yikes).

My wonderful neighbors stayed with Isa so I wouldn't have to take her in the car. Getting out to the freeway was a treat. I don't think I made it above 15 mph the entire way. The freeway was pretty much bare and dry, but just crawling through downtown Seattle. I finally saw a sign that said "accident ahead" which accounted for the uber-slow movement. Imagine my surprise when I got to the accident scene and found it wasn't a spin-out as I expected, but this:

Seriously, it looked like something out of a movie scene, not real life. No one was hurt, thankfully but it was quite a sight to see 2 buses hanging over the freeway!

I made it to Everett and back to Seattle without any major problems (although the trip ended up taking about 3 times as long as normal). Unfortunately, I only made it halfway up the final hill to my house. I know, I know- I'm kicking myself for even trying it. I was able to slide my car back into the curb, so I'm not in the middle of the street and I'm only partially blocking someone's driveway. She said she had enough room to get out around me if necessary. But, we've gotten another 3-4 inches as of tonight with no end in sight, so I doubt she's going anywhere soon....

My sister's fiancee will be in Seattle on Monday for work- with his 4 wheel drive vehicle. So even if my car remains stuck, we'll be able to make it down to Olympia for Christmas. :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2008-12-14T19:55:00.000-08:00

The house is finally decorated (or at least as decorated as it's going to get this year). Isa absolutely LOVES anything shiny or sparkly, so this is definitely her season. We got the tree Thursday night and I put it up after she went to bed. Friday morning I got up and turned the lights on before going to get her out of her crib. She was thrilled to see it- actually a bit too thrilled. I had to baracade it with a large trunk because she couldn't keep her hands off of it.

In addition to new, non-breakable Christmas ornaments on the tree (I used to do all cobalt glass, silver, crystal) there are several changes this year. I changed out the usual ornaments on the mantle swag. This year it has red, green, and gold ribbon (like the Ethiopian flag) and hanging in the middle is a fabulous ornament set my mom got last year. Based on her outfit, I think the figurine is probably west African, but she has little poofs just like Isa B and the house looks a lot like a toukoul.

(darn paparazzi never leave me alone!)

Instead of putting up my grandmother's white Lennox china nativity set, I have up the one I bought at Isa's orphanage.

We also have up the Advent calendar that my mom made back when my older brother was little. Since I'm the one who is always most excited about turning over the squares (always have to guess first what it is- you'd think I'd memorized it by now, but sadly I haven't), Mom had us take it this year. I have a kit to make one for our house but, obviously, it didn't happen this year.

And finally, the addition last night that made it feel extra Christmasy...... SNOW! That's right. Here is Seattle we actually got some of the white stuff last night. At a local children's used clothing store I bought Isa the most adorable snowsuit and boots that look as though they're made to match the suit. Purple boots that have silver sparkles in the fur lining- fabulous! After her nap today we geared up. Honestly, I think it takes as much time to get her dressed as we spent outside! She adored the snow and screamed her head off when I picked her up to come inside because it was getting too cold.

This was her under-the-snowsuit-attire (minus the Robeez). Stylish, no?!?!

(almost) 16 months

2008-12-11T19:46:00.000-08:00

Isa's (delayed) 15 month check-up was yesterday.

Stats:

Weight- 23lbs 6 oz (back up to 50th percentile)
Height- 30in (stable at 25th percentile)
Head circ- a gi-normous leap to the 50th percentile

And her hair was up in two poofs, so I know the hair didn't account for the head growth (that was my first thought....)

She's right on track developmentally. I expected to be chastised for having her still on the bottle (just before nap and bedtimes), but happily the ped didn't even mention it. Isa was her usual boisterous self- showing off her belly, yucking it up in the mirror and, of course, ripping the heck out of the crinkly paper on the exam table.

She had to get two shots, which went fairly well. The look on her face after the first needle was priceless. She looked up at the MA with a face that plainly said "what the heck did you just do to me????" Luckily, the office stocks little packages of animal crackers and as soon as the MA pulled one out, Isa promptly stopped crying. Blessed, blessed animal crackers!

And, finally, I have resigned myself to the fact that I am one of those moms that hears "words" that my child really isn't saying. I swear she says something akin to "moma" for snowman and "nanta" for Santa. Yes, I probably couldn't tell what the words were without context, but if she consistently says them when pointing to the object or "repeated" to me when I say the word, that counts right?

I promise pics soon- need to load recent shots into the computer......

What's in a name?

2008-12-03T21:23:00.001-08:00

The most recent post got a comment asking about Isa's name and I realized that I've never actually blogged on that particular topic. So here goes.

Her full first name is Isadora. After my grandmother passed away, my mom and I went through her desk and found a bunch of old family photos (all the way back to tin types!). There were several photos of my grandmother's grandmother, who was named Mary Isadora. I loved the name instantly. Doesn't hurt that I'm also a dance enthusiast and Isadora Duncan was an icon in the world of dance.

Originally I made her nickname-to-be "Isa-boo". But then I found out that Rachel Ray's dog is named Isa-boo. Um... that was out. But our last name starts with B and since the vast majority of my friends in high school and college called me Katie B (rarely just Katie), it seemed appropriate for Isa to become Isa B. And it stuck. There was actually a time a few months after coming home when she wouldn't respond to Isa or Isadora. Isa B only.

I did retain her Ethiopian name as her first middle name and added Mary as a second middle name. My grandmother, my mother, and I are all the first born daughters with the first name Mary. I didn't want Isa to have to use her middle name like I do (total pain in the arse), but I thought it was important that she was a Mary as well.

Oh- one last thought on her name. I pronounce it Izza but I don't mind at all if folks say Eessa (the way it would be pronounced in Spanish, for example). Call her Isa, Isa B, Isadora, Iz. Just DON'T call her Izzy. For some reason, I absolutely abhor that particular nickname. :)

Warning- excessive bragging ahead

2008-11-29T20:46:00.000-08:00

So, Isa B finally decided she wanted to walk for good (the day after I posted that I was done guessing when she'd start, of course). After a whole week and a half, she is now zooming furiously around:

You can see that, much like her Mommy, Isa likes to talk with her hands. Heck, the girl just likes to talk. Often. Loudly. To anyone who might possibly be in earshot. She walks around all the time talking and waving her hands like that- very entertaining.

Now that she's no longer focused on learning to walk, her vocabulary has just exploded. She had the same four or so words since around her birthday (kitty, mama, duck-duck, and sometimes doggy) and now suddenly she has so many more. In the last week she's decided that she LOVES the word "no". Sometimes she even says "Nope" which is hysterical. And the best part is that she really does use it appropriately. She'll go up to something she knows she shouldn't touch, shake her head, and say "no-no." Of course, she doesn't always follow her own advice..... Other new words include "choo-choo", "neigh-neigh" (horse), "Papaw" (Isa's grandpa, for whom she used to say"dada"), and "num-num" (i.e, "I'm hungry). It's always obvious at the point in the evening when she's ready for bed, but now when I ask her if she wants to go "night-night" she'll respond back with "nigh-nigh". Hmm... lots of word doubling, huh? Here's a clip of her talking- she's saying "Nina" (her godmother), then she pants (which is her usual way of saying "doggy"), and finally a very distinct "no-no."

She has recently discovered her two baby dolls and likes to walk around with them in her arms. It's about 50-50 whether she's smacking the baby's head on the ground or giving her a kiss. We're working on the concept of GENTLE. :) Here's a moment where she's loving her baby.

To add to all the other accomplishments, she's getting better at self-feeding as well. Here she is inspecting a piece of apple and then showing off how great her teeth are at chomping.

Bottom teeth #3 & #4 just broke through. Isa has had several bouts of extreme crankiness in the last couple days and one of her bottom gums feels like a molar is imminent. Fingers crossed that it comes through quickly.

And that's the report from here!

Bliss

2008-11-22T22:31:00.000-08:00

Last night, Isa went down uneventfully around 7 p.m.. I planned to stay up and finish my A&P homework, perhaps do my online test for my other class. Instead I got a GINORMOUS headache. The kind where 2 Tylenol make very little dent. All I could do was snuggle up on the couch and rest (more precisely, fall asleep-the best headache remedy I know). My parents were spending the night to watch Isa during this morning's class and my mom in her infinite wisdom sent me to bed at 9 p.m..

And now you're thinking, but wait- this post is titled "bliss"??? What's blissful about a massive headache???

Ah, yes. Isa B proceded to sleep until 6 a.m. That's right. I got 9 (count them-9!!!) hours of sleep last night.

Heaven. Sheer and utter bliss. Almost makes a girl weep with joy.

Randomness (and lots of pics!)

2008-11-17T13:56:00.001-08:00

Isa B turned 15 months yesterday and we are approaching the 9 month home mark. Wow, wow, wow- time is FLYING by!!!

As the title suggests, this post is a total mish-mash of randomness.

First off, I finally have a new contract in place. Yeah for money!

Isa still refuses to walk by herself. She's totally capable. Excellent balance and she barely pulls on your hands at all when she walks but she just doesn't believe she can do it yet. I can get her to take a couple little steps at a time, but then she purposefully sits down and crawls. I know that one of these days she's going to take off but have decided to stop making guesses at when!

Her hair continues to grow like crazy. Here is what she typically looks like in the morning:

I'm going to work on being more creative with her hair since I usually just do two barrettes in the front and occasionally 2 not-so-little puffs. She certainly has enough hair to work with, I'm just completely inept. :)

Isa has finally decided that self feeding isn't such a bad thing. This is wonderful! She used to start playing with her food after a few pieces, but now I can put a little bowl of food down in front of her and she'll eat the entire thing. No food being flung off the tray to the floor. No need to actively spoon-feed her. I think she's eating more this way as well. Good all around.

And finally, her favorite new thing to do is kiss people. Particularly other babies. She made sure to get around to all her buddies at our music session yesterday to give them each a kiss. Here she is giving a smooch to her friend Gracie (another beautiful habesha baby!). And then one where Gracie is going in for some lovin'....

ETA- well maybe it won't be that long until she walks after all..... :)

The return of Fav Foto Friday

2008-11-07T13:20:00.000-08:00

Well, after a long hiatus, FFF returns to the blog. This week's theme is "favorite family photo." Here are some of my favorites:

our first meeting (look how tiny she was!!!)

at her birthday in August- totally captures her personality

As I've mentioned before, we don't have too many photos of us together. We definitely need to have some professional photos taken!

VOTE!!!

2008-11-03T15:37:00.000-08:00

Vote!!! Vote!!! Vote!!!

My usual absentee ballot voting status somehow got changed when I finally updated my address on voter registration this year, so for the first time ever I'll go to the polls and vote. I'm very excited to get my "I voted" sticker... they really need to include those with the absentee ballots.

Of course I would love everyone to vote the way my conscience votes (I live in Seattle- it's pretty obvious how I lean) but regardless of your stance JUST VOTE!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow will be historic- we'll either have an African-American President elect or a female Vice-President elect. Wow.

Second star to the right

2008-10-27T17:57:00.001-07:00

Calling all Lost Boys and anyone else who never wants to grow up!

Isa B is ready with her pixie dust to help you fly to Neverland.

Low moments in motherhood

2008-10-22T16:29:00.000-07:00

Some days you know you're just not being a good mom.

You know, those days when your child has shoved yet another toy or book under the sofa and is screaming because she can't reach it. And you bend down to retrieve it only to bash your knee on the coffee table. And it's all you can do to not shout obscenities so instead you toss the book across the room.

Or when your child is cranky and decides that it's really fun to pinch you- hard. When you pull her hand away, she simply swoops in with her second hand. So you hold both her little hands and try to tell her calmly that "no, we don't pinch Mommy". She responds by screaming. And it's all you can do to not shout obscenities so instead you plunk her down on the floor, probably not as gently and lovingly as you might usually do it.

Or when your child is overly exhausted because she refused to take a second (sorely needed) nap. And it's bedtime. And she's screaming. She doesn't want to be down and play. She doesn't want to be in your lap. She doesn't want to be in her room at all. And it's all you can do to not shout obscenities so you simply force your crying child to stay in your arms until she finally cries herself to sleep.

You know... those days....

*sigh*

The Call

2008-10-12T23:08:00.000-07:00

One year ago today I was sitting in my office when the phone rang. It was my agency's coordinator and she asked if I was sitting down. The next thing she said was "I know who your daughter is."

I can still hear exactly how her voice sounded saying those words. One sentence changed my entire life.

Only one year ago and at the same time, WHAT a year it has been!

The funniest word in the English language...

2008-10-01T22:17:00.001-07:00

... apparently is "yuck". Or at least Isa B thinks so.

Almost walking

2008-09-29T21:54:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-28T11:38:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-26T22:15:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-01T19:38:00.000-07:00

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.....

Milestones

2008-08-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

What a week! Saturday was Isa B's first birthday. The party with friends was a lot of fun. We just hung around in the backyard. There were cupcakes and other treats. Isa got lots of adorable presents (2 different pink tutus!!). The birthday girl enjoy squishing her cupcake immensely but didn't really want to eat it. Here are some photos:

her new birthday dress, made by Grandma of course-

there are cupcake buttons on the front which you can't see in the photo

and the fabric of the bottom says Happy Birthday all over it

Mommy & Isa B

playing in the backyard with her buddies

blowing out her candles

hmmmm... fun to play with, not so sure about eating it....

Sunday we down to my parents' house for party #2. Again, a fun day although Isa B got tired and had to take a nap in the middle of the festivities. Uncle John got some quality Isa B time. Once he offered her the string on his sweatshirt to chew on, he was her best buddy. Aunt Karen was also quite fun. We can't wait to see them again and are bummed that it won't be until April. More pics...

opening presents

another cupcake!

Uncle John is fun :) (note her stylish new rainbow Baby Legs)

The milestones continued after Sunday. Wednesday marked the 6 month anniversary of when we arrived home. I can't believe it's already been 6 months and at the same time it feels sooooo much longer.

I checked Isa out of Toukoul 2 days after her 6 month birthday, so Thursday marked the day when she has now spent the majority of her life with me. That was a pretty emotional milestone for me.

In other Isa news, she has now figured out how to pull up on every piece of furniture in the living room. While this is fun for her, for me it means that no surface is off limits. Good thing my mantle is really wide- I think it's going to be covered with "don't touch" items for quite a while..... My guess would be full-on walking within 2 months at the most. *sigh* I just need her to slow down (literally and figuratively!).

It's 84 degrees IN MY HOUSE....

2008-08-15T21:56:00.001-07:00

.... and I am baking cupcakes. Nuts? Nope- tomorrow is Isa B's birthday! The big 0-1.

A bit of explanation: we've had exceptionally hot weather for WA this week. Several days in the 90s which rarely ever happens. Since we usually top out around 75 in the summer, very few people have AC. Absolutely no breeze lately either, thus the obscene temp inside.

Back to the birthday....

Tomorrow we are having friends over to our house for the aforementioned cupcakes. Obviously, given my love for all things fluffy and girly, they will be covered in pink frosting and sprinkles. Lots of "1st Birthday Princess" decor. I told folks "no presents" but so far it seems that most people are ignoring that little suggestion (which doesn't really surprise me).

My brother and his fiance are in town just in time for the big celebration. Karen is very allergic to cats and Squiggy is shedding like a mad kitty right now. So we'll be having a second party for family at my parent's house on Sunday. John hasn't met Isa yet and we haven't met Karen, so I'm really looking forward to Sunday.

I'll be sure to post lots of pictures of the birthday girl next week!

Tag- I'm it!

2008-08-11T20:46:00.000-07:00

So, the lovely Porter has tagged me for a SAHMBOSS award. What is that you may ask???

In her words, it is "some kind of annoying prestigious hybrid meme/award thing, which now - thanks to Michele’s way with words - will officially be known forever as The Super Awesome Hot Mama Blogger or some shit (SAHMBOSS) meme/award."

Here is how this works:

First, I have to answer a little questionnaire thingy which is pretty much all about ME!

Then I have to choose 7 bloggers who I feel are super awesome hot mama bloggers or some shit (see list below) and I “give” them the SAHMBOSS “award”. They will post their own answers to the questionnaire on their own blog and they will choose 7 more recipients. And so it goes!

Here is the questionnaire:

A. Attached or single? So very, very single (unless attached at the hip to Isa counts)

B. Best friend? Hmm... probably my sister. Autumn coming in close behind.

C. Cake or pie? Cake (although homemade apple pie is darn good)

D. Day of choice? Thursday

E. Essential item? Coffee, coffee and more coffee

F. Favorite color? Orange

G. Gummy bears or worms? Mmmm... I am an equal opportunity gummy eater

H. Hometown? Seattle, WA

I. Indulgence? Chocolate. Sleep. Loads of crappy TV.

J. January or July? Ha- trick question as my birthday is in July!!

K. Kids? 1 adorable daughter. 1 adorable kitten.

L. Life isn’t complete without? The warmth of family & friends

M. Marriage date? Well, Porter set a date, so I guess I should too. I'm going for October 9, 2010 (a lovely fall wedding!)

N. Number of brothers & sisters? 1 of each (both getting married next year, actually)

O. Oranges or apples? Apples - preferably Braeburn

P. Phobias? Spiders. Death (didn't have that one until Isa showed up and now I'm terrified)

Q. Quotes? "It's better to regret the things you've done, then regret the things you haven't done"

R. Reasons to smile? She's currently asleep in her crib

S. Season of choice? Fall

T. Tag seven peeps! (see below)

U. Unknown fact about me? I love typing. I sometimes find myself typing words in the air when I'm thinking- that's how much I love the motion of typing. I always wrote out papers longhand in college as I am no good at editing my thoughts once on computer. The bonus was that I then got to type the whole darn paper all at once. :)

V. Vegetable? Pretty much anything roasted.

W. Worst habits? Nail biting. Stress eating.

X. X-ray or ultrasound? Ummm.... is this a trick question also?

Y. Your favorite food? Pizza- combo loaded with everything.

Z. Zodiac sign? Cancer

(I would like to add that it took me until W & X to realize that each question began with the letter of the alphabet it was labeled with. Until that point I just zipped along answering the odd questions. Yep, motherhood kills your brain cells.)

I’m tagging:

1. Jesi

2. Rebekke

3. Porter (re-tag, 'cuz your totally a double SAHMBOSS)

4. Jocelyn (see above)

5. Kerri

Porter was an overachiever and tagged nine, so I'm going to be an underachiever and tag 5 lovely ladies.

I heart Spoon

2008-08-10T21:27:00.000-07:00

Just some fluff for you all today. Here is Isa B with one of her favorite objects- a little rubbery baby spoon (which henceforth shall be known as the Love Spoon).

The bowl of the spoon is a bit too big for Isa to eat comfortably from, but man, does she love to play with it! So, I feed her with another spoon and then pull out the Love Spoon at the end of the meal. It keeps her happy and occupied so I can finish eating. Gotta love the Love Spoon.

The joy is palpable....

Look, Ma! No hands!

Grrrrrrr.

And now for the Spoon Show- live!