Mass

Today at mass, I was pointing out Jesus up on the Crucifix above the altar and Izzie said quite loudly - "My Jesus, I have poops!"

I almost fell off the kneeler.

Family Pics from the Summer

Over the summer, we had some family photos taken by the same photographers who did our wedding. They also did some family photos for us last summer, which we absolutely loved.

Here are a few selections...

Halloween

Last year for Halloween we were in Oregon and Izzie was still too little to go out and Trick-or-Treat. This year, we were pretty sure that she would be interested.

A few weeks ago we ordered her costume online - a Jessie costume from Toy Story! She has really enjoyed watching Toy Story ever since we went to see her first movie - Toy Story 3.

We were a little worried she wouldn't want to wear the costume, but after a successful dry run yesterday, everything went pretty smoothly.

We decided to go over to Matt's parent's house for Halloween as our street doesn't seem to have many kids nor decorate for Halloween. It ended up being a good choice because the street was completely empty when we got back home this evening.

Izzie ended up having a great time and even kept wanting to go back out! She was pretty cute and even occasionally said "trick or treat." Mostly, she just said "oh, welcome!" when she was supposed to say "thank you." Oh well. She did throw in an occasional "bye bye" and a "see you later" now and then, which was pretty cute.

On to the pictures!

Izzie waiting for her chance to go out while another neighborhood grandkid stops by.

Izzie's turn! She insisted upon carrying that Ty pumpkin around.

Getting some candy!

Check out what I got everyone!

It was pretty successful overall!

Matt is afraid she will want to go Trick-or-Treating tomorrow.

Making cookies

For the last couple of months, I have been baking cookies and bringing about 75-85% of the batches to work to share with the other doctors and the nurses. One of the best parts about it is that Izzie really really likes helping bake the cookies. She will stand up on our step stool right next to me and help me dump the cups/teaspoons of ingredients into their appropriate containers. She also likes to help stir up the dry ingredients after I have thoroughly mixed them (I guess I wasn't thorough enough). Sometimes I catch her licking her finger and sticking it in the flour (oh well). Her favorite part is, of course, when she gets the beater after the mixer has finished mixing the dough.

After I have cut the cookie dough or spooned it onto sheets, she sits on the ground with me and watches the cookies in the oven - for a little while. Then we play in the kitchen and wait for the cookies to be finished cooking.

It has been a lot of fun to bake with Izzie! At our old place, we really didn't have room to bake, and I very rarely got the mixer our to make anything. Here, our kitchenaid sits in the corner on the counter and I just slide it out to make something. :)

The people at work have really liked my baking prowess as well - usually I try to bake something a couple of times per week and everyone seems to think that the cookies are pretty tasty. I certainly like them.

Anyway, I have really enjoyed my newly-found baking hobby, and Isidora really likes to bake with me :)

Story of the Day

Today when Isidora was lying on the changing table after her bath, she grabbed her hands together and said "Peased to meet you!" This was shortly followed by slapping her hands together and saying "High five!" and then "poun it!" (pound it, or a fist bump).

It was pretty cute.

Update

So as I am sure everyone can tell, I have been pretty busy. Taking call every fourth night sure does take a toll on blogging! I have been having a great time at work and I really do love being there, even though it is pretty exhausting.

Here is a brief update on Isidora - she can now count from 1 to 12 (!) and she says "I love you too kisses!" when I tell her, "I love you." She is more active and playful than ever (of course). She most definitely has her own opinions about what she wants and when she wants it. Her favorite things right now are trains, Toy Story ("Woody Jessie Buzz!") and Goodnight Moon ("nigh-night moo-nah").

She and Daddy are having a pretty good time at home, though she can sure be a handful at times. And, she is finally transitioning to afternoon naps! It's about time!

Anyway, hopefully I can convince Matt (and myself) to keep up some more frequent updates.

Counting update

Isidora has continued learning her counting since I last posted on the subject and now frequently counts, "two, free, foh, figh, sih, nigh, ten!"

Only three more numbers to go!

Also, she has started saying "a, b, c"


On a side note, Isidora went pee-pee in her potty! Yay!

Bee-ball

Isidora has followed in her father's footsteps in being really excited about baseball. Now, whether or not this is genuine remains to be seen, but for now she really enjoys saying things about baseball.

Whenever we see baseball on television, Isidora points and says "bee-ball!" And then runs around saying, "Go, Aow-ber!" (Go, Albert, as in Pujols). Occasionally she even gets upset when it goes to commercial and says, "Moh bee-ball?"

This morning, we were watching highlights of the game against the LA Dodgers from last night and I said, "Hit it to Manny!" (Manny Ramirez). To which Isidora said, "Hih ih to Man-nee!"

What a good girl.

Counting

Recently Isidora has started to say numbers. She most reliably says "wah" (one) and "two" when associated with one or two cookies, respectively. In the last couple of days, though, she has started to say more than just "wah" and "two", she has counted all the way up to six!

Mostly what she does is say the next number in the line. I will say "one" and then Isidora will say "two, free" (two, three), sometimes she will then say "foh, figh, sih" (four, five, six). Matt even caught her counting straight to five a couple of days ago.

Getting so big!

July 1st

Generally, as a new intern I should be in the hospital on July 1st, busily seeing patients, writing notes, and trying to figure out what I am doing. Instead, I am on my development rotation. This means I go to various clinics and other sites around Saint Louis and have a lot of "reading" time. So, instead of waking up at 5 or earlier like most of my other classmates, I got to sleep in for the first time in weeks, have a nice relaxed breakfast with my family and sit and watch Isidora play for a few hours. After this I will get ready for the day and get to work at noon for noon conference then go over to my clinic assignment for the afternoon. What a day.

Matt gets to mow the lawn.

Here is a picture of Isidora from the House Staff Picnic a few days ago.

Chicken Coop

This morning while I was getting ready for work, Isidora brought me her Duplo chicken coop and said, "Oh! Is foh bock-bock!" (Bock-bock is one of her words for chicken).

To this, I replied, "Oh, is that your chicken coop?"

Isidora then said, "Chi-ka coo."

Watch what you say, folks.

Father's Day Weekend

This weekend we celebrated our last weekend before I go back to work. Yesterday we went to the Cardinals game with Matt's parents. It was a 6 pm start time so Isidora did pretty well through the first 2/3 of the game (and then we went home). She started saying "bee-baoh" (baseball) a couple days ago, so she was even a little interested in the game, for a while at least. Juanita also taught her to say "go, go Aw-bur" for Albert Pujols. It was pretty cute. Here is a fun video of Izzie playing up in the Redbird club again. We did get to sit in our seats for 5 whole innings!

Today we spent most of the day over at Grant and Juanita's house watching the World Cup games and relaxing before tomorrow. Matt got some fun Father's Day presents too!

Sitting with Papa, reading a book.

Matt's Father's Day present - a bunch of Craftsman tools and a tool bag.

Isidora dancing :)

2nd Cousins

As I mentioned, we recently spent a week up in the Northwest visiting family. While we were visiting my Grandmother, my cousin was able to visit with her daughter, Kaylee, who is just under a year older than Isidora. Kaylee gets very excited to see Isidora, but unfortunately, we don't get to be up there that often (and it is only going to get worse!) I am really glad they got to spend some time together.

They had a great time playing and running around the dining room. It was a lot of fun to watch them play together.

Studying

Orientation for residency starts on Monday and in preparation I have been reading a couple of training manuals - PALS and NRP. Matt was kind enough this afternoon to watch Isidora while I got some good reading in, that is until Isidora climbed up the stairs and poked her little hands out the cat door and started saying, "heh-oo?" (hello). She was very excited to see her mama again but she was also excited to ask for a "kee-koo pees?" (cookie please). After Daddy got her a cookie, she decided to climb up on my chair with me to do some reading.

Sitting nicely while Mommy reads some PALS out loud.

This is boring, Mommy, where are the pictures?

I will miss all the time I get to spend with my little Goo-Goo Bean!

In case you were wondering, the swivel chairs were great for reading!

Before and after: Isidora's room

The before and after here is pretty remarkable, I think. Mostly because now Isidora has a room! Prior to moving into our house, Isidora's room was located in an enclosed hallway that had a nook just large enough for a mini crib. Nothing else of hers was actually kept in that room - her dresser/changing table was in the living room, as was the rocking chair, her clothes were in a closet in the living room, and her toys were everywhere.

When we moved, not only did Isidora get a room, but we were able to bring over some extra furniture from Matt's parents house that Juanita had bought before Isidora was born. This meant that instead of having a mini crib, we were able to upgrade to a full-sized crib!

Here is Isidora's crib in our apartment. I really liked the wall stickers in her "room" and I loved that it was quiet and dark in there.

Here is a shot of her room from the living room. As you can see, there is not much space in there.

Isidora did like her room, but she really didn't spend much time in there. She did love the mirror, though.

This is a repeat shot of the messy living room. You can see Isidora's changing area in the corner.

Isidora's room was painted in a light blue, and rather than trying to pick out a new color for the room, we decided that the color would work well enough, and it would help the room not be overly girly. We decided to decorate her room in pink and green, but we also added a little red. Here is Isidora's new room:

We still have the same dresser/changing table, as well as the same wall stickers and diaper stacker. The crib is new and was at Grant and Juanita's house. The hamper is also new, and was a find from Babies 'R Us.

This is Isidora's rocking chair, you can see a couple of the pictures that used to be above her changing table that are now framed in white.

This is Isidora's new rug and story time area. Every night before bed, we read a story to Isidora, which used to take place on our bed. The big red pillows were something that my mom made for me when I went to college and we thought they would be a great story time area, especially after we found the run with the red accents. We wanted a small rug for Isidora's room that had pink and green in it to help tie the room together. We found this rug also at Babies 'R Us, and we were happy that it allowed us to add a little red to the room (one of my favorite colors). The lamp was a mix and match lamp from Target to add to the little pop of red in the room.

Here is a shot of the inside wall of her room. This set of drawers and hutch were also in Grant and Juanita's house. I really like the new hooks on the wall (Command hooks) that my mom picked up for Izzie. The green bucket was a baby shower gift that I thought made a really cute trash can in here.

Another new purchase for Isidora's room were the curtains. One thing we were worried about was the change in amount of light in Isidora's room. She was used to her room being almost completely dark and now she was going to have a front-facing window in her room. So, we picked up these green curtains at Target. We also put up some pull backs (Elena, David and Katee did) so that we could easily open and close the curtains as well some blinds (Dad did) to darken the room even more.

This is the inside of Izzie's door which is not solid, but rather a bunch of window panes, so we bought this simple curtain (which my mom hemmed for us).

I really like that Isidora has a closet now! I had a hard time finding space for her old clothes in her apartment, so they were just stacked in various corners. Fortunately, the bins we bought to put them in fit perfectly:

Her clothes are stacked on the side and all of her dresses finally have a real home. We were also able to find her shoes a nice home - before, they were usually under an end table or somewhere in our room.

Another thing I really like about Isidora's room is all of the wall stickers that my mom meticulously put up on the walls for us (after I meticulously pulled them all off of the wall). The accents are all over the room and I really enjoy them!

So far Isidora really seems to like her room and I am really happy that she actually has a room. She has adjusted to her new space and loves going in there.

Only the yard is left!

Before and after: dining room

In our old apartment, while we had a dining room, it was fairly small. Not only that, but at some point after Isidora was born, we stopped using it. Instead, we brought our meal out to the living room, set up on the coffee table, and ate while we watched a movie or an episode of a television show. We did have a very nice dining room table, however. It is a solid hard wood table and was purchased at a garage sale for Clare's high school and came with two leafs to expand the table as well as table pads. The only things that I don't like about it are the seat cushions (we are planning on reupholstering them this summer), and its speckled 70's finish.

As you can see, the table barely fits in the room. Also, there is a twin bed frame in the corner that has been in our apartment unused since before Matt and I were married and in our dining room since just before Isidora was born. I was borrowing the frame from some close friends of ours before we got a queen bed, but we did not have any means of transporting it back to them. (We did end up getting it back to them just before we moved.)

Here is our new dining room. At first I wasn't sure about the chandelier, but the more I look at it, the more I like it. It is kind of odd, and reminds me of garlic, or an onion bulb. But, I do really enjoy it! Also, the room is so large, it makes our table look small! And, we actually have room for some other furniture in here (which we had to purchase - or got to purchase, depending on how you look at it.)

We bought this chest to store our china. I love the inlaid wood as well as its beautiful color. I also really love that we have a place to display all of the beautiful crystal we got from our wedding.

This is my graduation present from Matt - a secretary desk that is similar to the chest (both made by Ashley Furniture, but not a part of the same set). I absolutely love this desk. My grandmother has a secretary and I always loved looking in all the different drawers it has. The wine coaster on the left is actually supposed to be a replica of a bowl in da Vinci's The Last Supper (it is on the table on the far right) - it is something we would never have bought for ourselves but was a neat wedding present from the parents of one of Matt's groomsmen.

This is our unfinished corner. We have these wire hanging baskets that first held yarn for crocheting projects then Isidora's toys. I am not sure what is going to go in here, maybe some plants? Or cloth napkins? I am open to suggestions! The pictures above are antique maps of Oregon and Washington, Italy and Saint Louis given to me by my mother when I first moved to Saint Louis. I think they are pretty neat and they also decorated our dining room in our apartment.

Here is another shot of the dining room from the opposite corner with the desk and baskets in the background.

Here is a bonus shot of our dining room taken on the day before we moved, you can see the top part of one of the chairs in the center of the picture.

Anyway, on a side note, we bought Isidora a training potty yesterday and today before her bath, Isidora went a little pee in the potty! We are very proud of her!

Before and after: Isidora's play area

I decided that the best way to introduce our new house was going to be by comparing what we had in our old apartment and what we now have in the house. Now that we have pretty much gotten everything unpacked and the house is (mostly) in order, I have a little time now and then to sit down and post about all that we have done!

I am going to start with Isidora's play areas. Before, essentially our entire apartment became a play area for Isidora. There simply wasn't a ton of space. We did have two areas that were specifically for Izzie, though:

At the foot of our bed we had a quilt on the floor with some pillows and a storage ottoman filled with her toys. Isidora played here a lot, especially while we checked our email, since our bedroom also doubled as our office.

Isidora's other play area was in the living room, where we had a storage area with fabric bins to keep some of her stuff. Really, though, it wasn't stuff she was supposed to play with, it was her food, extra Boppy pillow covers, bottle liners, and other things we hadn't used for months.

This is Isidora's new play area in the basement. This is the same storage shelf from before, but now with 8 bins instead of 4, and her toys are in there rather than just stuff for her. It certainly makes clean-up a snap! Also, our desks are still close by, as well as the living area (to be introduced later), so there area lots of things to do down here.

Isidora's other new play area is the mud room off of the kitchen. She has her little kitchen that Matt's parents bought for her for her birthday...

...as well as her storage ottoman with a bunch of toys inside that used to be at the foot of our bed. As you can see, it is also our kitchen appliance and food overflow, and it also has our recycle bins (yay, we can recycle again!)

This room is really neat and has windows on three sides - it will be a great place for her to play! More to come soon :)

House update, part two

We have now been in our new house for one whole week! Our new furniture arrived last Thursday, as did our washer and dryer. Unfortunately, the sectional we had purchased would not fit into our basement :( so we had to return it and pick out a different one. It wasn't that the sectional wouldn't fit in the room, but that it would not fit go down the stairs either in our house nor in our walk-out basement. I was very embarrassed. Fortunately, we were able to find a different sectional that was smaller that we liked and we bought a recliner to supplement the seating. They fit downstairs very well and I am really glad we ended up getting those instead of the one big sectional.

Our new washer and dryer work really well and they even play a little tune when they are done instead of just a buzz or a beep. Matt says it is because they are South Korean.As far as upstairs is concerned, we figured out a way to fit all of our furniture in the living room and the dining room is mostly put together! We got our new kitchen table put together and we have already had several meals there - another success!

The big project today was cleaning up the mud room (it had a bunch of boxes and packing material headed for the dumpster). Katee helped out a lot by cleaning up our windows (she did a fabulous job) and I was able to vacuum it finally! It will eventually be a little play room for Isidora while we cook in the kitchen but we also have another set of shelves on the way that we will put our extra food and kitchen appliances on.

Today, Matt and I also went to the grocery store to get all the food we need for the brunch we are having here on Thursday morning before my graduation from medical school. I am pretty excited to host this brunch as it will be the first big gathering we will have in our new home. I am planning on getting out some fancy serving stuff (from our china we got when we were married) - I really can't wait. I also stopped by school to pick up my cap and gown. :)

Anyway, I guess I will leave you with a couple of pictures, since I managed to locate my camera cable :)

Here is a picture of our bathroom. It is pretty tiny, but will work just fine for the two of us. Our house has two full bathrooms - one upstairs that was original to the house, and one downstairs that was added very recently (I am not actually sure when it was added.) We are planning on using the upstairs bath as the master bath and the downstairs as Izzie's bathroom/guest bathroom. So far, with Becky staying with us, it has worked out pretty well!

Speaking of Becky, Isidora has really gotten attached to her Aunt CC (her nick-name). Every morning when Isidora wakes up, she goes to the basement door (our guest area is in the basement) and peeks through this old cat door and yells, "CC! CC!....Hi, CC!" It is pretty adorable. Eventually Becky wakes up and comes up to play with Izzie...

which makes Isidora pretty happy.

Isidora seems to be adjusting pretty well to the new house. She really enjoys running around the house and playing downstairs. I think she also really likes her new room. I know she loves the dog next door - a black lab named Vegas. She wants to go outside several times a day to watch him through the cyclone fence. He seems to enjoy the attention.

Anyway, things have been coming together pretty nicely. There are only a couple of boxes that are not fully unpacked and only a few things that need to be put away. We still have some work to do as far as getting things up on the walls, but we have already started the process.

Hopefully the next few days well go well! Family gets here tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited!

Wait a minute....

Izzie opened up a storage ottoman where we keep some of her toys this morning only to discover that it was empty. We had packed up the toys that were in it a few days ago since she doesn't get into it every day. I think she is figuring out that something is up.

Only 3 days until we move!

Take me out to the ball game: part 2

Three days after saying that I didn't think we would be taking Isidora to another night ball game, we decided to take her to another night game. It was one of those situations where the tickets were going to go to waste if we didn't use them. So we packed up Isidora again and dragged her out to the game.

She did way better than the last game! We even got to sit in our seats for a whole inning! It was great! We also decided to leave after the fourth inning, which was a huge help for Izzie, as it wasn't as far past her bedtime as it was for the first game.

Sitting nicely on Nanny's lap, cheering for the Redbirds. "Go, go, go!"

What is in here?

Being silly, as usual. Can you believe it?

House update: Assuming everything continues to go as planned, we close in 8 days! And we are planning on moving the day after that. We have a good deal of our apartment packed up at this point and we are starting to run out of non-essential things to pack. Matt and I are both getting pretty excited!