15 Months...Already?

Our "growing Martini" is now 15 months old. So, that means doctor check-up time. Again, I am always hopeful that Isabella will have gained a few pounds since the last doctor visit. But, today she weighed in at 15lb 13oz and has grown 1 inch. She has gained only 1 pound in 3 months. It seems frustrating to me, but again, the doctor is not worried because she continues to move up on the percentage chart. In all honesty, I wish I could be soo slim. (Ha Ha) Developmentally, Isabella continues to be on track. She can FINALLY get herself turned around and down the stairs. It makes us a little less nervous now. We are trying to learn to say new words all of the time. She is getting really good at barking. She seems to think all animals make that noise. :)

Isabella now likes to help out in the kitchen, especially since I showed her where to find the Tupperware and she can always find the bags of candy in our pantry. She has also become found of opening and closing doors. That is OK, but we have child locks on the cabinets and she likes to shut it, then can't get it back open. So, I have to stand there to help her get it open. I guess it would be wise to take the lock off of the Tupperware cabinet. We also like to play hide-n-seek around the house. It is pretty much me going to hide and then coming back out to find and scare Isabella. She gets lots of giggles out of it.

Here are some recent pictures. Hope you all are well and are enjoying this crazy Autumn weather.

Here are the measuring cups!

Let me find some bowls for you Mommy.I'm trying to find the perfect pumpkin!I love bath time!!!

After writing and posting the last blog post, I had forgotten some things about Isabella. An important one is that her 2 top front teeth have FINALLY broke through and of course, the drool has increased too! Yesterday while eating dinner, it was funny to hear a crunch sound come from her. We have also started going to Music Together classes on Thursday mornings. Isabella really loves it and most of the time just walks around the room clapping. Some of her best friends are even in our class....Jackson and Kate. It really is so much fun seeing all of the kids enjoying the music and marching or clapping along. We even have the CD from class that we play in the car. If any time Isabella gets a little whiney in the car, I just put on the CD and she is good to go! There are no new words to her vocabulary.....it seems that if you ask her what something is, the answer is always "da da". So, we are always working on new words.

Just doing some light reading....

She has her little ducky in her mouth.....she is definitely teething. She will walk around the house with that in her mouth.

It really is amazing to watch how a child develops in their early years. One day they may not walk or talk and the next they will! I thought I would just let you know of Isabella's latest developments.

She is continuing to get better and better at walking. We had to buy her some shoes that fit now, so that she can walk around outside, etc. There have been a few words spoken....."ball", "more" (as well as signing the word "more") and just the other day, she was mocking the neighbors dog by saying "ruff ruff"! So now, you can ask her "what does the doggy say?" Granted, if you didn't live with her 24/7, you might not know that it is "ruff ruff", but if you listen closely enough, you'll get it. Other than that, she continues to jabber conversations to us that we just play along with.

Below are some pictures we have taken recently. I thought they were too cute not to share.

Spending some time swinging at the park.

Playing with cousin Jackson at the park.

GOOOOO Broncos!!

An Exciting End To The Week!

It is now September, Labor Day weekend, and I guess that means the end of summer. I love summer so much, so in a way, I am kind of sad. But, today was a great day, a great way to end the summer, one that put a big smile on my face. Today was the day Isabella walked around the house by herself!! No more holding Mom's finger to walk her laps around the house. It just so happens that she waited for her Dad to get home from his business trip too! Needless to say, we are very proud parents this evening and we want to share our excitement with everyone!!

We hope everyone has a safe and relaxing holiday weekend!

(p.s. Just a reminder to those of you who get this emailed to you, you won't be able to watch the video unless you go to our website ( www.growingmartini.blogspot.com) .)

Misc. Isabella

I had last blogged that Isabella has figured out how to go up the stairs. She is getting quite good at going up, but she still doesn't understand that she needs to turn around and go down feet first. We have since had to put up one baby gate so far. The pictures below are of Isabella in action going up the stairs!

I made it! HA HA HA

Now her new toy is my exercise ball! At first she was scared of it, but at the same time wanted to see it and would just point at it saying "oohh". Well, now she likes to walk with it. As you can see from the pictures, Isabella is smaller than the ball, almost! She still doesn't want to walk on her own. She is either a chicken or just lazy. I guess I should just be patient because I will be running to chase her around soon enough. I'm sure she won't stop when she gets going!

Is anybody in there?

Yikes! Stairs?!

Yesterday I found Isabella on the stairs. She had crawled up 2 of them. That was surprising for sure! Then today, just when I thought Isabella was playing nicely downstairs in the family room, she had crawled up all 4 of the stairs and was crawling toward me into the kitchen! It stunned me for a second and then all I could do was laugh. Isabella had this huge smile on her face.....like it was no big deal! I'm glad that she has started to master the stairs because we have a lot of them in our house. I just need to teach her how to get down now!

Recent Fun/Laura's Visit

Over last 10 days Anthony and I and Jill and Alex hosted Anthony's cousin Laura from Sicily. She had never been to Colorado and we had never met her. We had such a lovely time with her and it was sad to see her go. When she wasn't out exploring by herself, we tried to take her to see some of the beautiful Colorado sights. Jill and I, along with the babies, took her to Red Rocks, the Aquarium, and Breckenridge. We had great times and made many memories to share of her visit. We even learned some Italian words that we can teach Isabella. The babies really enjoyed her company too! One evening, Laura treated us with a homemade Sicilian meal. It was fabulous! I just wish I would have taken more pictures.

We had a evening of family fun. Laura is the one sitting in between Jill & me. Isabella was already in bed for this photo.

We took Laura up to Red Rocks. It was a beautiful day!

A sleeping baby on the way home from Breckenridge. Love it!

I wanted to share this video of Isabella walking behind her new toy. One afternoon we went in circles around the kitchen/dining room/living room....about 20 times! (No joke!) She was getting lots of practice this day. She was exhausted that evening!