Happy 1st "Bee"day!!!

I am really having a difficult time comprehending that Miss Isabella is 1 already. This truly has been the fastest year of my life!!

Isabella has been such a fun and easy baby! She's super serious...Malia is about the only one right now who can really get her to belly laugh, but she's always happy-you can tell her moods usually by her feet. She's such a mommy's girl (I am loving that!). She says 3 words already, loves her sisters and Lily to pieces. She loves to "flirt" and wave and say hi. She LOVES to swim, but HATES the bath. When she wants something, she typically screams and reaches out her arm and does grabby fists. She loves to give open mouthed baby kisses, wrinkles her nose when she laughs, is a climber and is determined to find a way out if she is blocked in by something. She's not a snuggly baby like her sisters were, so it's extra special when she does lay her head on your shoulder or fall asleep in your arms. She loves to eat-anything-and can out eat any of us right now. She just learned to hold her bottle, has a quick temper and loves to dance to music.

Happy Birthday, Little One! We love you so much!

A Sentimental Kind of Week

This week has been a little rough, sentimentally speaking. Early Monday morning (3 am) was the last time I nursed Isabella. She is now officially weened. Also this week, she began to pull herself up on things and let go, allowing herself to stand alone. For her birthday, which is in less than 2 days, we got her a big girl, forward facing car seat. She's also been saying a few words as well. It's hard to believe how quickly this year has passed. I mean it has zoomed by. I feel that with every little girl I've had, time goes faster and faster...this year has just been ridiculous though.

I made a 1st birthday outfit for Isabella to wear to her birthday dinner with friends and family on Sunday. I will definitely post pictures soon. I wanted to do something special for her since I won't be able to throw a big old birthday party for her like I did for her sisters. I am bummed about that. I know that she will never remember the party, but it's just one of those special things I enjoyed doing for the girls. I figured in place of a party, I would put the time into making her little outfit. It's cute and I'm excited about it...next year we'll do a party...2nd birthday parties around here always get a "favorite character" cake made by mommy. For Malia it was Dora and for Pressley it was Tinkerbell. Hopefully Isabella's obsession at 2 won't be too hard to make.

Anyway...so crazy that she's going to be 1 so soon. It's gone way to fast, and I'm sure will continue to do so. How I wish I had a pause (and sometimes rewind) button!

Three Little Words

Isabella can say 3 words now! Hi...pronounced, "eye"...Lily...pronounced...."yiyi"...and Daddy...not Dada! She's getting so big!

Life in Happy Valley:Townhouse photos

I thought I would post a few photos of our townhouse, now that it's finally in order!!! Enjoy!


I posted the next two to show the views around here...its kinda difficult to see from these photos, but you can get the idea! It's gorgeous!

Little Smartie Pants

Pressley came down at 8:20 this morning and announced that she wanted to eat fruit snacks. Justin explained to her that she couldn't have them now, but she could have them after lunch. She quickly replied, "Well, I'm ready for lunch now!".

Bath Time Blues

So....Isabella HATES bath time. I mean H-A-T-E, hates! You would think it might be because the water is too cold? Well, we were at the YMCA yesterday and the therapy pool was closed, so we had to use the recreational pool-FREEZING!! I mean so cold that I did not want to get in at all, let alone to my waist. Poor Pressley was shivering so hard she ended up getting out after about 5 minutes and sitting on the side. But Isabella? She splashed and laughed and kicked...and shivered. It didn't bother her at all! So, I thought that maybe it was because she was with me...not the case...I held her while I bathed her today...tears. Screaming, crying, tears. Poor girl. I really don't know what it is about a pool vs a shower or bath, but she hates them. Both. I guess in the meantime, she will just be a stinky little baby who only gets clean by swimming at the Y 3 or 4 times a week! Yuck.

SLUMBER PARTY!!!

So I took a whirlwind trip to Pittsburgh on Friday. It was intended to be a trip to do a photo shoot for a costume designer...but she canceled on me in the last minute. Oh well. I probably would have been frustrated, but I really didn't feel prepared for this shoot. I kinda felt like I had gotten myself in over my head. It was a LOT of driving in about a 48 hour period, but it ended up being so worth it. We stayed with our good friends, The Bohleys. Their daughter Emma is Malia's very best friend and their son Mikey is Pressley's boyfriend, and their youngest son, Joshy, has declared his intent to marry Isabella some day in the future. To top it off, they just had a beautiful new baby girl last month...and I was able to snap a few photos of her while we were there! She's so cute! Probably the best part of the visit, though, was that Malia had her first slumber party/sleepover. I let her stay with Emma in her room on Friday night. I have no idea how late they went to bed. I fell asleep after 11 and I think they were still going strong. Pressley had every intention of sleeping on the floor beside Malia, but she claimed she was scared (even though the lights were on). I think she was just tired, so she crashed with Isabella and me...she was out in seconds after laying down on the floor. Malia and Emma were up and ready to start the day at 6:15 (thanks so much to Mike for getting up with them! I didn't hear them at all, so Libby and I were able to sleep in a bit!) We had some delicious chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, I did a fun little shoot with baby Ava and then the girls and I headed back out on the road to the Trier's house.
We were suppose to spend the afternoon hanging out with Erica, Elly and Mallory until it was time for my shoot, but since it got canceled, we headed to Trax Farm with them for lunch and to let the girls climb on the pumpkins. It was a ton of fun, and I had much more fun taking their pictures instead! I was also able to get home MUCH earlier than expected, so that was nice too!