My monthly recap is very late this month. Isabelle has been one year old for almost 2 weeks now. ONE YEAR OLD! I have a one year old! Wow!

This past year has been amazing. I can’t believe how much I love Isabelle. Being pregnant with her I knew I would love her but the depth of that love…there are no words.

Sometimes I am surprised at how happy I am to be a mother, how much I enjoy it. I think I’m surprised because I used to be adament about not having children, then when we started trying I was indifferent. It wasn’t until after the first pregnancy that I really yearned for a baby. Sometimes when I’m sad thinking about the first time, Alan reminds me that if it hadn’t happened Isabelle wouldn’t be here. My sweet happy girl, she was wanted so much, I ached for her.

Ok enough with the sappiness and on with the recap.

Ok how patethic am I? Those are the only things I can think of. I guess preparing for her party just knocked everything else out of my head. So instead let me talk about the things she does lately though they are not new, they make me smile, laugh, or melt my heart.

Isabelle usually wakes up in the morning with a big smile on her face, that crinkles up her eyes. A stream of nonsensical babbling comes out of her mouth, her very own good morning.

Sometimes she tightens up her hands into little fists and just yells a happy yell. I just tried it. It feels really good. Who knew?

Isabelle keeps herself entertained for twenty to thirty minutes at a time, playing with her toys or just babbling. Sometimes we just peek over quietly without disturbing her so we can just watch her play.

Lately she’s started really protesting when we take something away. She used to do this but she’s taken it to a new level. She’s so demanding. She’s a complete drama queen, crying actual tears until we distract her with food.

And one of my favorites is, her dancing. She can do it now without holding onto anything. I especially love it when she dances on hearing one of her toys accidentally going off, like with twinkle twinkle little star. Sometimes she will sway to the music sitting down. That’s equally as adorable.

And those are just some of the simple things she does that amazes us. We love her so much.

Read month eleven

When Alan was on vacation I discovered that there was a craft store near us that I didn’t know was there! And that’s where I got these lovely fabrics. They’re going to be wraps for some new nubby dolls.

We went to a restaurant on the weekend and the waiter gave Isabelle some crayons. She still doesn’t know what to do with them. So she stuck them in her mouth. But now with her teeth she was able to bite off the ends. She didn’t swallow them. They were on her face. And Alan’s reaction, well, it’s non-toxic…

Yes he did take them away.

Go read Silly parent #25, feeding face.

I think this is the last catch up post of what we did on our vacation. Isabelle’s birthday party!!

This was the first party we ever threw. It was fun but very tiring. Alan was barbecuing pretty much all day. Things we learned: not so much food next time, reserve a park where booze is allowed, cut the cake earlier, take more pictures, allow more time for set up, and remember to put RSVP on the invitations so we have a ballpark figure of how many people to expect.

We busted up Alan’s pinata from his birthday.

So now the drama…We went to park services in August to reserve a space at the park. Well, when we arrived, there were handmade signs up that said reserved for some other person’s birthday party, tablecloths, and a few decorations. But no one was there. So Alan started to cook.

Later on two women came up. They were mad that we were in their space. There is a lower and upper area and we had reserved the lower. I asked which they had reserved. They said both. They accused us of removing their decorations. We would never be so crass as to do that. I explained the wind had blown them onto the floor. One of the women rudely said it wasn’t windy enough to have blown it away. Ah yes it was, in fact we chased one of the tablecloths that had blown away.

I said I had paperwork and asked to see theirs. They said they had left it at home. I told them that if the park had double booked I was willing to share the space with them. They left and when they came back they never did show me their paperwork and they sat somewhere else.

Again Isabelle didn’t like cake.

During the party one of our guests saw a bulletin area. The park had put up a sheet that showed who had reserved the space. My name was clearly there and no one else. I couldn’t understand why they had said they had reserved the space. Maybe they assumed that just by putting up the handmade signs meant it was reserved for them? I don’t know. The woman said she had gone to park services and reserved it. One of my friends thought she was lying. I wouldn’t have sat somewhere else if I had paid for that space and had paperwork.

Well anyhoo…some last photos.

Yummy cupcakes from the same place that made the cake.

Love this picture. Poor Spongebob.

Oh something else I did on vacation…I rediscovered Ebay and bought this Michael Miller fabric. I haven’t been on Ebay in years and years. But I didn’t know where else to find this fabric so Ebay it was. I love love love it. I was planning to cut it up into squares to make a quilt but it’s so nice I couldn’t do it. So instead it’s going to be the backing.

Where do people shop for fabric?