I was planning to catch up on some vacation stuff but this lovely purse arrived today. It’s from Alice over at Futuregirl and it definitely takes precedence. It’s a seamless crochet purse. It is BEAUTIFUL!! I love the colors she chose. It’s like she read my mind. When I first opened up the package I actually twirled around with the purse in my hands like I had a new dress on. And throughout the day I have repeatedly picked it up just to look at it.

She even made a matching keychain!

Here are closeups of the birds.


And the bird cage fabric for the lining…wonderful!

And look at the handstitched “label”. Awww couldn’t you scream, it’s so beautiful! And the decorative stitch on the top seam of the lining…AWWWWW!!!!

Alan is probably happy to have gone to work because I could have happily shown him this beautiful creation over and over. In fact I probably did. Look Alan! Did you see it? It’s beautiful! Repeat over and over and him saying, Yes honey, I saw it.

I feel so fortunate to have received this, Alice. Thank you so very much! It is truly a work of art.

And soon she’ll be selling them!! How exciting!!

During our vacation we received a copy of Chowder by Peter Brown. It is about a very special bulldog who is more like a person than a dog. For example, this pup surfs the internet! He even has his own blog. With him being different, he doesn’t have any doggy friends. So when a petting zoo opens up at the “Food Ranch” he is determined to make some new friends. It’s a cute story.

The illustrations in here are wonderful. I can’t wait to see more Chowder books with more of his adventures. You gotta love a drooly bulldog. Isabelle agrees.

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.