Isaiah's time with Mimi and Pop

While Isaiah was with my parents in Evansville, he was a very busy little boy! He got to visit with several different friends and family members. He ate and slept very well! He played very hard, and was on his very best behavior! Some of the fun things he did included....
Going to the zoo...


Petting an Iguana...



Taking Baths and getting crazy hair...


Calling mommy and daddy lots and lots...


Lots of loving...


And lots of waving!!!


He even said, "ABCD" repeating after his toy one day!

Thank you so much to my mom and dad who took awesome care of our little man while we were gone! It was so nice to get away and spend time together as a couple and not worry one little bit about Isaiah. Now, don't get me wrong, we missed him like CRAZY!!!!!!!!! But we never even worried ONCE! Thank you, also, to Auntie Jess...she was also a huge help!
9
b9 ; hynlono,.,okkkkkkkk,,8 \ - And there was a special message from Isaiah! :)

California

First of all, let me apologize for the delay in posting! I tried to update with some pictures the morning we left, but our Internet was down. We spent most of the morning today getting it back up and running so....here we go!

We left two Fridays ago to fly to Indiana. Eric's mom was having a birthday and a trip was planned to go to California with her husband and her kids to celebrate. After much deliberation and trying to decide what was best, we all came to the conclusion that it made the most sense to NOT take our babies with us. So, we sadly left Isaiah with my parents and sister for FIVE LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG days! I sobbed and sobbed as they drove off into the sunset. That first day was just awful. This was the very first time I had ever been away from my baby. I had never even spent a single night away from him in his whole life! It did get easier as time went on, but at first it was just heart-wrenching! I mean, come on...look at that face!

So, Saturday morning, off we went to California! We flew into San Francisco and spent less than 24 hours there but it was action-packed and fun-filled! Our first stop was a restaurant called, "Cliff House". It was a beautiful place with stunning views of the Pacific! After lunch, we went to check in at our hotel and get ready for our awesome night! We went to Teatro Zinzanni...look it up online and if you're ever in San Fran, it's a MUST SEE!!!! I won't go into major detail about it but I will say that my dear husband, who HATES being in front of large audiences, got chosen out of the crowd to assist in a little number! He had to DANCE ON A RAISED PLATFORM!!!!!!!! And, to add to the drama, the dancing involved pelvic thrusts!!!! He handled himself very well and survived the trauma! I have never heard Eric's brother laugh as hard as I did that night! This is not a very good picture but here we are all dressed up for the night!

Sunday morning, we left San Francisco after driving around a while and seeing the sights! We drove past Fisherman's Wharf, several In N Out Burger joints (and to my chagrin never stopped!), and we drove down Lombard Street (the most crooked street EVER!) Here's a view from the bottom looking up...


We also spent quite a bit of time driving across and admiring the Golden Gate Bridge! It is a massive and beautiful structure!!!

We arrived in Napa Valley on Sunday afternoon. We made our lunch reservations at Don Giovanni's (which just so happened to be everyone's favorite meal of the week!) And the setting only helped. The restaurant is right in between two vineyards with the mountains in the background! It was stunning!

After lunch, we stopped by one winery before heading on to our resort. We checked in a got ready for dinner, which was awesome! The restaurant we ate at that night was on top of a mountain looking down into the Valley! And then Monday began our Winery/Vineyard fest! We toured many neat little Winery's and window-shopped through a very cute, quaint little town. We had a wonderful time together but missed our boy tremendously!

We had the happiest reunion with him on Thursday morning! Eric and I both went in to get him out of bed and with a huge smile on his face he looked at us like, "hey, I know you two! Where have you been?" It was so awesome to hold him in our arms again and smell his sweet little head!

Cousins

I just love these pictures of the boys! They were trying out a new double stroller and loving it! They are just the cutest things to watch when they see each other. Especially if it's been a few days, they go crazy! They hug and kiss and love all over each other! It's just precious! I know they will be the bestest of friends for all of their lives! :)

A Great Weekend!

This past weekend was such a great one for us! First of all, my parents and my sister and her husband came down to visit for the long weekend! It was so great to have all of us together! We ate great food, played fun games, went on boat rides, loved all over Isaiah, and just plain enjoyed each other!

Our church just so happened to be having a baby dedication at church the Sunday they were here so we decided to have Isaiah dedicated. We have been wanting to do it ever since he was born but we wanted to do it in a church we were involved in and where we knew we were loved. The church we attended in Indiana was a great church but just so big plus it wasn't very long before we moved. We were so glad that my family could be there and part of Eric's family too. It's difficult for everyone to travel so it wasn't possible for everyone to be there. We truly missed Eric's dad and Kathy, and Isaiah's Aunts, Uncles, and cousins who could not attend. Our pastor reminded us that the whole idea of dedicating your children came from Hannah in 1 Samuel. She made this vow in 1 Samuel 1:11 "Oh Lord of Heaven's Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be Yours for his entire lifetime." In verses 27 and 28 she says, "I asked the Lord to give me this boy, and He has granted my request. Now I am giving him to the Lord and he will belong to the Lord his whole life." We have talked before about the responsibility God has given us with this precious son and we do not take it lightly. We fully understand that Isaiah belongs to Jesus but he has been given to us so we can raise him in a way that is pleasing to our Lord! Our prayer is that we will be good examples to him of what it means to follow Christ. Thank you, Jesus for this gift of life! We love him immensely and know that You love him even more than we'll ever be capable of! Here are some pictures we were able to capture from that morning.




Praying for us as parents and for our sweet boy!



We discovered a great way to contain children....throw them in the toy box!



My mom and sister had TOO much fun playing dress-up with Isaiah!






Isaiah's first wedgie! :)



Loving time with Auntie Jess and Uncle David!



Enjoying a red plum!



He was holding the phone up to his ear saying, "HI!" So cute!

A Proud Momma...

I'm sorry the lighting is not the greatest in this picture but it is priceless! I looked over at Isaiah yesterday and he was sitting in between Derby's two front legs, just drinking his milk! It was almost like they were spooning! :) SO SWEET!



Amazed at his zoo book!



Playing with his golf clubs!


I just want to take a few minutes to share a couple stories about Isaiah that have made me so proud! First of all, he is 13 months old today....time continues to fly right past us! Isaiah has become the most wonderful little boy! He is funny, charming, sweet, sensitive, precious, handsome, loving....oh, I could just go on and on! He is truly the joy of our lives!

I'll start with a funny story and then move on to my "beaming proud mommy stories"! I was fixing dinner the other night and Isaiah was playing around the kitchen while I worked. When I get in the fridge, Isaiah, too, loves to get in there and pull things out! This particular time, he grabbed a bag of shredded cheese and started walking around with it! A minute or so passed and all of a sudden, he started crying so loud like something had hurt him. I, of course stopped what I was doing to check on him and he had spilled the entire bag of cheese onto the rug. He just lost it! I'm not sure if he thought he was going to get in trouble or if he was sad that he'd made a mess but nonetheless, it crushed his little spirit that he had spilled that cheese! I have a feeling he is going to be sensitive (like his mommy AND his daddy!)

When it is time for Isaiah to eat a meal, I always say, "Isaiah, are you ready to eat? Meet me at your high chair!" I walk over there with his food and continue to say, "meet me at your high chair!" Well, the past two weeks, every single time I say that, he meets me at his high chair! This morning he even got there before I did and waited for me to pick him up with his little arms high in the air! I was so proud!!!!

Also, this morning, I experienced a moment of gratification when some hard parenting was paid off! We have been working very hard on the word, "NO" lately. Isaiah has been hearing that word for a while and has known for quite some time what it means. BUT, it hasn't been until the last couple days that he has actually obeyed us when we said no. And it doesn't happen every time but it's better than it used to be when he would laugh at us every single time we said NO! Within the last few days, I have been implementing the sign for the word "no" when I say it. This morning I was in the kitchen talking to my mom on the phone and Isaiah had ventured off to the office, which is also where Derby's bowls are! For some reason, Isaiah and Eli both love those bowls and seem to go for them as soon as they get in that room. Well, this morning, Isaiah walked in there and went straight for the bowls. He got down on the floor, stopped dead in his tracks and looked at me (as if to say, "hey mom, look what I'm doing!!!") I didn't want to yell since I was on the phone, so I just did the sign for "no". Well, guess what my sweet Isaiah did??? He turned around and crawled AWAY from the bowls!!!! My heart was bursting with joy and love for that little boy! I was so proud that he chose to obey his momma!!!! :) I just pray he keeps it up!

Happy 13 months baby boy! I love you to the moon and back infinity times....


Love, Love, Love those little feet crossed! Does it get any sweeter?

Music Man

Here is a cute video of Isaiah and his daddy making some music!



Isaiah woke up this morning with a slight fever and he's (more than) spit up (but not quite thrown up) a couple times. I don't know if he's cutting teeth or coming down with something but hopefully he shakes it off quickly! Other than that, not much is going on in our world! Daddy's working hard and mommy and Isaiah are spending all our time together playing hard! We are really looking forward to this weekend when Mimi and Pop, and Auntie Jess and Uncle David come to visit!!!! Can't wait to spend time with them!

Have a great Monday!
We love you all!!!!

He's All Boy!

Isaiah's latest "game" is to get in the drawer that has the Ziploc bags, pull the box out and then pull each and every bag out of the box! I have been letting that happen because it allows me time to get things done in the kitchen! :)






I love this picture because it shows off one of the MANY cute things he does! He loves raising his chin like that! I think his Pop taught him that!


A couple days ago, within 14 hours, Isaiah had fallen ONCE and bit his tongue; fallen TWICE and got a bruise on his left eyebrow; fallen THREE times and got a bruise on the middle of his forehead! Now that he is walking, we're experiencing many more tumbles than before! Hopefully you can tell in these pictures where the bruises are! I just couldn't seem to get one of the tongue!





I'm not exactly sure why the one in the middle is in the shape of a "T" but it is!


Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!