Isaiah's 1st B-day Party

Isaiah was a TRUE TROOPER during his first birthday bash. Lots of family members came to partake in the food and fun. We had steak tacos, chips, pico de gallo, chile con queso, fruit, jumbo shrimp, guacamole and of course chocolate cake. Isaiah was spoiled with all types of stylish clothes and toys galore. Happy First B-day ISAIAH!!!!

Isaiah at Twelve Months

ISAIAH at 12 months 26 days: Weight: 21 lbs, Height:30", Head Circumference: 46 cm

-HE SLEEPS THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!

-He is ALWAYS on the go. Riping through all our cupboards and drawers to find his next hidden treasure. If anyone is wondering what I do with the majority of time-I am putting away the mess Isaiah made over here...and over there. . .and up here. . .and down there. MESSES GALORE!!!!

-He has mastered going down the stairs. I discovered this new talent when we were both hanging out upstairs and while I was picking up (one of those messes) he manages to scurry off I'm thinking to his room, but to my astonishment I find him half way down the stairs-nice to know you can now pull this maneuver off. . .with grace I might add.

-Isaiah has impeccable balance. The way he works himself down the stairs, tries to balance himself in the window sill and carry enormous objects (for example the the pool broom) while not tripping up on himself or being up to catch himself from a fall is something a mama with impeccable balance herself takes great pleasure in watching. NO KLUTZINESS HERE:)

-He loves being outside. We usually take our regular 2 mile walk around the neighborhood with the dogs and then stop by the park for him to get out all his energy.

-His walk is becoming increasingly faster especially when he is on the grass he becomes more courageous and BOLTS.

-I bought him this Halloween book last Fall "Halloween Jack and Friends", and the very last page is a vampire and his bat. The bats' eyes are red lights that flicker back and forth and the vampire does this throaty, haunting laugh "AH, HA, AH HAAAA, HAAAA." Well this use to freak Isaiah out. Sometimes we would be playing in his room and the laugh and red voodoo lights would mysteriously go off (book was left open and it is triggered by light) and he would high tail it out of the room. Well, as he was coming upon the age of one his attitude began to change. Now he can't get enough of this book. And he even mimics the laugh when he wants you to read it or if you show him the cover-he does the vampire laugh! So hilarious!!

-On his birthday-while I was cleaning up the kitchen Isaiah was keeping himself occupied pushing kitchen supplies in and out of the dogie door and the next thing I hear is this faint whimper coming from outside. I immediately go to investigate to find Isaiah's legs kicking back and forth inside the house while he managed to get his head and arms through the dogie door and outside. I WANTED SO BADLY to GO GET THE CAMERA, BUT FORTUNATELY FOR ISAIAH my "mommy instincts" kicked in and instead of letting him suffer for a photo op he was safely pulled to safety. It gave him a good scare because he hasn't tried it again.

-Auntie Lexie and Kennedy came to watch him for three days while Jaime and I went away to Vegas. He did fantastic with her in fact HE NAPPED and SLEPT THROUGH the NIGHT perfectly for her. What can I say Lex has the "MOMMY TOUCH."

-He is starting to terrorize the dogs. He loves to lay on top of them and grab their ears. Poor Nugget has squealed in agony twice and Quincy got it once too-only if you know my alpha dog we're lucky he didn't bite him. Luckily it was just a snarling growl. We are being more vigilant when it comes to Isaiah and the dogs together.

-Although his only two words are still Mama and Dada he is such a rambler. He will go on and on lifting his eyebrows, inflicting his voice and even fake laugh all while telling you this mumble jumble story he has on his mind. Watch out girls this boy is going to like to COMMUNICATE:).

-Still drinking formula from his bottle. We are slowly trying to wean him from it, but has been quite the picky eater so until we learn how to fill this boy up the formula and bottles will remain.

In fact his growth stats went down this doctors visit (his weight was in the 20th percentile) so this is an issue we are definitely working on.

-Isaiah is still all about his books. He loves pulling them all down from the shelves and flipping through the pages. His new favorite book that he literally sits completely still for, smiles, and remarks too is "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?" by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague.

Real Food and Sip Cup

For a woman who is still learning to cook for her husband the thought of feeding Isaiah anything but baby food is daunting. To date, he has only taken to shredded cheese, lunch meat, and bread. Until he gets more teeth and really learns how to chew we have a way to go.

Exploring the Great Outdoors

Isaiah is able to enjoy our backyard in a whole new way now that he is walking.

Isaiah at Eleven Months

-HE'S WALKING!!!!! (The official day that he did more walking than crawling was January 13, 2011). So for all intents and purposes my boy was walking at 10 mths:)

-His personality becomes more and more definable everyday by how he acts in all sorts of different situations. Jaime and I have been taking him to the play place at the mall. Isaiah is by FAR the youngest kid (baby) in there. He gets pushed around and bumped into by all the older kids but he loves every minute of it. And when he gets pushed down he doesn't make a sound he just gets right back up. It is so much fun watching him develop and be such a tough little man.

-He is able to stand and pick things up.

-I took him to the park and for the first time he was able to get out of his stroller and walk the loop with me. He had a blast putting his hands in the dirt, picking up the rocks, and banging his hands on the bars. It has been so much fun having him walk!!!!

-He pushes his toy fire engine around on the ground (being around so many baby girls these last few years this is a trait NEW to me).

-He gets so amped up when he discovers something new in the cupboards. For example last night he found a coupon and he was so thrilled to be in possession of this piece of paper. He babbled, smiled, and literally "WALTZED" around the living room for half an hour looking at me with those BIG BROWN EYES going "look Mom, look what I found, isn't it great? Paper????Paper is so cool MOM!!!"

-As for finger foods he is dappling in eating shredded cheese, bread, and lunch meat.

-He loves looking out the French doors and putting his mouth and tongue all over the ice cold glass. We like to call it his "make out sess with the window."

-He is sitting straight up in his big boy car seat. Car rides are not as difficult as they use to be. And even though I swore I would not be one of those moms who allows television watching in the car...it didn't take long for me to surrender. Toy Story Three gets his attention and makes for quite a lovely car ride home from a late dinner.

-It is such a trip to have him walking. To be in one room and have him walk in to say hi and be among us has taken this journey to a whole other level (no pun intended:)

Operation SLEEP

The task has finally been accomplished my friends! Over the last month Isaiah has slowly stopped drinking his 6 oz's at night. He would wake up drink two ounces (obviously not up for hunger purposes) and slowly fuss himself back to sleep. He's not sick, he's not teething, and now knowing full and well he is not hungry we are comfortably able to close our bedroom door and allow the deep sleep of REM its rightful return. It's been two nights so far. The first night it was a solid half hour of crying (midnight-1230) and then two short bouts of fussing at 5:15 am and 6:00am. Last night I only heard him at 4 am fuzzing for a good 10 minutes and then out until seven. We are trying to stick to an eight o' clock bed time as well.

Now to retrain my body not to wake up every few hours. I already feel so much more rested not having to get up out of bed two-three times per night. Taking into consideration that at around six months of pregnancy I would at least have to get up once during the night to use the restroom and now coming up on eleven months of Isaiah finally being able to sleep through the night WE ARE TALKING WELL OVER A YEAR OF NOT GETTING A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP. This is why people age. . .children. BUT HALLELUJAH MAMA and PAPA are FINALLY sleeping at night!!!

Isaiah at Ten Months

-Has mastered standing on his own

-Started saying Mama in mid December:)

-He took his first two steps on his own while up at my parents house for Christmas.

-Everyday he is taking more and more steps on his own. Yesterday he took ten whole steps!!

-His two side teeth of his front teeth are almost all the way down.

-His hair is getting longer everyday. I love how it flips out on the sides.

-Has mastered putting cheerio's one by one in his mouth.

-Loves to chomp on MUM crackers.

-The erratic crying when I get in the shower has stopped.

-It's a riot watching him play with all his "push and pull" toys. He takes his push and pull Zebra all around the house.

-He has an automatic radar to the down stairs gate. If it is left open, he is ALWAYS fully aware and will help himself up the stairs. One day I was vacuuming and thought the gate was closed. To my surprise it was not and he was already half way up the stairs by the time I went to see what he was up too!!

-He also had his first fall off the bed at my parents house during Christmas. That was another "bad mama"moment and fortunately he was alright. I had finally got him to take a nap (on the bed) and needed to run downstairs to let the dogs out. And wouldn't you know the moment I opened the sliding glass door for the dogs I heard this loud thug from upstairs:(. I found him flat on his back and in tears.

-He was an angel while Christmas shopping this year. Jaime or my sister and I were out shopping for 5-6 hour long stretches and he loved every minute of it. He quietly sat in the shopping cart enjoying all the people and commotion-we'll see how he acts next year:).

-Can't stop saying it, "I LOVE THIS LITTLE MAN."