Adventures Outside/4 Month Doctor Appointment

Well, summer is finally here in Wasilla. It took some time, but it's really here! To celebrate, Matt worked on clearing out the wood from trees he cut down a week or so ago and I cleaned out my flowerbed in the front of the house. I'm seeding right now, getting ready to plant. I'm growing (herbs) Italian Parsley, Sweet Basil and Dill. (Flowers) Marigolds, Shasta Daisies, English Daisies and, of course, Forget-me-nots. I'm growing them all from seed, and I started them pretty late because I have been so busy with Isabella that I would keep forgetting to do them! 

Italian Parsley, Sweet Basil, Dill, English/Shasta daises then Marigolds/Forget-Me-Nots

The Marigolds are coming up like crazy. The Italian Parsley isn't even trying!


So once they are older, and the ground is warmer, I'll be planting them outside. The flowers anyway, the herbs I'll be planting in planters that will hang off the porch railing. Here are some pic's of the flower bed all weeded and ready to go:

Almost empty flower bed

All I have left from last year; my bleeding heart.

After I finished cleaning out the flower bed (Matt had to help me get all the dead ferns up, so I guess after WE cleaned out the flower bed), Isabella woke up from her nap. Perfect time to test out her new sunblock. I had her dressed in long sleeves and overalls so she wouldn't have much skin showing, plus I put on her sun hat so her scalp would be protected. Really the only spots on her I had to put any sunblock was on her hands and her face. I took her outside and we sat on the front porch watching Matt load up the Suburban with the wood he had cut up to transfer to a different part of our property.

While we were sitting on the porch I watered Isabella's tree we planted in a pot this spring and some mint herbs I dug out of the flower bed and transplanted into a smaller pot. The mint sure smelled good in the flowerbed, but it was overrunning the whole bed!

Isabella's tree and fresh mint

I noticed some movement in the flowerbed while Isabella and I were watching Matt in the yard. I thought they were really big worms, but it turns out they were little newborn mice. There were 5 of them and they were all alone. We think that they may have been in a nest under the dead ferns, and when the ferns were dug out, the babies were exposed. Matt moved them into the woods, we just hope they stay alive! Poor baby mice...


Here are a couple more pictures of the past couple weeks or so of Isabella.

5/9/2011

5/10/2011

5/10/2011

5/18/2011

5/18/2011

5/18/2011

She has totally grown out of her newborn/-3month clothes. It's so sad to pack away her first outfits. But on to
"bigger" and better things. She is now in 3-6 month clothes. We attempted to start cloth diapering yesterday. I figured it was a good time to start, we were running out of disposables and that is the best time. So we tried it for most the day, and they leaked every single time. I did so much laundry yesterday it was amazing. I'm going to do more research on it and we will try again.


Isabella had her 4 month well baby appointment today. Just to check to see how she is progressing in everything and to get and overall check up. She is now 14 pounds 3.5 ounces and is 25 inches long. She is pretty tall for her age. It shows when she is wearing her size 6 month sleep 'n play outfits and she just fits into it. Overall she had a pretty good appointment. The doctor isn't watching for much and isn't concerned about anything. Her dosage of Zantac was upped a bit, and she did get more shots today. The same ones she got last time. Poor baby, I'm so glad Matt was able to come home from Talkeetna last night to be here for Isabella's appointment. He has never missed an appointment of hers, even before she was born! The doctor touched on starting solids in a month or two, but nothing pressing. We still aren't sure exactly when we will start her on rice cereal, but be sure that there will be a blog about it and lots of pictures!


That's all for now I guess, since she is waking up from her nap. Hope everyone has a great weekend ahead :D 

My 1st Mother's Day

I had a fairly good Mother's Day this year. Isabella (Matt) bought me flowers and a card and allowed me to take a morning shower. That doesn't happen too often these days :)
We headed into Eagle River (for the third Sunday in a row) to a BBQ at my parents house. Isabella got a Bumbo seat from them that she hung out in for awhile:

For those of you who don't know what the heck a Bumbo seat is, it's a pretty cool little baby chair. Ashlynn had one when she was a baby and she really liked it.
The only downside to them is that you have to watch them while they are in it and you can't leave them in it for too long...for whatever reason. Isabella likes it, but will only tolerate it for so long. Then she starts getting all upset because she can't stretch out. What a baby! :D

I'm glad that my parents did not get a pink one. We are happy with all our things for Isabella, but we are trying to make things as neutral as we can. It looks better if a girl is in "boy" colored things, but not so much the other way around. 


Anyway, Isabella had a good time at grandma and grandpa Forbes' house Sunday. Then on our way home we stopped at my grandparents' house so Isabella could visit with them for a bit. She was very grateful that her great grandma Staudinger fed her. After all, it's a long drive back to the valley.


We also got another picture of her around her 4 month birth date. I'm having a really hard time getting pictures of her ON her milestone days. I'm doing my best though!

Isabella 5/9/2011 (4 months)

So Matt has been working in Talkeetna all week. Overall Isabella and I are doing ok. She has her days when nothing is going right and we both end up really frustrated. But by bedtime all is forgiven. It's been tougher for us because Matt has the car when he is working, so Isabella and I are stuck at home. I honestly don't know where we would go if we had a car though, so that's not really an issue. She and I are content to stay at home. As long as we get the grocery shopping done the first day Matt is home, it's good.


Isabella is getting more and more on a schedule (YAY!!!!!!) I can tell she is because when things are different one day, she is fussy, hard to get to sleep and just overall in a crabby-apple mood. The days when she wakes up at 7:00am seem to be her best days for naps (with that comes a better mood for the day). So 7:00am, wake up call. Down for her morning nap at 9:00am up by 11:30, then down again for her afternoon nap around 1:30 then up by 3:30 or 4:00p Then maybe a small nap sometime before bed time around 8:30 9:00. Generally speaking, she sleeps all night, but sometimes I end up awake at 4:30am rocking in her rocking chair feeding her. It's really too bad that I can't predict when that is going to happen. I just never know and that's the way she likes it.


I'm still slowly learning how to do daily things alone with her. Some things I'm still not doing until Matt is home to help watch her. During her naps I do get some things done, but for the most part I'm relaxing after entertaining her for two hours straight. I'm glad that she enjoys watching me do things most of the time. Like folding laundry is her favorite. Especially blankets, because they are bright colors and so big I imagine. Eating has become difficult. I never know how long she is going to sleep for, so planning my meals has become a thing of the past. It's not helping with my weight loss goals either. Choosing the healthy option is not always the easiest rout, so it's not the rout I choose. Mac and cheese with hot dogs has become a weekly staple. I'm on the look out for easy quick and healthy options that I can just grab and heat up or grab and eat. If only TV dinners weren't so expensive!


That's it for now. Matt is coming home tonight for the weekend and Isabella is just beside herself with excitement! Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend :D