A lot to be thankful for

As many friends and family have reminded me, I have not posted to the blog for a month. It's not that Isabel hasn't been as cute as ever, it's just that I'm getting lazy. So, I've got a lot of ground to make up, starting with Thanksgiving.

We had a great time visiting Grandma and Grandpa in New Jersey and visiting our friends Jody and Sebas in New York. Isabel continues to be fascinated by Aunt Robin's curly hair (we're just wondering when Izzy's curls will start coming in).

Probably the most exciting news of late, has been Isabel's first solid foods. You can see it on her face in the picture here. We started with rice cereal and have moved on to oatmeal. She'll be ready for turkey next Thanksgiving.

Obligatory parental Halloween post

Now just what kind of parent would I be if I didn't post a link to all those cute pictures of Isabel's first Halloween?! Izzy was a leopard princess - very very original.

Test driving the high chair

Izzy's not quite ready for solids, but I thought we'd give the newly assembled high chair a spin. As you can see from her face in the first couple of photos in the new high chair photo album , she wasn't quite sure about it at first, but she definitely liked hanging out there for a while with the new toy that came with it.

Smells Like Teen Mommy

Now that Isabel can roll over in her sleep and we can't use the swaddle, we've been experimenting with other ways of soothing her and signaling that it's sleep time.

I received some advice to use a toy or her "lovey" for this purpose. Our friends Rob and Sloan bought us a dog lovey, and I had no idea what it was. I was told to keep it close to me so that Isabel could smell me when I'm not there. So, for the first couple of months, I pretty much kept it in my shirt when I fed Isabel, but never really used it to soothe her.

Today, Amada (our wonderful nanny) gave her the lovey to take a nap, and like I've done a few times before bedtime, tucked it under her arm. A few minutes later Isabel pulled the lovey over her face so she could smell it. This picture tells it all. I've been told this is safe, but I don't plan on leaving her alone with her face covered like this. For her later nap, she also did the same thing - pulled the lovey over her nose so she could smell it.

Who knew that those hours of my walking around with a little dog blanket under my shirt would pay off?!

Isabel rolled over today

Isabel rolled over from her back to her stomach today for the first time. I don't have any photos or videos of this, but over the next few days I'll try to capture it on film. Hurray for Izzy and bye bye swaddle! I need to run to Babies R Us tonight to buy some more sleep sacks.

Wait for it...

Isabel's doing a lot better at nap time during the day (during the hey days of her colicky period, we were lucky if she got one 45 minute nap in). If you watch this video all the way (at least until 22 seconds), you'll get a nice treat towards the end (note there is no talking so don't expect much sound).

Happy dreams!

5 kilos and proud

Yesterday Isabel hit 5 kilograms (11 lbs). She seemed pretty happy about it.