Memorial Day Weekend

Well last Friday I took half a day off work and we started out on our loonng journey to Whispering Pines Campground. It took us about 5 hours to get there and I was impressed with Isla's behavior. She slept for the first couple hours and then we stopped in Jeff City to go to the bathroom and I sat in back with her to feed her and entertain her the rest of the way. We arrived just in time for dinner and about half an hour later Isla let us know how she really felt about the long car ride :) Josh, Isla and I slept in the air conditioned camper which I was very thankful for. We enjoyed spending time with the family and us "older" kids went on a mini canoe trip which was very relaxing. The grandma's stayed back at camp and had a fun filled day with the kidos! Brady, Taylor, Josh, Craig and Hilary had one heck of a water fight... There were water guns and buckets of water everywhere. The kids really enjoyed themselves even though at one point Brady no longer wanted to be squirted...he only wanted to be the one squirting. We also took the kids down to the river to play in the water. Taylor had a blast and I thought she was going into convulsions she was shaking so hard from being cold! On Monday we packed up and got to see Nannie's new house and her new baby colt. Overall it was a great weekend!

Swimming in the bucket

Isla in her polka dot bikini....thanks Nannie!

Such a Diva already

Brady and Taylor splashing in the river

Nannie and Isla

We took a nap... I don't remember the last time I took a nap!

Snuggling with Nannie

Josh after the water fight

He snuck up on Brady and Taylor with a bucket of water

4 Months Old

On May 21st our baby turned 4 months old! It is hard to believe it has already been 4 months. We have her next check-up on June 12th and the doc said last time that we would talk about starting her on rice cereal...such a big girl. She is talking soooo much more and she grabs onto everything she can. She is very very curious about what's going on and everything around her. Isla has always been a great sleeper and she still sleeps through the night. We also think she may be on her way to her 1st tooth! I know I love her more every day and I'm sure Josh feels the same. 5 months....here we come!

End of Year Program

A couple of weeks ago we had Isla's end of year program for daycare. It is really meant for the pre-kindergarten kids who will be moving onto kindergarten next fall but they also include younger kids as well... even the babies! It was our first "parent" function and I couldn't have been more excited. We were worried about Isla's mood because she generally takes a nap during this time....and the program didn't stop her! She slept through the whole portion when the babies were on stage signing a song which was probably better than the alternative :)

The little graduates

All of the babies/toddlers

Isla sleeping away

New Roof and Swing

Last summer we had a terrible storm come through with tons of hail. We noticed throughout the summer that a lot of homes were replacing their roofs so Josh called the insurance company and filed a claim to get our roof replaced as well. By the time we got everything situated, it was too cold to actually replace the roof so we did it a couple weekends ago. We are so very thankful for all of the help we received from Searles, Bobby, Gilland, Robbie and Dennis. It's nice to know we can count on our friends for such big projects...although they may not be volunteering again after that! The boys got started early Saturday morning and got old roof torn off and the new one on in 1 day! Sunday was spent cleaning up the mess... and boy what a mess it was.

Dennis, also known as Papa, hung up Isla's swing he bought her for Christmas and she swung in it for the first time. She is still a little small but we propped her up with some blankets and it must have been really relaxing because she fell asleep. We always look forward to the time we get to spend with our family and friends even if it involves some work!

Well maybe not working.....

No roof!

The mess

Finished product

My 1st Baseball Game

University of Phoenix celebrated our 2 year anniversary at the Lenexa Learning center by going to a Royal's game. This was Isla's first game and Josh bought her some cute little Royal's onesies to wear...and even though they were a little big she was still supporting her local team. We met my friend Kimberly before the game and drove in together. She brought her daughter Piper and we hung out in the parking lot for a bit before the game and enjoyed some adult beverages! Isla did really well at the game and enjoyed looking at all the fun lights and people. It was nice to get out of the house and spend some time with my co-workers outside of work. I always think it's funny to see the people you work with in a professional environment everyday...cut loose if you will.

I'm holding Piper and Kimberly is snuggling with Isla...we switched

She may have slept through most of the game....

Happy Belated Easter!

We had a weekend full of Easter after Isla's doc appointment. We went straight from the appointment to my parent's house in Oak Grove where Isla had her first Easter egg hunt! She only found 3 eggs because Aunt Amanda found the rest...but she did give her $1 to Isla for her froggy bank. We had some brunch type dishes and visited with the family for a while and headed home. Sunday we took Isla to her first church service at the Raymore Methodist Church. She did really wel and slept for most of it. Then as soon as we pulled in the driveway Josh's dad and Gma and Gpa Downing pulled in behind us. We hung out and grilled some burgers and Gma Downing got her Isla fix. I'm pretty sure she didn't put her down all day :) Isla had so much stuff by the time the Easter weekend was over, it looked like Christmas!

We also planted our flowers for our yard this year. We tried it last year but were unsuccessful so we are hoping for better results this year. We even have a mini greenhouse to grow them in so we are looking forward to them blooming.

Finding Easter eggs

Guess who found most of them????

Isla's Easter gifts

Planting flowers...please note we are using Isla's bath whale to water them

2 Month Check-Up

We had Isla's 2 month check-up the day before Easter. This was also the dreaded shot appointment. I myself hate shots so it was hard for me to have to do that but it had to be done! She did pretty well and was over it fairly quickly. You could tell her little legs hurt and she had a slight fever later that night. We gave her a little infant Tylenol and that seemed to help. She weighed 10lbs and 2 oz, 22.5 inches long and her head is 15 inches. I'm happy to report her height is now in the 50th percentile which is much better than the 10th that she was in at her 1 month! She is up to 5oz feedings every 4 hours or so and she sleeps from about 10pm-6:45am every night! We thank our lucky stars every day that we have a sleeper. The only downfall is that she only takes little cat naps during the day but a couple days this week the daycare has said she took 2-3 hour naps on two separate days.

Trip to Pennsylvania

Well again I am a couple weeks behind but we did go to PA a few weeks ago for my cousin Lianne's wedding. Her and Mike have been together for a loong time and he is hilarious. We had quite the time traveling to and from but the wedding was beautiful and we enjoyed visiting with family we don't see very often.

We flew out super early on Friday morning and headed to Detroit where our car seat was left and we almost missed our flight due to the gate changing! Once we got to PA, we realized our car seat was left in Detroit (by Delta) and we spent 2 hours trying to get that situated. They finally loaned us one for the weekend which was the most questionable car seat we have ever seen and I almost felt safer holding Isla! We drove to Carlisle which is where my family lived for several years and drove by Nana's old house and our old house. Then we headed to Reading and checked into our hotel. Later that evening we went over to my Auntie and Uncle Kenny's to hang out. We had a small family birthday cake for Josh and visited. Saturday we were lucky to have the chance to hang out with Jennie and Matt. They live in D.C. and so kindly drove up to have lunch with us and they got to meet Isla. We really enjoyed seeing them and look forward to the next time. Then it was time for the wedding and Isla slept through most of the reception even though the music was SO loud. Sunday we began our journey home and after a delayed flight in Harrisburg we barley made it on time to Newark where we found out only I had a seat!!! I was hysterical thinking I may have to travel with my 2 month old baby half way across the country and I was completely unprepared. Luckily my emotional breakdown was for nothing and Josh got on the plane at the last minute. We finally made it home and got ready for another week. Here are some pictures from our trip :)

Josh and Isla on her first plane ride

Nana's old house. We spent a LOT of time with Nana when we were little

The Benjamin family home

Jennie and Isla (the first time Jennie has held a baby I believe!) She thought she was going to have an anxiety attack :)

Dancing with Dad... who knew babies could do the Cha Cha slide

Mr. and Mrs. Gracely

Happy Birthday Daddy

Josh's birthday was on 3/22/10 and we all went out to celebrate as a family and Bobby was kind enough to join us. We went to Foga de Chao(I believe that is how you spell it) on the plaza. The Searles went there for dinner and they gave us a buy one get one coupon and Josh really wanted to go. It is a Brazilian restaurant that serves primarily meat. There are "butcher" type waiters that walk around with meat on spears and giant knives. You have a card that has a red and a green side and when you are ready for the meat you flip it to the green side. We enjoyed it and Isla did wonderful.

All dressed up for Dad's birthday dinner

Isla and I also bakes Daddy a cake for his birthday....from scratch!

This also happened to be the night we took Isla's 2 month pics!

Back to work!

I have been back to work for three weeks now and just finally today have access to all the necessary systems! Apparently it is a lot harder to get access to the systems when you were "terminated" and the re-hired... but I'm finally there. It has been a busy couple of weeks and I'm super behind on the blog so this is my attempt to catch up. We have had a lot going on that's for sure.

My first week back to work was tiring but luckily I had a live in Nanny :) My sister Amanda selflessly sacrificed her spring break to stay with us and watch Isla because Isla couldn't start daycare until she was 8 weeks old. It made the first week back a little easier with an extra hand around. Since then, Isla has started daycare and just finished her second week. She goes to the daycare at the Methodist Church in Belton and we have been very pleased so far. Unfortunately she she only makes it home in her original outfit about twice a week! They change her even when she just has a little spit up but I don't mind. When we get home in the evening she is exhausted so sometimes we don't get to see much of her.

Luckily the week I went back to work she started sleeping from 11:00pm-6:00am! And she has been sleeping like that ever since.... and I am thankful! I was so worried about how I was going to work a full day if I had been up in the middle of the night. Josh and I are still working on our morning routine and I think we get closer to the right one every day... if we could both get out of bed when we need to!

Here are a couple random pics and more posts to follow!

I swear she hits her rattle on purpose!

She loves bath time....

Good news

I'm currently sitting at the dealership waiting on my car to be fixed... there was a recall but don't worry it is nothing like Toyota! We had a good weekend in many ways. I received a call on Saturday morning from my old manager at University of Phoenix offering me a new position so I will be going back to work this coming Monday! It was such a relief knowing that I had a job to go back to/start again. I was trying not to worry about it and just kept hoping everything would work out and it did. It actually worked out perfectly because I will be working the 8-5:15 shift which is perfect for daycare. Isla can't start daycare until she is 8 weeks old so my sister is kindly sacrificing her spring break to hang out with Isla during my first week back. Then she will start daycare on the 22nd. I'm a little nervous/worried but I have been assured that she will do just fine.

Josh's dad also came down to visit this past weekend. We hung out and had pizza on Saturday night and he and Josh did some outside errands on Sunday. Due to a hail storm last summer we are putting on a new roof and with that we are getting new garage doors and siding! It's a lot to do and will probably take most of the summer but will be a big improvement to the house.

So far this week I have spent my time trying to take care of all the little things before I go back to work (such as getting my car fixed). I've become slightly obsessed with trying to organize things to hopefully make life a little easier with both of us working full time again. I'm open to suggestions! Here are some new pictures below and we hope everyone is having a good week so far!

Isla;s favorite thing to do...playing on her play mat

Her crazy hair!

Josh and Isla on the deck

Isla's first Doctor's Appointment

Isla had her 1 month check up yesterday and I am happy to report she is doing well and she did fantastic during the appointment. She even gave the Doctor a little smile! She now weighs 8 pounds and 10 ounces, she is 20 inches long and her head circumference is 14.5 inches. That puts her in the 25th percentile for weight, the 50th percentile for her head and only the 10th percentile for her height! She isn't very tall yet but I hope she will be taller than me when she is older. Her 2 month check up is scheduled at the beginning of April. She will get he shots that day and I'm told that is not a pleasant appointment but it has to be done. I also had my 6 week check up today and I recovered just fine and for the first time since I found out I was pregnant with Isla, I have no limitations (medically) on anything. There were so many things I was told not to do during the pregnancy that it feels great to know that I can do whatever I want now.

Weekend Visit with Nannie and Aunt Gina

This past weekend Josh's mom (Nannie) and his Aunt Gina came to visit. They got here Friday afternoon and we ordered pizza, drank some wine and watched Couples Retreat and went to bed. Saturday morning Josh had lodge and when he got home we decided to go out for a late lunch at Jack Stack and then we headed over to Town Center to do a little shopping. Thanks to Nannie for Isla's super cute sunglasses... She will by styling this summer. Gina went home on Saturday night and Nannie, Josh and I just took some time to visit. Josh made some breakfast Sunday morning and Nannie headed out around noon. We enjoyed the visit and look forward to the next one! The picture above is one the Josh's mom took and we just love it!

Busy Week!

Well so far it has been a busy week for Isla and I. We hung around the house Monday and Tuesday and tried to get some things back in order. Yesterday we had a very long, but successful, day out of the house. I had a few things I needed to do so Isla and I headed out to Oak Grove to pick up my mom. We stopped by the daycare where both my mom and Nana work to visit. I finally had a chance to meet all the babies my mom talks about all the time and it is hard to imagine Isla will be that big some day! Then we headed to drop off my car to have a recall fixed and the oil changed. After we dropped off the car I had to be measured for a dress and we went to the Independence Center to have some lunch. We went to Old Navy and New York and Company to look for some new clothes but I'm not quite ready to buy anything yet :) We picked up my car and headed back to Oak Grove where my friend Jacquie and her husband Jason stopped by to meet Isla. They are expecting their first child, a boy, in May! Overall Isla did really well on her outing.

Today we met Josh for lunch in Overland Park and on our way home we went to Target. I have been really nervous about going somewhere without help but it turned out just fine and we had a little mother-daughter shopping trip!

We have a weekend full of company coming up. Barb (Josh's mom) and his aunt Gina are coming our way to hang out with us for the weekend and my friend Michelle may be stopping by on Saturday to meet Isla as well. We are looking forward to all the visitors!

First Shopping Trip

Yesterday Isla, my mom and I went on a shopping trip to a huge consignment sale in Lee Summit. They have one in the fall and spring each year and if you wait until the last day, you can get things at 50% off. So you can literally buy things for $1.50! We looked at some toys and things but I think you need to go on the first day to get the good stuff when it comes to those items. Everything that was left was pretty used and I didn't see anything worth the price so we went shopping for clothes. We found her a dress that she is going to wear for her pictures tomorrow and some fun things for when she is a bit bigger. She slept most of the shopping trip and all through lunch. Overall our first outing was a success. I am still nervous to go completely alone but I will be attempting that on Friday when I head up to University of Phoenix so she can meet the people I work with. They are all really excited to see her!

Isla with all her new clothes!

Her pretty dress for her pictures....

And Daddy's favorite!

We are also going to have her pictures taken tomorrow. We are having them done by the same photographer that did our wedding photos. They gave us a lifetime certificate to come back and have pictures taken with no sitting fee. We really loved our wedding photos and we are excited to have our family pictures taken! We will send out the link when we have it!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! We have been spending the last 3 weeks adjusting to life with our new baby girl. Josh went back to work this past Monday so Isla and I have been hanging out all week. We also switched over to formula so that has been a small adjustment and has left us wonderful surprises in her diaper! Wow! We took it pretty easy this weekend and enjoyed some family time together. My mom and dad were kind enough to watch Isla last night and Josh and I went out to eat and went to see the movie Valentine's Day. The dinner was great but I definitely had higher expectations for the movie with all the big names in it but it was a great night. Isla, my mom and I are planning to go to a huge consignment sale tomorrow. We went in the fall but we didn't know what sex the baby was so we only picked up a few things so we are excited to go tomorrow and pick out all things girl! Here are a couple pictures of Isla in her V-Day outfit.

This one is a little dark but I thought it was super cute....