Isabelle Claire

Isabelle has been a busy bee lately.  She is talking, stretching and even learning a little bit of sign language. 

I have explained that sitting like this is not very lady like.  By the looks of her, sister doesn't seem to care.

Isabelle Claire- 9 months old

Last night, we couldn't get her to wake up for anything.  A song and dance didn't seem to get a rise out of her and then I even waved her bottle and food in front of her and still nothing.  Come to find out, she is a little under the weather.  So hopefully the sleep will do her some good.  When she did finally wake up... she was ready to perform for us.

What is everyone waiting for?!?

Isabelle rolled completely over from her back to tummy to back.  She was able to do this months ago but she likes to show her stubborn streak and refused to roll completely over for a while.  See how proud she is!!  The boys and I were yelling and cheering so much that I am surprised that we didn't scare her. 
A few days ago, we were practicing sitting up and she sat for the longest I had ever seen.  I cried like a little baby.  I now understand when other mothers talk about being so emotional with their children meet milestones.  They came so easy for the boys but to see how much harder Isabelle has to work to reach her milestones puts everything into perspective for me.  I see a lot of happy tears in my future.

Isabelle is also becoming interested in what the boys are doing.  They were trying to teach her how to play the Playstation. 

Isabelle is trying new foods.  She is now eating stage 2 baby food.  I thought this food was a little more solid but they seem to be as runny as Stage 1.  She is also eating puffs and the baby rice cakes (MESSY!!)

 She loves to be carried around by her big brother!  They both had a huge grin on their face.

She tried sitting in a buggy for the first time.  By the look on her face, I think she is afraid of all the germs!

The boys are teaching her some sign language.  Ethan is showing her sleep and Aiden is teaching her water.  Don't you like how both boys are signing a different sign at the same time??  Mass confusion!

Little Sister you are loved!!

Playing catch up... Basketball/baseball Season

Basketball Season 2012:

We didn't get a ton of pictures this season because they just move around way too much.  I could never keep up.  Ethan did great his first season of basketball and I think he is looking forward to next year.
Now we have gone straight into baseball season.  With both boys playing, I feel like we are at the fields every night of the week.  Not a favorite time for me.  Ethan is doing great.  He had his first scrimmage and hit the ball great.  We keep telling him that he has to hit the ball into the outfield in order for him to get on base.  The kid runs like a turtle.  We blame his running (slowness) on the fact that he broke his femur when he was 3 and stayed in a lower body cast for 7 weeks.  I swear that thing didn't heal properly.  Or... it could just run in the family.  His cousin is pretty slow as well (Sorry for calling you out Mikaylal!).
Aiden loves playing baseball but at times his attention span is just not there yet.  It doesn't help that his team consists of kids from 4-7.  That is a very big age difference and they all at different levels.  So, this season should be interesting. 

Talking...

Isabelle has something to tell you...

 

Did you get all that??

What a morning?!?

(Just imagine 2 boys and the baby without hair and this currently describes us!)

 The kids and I couldn't get it together today.  Throw in a little something extra like Valentines Day and we go a little crazy around our house.  We I was running around making sure everyone had everything and thanking the school cafeteria for serving breakfast for lunch.  That is a guarantee eat at school day.  I quickly fed Isabelle enough bottle to tide her over until breakfast and out to the car we go.  Well... a few more trips in the house to get an umbrella because of course, today it is pouring outside, then back in to get diapers... you catch my drift. 
Everyone is buckled and off we go to daycare.  All the sudden I hear both boys yelling, "Izzy is throwing up."  I don't hear anything coming from Izzy so I assume it is more like spit up (boys can be so dramatic sometimes)and ask one of them to wipe her up.  I get zero response so I tell Ethan, he has to clean her up so I can drive.  Ethan cleans her up and then hands me her bib (which of course I didn't think to actually put the bib on her...silly Mommy) pinched between his two little fingers.
I look in my rear view mirror and find Aiden hugging the car door and staring intently out the window.  If the car had not been moving, I am pretty sure he would have jumped out!  Then I start to hear some gagging coming from Aiden's side of the car.  (Have I said it before...gotta love his gag reflex?!?)  I try to get Aiden's attention off the throw up spit up and onto to something nice and peaceful (like swimming in the ocean or horses running in the pasture).  Anything for him not to throw up in my car!!  Mission accomplished for now... hopefully we won't hear from the school nurse today. 
Got to love mornings like these!  I always feel guilty when our mornings start off like this and then I have to send them off to school and hope they have a great day.  I know it takes me a while to unwind after such a stressful morning.

Oh, and by the way... Happy Valentines!!  Ethan woke up telling everyone Happy Valentines and getting lots of kisses and smiles from Isabelle.  Even on mornings like this... I wouldn't trade my 3 little Valentines for anything.

Getting prepared for Valentines...

Isabelle got this awesome Valentines shirt so she wore it a little early to show some love. 

Shirt made by Say It In Stitches

Ethan and Isabelle- Can you feel the love?!?

I love how Isabelle wrapped her little arm around Ethan's neck.  They are too cute together! Isabelle has one other Valentines Shirt that she will show off soon. 

PT update:  Isabelle had her physical therapy today and she did great.  She sat by herself for 5 seconds!  I know that doesn't sound like a lot of time for most people but for us... it is progress.  I am so proud of you, Isabelle!!

Ski trip 2012

Never a dull moment...
We were worried about driving all the way to Boone, NC to enjoy some skiing but then to possibly be disappointed by finding grass patches on the mountain.  We were partially correct with our worries.
Thursday, we packed up the kids and parents (entire Barfield family) into 2 van/cars and began our long drive to the mountains.  It has been 4 years since we had made this trip and we weren't going to let a little thing like- no snow- mess up our ski trip. 
(That is the problem with us being in Florida and trying to plan a weekend trip to the mountains for some much needed skiing (quick weekend trips = Boone, NC).  Sometimes it is a hit or miss on what you will find.  We love Sugar Mountain but sometimes that area doesn't get as much snow as other parts of the North.)
Thursday afternoon we began driving to Atlanta where we made a stop for the night.  With children, we have learned to break up the trip for easier traveling... we hear a few less "are we there yet??"  Can you tell who I was sitting by during our road trip??

Ms. Flexible holding tight to a gummy worm

She can't figure out what to do with it!  Don't worry... I was close by and only allowed her to taste it.

Nana needed a little extra loving!

 Then we made a quick stop in Montgomery to catch up with Chad and Steph and then back on the road to ATL.
The kids love hotel rooms.  I am not sure if it this is a universal thing for kids but mine hear hotel room and they start jumping for joy!
The first thing Ian needed to do once we got in the room was to get some loving from Isabelle.  She is good at dishing out the love!

Then Izzy tried out her new bed for the night...

Just kidding!!  We made her a pallet on the floor and she slept like a champ.  Ms. Thing likes her beauty rest!
(Don't worry, the boys really are on the trip with us.  They are just harder to pin down for pictures.  Ants in their pants!)
Friday morning we were back on the road headed for Boone.  I have been experiencing some lovely car sickness the last few long trips we have taken so I was so ready to get out of the car by the time we hit the mountain roads. 
We arrived Friday afternoon to the hotel and learned that the pool was out of order during our stay.  This might not seem like a big deal to most but hotels and pools go hand in hand.  You can't have one without the other according to my children.  And so begins the meltdowns...

Please look closely in the picture above... (don't mind the feet in the bottom corner)  The closets became the hide out zone for my children during their pout fests.  It began with Aiden and soon Papa joined him until he was ready to emerge again.  In this picture, I believe Ian or Ethan were enjoying their pout fest time.  Nana joined in and they finally decided to rejoin the rest of the family. 
Saturday morning, we got up bright and early to hit the slopes.  We ignored the weird smiles we received as we were all dressed in our snow gear to walk outside to notice the rain falling down.  We still made the trek to the mountain and then sat in the lodge to decide what our next move would be.  Surprisingly, there were people already on the slopes.

I can't move Mommy!

Walking up to grass and slush!!

Can we still go?!?

Right after we told them we might not be skiing.

A little more pitiful!

Ryan was just a little upset as well.

After seeing all of the sad faces and tears, we decided that we drove all this way and we should just go for it.  It definitely wasn't the most ideal skiing conditions but the kids didn't care.  We were glad that we made that decision because those sad faces turned into happy faces!

An hour later and sweating, we are almost ready to hit the slopes!

Poor Ethan is hanging on for dear life.  I had just yelled to make him try it by himself.  Well... this is what Ethan thought of that idea.

Riding up the lift on the bunny slopes.

Who is that man in the red cap??  That is our Papa.

We had fun playing with Papa's ski cap.  It doubles as a ski mask as well but we all decided that burgulars had ruined the face mask look so Papa sported just the cap. 

Yes, they are standing in slush but look at their smiles!

Aiden trying a new move! It didn't work.

 Oh and did I mention that it was raining while we were skiing?!?  If we didn't pay attention to the fact that we were getting so wet, we could imagine that it was snow instead of rain.

Mommy and Aiden playing with the camera on the ski lift. 

Add in a little slush snow fight

This is a cute picture but it took about 30 minutes just to get this shot.  Totally not joking here!  Get one kid in the spot and another starts sliding backwards down the mountain.

Izzy spent her day in the lodge with Nana.  It looks like she enjoys the snow as well.

Nana is the official baby keeper when we go skiing.  Nana doesn't ski so she enjoys watching the current baby of the family while everyone else is skiing.  Aiden informed me that I am not allowed to have anymore babies so Nana can actually ski next time.  I said- no problem here but you will have to take the part about Nana skiing up with her.
We would have loved for there to have been more snow but we made do with what we were given. The kids had a blast skiing and as soon as we were done, we went directly to the laundry mat to clean the mud off of our snow suits.

We decided to go ahead and head back to Atlanta on Sunday morning and figure out something fun to do since it was still raining in Boone. 

Izzy getting her learn on.

We arrive back in Atlanta and decide to hit up the local Dave and Busters.  We ate in the restaurant first (food was good!) and then headed back to the big kid/adult play area. 

These are the only 2 pictures I got that night.  The boys were playing hard while Izzy was hanging out in her sling. 
We got some more junk prizes and then headed back to the hotel for the evening.  Mikayla was so sweet and got Isabelle a lamb with her tickets. 

I laugh when I see this picture because Isabelle looks so tiny compared to Mikayla. 2 beautiful girls!!

                     

Overall, we had a great trip and spent some quality family time together.  Memories were made!