Merry Christmas

This Christmas was so much fun now that Isaac is a little bit older and able to enjoy it. We went to church with Nanny on Christmas Eve (and Isaac lasted about 10 minutes in the daycare before they paged us since he wouldn't stop crying). Then we spent the rest of the night with my family. Our tradition is to open up presents at midnight and this year Isaac took part as well. He got a portable dvd player (that was the Cars theme) and some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse dvds. He also got a play drum set, an activity table, clothes, a Lego shaped cd player for his room, and some other stuff. From Santa he got a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse plane that he can ride. On Christmas Day we had brunch with Andrew's family and opened up presents from Nanny and Poppy. We got to spend time with Andrew's cousin who was also visiting. There he got a play truck that he can ride, some blocks, books, and clothes. We had a blast and we loved to watch Isaac have so much fun. We are so happy to be back home!

At Gran's house with all the presents

Opening up presents at midnight

Isaac with some of his second cousins

With Daddy at Nanny and Poppy's

Riding his new truck

Testing out his airplane on Christmas Day

Snow in Houston

Before we left Houston, we experienced a snow day! It's so weird that for the two winters that Isaac has been with us, it has snowed-first in New Orleans last year and in Houston this year. I didn't even know it was supposed to snow...I opened up the blinds and saw snow falling. We got Isaac all bundled up to go see it and he was fascinated!

Heading Home!

I wanted to update everyone. There has been a turn of events lately in our lives that has put us in a tough situation. Throughout it all, we have kept our faith in God. Our plan has always been to stay in Houston and for me to find a job here. Of the maybe 15 (?) jobs that I applied to and 2 interviews that I went on, no such luck in Houston. I applied to 2 jobs in New Orleans and found out last week that I got one. It is a job at WIC where I'll be the Registered Dietitian in charge of training all new nutritionists, breastfeeding counselors, as well as counseling high risk patients. I am very VERY excited about it and always saw this as a job that I would only get down the road. We are extremely excited to be headed back home to New Orleans. I am starting on December 14th, so we'll be there soon! After being away for so long, it made us miss it more. The one thing we are sad about is moving away from our family here...especially Austin, Summer, Ashley, and Andrew's two brothers. But at least we'll be closer than when we were in Hawaii.

Moral of the story? Sometimes things fall apart so better things can fall into place. Although we may not know what God's plan for us may be, He will ALWAYS provide. We always kept our faith in God and once again, He didn't let us down.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year we spent Thanksgiving with my side of the family but we took them to the lakehouse in Austin. We had a blast and it was great for them to see a place that means so much to Andrew. This is the first Thanksgiving that Isaac spent with my family and the first time I spent this holiday with them in years. We are so very grateful to God for everything He has blessed us with including our amazing families.

Mommy and Isaac

Playing football

Tat and Isaac

My two boys

Tio Seg and Isaac on the boat

He wanted to hang out at the front of the boat

Holly and Shane

WHO DAT!!

So, as you all know the Saints are doing amazing this season. Here is a pic of Isaac watching the Saints/Pats game. And here is us trying to get Isaac to signal a "first down."

Sharing Breakfast

Isaac has gotten into the habit of sharing his food. He'll give everyone a taste but there is always a special someone lurking around to catch the food...

Trick or Treat!

This was Isaac's first year trick or treating and from the looks of it, he had a blast! Nanny and poppy came in town and the whole family was able to hang out. It was really fun to see Isaac and Summer playing together. Now that he's walking, she would hold his hand and they would walk together through the house. All of the kids were so cute in their costumes! Isaac was a monkey, Austin was batman, and Summer was a dancer. Isaac was very well behaved all day but did start crying when he saw Uncle C in his mask! We are so blessed and had a great time.

Isaac, Austin, and Molly being nosy before we head out

Summer pushing Isaac

Our family

The cousins

Trying to pull off his costume

Trick or treating with Batman!

Isaac had a blast in his car especially going down people's driveways! haha

Say "MAMA" Part 2

This video cracks me up. I'm trying to get him to say mama...again.

Isaac is walking!

Isaac has been taking steps for awhile now but over the past 2 weeks, he has been walking around for long periods of time. He's doing great! Check it out =)

Look at Molly at the end of this video...so funny!!

I love that he's following me at the beginning!

12 month Well Baby

About 2 weeks ago I took Isaac to his well baby visit and I thought I would update everyone. He is doing great! He weighs 20 lbs 2 oz and is 29 1/2 in long. His weight for age is between 10-25th percentile (which dropped from last time) and his weight for length is between 25-50th percentile (which is the same as it has been). His length for age is also between 25-50th percentile. So it appears that he is small for his age (which I always thought) but when comparing his length to his weight, it's not too little. He eats everything so not sure why he's little but he is =). Developmental wise he is doing great. To update everyone, he is walking really well but still can't get up on his own...he uses something to stand up and is taking a lot of steps until he squats down to pick something up. haha. I've also been trying to get him off the bottle. He hasn't had one in 2 days and he's doing great! For awhile he would only take those Nuby cups (that I hate because they leak!) but this morning he took another sippy cup that he didn't before.
As I said before, he eats a lot. He's eating most "regular" foods...but still no unecessary stuff (NO fries, fried stuff, candy, coke, etc.) Not budging =).

They did do bloodwork and apparently he is a little anemic. Nothing that can't be fixed. And we still have to go back to get his immunizations. I forgot his records so the only thing he got was his flu shot. He handled it well, but I didn't.

I'm so proud of my little man and everything that he does. I thank God everyday for Isaac and for keeping him healthy.

Isaac's Birthday Party!

We had Isaac's birthday party at Tat and Omi's house. It was a lot of fun...we had a cowboy theme, a pinata, and a space walk. We also had a beautiful cake! isaac had one of his own, but he had no idea what to do with it. I have taught him well =)

Thank you so much to Omi and Tat for having the party at the house, to everyone who made food and helped us buy decorations, to anyone who helped out at the party by cooking and whatnot, to Tio Ruben for letting us use the space walk, and to Jenny for the cake. And of course, thank you everyone for making Isaac feel so special and for loving him so much. We truly are blessed. This has been such an amazing year with my little man.

Prayer Request

Tat is having surgery today on his back...please keep him in your prayers!

Update 10/10: Tat is doing great! They weren't expecting him to start walking until Tuesday but he did a little bit today. He's in some pain but that's to be expected.

Fall is here!

Holly works at The Garden Center in Lafayette and they just put out all their fall stuff. It looks gorgeous! So we decided to take Isaac there for pictures. I think they came out great! He was well behaved and cooperated with us...until he found the straw =)

Isaac is 1 year old!!!

Check out my big boy!

Birthday Fun!

Yesterday was Isaac's birthday and I think he had a fun day! We had lunch with my cousin, Melissa where he got his first birthday presents =). Then we went to the Children's Museum to play in the Tot Spot. He seemed to have a lot of fun, as did I. Oh, and we also started him on whole milk and he seemed to take it with no problem! That works out well for me because I'm barely making enough milk anymore. We've been mixing it in the bottle to help the transition. Here are some pics from the day.

One Step At a Time...

Last week Isaac started taking a couple steps. He's starting to get very fearless and now throws himself into trying to walk...even if it means landing face first on the floor.

Poor Zebras!

When we went to the zoo, I bought Isaac a book from the giftshop. I thought it was super cute because it was about zebras and their little stripes were shiny. But then I read it to him the other night and I was like...okaaaaaaaay. This is it:

Titles: What Do Zebras Do?
Zebras live in Africa.
Zebras live with lots of other zebras.
Zebras have babies called foals.
Zebras eat grass, but...
lions eat zebras!
Zebras are good at running.

What? Seriously? Poor zebras. Isaac doesn't need to know that! HAHA. I'm sorry, I just think that so random to end it on that note. Why don't they just add another page: Zebras don't run THAT fast. Lions think zebras taste good.

Bedhead

This is what Isaac's hair looks like every morning. =)

Say "MAMA"

He's totally not interested in saying it yet. He just woke up in this video so he's all sleepy looking.

Weaning

The time has come that I am officially trying to get him to stop the nursing and focus on the bottle (or sippy cup). He's always had to take bottles but now we're trying them almost all the time. He has 2 nursing sessions-morning and night and 2 bottles during the day. That's it. We've started trying the bottle at night. For the most part, it's working. Sometimes though he'll wake up and he will NOT go back to bed until he's nursed...we're still working on it. As for the morning, that's my fault because it means that I have to actually get up and get the bottle instead of having Andrew put him in the bed with me while I lift my shirt. Yeah, I'm serious. lol. So, my next step is to actually get up and give him some milk in a bottle (or sippy cup). The reason I say sippy cup is because he's starting to show disinterest in the bottle as well...we've only tried juice and water with the sippy cup so far but we'll try milk soon.

I am so blessed to have been able to breastfeed Isaac for as long as I have. While I am a huge promoter of breastfeeding, I will say that it is a lot of work. And it takes the support of a lot of people. I had that. Andrew has been wonderful as well as everyone involved with the internship...they never gave me any issues with pumping. I was also able to get a breastpump for free as well as a cosleeper which made it a lot easier. I also had a wonderful lactation consultant at Tripler when I delivered and while Isaac was in the NICU. I was devastated when Isaac didn't take to it right away and landed in the NICU. I couldn't help but blame myself for him being there. I wish that everyone had the resources to be able to breastfeed that way they can at least make decision with a little more help.

While I am excited to get my body back (I don't mean figure...I mean, not having to worry about everything I put in it), I am having a hard time with this. And let me tell you why. First there's the bonding factor. For the longest time, I loved being what Isaac needed. It felt great to be able to provide him with what he needed. When we first moved back to New Orleans, I had a hard time sharing him and had some depression with all the change. Being able to get away and go in a room to nurse Isaac alone was my saving grace sometimes. I love to watch him nurse while he just looks back at me. The second reason is hard to explain. You see, right now and for the longest time, my breastmilk was like liquid gold...take care of it, don't spill it, he better drink all of it, need to use defrosted milk within 24 hours, save every 1/2 oz. Lately to keep up with the supply I've been having to pump constantly (although it's a little easier now that he's doing 4 servings a day). If you can remember back when I posted a pic of all my breastmilk in the freezer...I only have 2 bags now. Totaling up to about 8 oz. That's enough for a little bit more that a bottle. So the problem is that I have a hard time just letting that go. Something I worked so hard for...just letting it dry up like that. It's like wasting a good thing.

*sigh* Silly I know, but it's true. And the fact is that I'm gonna have to let it go and just soak in every moment of these [probable] last weeks of breastfeeding. And realize that he needs me more than just for my milk.

Thanks for listening.

Walking Soon?

Isaac isn't walking yet but he's becoming a pro at using his walker. He's almost running with it. HAHA. I've seen him let go for a couple seconds as well...maybe we'll see him walk before his first birthday?

Isaac The Explorer

We used to have a coffee table but Isaac kept bumping his head on it, so we traded it in for 2 ottomans. Because Isaac is such an explorer though, I have to move them to block things off. While I thought that I was being smart, he figured out really quick how to get into something else. He knocks the lids off and dives head first. Sometimes he just bends over and then he throws everything out. There's no outsmarting this child. HAHA

Giving Kisses

Isaac started giving kisses. They're the big, wet, open mouthed kind. Here he is giving Tat and Omi kisses when they stopped by last week.

First Trip to the Zoo!

Yesterday we went to the zoo for the first time. It wasn't too hot out so we got lucky. We brought our lunch and ate it there as well. Seemed like Isaac had fun until he fell asleep! And of course we couldn't leave without stopping at the gift shop.

Steering the boat

In the turtle shell

In the bird nest

He thought the sea lion was funny

New WIC Packages

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/wichd/approved_foods/ap_home.shtm

I think this is absolutely wonderful...having done a rotation at WIC, I noticed some definite issues with some of the packages as well as the food habits of its participants. Special yay for the delay of infant cereal until 6 months and for the elimination of infant juice.

Like father, like son...

I guess I know what chore I don't need to do anymore...

Isaac

Daddy