7 Months!

CHARMER ... ATTENTIVE ... FUNNY ... ENERGETIC ... EXPRESSIVE ... CUDDLER ... WILLFUL

Isaac's personality gets more and more vibrant as the months go by.

Isaac's Top Ten:

10. Banging out songs on my little piano and loving on my many stuffed animal friends.

9. Green beans and pears. The more I have 'em, the more I want! I'm getting a big appetite, and I love this whole new sitting-up-while-eating thing. If only I could eat my bottle the same way... it's pretty funny to Mommy. I really like to sit up, so I'll watch my bottle and open wide for it. But she always makes me lay back again.

8. My two bottom front teeth - now that they have broken through my gums. That wasn't too fun, and it kept me and Mommy & Daddy up at night!

7. Spittin' Mommy a song through my bubbles.

6. Two long naps a day - so relaxing.

5. Afternoon walks with Mommy and telling her all about my day.

4. Hugs and Kisses, as always, of course! I get super excited when Mommy and Daddy get home from work! I pull Mommy's hair to get closer and I laugh at Daddy's funny faces.

3. Feeling the grass between my toes for the first time.

2. Sucking on my toes every chance I get - it's a close second to my paci!

1. Studying things intently, whether it's my hands, my toys, or the zipper on Mommy's jacket.

Two By Two

Hi, I’ve been up since 3:15 am with a very unhappy teething baby running a hot fever. How are you today?

As I was drying Isaac off from his bath last night, I took a sec to check out his incoming tooth…. only to find that it appears as though his other bottom front tooth has decided to join the first! Aren’t they supposed to come one at a time? So my poor baby boy is enduring a double whammy with front teeth coming in two by two. Joy to us all.

One of the Reasons...

This is one of the reasons we love living in Arizona... while my parents are visiting brrrrr Ohio that had snow flurries today, we were outside in our 80 degree weather enjoying the sunshine... We took a walk and then we planted ourselves outside on the lawn to hang out. Isaac loved looking around and watching Chloe explore nearby. There were so many things to see!

Howdy, Neighbor! Doesn't it look like Isaac is waving to a friend? So cute...

First Little Chomper and No Gagging

It's just peeking through the gums yet, but Isaac's first little chomper has arrived on the scene! He has hardly fussed at all, which fits his happy-go-lucky personality. For the past couple of months he has drooled and chewed incessantly, so we knew it was just a matter of time. Sure enough, his lower right front tooth is now showing its so far translucent and tiny head.

Of course you can be sure I'll be posting a picture as soon as it's actually visible to the camera. For now... here is another story.

Now that Isaac is over his bronchitis, we attempted the rice cereal again. I know every child is different, so we're not supposed to compare to other babies too much, but I have been feeling like Isaac is behind in the subject of eating baby food. While other babies around his age I know are chowing down on things like squash and carrots, our little guy is as content as ever with his familiar bottle.

Well, as of today's lunchtime, I feel a sense of accomplishment and pride as Isaac took on another round of rice cereal and finished the whole two-tablespoon serving! This time we mixed it with apple juice, which proved to be a success. He loved it and by the end was actually opening his mouth for more!

Getting started with the spoon

Not so sure about this... Isaac was a little tentative at first since the last foreign thing we fed him was his yucky bronchitis medicine.

Okay, this is different... but not bad....

All done! That was actually pretty yummy!

Eyes On the Tiger

So Tiger is back! Kevin and Isaac watched his debut together, and Kevin reports that Isaac paid attention to Tiger and watched him play all by himself. Kevin took video just in case we have a golf prodigy on our hands. Then we'll be able to pull out that footage to show our little guy watching Tiger at 6 months old.

Look What I Can Do!

So maybe I can't crawl yet, but I can do this!

Isaac can balance all by himself! What a fun surprise! And he just loves to stand now that he's figured out how to do it. Tonight he stood there with a huge grin on his face (what's new?) as we had fun looking at each other eye to eye. Then he looked down, and I wish I could have caught his expression on film. His adorable look of amazement seemed to say, "Wait a minute... those are my feet down there! I've never noticed them from this perspective before! Is this what they do?" He looked up at me with an even bigger grin (if that's possible) in sheer delight at his discovery. His bright eyes seemed to echo, "Isn't this awesome, Mom?!"

Breathin' Easy

Isaac is doing much better! He's back to his old shenanegans and is as cute as ever!

Thank you for all your prayers! He's breathing easy and sleeping through the night again - much to everyone's relief!

Bronchitis and Flirting: A Natural Combination, Right?

Isaac experienced his first trip to the ER today. He’s had a nagging cold since last week, and finally Wednesday it seemed he was doing much better. But suddenly Wednesday night it took a turn, and he started coughing an awful cough and breathing very rough. After waking up a few times throughout the night from the sound of his cough, I ended up sleeping on the floor in his room because I wanted to be close by to keep an ear on his breathing.

Early this morning I called his doctor’s office and was able to speak with a triage nurse. After describing all of Isaac’s symptoms to her, she recommended that I take him to the emergency room because there was no guarantee how soon they would be able to get him in to see Dr. Kronborg. Going to the ER has always seemed like an alarmist thing to do, but in this case I didn’t want to mess around with breathing problems! I have a co-worker whose baby came down with pneumonia recently, and she said that it only started with a cough.

So off we went… they listened to Isaac’s breathing and took his vitals. He had an x-ray taken of his lungs, a test for RSV, and a breathing treatment to loosen up the congestion. There were a few moments when the bright lights and flutter of activity around him seemed to frighten Isaac. But it wasn’t long before that charming smile lit up his face. Despite his wheezing, he didn’t hesitate to flirt with any female nurse that happened by. They were all swooning at how adorable he is. What a little charmer… even bronchitis can’t rob him of that smile!

Nearly five hours later, we were on our way home with a couple of prescriptions in hand. Now that he has some medicine, we’re hoping that he can kick this thing soon! Please be praying for him if you think of it. Pray that God will heal his little body and that he’ll continue to breath better. We are so thankful that it isn’t something worse like pneumonia or RSV, but bronchitis can still be a little scary!

Have You Seen It?

Have you seen the movie Fireproof? If you have, what did you think? If you haven’t, I couldn’t be more adamant that you see this movie! It is another great film made by Sherwood Baptist Church (creators of Facing the Giants and Flywheel). Kevin and I watched it last weekend, and we were both deeply touched. We are not struggling in our marriage (thanks to the Lord), but we see the potential for a dangerous slippery slope since having Isaac. We have to be much more intentional about spending time together and continuing to pursue each other and building our marriage. We now see how easy it really is to center everything around the kids and lose sight of each other in the process!

It dawned on us just the other day that our FIFTH wedding anniversary is just around the corner! Our marriage has been blessed beyond words, and we are more in love today than we were on our wedding day. However, it’s so easy to fall into a rut and get complacent. The great storyline of this movie has compelled us to never give up on learning about each other and staying vigilant with the Lord about guarding our relationship against sneaky attacks by the enemy (called “parasites” in the movie).

I cannot say it enough – this is such an excellent and praiseworthy film. It is such a great love story!! You must see it!!

6 Month Stats

Isaac had his 6-month appointment yesterday, and just wait til you hear his stats!

He is 28 1/4 inches tall - that's about the height of an average 1-year-old! According to his growth curve, Dr. Kronberg estimates he'll be 36" (that's three feet!) tall by the age of 2! Are there any tall people in his family? Hmmmm. ;)

He's 18 lbs, 8 oz - far above the 17 lbs we were guessing - in the 95th% for his age. Hmmmm, a growing football player?

Good news is that he's finally growing into that head of his. :)

Other news is that he's going to need some physical therapy for his slightly crooked neck. He has always favored turning his head to the right, and while we accomplished training him to turn his head both ways to avoid a flat spot, his head still tilts a bit.

He has his first cold right now, poor baby, complete with a fever. At the same time, it seems he could be cutting his first tooth too. So if you think of it, please keep him in your prayers. He's pretty uncomfortable... but extra cuddly because of it, which I don't mind! :)