2 Months Later

"While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is
all about."   ~Angela Schwindt

It has been 2 months since my last post. So much has happened since then. Somehow, Isabella has grown into a little girl since . When I look at her, I can't help but think to myself, "Where is my baby? When did she turn into this little girl?" 2 months ago, she only said two words, ouch and Lola. Now, she also says mama :), papa (food), wawa (agua), bye-bye and lots of other words that I cannot understand. But I know it means something specific because some of the gibberish, she says frequently. I can tell they are real words...to her! We try to have conversations with her by responding to her baby talk with questions. She keeps the conversation going. We can't understand her, but the conversation continues. She started walking a few weeks ago. I bought her a toy that helps her to walk. She holds on to it and pushes it and she just takes off! After walking with the toy for a little bit, she got up the courage to try walking alone. I tried to not make too much of a fuss. When I do get excited, she gets distracted and doesn't want to walk anymore. She kept standing up, taking a few steps and falling. She was the excited one that day! She would laugh and flail her arms. Four days later, she was walking for longer time frames all by herself. Now, just 3 weeks later, she hardly even crawls anymore.

Halloween passed a few weeks ago. This is a holiday that I have never really gotten too excited for, until now. The last time I wore a Halloween costume was when I was in the fifth grade. But I was really looking forward to October 31st this year. I dressed Isabella up as a little cow. The cutest little cow ever! Although she was still too little to trick or treat or eat all that sugar, my mom and I took her to the Goober Fest at our church, St. Elizabeth Ann Setan. Isabella enjoyed looking at all the other children in their costumes. I bet she was wondering what the heck was going on! Then she helped grandma pass out candy to all the trick or treaters that came by our house. This year, it was just about the costume, next year, she will be older and may be able to understand a little more about what is going on.

Isabella wore her helmet for three months, to the day. On November 9th, we went for our last appointment in Dallas, at Cranial Technology. I was so excited! I bought new bows and clips to put in Isabella's hair. I even practiced fixing it. I made little pig tails with bows on them. I can't help but think she is the cutest darn thing on the face of this earth! I was so excited that I would be able to get to run my fingers through her hair while rocking her to sleep. Now, when she rests her head on my chest, it is just her head there, not a big, plastic helmet.

I guess most babies go through a phase where their separation anxiety peaks. I do believe we are currently going through that phase. When we are at home, if I even leave the room, Isabella starts whining. When I give her to my mom or dad, it doesn't take her long before she is reaching out for me to get her. When I started working full time, and started taking her to the daycare everyday again, she would cry and cry when I would drop her off. She cried like someone was hurting her. But she can be a little bit of a drama queen, she gets that from her grandma, not her mom....I know she is fine and she probably stops crying as soon as some fun toy or one of her friends gets her attention. But, just hearing her cry and having to walk away just broke my heart. Now, when I drop her off, I set her down on the mat, in front of lots of toys and other kids. This way, she is distracted instantly, and no more crying.



Isabella is a little daredevil. She stands on the sofa and jumps around. She even rolls/falls off the sofa to the floor. I just know she is going to fall and crack her head open one day...ok, that is probably an exaggeration, but what do you expect? I am a mom. She likes to be chased. When I tell her something like, "Come on, let's go change your diaper." and I start walking toward her, she takes off racing! She tries to escape from me and she is laughing the whole time! She is very curious about everything going on around her. If I can't hear her, if she is just a little too quiet, changes are that she is making a disaster somewhere! She also likes to dance. I have a little upbeat tune that I sing to her. I have been singing since she was born. My mom also has a little tune she sings to her. And when she hears these tunes, she starts dancing. She is usually sitting down and she starts bouncing up and down. If she is standing up, she bends her knees and almost jumps, but she does it over and over. If she hears an upbeat song, she starts dancing. She is just too funny! There is not one day that goes by that she does not make me laugh. She also still loves to jump! I have a small trampoline that I will let her jump on one day when she has better balance. I can just imagine her jumping and jumping and jumping away. She also likes to scream. She screams just because she is excited. When she gets excited, her eyes get big, she straightens her arms, clenches her fists and teeth and shakes. She used to only do this when she got over stimulated in any way. If she was scared, happy, mad, or frustrated, this was her first reaction. But now, she has learned that we pay extra attention and laugh when she does it and she will do it on purpose just to get a reaction. She loves attention. I can tell she is going to like being the center of attention. She is very playful with most people. On our flights to Dallas, she usually would have all the people in the surrounding seats playing with her. If you look at her and smile, it is almost like she just wants to fall apart because she is so excited! And it takes almost no effort to make her smile and laugh.

Isabella is now eleven months old, fifty-one weeks to be exact. Fifty-one weeks! Her birthday is less than a week away. I wish I could keep her little forever. I was shopping  for some onesie pajamas, the kind with the feet, for her just the other day. I was looking for size 12 months and saw the itty-bitty tiny ones for preemies. That is the only size that would fit Isabella when we first brought her home from the hospital. Even the newborn size was huge on her. When I saw how small the pajamas were and remembered that my precious baby was sooo small, and seemed so fragile I couldn't help but get teary-eyed. Each milestone that she passes is so exciting but it is also bittersweet. They remind me that she is growing up.

So, Isabella, my love, the past five-one weeks have been the best. You are the best. I like to remember when you were a tiny little baby who needed me for everything. You still need me now, but you are growing and becoming more independent with each passing day. I can't imagine the day when you don't need me anymore...and I don't want to. Your personality is blossoming. You are friendly and I hope you will be equally as kind and compassionate. I have a feeling about you, my love, that you are going to change the world someday, because you changed my whole world the day you came into it.


Love, Mama