Potty Power!

Izzy has been using the potty now for about 3 weeks. I didn't plan on potty training her this early (19 mo.), but for some reason I decided to get her a potty video early so she could learn a litte before we started potty training. It only took a month of watching her "Potty Power!" video, before she decided that she was NOT going to wear a diaper anymore. I got her a potty and she started using it right away. She was SO excited and the 2-3 MMs she got afterwards encouraged her even more. After going potty she sometimes raises her fist in the air like the kids on the video and shouts "Potty Power!" to which her mother and father also shout "Potty Power!" and Izzy's weird mom does a strange potty dance. The video itself, is VERY annoying. If you buy this video you will soon know exactly what I'm talking about. The woman on there sounds like a mouse when she sings. Izzy wanted to watch it ALL THE TIME, which for a week was a nice break from High School Musical. Anyway, the things you get excited about as a mom. Here's a couple pics of Noah Reading to Izzy.

HaLlOwEeN!*

SOOOO glad Halloween is over. I had to dress Izzy up 5, count'em FIVE times in a 2-week period. I went cheap this year. I already had the tutu and wings, tights, and flower bling for her hair, so all I had to buy was a cheap leotard at Target and some fairy shoes that I altered from the dollar store (and hair glitter of course!) Here are some pics of my little fairy: I also had to make a billion cupcakes the week of Halloween for Izzy's party at daycare and for my office party. I thought I was cup-caked out for awhile, but for my birthday, my awesome inlaws gave me an amazing cake decorating set (I've been wanting to learn how to do it), and I can't wait to use it. Here are some fun ideas that I got from the internet and a friend at work. Luckily they turned out pretty good. I can't find my graveyard cupcake pics, but here's one from the web that I copied them from. Super Easy! Cookie Monster Cupcakes

Giggling Izzy

The other night I left Izzy in her highchair with some snacks and went upstairs to talk to Brad. A few minutes later we heard a constant round of giggles coming from the kitchen. Curious, we went down to see what she was doing. This is what we found... (Make sure and turn the music off below to hear)

Update!

I've been absent from the blogging world for a couple months. Summers are just so busy! Nothing too exciting to report but we did get back from a much needed 6 day camping trip with Brad's family. It was so much fun and I'm so lucky to have the most awesome inlaws! Apart from running after Izzy, 4-wheeling, hiking, etc., I was able to catch up on some much needed sleep - I've been SO exhausted lately! Work is good, Brad is good, Dogs are good-driving Brad nuts, but good :-)and Izzy is amazing!! We've had so much fun with her this summer. She is constantly amazing me with new things she has learned and her independant I-can-do-it-myself nature. She has learned the word "No" and uses it often. She has also been signing more and using words with her signs so we can tell that "Mo" is more. She is very stubborn like her mommy and daddy, and is prone to meltdowns when she doesn't get her way :-), but she loves to give kisses and "loves" and has been entertaining Brad and I with her new love of singing (mostly along to High School Musical, which she is still obsessed with). Below are some pictures from our camping trip :-)

Eating Dandelions

Monday Jenny, me and the kids went to the park to hang out for a bit. Noah had a blast picking up trash and both he and Izzy kept trying to eat the dandelions - both fluffy and flower. When it was time to go Izzy had the biggest tantrum I've ever seen! She did not want to leave the dandelions behind. Brad was at work but we were all able to enjoy a BBQ with his family later that night, where I was able to see the true rocker Brad is while playing Guitar Hero. The boy's got skill, that's all I'll say. Big wet Izzy kisses are the Best! Mmmm....dandelions! Kissing Cousins...we probably shouldn't encourage that too much.

Bathing Beauty

Jenny, Noah, Izzy and I all went to St.George over the weekend for a funeral. Jenny convinced me to use a buddy pass and fly...um, yeah. Never doing THAT again. Toddlers waiting in the airport for 3 hours (we got bumped) - not fun. I'm sure it also wasn't very pleasant for the young gentleman who had to sit next to us on the plane, as Izzy was quite determined to shift, stand, squirm and play pat-a-cake 30 times on the 1 hour flight to St. George. The funeral was a sad, but we were able to have fun with the family while we were there. We swam in Holly's pool and Izzy LOVED it. She splashed and splashed and SPLASHED in the water. I don't know who was more water-logged after swimming, Izzy or me from being in the direct path of her splashes. I don't think I've ever heard her shriek so much with laughter before. It was so fun to watch her, and who can't help but love the cute chubby legs in her swimming suit? Love the Chubb-a-lubs!

Izzy's First Birthday!

Our girl turned one on Saturday and since our plans of going to the zoo got rained on, we opted for the aquarium. I wasn't too sure if she'd even be interested, but she is always fascinated with the small aquarium at her pediatrician's office. She ended up loving it and was especially excited by the giant fish and swimming turtles. Her dad and I thought the octopus and crocodiles were more interesting. She kept pointing at the fish and saying "What's that?" (her new phrase of choice). Her cousin Noah was there and they had fun giggling and pointing at the fish and each other. Sunday, we celebrated with Brad's family and had a combined birthday party with auntie's Tiffy and Candice. Izzy loved her presents (Thanks everyone), and Brad and I have been playing with them as well. I had decided to made her first B-day cake, and opted for a Care Bear. Brad - with little faith, told me I should probably make a practice cake...well, I ended up making two practice cakes in the month before her birthday, Lol. I'm such a nerd. Brad told me the first one looked like it had Downs Syndrome. This was the final product and I was all too glad to pack all the cake decorating tools away afterwards. We went to St. George a couple of weekends ago and Izzy had a little combined party there with her St.George cousins and Grandma & Grandpa Hamilton. We hung out with the family and it was nice to get out of town for a weekend - even if it was short-lived. Since I've been a blog slacker, here are some pics from Easter. Izzy had a blast with her cousins at Grandma Noss' house. Her grandma and Opa definitely spoiled her and she had so much fun with the Easter eggs she found.

Our New Old(er) Living Room!

My dear sister decided to get a fancy new living room set, and gave Brad and I her old couch and chair, which we are thrilled with! Our last hand-me-down couch (which we were also thankful to have) had cat claw marks on it and was a bit broken, lol. I've been very S-L-O-W to decorate my house and haven't made it a priority since it feels like we're never home anyway. With my sister's help, she is helping me 'get it together' and even for Christmas last year she and my mom gave us curtains for my kitchen and living room...which I'm certain would have remained bare if they hadn't. A decorating guru (in my opinion), Jenny has graciously given me many hints and decoration hand-me-downs which have been awesome. I'm kinda cheap when it comes to spending $$ on decorations for my house. I wish I had taken some before pics...oh wait, no I don't :-). Here is the living room, looking "homey" for probably the first time in the 2 years we've lived here. We've been really fortunate in that we've hardly had to buy any furniture for our house. My sister Holly wanted to get rid of their cute kitchen table, bedroom set and her daughter's dresser, which we've been grateful to have and have loved all of it.

The Babysitter

The babysitter when I need to get some cleaning done in our house is High School Musical 3. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that Izzy will stare at that movie until it is over (117 minutes to be exact). She LOVES the singing and dancing and frequently bobs her cute little head to the music. Our neighbor was doing some spring cleaning and gave us their cute little CareBear bike for Izzy to play with. Last night when I was cooking some dinner I stuck my head around the corner to see Izzy staring at Zac Efron getting his groove on and chillin' on her new bike with her feet propped up...

Sleeps like a baby?

I don't know where that term stemmed from, but my girl is ALL over the place after I put her down for bed. Here are some random shots of the weird and uncomfortable ways I constantly find her in.

Once upon a time there was a fairy princess...

Jenny once again took the cutest pics of Izzy on Thursday while I was at work. I love having my very own photographer!

She's Crawling on all fours now!

Sunday Izzy truly crawled for the first time. Brad is the ward clerk and took Izzy down to the clerks office while I was in Primary. He threw his keys down on the ground for her to play with and she got up on all fours and crawled over to them. I didn't believe him when he told me, so I did my own experiment with keys and sure enough, she crawled over to them. So far though...all she'll crawl to is keys...what's up with that? Btw, thanks everyone for your awesome advice on getting Izzy better, she's back to her old happy bouncing self now. I'm going to try and get a video up of her crawling (I'll have to figure it out though). ok...haven't figured out the video thing yet so here's a few pics Jenny took of her yesterday. And what wouldn't be a day at Jenny's without sweet Noah wanting a little tug of Izzy's hair?

Anyone have any remedies for a sick baby?

So...took Izzy to the doctor Monday night for what appeared to be a nasty eye infection and fever. She's had a cold since Sunday, and I'm sure they're all related somehow, but the doctor said she had a fever of 102 degrees, an eye infection, ear infection...and she has the runny nose and cough. He prescribed an antibiotic and told us to give her 1 tsp of Tylenol every 4 hours (isn't that a lot for a 9 month old baby???). She continues to have a fever. Today it ranged from 100.6 - 101.2. Any advice on how to bring a fever down for a baby besides Tylenol??? I'm still new at this.

She's Crawling!!

Ok...so it's more of a ssssllllooooowwwww ARMY crawl. But she can actually get from here to there. She's been very content so far to just roll to the objects she wants or to just have things handed to her. She's getting so big - looking at Lauri's new baby, Mya, it's hard for me to remember that Izzy was once that little. She is so funny at this stage. She makes these monster noises (or so we call them) and growls for the fun of it. She loves to clap, have her daddy toss her (very lightly) into the lovesac which leaves her cackling hysterically, and she loves to give slobbery wet kisses which I absolutely love. Lately Brad and I have had fun watching her fall asleep. She is absolutely wired for a bit after I give her the last bottle of the night, I turn the lights out, and she plays this sort of game in her crib with her doll(It's more like attack of the doll) where she's violently waving the doll all over the place and giggling. She also scoots around in her crib to the video monitor and knocks it off the edge of the crib and onto the floor (I know, why we put it there I don't know). After awhile she just zonks out. So...as you can tell, I just can't get enough of her.