merry christmas!

we enjoyed our christmas together. with two kids now, it was even more fun ... and more full of presents under the tree. this was the first year where emma was very aware of what was going to happen. she was asking about presents under the tree as soon as we put the tree up!

we celebrated a little both christmas eve and christmas day. tom's family celebrated on christmas eve when he was little, so we continue some of the traditions from his family on christmas eve now. tom prepared swedish meatballs (he makes turkey ones for emma and i!), potatoes, gravlax, herring, and eggs. it was delicious. on christmas day, we continue some of my family's traditions. it's fun to continue some of those traditions, while making our own new ones as well.

emma was very eager to start opening her presents christmas morning. before we were all ready, she ran over to the tree and started looking for gifts with an "e" on it ... we told her to look for her name on the gifts to know which ones were hers. anyways, we were still giving isabella breakfast and she was peeking at all the gifts. i looked over and she had one on her lap. i told her she needed to wait just a few more minutes. she said, "oh mommy, this one just fell on my lap."!!!! cracked me up!

we'll have some pictures of all the fun to add on the site soon. hope you all enjoyed your christmas as well!

all i want for christmas is my two front teeth ...

isabella's third tooth, the first one on top, is coming through. she's being such a trooper. on top of having a cough and cold, her poor gums are swollen and bleeding where the tooth is coming in. i just can't believe her third tooth is already popping through and in just a few days, she'll be 8 months. where has 8 months gone?!

she is rolling everywhere, which has been quite a challenge with the Christmas tree up now. and, it seems like any day now she will be crawling. isabella gets up on her hands and knees and starts rocking. if you look at her, it looks like she is really concentrating on how she will get from here to there. and, even though she is not crawling yet . . . she can get to where she wants to go pretty quickly . . . which often seems to be right towards emma's toy with little bits and pieces! always keeping mommy on her toes!

isabella also started playing peek-a-boo on her own in the past week. i was making dinner one night and isabella was in her bouncy seat. i looked over and panicked at first as her blanket toy was over her face. as i went toward her, she slowly pulled the blanket down and had a big smile on her face. i suddenly realized she was playing peek-a-boo. so cute!!

we are looking forward to celebrating Christmas together as a family of four in just a few days. i'm sure we'll have more to post soon!

merry christmas!

Layering ...

i think emma has mastered the art of layering. she loves dressing herself right now in several layers. and she likes to change her outfits several times a day. it makes me laugh. the other day she had on two t-shirts, two turtlenecks, a sweatshirt and one more shirt on top of that. often, she puts on pants with shorts on top of them. tom says it's the european influence in her! whatever it is, it's very funny, and we get a kick out of seeing what she'll put on next!
you can't fully see this in this picture, but emma had so many layers on here that she could not put her arms down at her sides. it was so funny.

sweet potatoes, bananas, and more ...

ok, we're back again ... life has been a little hectic lately. anyways, isabella is growing and changing so quickly. it's crazy. she is 7 months now!

* rolling all over now
* sitting unsupported
* gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth ... crawling is soon to come!
* eating solid foods
* celebrated her first thanksgiving
* met her aunt anna


isabella has tried rice cereal, sweet potatoes, avocadoes, bananas, pears, and squash. we're trying to figure out if she's allergic to bananas like emma. she was not the least bit interested in food when we first started trying to feed her solids ... very different from emma. but, she is now enjoying it, and she makes the funniest faces.

happy halloween!

are these not the cutest little bumble bee and raggedy ann (or raggy ann as emma kept saying) you've ever seen? emma kept singing the song, "i'm bringing home my baby bumble bee." we had a fun night ... just can't believe halloween has come and gone and soon it will be thanksgiving!

6 months!

i can't believe it ... isabella is 6 months old already! how did 6 months go by so quickly?! and, it was over a year ago now that we moved into our new house, that i had my cerclage surgery, and i was into my 2nd trimester of pregnancy. it's crazy how time flies.


isabella went for her 6 month checkup and she's doing great. she is 16 lbs 14 oz now and is 26.5 inches long. she is in the 70th percentile for both. much different than our little preemie peanut emma was in the 5th percentile. it's really different having a full-term baby.

in honor of 6 months, here are 6 fun things about isabella ...
1. isabella is rolling both ways and all over now
2. her tongue is often sticking out
3. isabella said mama this month
4. she is usually full of smiles and "talking" very loudly to us!
5. isabella can't get enough of her big sister; she watches everything emma does

6. she likes to attack your face with big (very big!) open mouth kisses

some fun food tips

for those out there who deal with food allergies or share the concerns about keeping our kids healthy ...

jessica seinfeld was on oprah talking about her new book, "deceptively delicious." i'm interested in checking it out. she gives recipes for everything from spaghetti and meatballs to chocolate cake ... but all the recipes include pureed veggies, so you sneak them in to get your kids to eat more veggies. emma is actually a good eater, but i wouldn't mind trying to sneak some more veggies in!

i also caught the last few minutes of a show on the food network today called "edible enemies." it focused on food allergies. they talked about a cookbook on there from a woman familiar with food allergies. so i looked her up online and found her cookbook ("the whole foods allergy cookbook" by cybele pascal) and her blog, allergycookbook.blogspot.com/. some great info there, including lots of websites wtih allergy-free foods. i'm excited to check out more of the links and maybe get this book too.