Isabelle is very selective with her affection. I am plagued with the thought that I have done this by hugging and kissing her too much, and so now when I ask her for a hug and a kiss she often tells me no. So, I try to respect her not wanting to, even though it's a drag...I try not to make any big deal about it, and am glad that she can assert herself and speak up if she doesn't want to hug or kiss someone. Sometimes with me particularly, I think she does it as kind of a game because she gets a funny little smile on her face and will say something like, "are you sad?" or "boo-hoo", and that's sort of funny. Today at the park I asked Isabelle if I could have a hug and her reply was... "Nope, they're all gone."

David has developed a little stinker trait as well. When he's eating, and he's starting to slow down, he'll take a piece of whatever we are feeding him, look at it, then us, then slowly move his hand to the right. To the edge of high chair tray, then over the edge, and then food soon lands on the floor. I can just imagine David saying to himself, "Do I want another slice of this hot dog? Mmmmmmmm, NO." Plop! "Do I want another slice of this cheddar cheese? Mmmmmmmm, Yes!" Gulp!

Of course, all this is soon followed up with, "How do I get this ketchup off my hands? I know, I'll rub it in my hair!"

Thankfully, we have a garden hose.

The other day, Julie was driving the kids to daycare or someplace, when she hears from the back seat, "Ow! What happened to my eye!" Now, David hasn't started to speak yet, so Julie turned her attention to Isabelle, who was squinting with great concern. It seems she had got a hair in her eye, which hadn't afflicted her to this degree yet before. So, we needed to take action....

Isabelle had her very first real haircut on Saturday! As you can see she was a little unsure about what Mary was doing, but she did great.

Now she finally has even bangs, and her hair is out of her eyes.

Here are just a few random pictures of the kids... We had a yard sale last week and the kids loved spending the whole day outside (it was a beautiful day, after many pretty hot ones...) We had a picnic lunch on the front lawn. Isabelle loves picnics.


Here's a picture of David being cute in his Elmo pjs. He's so cute. People are now saying he looks just like John.


And here's a picture of Isabelle eating chinese food with chopsticks. I don't think people believe me when I tell them that she really does eat with chopsticks. She won't eat chinese food any other way.

David had his 1 year Dr visit on September 8th. He weighs 25lbs 9 oz (11.6 kg) and is 32inches (81.25 cm) tall! What a big boy... and so brave. He didn't even seem to notice that he got shots! It appears that he's pretty much caught up developmentally, although he isn't saying any words yet. He's practicing sounds, and I don't think it will be long. His walking has improved and he enjoys practicing! He and Isabelle love chasing each other around the house. They both run around laughing and Isabelle says... "here comes trouble and double trouble!!" David is trying to run, but is not quite there yet.

Another big switch is that he has learned to go to sleep by himself... and happily does so!! I remember that Isabelle would have a really hard time and usually cried and ranted for 10 minutes on the dot before going to sleep. David used to really like to be held and we'd do the whole bounce and sway bit, but now he seems to like to just get in his bed and play then lays down among his animal friends and goes to sleep with no fuss. It's awesome! It also means that he sometimes wakes up early in the morning and sings and plays, but often goes back to sleep.

Both kids seem completely adjusted to daycare. Isabelle acts like the house is hers and just runs in to join in whatever is going on. David doesn't cry anymore when I am leaving or at random times when he misses us (sometimes at the end of the day, when he's hungry and other parents come and go before John gets there.) The day care provider, Noah, is awesome. Isabelle has made some frineds and wants to go "see the kids" even on weekends. I guess John and I are already chopped liver... does it really start this early????

It's been a long time since we posted!! Life has been busy! Here's a picture of Isabelle and David playing patty-cake. And a picture of Isabelle in David's bed with all of her critters. For some reason his bed is more fun to play in.

I went back to work full-time and we've put the kids in day-care part-time. It's been a good change for everyone, I think. Isabelle absolutely loves it there. She's made some friends and the change of environment is good. Every day she come home and tells us about her exciting day... riding in the wagon, playing with the blue sand, playing with the kids and the big momma kids (apparently nothing just big or small; it's big momma or baby sized). One day last week she and her friend Jesse ran around and played "funny faces" and chased each other, laughing for 45 minutes.



David seems to like it there too, although he is still at an age where he would like us to carry him around all day and snuggle. The people at daycare are very attentive to the kid's needs are are big on comforting when it's needed. David's not really at an age that he likes to play with toys with other kids, but he does crawl around chasing and laughing with Isabelle and seems to like the social part of daycare too. And the environment of the daycare is pretty similar to home, same kind of toys, same kind of music, books and most importantly, the way they interact with the kids jives with the way we do things. I think that was one big reason that Isabelle never really adjusted to the last daycare we had her in... the expectations were just too different.

I am so grateful to have had the last year to be home full-time with the kids. It was such and important year to be able to do that. Now though, I still get to be with them in the morning and John gets the evenings still. I make it home to kiss them good-night and get to spend a little more time with John. And we get to have weekends off together. So after all of that... yeah... good change.



A couple of weeks ago we went to Tahoe with John's family. Susan had found a house to rent for a week and we spent a few days visiting with everyone. The kids had a terrific time with all of the attention, but didn't sleep much. Even so, they were happy and fun and didn't melt down until we were about home. Two days away seems to be enough for them, and for us... we were all tired and glad to be home.

Above are a few pictures of the kids at the park in Tahoe. David likes climbing up the slides, which is good exercise for him, since he can't really slide dwon them very well yet, and isn't too steady walking. Isabelle played basketball with Aunt Susie and Uncle Greg.



We also celebrated David's first birthday in Tahoe!! He got lots of presents and clothes and had fun painting himself with chocolate cake!





Another milestone for David is that he started walking!!! His first steps were taken on August 13. When we were in Tahoe he took 9 steps. He is still practicing, of course, but is doing really well! He can walk holding something in his hands now... mostly he walks with that cute shoulders hunched, arms poised to shoot out and maintain balance posture that they start out with. He'll be running in no time.