reason #482,645 why i need a pool

i think i may have mentioned before that we need a pool. notice i said need, not want. i am way beyond wanting a pool. and before you think it is just for me, let me inform you that i believe we need a pool for isabelle. after all, how is she ever going to become the olympic swimmer i imagine without a pool? that girl LOVES to swim. last week we took her swimming at my mom's neighborhood pool. it was a bad day to go as she hadn't had a nap and was quite cranky, but she still had a good time. problem was, she didn't want to be held on to, or sit in a raft, or stand on the stairs. she wanted to swim by herself. except she doesn't know how. so this week, jason and i decided water wings were the answer. on the package of water wings it clearly states they are for children ages 3 and up, which she is not, but still, we thought they were the answer. WRONG. she wants to swim, not float. so since she obviously cannot swim by herself, we tossed her back and forth and let her splash and carry on until jason got the bright idea to toss her to her aunt carri with no warning and let her go under all the way. we all gasped and started freaking out until we realized that isabelle was smiling. yes, she was a little shocked at first, but shock turned into excitement. isabelle started cheering and clapping and saying, "more, more." so we kept tossing her up in the air and letting her go under and she loved it. she went crazy. she clapped and cheered every time she came up. she did it so much that my arms got tired, and then jason got tired. and finally isabelle got tired! she had a great time. i think that this is further evidence that we need a pool. jason doesn't think so. it is probably good that he is rational about the pool otherwise i might be calling the pool company today. this picture was taken on father's day. it was the only time she got in the raft and we were lucky to get a picture considering that five seconds later she started screaming to get out.

scrapbooks, books, singing and other tidbits

i am feeling pretty accomplished today. i not only managed to finish reading a book, and yes it was a grown-up book, but i also finished isabelle's first year scrapbook. and while the scrapbook is probably my least detailed, least embellished, least elaborate scrapbook ever, it is DONE. i don't know what possessed me to do isabelle's scrapbook the way i did, but it is mostly just patterned paper with a few stickers here and there, and i did all of the journaling by hand. but like i said, it is done and i like it in all its simplicity. did i mention i finished reading a book? the book is "When did I get like this?" by Amy Wilson and it was so funny and so true and i loved it. it is all about motherhood and how as moms we spend a large chunk of our time trying not to fail our kids. most of the book i was nodding along totally getting what she said and completely relating. i also laughed out loud multiple times including during the story of her daughter puking repeatedly on an airplane and later figuring out she had rotovirus. if you are bothered by profanity, i will warn you that there are a few uses of bad language, that in my opinion added nothing to the book. but other than the occasional bad word, the book is hysterical.

now on to the singing. isabelle has started singing and it is adorable. granted she only sings one song and that song only has one real word and that word is repeated over and over during the song, but still. it is a song from yo gabba gabba (her favorite show) and the song says goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye. and that is basically it. i realize that probably no one else will be impressed by her singing, but i think it is the cutest thing on the face of the earth. i drove around extra in the car today in order to take a video of her on my cell phone to show jason.

she has also started putting words together when she talks, which i think is a big deal. she says things like, "more please," or "more milk," or "baby la-la" (la-la is molly). i know this sounds silly but each time she does something new i get a little sad about her growing up. yes, it is exciting to see her do new things, but it is also one step closer to her being grown up and that makes me sad. next thing you know it will be kindergarten and then high school and then college and just typing it is making me a little sad.

molly is doing well. astonishingly well. she sleeps 8 hours a night. sometimes longer. i try not to brag, but it is pretty awesome. she is growing also. she no longer really fits in newborn clothes and has gone on to the 3 months clothes which makes sense considering she is 2 1/2 months! she is smiling and cooing and being overall totally precious. i asked jason if we were tempting fate if we had another baby. after all, isabelle and molly are so great. both were/are great sleepers, both have been pretty easy babies, what if the third baby was a nightmare? should you just stop while you are ahead? i don't know.....a baby boy would be pretty awesome.

anyway, that is all that is going on around here. jason and i celebrated our nine year anniversary this year. hard to believe we have been married that long. it has gone by so fast. he is staying busy at work and i am staying busy at home. we are so blessed!

Summer time is here!

Well, another summer has arrived and while I love things like getting a tan, going swimming, having fresh berries in the yard and summer nights, I can't believe how fast 2010 is going by. Molly is two months old now. She is finally awake a little more during the day (most of the time she would rather be sleeping, I just force her to stay awake). She is also making some precious little baby noises and smiling. Best of all, she continues to be a great sleeper. She slept 7 hours last night, making for one happy momma this morning. Isabelle, I think, has finally adjusted to Molly. Sure, she still tries to step on her and likes to help burp her a.k.a. smack her on the back over and over and still takes her blanket and paci away, but I think deep down she loves her! After all, she does give her kisses and hugs and always wants to know where 'baby' is.

Isabelle is also excited about summer. It means pool time for her and boy oh boy does that girl love the pool. I try on a daily basis to use this information to bribe Jason into getting a pool, but so far it hasn't worked. Isabelle has a pool in the backyard that she swims in and taking her out when it is time to go inside to go to bed or eat is somewhat challenging. I think she would give up food and sleep in order to swim 24-7 if she could. Again, I have tried without luck to use this to justify a pool.

We are not really planning on taking any vacations this summer. I tried last year to travel with Isabelle at Thanksgiving and learned my lesson then. Traveling with small children is NOT FUN. No one has fun. Not us, not Isabelle, not the poor people on the plane with us, not the people whose house we literally move into for our stay, no one. And of course when we get home we are so exhausted we need a vacation to recuperate...so needless to say we are staying home this summer. We will go visit my dad for a weekend but only for a weekend and then maybe this fall when Molly is a little older, but not yet walking, we will try camping. I am itching for a camping trip, though I imagine that my idea of camping may change after taking two kids...but who knows. One thing I am super looking forward to is our friends from Dallas coming to visit. Michael and Rochelle are coming in July and bringing their baby boy, Max!!! We have not met Max yet, but man am I excited. It will be great to see them all.

I hope everyone has a great summer. Try to stay cool. And...if you have a pool....well, we would love to stop by!!!