11 months old

(P.S. I realized a few weeks ago that I'd forgotten the Tigger picture for last month, so I added it now.)There aren't a ton of pictures this month (I used the ones from Missouri for last month) but that doesn't mean things have been quiet. Au contraire. Isabella has been a busy little thing: she's gotten better at crawling, she is now pulling up on things, she refuses to stay still, she's started saying "Mama" (finally!), she's endlessly exploring our little home. Some of her favorite things now are opening and closing drawers (like, 20 times in a row-seriously, what's the thrill?), rolling water bottles and pop cans across the kitchen floor, pushing her high chair around the kitchen, and finding the tiniest things on the carpeting and putting them in her mouth. Where she used to love to cuddle, now the minute she finishes her bottle she wants down-stat! Sometimes diaper changes are a battle because she twists to get off and running. But she's been really good at accepting her limits and learning (albeit slowly sometimes) what she can't touch. She's always ready with a smile and does what she can to elicit one from me: tilting her head to the side, playing peek-a-boo around the corner, whatever it takes! And if you've never seen her eat strawberries, well, that's a sight to behold. By far her favorite food, she pounces and devours. If you've ever seen a lion attack a gazelle, you get the idea. See what else she's been up to...

Helping with the sign...

Getting it visible...

And the applause!

Ah, the pool! We have one right across the parking lot and, even though it's not heated, it sure does make the warm afternoons more bearable. She really likes the water and even did well floating on her back with Joshua supporting her. She got so relaxed this particular afternoon that she put her thumbs in her mouth and we thought for sure our little water baby was going to take a doze!

Isabella loves her books (she does sit still long enough for those) so Maga sprung for an early birthday present and bought a home for all the books she's been giving Bella. I present to you the Maga Public Library. Bella LOVES that there is so much to play with and that she can pull up on her book case! Thanks, Maga!

Say goodbye to nap time! Isabella has decided recently that she only needs one nap a day instead of two. So, if she's not in the mood, instead of just playing with her feet like she used to, she can now roll over, get up on her knees (in the first picture), and then crawl over to the bars and pull herself up (the other pictures)! You can see how excited she is to have accomplished this feat. And, if she's a little bored while Mommy ignores her in her crib, she just grabs her lotion bottle from the diaper organizer attached to her crib and plays with that! (You can see it in the bottom of her crib in one of the pictures.) The real kicker? She can unscrew the lid most of the way!

One day out of the blue, Isabella decided to do "Sooooo big!" I had never taught her this, but sure enough, when I asked, "How big is Isabella? Sooooo big!" she spread her chubby little arms wide to show me.

A water bottle to play with-does it get any better than this?!

Sure it does! A hug from Uncle Jeff!

Hey, Mom? What was the name of that pot you needed again?

This child loves to eat! In all her frenzied excitement she failed to realize she had a piece of turkey stuck to her cheek. And of course, being the good Mom that I am, I rushed to get the camera instead of peeling it off!

One of the big adventures this month was traveling to Chicago! On Memorial Day we got to hang out with Aunt Shirley and all the cousins. In fact, we had so much fun doing it that we didn't get any pictures! But we did manage to remember the camera at April's graduation.

Why is everyone looking at my nose? What? What's confetti? Oh, that thing on my nose! Oh, okay!