15 Months

This little boy is growing way too fast...literally!  I took him in for his 15 month check up and since his birthday he's grown 2 inches and gained 5 lbs!  It didn't surprise me because suddenly he is feeling very heavy when I hold him.  We're also suddenly finding that he needs a whole new wardrobe...again!  He's already outgrowing the shirts we got him for Christmas and we just got him new shoes, pants, church clothes, and pajamas.  This boy is going to eat us out of house and home!

Despite his suddenly turning into a toddler (over my very firm objections), we've been having a lot of fun with this little guy!  He was so cute as a baby, but now he's just fun.  I love getting to know him and I'm so grateful that I'm able to be home with him all day! I don't think I could stand to miss any of the fun he has.

Some highlights from this month:

After one too many days of the kitchen looking like this...

...we decided to finally baby proof the kitchen.  To make Isaac feel a little better about the situation I got him some pots and pans of his own.  He can still get my mixing bowls, but I'm so much happier now that he can't get every pot and pan out!

Isaac learned how to climb up onto things... he's been climbing onto my little grey chair, but he's never tried anything else until now.  Suddenly nothing is off limits! Luckily he hasn't really tried to pull the chairs out so he can climb up, so as long as we remember to keep all the chairs pushed in we're okay.

Isaac loves to play with Andy in the evening!  After dinner he's in heaven when he has time to chase Andy around (literally).

Isaac helped me apply to BYU and LDS Business College for my brother who's on a mission!  Just a few more weeks until we find out if he's been accepted!

We've had friends over to play a couple times this month:

21st Century Toddlers...talking to each other on the phone in the same room.

Other cute Isaac moments:

He's not asleep...sometimes he gets silly and likes to eat his cheerios without using his hands.

We've finally gotten him excited about being "puppy Isaac" so now we can get him out of the tub without tears.

The vacuum is seriously his favorite thing ever.  I have to get it out of the closet a good 20 minutes before I'm ready to vacuum so that he can play with it for awhile and finally be ready for me to take it.  It's a problem I'm willing to deal with.

One day out of the blue he decided that he'd like to try on Dad's jacket.  He LOVED walking around it in!  I love that he's old enough to have ideas like that!

I got Andy an umbrella since he takes the train in to work now.  I had to get him a smaller one because this was a little big.

At 15 months Isaac:

• Can say: cheese (this is his word for all food), teeth, bath, mom mom, dada
• Loves to brush his teeth
• Loves to cuddle (thank goodness!)
• Is down to one nap a day
• Favorite foods: bananas, cheese (any kind), hummus
• Hates getting his diaper changes...makes me want to potty train him! If I knew I could find underwear small enough I would probably look into it more.
• Favorite books: little blue truck, jamberry, hungry caterpillar
• Loves to move things from one container to another!  He can keep himself entertained for a long time doing that!

14 months

Most of November and December are recorded with Isaac's birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  That doesn't capture all of the fun times we've had with Isaac though!

Naptime!  Notice the hand holding on to my hair.  That's key.

Morning's are daddy time.  Isaac loves chillin' with Dad before the day starts.  I'm just grateful to be able to shower while Andy's still home! 

We spent so much time outside in November!  It was perfect weather.  Isaac decided that he was old enough to actually walk on our walks... which led to longer walks that covered slightly less distance.

His first time picking up a stick to play with while walking...now it's practically a requirement!

Every once in awhile Isaac will go on a "no"kick.  He'll start shaking his head at everything!  One night we caught it on video.

Isaac LOVES bathtime!

Isaac babbling away!

The problem with Isaac walking is that he could stop to look at all the interesting things...like manhole covers!  Those are so interesting to him!  They have an interesting texture, they're a different color, and they're perfect places for things to get stuck!

We spent (and still do spend) lots of our time outside looking at acorns.  It makes me so happy we moved here since Isaac loves the acorns so much!

Playing peek-a-boo one morning with Ellery on the stairs.

This is one of those times I had to restrain every bone and muscle in my body in the name of being a good mom.  Isaac found a puddle and started stomping in it.  But soon stomping wasn't enough and he wanted to sit down and splash.  By the time we got home he was SOAKING!  I think I carried him by his armpits so he wouldn't get me all wet.  

Sitting and talking about how awesome "winter" in Dallas is.

Chasing Ben and the lawnmower.

Trying on all mom's jewelry.  I'm in need of a prettier way to display jewelry on a wall so Isaac can't get to it!

First bubble bath...

Isaac loves watching Andy get ready in the morning.  Andy's had to start hiding his razor because if Isaac gets hold of it he'll pretend to shave his face.

Playing in the giant pile of leaves at the beginning of December!  Towards the end of October the leaves finally started to fall, and we had leaves everywhere through the first part of December.  Isaac was in heaven stomping through the piles of leaves along the curb.  They would come up to his knees in some places!

Workin' away!

Trying on mom's new shoes!

Isaac loves hanging out by the pool!  Usually he's trying to get into the pool, but sometimes I can convince him that the chairs are just as awesome.

Telling Dad all about his day.  Apparently it was a pretty interesting day.

Wearing Mr. Potato head's glasses.

And one last video that will leave you giggling...

Since turning 1:

• Isaac has started talking all the time!  At 14 months we was definitely saying "bath" and "mama" and just generally blabbering all the time.
• Knows what sound a dog makes.."arf, arf".  My parents were always telling Ginny to get "off", so Isaac started associating that with the sound a dog makes.
• Is done nursing!  On New Years Eve, after a string of long nights, I decided to quit nursing him and see if he'd sleep better!  I swear he hardly noticed that we quit, which made me both happy and sad.  Happy that it was going so easily because that proved that it was time for us to quit and sad that he was so okay without the time we spent nursing.  I did make it a priority to just sit and cuddle with him for awhile after his naps when we used to nurse and I think that helped.
• His favorite foods are cheese (all kinds: cheddar, cottage cheese, whatever interesting cheeses are available for sample at the store), bananas, and tomatoes.  If we're having tomatoes in a salad at dinner I can hardly get him to eat anything else.
• Likes to walk around and talk on the phone.  Just about anything is a phone though!
• Loves, loves, LOVES bathtime!  We take baths 3 times a week, and every time we tell him it's time for one he runs straight to the bath.  His record is an hour in the bath!

When Isaac was a newborn I thought he was cute, but now that he's a toddler he's so much fun!  Every day is some new adventure!

Christmas

This year for Christmas we drove up to my parents' house in Wichita to spend the holiday with them.  We thought we had learned our lesson about driving with Isaac awake, so we left Friday night just before Isaac's bedtime.  This turned out to be both the greatest idea ever and the worst idea ever.  The good part is that Isaac slept 90% of the drive which was a nice change from him being fussy/upset for the whole drive.  The bad part is that when we arrived at my parents house shortly before 1 a.m. he woke up due to the lights/diaper changing...and it then took us an hour and a half to get him back to sleep.  Needless to say, we were EXHAUSTED! 

The next morning though, Isaac woke up around 8 and I took him upstairs to play quietly so Andy could sleep since he had driven the whole way up and then sat/slept with Isaac.  We were in the living room looking at the Christmas tree and when my dad came down to say hello and let Ginny out of her kennel, Ginny leaped over the baby gate that was keeping her out of the living room so she could investigate the new humans.  My dad ended up going outside with Isaac and Ginny in his pajamas to help Ginny work off some of her excitement.

A lot of this Christmas revolved around food (as always).  One night my parents took us all to a yummy Mediterranean restaurant on the east side of town.  We started out with stuffed grape leaves and hummus with pita bread.  I had chicken kebabs with baba gnoush.  Others got beef kebabs, chicken gyros, and other things.  The conversation piece of the dinner though, revolved around the complimentary biscuits.  The table was split... everyone but my mom loved them.  They were a cornmeal biscuit with some sort of glaze baked on top because although they weren't sticky, they had this amazing crust to them.  Allie and I are now scouting for the perfect cornmeal biscuit copy cat recipe... and a good hummus recipe.  If you have either please send it to me!

We went to Sam's Club with my parents and found the most AMAZING pillow!  No joke, it was memory foam with a cool gel side.  I have never put my head on something so comfortable! 

While we were there Isaac also decided to show off his superhuman strength.  No joke, this kid is strong!

My mom got a new swing for this summer when Isaac's bigger.  Since it was too cold to take him outside and play with it, we had to swing him inside.  He LOVED it!

Isaac and my Mom tortured my dad a little.  As a side note, Isaac wasn't a fan of the flash.  He kept closing his eyes when a picture was taken.

Enjoying a fudgsicle with Grandma.

On Christmas Eve we made a big batch of tamales and I gave Isaac some of the masa for them.  Surprisingly, he liked it!

The Christmas table.  The reason I get up on Christmas morning.  Every year my parents buy all the things we love that we usually don't get during the rest of the year.  Chips, soda, sweets, fancy cheeses, etc.  Oh it's glorious!

Us at the top of the stairs!

Isaac opening up presents.

More present opening.

Isaac playing with the stereo.  He LOVES my mom's stereo!

Back to present opening.

My sister Steph got matching owls for all of us sisters.

Isaac blinking because of the flash.

Watching one of the paintball episodes of Community.

Isaac wanted in on the fun.

Talking on the phone.

Finally trying the Boston cream... he loved it.

All in all it was a pretty awesome Christmas!  We ate way too much, played way too much, and had way too much fun.  Our trip home ended up being delayed a day due to snow in Dallas of all places.  Isaac was so sleep-deprived by this point that he slept for 2 hours on the way home.

We got all sorts of fun things for Isaac: books, a Noah's ark set, a soccer ball, and various other things.  His favorite toys though are the toothbrush we got him and the bath toy set we got him at the last minute.  He will play in the bathtub for an hour or more if we let him!  I would post a picture of him playing with his new bath toys...but it needs some editing to make it PG.