Fountains!

On Saturday, we went to Desert Ridge to do some shopping, have lunch, and we also ended up getting flu shots (the real highlight of the outing!). Izzie had so much fun playing (and getting soaking wet) in the fountains and didn't want to leave!

On another note - Danny and I started the South Beach Diet last Monday. Neither of us have ever really been into dieting much, but we tried this one a couple years ago and both had great success; so, we're at it again! Anyway, the first two weeks are hell because you really can't eat any carbs. So, I just wanted to say that standing in line to order our salads at Paradise Bakery was pure torture as I was taunted by the huge display of delicious cookies. I almost caved, but didn't want to face the wrath of Danny for cheating!

Railroad Park

Last Thursday Isabelle and I met our friends Britany, Maya, & Kenyon, Niki & Alexa, and Bettina & Devyn at the cutest park in Scottsdale for a little picnic and fun. They have a train ride, a carousel, a couple different playgrounds, an ice cream parlour and lots of grass-areas and picnic tables. I wish I had taken more pictures to show the park better, but Izzie had fun on her first train and carousel rides. While on the train, she waved, signed train, and had a hard time sitting still on her seat of course. She wasn't too sure about the carousel ride and I actually had to take her off the horse half way through and just hold her (I can't blame her for that since I hate rides that go in circles)!


Left: Izzie's first train ride. Right: Alexa & Izzie chill'n in their strollers.

Left: Izzie. Right: Maya, Britany & Kenyon on the train.

11 Months Old

Isabelle turns 11 months old today. I can't believe she's almost one! This past month has been exciting as she's learned how to walk, sign, and say a few more words than just da da and ma ma. She's been watching the "Baby Signing Time" DVDs for a couple of months now and over the past six weeks or so she's started signing eat, banana, all done, ball, boat, wash hands, more, dog, milk, shoes, car, book, bird and occasionally she'll try water, cracker, fish, brush teeth and train. She also says dad, mom, yellow, water, ball, more, fishy, cheese, yeah, flower, bow wow (random, I know) and I've heard her try grandpa and grandma a couple of times during the video. Danny and I are probably the only ones able to understand most of her words at this point, but it's a good start to her toddler vocabulary! She also tries to do the actions to itsy bitsy spider.

Are you really going to eat that?

Okay, so just because the majority of our posts are about new or cute things Isabelle does, don't get the idea that she doesn't have some issues. The girl will seriously eat anything - rocks, sand, flowers, grass, leaves, paper, cardboard - you name it. One of her all time favorites is carpet - she reminds me of a person eating a bowl of popcorn as she swipes handfuls of carpet to eat. I know it's totally weird and we're just hoping she grows out of it!

Splash Pad Park

Last week Izzie and I went with our friends Kristy and Taylor to this really fun park and splash pad. It was kind of windy and cool that morning so we decided not to take swimming suits for the splash pad, but it ended up being so hot while we were there that we let them go in anyway in their clothes. Then, Danny and I took Izzie back to the same park on Saturday. Izzie is funny because sometimes she likes playing in the water and sometimes she wants nothing to do with it and would rather pick and eat the grass!

Fun at the Park

Now that the weather is finally cooling off, we've been spending a lot of time at the park. The past two Sundays we've taken Izzie over to the main Anthem park to feed the ducks and stroll around in the nice weather. Isabelle may share my dislike for birds because she's not nearly as interested in feeding the ducks as Danny is, but she really likes signing puppy dog whenever we see one and waving at the people on the train.

Haircut Play Date

Over a week ago, Izzie and I spent the afternoon at Niki's house in Queen Creek while Danny and Greg golfed at a nearby course. Niki's neighbor, Bettina, is a hairdresser and was nice enough to come over and color and cut our hair while Izzie, Alexa and Devyn, Bettina's daughter, played. After we left, Alexa even got her first haircut. With the rate that Izzie's hair is growing, she might not need her first haricut until she's three or four! Anyway, Niki took some great pictures of the cute girls although getting them all together for a shot was nearly impossible!

Water Park

We took Izzie to the water park for one last time before it closed for the season last Saturday. It was a little windy and the water was pretty cold, but we still had fun and Isabelle enjoyed taking drinks out of the fountains!

First Pair of Shoes

Once Isabelle started walking a couple weeks ago we realized that we really needed to get her some shoes. A couple of friends recommended we get a brand called "pediped" because they're really soft and flexible and claim to be the next best thing to barefoot. I had a hard time finding the ones I wanted at the mall, so I found this great site called zappos.com that had them and offered free overnight shipping. She has huge feet and I got her the 12-18 month size, but she'll be needing the next size up really soon I'm afraid! Anyway, I wondered how she'd do with shoes since she's never really worn them before and sure enough, she was not happy about them at first! I put them on her and she just stood there looking down at them and then back up at me like "what are these things mom?" - she wouldn't even try to walk in them until I held her hand and persuaded her to take a few steps. Even now that it's been a couple of weeks and she's more used to them, she still prefers to be barefoot!