Isabelle
My sweet girl has been growing her vocabulary almost on a daily basis. This morning she said kiss for the first time when I asked for a good morning kiss. It's always something new with her.
Isabelle at 22 months. She'll turn 2 a few days before Christmas.
If you remember, I've been working with her on basic phonics. She has nearly all of her letter sounds from A-Z now, although she only knows one sound per letter. She has a Leap Frog phonics toy that magnetically sticks on the fridge. She frequently plays with it while I'm cooking dinner or cleaning, and this works well to reinforce the things I've been teaching her. Isabelle surprised me recently, however, by really showing off what she's been learning. She and I were playing with her wooden alphabet blocks, and I discovered that inadvertently, she has managed to learn 1/4 of the alphabet, by sight. Yep, she can recognize many of the letters already! It's amazing to me the way that kids are like little sponges. They soak up everything without you realizing it, and then when you squeeze the sponge, you get to see what they've been soaking up.
Getting Ready for Baby Brother
I'm trying to prepare her for her baby brother as much as possible. We've been talking a lot about the baby for quite some time now. A few months ago, while shopping with a friend, I held a friend's newborn little girl so that my friend could pay for her items. The baby started crying, and as soon as Isabelle realized that I was holding this crying baby, Isabelle burst into tears. Her tears really concerned me, since I'd taken it for granted that Isabelle would be thrilled about the new baby (and I still think she will be, eventually!). Since then, I've been able to babysit for a few friends, including the same baby girl, and Isabelle has done incredibly well with them. Sometimes she doesn't want much to do with them, but she doesn't get upset when I hold the babies, so that makes me feel a little bit better about her adjusting to the new baby. Last week, I kept my friend's son, Ethan, for a couple of hours. She handled that really well, but she's also known him since his birth nearly a year ago.
Isabelle did so well with Ethan, in fact, that she wanted to help feed him. She's going through a baby doll and mommy phase right now, which makes me quite happy.
As a Family
We're trying to get ready for this baby as much as possible. Damian has continued working on projects outside of the house, but in addition to that, he's refinishing furniture for Isabelle's new room and for Christmas presents. It's been hectic but fun to get ready for another baby. We're really doing well. We love our family and we have a God who loves us immensely, and both the Saints and LSU won this weekend, so there's not much else we could ask for.
Gabby, Personally
I'm feeling so great. I've been taking Reglan for about a month now, and other than having a stomach virus, I've only had morning sickness once while on this medication. It's so nice to feel so good during pregnancy. I have started feeling pretty tired lately. I'll be 27 weeks pregnant tomorrow, so I'm nearing the third trimester (which generally starts at 27 or 28 weeks, depending on which book you're reading). I think most of the fatigue is either from entering the third trimester or simply a side affect from the medication. I do notice some drowsiness after every dose. Lately I've found that I need a nap a few times a week, so I've put off doing important projects in order to rest. I am anemic as well, which can add to the fatigue, so I don't hesitate to place a high priority on rest, but it's a challenge when there are so many things to do in the next 13 weeks (or less!).
We had a sewing weekend a few weeks ago. Damian's aunt and grandmother came up for the weekend to help me sew the baby bedding. When I say "help me sew," what I really mean is that Mona pieced it out, did all of the measuring and thinking through the process, and I helped cut and sew as much as I could. She's the pro, and I'm the newbie, so I enjoyed getting to learn from her. I still need to stuff and sew up the bottoms of the bumper pads, sew the quilt together (it's cut and ready to go), and hem the bedskirt. I do think I could finish up much of the bedding in just a few naptimes, but currently, I have several commitments and small projects through church and other activities that are more urgent. Additionally, I'm needing those naps frequently, so it's just hard to find the time to focus on sewing. Next week, things should settle down quite a bit, and hopefully, I can finish up several aspects of the bedding.
I hope you're enjoying your November!
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