Our Growing Girl

Isabelle will be 10 months old next week and I failed to give an update from her 9 month check up. I realize that most of you don't care, but for grandparents and the like, here are the stats. 16lb. (10th%) 27 1/2in.(50th%) She remains a petite little thing and is still wearing 6 month clothes...and she can even still fit into some 3-6 month stuff. So on to the more exciting stuff...

-She has gone from a snuggle bug to a wiggle worm and is BUSY BUSY BUSY!!! She is all over the place climbing and crawling and exploring. She wants up, she wants down. She follows me everywhere and is always climbing up my legs.

-Not only is she pulling up on everything but she is also moving around furniture and from one thing to another with greater ease and confidence.

-Due to this new found freedom and ever growing mobility, she HATES to be buckled down...namely in the car seat. Needless-to-say, our 19 hour road trip to Nebraska at the end of the month will be an adventure.


-Currently this seems to be her favorite sleep position...her bootie in the air, ankles crossed and hands tucked warmly under her belly. Every time I see her like this I can't help but laugh a little. It is just so cute!

-She is 'talking' more and more each day. Her favorite sounds to make are "B's" and the "sh" sound. She also says da-da but we aren't completely convinced she knows what it means yet.

-She does a great job with finger foods like puffs and cheese, but she doesn't care to touch anything mushy or slimy, like bananas or even peas.

-She is also becoming more vocal with her opinion about things...namely things she doesn't care for, like when she is told "no" or when we are buckling her in the dreaded car seat. We have, however, discovered that she has the cutest pouting face around.

These are a few highlights. Naturally, as her parents we think she is the cutest and sweetest baby ever, but after seeing this face who wouldn't?

Karis Elizabeth Almy

This is a picture of a precious little girl born to our friends, Trevor and Katie, back in June. Karis is the greek name for Grace and that is what we are praying for this little girl and her parents. In the past week she was given a grim diagnosis. The doctors have discovered that she has a rare genetic disorder called Krabbe's disease. Essentially she is lacking an enzyme which will eventually causes the white matter in her brain to degenerate and lead to irritability, unexplained fever, limb stiffness, seizures, feeding difficulties, vomiting, and slowing of mental and motor development. She may also eventually go blind and deaf as well as experience muscle weakness. In infancy this disease is generally fatal before the age of two.

As you can imagine this is devastating news for Trevor and Katie and the rest of their family. Please join me in praying for this little girl and her parents. Below are a few specific prayer requests that you can bring to the Lord on their behalf.

1. Healing. In the words of Trevor "Krabbe disease is no match for the sovereign God who spoke and the universe came into being." Our God has the power to simply speak the word and heal Karis. Pray that it would please Him to do so.

2. Pray for Trevor and Katie to cling to the Lord during this time and to be able to trust that they will see His goodness. They are battling with believing God can heal her and fearing He won't. I think of the father in Mark 9 who was asking the Lord to heal his child and said "I believe, help my unbelief!"

3. Pray that Karis would eat! The doctor wants her to eat 20oz. a day. Yesterday she ate 17oz. which was a record for her! Pray that she continues not only to have an appetite but the ability to eat.

4. Pray for all the physical needs of the Almy's to be met. Specifically you can pray for the expense of Karis' care and that their insurance would cover all the costs.

5. Pray for light to their path as they consider what their next steps should be.

6. Pray that the Lord would protect their marriage and use this to strengthen their relationship.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

I'll give you two clues where she learned this from. One's name is Maggie and one's name is Zoie.

Thanksgiving in the Windy City

We were in Chicago last week and had a great time with family and friends. The trip started off a little rough with a sad baby on the airplane and continued until about 1:30am when we had a sleepless and VERY sad baby on our hands. But apart from those and a few other sleep issues, Isabelle was been a happy girl.

This was Isabelle's first time meeting her Aunt Meghan and of course Meghan won her over with hugs and kisses and all sorts of fun gifts.

We spent Thanksgiving with Brandon's mom's family which included 36 of us, plus one college boyfriend. We managed to eat two 25 pound turkeys, one ham, nearly 15 pounds of potatoes and about 5 pounds of butter mixed in with that and all the other dishes. It was delicious! And may I just point out that Brandon's grandparents (who are in their 80's I might add) cooked everything! Well, I think one of the aunts brought a jello salad, but still...when you are feeding 37 people in your home it is like feeding an army.

On Friday we visited Abt, where Brandon's mom works. And in addition to being a technology and gadget wonderland, it actually has lots of fun stuff to keep children occupied. They have a large aquarium with Charlie the Eel and other exotic fish. They also have a bubble machine, fountain that 'dances' to Christmas music,
and an captivating toy that reminds me a lot of the game Mouse Trap. And due to the fact that we were there on the busiest shopping day of the year, you also could visit Santa, have a balloon animal made, enjoy freshly baked Otis Spunkmeyer Cookies, and try a few cups of coffee, espresso, or hot chocolate brewed fresh from one of the many impressive appliances. Kilauren was baking cookies in the atrium during the Black Friday rush. Which you think would be a fun job, right? I mean, who doesn't love you when you are giving away free dessert? Well, let's just say that people are impatient and greedy even when it comes to complimentary cookies. Isabelle looks like one of the people in the angry mob here as her aunts are trapping her from getting to the cookies.

A few other noteworthy things that happened over the course of the weekend: Isabelle discovered how to climb stairs. Her Nonna lives in a brownstone with four flights of stairs from the basement to the rooftop. This of course is fun for her and terrifying for us. Soon after her discovery we were giving lessons on how to go down the stairs safely. Thankfully, she hasn't really paid attention to the stairs in our house since we got home.

The other new discovery is the Camelbak for kids. I have a Camelbak that I LOVE and proudly try to influence others about. I constantly have it with me and constantly Isabelle wants to drink out of it. It has a bite valve so I never thought she would be able to figure out how to drink out of it, but I was very wrong. She drinks more out of the Camelbak than her sippy cup. So, while we were in Chicago, her Aunt Meghan got Isabelle her very own Camelbak. She looks like such a big girl drinking from it!

All in all it was a great trip. My only disappointment was that I was hoping for snow but it looks like I'll have to wait for it on our trip to Nebraska at Christmas.

The Lighting of the Tree

On Friday we had to forgo a friends birthday party because Isabelle has a scratchy throat and we didn't want to spread any unknown germs while in confined places. So we opted to spend the evening outdoors at the Lighting of the Tree in downtown Mobile. (Yes, I know that it isn't even Thanksgiving yet. Obviously, the city and Walmart are on the same schedule for breaking out the Christmas decor.)
Here is Isabelle playing in the car as we waited for Brandon to get done with work. She doesn't quite have her hands at "Ten & Two" but notice she does have her eye on the road.
It was the first time we had ever been to the event and it was actually pretty fun. They had numerous things for kids like a petting zoo and story time. They also had dancers from a local studio and tons of vendors selling everything from mulled cider to stöllen to homemade soap. They even had two snow making machines giving us the closest thing to a white Christmas that Mobile will probably see. Can you see the snowflakes in this picture?


As you can see, despite the scratchy throat, Isabelle was her typical joyful self. She is quite the social butterfly these days and if you are standing anywhere close and not looking her way, it is likely that she will call at to you in an effort to get you to talk to her. Then, when she is successful, she suddenly becomes shy and buries her face in my shoulder.


Don't you just love this hat? It was a hand-me-down, and I can't tell you how many people stopped to tell us how cute it was. Of course, it helps that the little girl wearing it is pretty cute as well!


I'm sure the lighting of the tree wasn't quite as impressive as I imagine the tree on Rockefeller Center but it did make for a fun community event.

Little GJP

I just had to share this picture of my nephew, Avery. He looks just like his mom, but he got his photography skills from his dad.

The Environmental Studies Center

Last weekend we headed around the corner to visit the Environmental Studies Center. It is literally in walking distance and while I had used the location a few times for programs when I was working for Girl Scouts, Brandon had never seen anything there other than their sign.

Before we left, we packed bags to take a lunch and a few other things...including one cute little girl.
(For any of you concerned that we carried her around like this, no need to call Child Protection Services...she actually rode in the Baby Bjorn.)

The Environmental Center is owned by the Mobile County Public School System and is mainly open during school hours. However, a few times a year they have open houses on Saturdays. The weather has been beautiful here so it was a perfect day to explore their lake front and wooded areas. And we even discovered that they have a bald eagle on site. (I'm sure it is hard being a symbol of American freedom when you are locked in a cage.)

They also have a three-legged deer (which we didn't get a picture of) and the most beautiful duck I've ever seen. We are pretty sure our turtle friends live at the Environmental Center too, although naturally it was hard to tell if any of the turtles we saw were actually the ones that frequent our yard.

Thank You Ida

Ida came through and brought down a blanket of pine needles. We have five pine trees so while the rest of the world is raking leaves, we are raking needles. Brandon hates pine needles. And I don't think there is anything he hates more than raking them up...unless, of course, you have to rake them while Buddy, our neighbor's dog, barks at you the entire time. Does anyone else have a neighbor dog like this? Literally you cannot be outside without him barking. And if you are outside for an hour, Buddy is barking, non-stop for an hour. I digress...bottom line: Pine Needles + Buddy = Anger and quite possibly a few curse words. So in an effort to prevent Brandon from sinning, I took to the yard this morning.
Now I grew up raking leaves every Fall, but I have to say that raking pine needles is far worse! First of all, you have to stop literally every minute in order to clean off all the pine needles that are stuck in the rake. Secondly, pine needles are heavier than leaves. Third, I don't think rakes are made to be used on pine needles. We have broke two rakes the last two times we have raked pine needles (maybe because they are too heavy). Fourth, it is not nearly as fun to jump in a pile of pine NEEDLES as it is to jump in a pile of leaves.

The one redeeming factor is that it is just as rewarding to see a clean yard after raking pine needles as it is when you rake a yard full of leaves. So eighty pine cones and an hour and a half later, here is the result.
Now for bagging them up...