Izzy's First Christmas

I can’t believe Izzy’s first Christmas has already come and gone! Since she is such a special baby girl, I thought it was perfectly fitting that her first Christmas was a white one…so cool!

We made our way to three family Christmas celebrations in addition to a small one with Griff’s family at our house on Christmas Day, and Isabelle is officially spoiled (as if she wasn’t already). We haven’t been taking her many places, so many of her cousins met her for the first time over the holidays, and she had a blast with all of them.

Izzy is talking to Nanny

And laughing with Paw
Griff and Trent got a special Christmas present from Uncle Johnny this year. ;-) Very funny!
Izzy liked it too!

Here's a present just her size!Izzy with her loot from Papa and Meme's house. She was asleep for presents over there, so Meme wanted a picture of her with all of her goodies.

This holiday season was a little bittersweet for us because as excited as we were to celebrate with Isabelle, we couldn’t help missing Lily and imagining how much fun the girls would be having together now. We visited the cemetery and got a picture of our two little angels, one in Heaven and one on Earth. Papa and Meme had been to visit Lily’s grave a few days before us and left her some presents. So sweet!

Merry Christmas!

Playdates!

I got together with my friend Hillarie for lunch last week. She has a new baby at home too, so we met at her house. It was so nice to put real clothes on (I don't care what Clinton and Stacy would say....if I'm at home, I'm wearing sweatpants, people!) and go somewhere for lunch! We had a great time, and the babies had fun too...I guess, I mean we didn't really ask them... Alex is 3 months old and he is so tiny next to Isabelle. She was being all loud and dramatic, and he was just calmly staring at her, probably hoping she would shut up. You know, typical male-female interaction. ;-) Look how sweet they are!

Becca, a friend I met at the hospital, and her sister Amanda came over on Saturday to make hair bows, and of course they brought the adorable Miss Hadley with them. We keep in touch via facebook and phone, but this was the first time we had seen them since summer. Hadley is just adorable, and it was so fun to see the girls together. Isabelle started out the smallest of her NICU buddies, but the little stinker has a good 2 pounds on Hadley now! We forgot to take pictures of the bows we made, but we got plenty of cute pics of the girls together. Enjoy!

Half-Marathon

I ran my first half-marathon on November 15 in San Antonio, and aside from two black toenails, I survived. It was a bit harder (okay, a lot harder) than I had imagined, and the first words out of my mouth upon crossing the finish line were, “Never again.” I did really well until mile 10, and then I started getting a little worried. Mile 10 is where the course splits, and the full-marathon runners and half-marathon runners part ways. I remember thinking there was absolutely no way that I would be able to run 16 MORE miles at that point like the marathon runners. I was lucky I only had 3 left because I was running out of steam! I finished what I started, but it wasn't pretty. At one point, my goal for this race was to finish alive, so goal accomplished! It’s funny how quickly you forget pain. Somewhere between San Antonio and home, I talked myself into the possibility of doing another half-marathon in February. This time my goal will be to finish alive and under a certain time (haven’t decided on the time yet). Our friend Janean took some pictures during the race, but she didn’t get any of me. I'm guessing she had a hard time catching me because I’m just too fast. ;-)

Run Griff Run! Griff has always been the easiest person to spot in pictures. His newly bald head makes it even easier. ;-)

Do you see Griff in the pack of runners on the right??? They are about to cross the finish line, and the dude on the left is about to finish his FULL-marathon at the same time - both races started at the same time. That's just craziness!

Full of Thanks (and pie!)

I have more than usual to be thankful for this year, so here goes…

1. God. We faced many uncertainties this year, but the one thing that remained constant was the faith we have in our Heavenly Father, and his son, Jesus Christ.

2. My awesome hubby. Couldn’t ask for a better one!

3. My beautiful baby girl. I get to see her smiling face first thing every morning, and I hope I never take that for granted. She is such a gift!

4. My baby daddy gots a job. Seriously, I am very fortunate that I was able to quit my job and stay home with Izzy. I mean, even the Real Housewives of Orange County are struggling in this economy.

5. Family and friends. We're lucky to have such a supportive and loving group of people in our lives, and we simply would not have made it through this year without them.

6. The Harris NICU staff. Such an amazing and talented group of doctors and nurses. Our baby is proof that they really know what they're doing!

7. I’m thankful to have so many things to be thankful for…does that make sense???

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Baby

Griff recently put together the activity bouncer/jumper thing that Izzy's Auntie got her, and as you can see from the pics below, she is enjoying it.

Real Housewives of Tarrant County???

Okay, so it's not quite as glamorous as the housewives of O.C., but I think it's got a ring to it, right??? My first sewing project is complete...the adorably cute apron I'm sporting in this pic. I had a lot of coaching, but I did everything by myself except for the pockets. Apparently rounded pockets are a bit too advanced for beginners like myself, so Mom was in charge of that task. It's actually not 100% finished. I still need to add some ribbon trim and buttons, but you get the idea. We bought enough fabric to make Izzy a matching apron...so cute. I'll post a picture of it when it's done, but don't hold your breath. Another one crossed off the list!

Costumes!

I'm way behind on this, but here are pics of our Halloween costumes from last month. Griff and I were characters in a murder mystery party that my cousin hosted the night before Halloween. My character was Bonnie Sue, a tattoo artist, and Griff played Billy Bob Montana.  The murder mystery was a bit of a train wreck, but the party was still a success. Thanks Billy and Cass!!!

Halloween was pretty low-key, which is pretty typical for us. We dressed Izzy up as the cutest little Tinkerbelle you ever did see and took her to my parents' house. Considering we only made one stop, she made out like a bandit. Other aunts and cousins had sent over little goodie bags of candy and toys for her, and Meme and Auntie hooked her up with some super cute outfits. If I knew clothes were going to be involved, you better believe I would have been dressed up to trick or treat right along with Izzy. ;-) She had a great first Halloween, and I can't wait for next year! Hopefully Izzy will have a better idea of what the heck is going on. Another plus about next year...maybe she will actually be able to consume a small amount of the candy she gets. Griff and I took that task on ourselves this year, and our jeans did not thank us. ;-)

Happy Halloween!

Here is my first official pumpkin carving. I decided early on during this project that discarding of Mr. Pumpkin's guts is not my favorite thing to do, so Griff did a fabulous job with that task (and also demanded that he get credit for doing so). So, Griff cut the top and gutted him, but I did everything else. That's one thing off my 30 by 30 list....only 29 to go!

And this is Griff's creation. He likes to call him Blue Moon. Blue Moon came to life at a recent party that Griff's boss hosted. Lesson for the evening: drinks + work friends + stupid bets = smashed pumpkin + sore fist for Griff. I leave the room for 5 seconds, and this is what happens! Do you see what I'm dealing with here???

Izzy's First Pumpkin Patch

We ventured out to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch a few weeks ago. It was really cold and muddy, so we only stayed long enough to get a few pictures of our little pumpkin, but it was a really neat place for kids. They had bounce houses, mazes, hayrides, a little train, face painting, etc. We’ll definitely make the trip to the pumpkin patch a family tradition.

Weekend Fun

Griff’s best friend from college, A.J., and his wife, Heather, were in town from Colorado a few weekends ago to visit family, and they stayed at Hotel Babb. They were our first overnight guests since Izzy has been home, so I didn’t really know what to expect from her, but Miss Isabelle was on her very best behavior for our guests.

Thursday night, we met up with A.J. and Heather and the rest of A.J.’s family in Arlington. A.J.’s 6-month-old nephew, Wes, was there and it was super cute to see him and Izzy together. They just kept staring at each other like, “Finally, someone my size!” So adorable!!!

Friday, we were off to the State Fair (Izzy’s Nana came over to babysit her while we were gone). The fair was okay. I guess I’m just not much of a fair person. It’s just a lot of fried food, expensive games, and highly questionable rides. Griff and I did try fried peaches and cream, and I have to say, I was a bit disappointed. It wasn’t bad, I was just expecting more since it was this year's winner. I wanted to try the fried butter as well, but the line was way too long, and the more I thought about it, the grosser it started to sound. So, I escaped the fair with only a small amount of grease in my arteries.

We ended up on the patio at Uncle Julio’s (my favorite!) for lunch on Saturday. We had a cookout at our house with many of our friends that evening. Izzy was spending the night with Papa and Meme, and we had every intention of going out after dinner. Somewhere around 10pm, it became clear to all of us thirty-somethings and almost-thirty-somethings that we aren’t in college anymore, and we gave up on going out. So, to conclude, we are officially old, but that’s okay…we still had fun!


A few pics from the weekend...

Our weekend guests, A.J. and Heather

These three were roommates back in the day....many, many hairs uh, I mean years ago. ;-)

Go Tech!

Daddy's little Red ( or in this case, pink) Raider