The Months Continue to Fly By

Well, once again Daddy is slacking on the updates. Since our last posting, there were a few holidays, special events, birthdays, anniversaries, well, you get the picture.

Over the past two months, Izzy has been busy growing up. When we last posted, she was starting to crawl. These days you can't get her to stop. She still does the army crawl when she really wants to get somewhere but she is now crawling with her legs. She is also pulling herself up on everything and can even stand for a few seconds on her own. The picture below was taken in early November. "Look Mom, One Hand"

She is also babbling up a storm and calling everything da-da. Daddy wants to believe it because Izzy loves him very much but at this point, we don't think she is referencing him everytime.

For Halloween, Izzy wore her BOO! outfit and helped Mom and Dad give out candy. We were also happy to have a few friendly visitors and Izzy was able to give Paige Connors, in her cute pumpkin costume, a nice treat.

Our four year anniversary was November 1st and met the Philly crew for celebrate. Scott's sister, Melissa, is pregnant and due in February, only a few weeks before Izzy's birthday. Izzy cannot wait to meet her new cousin.

With the weather getting colder and leaves falling from the trees, we spent a few hours at our local park. Little did we know, Izzy would have the time of her life. At the time, she had just transitioned into her "big girl" stroller and enjoyed the change in seasons. We took her down the slide and let her play in the leaves. She was in heaven. Izzy rode back to the house on Mommy's shoulders.

Isabel celebrated her first Thanksgiving in Philly. As usual, she was head of the entertainment committee and kept everyone in smiles. During dinner, she ate turkey and mashed potatoes for the first time. OK, we need to be completely honest, she had pieces of turkey and potatoes on her tray and played with the food for at least 30 minutes, most it landed in her hair, on the floor or in the seat. We think she had a few bites.

In December, Isabel celebrated her first Hannukah, on a few different occasions. The first celebration took place at Ermann's while Rachel's brother Jeff was in from Missouri with Dana and Lilye. It was great to see Jeff and Isabel had a lot of fun with Lilye. We then celebrated the first night of Hannukah at home and Izzy got her first dreidel. The Festival of Lights ended when Grammy, Papa John, Melissa and Gavin came to DC a family Bat Mizvah. We celebrated with Aunt Joan and Rachel Affenit. Grammy and Papa John got Izzy a personalized step stool that loved.

Next update will include Christmas, New Years' and probably July 4th, 2008.

Isabel - Busy As Ever

We know we are past due on a blog entry (based on the number of e-mails from Izzy's fans). It is difficult to get two months worth of events and milestones in one entry, but we are going to try.




Today, Isabel turned eight months old. Since our last posting, Izzy is sitting on her own, eating solids, crawling somewhat with her arms (if she wants to get something she figures out how to get there)and being even more animated.

New Friends & Adventures

Every new day brings unique adventures and new friends. Here are pictures from many of those engagements.

Sports

As you know, Scott is a little bit of a sports fanatic. Izzy went to her first baseball game in September. While she did not eat peanuts and cracker jacks, she enjoyed checking out the excitement and all the people.

In October, we drove all the way out to Charlottesville,VA to see Pitt play UVA. Izzy was decked out in her Pitt Gear and rooted on the Panthers. This trip was also special because we were able to see Nat, Steve and Sam.

Grandparents
It always special to spend holidays with family. We recently joined a synagogue and went to Rosh Hashanah services with Bubbe and Papa. In October, all the grandparents got together with us to celebrate Rachel's birthday.





Pig Roast
Many of you know, that each year we take our annual prilgrimage to North Carolina for the Gervase Pig Roast. As you can see below, the number of little Pitt Fans continue to grow each year.



Pumpkin Patch
Grammy and Papa John joined us for a visit to a pumpkin patch to let Izzy pick out her special pumpkin for Halloween. While she was not much help in the selection process, she did have fun trying to eat them.

Amazing Us Every Day

With each passing day, Isabel continues to grow into a little person. It is hard to believe that she will be six months old in three days.

She is now sitting on her own (for a few seconds), babbling in her own language and crawling every once in while (sometimes it is backwards).

She is definitely getting more dexterity. She is playing with toys and loves her exersaucer. She is also starting to enjoy being in the water. Whether it is in bath or her little pool, she is starting to splash and explore.

As many of you know, we have been on a number of child care waiting lists for months and Rachel is back to work. We will be starting child care two days a week soon but need to thank our saviors, the grandparents. We are very blessed to have grandparents that are able to help us.

Papa Ermann (a.k.a. Danny the Nanny, Danny Poppins) has been a dedicated babysitter. If we need him, he is there. Occassionaly, Izzy gets an additional babysitter for the day, when Bubby Ermann "takes a sick day" and comes with Papa.

And even though their commute is a little longer, Grammy and Papa John Lynch have also been a huge help. Grammy spent two full weeks with us in July and August. We are lucky that she works in the school system and has her summers off. Of course, she loves the time with Izzy and was thrilled to be watching her. Each visit, Papa John brought Grammy down and picked her up. This also gave him sometime to spend with Isabel.

Earlier this week, Cousin Natalie and Sam visited on their way to Newark, DE. It was a real treat for Izzy to see her second cousin.