Growing up TOO fast!!

Well, believe it or not, Isabelle is 6 months old today! WOW, I cannot believe I've had this precious little terror for half a year...its amazing how fast the time flies! She has brought me more smiles and tears in her short 6 months than I've had my whole life. I love everything about her and still can't believe that she's mine!
I remember, the day I went into labor, telling Eric I wasn't ready to be a mommy yet! When the nurse came in and said "Well, the doctor wants to keep you! You're having a baby today!" it started to set in that my life was going to seriously change and I wasn't quite sure I'd prepared enough for that. Then I held that tiny smashed face angel in my arms and all my worries melted away....for about 48 hours until they released me from the hospital! It is an overwhelming sense of fear and responsibility you feel as you walk through the front door with this miniature human package. I still don't know how I (or anyone who's ever had a child) survived those first 6 weeks. It is such an adjustment figuring out how to go from a couple to a family, then you add taking care of aforementioned small person and it kind of blows your mind how stressful life gets. And yet somehow, through all of it, you experience a tremendous amount of happy.
I will never be able to express the love I feel for my little Belle. I've always heard mothers talk about that special love that you feel for your child. The love that makes you want to kill anyone who looks at them wrong and makes you cry every time they bump their head. After about 4 months I finally felt that I had discovered that love and now I feel it grow every time she does! The bigger the baby the bigger the love!
Isabelle is a sweetheart at least 80% of the time! She grows and changes faster than I can keep track! To help me remember, here's my profile of Tiny at 6 months old!

Isabelle Julianna Armstrong
6 months old
Isabelle is 27 and 1/4 inches long (89th Percentile)
Bellie weighs 16 lbs 14 oz (69th Percentile)
Isabelle can sit up all by herself!Izzy can take steps holding onto Mommy's hands! (This is my favorite!)
Isabelle is eating all sorts of food and can even feed herself crackers.Bellie loves show tunes and screams if there's not music playing in the car.
Isabelle can roll over from her back to her tummy, but she immediately regrets it.Izzy can say "dada", "nee", "ahhh", "grah" and "booth"
Bellie still loves to "sing" herself to sleep.
Isabelle can stand up by herself when holding onto furniture.
Bellie loves to laugh!Izzy is already a bit of a flirt and almost always prefers men!
Isabelle sleeps in her own bed, un-swaddled all night long and takes great naps.
Izzy still loves her "jump-jump"Isabelle's favorite TV show is Bubble Guppies (Yeah, that's a real thing!)
Bellie's favorite toys are: Her blanket frog "Wubba", her pink plush blocks, her link toys, and her "lamby pie"Izzy is crazy about grabbing her toes!!!Isabelle is only 6 months old and has been to movies and stage plays. She has gone to Wheeler Farm, the South Jordan pool, the mall, the park, and the hair salon! She's even been to Idaho! She's held hands with a younger man and been kissed more time than I can count! She's quite the lucky young lady.

Oh, how I love this little girl. There is so much life has in store for her. So much I want to show her and teach her and FEED her! She is truly the light of my life! I'm so blessed to be home with her so that we can make memories every day! I treasure all of the moments with her, the happy and the sad and cannot wait for all of the tomorrows I'll have with her.And so, to my sweet Tiny, a very very happy half birthday! Let's celebrate with lots of hugs and kisses....and Mexican food with Aunt Sunny!

Our new edition!

Okay, I haven't written forever, things have been crazy!! Before anything else I need to introduce you to the newest member of our family. This is ta Tanka, our 185 lb Newfoundland. We saved him from sudden death! Okay, maybe it wasn't that dramatic, but we did give him a very impromptu loving home that no one in Idaho seemed to be able to offer. He's a big sweetie and we love him so much! Unfortunately, he brought to our attention just how much our lifestyle had changed. We need a dog that's friendly with people AND other dogs...which our sweet Hilo wasn't, so, we had to part with her. :-(She was such a ridiculous girl and we really did love her, but we could no longer have a dog that was as possessive as she was. We need to be able to take our dog for walks, leave him at day care, not worry that he'll get in a fight with Snoopy, or ever hurt the baby. None of those things were really possible with Hilo. We were sad to say goodbye but we found her a wonderful home!! They're taking great care of her and spoiling her rotten! They love her, she's a perfect fit for their family!
So...there was a huge snowstorm the other day...yeah, its the middle of April and there was a massive snowstorm!!! Oh, Utah! I was so sad that we hadn't gotten any pictures of Tiny's first winter and, thanks to the April snow, we have some now! And THIS one is one of my favorite pictures of ALL TIME!!! Oh my gosh, I love this little girl! She gets bigger and smarter everyday which makes me very happy and a little bit sad. She even rolled over from her back to her tummy the other day! I thought she was never going to do it! :-) I was so so proud of her!
Isabelle loves eating! She really does! I've never seen a kid down their food in such a short time. She's very adventurous at trying new food, which mommy is very happy about. In her short 8 weeks of eating solid foods she's already tried a lot of stuff! She's had apples, bananas, oatmeal, peaches, pears, prunes, squash, rice crackers, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, and carrots of the baby food variety. She's also had quite a few tastes of grown up foods...cuz I'm a bad mommy. ;-) She's had crackers, ice cream, french bread, strawberry compote, garlic cheese biscuits from Red Lobster, crepes, key lime yogurt, Milano cookies, whipped cream, and pickles....she LOVES pickles!! On top of that, we've dipped her binky in just about everything we've ever eaten! She's particularly fond a delicious lemon sauce that comes over shrimp at Chin Wah and pesto sauce. HA! Oh how people are going to judge me now!! But what can you do, I love food and she loves food so...we eat food!! :-)Speaking of food, I'm going to FINALLY start making Tiny's meals this coming week. My Baby Bullet arrived (after a lot of waiting and frustration) and I couldn't be more excited! We also received our "Food Lovers Diet" package in the mail. Eric and I are really excited about starting this program! Now, I am NOT a dieter! I think diets are stupid and don't work and quite frankly, I don't have the willpower to stick with one. But this program seemed different enough that Eric and I were willing to give it a shot. There's no calorie counting or membership fees or food that has to be shipped to you. Basically the whole program is just teaching you how to eat the foods you like in the right portions and combinations that your body is always in a "fat burning mode" rather than a "fat storing mode". There were 2 things that sold us on this program. 1.) NEVER having to give up foods that we love or eat foods that we hate and 2.) Because there's no counting or prepackaged food, we can cook and eat like normal people. That means we can maintain this forever and Isabelle can grow up learning about healthy eating habits instead of watching mommy and daddy dieting (which is basically just teaching her what to do if she gets too fat.) Anyways, I'll keep you posted on our progress and all of that once we actually start...which will be tomorrow!
I leave you with this picture of Tiny the day we took her swimming for the first time...which she loved by the way! I'm so lucky to have her!