New Friends

Through the wonderful world of blogging and our friends, Jenny and Bekah, Izzie and I made some new friends recently. Mary Pat and her adorable daughter, Evie, just moved here from Houston, and we have already had quite a few play dates. Evie and Izzie get along really well and I know Izzie is loving having a girl friend for a change.

Here they are sharing a treat...

and a hug! (Evie is sooo lovable and sweet!)

And playing a little dress up...

while doing a little bit of posing.

So, thanks to Jenny and Bekah for introducing us to some super sweet girls! We sure are glad to have some great new friends!

Andrew at 5 Months!

My sweet boy is 5 months! And with Andrew turning 5 months, he has also become Mr. Clingy. My baby who I could leave on his own for so long has decided that he really likes his mommy! It's really getting harder to do things around here. And while I love how much he loves me, the child wants to be held ALL the time now! If I lay him on the ground when he doesn't want to be left, he automatically pushes out that bottom lip and gives the most pathetic little cry!

Oh how he loves this monkey man!

Such a kissable face!

This month Andrew has really gotten into his exersaucer and we are having to give up the swing. Although he still really loves the swing, he is just getting too big for it. He keeps trying to sit up so he ends up sideways in the thing (thank goodness for seatbelts!) But he loves the excersaucer and the toys on it. He really interacts with it and plays with everything on it. He finally figured out how to roll from his tummy to his back, but has only done it a few times. It's funny though because he gets into position to roll back over and then he seems to psych himself out and can't figure it out again! Even Isabella tries to help him figure it out. It's pretty weird!

He still loves to eat his feet and now loves pulling his socks off. He has been seriously drooling for about 3 weeks now and everyday I think I will see a little tooth that has poked through, but nothing yet. His eyelashes are getting a bit longer and darker, and so is his hair, believe it or not! His eyes still haven't decided on a color- sometimes they look green, sometime brown. So, we'll see!

Andrew started eating food this month! He has eaten his cereal (loves oatmeal!) and sweet potatoes and carrots. I really feel like the poor kid had just been dying to eat. He would watch me eat, following the food with his eyes. And when I feed him, if I don't go fast enough, he whines and grunts so that I will hurry with the next bite. And of course, if I am not fast enough, the foot or the fist goes in :) And he has been doing this funny humming grunt when he is tired. I remember Izzie doing it too, but she was a little older. Everyone that hears it thinks it's pretty cute ;)


And with the eating, he has been sleeping through the night as well- which has been wonderful! (Except last night was really bad. We're just going to hope that was an off night :)) He still takes a lot of little naps during the day, but I'm hoping he will fall into some sort of schedule soon.

We are so incredibly blessed to have this special, sweet little boy in our lives and I just can't get enough of him :) He truly lights up my life.

Labor Day

We had a Bass family weekend for Labor Day! Joe found a house on Lake LBJ and it was just perfect for what we needed.

The house was off of a channel

There was lots of swimming in the baby pool...

and relaxing outside.

Joe and I got to go on a nice boat ride...

and look what we found :( Ah...memories!
And on our last night we had a chef prepared meal by no other than soon-to-be Uncle Steve! Yup they got engaged! And we are so excited to welcome Steve to the family :)

Here he is, hard at work...

with his sous chef.

Theresa had her friends Erin and Jeff over and Isabella had fun playing with their girls, Kate and Lily. Well, she had fun until she TOTALLY melted. Two days outside with no naps = melting by the end of it all! But Kate and Lily are total sweethearts :)

Joe took them on a nighttime wagon ride with flashlights.

Just having a little sister to brother chat :)

And yes, I was there! See! Unfortunately, it is an awful picture. Isabella bit her tongue :( But hey, at least there is proof that I was there!

Preschool!

Isabella started at her preschool last week! I was so excited to see how she would do after having experienced Mother's Day Out over the summer. If you remember, she cried fir a few minutes everytime I left her at MDO, but I had high hopes that MDO would leave her with an overall positive feeling about going to ''real" school in the fall. And it totally paid off :)



We went to go meet her teachers about two weeks ago. The kids spent about 45 minutes meeting their teachers and exploring their classrooms without mommy. I said goodbye to her, and she kind of reached and called for me for just a second, but the teacher's assistance went right up to her and she was instantly fine. (I love that her classroom has a two-way mirror so that I can go spy whenever I want.) I watched her for a while until I felt like she was good to go. Jack is in her class again, so I know that helps with the comfort level.

Here she is in her official school t-shirt, practicing napping on her nap mat :)

And then last week, she had her first day of school. After going to orientation and learning all of the things that she needed to take with her everyday, I realized that her backpack wasn't big enough. So we headed to the mall to find a preschool backpack only to realize that we were too late! Everyone was sold out; so we headed to the Disney store. She picked a one of a kind princess backpack that I am sure no other little girl at the school has. (Hopefully you are sensing my sarcasm!) But she picked it and was very proud of it and how it matches her lunch box.

So excited about the new "packpack".

It is stuffed full and down to her knees almost!

At this school there is a drop off/pick up line so that mommy doesn't even have to get out of the car :) This mommy LOVES it :) So much easier when you have another child to tote around. As much as I wanted to just do the drop off, I decided that since it was the first day, I would take her in.

Here she is in her classroom, with her teacher, putting her things in the appropriate bins.

I waved goodbye and went to pay tution. When I went back to peak in on her, she was just fine, and has been ever since. I decided that since I wanted to drop her off the next school day, maybe I should pick her up so that she would get an understanding of what was going to happen. She got in the car and was so excited to see me and Andrew, and we both got her classic, "I missed you, Mama! I missed you, Andrew!" So sweet. Every day since, we have done the drop off/pick up line and she does just fine with it- even in the rain!

I thought that preschool was going to be such a challenge, but I am so happy that I was wrong. I anticipated Isabella telling me that she didn't want to go and I really thought she would have a hard time being taken from the car, from me. But, she LOVES going to school. She asks about going all of the time, and she has never told me "no" when I have asked her if she wants to go, instead she tells me that she is excited and I know that she is. I know that this is going to be such a great experience for both of us :) I'm so proud of her.

Joe's First Triathlon

Joe competed in his very first triathlon last Saturday...and we made it to see him finish! Both two major accomplishments ;) But seriously, we were so excited to see Joe cross the finish line, and I could not be more proud of him and all his efforts to get there.

Just waiting for Daddy! (I was wearing Andrew.)

Here he comes!

And there he goes!

Joe, Brad and Matt

And the four of us! Poor Andrew was so tired!

We are so proud of you, Daddy!!