Izzie B's Baptism

Last Sunday, we had Izzie B baptized in my childhood church back home in Pittsburgh.  We were excited for her to become a member of the church, surrounded by friends and family.  She wore the same baptismal gown that both me and my mom had worn before her, making her the third generation to wear it.  Believe it or not, she was swimming in it at three and a half months old, when my mom and I both wore it at six weeks old and it fit.

She fell asleep on the way to the church and we had to wake her up when the ceremony began.  She was cooing through the whole thing.  She's our high maintenance baby and was a perfect angel, whereas Brady was our easy baby and screamed during his whole baptism.

She has had four baths since then and still smells of the oil that was placed on her head.

Her mouth is wide open, talking to everyone.

With her godparents (from left to right), Uncle Patrick, Aunt Leecie, and Aunt Dunny.

With Nana and Dubby.

With Pap and Lori.

A family picture.  Brady was not very cooperative and all Izzie could do was look at him.

Brady was baptized in the same exact church by the same priest, exactly three years and one month earlier.

Summer Portraits 2013 - Brady

Now that Brady's older and not changing as much, he only gets solo portraits twice a year, in the summer and at Christmas.  We usually do family portraits in late-summer or early-fall, so technically he gets his picture taken three times a year.  The last year has been full of ups and downs when it comes to taking his picture.  A year ago was a total disaster and Christmas was full of fake smiles.  I've been practicing with him the past few days and hoping for the best.  Good news was that he nailed it!

Three Month Portraits - Izzie B

Now that Izzie is three months old, it was time to take her for portraits again.  I live for pictures, so I almost count down the time until the next set of portraits.  I also pick out clothing for them way ahead of time.  I've already got the outfits for Izzie's next five sets of portraits (through next summer).  It's so hard to narrow it down to two outfits for each session since she looks great in so many colors and has so many adorable outfits.

She kept pulling her dress up.  We'll have to keep an eye on that during the teenage years ;)

This one was to match the set of 3/6/9 portraits that we have for Brady.

Outfit change!

She started to get fussy at this point and it was hard to get her to stop crying long enough to snap pictures.

Brady got in on the act at the end.  He also had his summer portraits taken at the same time.

Three Months Old - Izzie B

Our big girl is three months old today!  The time is flying and we are trying hard to soak up every moment while she's still little.  With Brady around, we are faced with the reality of how quickly they grow each and every day.  Her sleep was doing great at 8-9 hours each night until about a week ago, but we hope it goes back to normal soon.  She consistently has one long nap each afternoon (usually coinciding with Brady's) and has started taking them upstairs.  Just this past weekend we moved her into her own room and we are working on getting her to sleep longer stretches in her crib.  She can still eat like a champ, but is still refusing to take a bottle.

We are in the middle of the Stanley Cup playoffs and Izzie is doing her part cheering on the Pens.  She's seen above with Andy Panda which I'd gotten for Andy at Build-A-Bear when we were first dating.

Tummy time is getting better and better each day.  I even managed to coax a smile out her even while holding the camera (usually she stares at the camera).

Brady is always involved with his baby sister.

We also broke out the bumbo which she also likes. 

Brady is still the best big brother.

This outfit was given to us by Andy's coworkers and it was so funny when I laid her down the first time while wearing it.  It was the exact same shade of pink and the polka dots were almost the same size.  I called it the disappearing baby.

She's always so bright eyed and watches everything around her.  This shot you can see that her eyes are still blue and we think they'll stay that way as Brady's were already brown at this age.  We now know I carry a blue-eyed gene and now have a 50/50 chance of either blue or brown-eyed children.

One of the biggest things this month was that Izzie got her ears pierced.  She was a champ about it and cried much less than when she got her shots.  They are light pink, but it's hard to tell in pictures.

She's gotten so big so fast and when the weather started getting warmer on a more consistent basis, I decided to wash a few of her 3-6 month clothes.  I was shocked when she fit in them!  She's still in size 1 diapers, but when our box runs out, we may move her up a size if they fit.  So now we have officially moved into all clothes that are 3-6 months.  In my mind, it's now a game of beat the clock before she outgrows them too.  I live for summer, so of course I'm in love with every outfit she has for summer.

She's found her hands in the last month and knows how to use them.  Her favorite thing to do is lift up her shirt.  She also loves to pet her own hair, which is hilarious to watch.

She's still trying very hard to sit up on her own.  I lay her in the boppy and she gets to this point all by herself.

Her fists are clenched with her effort to stay up.

She gets frustrated when she gets tired and needs to take a break.

This week the pool opened so I took the kids twice.

Brady was so sweet giving her "piggy" rides.  I would place her on his back and he'd swim around while I held her in place.  He really is the sweetest big brother and I have hopes that they'll stay close as they grow older.

Izzie won't have official weigh-in until next month at her next doctor's appointment, but I weighed myself and then her to get a rough idea of what she weighs at three months old.  I was taken aback when she was just shy of 14lbs!  No wonder the 3-6 clothes fit her well (meant for babies between 12.5lbs and 16.5lbs).  Brady was just over 14lbs at four months, so it looks like she might start to break away from his growth pattern.

This is one of her many adorable summer outfits.  The colors for summer work so well on her.

Her hands are constantly in her mouth.  Many nights she wants to use nursing as a pacifier and wakes up if I pull her off.  I never thought I'd say that I wish she'd figure out how to suck her thumb so she could soothe herself.

The last three months.  She's definitely getting chubbier!