The Many Faces of Izzie B

Izzie has quite the personality.  She also has quite a temper if things aren't done her way (boy are we in trouble later).  I was taking a few pictures of her sitting up well and in the span of five minutes she showed me so many different faces, I just had to share them.

Izzie B's First 4th of July

Things have been hectic around here, so I'm just getting around to writing about our Fourth of July weekend.  There were some deadlines due to Germany on fifth (remember they're six hours ahead), so the work needed done by the evening of the fourth.  They don't celebrate our Independence Day, so they needed the work regardless of our holiday.  That meant Andy had to work.  He was fortunate enough to be able to work from home and only for about half the day.  Because he had to work on the holiday, he got the following day off, making it a three and a half day weekend. 

 

I had gone to the store the night before and decided to get Brady a special treat for the morning of the Fourth.

 Can you guess what made him smile so big?

His baby sister trying to steal Daddy's milk.  Hilarious I know.  He sure loves that girl and she loves him right back.

Still laughing hysterically.

 Time for some pics of Izzie wearing a first Fourth of July owl sticker.  Seems like all these holidays are close to her monthly birthday so she wears stickers very close together.  Brady loves it as he gets to wear the stickers when she's done.

I love this shot showing off her patriotic flower.

She was making it difficult to see the sticker, so I decided to take it off and put it on the chair instead.

There's a smile!

Passed out.

Since Andy had Friday off, we decided to do something fun with Brady.  We had a ton of leftover tokens from Chuck E Cheese from when we went on his birthday, so we decided to go and spend them.  He was very excited because he talks about going on his birthday every time he sees a commercial.  We had great timing, as we walking in the door Chuck E Cheese himself was coming out.

Every hour, he walks around with a sign for kids to follow him.  They dance, then he throws tickets in the air.  We were there long enough for this to happen twice.

Scrambling for tickets.

After Chuck E Cheese, we went to Brady's favorite place, Menchies, for frozen yogurt.  Unlike, Pittsburgh, the different areas of Detroit do their fireworks over the two weeks leading up to the holiday and there weren't really any on the Fourth.  We watched the ones in NYC on the TV that night.  Saturday, we went to the pool, while Izzie went to the daycare, so we could have some fun with Brady.  We take Izzie from time to time, but she's so fair, we don't want her out in the sun every time we go.  Sunday, Andy and I went to the gym while the kids went to the daycare.  We had a really fun weekend together.

Four Months Old - Izzie B

Holy cow! Izzie B is four months old already!  It's easily been our busiest month since she's been alive.  There has been lots of travel and lots of firsts for both kids.  Unfortunately, the day after Izzie hit three months old, we lost the kids' great-great Uncle Ted Trap and also his daughter, their cousin Mary Ann, on the very same day.  It brought great sadness to us and led to an unexpected trip home to Pittsburgh.  The kids attended their first funeral (something I didn't experience until I was 20).  I was very nervous how they'd both do in church.  It's almost like they sensed the gravity and sadness of the day and both of them were quiet during the whole church service. 

 

 Both Uncle Ted and Mary Ann were buried at the same cemetery as Andy's Trapuzzano grandparents and also his mom.  We haven't been their in many years and the kids have never been, so this was their first time visiting their Grandma Betsy, whom Izzie is named after.

Both of our red-headed Betsy's.

We had planned to come home the next two consecutive weekends for Izzie's baptism and a family wedding (making it three consecutive weekends with the funeral), so the kids and I stayed in Pittsburgh to spare the kids the constant travel.  Andy went back to Michigan for the week to work.  The kids and I had a fun time with my parents.  We had a nice day and took the kids to the wave pool, where Brady had been only once before and Izzie had never been.

The wave pool isn't heated, so Izzie wasn't loving the cold water.  She much prefers our heated outdoor pool at our gym.

We went to the Greek food festival one night and ran into our friends the Farleys and the Bauers.  Brady was reunited with his "girlfriend" Brooklyn. Also pictured are her cousin, Liam, and brother, Nico.

Brady can never resist the rides.

After Izzie's baptism, Andy, Izzie, and I drove home to Michigan for the week, before coming back to Pittsburgh for a wedding.  We had planned months ago for Brady to stay behind with my parents that week, so he stayed and had some quality time with them.  That meant I had Izzie all to myself for a full five days.  I was reminded what it was like in the days when Brady was a baby.  Believe it or not, I had more freedom.  I could go to the store in the middle of the afternoon (something I can't do because Brady naps the majority of the afternoon).  I was able to go shopping and to the mall without screaming when it was time to go.  I love Brady, but sometimes I think we spend too much time together and we both benefited from the break.  Izzie also got some much needed alone time with mommy.  We decided to break out the exersaucer (which we call the jump-jump).  Brady was four months when he first got into it and he wasn't really ready.  At three and a half months, Izzie was all over it.  She was ready to play and still loves it (for only 15-20 minutes at a time, but that's way better than I get with the swing).

We joked that Izzie needed the peace and quiet to achieve the milestones she did that week.  She rolled from front to back and back to front that week for the first time!  She was a few weeks behind Brady when it comes to front to back, but beat him out by six weeks in the roll from back to front.  Like, Brady, she does it in her crib, and was freaked out a bit (especially since she was swaddled the first time it happened).  She now sleeps unswaddled and immediately rolls onto her tummy when placed in bed.  She prefers to sleep on her tummy now and sleeps much longer like that in her crib.

 I was a big Little Mermaid fan when I was a little girl (as I was 3 when the movie first came out).  Izzie is my real life Ariel and I can't resist buying redheaded mermaid clothes.  I was even Ariel for Halloween when I was four (hint, hint).

Taking pictures of her in Brady's arm chair is getting more difficult as she's getting more and more control of her body.  She sits forward immediately and I have to make sure she doesn't fall off.

Izzie pictured above attending her first wedding with her Aunt Kat and Uncle Chris Trap.

 This was also the first wedding Brady had ever attended and is hanging out wearing Buks's tie.

Izzie has been joining in on the fun in the basement playroom with Andy and Brady.  Andy loves to put her on Brady's toys.  Brady doesn't mind at all.

She loves this piano which Brady got for his first Christmas (10 months old).  It's so nice having all the baby toys already.

Brady is quite the chef in his toy kitchen.  He's always bringing plate of "lunch" or "dinner" for me and Andy, so he decided to give some "food" to Izzie too.  She was fond of the pizza.

Like her mommy, she can't so no to the bread ;)

Every time Andy changes her diaper, he remarks about how long she is.  He kept saying that the doctor was going to say they've never seen a baby grow so much in length.  She's also quite the chunker.  She fits into all her 3-6 month clothes and is in size 2 diapers now.  We've been to the pool a few times and I'm having a harder and harder time getting her into her suit, so she may be wearing a 6-9 month suit at the beach in a couple of weeks.  Because Brady was never so chunky, we figured she had to be way heavier than he was at 4 months (14lbs 3oz), especially since we weighed her on our home scale last month at almost 14lbs already.  This morning, I guessed 15lbs and Andy guessed 18lbs.  Until now neither of us had won the weight guessing game.

Her are her official four month stats:

Weight - 14lbs 10oz (75th percentile)
Height - 25.25 inches (75th percentile)


We are now both 0-3 when it comes to guessing her weight.  Who would have thought she only weighs that much?  When it comes to the length, she grew almost three whole inches in the last two months!  She went from the 45th percentile to the 75th!  I guess Andy was right, she did get really long.  She only got one shot today because they ran out of the other one she needed, so we will have to go back next week to get it.  I expected the same reaction as last time, but she whimpered and never cried!  She's changing so much!

A quick snapshot before she started sitting forward, making it hard to see the owl sticker.

He faces are just too much sometimes :)

She's a mover, that's for sure.

I put two different monthly comparison views this time because the side-by-side is a little small (even though you can click on it to make it bigger).  I love her expression in this month's picture.