Almost 6 months

At 6 months, Isabella continues to be the source of continual joy for our household.
Some things that started the week before Christmas,
Sat unassisted for 30 sec or so 12/19/10

5 months old

At 5 months, Isabella is a joy.

When she smiles, she ducks her head shyly.
When she smiles, her whole face lights up and her eyes shine.
When she complains, she changes the tone of her coo.
She rarely cries.
She has great head control.
She still hates tummy time, but can raise her head feet and trunk.
She loved eating her dresses this month.
She loves spoons the past couple of weeks.
She loves the measuring spoons and her links.
She does crunches when lying down or back.
She laughs often.
She loves her bath.

5 months old

At 5 months, Isabella is a joy.
She loves to talk and play.
She still doesn't really like tummy time, but will tolerate it for a little while.
She had her first ear infection.
She had her first Thanksgivng and despite being sick, enjoyed all the activity and people. She especially enjoyed Keely, Krisenda and Kelly.
She has great head control and is very strong
She likes to stand in your lap
She hates to sit back and does crunches when leaned back or lying down.
She is nursing pretty well and often can just nurse and go an hour or two after.

Isabella's hand eye coordination is really taking off. She has been holding fingers and her clothes  and blankets for over a month now, but the past couple of weeks, she has held spoons and rattles and rings, etc.Week before last, I gave her a little spoon to hold while Rachel and I were in the kitchen and she loved it. She put it in her mouth and held it for a long time. Last week I gave her the measuring spoons and she loved them. We went to China palace on Monday or Tuesday and she played with a spoon the whole time we ate.

Isabella was diagnosed with her first ear infection on last Thursday, December 3rd. Lee looked at her Thanksgiving Day, but I think she had it then even though he said she was OK. She has been pretty miserable for a while. She started feeling better on Sunday. She is eating better and much happier. It was a long haul. She started feeling bad on Monday or Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I wish I had gotten her rechecked earlier.
Last night she was about to jump out of the tub she was kicking so hard and having soo much fun.
She goes for her well baby check today.

Tummy

Isabella hates tiummy time. I began to wonder if she would ever stay happily on her stomach so she could learn to crawl and roll over. Today, she played on her tummy for 5 minutes and was pretty happ y. Somehow, her muscles for this have gotten stronger anyways as she has gotten older. When I put her on her tummy today with a neck pillow for support and her piggy rattle and rings for toys to reach for, she was happy for about 5 minutes. Then she layed on Rachel's legs for several minutes, too. Go Isabella, I hear  youhave some catching up to do.

Thanksgiving

Isabella had her first cold the week before and during the Thanksgiving holiday. She did pretty well with it at first, but had a really hard time over the holiday. She got so stopped up some days that she couldn't eat, breathe,  nurse, or sleep. She was really having a hard time.
On a brighter note, that was mainly during the evenings except for Thanksgiving Day itself, that day she felt bad all day.
Brenda's son Greg, his wife, Kelly, and daughters, Keely and Krisenda, came for the holidays. We enjoyed them sooooo much. Isabella adored the girls and Kelly. Kelly was great with her and helped me a lot. The girls were great with her too and helped me a lot, too. Keely spent my birthday with me and Isabella the day after Thanksgiving. We played cards and took care of the baby. She picked out outfits for the next couple of days and pajamas for the evening. Isabella loved her. She got Isabella to sleep when she was fussy and I needed to get a shower and get ready to go to Beth's for a birthday dinner.That night, Isabella sat at the table in Keely's lap or Krisenda and loved watching them play cards. She stared at the cards and was happy being in the middle of the action.
I counted my blessings for the year on Thanksgiving Day. It was a bang up year. God gave us Brenda and her family, Bryan, Sydney Grace and Isabella. I am overwhelmed with the blessing of it.
William once again spent Thanksgiving playing with LJ, Caleb and Sarah Elizabeth. He horses around with them every year and they love it.
Isabella was laughing last night at David on the changing table when he made funny noises at her. Her cold is better, but I am not sure she doesn't have a secondary infection. It has been 12 days and she still has some congestion and is still pulling off her bottle and breast sometimes. Lee looked at her Thanksgiving Day for me and she was still OK then, but if she has anymore problems today, I am going to take her again.

Isabella is really coming along. She loves to watch her feet. She can't stand to lie back. When you lie her back, she does crunches trying to sit up. And as soon as she is sitting, she tries to stand up. She won't sit down. She loves to cruise the house with you and will sit and watch any activity you are doing. I just describe what I am doing to her and tell her what everything is. We went to a barn yesterday. She enjoyed seeing the horses, dogs, cats, and the barn. We talked about the sounds everything makes. Day before yesterday, we cruised around town. We went to see Gina and Carma and she went for her first visit to Daddy's office. This past weekend she and I spent the weekend together. Everyone else was in Batesville. I enjoyed having her to myself. There was very little time to bathe or eat, but it was nice to have an excuse to play with her instead of handing her to someone else to play with while I tried to get something done. I think she realized how much I like her. She has been much more secure and grinny since then. For weeks she has calmed when I pick her up and  prefers me when she needs comfort, but this week she is grinning at me the most. I love her grins. She grins all the time now.
She was on the back porch with Blaze, William, Rachel, Grant and Morgan today. She was out there for a long time with them on the swing. She acted like she was a big girl.
David had her on the changing table and put her clothes over her face. He said, "Where's Isabella? There she is!" and she grinned big everytime.
She was adorable in her little bouncy seat today. She was batting at her toys vigorously and would kick her feet at the same time and grin. William got a little video, I think.