Baby talk

We are officially in countdown mode until Baby Hoemann arrives! Well maybe ‘we’ is a little strong. I don’t know about Bart, but I am in countdown mode. All of my remaining doctor appointments have been scheduled; the nursery is all set and stocked with diapers; and Isabelle has been busy practicing taking care of her baby brother.

In the nursery

It seems like Isabelle understands that she will soon have a sibling. She talks about her baby brother a lot and gives my belly hugs and kisses several times a day. It will be interesting to see what happens when he arrives though. Will she feel sad that she isn’t the center of attention anymore, or will she be as helpful as she is now? I know there will be at least a little of both, but Isabelle is such a sweet, caring little girl. My guess is that she will love helping out. Heck, she already bosses me around. She’ll be a great big sister.

Practicing changing a diaper - thanks to Steph for the great photo!

 

I didn’t have professional photos taken when I was pregnant with Isabelle, which is something I have regretted. This time around I decided to hire the same photographers that shot our wedding to take maternity and newborn baby photos (once the baby is here). As expected, I was more than pleased with the results. Here are just a few of them.

Showing her belly like mommy.

Professional photos taken by Angela Burke: www.onethousandwordsphotography.com

You can see more photos on our photo website at: http://hoemannfamily.shutterfly.com

No pictures, please

I think Isabelle must be at a challenging age when it comes to taking her picture. Though, even when she was a crawling baby, she would see me with the camera and crawl over as fast as she could, then try to stick her finger on the lens or grab the whole thing from me. I can’t tell you how many videos I have of exactly that scenario. At that age I think she was just fascinated with the camera. That’s why I have so many extreme close-ups or photos that look like this:

These days it doesn’t seem so much that she’s fascinated with the camera, but more like scared of it. If I get a good photo of her these days (not to mention her actually smiling in it), I’m lucky! I’m excited for this phase to end (if it ever will) so I can capture my cute little girl the way I see her most of the day. In the mean time I’ll continue to take her photo for documentation purposes just so she can’t ask me later in life, “How come you never took my picture?”

I tried desperately to get her picture in this cute dress...

...and this was the best smile I could get.

Me: "You look so cute. Smile!"
Isabelle: "NO!"

"If I'm really quiet, maybe she won't know I'm here."

"Are you seriously taking my picture, AGAIN??"

Happy Halloween!

Getting ready for Halloween has been a lot of fun this year. Isabelle is a bit older and has enjoyed things a lot more since she is able to participate.  We took her to a local pumpkin patch to find our pumpkins, then carved them at home later.  I think she wanted to take home every pumpkin because she kept picking them up and putting them in the wheel barrow. We'd secretly remove them when she was looking the other way, finding the next one to pick up.  It was so cute how excited she was and how much fun she had.

The pumpkin patch.

In search of the next great pumpkin!

Carving the pumpkins.

Little monkey - how appropriate!

To the salon we go!

The other day I took Isabelle to get her first professional haircut. I have cut her hair a number of times, but it always ends up lopsided and choppy. I thought I would do the right thing and not torture her any longer. I was a little nervous to take her to a salon because she is pretty shy (painfully so, actually) around strangers. But I read reviews of these places and many parents raved about how scared they were but their children ended up having a blast.

That’s not exactly how it went down for me. Isabelle was terrified of the (very nice!) lady. She didn’t want to sit in the really cool pink car, and even threw herself on the ground face-first, screaming. Now, if that’s not embarrassing for a parent, I don’t know what is. They let me push the appointment back 30 minutes so Isabelle and I could walk around and get used to the place. Even after that, she didn’t want to sit in the little car, so I put her on my lap.Miraculously the lady was able to cut Isabelle’s hair. I think my bribe of getting ice cream afterward helped. I’m not above bribing – whatever it takes!

The haircut turned out super cute. She even styled it with piggies and sparkles. Maybe the next trip will be easier. And maybe next time I’ll make Bart take her.

Aww, cute!

Enjoying her ice cream treat.  Chocolate, of course!

The family garden

One of the things I was really excited about this spring and summer was to have a garden. I also thought it would be a fun learning experience for Isabelle. We started by planting seeds, then transplanting those to large pots on our patio.

Isabelle watering the seedlings - what a helper!

Isabelle helped every step of the way. Her favorite part (other than picking the tomatoes and carrots before they’re ready) is definitely using the hose to water the plants. She asks to do it every day and loves it!

Again with the watering.

We have been able to enjoy zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, tomatoes, kale, lettuce and chard from the garden. I love being able to point to things like carrots on her plate and say “Isabelle, that’s the carrot you just picked outside!”

This carrot was actually ready to be picked...
unlike many others.

Spoken like a true toddler?

Here are a few of the latest funny quotes spoken by Isabelle. Where does she learn this stuff?

We were sitting in a little bit of traffic (on the way to a fun play date) and Isabelle says from the back seat:  “Come on cars, hurry up!"  I can't wait to see what she drives like when she turns 16 - eek!

About a month ago, I hit my toe really hard on something and yelped in pain. She came up behind me, put her arms around me and said “Happy birthday, Mommy!” It wasn’t my birthday (or even close), but it sure made me feel better.

We listen to music and dance frequently. Lately her favorite artist is Lady Gaga. I’m not sure if it’s because her name is easy for Isabelle to say or if she actually likes her music. The other day I asked Isabelle if she wanted to listen to music. Her response: “Yes! How ’bout Poker Face?”  Sigh. What have I gotten myself into?

One night Bart came home from work, saw Isabelle and said, “I like your outfit, Isabelle. It looks really nice.” She says, “Thank you for saying that, Daddy!”  Apparently we're talking in full sentences now.

Seriously. Where does she learn this?

Spring and summer outings

Many of our fun experiences have passed, especially this summer, where I thought the story would be great to share on a family blog – if only I had one. Viola! Needless to say, I have some catching up to do, so some of these events will be out of order and slightly outdated, but at least I have finally captured them!

Michigan
We made a trip to Michigan in May to see our family and celebrate our nephew Matthew’s confirmation. It was an extremely short trip, but it was so nice to see people! Isabelle, being the cousin that lives far away, was a big hit. It seemed there was always a crowd around her.
 

She is usually fairly shy at first, but she warmed up really quickly to her cousins and her precious great Grandma Ev. They enjoyed some quality time together, which was simply adorable.

I captured a few more great moments from the trip and saved the photos on our family photo site here.

Lake Oswego
This year we joined our friends, the O'Connell family, on their annual 4th of July trip to Lake Oswego. We stayed in a beautiful hotel right on the lake - it was perfect!

Super cute family photo

We were able to cook our own food, walk everywhere instead of worrying about driving, swim in the hotel pool while at the same time enjoying the view of the lake, and watch fireworks from our own balcony. It doesn't get any better than that!

Isabelle and Liam on the way to the parade.

The kids enjoying the parade.

More photos from our trip are saved on our family photo site here.

I cracked the code!

For several months Isabelle kept using a phrase nobody could understand. “Ah dah duck”, she would say as if she was asking for something. We would ask her to repeat it over and over. At one point she started saying “Ah dah duck. Show me”, because my response was always “Show me what that is!” I got to the point where I switched to bad parent mode and told her not to say it anymore because I didn’t know what she was saying. Nice.  I couldn’t help it. I was so frustrated!

The other day we were looking through a fabric book of Mother Goose nursery rhymes my Mom bought her at a craft fair, when she said it again. “Wait!” I shouted. I turned to the previous page and asked Isabelle what she was talking about. She pointed to the clock in Hickory Dickory Dock. Ah-ha! I felt this major sense of relief – much like the feeling you get when you finally think of a word or name you can’t remember and it has been bugging you for hours or days to the point where you’re losing sleep. I slept great that night.

Introducing the Hoemann Family Blog

Well, I’m finally doing it.  I’m creating a family blog. I have been reading friend’s family blogs for quite some time and always thought it was such a great way to document the experiences and changes a family goes through as it grows together.  Isabelle is two now and we have baby #2 coming so I figured it was about time!

Yes, I did start a blog for Isabelle when she was younger, but you can see how far I got with that one. Not far! There are things I learned from that experience which I am keeping in mind this time around.  For starters, I really wanted to be clever. Several of my friends have blogs that are so funny and clever that I find myself wanting to read more at the end of every post. For some reason I just can’t be clever in the little bit of unfocused, chaotic time I have during the day. I just have to get over that. Alright fine.

For now this blog is meant to share our lives with family and friends, since there are many we don’t get to see very often. But it’s also a way for me to capture some really awesome moments. Isabelle is the most amazing kid. She has an enormous personality and kindest heart. It has been truly joyful to watch her develop into such a spunky little lady. I want to be able to share these moments with her one day. I will now be able to stop saying to myself, “Wow, I really should be writing this down.”