Isabella is 5 months old!

As hard as it is the believe, Isabella was 5 months old on Thursday. She is growing like a little weed! She is rolling from back to front and front to back. Jen said that last night Bella rolled 4 times in a row and almost ended up under the sofa. We watched her for a few hours today and just had the best time with her. She is such a happy baby! She is growing up so fast!

Enjoying the "Jenny Jump Up"

Bella enjoys her new Jenny Jump Up. (The girl ones are Jenny Jump Up and the boy ones are Johnny Jump Up.) She likes being able to touch the floor with her little feet.

MLK holiday - 1/18/2010

The weather was pretty (almost spring-like) and we were off of work due to the MLK holiday. Ray, Jen, Isabella, and I headed out to the zoo in the late morning to enjoy the outdoors. Bella was uncharacteristically cranky just before we arrived at the zoo. We found out just why once we arrived. She had experienced a MAJOR blow out! After a change of outfit, we were off to enjoy the animals and people at the zoo. Bella is quite the people watcher! Unfortunately, we didn't realize that we had forgotten the camera in the car until we were through the gate at the zoo and we were parked in the "back 40". Hopefully, we will get pictures next time.

A trip to Edventure museum

Jen and Tim took Isabella for a fun-filled trip to the Edventure museum which is an interactive kids' museum (part of our State Museum). She had a blast! She was one pooped out little girl by the end of the trip, though.

On behalf of the captain and crew, thanks for sailing with us!

This is your captain speaking....

January 4th, 2010

Ray and I took our "vacation" from work January 1 - 10. We had the good fortune of being able to babysit for Isabella on the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th and 9th for a few hours each day. On the 4th, Bella and Grandpa enjoyed some tummy time on the floor in our den. Other than that, we enjoyed just hanging out together!

We say goodbye to 2009 and welcome 2010!

I feel like we just welcomed in 2009, and here we are already almost a day into 2010. Once again, I have to say that we had a good year all-in-all. In February, we were able to get a glimpse of our little grandbaby via ultrasound (12 weeks gestation). In late March, Cindy and Alex paid us a week long visit during Alex's spring break from school. While the weather didn't necessary cooperate very well, we had a great time visiting with them. All too soon it was time for them to return home. By April, we found out that Jen was carrying a little girl. On Easter Sunday, Jenny and Tim celebrated their first anniversary. Right before Father's Day, Jennifer had a 4-D ultrasound done and we were able to get an even more amazing look at Baby Girl. What a great surprise that was to Tim and the Grandpas for Father's Day. June also brought the first of 3 baby showers; we flew mom in from Wisconsin to attend as a surprise to the girls. I wish that I could have captured forever the look on their faces as one by one they arrived for the shower. It was great! In July, I celebrated my big 5-0. Half a century - yikes! By August, Jen was in the home stretch of her pregnancy with Baby Girl. After 4 1/2 hours of labor (TOTAL), Baby Girl made her debut in the early morning hours of August 21st. Our whole family was able to be present for the birth and it was absolutely awesome. Within minutes of her birth, we were actually able to hold her. Next came a name for Baby Girl - Isabella Marie. Mom came to visit for a week in September and was able to get her snuggles in with the baby. On December 12th, the girls and I all flew to Wisconsin to visit my family and introduce the rest of them to Isabella. We had a really nice time visiting with the group up there. This was Isabella's first Christmas and it was exciting to see her reaction. It has been so much fun watching Bella grow and change over the past 4 months. The adventure continues.....