Happy Father's Day!

Every morning, Daddy and Isabel share a banana. It has gotten to the point where she has begun to expect it and will sit on the bench next to him. Its a sweet morning tradition!  Happy Father's day everybody!

Latest Pictures

Grandparents galore this month! Take a look at what Isabel has been up to!

Big girl!

This is the first blog from the cell phone! If it works out ok we will hopefully see more updates...

Isabel is getting so big and has started walking. We wanted her to be able to have a table she could stand next to and play on, so we went to Ikea and found a set with matching chairs. Next thing we knew, she was actually sitting in one of the chairs like she has been doing it her whole life! We have to keep an eye on her as she has also discovered that she can move the chair and stand on it to reach things!

Happy Birthday!

Has it really been a year? While there were some nights that felt like they would never end, time seems to have flown by!

Shortly after Christmas we hit another milestone. Isabel is starting to use eating utensils!!! She hasn't quite gotten the hang of them yet and more food ends up on the tray and down her chin, but we are sure she will improve!

In January we took our first airplane ride to Kentucky where we celebrated Christmas with the Junker side of the family

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Junker's house playing with her cousins. Mom gets a hug! Does daddy know you have his Ipod?
Memaw sent a fun birthday present!

It wasn't long before she got the form down... look at that arm

posture! Happy baby!

Isabel in her birthday dress just before her birthday party.

For some reason, the balloon was much more fun than opening her presents...
Monkey cake that daddy picked out!

Blowing out the candle with Memaw on the phone

The aftermath...

Christmas Time is Here...

Christmas time is upon us and we are very excited to celebrate Isabel's first Christmas! We had to put the presents up a little higher as she likes to eat the paper, but she has been leaving the tree alone. Tim got the lights put up on the outside of the house last week. This is the first year we have had Christmas lights. Hopefully we will be able to spend a little each year until we have a respectable light inventory! Right now it's just blue lights around the front of the house.

Her first visit to Santa went very well. She did not cry at all and appeared very facinated by him! Maybe he will bring her something special for being so good!

Cat Wars

There is something to be said for forbidden territory. That tantalizing object you are not allowed to hold. The litter box with all of its hidden treasures just waiting to be explored. Since discovering her new found mobility, Isabel is lamenting the new philosophy her parents have adopted, boundaries.

Yes folks, Isabel is learning the word "no" and is not pleased. The cat is thankful though as she can always count on the privacy of her litter box when all else has fallen to the conquering sticky hands of Isabel Marie.


We often look to the blankets, laid on opposite ends of the living room to signify feline vs infant territory, to find Isabel sitting on Pele's mats and Pele sitting on Isabel's blanket! Whether one does it to annoy the other, I know not, but both are waged in a war of the border lines. Pele usually strikes first by laying a fine layer of kitty litter, like a minefield, across where Isabel plays. Isabel responds by stealthily sneaking up on the cat ready to squish her in the biggest gooiest hug ever. Luckily for Pele, Isabel is usually foiled with choruses of Mom and Dad yelling, "Isabel NO!" And running, panicked, to pull the infant to safety. Of course Pele's plans are foiled when Mom runs the vacuum, picking up the litter/mines, and freaking the cat out in the process.

So happy 8th month, Isabel, and here is to a harmonious one!

Sense of Humor

The weeks have simply flown by and her personality is becoming more distinct. We began a new tradition on our recent vacation to Birmingham, which is a new toy to commemorate the trip. We took her to Toys R Us for the very first time and she had a blast! One of the best parts was her reaction to a remote control Big Foot doll. Of course it was too expensive for us to consider, but we enjoyed watching her reaction to it.

She laughs more now and finds oddest things hilarious. We will sometimes just hear her break out into peals of laughter over the silliest things, like faces or sounds.

This week has also been a week of more firsts. I was on the phone with my mom when Isabel suddenly crawled across the room! She is crawling now!!! Then, a few days later, a pearly white tooth was spotted! Her lower right incisor came in. It is being closely followed by the left, which should be here soon...

I will try to get the crawling video posted soon!