Photo Shoot

Before leaving for our vacation, we had a family photo shoot with Catherine Gikas.  Catherine is the one who took Jackson's beautiful newborn photos when he was 4 days old.  We also get our organic produce from Catherine every other week (she runs a co-op).  So we were excited to see what would come from our photo shoot.  Before leaving on our vacation she sent us a few teasers:

And after we got back, she had our gallery set up.  To see more of the awesome pictures Catherine took of our family, go to www.catherinegikas.com, click on "Proofing" then type in the password "Abla". Make sure you use a capitol 'A'. 

Cherry Picking

Back in June we went with our MOMS club group to Sun Berry Orchard & picked lots of sweet cherries and some strawberries. We had lots of fun & enjoyed the yummy fruit! We're looking forward to going out there again in the future!

Isabella's 4 year old hair cut

Isabella got her hair cut at the end of June (on the same day as Jackson) for what is becomming her yearly hair cut before her birthday. She started out saying she wanted short hair like Daddy's (that is really short!) a few weeks prior to going for the hair cut. She said she wanted it this short so that it would not bother her. We basically told her she couldn't but also tried to convince her she really didn't want it this short (ppl would think she is a boy, she couldn't wear clips, etc). It wasn't until the very day we were going to go get it cut that she did actually change her mind. I finally said to her that if she wanted to have her hair like Daddy's, I could just do it at home w/ daddy's clippers & she wouldn't even need to go see Tina (our hair stylist) b/c that was something I could do! "But I want to go to Tina!" she said. So I told her she'd have to get it cut in a style & not cut all the way off if she wanted to go see Tina & she said okay. So while waiting for our turn at the hair salon, we went through a magazine & she picked out a short hair style that angled in the front. After Tina was done cutting her hair we all knew that it was the right cut for Isabella. Even Isabella was beaming! I am happy to report that Isabella has not had near the issues with it getting in her face as she did w/ longer hair, even though we can't get it into a pony tail at this legnth!

Swim Lessons, session 1

Isabella took swim lessons from Miss Jennifer in June. She retook the level 1 class she took last year & continued to improve this year. She was able to float a few seconds on her own, keep her face in the water a few seconds while blowing bubbles, & she can now reach to the bottom of the pool on the shallow end & enjoyed tip-toeing around (top middle picture). We've gotten in some pool time since the end of her class & Isabella now can jump into the pool into your arms w/o having to hold on to your hand! We go back next week for another session, this time in the level 2 class. We're excited to see what Isabella learns next!

Happy Father's Day!

For father's day we went out to eat the night before & had a nice dinner. Isabella got to try a bubble slush (with the boba pearls... if you don't know what this is, think large tapioca pearls that are blackish). She liked it (but had her fill by the end!) & we actually liked it too (we sampled hers). For the actual father's day we had a nice relaxing day at home. I think Mike enjoyed his day. :)

Baby Caitlin is here!

My sister Jennifer had her little baby girl, Caitlin, on June 12th and here are our pictures from our visit to the hospital. She's a cute little girl and we all enjoyed getting to meet her. Isabella really liked getting to hold her and Jackson just loved seeing her. He is really into babies and will screetch with excitement when he sees one up close. Welcome baby Caitlin (a little over a month late!).

Hair Clip Holder Project

I've been wanting to do something for Isabella's hair clips to keep them more organized. I once bought a container w/ separate compartments & tried to organize that way but she had too many for the container & they never seemed to make it back into the container after she wore them. I saw a giddy giddy hair clip holder (see the one labeled cameo) that I really liked & wanted to do something similar.

Here is our hair drawer with everything just thrown in.

The photo I took of Isabella for the profile image.

Here is her profile blacked out. My brother-in-law, Miguel, was kind & savy enough w/ photoshop to figure out how to make her picture black like this so I could cut it out easier to trace on the peice of wood I had painted pink. After I traced it on the board, I painted it dark brown. I then attached the pink polka dot ribbons.

Finished project on Isabella's wall.

Clips on the holder (they all fit but will have to squeeze together b/c we have more on the way!)

Our hair drawer is so much better now!

4th of July

We had intended to go see fireworks this year (Isabella has never been) but it rained too much & we didn't want to deal w/ possible mud & wet grass. We stayed at home & had a nice relaxing day here. We had Isabella & Jackson's favorite for dinner- corn on the cob. Yum!

Jackson is 14.5 months

Okay, I'm not good at this blogging/update thing.  It nags at me until I finally sit down to do it & then I'm so behind!  

Jackson turned 14 months on June 30th so he's a little over 14.5 months now.  He is growing so fast, developing like crazy, & is so fun to have around!  Since our last update he has started walking!!!  I'd say it happened right around the 14 month mark.  We knew he could do it, he just had to gain the confidence!  He started walking when we'd stand him up but then crawling when he fell.  Then he slowly evolved to where he is now where he can stand up on his own with out using furniture & he gets back up after falling rather than crawling.  It's still surprises me sometimes when I look over & see him toddling around.  He still seems so little sometimes. :)

Jackson has also started talking a lot more.  Some of the words he is saying now are dog, bear, deer, moose, balloon, daddy... I'm sure there are more, they are just hard to keep track of!

He also continues to amaze us with all his motor abilities.  He attempts to feed himself with a spoon, has taken his pajama bottoms off, can climbe the stairs to the slide in his pool, & loves to get in his big sister's bed!  

We go back & forth between 1 & 2 naps a day... a lot depends on how early he wakes up in the morning!  And speaking of sleep, we're still not sleeping through the night... Jackson usually wakes up around 4ish & then 6ish.  I really need to work on him with this (by not feeding him) but it is just so easy to get him to go back to sleep this way!!!  But I will be happy to have a full nights sleep when it does happen!

We had an unfortunate accident in June when Jackson pulled up to the back of our gas grill & burned his palm & wrist.  They were 2nd degree burns & blistered up horribly.  He was in so much pain & it was such a difficult time. :(  The very next day we were referred by our pediatrition to the wound care clinic at St. Anthony's & they drained his blisters.  We had to keep them bandaged up with ointment on them so that they would not get infected and we had weekly check-ups at the wound care clinic for about 3 weeks.  Then we had one last one 2 weeks out & he was discharged the first week of July.  They have healed up really well with redness only on his wrist.  We are so glad this is behind us!

This is a picture of Jackson after he fell asleep in his highchair after eating lunch.  This has NEVER happened before (with him or Isabella) so it was quite shocking!  Of course I didn't end up getting him to stay asleep to transfer so he was awake another couple hours before he got his real nap. 

 

This is Jackson on the day he turned 14 months... he had just gotten a hair cut.  (Man his hair grows fast!)