It's been a while!

Woah, long time no write...We've been busy little bees lately! Ross' mum and Martin were here for a few weeks, which was wonderful and then we went up to Iowa to help with harvest and to hang out. I got the chance to finish a quilt I made for Ross' gran who made us so many pretty little knitted things. I hope she loves it, it was my first real quilt experience even though technically it was "tied" and not quilted necessarily. Baby steps...

Speaking of baby steps, it's less than a week until I go back to work. It's been a long and a short three months. First, if you consider the state of the economy, it has been absolutely frightening to not be working during this whole credit crisis. I was afraid we'd need a bailout!! Unfortunately for us, since daddy Ross is a permanent resident, we could never take unemployment benefits because we are not allowed to be "a charge on the state" as long as he's here with us. Unless be became a citizen, which is not going to happen. We hope to give Isla as many opportunities as possible in the future and if Ross stays a British citizen, she could choose to be one someday and get to work in Canada, New Zealand, Australia or England someday without a visa. Or she could get dual-citizenship, which would be so cool!

Secondly, it's been so fast. I've enjoyed getting to know this new little person so much that I have no idea what we did with our lives before she was here. I feel like my life was a very lonely one in some ways but I am also very glad that Ross and I had nearly three whole years to share together before adding more to the family. It was so right. But it will be a hard, hard week next week when she goes to daycare all alone. There is some solace in knowing that Ross will literally be five minutes away as she'll be in the Citibank daycare center. And we met with her teachers today and I feel so much more comfortable taking her there. I'm excited to see everyone at work, it's been so long since I last saw them! Can't wait to catch up on all the goings-ons!!

My mom always said that life is a balance between holding on and letting go and I think she's so right. I'll pick my battles and let her go. It will be so good for her to get out and meet other kids and folks. She's just too wonderful not to share with the world. But I will miss her desperately.

Ross will go back to work on Nov. 10th so we have well over a week to get her used to the bottle. I think it's harder for me than it is for her because it is such a special experience. And I can't help but feel absolutely wonderful that she's in the 97th percentile for length (24.5 inches - that's 4.5 inches in less than three months!) and 95th percentile in weight (13lbs, up from 8 at birth!) but no worries, folks, she's not one of those obese kids, haha! That's some super boob juice, and I'll leave it at that.

Well I'm off to finish watching "A Hard Day's Night", probably one of the worst movies I've ever seen but I love the Beatles! And they're pretty goofy and cute too. If you're into modernizing them, see "Across the Universe", it's great, and I was even more excited about it when I remembered that our friend, Sellus, gave us that DVD for our baby shower. Apparently he knew just how boring daytime TV would be. But I didn't have to go through it so much with Tivo, yay!

Jeez, did I say I was getting off of here? Oh well, here's an extra long post for making up for almost a month of no word at all.

So for photos, there's one of Isla with a scaredy-face - we dropped off H & M at the airport and she was scared at the tunnel lights, just precious!

And there's some beautiful farmland on the way up I-29 near Nebraska and Denison, IA.

And one of Isla and her favorite cousin, Calista, who managed to feed her a bottle - she's such a good little helper!

Then Isla on her little red phone (that her great-great grandma Pearl would just love - she always wanted a red phone :)

And lastly, one taken just minutes ago of Isla and her daddy sleeping on the floor...laying in exactly the same position! They are so much alike it's uncanny. But she's momma's little girl too. I love her so much it hurts!

Daddy's big chair

Sitting in Daddy's big chair is a major honor around our house. You get prime sight of the big tv and you can just spin around and run into the kitchen or bathroom if you need. And Isla, while she's taken over the rest of our lives, has also taken over the big chair. At least in these photos! What a happy little girl. Daddy's little girl, obviously!

A warning...

Just a warning for anyone wanting to come visit - you might be put to work! Haha, but ooonly if you want to help out. All of it is men's work, like...painting the deck and the patio. Personally, I've never heard of painting a patio but heck, it sure looks nice. The next job will be finishing the basement, yay! Now that all of the indoor painting is done (I'll post those later when we're done decorating - funding has been cut for that since the little one arrived!), only the big things are left.

Such is life - or homeownership. I have to admit that it's much less boring owning a home than renting, and much more interesting! Like...buying curtains for the kitchen. We trekked all over the KC metro area to find just the right ones. And when we did find them, they didn't have enough of them. So it was off to Overland Park (KS). Where Helen and Martin had the pleasure of meeting the meanest people they've ever encountered. We won't be back to the OP, KS JC Penney's EVER.

Oh, and here's another photo of Isla on another walk. She loves her stroller, aww...

Birthday week!

It's been a great week - full of birthdays (mine was Wed, Ross' is Saturday, 3-year anniversary is next Monday...and H & M are here!) and all kinds of fun...Here's a bunch of photos of going out to dinner, hanging out at the house and Isla in her new snowsuit! She's a bit small for it yet but come November, she'll be 3 months and this thing should last until almost spring, hopefully!

Trip to the Zoo

Isla had her first trip to the zoo on Tuesday... and the disc in the video camera crapped out, so no fun videos, but there's some good photos of beforehand, with Grandma Helen and Isla!

The hippos were the coolest, because they know their names and when Ross yelled, "Hey Liberty and Labor Day!" they came right over thinking they were going to get a watermelon...when they didn't get anything, they went right back underwater... We only saw the Africa section, so we may have to go back before long, but hopefully Isla will be awake through it this time!

First Neighborhood Walk

We went on our first walk! Not technically the fiiirst because that would be the zoo yesterday - I'll post those photos later, they're on the old camera...

We went all around the neighborhood and Isla was so excited and happy to be out - didn't fall asleep once. We love that she's getting a bit older and staying awake a bit longer during the day. Not quite rolling over yet and all that but it all comes in time, ay!?