Isabella's Birthday Party

We celebrated Isabella's 2nd birthday with friends and family at the Children's Museum of Houston.

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Shelton Family Christmas 2010

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First HAIR Cut

Isabella had her first in October. I took her to my salon, Vanity, and had my stylist cut her hair. She did well for the first 10 minutes and then she tried to take off the smock and said, all done...bye, bye. I tried to shoot some pictures, but Isabella was a bit wiggly. All in all, she did a wonderful job. Thanks Alekandria.

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There's no place like home... at HALLOWEEN

Isabella went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. We went to Jenn and Flav's house first and then to Cary and Allison's. It was quite fun. Isabella is super comfortable with our neighbors, so really the only STRANGE part was that this time they were handing her treats for knocking on the door!

Isabella also humored me and dressed in a rabbit costume that my great-grandmother, Naomi

, made for my cousin over thirty years ago!

She's trying to.... WALK

Please excuse the mom and focus on the adorable almost independently moving baby!

We All Fall Down

Isabella loves her table from Honey and Papa. She especially loves the green door that she can open and close. What Robert and I can't figure out is how she keeps detaching the door from the table. Each time we put it back... the MINUTE we turn our back -- she's figured out how to get it off again! Here's a HILARIOUS video that Robert took. It's a great show of Isabella's new found motion... BUT it's also a great example of how, sometimes, WE ALL FALL DOWN! :)

Pumpkin Patch

Isabella took her first trip to a pumpkin patch!

The United Methodist Church on San Felipe has a great pumpkin patch with lots of things to see and buy. The money made benefits their children and youth ministries... it's a win, win situation.

She is very much into tapping on things these days and loved tapping all the pumpkins. She will be a watermelon picking pro come summer time!

Isabella was amazing to watch. She was so interested in the hay and people (especially kids) walking around looking for the perfect pumpkin.

She turned 7 months on Saturday. She's growing up so fast and learning to do all sorts of new things. On Sunday morning before church, she held her bottle on her own. She's been able to do it each morning since. She is also working hard to crawl. Downstairs she grabs hold of the shag carpet and pulls herself in the direction she wishes to go. On other surfaces she does more of an army crawl. She will push up on her knees and rock back and forth, so who knows.... in time....

She goes back to the doctor next week for her second half of the flu shot and a check-up. I will post some new weight and length stats then!

6 months old

Isabella is now 6 and 1/2 months old... but at our 6 month check up she was measured and weighed for her official stats (as of 10/1/09).

Length: 27 inches (90%)
Weight: 16 pounds 4 ounces (55%)
Head: 43 1/2 centimeters (80%)

Isabella is enjoying solid foods. She and her dad have cereal every morning for breakfast. She's also eating a few fruits: peaches, pears and applesauce.
She's eating vegetables at lunch like like: carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans and peas.
By the end of October, she will be up to three meals a day!

Isabella is super at rolling over. She is also moving backwards. Isabella has super baby arm strength and can push herself backwards all over the place. She especially loves to do 360s.

She is still a super vocal baby and loves to visit most in the mornings. She's starting to actually sound like a babbling baby though she still loves to grunt.

Isabella will put anything and everything into her mouth. We keep thinking she's going to show us a tooth... but as for now it doesn't feel like one will pop up soon.

One of our favorite things is that Isabella is learning to "hug" and "kiss." When she's feeling affectionate she will squeeze our face and then "kiss" which actually looks more like a lick. It's our favorite!

That's a pretty decent update on a pretty fantastic baby!

First Cereal

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5 months old

Can you believe how quickly time has FLOWN by?! Isabella turned 5 months old on the first day of school. So much is going on with Isabella these days...
* She can ALMOST sit up on her own...
* She started teething last week....
* She loves to reach out and grab... ANYTHING!
* She's started getting really snuggly when she is tired....
* She started daycare, She's one of Ana's Little Bears!
Here are a few photos to enjoy. I promise I will be more deliberate about keeping the photos coming.

4 months old

Isabella turned 4 months old on Friday, July 24
When we went to the doctor this week we found out that she continues to be tall like her dad!
She is 14 lbs, 13 oz (75%).
She is 26 and a half inches long (95%).
Dr. Storey told Isabella she has good ears and Isabella just looked at her and grinned.
We are so thankful for a healthy, happy, growing baby!

Made you laugh

On Sunday the 12th after most of our family left.... Isabella had a series of LAUGHS! Robert, Sarah, Ken and I are laughing with her in the background. ENJOY!

Isabella's Baptism

Sunday, July 12 Isabella was baptized at St. Philip Presbyterian Church in Houston, Texas. It was a super special day! We were surrounded by many friends and family. My mom is a Presbyterian minister, so she was able to baptize Isabella with our pastor, Bill. There have been so many times that I have been witness to a baptism and promised to help that child grow to know and love Christ, but being the parent in front of the congregation that day brought about a flood of emotions. I am so glad that we attend such a great church. I know that Bill, Judy and all our St. Philip friends will help Isabella experience the grace and love of Christ. What makes my cup overflow is to know the extended family and church family who will also share in so many meaning-filled experiences with our babe! God is good. Below are some pictures from our celebration.

We live in a wonderful community. We invited many of our neighbors to come and share in the celebration with us and below is a picture of them. We are excited to call them neighbors, but more importantly FRIENDS!Our mom's were over the moon about this day. We are both so fortunate to have mother's who have been rooted in faith.
Mom and Bob were proud of our little Presbyterian. She was so observant through the entire service.

Robert's Dad joined us in celebration as we posed for a Ford family photo.
Some of mom's friends from Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church in Dallas came to worship. Thanks to Sandy and Karen for being part of Isabella's special day!
I had to get a family photo withh my favorite people all dressed up.
Sisters and cousins! Sarah and Ken came in from Memphis and Margaret and Ethan flew in from San Francisco.
I love Ethan. He thinks Isabella is "so cute" I think he is so smart! :)
My Dad and Beckie came from Waco. Isabella was grinning with Pops.
We got a Boggus family photo for my grandma!

Isabella Rolled Over Today!

Isabella had a big day today, she learned to roll over.
We weren't sure if it really happened...so we had her try about three times before we realized she knows what she is doing.
HOWEVER, she won't do it for the camera!
We've been recording all day and she just won't do it while we have the camera in front of her.
This video is of her pushing up and hanging out. She's growing up.... :)