Sorry for the delay!

I just wanted to take a moment to apologize for my lack of postings! I know I am way behind and I haven't even gotten all of the cute halloween pictures up yet! I have been very very sick for a while now. I thought I just had a cold and I was trying to rest whenever possible. Then I had a very stressful work trip over the weekend. Monday I went to the doctor and they told me I had a bronchial infection and a double ear infection. They put me on antibiotics which I have now completed but I am not feeling much better. Needless to say this has all put a lot of stress on the baby so today I am going into the doctor for a stress test to make sure the baby is handling all of this ok and not in any distress. We're pretty sure it's fine but we want to be on the safe side. I'll post an update after I know something and I'll get the last few postings complete and up as soon as I have more than a minute to spare!!!

Izabel goes to a Babysitter

Today I had to take Izabel to a babysitter outside of our house for the first time! My mom had to have the day off because of my brother and I couldn't find anyone that could come to our house. My friend Ashleigh stays home with her son Braydon so she agreed to keep Izabel. I took Izabel over there Thursday afternoon so she could at least become a little familiar with the place. She had a great time playing with Braydon. This morning I woke her up bright and early and took her over there. She was pretty happy considering it was a lot earlier than she normally wakes up. We got to Ashleigh's and I took her in and then went back to the car to get her bag and car seat. She started crying as soon as I walked out of the door! Then when I gave her a kiss goodbye Ashleigh was holding her and she kept trying to reach for me. We had talked about her staying there and me coming back but I know she didn't understand. Ashleigh did a great job distracting her and I knew she would be well taken care of but it was still really hard. It makes me even more thankful that I have my mom and I haven't had to do that until now!

Richmond

Sunday we went to Richmond to visit with my Aunt and Cousins. We went up there with my Mom and Dad, my other Aunts and my Grandma. It was pretty emotional for all of us because it was the first time we had been up there since my Uncle's funeral. It was especially hard for my Aunt and Cousin because my Dad looks just like my Uncle. While it was hard it was also a lot of fun. Izabel has a 3 and a 1 year old cousin that she got to play with which was a lot of fun for her. They were running around the house and distracting all of us from the sadness in the air. We had a great lunch and spent time catching up and watching the kids play. We had a really nice day and each time we go it will get easier.

Dad and Nephew Nathan
Cousin Amy with Izabel

Cousin Nathan and Izabel playing (I don't know where Cousin Sydney was!)

Halloween Festivities

We were pretty excited to celebrate Halloween with Izabel this year. It's not technically her first one but since she was only about 3 weeks old last year this is the first year we have really been able to do stuff! Sunday night we went to Hallelujah Harvest at church. They have trunk-r-treating, games, great food, a band, and an underwater world to walk through. Izabel had a great time learning how to trunk-r-treat. We got to see lots of friends and we had a great time.

After getting so excited for all the candy (that I didn't let her eat) I knew she would be excited to go trick-or-treating! We decided we would go to Noah's Aunt's court, my mom's court and to visit my grandma. We also stopped by our neighbors house. Izabel had been walking around so much that she was exhausted so in between each stop she would sleep in the car. I thought she would be over it when I had to wake her up but she was ready to go again as soon as her feet hit the ground. She was so cute and had so much fun! Next year will be a lot more fun for her though because I might actually let her have some candy and her little brother or sister will be going along with us!

1 Year Well Check

Thursday and Friday were full of doctor's appointments for Miss Izabel. Thursday we had her one year visit with the orthopedist. In case you haven't been following that long here's the story behind that. Izabel was fully breeched when she was born. For the last two months or so that I was pregnant she sat with her head in my ribs and her feet pulled up close to her face pushing into my back. Because of sitting like this for so long a lot babies' hips don't develop properly. We started seeing the orthopedist, Dr. St. Remy, at CHKD all most right away. He prescribed a leg brace for when she was really little for a couple months to try and correct the problem before Izabel started moving. We tried to use it as much as we could but she hated it and it was so sad. Well what time we did get in worked because not only did Izabel develop correctly but she is now further developed than most children her age and Dr. St. Remy couldn't be happier! After some x-rays he said she has officially graduated from him and we probably won't see him again unless the new baby is born the same way (they say it can happen with 2nd and 3rd children if it happened with the first but we'll see). So that appointment was a great success.

On Friday we had our one year well check with Dr. Scott. Izabel weighs 19.8 lbs (25th percentile) and is 29 inches (50th percentile). She showed off by walking all around and "talking" to Dr. Scott. He checked her all out and says she looks great and she is developing wonderfully. She's on whole milk now which he was happy about it and she still has her night time bottle but other than that she is all on sippy cups and table food. The only issue was this diaper rash I can't seem to get rid of. Dr. Scott said it's not a diaper rash but a bacterial infection. He gave her some cream and it already looks better so no big deal. She did get several shots including a flu shot (which has made her pretty cranky this weekend) and she screamed like her heart was broken after they were done. Eventually I got her dressed and calmed down and life was good again. Dr. Scott said she's the picture of health. We're so happy and blessed to have such a perfect little girl!

5 Years Together

5 years ago today Noah and I met standing outside of my house in Norfolk. Now anyone who knows the story of that night knows that it was not all romantic and everything but we did pretty much start dating from the night we met on and knew we would be together forever pretty soon after we started dating. It's been pretty amazing this week to think about how much our lives have changed in the past 5 years. We've had a wedding, bought a house, got new jobs, and have almost 2 kids. Instead of going out at 9 we go to bed at 9 and I pray no one calls after 9 and wakes me up! Of course once the new baby is born and we get through the up all night phase I'll start wanting to hang out on the weekends and stuff again but for right now that seems like a totally different world to me. Now you may be thinking, "what are Whitney and Noah going to do to celebrate?" Well the answer is nothing. Noah is out of town in Atlantic City with a bunch of the guys. It's someones bachelor party or so he tells me. So Izabel and I will spend the day cleaning the house and doing some shopping and then eating whatever I can find in the fridge and going to bed. Sounds romantic right! I'll let Noah make it up to me when he gets home! Here is a picture I found of us about a week after the night we met. It's amazing to see how 5 years has changed our looks as well as our lifestyles!

1 Year Pics and Halloween Sneak Peek!

Here are the one year pics I promised! I'm so excited that they came out so well. Montana at the JcPenny in Lynnhaven has been doing the pictures each month for a while now and she is the best! It was her idea to use the real cake in these and I was hesitant but I'm so glad we did. I found a really little cake at the grocery store and since Izabel has discovered her love for cake she was very happy. Every time we would try to move her for a new picture she would scream because she couldn't get to the cake! Needless to say it was an adventure! Also at the end is a picture of Izabel in her halloween costume. We did the pictures the same night as the 1 year pics. I was going to wait until halloween to show it off but I thought I'd give everyone a peek now! If you'd like to see all of the pictures click here and type in Whitney Ketchledge as the customer name. Enjoy and let us know what you think!