HAPPY BIRTHDAY IZABEL!!!

Izabel at 1 day old!

Izabel on her first birthday!

WOW! I can't believe it's been a year and our baby is one! It's truly amazing to think back over the past year and realize how much we have been through and how much we are getting ready to go through over the next year. At some moments it seems like she was born just yesterday and I can remember every detail so clearly. At other moments it seems like she's been with us forever. She's changed so much and everyday we see more and more of her personality coming out.

She's an excellent walker now and she is starting to run. She pretty much eats anything we'll let her have. She eats all table foods and loves fruit more than anything else! I'll put her plate down and before I can turn around she's downed all of the fruit and then she picks at the meat and veggie. She loves to play and is having a great time with all of her new toys. We take her for walks in the wagon and she takes her baby along. She holds on to her baby so tight, it's so cute!

She goes down for her naps and for bed pretty much right on time everyday. At night she starts to whine when she gets really tired and she'll start walking down the hallway towards her room. She'll knock on her door and then look back at you like aren't you going to come put me in my bed? She also loves to take a bath. I'll just say the word and she'll take off towards the bathroom. She'd probably sit in there all night if I'd let her. The problem is that she likes to stand up and a slippery baby walking around in a tub full of water just doesn't work for me.

She had her main birthday celebration this past weekend but there are still a few more festivities planned. Tonight she is having her birthday dinner with her Godmother Humaira. It will include lots of fruit and some cake! Then her Mimi, Aunt Deb and cousin Andy will be in town Friday through Monday so she'll have lots of fun celebrating with them. I took Friday off so I could spend the day with everyone so I'll get to be home with Izzy an extra day this week! Saturday we are going to try and go to the Hunt Club. They have hay rides, a petting zoo, pony rides and a pumpkin patch. I think she'll love it!

For now I am just left with tears in my eyes thinking about how my baby girl is one year old and growing up so fast already. She's such a wonderful baby. I really don't think we could have asked for a better more beautiful loving child. We are truly blessed!!!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl. We love you more than you will ever know! Love Mommy and Daddy!!!

Izabel's Birthday Party!!!

Saturday was Izabel's first birthday party! We went with a pretty much all pink theme and we got lots of pink balloons which Izabel loved. We had almost 30 people here so it was crowded but Izabel had a great time playing and visiting with everyone and we all had a good time catching up. We had lots of great food and of course some great strawberry cake! Izabel got a ton of presents. We got her a big red wagon and then everyone brought enough toys to fill it up. There were also a ton of books, more than a ton of clothes and plenty of money to go buy more! After Izabel opened her presents we went in the kitchen to watch her have her first piece of cake. She was hesitant at first but she certainly enjoyed it once she got started. Here are some of our favorite pics as well as a video of Izabel with her cake! Enjoy and thank you to everyone who came and made the day so special for us and for Izabel. She had a wonderful time and she couldn't have behaved any better. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day with all of our friends and family and our beautiful daughter!

I'm ready to party! Can I open just one now?
Why not?
Opening presents with Mommy
Crayons and coloring books and more books!

Playing in all of the tissue paper (probably her favorite part!) Loving the strawberry cake! Could she have Zeta in her future???
Her thrown for the day

Check out the birthday cake video. It's a little long but you can see how she was hesitant and then really got into it! Enjoy!

Neptune Festival

Last Saturday we went down to the Neptune Festival at the Virginia Beach oceanfront. It was a really nice day so we went down to see the sandcastles and walk the boardwalk. Here are some pics!

Outside Time and Reading

We finally got some outside time to play earlier this week with Izabel. She walked around the front yard with some of her balls but she was mostly watching the kids across the street and Daddy cleaning out the gutters (I don't know what came over him!) I think she enjoyed the outside time and so did we. Now that things are calming down a little at work I can get home a little earlier and hopefully have more of this time in the afternoons if it stops raining!

Izabel has been really getting into her books lately. She'll pull her boppy pillow down onto the floor and sit it in it with some of her favorite books. She'll flip through the pages like she is reading and sometimes she'll laugh at the pictures. She looks like she is lounging and it's so cute. That always makes me smile but nothing makes me smile more than coming into the room and seeing her in Noah's lap with him reading a book to her. It is so sweet and I think they both really enjoy this time together! Of course every time I grab the camera she thinks reading time is over but I'll get some pictures! Soon she'll have to share Mommy and Daddy time so for now she is getting all she can!

Weekend

On Saturday Noah let me sleep in a little bit and then we all got ready and drove to Williamsburg to meet up with my parents. After lunch we went to the outlets and did some damage to the credit cards! Izabel made out the best. She did the best at Carters. Noah did pretty well too. I got a pair of shoes and a big multi-image picture frame for our living room. Obviously I need to work a little harder at finding some clothes for me! I just can't seem to find anything I like right now and I don't want to buy a lot because I know my size is going to change. I went in the Motherhood store but I didn't find anything I liked. The last time I needed to shop in there they had the kind of pants that would grow with you. This time all they had were the pants with the big belly panels and I don't need those yet! Then we all went out to dinner. Izabel couldn't have been any better all day. She rode around in her stroller watching all of the people and then she took a nap while we were shopping. At dinner she ate food off the menu which is so much easier than bringing jars and trying to feed her while I am trying to eat. Then we went back to my parents hotel room. Izabel was so tired so she had a bottle and my parents offered to keep her for the night and bring her home with them on Sunday. Since I am completely exhausted lately I was fine with that idea. Noah and I went home and to bed. I got to sleep in without hearing people moving around the house and it was great! Izabel slept all night for my parents and they actually had to wake her up so everyone got a good night's sleep! Then Sunday we just laid around the house. I have caught Izabel's cold so I feel pretty miserable and we needed to have a lazy day. Now we are back at work for the week with no big plans! Izabel's birthday invitation is going out soon so be looking for that and have a great week!

11 Month Pics!

The 11 month pictures are here! We went with kind of a cowgirl theme since my original idea didn't work out. We finally got Daddy in some of the pictures as well! Click here and type in Whitney Ketchledge to see the entire sitting. Below are a few of our favorites. Enjoy!!!

First and Second Doctors Appointment

So last weekend I was having a little bit of bleeding and a lot of cramping. Needless to say I was a little worried. I called the doctor and they told me to come in first thing Monday morning. They did an ultrasound and the baby looked great and was measuring well so they weren't concerned and the bleeding had stopped. That is where the ultrasound picture I posted came from. Yesterday was my first official appointment. They did another ultrasound but since it looks almost the same I decided not to post it. The official due date is April 22. I will have a scheduled c-section since I had one last time. It can be very risky to have a vaginal delivery after you've had a c-section and since they are so close together it is a risk my doctor is not willing to take. It will probably be scheduled for around the 13th or 14th of April. We'll find out the sex the beginning of December and yes we kind of want a boy but we think a girl would be nice too since we already have all of the stuff. I'm thinking I may just take the last 9 weeks of school off since the delivery will be only a few days after we come back from spring break but we'll see what finances allow. Either way I will get at least 14 weeks at home with this baby and Izabel! I'm not feeling very well but so far I haven't missed any work and I've managed to keep all of my food down! It's harder this time because I can't just go home and take a nap after work like I did last year! I'm exhausted but it'll be worth it when we become a family of 4!!!