A loooooong overdue Isaac update!

It really is quite ridiculous how long it's been since I've posted a blog entry. And for all my faithful readers-all 4 of you...chuckle- I'm sorry about that! Soooo much has happened these past few months, as we find ourselves living in a bit of limbo between Chattanooga, TN and Lagrange, GA. Several months ago, Roby was presented with an awesome career opportunity at the carpet company Milliken. After carefully weighing the pros and cons and praying, praying, praying, Roby left the company he has worked at for 10 years (which is an awesome accomplishment in itself!) to join his old designer buddy Todd in this new endeavor. While Roby was sad to leave his company and work friends behind, he was extremely excited for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of something progressive that will stimulate his creativity.

Our house has been on the market for several months, so Roby has had to work a week at a time in GA and TN, which is hard on us as a family with two small children under the age of 4...but we are managing. We continue to house hunt in GA, trusting that God will provide the perfect living situation for us as we try to transition to a new town and get Owen in pre-school. So many decisions need to be made and so many steps of faith taken! We appreciate your prayers as we try to navigate our way during this unsettling state of flux.

The children continue to thrive, with Owen approaching his fourth birthday in October, and Livy Lu just turning one on July 24th! We definitely have our hands full, but we wouldn't have it any other way!

During these summer months we have been quite the busy bees. We made several whirlwind trips...during our fifth annual fourth of July trip (although it took place in May this year :) we met up with our cousins and friends in New Orleans for a week. Wonderful times! We also jetted to Michigan for Juleen's wedding (one of my bridesmaids was now the bride and I was honored to be her maid!) and to Philly for our cousin Binoy's wedding to Ryn (we were honored to be a part of their bridal party as well!) My Mom was also able to come to Chattanooga to visit in June while Roby was in Chicago for work- which the kids thoroughly enjoyed! Lastly, the kids and I whisked Roby away to a secret location for his 32nd birthday = Savannah,GA! Despite Olive having a high fever the entire weekend, we still had a lot of fun on our little family vacation. In other news, last month I became a Creative Memories Consultant...and I hope to be able to grow my fledgeling business so I too can contribute to our family! We'll see how it goes! (Later I'll post some of my digital scrapbooking pages with a few details about what I do!) I'm sure I'm missing a TON of stuff that's been going on with the Isaacs for the past 6 months (have I mentioned just HOW behind I am with my blog posts? I still need to post pics from CHRISTMAS when my mom, brother and sis-in-law visited...yikes! So forgive me if I start posting old pictures in an attempt to catch up in the blogosphere! :) Hopefully soon I can post pics from Olive's first birthday and our various trips!

Olive standing unassisted!

For a week or so Olive has started trying to stand in the middle of the floor without holding on to anything for support. Last night she was determined to master the new skill as I kept my I-flip rolling. Meanwhile, my enthusiasm rubbed off on Owen-super proud big brother that he is. By the end of the night, Olive turned into a pro, and when Roby arrived home from his Chicago trip he was greeted with a happy baby showing off her new skills and a brother all to happy to narrate her antics. This is such a fun stage! Olive is 8 months old..I wonder if she will take after her brother and take her first step at 9 months?!

Owen update!

It's been awhile since I've written about O-man, who is now 3 1/2 years old! He has adjusted well to big brotherhood and *loves* his little Olive silly. Every morning when she wakes up, he crawls into our bed to hold her and as he rubs his cheeks against hers he croons, "Good morning sunshine! Did you have a nice 'nap' Olive? It's ok, sweetheart, I know it's hard to wake up...." So cute! He is a wonderful helper/protector and can often be heard proclaiming, "No Olive! That is dangerous...it has small parts!" He doesn't show one ounce of resentment or jealousy toward her, which I was concerned about...but rather he enjoys spending time with her, loving on her. I know he can't wait until she can play with him for real!

These days Owen is into Transformers (more than meets the eye....) and super heroes. He is brimming with monster/transformer/super hero stories, which usually entail someone "fighting with all their might." Uncle Jason sent him a box of original transformers from when he was a child, which Owen thinks is the coolest thing. He also enjoys drawing & constructing elaborate etch-a-sketch images of all of the above, as well as the Titans (no, not the Tennessee Titans, but the bad guys in the Hercules myth ;). He continues to impress us with his drawing ability and the creative way he sees things. The boy NEEDS to go to school...he wants to so badly! He is just itching to learn, and every day sits down writing the words he knows how to spell on his own (Owen, Nana, etc.), and then he writes a string of letters asking, "What does that spell?" and then he'll ask, "How do you spell Incredible Hulk, Mama?" It's so cute to see him in school mode, and we are anxious to register him in preschool once we move.

Right now his favorite cd is Here Come the ABCs by They Might Be Giants (a band I actually dug back in middle school...gasp!) It comes with an audio CD as well as a DVD with animation to each song, which all pertain to the alphabet. In fact, Roby and I can't get the "Vowels are important letters, there's one in every word..." phrase out of our heads! It's stuck! The other day I went to the grocery store while Roby watched the Os and realized upon my return that I had been listening to Owen's cd all the way there and back...singing along! Ha!

Owen remains a sweet boy who still loves to "snuddle" with his Mama and Dada. He's still a picky eater, but LOVES baking recipes out of the Deceptively Delicious cookbook. Each time he tries something new, he gets a star on his chart-which adds up to a prize eventually. We're getting there. He also sleeps all the way through the night, thank goodness (I can remember when he was a baby thinking he NEVER would!), but it's quite a feat getting him down at night. He's at that, "I wanna glass of water" stage. He also keeps us on our disciplinarian toes with his stubborn streak, but overall he's a great kid. Hopefully he'll take this next year full of newness with moving, school, etc. in stride and enjoy every minute of it!

Seeing Double (8 months)

L: Olive R: Owen

Seeing Double (7 months)

It took 7 months for me to see obvious changes when comparing Owen & Olive's baby pics. I really had to search for this month's look-a-like shot. While they still share a lot of the same mannerisms, Livy is finally starting to develop distinct features! It's been fun going through O's baby pics, and I am SO glad I tackled the take-a-picture-a-day for the first year of life for both of them! In 4 months Olive's metamorphosis will be complete! (Top: Livy Bottom: Owie)

6 months

Olly-pop has hit the half-year mark! Our little 15-pounder is still a baby on the move! This past month, she continued practicing her newfound mobility and just yesterday crawled without flopping forward! She went from learning to sit up while leaning on one arm to completely sitting up unassisted. Olive also likes to pull herself up on things to stand, which is a bit precarious at this point since she soon comes tumbling down. She has also started to climb on us everytime we hold her. Her other interests include: sucking on her Sophie the giraffe toy (thanks Libby!), chewing on any type of paper product she can get her hands on, laughing at her brother's antics, sucking on her tongue, making utterances that sound like a seal, playing with O's toys while completely ignoring hers (she is forever crawling toward a matchbox, superman or dinosaur...i think we have a tomboy on our hands!) It will be interesting to see what this next month holds...solid food, here we come! Let's hope she isn't as picky as Owen! ;)

On the move

Olive with Owen's T-rex

Seeing double

We wonder at what point Olive will start looking completely different than Owen. There are still so many similarities! The tongue quirk cracks us up! (Lil o on top, big O on bottom.)

5 months

Miss Olive is quite the active baby-always rolling, rolling, rolling. She has also started doing modified push-ups, rocking herself back and forth and flopping on the ground attempting to propel herself forward-just like Owie did at that age! She also inches herself forward with her strong legs and manages to turn herself around as well. I imagine she is going to keep us on our toes as she gets closer to mobility!

Aside from her active lifestyle, Olive also enjoys playing with her toys & sitting in the exersaucer (although she gets frustrated with both and tends to need a change of scenery after 10 minutes), playing with her feet, putting EVERYTHING in her mouth, pulling Owie's hair (which he thinks is hilarious until it starts to hurt ;), sucking on the bottom of a cold glass of water & gumming our faces ;). These days, she's a fussy Mcfusserson...not as happy-go-lucky as before. We think the personality change is due to teething coupled with her strong-headed, independent streak. This girl wants things her way! For instance, when she wants held, you have to be standing up...this drives us crazy! And, unfortunately, our nights of 8 hour straight sleeping with her snoozing happily in her bassinet have come to a screeching halt. Now that she doesn't like being swaddled, she automaticall turns over on her belly and screams. And it takes SO long to calm her down. I've been holding her in bed at nights to get some sleep, but recently we've been working on transitioning her to her crib in the nursery. We've made a little progress, but still have a long way to go. She continues to flip herself over, but is starting to be ok with belly sleeping. Yesterday she put herself to sleep for a nap in her crib with no crying and slept for 3 hours. Small victories! Roby and I can't wait until she sleeps through the night in her crib. We keep reminding ourselves that it's a phase and will get better, but it's hard to look forward through bleary eyes. ;)

Despite those few challenges, Olive continues to be a joy and we *love* her laughing fits (she has at least one a day...now if only adults could be like that!). We eagerly watch each new personality trait and her likes/dislikes emerge. We get such a kick out of watching Owen and Olive's personalities bloom!

Seeing double

L-Owen R-Olive

Bingo Christmas Party

This year, Aimee hosted our second annual girl's bingo Christmas bash at her abode. We think even the hubbies had as much fun as we did catching up over good food and drinks! The kids certainly had a wonderful time chasing each other through the house and playing reindeer games. ;)

The challenge every year: getting all the kids and mamas in the shot!

Olive and Meredith all matchy-matchy

Bad Olive!

*Thankful*

This year just our little family celebrated Thanksgiving together. We had SO much fun during Roby's extended days off. At first we considered not making a huge meal, then thought, "why not?" Instead of cooking a giant bird, we tried out a Giada recipe from the Food Network for a spice rubbed 5-pound turkey breast-delish! It proved a little hectic getting all the cooking done with the kidlets in tow, so we ended up eating at 9:00 at night. chuckle. The rest of the week we relaxed by playing our Wii (even Owen is getting pretty good!), watching movies, taking drives, & enjoying Owen and Olive!