Happy Halloween!

Our poor, poor little monkey. Little guy has been running a fever for over a day now, but he stuck it out so Mommy could parade him around in his costume for some photo ops. Man, I love this kid!

Grocery Shopping

Not a very exciting title for a post, but I just had to share this photo I snapped on my phone of Isaiah helping me shop today. This was after I had emptied the cart of the mounds of stuff that was in it. He was fussing sitting up front, so I plopped him in the main part of the cart where he had a grand ole time grabbing an item...messing with it for a bit...then putting it aside and grabbing something else. He stayed seated like this the entire time, including while I put all the groceries in the car. It didn't hurt that he was dead tired, so he didn't even really have the energy to climb out, but it made for a pretty good shopping outing.

Spooky Cute!

I'm worried that Isaiah will have grown out of his Halloween costume before I get to show him off in it on Friday! I took the opportunity to scrap about this tonight and I'm very pleased with how my first Halloween layout turned out. I didn't notice until after I was done that I had applied the lace a little crooked, but oh well!

Wanted: Babysitter

Here are a couple dates in November that I'm looking for a babysitter for Isaiah.

Thursday, Nov 13 - Evening. From about 6:00 to 10:00 or so.

Saturday, Nov 22 - Morning/Afternoon. From about 8:00 am to 3:00 pm.

Any takers?

Giggles

The other night at Grandma and Grandpa Kooiman's house, Isaiah was in such a crazy mood that he was giggling at just about anything, especially his sippy cup. Not sure why he found it so hilarious, but we didn't really care! It made for a great little video!

Tortellini and Teaching

One of my favorite things to get from the Schwans guy every couple weeks is a mega sized bag of three cheese tortellini. It boils up quick and is a yummy meal for me. Recently, I offered some to Isaiah to see what he thought and he gobbled it up like he was a starving little boy! The only problem, of course, is when it shows back up later. Talk about stinky....

Anyway, we had tortellini for dinner tonight and, needless to say, Isaiah was having a grand ole time!

On the job front, substitute teaching continues to be an adventure every day. This morning, I got the call at about 6:00 am after I had been awake to Isaiah screaming since about 4:45 am. In my sleep deprived haze, I said "yes" without even really hearing who the teacher was that I would be covering for. When it finally hit me that I had agreed to sub for the CD teacher (CD = cognitively disabled) it was too late to back out, so I had to go see what I was in for. It became clear almost immediately that this is SO not my area of expertise. I struggled all day with trying to figure out what was "appropriate" for relating to these kids. I found myself speaking to the ones with the ability to read and write as though they were third graders and I didn't know if that was demeaning or if I was still going over their heads. There were two students who had physical handicap that the school had accomodations for that amazed me. Everything from electric powered wheelchairs to motor powered harnesses to lift them from their chair and up into what I could only describe to be like a backboard that they use in the ambulance, only upright. One student even had to spend the entire 6th hour in "visual stimulation time," just looking up at twinkling lights on the ceiling. Bless the hearts of those amazing teacher's aides that work with these kids every day. I know there is no way I would have the patience for it, and yet this department is essential to the school at large. It was a very difficult day for me, but eye opening at the same time. At least I now know that I can handle subbing for that department if the opportunity arises again.

Isaiah attack!

Boy, oh boy has my kid turned back into the Terrible Teething Beastie lately! He has been so whiney and fussy all day long with no end for several days now. On Tuesday, the poor kid only napped for a TOTAL of 50 minutes the whole day! Quite the day when he's used to between 3 and 4 hours of nap time. We're still holding at seven teeth, but I can see number #8 sitting on deck up top. Only a matter of time, now. Of course, fussiness while eating is a fun additional side effect of the whole teething process. A one vivacious eater, Isaiah has beceome so picky and even more messy then usual. The big favorite lately has been grapes. Maybe because they're kind of cold and mushy so they feel good on his gums, I don't know. All I do know is that it's almost as if he's out to get me, like a game or something. "Here she comes with the spoon. What a sucker, that Mommy is. Does she really think I'm going to actually let her feed me something with that? I'll just open my mouth to make her THINK I'm going to eat ... and here it comes. Juke left, fade right and BAM!!! SCORE!! Now, to go for the two point conversion....."

Whirlwind Weekend

A little piece of advice to anyone who is considering just taking their 11 month old baby along to a wedding.....GET A BABYSITTER!!! I don't know what kind of freaky trip I was on, thinking that I could easily bring Isaiah along to Fran's wedding this weekend without any issue, but I was dead wrong. He is at the age where is he is far too wriggly and squiggly and LOUD to be even remotely appropriate to be at the ceremony and don't even get me started on the reception. I'll never forget the look on the quaffed blonde's face sitting across from me as Isaiah, strapped into his portable high chair, raised both hands into the air and shrieked in triumph after just flinging a rather large hunk of cantelope about 5 feet into the air. The day certainly got better later on, but the morning and the early afternoon were rough for me. I've been friends with Fran just as long as Evan has and it really upset me that I didn't get to see him get married. I was in the back library trying to keep my baby/almost toddler under control. The worst thing was not getting to see Evan sing. I could hear him from my bunker (although a bit muffled), but it would have been nice to be in the sanctuary to enjoy it. All in all, the day was a success. Fran got married, Evan sang beautifully, we all made it home safe and sound.

As far as the rest of the weekend goes, not much else to report. I just spent about an hour and a half going through all the recent photos on my computer that I hadn't yet dealt with and I am pleased to announce that Isaiah's Room on Snapfish is now up to date! Woohoo!! There's a big, whopping 11 month album just sitting there waiting to be enjoyed, so go check that out. (Again, just let me know if you'd like in on that because it is password protected.)

Lucky Number Seven

Isaiah had a big surprise for me this afternoon - TWO new teeth! That brings his grand total up to seven! It's no surprise that he's eating more and more big kid food with all those chompers in there.

Indian Summer

Isn't this weather AMAZING???!!! Hard to believe it's October when we've had these beautiful 75 to 80 degree days. As much as I love fall, it has been really great...if for no other reason than that we were FINALLY busy at the restaurant this weekend so I was actually able to make pretty good money this weekend. Ever since the new family restaurant opened in town, we've been losing an average of $300 per day and our tips have taken a serious hit since business has been so slow. Thank goodness so many people were in town to check out the fall colors because we got absolutely rocked all day both yesterday and today. It sure leaves me exhausted, but it's worth it when you make decent money.

Plans for Isaiah's birthday are coming along nicely. I've started talking to the the "powers that be" at the restaurant about the menu and I think I'm going to have Monnie make some of her awesome crab dip. It's super good with crackers. I think I want to opt for a bowl of yummy punch instead of soda though. Anyone have a good punch recipe (and a punch bowl!) they'd like to share?

Isaiah continues to be so close to walking. It's just ridiculous because I keep thinking that he'll just bust out the steps any moment and I don't want to miss it, so I'm obsessed with having the camera with video within arms reach at all times. He practicially runs along the edge of the couch using it for support and can easily "walk" back and forth between Evan and me if we're sitting on either side of the corner, but he just hasn't been able to move forward on his own yet. I'm kind of hoping that he gets it before his birthday so he can be walking for all his party guests. Got a great photo of Isaiah "flying" with Daddy tonight:

I've been dying to get those cute photos from the pumpkin patch into scrapbook layouts and I've been able to complete two of them the past couple nights. I got some great fall themed (and Halloween themed) items and I'm really pleased with how they look!

Such a Pumpkin

Pick of the Patch

"Kiss" - My new favorite layout!

It turned out to be a big scrapbooking day for me today. I just finished this one at about 10:30 tonight and I can't stop staring at it because it is probably my favorite layout ever. I just love it. The journaling reads:

"How can I possibly express how much I love you? When I look into those bright eyes, I see joy and my heart leaps. When you smile, I see how much you love me. You represent pure love: the love of your parents....the love of the Lord. How can I express all the love I feel, Isaiah? With a kiss."

Mudslinging and Mommyhood VP style

The dreaded moment has finally arrived. With the election less than a month away, the race is really starting to turn ugly and I really HATE it. I hate that I can't log on to the internet without seeing link after link attacking Sarah Palin. I hate that Sen. Obama is painting himself to be the prospective leader of a utopic society. I hate that Sen. McCain is starting to resort to character attacks and accusations of lying. I hate that Tina Fey looks exactly like Sarah Palin and her skits as the VP nominee are getting millions of hits on YouTube every day. I'm all for good comedy, but I'm just frustrated! How are voters supposed to make informed decisions with all this crap out there? Everything is biased. Everything is skewed. Nothing is reliable. Where is the undecided voter supposed to turn? To SNL? To the Internet? To the debates (where neither side seems to want to answer the questions posed to them)? It's an absolute mess. This is why I absolute HATE election time. I will be so glad when it is over, regardless of who wins. Of course, then comes the period of moaning and complaining about who won. Ah, America. I love that we have the freedom to vote, but I just wish that it wasn't such an ordeal.

One interesting thing that has come out of this race, is the new perspective on working mothers that is popping up in Mommy & Me classes across the country. Does Sarah Palin represent a new role model for working moms or is she the antithesis of what we consider to be "good" parenting? Regardless of the answers to those questions, I think what's most important is that her nomination has opening up the avenue of conversation for women who might not otherwise feel comfortable discussing their opinions, views, and struggles of motherhood. Let's face it. It's not an easy gig, as I quickly found out last November. Personally, I give Sarah Palin all the credit in the world for being able to look as good in those super-chic skirt suits she's wearing only 5 months post partum when I'm still carrying around 25 (ok 30!) pounds of Isaiah weight 11 months later! That's an admirable feat in and of itself, never mind all the actual work she's done since little Trig was born. (Although, I can't say I'm a big fan of her naming skills. Seriously...will the next one be named Calculus?) I think this article from the Today show does a good job of exploring this phenomenon. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27011575/ When it comes down to it, regardless of party affiliation or opinions of Palin's politics, it can't be denied that a new form of female role model is emerging from this presidential race. I'd be willing to bet that no matter what happens in November, we'll be seeing a lot more of Sarah Palin and of other mothers like her.

10 Months Layout

I really struggled with this layout! Not sure why, but it really took me a long time to decide what I wanted to do with it. It is based off of Got Sketch 102 sketch #7. I found myself really wishing that I had all kinds of fancy schmancy embellishments to play with to really make it pop. I also had a hard time picking out my papers. I really need to start buying my papers in sets of two or I'm never going to be able to pull of two page layouts!

Pumpkin Patch

We had a really great day as a family today, just out enjoying the beautiful weather. Taking advantage of my day off and a late Badgers game, we all went out to the Treinen Farm on Hwy 60 to see what all the buzz was about. They have a HUGE corn maze, but we didn't do that today because we didn't want to push Isaiah in the stroller for an hour. Evan and I definitely want to go back and do that together sometime. During the day, of course, because I think I would be too scared at night. It's just so "Children of the Corn." Anyway, we did take a horse carriage ride up to their massive pumpkin patch and Isaiah had a grand ole time picking out his first pumpkin and messing around in the dirt. It was a really good time and we were both really impressed by all the activities that were available for kids of all ages. We'll definitely be going back next year when Isaiah can walk and play. That will make for some super cute memories. As for today, here are a few of my favorite photos from the afternoon.

Celebrating Fall

Autumn is hands down my favorite season and although it was a bit delayed in reaching me with 80 degree temperatures last week, it has finally arrived! I took Isaiah out in our front yard last week and took some fun photos and then today we went to Tom Dooley Apple Orchard in Waupun and had a great time in the hay bales with Grandma and Aunt Erica. I think you'll agree that these are some great shots of my little one enjoying fall as much as I do. If you are a part of Isaiah's Room on Snapfish, these photos are up on there for you to enjoy and purchase prints if you would like.