Bubbles!!!

We had our very first swim lesson this evening. Yippee! We really had planned on beginning this last year but just never got around to calling to reserve her a spot. We signed Isabelle up for the Saturday morning class at 10:30am. The session lasts six weeks and lessons are 30 minutes each.

We missed her first class already because we were still in Tampa this past Saturday. So we were able to make that one up any night this week. So we went to our first class tonight and we all had SO much fun! We had to drag Isabelle out of the pool kicking and screaming, she just didn't want to leave swim class.

She did everything the instructor asked her to - put her face in the water, let Ed dunk her a few times while playing ring-around-the-rosie, laid back in the water in an early attempt to float, kicked her legs, paddled her arms, everything!

The only thing she didn't quite master in her first lesson was how to blow bubbles. She put her face in the water like the instructor was showing her, and she laughed when everyone else blew bubbles in the water, but when she tried to do it herself, she ended up swallowing water instead of making bubbles. We'll have to practice this one on dry land to get her to understand how to exhale with purpose! They suggested a game where we crumple up pieces of paper and give everyone a straw and we have to blowwww the game pieces across a finish line. Could be fun, we'll at least give it a whirl. I certainly don't want her to fail her first level of swim lessons because of a few missing bubbles.

Isabelle's Uncle Sean never did learn how to float. Maybe bubbles are going to be the monkey on her back.

Journey of a Big Girl

The big phases of a Toddler's life are always an exciting (and daunting) thing to experience. Isabelle has a friend at daycare (Trevor) who is 2.5 years old this month. His mom wants to start potty-training, with the realistic goal that if he's not ready, then he's just not ready, and his Mom will revisit the whole thing in a few weeks.

Since girls "tend" to potty train earlier and easier than boys, our daycare provider (Miss Trish) asked if she wanted us to start working with Isabelle at daycare since she was starting with Trevor this week anyway. Peer pressure is such a powerful influence at two-years-old. Wellllll, SURE! Trish even told us we didn't have to do anything at home just yet. She is going to include progress reports in Isabelle's backpack each day to let us know what happened that day, and she will let us know when we should start working at home in earnest.

Maybe it's time to give Miss Trish a RAISE! If our little spitfire is potty trained by late Spring/Summer, oh the joy! Wish Isabelle luck on her journey!

I'm melting! Melting!

"I'm melting! Melting! Oh, what a world, what a world! Who would've thought a good little girl like you could destroy my beautiful wickedness? I'm gone! I'm gone! I'm going!" - The Wicked Witch of the West, The Wizard of Oz

When we came home from Tampa yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the snow is finally MELTING! The 4-plus-feet of icy wickedness is now only about a foot high around our fence. And, lo and behold, we can actually see GREEN GRASS in our yard! Tonight and tomorrow we are getting another storm. There was talk about snow, ice, sleet, rain and a full "wintry mix" but now it looks like Edgewater is going to get ALL RAIN! Yippee! Granted, we're going to have some pretty hefty flooding in Edgewater in the coming weeks (or possibly months) but if it means Spring is on the way, I'm looking forward to strapping on the galoshes and dancing in the rain.

Tampa Adventures

Isabelle and I just got home yesterday from a wonderful week in Tampa visiting Mom-Mom Susan and Pop-Pop Bill. Ed had a business trip in Nashville so it was just us girls for this visit. I had to work all week, and it was a busy one! So Isabelle got lots of quality bonding time with Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop. They had huge adventures every day!

They hit every outdoor playground in the Tampa Bay area. They went to several different malls, which are MUCH different than the malls we have here (indoor surfing! ice skating rinks! huge play areas for kids! the works!). They went out to lunch every day. They saw a ginormous King Kong blow-up creature.

Isabelle didn't take one nap the entire week because she was just way too busy. One night, she actually passed out at 6:15pm (it was fantastic)! I barely saw the light of day while I was there since I was chained to my laptop, but Isabelle got a lot of fresh air and sunshine which was a much needed reprieve from the cabin fever we'd been building up this winter.

I think I'll have to plan more of these work-from-Tampa weekends next winter. If I plan them out ahead of time, I can budget the airfare into my year-end bonus. Daddy will either have to convince his boss to let him telecommute or he'll just have to miss his girls for a few weeks out of the winter!

Love Monkey

GeeGa and Grandpa sent Isabelle a monkey for Valentine's Day, the video below shows her opening her present, she really loved it:

The 3 Month Itch

I've discovered over the past few years, that I really need a "break" from the routine about every 3 months for my sanity. It doesn't have to be a full week-long fancy vacation. It can be a simple road trip over a long weekend to another town, a short jaunt to visit out-of-state friends or family, or a quick vacation with a few days off of work. But over the past few years, I've made sure to plan some kind of "break" for us every three months on average.

November - Puerto Rico for a full 10-day unplugged vacation. December - a few days off around the holidays to spend with family. February - trip to Tampa. May/June - a trip to Chicago. September - long weekend to an off-season beach somewhere (OC, Jersey Shore, etc.).

This year, I messed with the plan. We decided to skip the trip to Tampa in February and opt for April instead, so we would have warmer weather on our visit. Turns out, my inner psyche was unable to wait. When those weather guys predicted snow for Monday, my decision to take Isabelle to Tampa was a pretty easy one. The weather there is only around 60 this week, we aren't even packing bathing suits. But 60 sure beats 28 degrees which is what we're leaving behind today!

This won't be a break from work this visit, I'm working all week from Florida. But it's a change of scenery and a doubling of temperature, which is much needed right now. We need to warm our bones! Then we have another trip to Tampa in April, that will be a true vacation, fully unplugged.

So as I get older, and now that we have a child, I'm wondering if maybe I need a break every TWO months instead of every three.

Time to make plans for June, August, and October.

3:30 PM ET Video

Another heavy band of snow, extreme wind. Our 4 foot fence is officially covered and the 6-foot fence on our side yard has caved in from the weight of the snow and strength of the wind!

Video below:

Blizzard Video

The video below is just a few seconds of the storm today, Tuesday February 10, 2010. Words can't really describe it. Not even sure the video does it justice. But wanted to document it for Isabelle on this blog.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

We just booked our tickets to Tampa! The forecasters dared to mention more snow next Monday. We have four days of NO PRECIP ahead so I'm taking my chance to escape the tundra!

Ed has to go to Nashville for a week for a business trip so Isabelle and I are heading to Tampa to visit Mom-Mom Susan and Pop-Pop Bill for a week. She and I both need to get out of this house and stretch our legs and get some fresh air. The Cabin Fever is threatening to ruin our good relationship.

Sun, Sand, Surf, here we come!

Code Blue

Thankfully, our daycare provider (Miss Trish) called me last night to remind me that when our County Schools are closed with a "Code Blue" status, daycare is STILL OPEN! Our county was a CODE BLUE today, so Isabelle was able to get to daycare. That was a huge bonus for us so we could all get a break. Believe me, she needs the break from us just as much as we need one from her!

I still have to work full days this week since I work from home. Ed has been off all week (Federal Government is closed), so he has been able to shovel a few hours each day to prepare for this next blizzard due on our door step any minute now.

Isabelle was very excited this morning when Ed dropped her off. She was excited to see her friends, Miss Trish, and have "special projects" waiting for her. We were excited to have a day without "Go, Diego, Go!" on TV for nine hours.

She will obviously be home tomorrow and most likely on Thursday, we're guessing. Maybe by Friday she can go back to school, and we can go back to a pseudo normal schedule. Because we all know, that today's storm just HAS to be the end of it, right? Mother Nature can't possibly think of delivering a 4th Blizzard in one Winter, can she?

Snowmageddon

Click below to see a video taken at 11am ET on Saturday, February 6, 2010. More video to come as we're still getting snow at this hour, and we could get another FOOT before it finally stops. Official BWI accumulation as of 11am ET is 23.9 inches. We have to get to 28 inches if we want to beat the all-time record.

I don't think we'll have ANY trouble beating the record with this whopper. If we get ANY more snow forecasted this winter, I'm outta here! Isabelle and I will drive to BWI, hop on any plane heading to Florida, and make our way to Mom-Mom Susan and Pop-Pop Bill's house. We will camp out for a few weeks until Maryland has thawed out.

I don't know about friends in low places, but we got friends and family in WARM places, so I plan to invite myself there soon!

The Fashion Police

I knew the day would come, when our precocious little Bean would start to have an opinion about the clothing she would wear each day. I just figured we had a few more years????

Today, I got her dressed, without incident. Gray sweatpants, purple t-shirt with a cupcake on the front, Dora hoodie, and tennis shoes. A sensible, easy, comfortable, and WARM outfit for a day at school (daycare). She had no comments, no fight, nothing. It was a peaceful, easy morning for once.

Ed picked Isabelle up from school this afternoon and Miss Trish relayed a story from today. During "circle time" this morning, when they all share stories and talk about things, Isabelle put on her perfect pout face and wouldn't participate. Which, as an aside, is very odd because the girl never misses an opportunity to talk...about anything! So, there she sat, pouting away, refusing to chat. Miss Trish asked her what was wrong. To which, Isabelle put her hands onto her hips, put a pucker on her lips, and indignantly proclaimed, "Miss Trish, I did NOT want to wear THIS shirt today!!"

I have no clue where that came from, or why she said it. She was perfectly content with that shirt this morning. And sooooo it begins...

I just wonder what OTHER tall tales she is sharing at school!

The Escape Artist

We converted Isabelle's crib into a toddler bed a few months ago after we caught her trying to climb out. She's done great in the toddler bed at night. But she's desperately trying to give up her afternoon nap. So on the weekends, we deal with her getting out of bed, taking all 700 books off of her bookshelves, getting into her dresser drawers, and basically destroying her room. So we've resorted to using the Pack-n-Play for naptime to keep her contained.

Yesterday (Sunday), she was "napping" in her Pack-n-Play until she mysteriously showed up in the bathroom while I was brushing my teeth. What? How? When? Where did you COME from?

So I put her back into the P-n-P and watched as she very unceremoniously got back OUT. I had to catch it on video so I could share with everyone. Not sure what we'll do for weekend naptime in the future. It might be time to get the dog crate out of storage!