Ring around the Rosie

a pocket full of posies...

I LOVE THIS GAME.

I am not going to apologize for that fact that it has been months since I last let you all know how I am doing. It is hard work growing up, getting bigger, taller, stronger and growing more teeth.

Spring time is always busy in my family. Mom gets busy with tax season and that means Dad, Louie and Izzie are own our own.

Dad did a good job during tax season of keeping our house running and making sure Louie and I were growing and thriving. Mom says that Louie is the most tolerant dog. I say Louie is my best friend. I tell Louie all my secrets, give him lots of bear hugs and big kisses, follow him around and generally do what I can to irritate him. Louie takes it all in stride and can't wait to get me out of bed the next morning. He even cries at my door to be let in every morning.

Speaking of crying can you say "DRAMA QUEEN"? I have perfected the art of being most dramatic. The terrible two's have certainly set in and though I am cute, adorable and charming, I am also a Drama Queen. A girl should have her way, right?

I am sleeping in a big girl bed these days. No more crib for me. My crib converts into a daybed/toddler bed and so in preparation of my parents trip in June they moved me to a big girl bed. I am doing such a god job in my big bed. My parents are proud.

I talk an awful lot and will let you know what I want. I love to eat Popsicle's, cookies, cake and berries every chance I get. Almost every morning my mom asks me what I want for breakfast. I always start with...COOKIE??? CAKE??? Then mom says no how about raspberries, strawberries and cereal.

In addition to a million words I say I also love to since songs and dance. Sometimes you can't understand all the words to the song but you can get the gist. I taught my cousin Carter recently a new game to him. I learned Ring Around the Rosie at school and Carter and I love to play. Carter likes everyone to play but I don't mind playing even by myself. I know my ABC's and I can count to ten when I want to.

Carter and I recently had our annual trip to the photo gallery to get our picture taken together for Bubbe and our other grandma's. The photographer was running really behind and Carter and I were crabby by the time it was our turn. I made a total boob out of myself and my parents ended up taking me right home for a nap. Some of the unplanned pictures did turn out adorable though.

Passover came and went and I was looking pretty fabulous if I do say so myself. My goal was to charm the pants off everyone and I think I achieved my goal. I found the afikomen the first night and that paid $5. Mom was impressed since Uncle Richie paid for the Afikomen the first night. On the second night Zayde paid for the afikomen and not to be outdone by Richie, Zayde gave $20 for the afikomen. Mom said she would read the four questions from now on if that meant twenty bucks.

May is shaping up to be a busy month. My Aunt Princess ( who's not really my aunt) gave me a wagon a week or so ago. I love that wagon more than life itself and ask frequently to take rides. Mom and Dad have taken me on a couple wagon rides and I am so happy the whole time. We have been spending as much time as possible outside working on the garden and getting it ready to plant. The rhubarb is ready to be made into wonderfully things. Mom took rhubarb over to Bubbe and she made an awesome rhubarb crisp to eat. My Papa is supposed to come by today and get rhubarb to make some pies. Memorial Day is right around the corner and then mom and dad are going to have a birthday party for me at the end of this month.

I am looking forward to June. My new baby cousin Butchie is going to arrive we hope on June 9, 2009. His arrival will be just before my 2nd birthday. I can't wait to meet Butchie and find out what his real name is going to be though he will always be Butchie to me. Carter and I love to sing "Happy to you Butchie" when we get the chance. My birthday will be three short days later and my mom and dad are leaving for Israel on the 11th of June. They will be gone for two weeks. It seems like a long time. I am going to stay with Bubbe, Zayde and Murray the dog at there house. Louie the dog and I will probably wear Bubbe and Zayde out.

I will try to be a little better about updating you all on what is up in my great big life. I am such a busy little girl these days. Swimming lessons start again tomorrow and I can't wait to get in the pool. My mom calls me a little fish. My cousin Carter is going to take lessons again with me and we can't wait to cause trouble.

I'll keep you all updated on all the new things in my life soon!!

Their is no excuse

No, No, No, No, NO, NO NONONONONO excuse.

Can you tell that is my new favorite word? Speaking of words, I have a lot of new words. Ask me anything and I will always respond. I will probably respond with NO if I don't have anything better to say. I have become one smart cookie.

My mom hasn't let me on the Internet in FOREVER mostly because my mom is a loser and we have been really busy.

When we last left off I was getting ready for Aunt Robyn and Uncle Jason's wedding. I had my pretty dress picked out and my party shoes ready. Their big day went off without a hitch. The next day while everyone was resting from the big weekend mom and dad had dreams of moving trucks floating through their heads. Bright and early Monday morning Mom packed up the old house and got us ready to move. Wednesday morning (three short days after the wedding) the moving truck came to move us to our new house. The move was mostly a disaster but we got everything out and into the new house. Mom, dad, Louie and myself moved in with Bubbe and Zayde. It was so weird to come up for breakfast every morning and see Bubbe and Zayde right there. I loved it and sure did miss it when we left. We were at Bubbe and Zayde's for ten days I think while Dad worked day and night to strip the wallpaper off every wall in the new house and paint with my Papa. By this time I was already walking and learning to run. I had four big teeth.

September we were in the new house and loving it. Louie and I were so confused where we were but it didn't take long for us to love then new house and all the space.

October we celebrated the Jewish holidays and did all kinds of fun things. We finished picking veggies from our new garden, went to the pumpkin patch, went to visit the animals at the farm, and celebrated Halloween. I was a pink poodle named FIFI. My cousin Carter barter was Dumbo and mom and I thought he made an adorable Dumbo.

In November we had everyone over for the day AFTER Thanksgiving. Forty people in our living/dining room. Dinner went off mostly without a hitch. It was so much fun to have everyone at MY house for once. Mom and Dad were so happy everyone came and I LOVED that all my cousins were there. It was like a three ring circus. We had so much fun and hope everyone comes to visit more often.

In the month of November I also became obsessed with a new friend, he is red and furry and has a funny voice. He is on Sesame St.reet and goes by the name E.lmo. I would talk about him all day long. Mom and Dad couldn't figure out how I knew about E.lmo because I don't watch TV. School has this great book that I love to read and he is my favorite character.

December was very busy. We had all kinds of things going on. It seemed like we had events every night and every weekend to attend. The holidays quickly rolled around. Aunt Laura's birthday kicked off the holidays right and then Bubbe's birthday followed right behind. Hanukkah started on Bubbe's birthday. We really hit the jackpot with all the gifts from Hanukkah and then Christmas hit and I barely knew what to do with myself. Our house looks like a toy mega store (We B Toyz). We are still trying to figure out where to stash everything. We spent time a lot of time with family but also spent quite a bit of time just playing in our family room by ourselves. It was nice to relax and play with my parents and my favorite buddy Louie.

New Year's Eve hit and it went down in true Izzie style. I stayed awake bright eyed and bushy tailed until almost 1 am. When my parents finally loaded me into the car in my pajamas my head hit the carseat and I fell right to sleep. What a way to ring in the New Year!!!

I think you are all caught up on my life to this point. I promise to try to be better about updating all my fans about my life!

My Momma is a slacker!

It's a busy month for me!!

A lot has happened over the last several weeks and all of my friends and family may have heard my good news through the grapevine but I want to share it here too.

First - I am walking now and lovin' it.

I started walking toward the end of July taking baby steps but have since perfected my moves and now I am a walking fool. My mom thinks it's so cute that I show off my Frankenstein moves as I amble forward. Keep in mind I only walk when I want to not when asked. A girl has to have some standards.

Two - Teeth that is. I am still growing my two top front teeth. It has been months and months and months....we have been waiting a long time for those two teeth to come in. They keep coming up and going back but they are finally ALMOST through the skin (but not quite).

Three - The most exciting news is that my parents sold our house and bought me a new one. Actually truth be told mom was off having a great time with Aunt Robyn and Bubbe in the Bahamas and Dad and I sold our house. I helped clean while Dad did the talking. Mom did all the negotiating once she got home but Dad and I made it happen. My cutely decorated room sealed the deal.

That pretty much brings you all up to this week.

My grandpa Jay was supposed to arrive tomorrow for Aunt Robyn's wedding but he could hardly wait to see Carter and me so he jumped in his car and started to drive WAY before he had planned. Mom said he will be here late tonight so we won't get to see him until tomorrow night probably. Aunt Robyn and Uncle Jason's wedding is this weekend and we are all so excited for it to get here. I have been practicing flashing my two toofies for the camera and I am so excited to wear my pretty party dress Aunt Robyn bought me and my pink sparkly shoes my mommy bought me. Aunt Caroline and Aunt Suzanne arrive in later this week and I have all kinds of cousins, aunts and uncles arriving soon. I am going to stay with Nana and Papa after the wedding. I am sure they have something fun planned.

Bright and early on Monday morning after every one of the wedding guests is gone and Uncle Jason and Aunt Robyn have long boarded the airplane for Hawaii, mommy and Bubbe are going to finish packing my house up to move. On Wednesday morning after they have taken me to school the movers are going to pack the truck up with all of our stuff and move it to our new house. My dog Louie, my mom, dad and I are going to move in with Bubbe and Zayde for a little while. On Thursday mom and dad close on our current house and on Friday mom and dad close on our new house. Then it's to work Dad goes scraping off all of the wallpaper. Mom wants paint on the walls and no wallpaper. Dad is going to take off the whole next week to make my new house pretty. I can't wait for my new room, it is huge. Mom and Dad keep talking about how excited Louie will be when he sees our new four season room. He can look outside all day long. Mom is excited about our living room/dining room and Dad loves the huge garden and yard. Dad even promised Papa lots of rhubarb for pies next year.

It's been an exciting few weeks and the next few weeks are shaping up to be pretty exciting as well. We can't wait for all of you to come visit us at our new house!!!

Lots of love,

Izzie

Taking care of Bizness

Woooweeee it's getting warm here in the middle of the state and it's been raining, raining, raining here! We actually have had several dry days where the humidity has been pretty nasty but I have been outside playing and having a grand old time.

When I last wrote in my journal it was my birthday. My parents took me out to eat for a delicious BBQ dinner in the town where my mom grew up. Aunt Robyn, Uncle Jason, Uncle Aaron, Aunt Laura and Carter met us for dinner too. Carter and I had a great time sitting next to each other causing trouble. When they came at the end of the meal to sing Happy Birthday to me I was a little scared and wasn't sure what to make of all those people. I had a fun birthday and I slept really well that night. My dad's birthday was the next day and for his birthday we went and had my pictures taken. Mom and dad think they turned out really well and were so happy with what a good girl I was. I slept on the ride back home because I was so tired from being cute. Mom wanted to take Dad out for dinner but I wanted to remind my parents who was in charge now and so we stayed home and I went to bed. My parents enjoyed a frozen pizza while I slept.

That Sunday was Father's Day and I celebrated Father's Day with ALL the guys in my life. I had breakfast with some of my uncle's and my Grandpa Al, my Uncle Aaron stopped by briefly, and I had dinner with my Zayde. I gave my Dad a really nice card and a gift card so he can go buy the camera that he wants. My brother Louie and I pooled our non-existent allowance together to pay for all the gifts. My Dad takes really good care of me and I love him a lot.

By the time Sunday night hit I was exhausted from everything over that last week my parents anniversary was the next day the 16th of June and I could not handle one more party. Bubbe and Zayde wanted to do something small at their house for my birthday, Carter's birthday, Daddy's birthday and Mom and Dad's anniversary but I couldn't keep my eyes open. Right in mid-bite my head flopped over and I fell asleep. That was the end of my partying for the evening.

Just six short days after I turned 1 year old my favorite cousin Carter turned 1 year old too. We had fun on his actual birthday swimming in the afternoon. Mom and Aunt Laura let Carter and I splash around the pool. We caused all kinds of trouble and it was so much fun. Grandma Kathy and Grandpa David (Carter's grandparents & my adopted grandparents) were at the pool too with Carter's cousin Brady. Grandma Kathy took lots of pictures of us and I told her she could come play dress up and purses anytime she wants with me (she only has grandsons). That night we celebrated with immediate family with a pizza party. Then on Saturday Carter had a big bash for his birthday at Aunt Sarah's house. It was so much fun AND Aunt Sarah and her boys even bought me my VERY OWN purse.

That brings me to the title of this entry. Taking care of bizness. That is what I do. I am very important these days you see. I am totally attached to any sort of article that resembles a purse or a bag. Sometimes I even stoop so low as to care a shoe or sandal if I can swing it over my shoulder like a satchel. This is very important work I do. With my bags, purses and satchels in hand I am able to stand and move forward just a bit. No purses...No moving forward...

If I have stuff in my hands I can stand and will do so with no support from anything but I refuse to move once I realize that all I have is crap in my hands, and then I plop down with all of my stuff dragging on my arms and crawl faster than the speed of light to get myself where I want to be. I also blow kisses, wave, blow raspberries, skwack like a bird and a number of other nifty tricks. I am growing two big teeth up top that refuse to pop through and I have perfected the temper tantrum when I want something. All equally important skills to have when you are a girl.

The thing my parents are fairly proud of is that I drink from a cup all by myself. Granted we took a step back in that I drink from a regular cup with a sippy lid but at least I do it all by myself. It got to the point where I was taking other kid's pacifier's, bottles and cups because I wanted to do it all myself. I do a great job of drinking by myself and I like everyone to clap for me to acknowledge that I did a good job. If you do not clap for me I clap for myself and then get your attention. Mom says she can forsee what I am like after I turn two. We could all be in for a real treat.

I hope I get a chance to see all of your this summer some time or another. I am certain I will get to see a lot of you at my Aunt Robyn's wedding which Aunt Robyn has assured me is not very far away. I believe that as my mom, my aunt and my Bubbe are feverishly doing "art" projects!

I can't wait to see you all this summer!

PS. SHOUT OUT to Aunt Caroline in Israel for a few weeks!

Happy Birthday to ME, Happy Birthday to ME

Happy Birthday dear MMMMEEEE!!!! Happy Birthday to me!!!

Today is my first birthday and boy have I had quite the week. It started last Saturday when my mom and dad threw me a fun birthday backyard bar-b-Que. All my family who could make it came to my house for hamburgers, hot dogs, salmon and all kinds of other stuff. Bubbe made me pasta salad because she knows I LOVE anything pasta. Mom is still feeding it to me almost a week later. Some of the veggies are a little hard to choke down but I still love the pasta. Before my party started mom was cutting up watermelon and she let me have my own slice. I knew exactly what to do with it. I shoved the whole thing up to my mouth and bit right in. I eat that watermelon all the way to the rind. DELICIOUS!!!!

My parents bought me a cake for my birthday party. We actually had two cakes. One cake for everyone else to eat and one cake for me. This was called the "SMASH" cake and I got it all to myself. I was a little nervous when my parents set it down in front of me. I carefully placed two fingers in the cake and then licked them off. They I did it again and again each time placing my fingers and hands a little farther in until I was able to get my whole hand through the cake without anyone saying anything. Finally when I thought nobody was looking I face planted into the cake to get the maximum amount of cake in my mouth possible. It was AWESOME. The I proceeded to rub my hair and my eyes, and that's when I started to get angry. Mom was right their to save me from my cake and she whisked me to the tub. I got all cleaned up and into a new outfit and then I got to open my presents.

I got all kinds of fun things for presents however the top highlights included: a pink cozy coupe to drive around Windsor Heights in, LOTS OF BOOKS, a purse with a cell phone for calling all of my "people", a little people doll house and the best of all was a big girl car seat. My car seat makes me so happy which makes my parents happy because I don't fight them to get in my seat.
My fun party ended with a nice snuggle from my friend Joy, she let me take a rest in her arms. If you are reading, Thanks Joy (you are very snugly).

Saturday night dad washed are carpets and cleaned up the very small amount of water we had in our basement from all of the rain. Sunday morning mom was going to make pancakes for breakfast before she and dad dropped me off at Bubbe and Zayde's so they could go to a meeting. Bubbe called before we had a chance to make pancakes and told us her basement was flooding. We went right over to Bubbe and Zayde's to help. Dad, Uncle Jason and Uncle Aaron worked until late on Sunday night cleaning up.

Yesterday I got my first hair cut. Zayde always asks if you got "ALL" you hairs cut when you go for a haircut. I actually only got my bangs cut because they were way down past my eyes. I was such a good girl and had fun making silly faces in the mirror. Daddy held me while Maggie cut my hair. I wanted to get a funky style but mom said no.

I finally recovered from my party and from the flooding and I was looking forward to today when it was my actual birthday. I took Popsicles to school with me today. Mom packed a special outfit for me because I am sort of messy with Popsicles but I love them. Tonight we are going to Hi.ckory P.ark in A.mes for dinner. Mom and Dad always went there when they had birthdays so my parents keep talking about how if I am good I will get to have a Merry-Go-Round for dessert. I have no idea what that is but Mom and Dad are pretty excited.

Tomorrow I am going back to my favorite photographer Amy D. in N.ewton for my 1 year old pictures. We love Amy's pictures, she took my picture when I was only four days old. Mom thinks Amy takes such good pictures of me, we only hope the weather cooperates.

I have had such a full week already I am going to need a big rest to recover from this week when it is over. I hope all my friends and family are not flooded out and if you are I hope the water leaves quickly!

Dot-2-Dot

If you look at my legs and connect the dots, or you grab my arm and trace the red marks up and down it you may be able to figure out what exactly I have.

My mom picked me up from school yesterday and thought it was weird that they were doing all kinds of construction by the baby room. They put me in the baby room for the last few minutes of the day before my mom arrived. When my mom picked me up she noticed I had several big red splotches by my mouth and several on my feet and some on my legs. Immediately she called Bubbe to see what she thought. My mom thought I had Hand, Foot and Mouth disease because it is running right through daycare. Bubbe wasn't sure what it was but mom called the doctor just in case I needed to be seen. The doctor knew immediately what I had.

CHICKEN POX!!!!!

Can you believe that I have the chicken pox? Mom took pictures of me today. My case is not SUPER bad but it is bad enough. I am so crabby and not much makes me happy. Mom HAD to get some work done today so I came to work and helped Bubbe.

I am sad that I am going to miss swimming tonight and I am probably going to miss it on Saturday too. My parents call me their little fish. On Saturday at class I learned how to back float. I was just chillin' in the water. I love swim class.

On Monday night I did something that I had not done before, I took my little push cart and I took about ten steps right behind the cart. I did it all on my own with no help. I will be on my own and walking in no time.

My parents are planning my first birthday party. They said immediate family only but I may try to sneak some other friends in. Can you believe I will be one on June 12, 2008. A whole year has gone by! My parents can't believe how big I am.

I'll let you all know how I am doing in a few days. Several more pox have shown up even over the day!!! Mom will post a picture as soon as she can.

The post after the long silence

Where to begin?

I have been VERY busy that's for sure. My social secretary almost had to be fired and my Zayde even commented that it had been WAY to long since my last update. So here I am with all the information. What do you want to know?

I will start with the point in which we left off.

Just moments after my social secretary hit publish on my last bullet point post my two bottom teeth popped through. My mother thinks they are the two cutest teeth on the planet. I let her think they are cute while I use them as a secret weapon to get what I want. Those two teeth are in and they are big, and pearly white. My mom thinks I am working on a couple more on the top.

Tax season FINALLY ended but my mom and my Bubbe and Zayde still have oodles of work to do. My parents can't wait until the work is done because they want to spend more time with me doing fun things.

On April 12, 2008 my new cousin Mason made his appearance. He arrived not a moment too soon on my ten month birthday. I can't wait to meet him. My parents said they would take me for a visit to MN to visit him sometime soon. Though they will be moving shortly and I hope we will be too.

That brings me to the next fun fact. My parents are getting our house ready to put on the market. Dad thinks we need more space and mom doesn't care one way or the other. I have been trying to be helpful in my own room by standing up and pulling ALL of the books off my shelves. I laugh when I do it but mom doesn't seem to think it is quite as amusing as I do. I have a favorite book that I am always looking for when I pull my books off the shelf. The book is called "Baby Cakes" and I got it as a gift through a book exchange. I love that book and my parents read it to me every night before I go to sleep.

I could be close to walking but I will never tell. If you push a toy along I will walk forward but otherwise I just move side to side.

My cousin Carter and I got to share the first night of Passover together. Their were a few other kids their and mom and dad helped me look for the afikomen. I found the afikomen and Zayde gave me two shiny gold dollars. Dad put those in my piggy bank for me for someday when I really need them. I had a lot of fun tasting all the new things. I love carrots in brisket juice and the carrots from the matzoh ball soup too. Matter of fact I don't mind matzoh balls either.

Mom, Uncle Aaron, Aunt Laura, Carter and I went and made a special surprise for Bubbe, Bubbe Bubbe and my Nana right before Mother's Day. We went and had our pictures taken together. The pictures turned out really well everyone said but I couldn't keep still during the pictures. Mom said Carter sat there like a good boy while I was all busy, busy, busy checking everything out. Mom was beet red and sweating by the time the photo session was over. I was on the move.

Speaking of Mother's Day, Dad and I did several very special things for mom. First we went shopping a whole week before Mother's Day. We tried to be very sneaky and shop while mom was off helping with crap for Aunt Robyn's wedding. We did lots of shopping and I was exhaustedd when we got home and slept for hours. It was probably a good thing as dad had sworn me to secrecy. It was a long week but on Mother's Day, dad and I let mom sleep for a little while and we played downstairs. Then when mom came downstairs we let her open all her cards and gift's. Mom loved them all but most especially the gift certificate to the pottery place so mom and I can paint something together. At daycare they had an activity where they made a really cool tile out of my foot print from the pottery place.

I got to spend time with both my Bubbe and my Nana for Mother's Day and I gave them my pretty pictures as gifts. We also went and looked at a really fun new house on Mother's Day. Mom and Dad were going to put in an offer but Dad wants to sell our house first. Hopefully we will have a new house this summer.

Last night I started swim class. Mom and Dad want to get me all ready for the pool this summer. As soon as mom and I got in the water I was so excited. My arms and legs were going and I was so happy to be playing in the water. Their were lots of other kids and babies there and we were in a circle. I was trying so hard to be quiet but it was way to hard. It was dead silent in the indoor pool and the instructor was talking, I carefully rested my mouth on my mom's wet arm and blew the biggest tootie noise I could on my mom's arm. Mom was so embarrassing but I just roared with laughter. Everyone else was laughing too. Mom called me the class clown. I was just having a good time. Dad arrived a few minutes into class and took pictures and video like all the other daddy's. I can't wait for Saturday when the next class is. Mom told Aunt Robyn she could come with us if she wanted to. That will be even more fun.

I have done so many amazing things since my last update it is hard to believe. Mom keeps telling me she can't believe that I am almost a year old. They are going to have a big party for me and everyone should come. I love friends and family!