Change

I can not get over the changes this little girl has made... Below is a two week picture and next is a 8 week one. The onesie she is wearing is the same one... We did not pull up her sleeves or anything. She is just that much bigger. I also can't get over her change in appearance. I know that they change daily, but still. :)




This is our friend Keith. He and Eric have known eachother for years, since they were in 7th grade... so almost 20 years. Crazy. Keith just went to Iraq for a year to work on computers, so we had to get a photo before he left.

Good Luck, and come home safe.

Baptism

June 17th, 2007 - Isabelle Anne was baptized at St. Luke's Memorial Church in Tacoma, the same church Eric and I were married in and by Father Paul, who also married us. All our immediate family was at the private ceremony to celebrate with us, and then we headed down to Ruston Way to enjoy a nice brunch.

She was such an angel. She slept through most of the ceremony, and when she was awake, she just smiled and looked around... even with the blessing of the water.

Picture Order:

1. Isabelle in her gown. She is the 6th generation to wear this Christening dress, which was made in India over 100 years ago.

2 and 3. Father Paul baptizing and blessing Isabelle

4. My parents and grandmother with Father Paul and Isabelle after the baptism

5. Eric's parents with Isabelle

6. Me with Isabelle, after the baptism at the reception brunch

7. FOUR generations together - Great Grammy, Grandy, mom (me) and Isabelle

8. A special photo of Great Grammy and Isabelle

1st Father's Day

This was a busy day... As I mentioned before, not only was it father's day, but also Isabelle's Baptism and a friend's b-day/graduation party.

For Father's day, Isabelle and I made breadkfast in bed for Eric. We got him one of the upright tool chests with 15 drawers. Finally a single place for him to put his tools and a place for me to find them. :)

Here are some adorable Father's Day photos.

In this last shot, if you notice the booties, those were mine when I was baptized, as was the dress she is wearing. Of course, this is the after dress. The christening dress will be in the next post.


This shot was just a fun pose that we retried, now that Isabelle can hold her head up better.

Photography

Another tid bid of news.... I was hired last weekend to photograph a wedding. It was my first wedding. Waaa-Hoo. Yeah though, that this was our neighbors and it was very casual. They were very understanding that I am just starting out with this new endeavor. Some of the shots came out so GREAT, others did not, but that is ok. I was playing around with the appature and lighting among other things.

I have another gig in August too, a recpetion. Maybe I will get so good that I will get hired by strangers soon.... looking for that word of mouth. :)

New Opportunity

Ok, I have known for a while, but I couldn't go public... now I can deliver the good news to you all. (No I am not pregnant again.. sheesh...)

I got a new job!! A couple of weeks ago I went into an interview, with Isabelle, at a local school (10 minutes from the house), Tahoma Jr. High for their 8th grade science position. It is a part time position which means that I will work every other day (MWF one week and TTh the next). This is great for spending lots of time with Isabelle and watching her grow, but will be very hard for us financially. Honestly, we aren't sure how we are going to do this.... but I guess time will tell as well as many cut backs. Wish us luck here! Really, please do!!

Anyways, I went in to observe the teachers I will be working with next year and to ask questions about the curriculum (last week) and absolutely love the school. It is an 8/9 Jr. high, super clean and the staff so far is amazing. The science curriculum is amazing and so well put together. WOW!

Today I went up to Kilo, to tell my prinicpal and some coworkers that I was resigning my position. That was hard to do, since Kilo has been my family for the last 4 years. But there are huge changes going on there with people going on extended leaves or retiring, including our principal.

This Friday is her retirement party at Emerald Downs. That should be fun! Then next Friday is the staff party. Those rock... drunk golfing and then the after party at a coworkers near by. This year, I won't participate in the golfing :( but I am going to show off Isabelle at the after party. (these are usually over by 6).


WORDS OR WISDOM
Yeah, I can give these now that I am a mom, even though the words I am about to say are nothing to do with motherhood.

Actually, this is about interviews. Fresh out of college, they teach you how to interview, things to say, what to wear, etc. And yes, these things are important but they aren't the only things to go into an interview with. You need some self confidence and experience too. That is the kicker... experience is the main thing, unless you have that someone who is going to get you the 'in'. This has been my ecxperience.

When I applied for my first two jobs they were one year limited contracts, nothing full time, so it only took me two interviews to get the jobs. Of course, I followed the old college rules of interviewing... nicely dressed, preped on what to say, nice long, well spoken answers and of course a bunch of nerves.

When those two years were done, I had to start all over. I started in June... which went into July, then to August, which went into September and unfortunately into October. Twevle interviews (three of those at Kilo) later, the principal finally offered me a one year contract. I believe that it was around interview 8 or 9 I 'gave up' the good ol' college way of interivewing and resorted in my way... which was self confident (that I wasn't going to get the job) but go in with all the answers, and the biggest part.. .. be RELAXED! This seemed to work... I stopped getting the generic phone call of 'thank you so much for interviewing with us, you interveiw great, but you don't have the experience.' The rejection phone calls were much more creative. Then the 12th call, that lovely acceptance call, was the best one... the principal, said that I was determined and that determination is what got me that job (mid october), even though and let me quote this, I didn't have the experience.

The point of this long story is that when I went in for this last interview at the Tahoma School District, I went in relaxed and ho-hum. I wasn't thinking that I wanted this right now. I went in expecting to have a 'chat' with the principal, not a formal interview (which it was quite formal). My expectations of interviews has drastically changed and for the better. I was not in my nice dress clothes, and I brought Isabelle wiht me, at the time she was 5 weeks old.

That is what I call a perfect interview... show the people who are interviewing you, who you really are... if they don't like you, then you weren't a good fit and there is something better out there for you. If you go into an interview not being you... you may get a job that you end up not likeing or enjoying.

I am in heaven having this new job. Going in relaxed made the interview team realxed too, and turned a very formal interveiw into a comfortable setting where we got to know if we would mesh well together.

I am done rambling now. :) (Maybe this is why I don't have many words of wisdom, I ramble).

Another Visitor

This week my grandmother, Isabelle's Great grandmother has arrived into town via train, from California. My mom flew down to get her and they took a very scenic route back up to WA. This is her (GGma's) first time seeing Isabelle in person and she is so excited. She couldn't get enough, so she is staying at our house for a week, then will go stay with my parents in GH till the end of June.


Fathers day is going to be a packed day... not only is it Father's Day, and of course grandFather's day, but it is also going to be the day of Isabelle's christening. She is going to be wearing a dress that is well over 100 years old that has been passed down in the family for generations. I will go into more detail on the dress and its history later. After the baptism, there is a dual brunch and then that evening is a party for a friend - his 30th b-day celebration as well as his graduation celebration. I am going somewhere with this, and that is that my grandmother's main reason to be up here is to be a part of the christening.


This is the first of many GGma and baby photos. Isabelle is sporting a purple onesie with butterflies on it. When I was little (and still to this day) my grammy calls me her little butterfly, so when I saw this outfit I had to get it. Don't they look smashing. :)











This last Sunday I was 'hired' to take pictures of a friends' wedding. I got there early, took many shots, some really good and some pretty bad (I am still learning). Eric showed up with Isabelle about 45 min. after the ceremony was over to make a baby appearance, stayed about an hour and then left. That must of been a hard hour, because when I arrived home, this is what I saw... the two of them napping on the floor. I couldn't resit this photo opp.


Same nap with dad, but I focused on the hands... how precious are they...












After SOOO many trials of other cute pics, I have finally succeeded in capturing a photo of Isabelle smiling.

Our Little Frog

Visit

My friend TIffany came for a visit this last week to our house, for the first time. She brought her son Riley with her. He is adorable, and deffinately a boy. Here is a photo of the three of them.

Isabelle has started smiling on purpose, not all the time, but sometimes. Of course, I haven't been able to capture one of them yet. What I do seem to get is her 'ooohh' face. That seems to be her 'camera' face.

Here is a grin, the closest I have been able to get to that smile.

Today, I had some fun... Pink outfit and a basket. It is so hard to get a baby to pose, but she seems to do pretty good.

More Pics

Another veiw from the nursery, this time it is of an elk. There was a small herd of them in the backyard.




This morning we worked on holding our head up, and did a very good job. It is hard work, it wore me out, however, I did have enough energy to pose for the next picture.



"Yo"

One Month B-day

Ok, it is silly, but Eric, and I celebrated Isabelle's one month birthday. We dressed up, well, dressed Isabelle up and made cupcakes and sang to her.

1st Tub Bath

Isabelle is 4 weeks old today, her umbilical cord fell off yesterday, so for a celebration, we gave her her first tub bath. We heated up the bathroom with a porta heater, filled her tub, tested the water with her temperature duck, and of course got the camera... then dunked her in. She was so good... no tears, just funny looks and a few shivers.


The first dunk into the tub o' warm water. If you look closely, you will see that on my right leg, near my sock, it is all wet. That is not water from the tub. That would be our darling daughter peeing on me. :)

Let's get a close up at that look she is giving me, shall we.





It is the look of 'what are you doing to me?'














After the bath, she was zonked...



Just a cute dress for posing.

The Nursery

A 'Secret Garden' is the theme of Isabelle's nursery. With green walls and white lattice work, we seem to have accomplished the garden atmosphere for her room, which can easily grow with her.

The picture by the window is a hand made needle point of Noah's Ark, made for Isabelle by her great grandmother Loretta.

The blue house in the corner by the crib was decorated and painted by my dear friend and co-worker Jane.

This canvas flower painting and the butterfly and dragonfly canvas' were painted by our dear friend Elizabeth, who also helped us to design the nursery.

1st Mother's Day

My first Mother's Day was wonderful. Breakfast in bed... a card from Isabelle (and her name was spelled correctly in the card... ;) ;) (funny story where cousin Sophia's dad didn't spell her name correctly in her mom's card), and a wonderful gift of a canon flash for my camera. Now I can take photos on cloudy days or at night and they won't come out super dark or fuzzy. Yippeee!!! After a relaxing morning and some mom's day photos with Isabelle, we headed over to Eric's parents house for a family dinner. Next weekend we are heading to my parents to celebrate.




ok, so we had to get a picture of Daisy sticking her head out of the fence.


In my Daddy's hands.


My eyes are still blue, a bright blue, not the new born blue... but no matter what... it doesn't show up in pictures. Maybe with the new flash that will change.

Talking to my dad


Cousin Sophia being gentle with Isabelle.





Resting on mom's shoulder... We are going to try this shot again, when she can hold her head up better...

Week 3

Ok, so I love to take pictures of our little angel girl. She is so beautiful, plus I get to practice with my camera. :)

Our 'Precious Girl'

"My mommy loves to dress me up in all my clothes and take photos of me. At least I am not getting bows taped to my head."

My mom came over to babysit for the night, while Eric and I went out on our first date since Isabelle was born, (technically before that even). We went to dinner and a movie (Spider-Man 3) and had a wonderful time.

I only called home once to check in on our little one. ;)

In true Kilo spirit... red and gold