Happy Birthday Isabelle!

Two weeks ago Isabelle turned 1!!!  I can't believe my baby girl is getting so big.  Of course we had to throw her a birthday party, even if she won't remember it.  We decided the best place for a party would be at Chuck E. Cheese's since I had my birthday there almost every year for the first 25 years of my life (and no 25 is not a typo).  And since Isabelle is my little princess we had a princess theme for the party.  Everyone had a great time, especially Isabelle.  

At  our favorite grocery store, Publix, they give a free individual cake for 1 year olds when you buy a bigger cake.  I expected it to be the size of a cupcake, but it was much bigger.  

Before we were done singing "Happy Birthday" Isabelle already had her fingers in the frosting. How do 1 year olds even know to go for the frosting?

As tradition goes, we allowed Isabelle to dig into her cake.  It got everywhere!  But she loved it. She seemed more and more amazed with every bite.  

Mmmm...this is good stuff!

There was no sharing of the cake!

What was left when we finally took the cake away!

One of Isabelle's favorite presents was her new princess chair from Mamie and Papy.  Isabelle absolutely loves it and goes to sit in it whenever she sees it.

Isabelle even got to play on the slides and rides.

All in all we had a wonderful first birthday party!

Grandpa also came up the day before Isabelle's birthday and took us out for a nice birthday dinner.  Thanks Grandpa!

A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT ISA ON HER 1ST BIRTHDAY!

Favorite foods: Cheese, cheese and more cheese, I guess she is half French after all.  Isabelle also loves fruit, especially bananas and grapes.  We are still having a hard time with her veggies, thank goodness for Juice Plus.  Isabelle also loves anything sweet as you can see from her birthday cake.

Words: Mama, Papa, Nana, Tata, num, banana, cheese (sounds more like eese), up, more, mmmm, ewwww, ouch, yuck, eat, no,  and nez (french for nose).  There are probably others that I am forgetting or haven't been able to recognize yet.  

We have also been working on signing with Isabelle.  She has really caught on fast. I think everyone should do signing with their babies, it is so helpful to have Isabelle be able to communicate what she wants or needs.  We are learning new words each day, but so far she can sign the following:  cheese, water/drink, eat, nurse, please, thank you, more, all done, all gone, hot, pretty, dog, I love you, chicken, hi, bye, licorice, apple, banana, yes, no, 1 (for her age), star, spider, brush teeth, and blows kisses.  One thing we are really happy about is that we can be speaking to Isabelle in either French or English and she will sign in response.  That gives me a lot of hope that the French is sinking in.  

Mobility:  Isabelle is walking everywhere.  She is also a little monkey.  She likes to climb on everything and climb down from everything, even our really high bed.  

My favorite things:  Isabelle's smile, when Isabelle signs I love you without me even saying it, cuddling with Isabelle in the morning, Isabelle's hugs and kisses, her many facial expressions, the sound of her voice, when Isabelle asks for nums and does the sign at the same time just in case we didn't understand her, Isabelle's rolls, dressing Isabelle, and watching Isabelle dance.

Stats: 21 lbs and 10 oz., 29 1/4 inches in height (finally over the 50 percentile mark on height!), 4 teeth and 4 more coming in.

Isa's Favorite Songs: Hips Don't Lie, Closer, Low and anything else with a little rhythm, she loves to dance.  

It has been the best year of our lives and we are looking forward to many more wonderful years with our little princess.