We were driving from the hotel to the airport through the Dominican Republic countryside to come back home and Isabel turned to Ricardo and said:

Papi – I love you…thank you for showing me your world.

Talk about a special moment…still brings tears to my eyes!! That is what being a parent is all about!!

Just had to share!

I can’t wait for the next one this weekend!! Hopefully Ricky can get some of the pictures and video up from the game.

Hope you had a great birthday!

I now have my very own blog! It’s still a work in progress but you can find it at: tommie.theamells.net

Happy Reading!

She has been talking about going to a pumpkin patch for the last week. She keeps telling me that JJ is taking her to a pumpkin patch (although JJ knew nothing about it!) There is a small church by our house that has some pumpkins outside and we figured that is what she was talking about. On the way to school this morning, JJ pulled into that church parking lot and asked if it was the pumpkin patch she was talking about…

Isabel got upset and said “No, I would need my binoculars to see this one”.

She the decided she needed to go find the pumkpin patch instead of going to school. When she got to school she told her teacher that JJ was taking her to a pumpkin patch after school. We still have not figured out what she is talking about! But I guess it better be pretty big so she doesn’t need her binoculars! hahaha

Isabel started school again on 8/16. She is now going 3 days a week and is loving it! She hasn’t been napping there yet, but hopefully will start again soon (makes for quite a grumpy little girl by 6 PM with no nap)

I have to share a story about her that is so cute…we got a slide for the backyard for her and when she saw it, she said “thank you, my very own park”. It was so sweet! And of course yesterday she managed to bust both of her lips open playing on it! But she is fine – looked a little like Angelina Jolie there for a while…hahaha

She is adapting to big sister role much better these days. I think she has figured out that Tori is here to stay so she may as well get used to it! She is very sweet to her and helpful most of the time. I think she will be really happy once Tori can play with her. Tori really gets a kick out of Isabel dancing around (totally my daughter) and laughs and giggles at her.

Now little Miss Tori is doing great. She is 3 months old now and is just adorable. She rolled over for the first time a few days ago (yes we were at work but J.J. was lucky enough to see it). She hasn’t done it since. She is now sleeping out of her carseat (yea!!) and naps in her crib in her room but still sleeps in my room at night in her bassinet. She doesn’t sleep nine hours straight anymore (was a great 3 weeks!!) but now wakes up at least once during the night, usually twice.

Tori has the most beautiful smile! She is a very happy baby and just laughs and coos. She doesn’t like a pacifier but prefers to suck on her 2 middle fingers making the “hook ‘em horns” sign all the time (Papi is very proud!). She loves to sit up and just soak it all in.

We are very blessed to have such precious girls!

Tori had her 2 month check up last week and was 12 pounds 6 ounces (75%), and was 50% for both length and head. Sorry, my mommy brain can’t remember the exact measurements! She also got 5 shots – it was horrible! But other than that, the doctor said she looked great!

She has been sleeping about 9 hours a night – yes, that is correct – 9 hours! At 10 weeks old! Isabel didn’t sleep that long until she was around 8 months old if I remember correctly. So we are pretty spoiled by that. She is smiling and cooing now – it just melts your heart! She is getting so big or as big sister Isabel says – “but she’s getting much bigger”. New pics will come soon.

I went back to work last week. I cried most of the first day back **SHOCK**…hahaha. But after the first day, it got much better. Jerry is just amazing! I can’t thank him enough for the love and care he gives the girls! He is great! He makes the guilt of me having to work just melt away!

Isabel just finished her last day of summer camp. She loved every minute of it! Next week she starts swimming lessons for 2 weeks. And then on August 9 she starts school again. She will be going 3 days a week now. It is amazing how much she loves school now. After the start we had last year, I thought we would never get to this point! She asks to go everyday now. My little girl is growing up!

2. Right now she is about 6 pounds 1 ounce so she will only weigh about 7 pounds at birth (Isabel was 8 pounds 6 ounces).

3. It is definitely a girl. I had the doctor check yesterday!

4. I have gained just over 30 pounds and I’m PROUD of it!!! Only time in my life I can feel good about gaining weight…hehehe (don’t remind me of this statement in 2 months when I am trying to lose the weight!)

5. We have 2 weeks from today to prepare!!! SCARY!

I am really excited and nervous at the same time. Now that it is scheduled and almost here it just seem so real all of a sudden.

Tuesday night…put her to bed at 8:37. She got out several times in the next 5 minutes so I decided to stand in her doorway where she could see me.  She stayed in bed and was asleep in 5 minutes!!! WOW!!  She woke up after I went to sleep and Ricky did the same thing and she fell back asleep pretty quickly.  She came to our room around 2 and I did the same thing and had her back to sleep in about 15 minutes.  She woke up around 6:15 (which is still entirely too early but that is another battle!)

Maybe we have stumbled across something…will keep you posted!

Up until she got sick, she would sleep in her big girl bed with no problems at all. Now, we have been battling for up to 2 hours every single night to get her to sleep in her bed and stay there all night. It is very frustrating, exhausting and especially heartbreaking! It is so hard to just put her back in her bed ignoring her pleas and cries but apparently that is how you must do it. I have scoured the internet, talked to lots of other moms and Isabel’s pediatrician.

And with Tori’s arrival imminent, it is especially critical that we get Isabel back in her bed. We have 4 weeks. 4 weeks!!!! We made a little progress, or so we thought last week.

The first night was horrible, I cried as much as Isabel did. So we instituted a sticker program where Isabel would get stickers for napping and sleeping in her bed, hoping the incentive would help. When she reached 10 stickers, she would get the Cabbage Patch Kid she had been wanting. The week trudged along, each night seeminly getting better. Friday night was great – by the new standards that is – only took about 40 minutes for her to stay in her bed and fall asleep. She slept all night long and didn’t wake up until 7:30 Saturday morning! She had earned her doll so we went and picked it out.

Saturday night was a NIGHTMARE! She went to sleep with minimal (less than an hour) of getting in and out and in and out of bed. But then she woke up at 2 AM and didn’t go back to sleep until 4:30! And then woke up at 7:30!! UGH!!

Last night wasn’t much better, she finally went to sleep at 10:15 but that was only because I was so tired I couldn’t fight her anymore and I layed on her floor until she fell asleep (which took all of 45 seconds!). And for me to lay on the floor at this point in my pregnancy is not all that comfy!!

So then she gets up at 2 and wants milk. I give her some milk against my better judgement but I am so tired at this point I would have given her a pony had she asked! Ten minutes later she is back in my room with her cup. “here mama, i’m finished – will you sleep on my floor please?” in the cutest little whisper you have ever heard! So, I go and lay on her floor until she falls asleep. About 15 minutes later I am back in my bed – 3 and 1/2 hours left to sleep. She comes back in – “mama, why did you leave, come back please and lay on my floor.” So there I am again, back on her floor. I drift off and wake up 2 hours later at 5 AM. I go back to my room – about 45 minutes to sleep. Next thing I know, she is my room again – “mama – i wanna watch TV, its morning!” And lo and behold my alarm goes off. Welcome to Monday!

Last night probably set us back another week with me sleeping on the floor and giving her milk. So tonight we start again. Wish us luck!

Parents – consider yourself warned!!

Oh, the joys of parenthood! But of course, I wouldn’t trade her for the world!

She went out the doggie door in a shirt, shoes, sunglasses and ski cap earlier – I would venture to say she is feeling much better!

She called me when they got home and was telling me all about it.  It was so cute – she said that you had to be quiet in the movies!

I’m so glad she had a good experience!  Now Ricardo will have someone to go to the movies with  

 

We had a great holiday season. We spent Christmas in San Antonio. Isabel had tons of fun and got lots of great gifts. This is the first year she kinda understood what was going on. She loved opening the gifts!

We spent New Year’s Eve in Rockwall. We had a great time and Isabel even made it to see the ball drop. She danced the night away with Tia Annie.

She was a little upset that all the lights and trees have been taken down. She really loved driving around and looking at all the lights.

Isabel did pretty good getting back into the swing of things with school. She is just now getting back to taking a nap…we are back up to 20 minutes. But she seems to really enjoy her classmates and teacher. The Carrollton Fire Department will be at school tomorrow so I’m sure she will really enjoy that.

She is starting to understand (we think) about her baby sister coming. She knows she will be a big sister but don’t really know if she KNOWS what that means! She knows Vittoria is in my belly and says she has dollies in her belly too.

On January 14, Tammy and Brian got married and Isabel was the flower girl. She looked so precious! She had so much fun dancing and running around. She kinda froze when it was time to walk down the aisle but she did walk down holding my hand. We have tons of pictures and I’m sure they will be up soon…have to talk to my technical director about that!

This past weekend we went to Ikea and got Isabel her big girl bed. It is really cute. She loves it but doesn’t want to sleep in it just yet. It’s a huge transition and we have plenty of time so we will just let her go at her own pace. It has a rainbow canopy type thing that she loves and had to have. She remembered it from the first time we went to Ikea back in November! Smart kid! We will have to put a picture up so you can see it.

Well I guess that catches up with what has been going on in Isabel’s world that last few months.

More to come…

We went to the doctor today and the sonogram revealed a healthy baby girl! We are very excited!

Little Vittoria Erin Amell will make her debut in mid May. (In case you are curious – I found the name in a book I read a while back and thought it was very unique and beautiful – Ricky agreed and it was settled!)

We are still working on the whole big sister thing with Isabel…I know she will come around! She still is a little young to grasp the concept but will be a great big sister!

Wednesday afternoon we head down to San Antonio. Just outside San Marcos Isabel got sick. We thought..oh, she’s carsick….well….maybe not; she kept throwing up! We finally got to San Antonio and were there about an hour before we headed to the ER (she kept throwing up after we got to SA). Isabel was dehydrated and going downhill fast! We got to the childrens ER and there were people everywhere! But since Isabel was so sick we got in almost immediately. They put an IV in her and she didn’t even flinch she felt so bad. Poor baby. (There are pictures in the moblog). After about 15-20 minutes, the IV kicked in and she started feeling much better. We finally left around 2 AM and went home. Our first trip to the ER wasn’t too bad thankfully.

Thursday morning we were all tired but feeling pretty good. We went to Johanna and Brian’s new house for turkey dinner. The house turned out great – it is beautiful! Lunch was delicious.

To spare you the rest, I will just say this…everyone that came into contact with Isabel got sick over the next 3 days! When we left San Antonio yesterday, the count was up to 10!

But at least Thanksgiving day turned out good. That we can be thankful for!

We got to hang out with Lyndon, Kat, Law and Jess. It was nice and relaxing. It is so different now that we all have kids. Its so funny how priorities change. I guess it’s all part of growing up! Pretty soon we will all be on round 2 with the kiddos.

We had brunch at Trudy’s before heading back to Dallas on Sunday morning. MIGAS!! They are the best!

It was a fun weekend. And thankfully Isabel slept on Ricardo and not me this time in the hotel!! But at least she slept until 7…that is always nice!

A big thanks to Kathie and Lyndon…