Yogurt and counting...are they related?

A bit long (3 mins) but I thought that it was good!

Summer Holidays- a.k.a July 2009

We're all going on a summer holiday...well it was short but it was summer and we were on holiday! So many things other than our holiday has happened this month. We went and bought Isabella a new highchair since she outgrew her other one! While we were at the store talking to the assistant, Isabella found herself a nice seat on the Baby Bjorn display seat. Once we were at home, I put it together...I always put the things together...this is one of those seats that can be taken apart and re-ordered to grow with the child. You can move the seat and foor rest up and down as the child needs. You can also remove the top barrier so that it can be used as a regular chair for them when they get big enough- very versitile!




It seems that Isabella is happy she has reached her goal weight. Whatever that is...maybe 12.5kg. She has done that with the repeated help of her father who is her ice cream supplier.













As you can see her hair is getting longer and longer. I have cut her bangs/fringe twice now and it really needs doing again but it isn't the easiest thing to do. I have been thinking that we will wait for my mom to get here to do it but the situation is getting serious! You can see a little of the desperation in the shot of Isabella in bed. This is how she woke up a couple of weeks ago. She was so cute that I just had to take a photo...but you can see what I mean about the hair!!

The rest of the photos come from our holiday. What you can't see from the relaxing tent photos is all the hard work that went into actually getting that tent up! Well it wasn't the tent that was difficult, it was trying to chase Isabella around and keep her out of the lake you can see in the other photos while we put it up!










Eventually we did take her down to the little lake and let her play in the water. She loves the water. One photo I didn't take was the one of the wasp sting she got while I was putting on her bathing suit. Poor girl! She had big crocodile tears but luckily they didn't last long and you can see that we got the suit on and she was fine. You can see from these photos that she is planning on becoming a swimsuit model! :-)


































We went to a restaurant in Kuopio (where one of Taneli's grandmothers lives) and we ordered Bella a meal from the kids menu...we got a whole lot more than we bargained for and Taneli got to eat most of it! She also had lots of fun with the straws...



The day before we arrived in Kuopio Taneli's 85 year old grandma fell and broke her hip and was in hospital while we were there (and will be for some time now). So we went to visit her but she was still in a lot of pain from the surgery the day before and a post-surgety ward is not really the place for and energy-filled toddler.

And finally, these last two photos were taken two nights ago. I went to go see the new Harry Potter movie at the theatre and Taneli stayed home with Isabella. He sent this photo to my phone while I was there with a message attached that said "I was doing laundry and when I came to the living room I saw her enjoying chocolate. She had found the bag in the hallway." Here is the very relaxed "I'm doing nothing wrong...just sitting here watching Dora" photo of Bella and a photo of the bag and the smoking gun wrapper! Sneaky girl!!

Sandbox Groundhog Day

I have to say that going to the sandbox gives me the same feeling Bill Murray had in Groundhog Day. We go there with the same bag of toys and do the same things day in and day out but Isabella enjoys it! As long as I can take a book (and sometimes a chair), I am happy. She also loves going on slides and is quite brave. She will try the big ones as long as we can get her up to the top. The swings are something we avoid...no idea why but she hasn't liked them for a long time.

Water water everywhere

The sunny days have arrived and we have been enjoying them as much as possible. You just never know when they will stop! We have put the little blow-up pool on the balcony and she can splash and play to her heart's content! She can also pour water all over the balcony and walk water all through the house...aaahhhh, the fun that is had!






We also like to play Babushka/Bella...for babushka Isabella puts her towel on her head and for Bella she takes it off. It is really funny when she tries to say babushka!



This third photo is of our next door neighbour's son Natu. He is exactly 2 months older than Isabella. In the photo we were all walking to the park to play in the sandbox...poor Natu kept trying to hold her hand but she would have none of it!

As I mentioned last time, we got a bike. This was Taneli's first try with the bike and Bella. All that extra weight on the back can really tip the balance. Don't worry folks, we just rode in front of the house without her helmet for a short time.

The last group of photos comes from our visit to a local little lake (more like a large pond in my opinion...or something that might be referred to as a "swimming hole" in a piece of literature) near our house. Apparently people go there and swim. It was good for Bella because on one side it was very shallow and on the other side it was deeper so that people could swim. We stayed for most of the time on the shallow side and there were ducklings swimming around. One kept swimming very close to Bella (about a foot away) but then she would crouch down and splash the water and it would scurry away...I don't blame it! When we went there, Isabella had on a dress and some capri pants when we went there...soon the pants came off so that she could walk further into the water...then the diaper started dip into the water and suck up water...but she was having so much fun!



























The last two photos show the two extremes...Isabella was way too brave for her own good after splashing around in the shallow end. We went to the other side just to watch the people swimming but she had to go in herself...and then she kept going and going. I had to quickly give my camera and phone to Taneli in order to follow her in. And just when she was in to about her chest, she tripped and dunked herself...the product being the last photo. So I pulled her up and she cried a little and got me all wet!!! Then we packed her in the car and went home...so that she could have a bath!