Dear Isabella,

Well, I never professed to being a great journaler (sp?). I said I would elaborate on all the things that had happened last month, and I haven't. Now I just don't feel like it, but I feel like I owe you some elaboration, so here is the short of it:

Mom (your Grandma Ruth) moved:
My mom moved to Ft. Lauderdale after some painstaking searching in L.A. and Ventura counties for a home that my sister could afford to buy her. Alas, California totally sucks for buying a home. Prices are absolutely outrageous and well, that's why we will move as soon as the time is right. She finally cut her apron strings and Carmelo has his own apartment (which I had to find for him). Mom is so happy now, but she misses us terribly. We are going to visit her as soon as we can and as often as we can.

We drove to Joplin, MO.:
Yes, we drove to Joplin and took Roger with us. We had a blast and most of the "sight seeing" we did was for Roger's benefit. He is a history buff, so he wanted to see Civil War battle grounds (which we did in Carthage and Springfield). He also really wanted to go to Dodge City in Kansas, or Tombstone in Arizona. I told him he had to pick one, and he chose Dodge. Bad Idea Jeans! We were less than a mile away from a huge cattle feed lot that had about 25000 head of cattle. There are no words to describe the...ahem...aroma. You know what? Aroma is too sweet a word; it was a nasty-ass stank! The museum at Boot Hill cost too much and didn't open until too late, so we got the Hell outta there. It was just fun to say that and really mean it. ;-) By the way, you are an excellent traveller and we had a lot of fun with you.

Scott got laid off:
Yes, 4 days after we got back from vacation, Daddy got laid off. It's okay though, because it only took 3 weeks for Daddy to start at a new job which he's liking quite a bit so far.

I got to visit Charlotte:
We finally, after 3 attempts, got to go to Olympia to visit Charlotte and meet Braeden. He is so darned cute and you and he got along really well. We have some great pictures of you guys playing in the wading pool, playing in Jello, and riding in a swing together. Charlotte is hopefully coming out to visit in a few months too, so that should be really nice.

So, this is what you've been doing the last month:
- You are cruising the furniture and getting into everything.
- You like to be in the pool and splash around like crazy.
- You love bananas but don't like other textured food. I'm introducing foods you can mash and chew and you tend to spit it out if it's not mushy. You're getting better about that though.
- You want to walk, but still not confident in your balance.
- You love to play in the grass and explore.
- You love to go on the swings and you even say "wee."
- You say "hi" and "bye" - sorta. You tend to wait until someone has left before you wave good-bye.
- You say "all done" when you finish food or your bottle. This hasn't been consistent, but you definitely understand. You even do the hand swiping thing that I do when you're all done.
- You've learned what "no" means and you shake your head when you know you're doing something wrong. You also say "no no nooooo."
- You still only have 6 teeth, but it's obvious you're teething.
- You pretend to talk on the phone when we give you a "play" phone.
- You dance and bounce when you hear music.
- You love your Baby Einstein-Baby Mozart and Veggie Tales Silly Songs DVD's a lot.
- You also like to watch Blue's Clues, Dora the Explorer and The Wiggles.

I'm getting ready for your 1st birthday party which is in less than 3 weeks. I can't believe it's been a year already! You have grown so much and I love you so much. You are truly amazing and your Daddy and I can't imagine life without you.

~ Mama ~