Welcoming Sophia Grace

And we're back! So, I've taken about a year off from updating our blog, but I've decided to try it again! So much has happened since my last post... namely our family was blessed with another miracle when Sophia Grace was born on December 1, 2010. Our little Miss Isabelle turned into a big girl overnight it seems. She celebrated her 3rd birthday on December 9 and has been the best big sister ever!! Jason and I enjoy every moment of being parents... even the trying ones ;) Our girls are our world and therefore, this blog will mostly be about THEM! Enjoy! ***WARNING*** There is a bare belly shot in this post- so if that sort of thing grosses you out, you may want to proceed to the next post! :)

November 30: This picture was taken the night before Sophia was born, after we found out that they would be doing the c-section the following day. While I may look at peace, I was feeling very, very nervous!

Baby Belly... less than 24 hours before we would meet her!

Our precious little "peanut" arrives! This photo was taken just moments after she was born... there were a few issues with her heartrate and blood sugar so she was being monitored and helped by NICU staff in the delivery room. They had to use gavage feeding initially to help control her blood sugar. It worked and then she was able to nurse within the first few hours. We feel so lucky that all of these issues were resolved within her first days of life.

Daddy cutting the cord :)


Our beautiful baby girl- 5 lbs. 17 1/2 in.

Spring

A walk around the DSM library park...

Isabelle LOVES any kind of fountains. We have to allow extra time at church before and after for her to explore the fountain there!

Always stylin' :)

The infamous "egg hunt"!

Isabelle moved up to her "big girl bed" during the week of spring break! She has done great! We are so proud of her!

Easter

Wow... so I'm really not doing well with keeping this blog updated! Isabelle continues to keep us busy and we love every minute with her!

Easter Egg Hunt at Grandma and Grandpa Herberger's house. She now thinks there are going to be Easter eggs in the yard everytime we go there.

Easter morning at our house... she is all about that big bunny that brings her treats!

She did it! After almost 45 minutes in line, she actually sat on the Easter bunny's lap! I was so proud of her!

Coloring eggs... always an adventure!

The finished product!

A New Year!

2010... I can hardly believe it! We celebrated Isabelle's 2nd birthday on December 9 and now we are already embarking upon the new year! We are doing well and Isabelle continues to keep us on our toes. We love her to pieces and she knows it. :)

Some of her favorite sayings as of late:

1. "Hey you, stop it!" (endearing, huh?)

2. "Don't worry about it Mommy."

3. "I sorry."

4. "Yucks!" (when describing the yucks in her nose or ears)

5. "See you in a wittle bit."

6. "I go to Grandma's morrow." (or whatever else we tell her no about at the time!)

7. "I watch Do-Do-Dora for a wittle bit."

8. "Oh, man!"

9. "I take my vitim." (referring to her vitamin)

10. "Wuv you!" (melts my heart everytime!!)

Our little fashionista!

Elle loves her babies... all 30 of them!


Always ready to help :)


Hissing cockroaches... only at Grandma Karwal's!!


ARGH!

Happy Holidays!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Our Little Pumpkin

All is well at the Karwal household! We are enjoying the little bit of fall weather we've had before it gets too cold. Although Isabelle was quite excited for our first snow that came in OCTOBER! I'll have to put those pics on the next post! Isabelle has been slightly obsessed with pumpkins. So for Halloween, she is quite excited to be "a punkin".

Elle cozied up with a few of her stuffed animals. She likes to read to them.

I took Isabelle to Iowa Orchards to get our pumpkins and some apple pie. She had so much fun!

This weekend, we are going to Jason's parents' house where she will get even more pumpkins from Grandma Deb's pumpkin patch.

She was in pure heaven at the pumpkin patch and kept trying to pick each of them up.

Isabelle attended Katie Karwal's baby shower with me in late September and we had the opportunity to get a picture of Elle with her two great grandmas on Jason's side-- Grandma Karwal (left) and Grandma Bourrette (right). As for the baby shower, she was utterly confused as we tried to explain that there was a baby in Katie's tummy. She kept lifting up Katie's shirt!

Silly girl!

Isabelle enjoys her Oreos :)

Isabelle & Cousin Jayda

This sums up what Isabelle thought of the Iowa State Fair. Actually, she loved it but by the end she was done with the stroller bit!

Isabelle & Daddy cheering on the Clones!

We took Isabelle to the parade for Waukeefest. She thought picking up the candy was the best thing ever... until we let her have a sucker.