A Favorite Trick

I've come in to find Isabelle with her legs stuck through the crib rails on multiple occasions.  Silly girl!

Laube Family Campout

The weekend of June 30th and July 1st was the annual campout for the Laube family.  This was Isabelle's first camping experience at only 2 and 1/2 months old.  She did fabulously!  She slept quite well, either in her stroller around the campfire or in her pack'n'play in the tent.  She also served as an alarm clock to make sure everyone in our site got an early start to the day.  :)

Isabelle with Great-Grandma Fern

Isabelle with Grandma Purkapile early in the morning!

Chilling with Grandpa Purkapile

Fox Wedding Weekend

Lounging poolside after a nice short swim with daddy!  This was my first swim EVER and I LOVED IT!

 

Dressed and ready to party!
(Thanks Grandma Purkapile for making my dress to match mommy's)

Jennine and Jason Fox... Congrats you two! 

We attempted to get Isabelle to sleep in the reception hall by putting her in her car seat and covering it up but it did not seem to work very well.  Instead she stayed up with us until 11:30 pm and then slept the first 5 hours straight during our 7 hour drive home the following day :)

Father's Day

Isabelle with her daddy for his first Father's Day!

Isabelle with Grandpa Black on Father's Day!

Watch Me Grow!!!

Eric and I have decided to track Isabelle's growth by taking pictures of Isabelle at each milestone with Eric's childhood teddy bear, Jamie.  Check out the pictures below to see how much our little peanut has grown in her first two months.  I can't believe how big she has gotten these past two months and I cherish every day with her of these next two weeks before I have to return to work.

Here she is at only three days old.  Her first day home from the hospital!

She is hiding from the camera a bit and leaning heavily on Jamie at two weeks old.

At one month, she is better at holding herself up and has grown quite a bit!

Today, at two months, she has the smiling thing down just not the looking at the camera part :)

Baptism

Isabelle Jean was baptized into the christian family on June 3, 2012.  She was a bit fussy throughout, except when the water was being poured on her head.  This little girl loves water. :)

 Our little family with Father Joe, who baptized her.

Our little family and the godparents: Ethan Purkapile (my baby brother) and Kerry Luther (Eric's sister)

Eric's family

My family

Great-Aunt Royann and cousin Luke entertaining Isabelle

 A close-up of Isabelle on her baptism.  The gown was by Great-Aunt Royann and worn previously by Eric and his sister for their baptisms.

The Making of Grandparents

My parents came down the first full week Isabelle was home from the hospital to help out and meet the little bundle joy that moved them into grandparent status.  How excited they were to meet their first little grand baby, especially knowing they could give her back to mom or dad when she got fussy!!! :)

 Grandpa loving on his first grandchild

 Three generations

 Grandma loved giving Isabelle a bath and Isabelle just LOVES bath time!!

Gma and Gpa loving on their grandbaby.

Newborn Photo Opp

Here are the newborn pictures we had taken of our little sweetheart right before heading home from the hospital.

Welcome to the world Isabelle Jean

Hello everyone!

Sorry it has taken so long to get back to posting on here.  Eric and I have been busy adjusting to life with our little bundle of joy that finally arrived at 1:13 pm on April 11, 2012.

Isabelle Jean was 8 lbs 10 oz and 21 inches long at birth - a beautiful and healthy little girl.  Her birth came after 30 hours of labor starting from the beginning of the induction process at 7 am on April 10th.  The delivery was a little rough on mommy and mommy is still in recovery mode.

 Our first family photo, just minutes after Isabelle was born.

 Our little bundle of joy

Isabelle, all set to come home from the hospital on Friday, April 13th

Due Date - Came and Went

Here we are at 40 weeks

Baby Girl apparently wants to make a fashionably late entrance into the world, as she is now three days overdue and I'm still not in labor.  She also missed her opportunity to share her birthday with her paternal grandmother, Carla, whose birthday was Baby Girl's official due date - March 31st.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to encourage our little one to get a move on, please let us know :) 

Family Photo

Here is a "family photo" @ 38 weeks and 2 days along.

The Nursery

Eric and I put the finishing touches on the decorations in the nursery last weekend and this weekend we were able to pick up my glider and so all is ready for baby girl in her room :)

Our Little Pumpkin Has Grown

Left: This picture was taken back in October when I made the pumpkin shirt to wear for Halloween, when I was only 18 weeks along. 
Right: Here I am in the same shirt at 37 weeks along, to give you an idea of how much Our Little Pumpkin has grown in the past 19 weeks :)

Showered With Love

Hello everyone!  We are only three weeks out from the due date and I just had my fourth and final baby shower this past week.  I thought I would give you some highlights from the showers!  What a great time it has been seeing so many ladies, both family and friends, to give me encouragement and advice as I enter into motherhood.

Shower #1: Wisconsin Baby Shower

Baby girl's maternal grandmother and great-grandmother hosted a shower at the end of January.  Weather was great for traveling so we had a good turnout.  It was a day filled with stories, laughter, sharing of maternal wisdom, and great food!  And, of course, lots of presents for our baby girl.

Shower #2: CHRP Shower in Valparaiso

The ladies from Church, whom I became friends with while on retreat two years ago and then served with last year in throwing the retreat, held a baby shower for me.  It was a wonderful time to catch up with these women and to know how much support I have here, if I need any advice or help with our little one.

Shower #3: Michigan Baby Shower

Eric's family held a shower at their home and although there was some snowy weather, we had a good turnout.  It was a great chance to see some of the family and friends on his side that I had not seen since my bridal shower.  We returned from that shower with lots of gadgets for baby girl which Eric got right to work on putting together. :)

Shower #4: Work Shower

This past Thursday my co-workers at work threw me a little shower.  A great way to celebrate the reason I will be gone for so long and to get some encouragement and advice from the ladies at work. :)

Baby's First Wedding

At 31 weeks, Eric and I attended a wedding for a friend of mine from college.  Rachel and I were in Bible study together.  I was not sure how much dancing I would feel like doing but it seems the baby belly did not limit me from a good evening, except that I ran out of steam around 10:15 pm and we decided to head back to my friend's house where were were staying.

Here is a family picture with the baby bump at 31 weeks :)

Here I am with the beautiful bride, Rachel, and another friend from college Bible study, Gina.  It was so great to see both of them and catch up!