Packages, Growth Spurt, & Beautiful Days

Words of wisdom for the day: When you need to mail a package and you decide to walk to the Post Office, check to make sure it's open before making the trek. The weather on Saturday was gorgeous and we had a few packages to send out, so we decided to take a walk to the post office. We placed the two smaller packages under Isabella's stroller and Andy carried the bulkier package {it wouldn't fit in the stroller storage}. The post office is probably about 1.5 miles away and by the time we arrived, Andy's arms were pretty tired from carrying the bigger package. On the way there, Andy joked that the post office better be open because he didn't want to carry this package all the way back. At that moment, I remembered that it was Veteran's Day and I had a sinking suspicion that he would be getting more of a workout that day than anticipated. Sure enough, we walked up to the door and read the sign that said they were closed for Veteran's Day. Shame on us for forgetting that it was V-Day. After the post office, we tried a local convenience store that has a mini-post office inside. We walked up to this door very hopeful about ridding ourselves of these packages only to be greeted by another closed sign. Apparently the store is only open until 12:30pm on Saturdays. {Side rant: many of the local businesses near us have the strangest hours}. From there, we went back home to drop off the packages and decided to try again another day.

Since the weather was beautiful and that walk wasn't the most enjoyable, we took another walk, package-free, through the downtown area. It was kind of a surreal experience. Andy was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt and we heard Christmas music playing throughout the streets. For a moment, we forgot that we were in Pennsylvania.

We think that Isabella is going through another growth spurt. Earlier in the week, she was eating almost as much as us at supper time. She's also been taking longer naps this week and even took three naps on Tuesday instead of just two. I really think that she woke up from that third nap looking a little older.

Here's our pics from the week:

Playing in the living room

What a sweetheart!

Looking so grown up

She's been getting up on her tip toes a lot lately

Enjoys being free of clothes

Her upper teeth have just about poked through. We can't feel them yet, but when we look inside her mouth, we can see the ridges of her new teeth. Any day now, they'll break through. As a result of her teething, she has been chewing on EVERYTHING!

Enjoying another beautiful fall day

Yummy toes!

Isabella's starting to pull up onto the furniture with just one arm. She's also cruising around one-handed - one hand holding onto the furniture and the other holding onto a toy. She's definitely getting stronger. Still, I don't think she's really close to walking on her own just yet. Whenever we go walking with her, she walks really well when we're holding onto both hands, but as soon as we let go of one hand, she stops and drops to her knees - afraid to walk with the support of only one hand. From what I observe of her, she is a very cautious girl. She doesn't seem to attempt things until she's really sure that she can do it. My mom says that I was the exact same way. I'm still a pretty cautious person. I suppose there are worse traits that she could have picked up from me, and I think that my level of caution over the years has probably kept me out of a lot of trouble. I know that Isabella will walk when she's ready. She has her whole life to walk, so for now we'll let her enjoy the crawling stage.