Xaixai again.

Mommy and I went to Xaixai again with some of her friends from work. Daddy took advantage of the long weekend without us to work on his thesis. We missed him and Carioca, but still managed to enjoy ourselves a lot. How could we not with the beautiful sunsets, the ocean breeze, and the calming sound of waves at night?

We spent most of our time at the beach in the shade playing and napping... sooo relaxing.

And every evening we'd go down to the beach to watch the sunset and have a glass of wine... Well, mommy had the wine. I just watched the sunset and played in the sand. Mommy says I have plenty of time to enjoy other things in life and that soon enough i will enjoy a good glass of wine too. I'm pretty happy with my milk, fruit and veggies.

It actually got pretty chilly at night with the ocean breeze, so it's a good thing Mommy remembered to bring the clothes Auntie Kelly gave me so that I'd stay nice and warm!

Hugs from Xaixai! Just close your eyes real tight and pretend you can feel me reaching out for you!

Love, Isabelle

P.S. Today is Mozambican Women's day , so happy women's day to all the wonderful women in my life!

Peek-a-boo!

Peek-a-boo!

Yet again, I've been so busy playing and learning new things that I haven't made any time to post. keep an eye out for backdated posts over the next week or s0. Spring break is starting and we have a four day weekend, so we're planning to update the blog with lots of posts when we come back on Tuesday.

Mommy has also been teaching me how to cook. We've made all sorts of homemade fruits and vegetables for me to eat- butternut squash, zucchini, carrot, string beans, apples, pears and bananas. And, do I love to eat! I probably don't need to tell you that because you can probably already see that from my healthy physique.







I turned 7 months yesterday and am getting so big! I can twist on my tummy and scoot backwards across the room now. Rosa thinks I'll start crawling in the next few weeks. That's really going to change things around here! It's going to be fun having mommy and daddy chase me around the house. Right now, I love to grab mommy's fingers and pull myself up- so much that I drop my toys and grab her fingers every chance I can get. But, my favorite activity these days is my bouncy chair. Take a look:




More again soon!

Love, Isabelle

That's not nice!

Since I always show you my smiles, Mommy though you should see my not-so-happy side, too. I'm usually a pretty happy camper, but man, when I'm tired and stuck in that stupid car seat, this is what you get.

Yum, yum, real food!

After 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding, we thought it was time to introduce my tastebuds to the wonderful world of real food. None of us knew quite what to expect with the first bite, but in true Isabelle fashion, whatever is put in front of me goes directly to my mouth.
Ohhh, this is gonna be good!

Mmmm. Homemade rice is actually pretty tasty.

Hey, where are you going with that??!! Not so fast, mister. I want more!!!

Xai Xai

Hi! We went to Xai Xai for the long weekend and were so excited to have a sunny weekend away at the beach. When we got there, the weather was so sunny and warm! It was perfect for a nap by the pool in the shade.






Then when I woke up, it was time for a little dip in the pool. I splashed and played until mommy made me get out. I love the water! I think I’m going to be a water kid, for sure. .. just like mommy and daddy! I’m excited to go back to California this summer so I can swim with my cousins!








After we played in the pool, we went down to explore the beach. We didn’t even try to go in the water, though, because the undercurrent and waves in that part of the beach are too strong. But we did run from the waves and see a bunch of little crabs in the sand!

d! The beach was almost completely empty except for four other people a ways down the sand… turns out they were people mommy works with!

Good thing Carioca was too busy relaxing to notice the monkeys in the trees.





At night, we laid out on the deck and looked at all the bright stars in the sky. Daddy pointed out all the different constellations and told us about how he learned to follow certain stars when he was in the Amazon. We could also see the Milky Way and mommy’s friend, Jen, saw 3 shooting stars!!

Mommy and daddy planned to go snorkeling the next day, but when we woke up to rain pounding on the roof at 5:30am, we knew that could end up being a problem. So, we waited for a while and when the rain still hadn’t let up five hours later, we decided to play it safe and leave a day early so that we didn’t get stuck in the sandy roads getting out.

So, now we’re home and trying to pretend the compound is as fun as the beach… I’m far from convincing myself, though. Talk to you again soon!!

It's been a while

I hope you're not mad that it's been a while! I haven't written because I've been too busy playing with mommy and daddy in their free time to sit down long enough to write. I'm getting so big, though, and want to share all my news with you!

I love my mouth. I put everything that I can get my hands on into it. It's a lot of fun exploring the world this way. Soon I'll be exploring foods, too, but right now, it's just toys...

and books...

and weird tooth brushes!

I just celebrated 5 months and am getting sooooo close to rolling all the way over from my back to my tummy. I practice rolling by grabbing mommy's finger and letting her help pull me the rest of the way over. Give me a couple of weeks , though, and I'll be able to do it all by myself.

I am getting better and better at sitting by myself every day. Here's a some clip that shows how good I'm getting:

It's time for bed now...

Vovo is visiting!

This pretty much sums it up. I have been a pretty happy girl lately... I'm sleeping well, eating lots (can't you see how chubby I'm getting?!), and everyone is giving me a lot of attention. So, why wouldn't I be so happy? Like I said in my last posting, Vovozinha, Tia Fernanda and Tio Marcio are visiting from Brazil. I know Vovozinha loves me because she can't stop giving me hugs and kisses since she arrived!

She came at a great time, too, because I'm getting to be much more entertaining. I smile and laugh a lot now, especially with all the silly songs she sings to me. I'm also getting totally spoiled from Tia Fernanda and Tio Marcio. But, hey, I'm going to get all the attention I can while they're here.

Tio Marcio says my name like "Isabellellelllellelle" and it really makes me laugh! We got some of it on video so that you could hear it too:

Well, I should get back to mommy... Love, Isabelle