Isabelle Jennifer Bedow was born on March 18th, 2001 at 10:39 Pm. She was 9 lbs 1 ounce and 22 inches long. She was very quiet when she was born and the doctor was concerned since it was a C-section birth. They hurried her over to the warming table and a few breathless moments later she let out a yell that would break the sound barrier. They laid her in my arms and I was amused by the fact that her hair had formed a natural mohawk. I wanted a photo but they combed her hair before I could capture it. My 4 favorite photos of Isabelle are what you see here. Done in order of age. The first one is from my room in the hospital. She has a crocheted cap because her head was too big for the knit caps they usually give out (much to my amusement). The second photo is of her 1st day of birth. The Third I took myself and it remains my favorite moment captured on film. The last photo is from her 1st year of school. She is older now..and I have older photos, but these are the years I remember best.
Below are some stories that remind me of Izzy.
Memories of Isabelle:
I believe in mgic
My daughter is a daily source of amusement to me. She is learning to read and having a blast spelling things. I have 3 notebooks in my house and she has confiscated them all. They are now covered in words and sentences. The only problem is, she seems to have my grammar problem, and her spelling stinks too. The thing is she is going to get better with time, while I am still struggling to beat off my comma dragon. She gave me a sign for Christmas that says: “You can beleve.” (grin), on the other side it says: “I believe in mgic”. I love my kid.
Isabelle insisted on telling my blog what her field trip was like. Here is what she has to say:
“Today I went to the butterfly sanctuary, the bus was kinda bumpy. I could feel the bumpy when I put my head against the window. I love the bus! We were up so high I said, We are flying! The cars were so small next to the bus.
We had lunch first thing. Then we went into the butterfly room. They told us that the butterfiles would land on our shoulders, head and stuff, and that we had to be careful not to hit them, cause that would hurt them and the butterflies will run away if we hit them. We dipped our fingers in Gatorade cause butterflies like sugar. They eat with their tongues, and it tickled!
The butterflies there are all kinds of colors. They were beautiful. We saw a striped like one, and it’s our American Butterfly. It is striped black and yellow. We saw a chrysalis, know what that is? It is where a caterpillar goes to sleep and grows into a butterfly.
We also saw hummingbirds. Butterflies and Hummingbirds eat nectar, like the name mama uses on her blog! Isn’t that cool mama?”
She was chattering like a magpie…wonder where she gets that from?
Want an example of how very like me my daughter is? She commented on the phone that her little pet shop cat had lost her head and proceeded to encourage me to talk to it..our conversation went something like this:
Izzy: Mama my cat has no head
Me: I heard that..
Izzy: Tell the no headed cat hello mama.
Me: Hello, no headed cat…sorry about your head
Izzy: Meow!
Me: Izzy how can a no headed cat say meow?
Izzy: I don’t know..he just did it…so I guess he can.
Me: Thats nicely illogical
Izzy: Huh?
Me: Thats funny, because it makes no sense.
Izzy: A no headed cat makes no sense mama.
Me: You got me there!
Izzy: (giggles) Mama tell the no headed cat goodnight!
Me: Goodnight, you no headed cat you.
Izzy: (giggles)
My kid is me only worse, she has a mama that shamefully encourages it..(grins) I wonder what she will become when she grows wings and flies. I think I am going to have an actress or vet in the family one day. She loves animals and lives in her own little dramatic world. She is incredibly good at pretending things and I just know she will be something amazing to behold one day. I love my kid and I miss her so very much. (sigh)
The last memory of Isabelle I can recall, at the moment (there are soo many) is the day she got her first kiss. She is a tom-boy of the highest regard..so when she was 8 and came out of the apartment wearing a little frilly tank top and a peach shirt (A present from relatives who keep attempting to make her dress like a girl) and a huge blush..I knew something was up.
She asked me tentatively is she could go play with the little boy who lived near by, Sam, at the park which was within easy watching distance. I agreed and smiled carefully lest she think I was making fun of her, I was greatly amused and slightly alarmed (thinking to myself that it was tooo soon too soon for her to like boys already and how I wanted her not to grow up yet).
They went off to the park to play. Within 10 minutes I was alarmed to hear her crying and rushing back home. She ran inside and into her room. I went immediately to investigate. I asked her if Sam had been mean to her and she said No quite loudly..and then started to cry again.
Finally I got her to tell me what was wrong. Seems my little tom-boy got a sand burr stuck on the inside of her skirts waistband and (how to say this delicately) got a bit of a burr poking her bum. She was highly embarrassed having just worn her very first skirt and having experienced her first crush. I can only imagine how horrified she was to have her first anything end with a burr stuck in her bum.
I gently hugged her and asked her if she wanted to wear blue jeans to play in the park, since that would prevent the burrs happening again. She agreed and seemed relieved to not have to "Be pretty" anymore. I told her to just be herself and that Sam would like her even if she wasn't all dressed up. (I could tell she had all but decided only pretty dresses were appropriate for making a boy like you. I was trying in my own way to teach her that a boy will like her for herself..and not because she changes herself to suit him. I am a firm believer in self confidence and wanted her to learn to like her body and her own style for what it was..and not what tv or media told her to be)
As we emerged from her room wearing jeans there was a knock on our front door. It was Sam. He looked very worried about Isabelle and asked tentatively if she were ok. She smiled and said yes. He sighed relieved he had not been the reason she ran off. Then he surprised us both by leaning in quickly and kissing her on the cheek then running off like the wolves were after him. Which I still find so dern sweet my heart melts. Isabelle shared a look with me and blushed that peachy pink again. (To this day this memory makes me sigh with remembering). She dashed off to go play and the day went on as normal.
It's surprising how quickly momentous moments pass as if they never were. Still we know they existed because they live inside our memories forever. I keep these memories for myself, but also for my daughter..because she may not remember these moments, but I will tell her about them, so she can keep them too.
@digitalrn I have it saved on Facebook for her, which she has an account for but never uses. LOL I have them saved on my computer also. These are only I few of the memories I have..she is terribly similar to me so we get on amazingly well together. I miss her often but we stay in contact through calls and Skype.
posted January 23rd, 2012
Leave a Comment
Sign up for a free account or Sign in to post a comment.
