A New Era of Responsibility

With the largest crowd ever gathered in the National Mall and temperatures in the 20's, Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America. He delivered a near perfect inaugural address and was accompanied by his accomplished wife and young daughters. He has promised that a new era has began and the world is watching anxiously at the newest commander of the free world.

Although my views do not align with President Obama, patriotism runs through my veins and I was moved to almost tears watching history in the making. Belle was at preschool and Ben is in NYC, so our inauguration day was spent like a usual day in the Cosby home. Four years ago, when President George W. Bush was sworn into office for the second time, I was lucky enough to receive tickets to the event and kindly sent my college-age sister and her roommates on a road trip to Washington D.C.. Ben and I were disappointed to miss the fun but we will certainly attend a Inaugural Gala in our future.

As Belle and I watched recaps on the news of President Obama's swearing in, she started to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Thanks to preschool, she has learned the pledge already and I am always excited to see a spark of her little American spirit. To quote a tired and gracious President Bush as he stepped off the plane in Texas today: "A good man took the oath of office today, and we offer him our prayers for success."

Tu Tu Cute!

Today was the long awaited day when Isabelle began dance class. She is technically not yet old enough for the 3 year old Creative Movement ballet class at the Performing Arts Conservatory of Texas, however, with a little smooth talking from her daddy her career began today. She was thrilled when she woke-up from her nap and I told her it was time to pull her hair into a bun and to get her leotard on. We had explained to her that she could not attend dance class wearing a pull-up, the Conservatory's rule not ours, and she was very obedient and tinkled on the potty before, during and after her class. She loved her pink studio as well as her friendly instructor. I watched from an observation room and wished the entire time that I could take a short video on my camera to show her Grandma and Aunts how well she was doing. She attempted everything the instructor demonstrated and sometimes she almost did it right! They had fun waving magic wands and she especially enjoyed watching herself in the mirror while she danced.


The Performing Arts school is a bit serious and I wondered how Belle would do, but after day one it seems to be a perfect fit. Her tight bun lasted through the class and she graciously bowed and thanked her instructor as class ended. Thank heavens for little girls!

A Family Portrait

Isabelle is growing into a wonderful artist! She has recently discovered her love for art and spends a fair amount of time everyday creating in some way. She enjoys painting both with water and finger paint, coloring, drawing, building, etc. She has her own set of magnets and after she finishes a project, she carefully hangs her masterpiece up for all to see and enjoy. We currently have pictures of all varieties covering our fridge, oven, dishwasher, washer, dryer and so on. We were not too surprised yesterday when Belle found a little notepad and pen next to mom's computer (thanks to Uncle Chris for the Vyvanse paraphernalia) and had covered each page with a beautiful drawing, however, we were surprised when she told us that she drew a portrait of her mom and dad. This was her first attempt at a person and it is fun to see her little brain hard at work. I am sure this is only the first of many piles of hand-drawn family pictures, but because it was the first, it is a keepsake!

While on the subject of family pictures, we were lucky enough to have a dear friend of ours take some wonderful pictures of us this fall. Jaimie Haley Photography is new to the area and a treasure to find! Jaimie, who is masterful behind the lens and just happens to be one of our favorite people, has finally begun her own photography business. She is creative, smart and fun and her work is worth every penny! Check out her website at http://www.jaimiehaleyphotography.blogspot.com/ and book your session right away. (Scroll down to the session titled Belle to see just why I am so pleased!)

A Sweet New Year!

We were surprised last weekend when a giant box was delivered to Miss Isabelle Cosby by the UPS man. It was sent from Mr. Pete, Ben's good friend and boss at work. Pete felt bad utilizing almost all of dad's time over the holidays closing two acquisitions, so to make up for it he sent Isabelle 12 pints of ice cream. They were shipped from a family favorite, Graeter's Ice Cream in Cincinnati, Ohio, and were sitting on bags of dry-ice. When Belle opened the box she said "Wow, it's amazing!" She has been enjoying ice cream every day since.

On another note, today was Isabelle's first dentist visit. We were both a little nervous when we arrived but Belle was awesome. She laid so still during the initial exam that the dentist decided to go ahead and give her a full visit and treatment even though they traditionally need the children to be a little older to sit for so long. She had all of her teeth cleaned and a fluoride treatment while she watched The Little Mermaid. She has no cavities and all of her teeth seem to be coming in well and with great spacing. Her bottom three-year old molars are starting to peek through and once she gets her top molars she will have her full set of teeth. The dentist explained to her that her teeth were so straight and shiny right now and that once she was three she needed to throw any pacifiers away. When we got home, she immediately got both of her "luks" out of her bed and tossed them in the trash declaring she was a big girl now and didn't want them anymore. About an hour later, when it was nap time, she cried and said she didn't want to be a big girl anymore and fished them both out of the garbage can. That won't be our battle for now and we will continue to enjoy our sugary ice cream from Mr. Pete with our clean shiny teeth!

A Holly Jolly Christmas!

For some reason the holiday season and Ben being very busy at work go hand-and-hand. With more motivation and holiday spirit than time, we decided to catch a quick flight up to DFW the Sunday before Christmas to visit the Cosby family. Our flight left at 8:35am and at 8:20am we were still in line to check our bags. Thankfully to a helpful American Airlines staff and a well-traveled and experienced 2 year old, we were on the flight with seconds to spare before take-off. Isabelle was thrilled to see her Grandpa Van and Grandma Ruth, her Aunts and Uncles and especially her cousins Isaac, Lincoln and Elijah from Nebraska. Our trip was short as we returned home on a late Tuesday flight, but Jelly made great use of her time running and playing non-stop for the next 48 hours. We read stories, played games, sang songs, danced and ate yummy food. We visited the Gaylord Texas Hotel where we enjoyed all of the fascinating Christmas decorations and we read/acted out the Christmas nativity story. Belle loved playing the role of Mary and took her part very serious. She had what she considered a "manger" but she asked her Grandpa Van if he could please build her a quick "stable."

The day we left, we enjoyed a mini-Christmas morning and opened some fun presents from everyone. Isabelle's favorite was her Shiatsu dog in his own carrying case. She proudly carried it through the airport and carefully onto our airplane, all the while talking to him and showing him to others. Meanwhile, Ben was attempting to close two acquisitions and spent most of our quick trip in his dad's office on the phone and computer. He missed the nativity-story as well as dinner and the Polar Express pajama party but either way we were grateful to visit the Cosby's for a few days and share some holiday cheer.
On Christmas Eve Belle decided that she better visit Santa one more time and remind him where she lives and a few more items she forgot to mention on prior visits. We headed down to the North Star mall and bought a few more Christmas gifts before waiting in an unusually long line to sit on St. Nick's lap one last time. We then ate a yummy dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and left for home full and tired. Belle left Santa cookies and milk and happily jumped into bed excited for the morning to come. Ben and I arranged Santa's gifts under the tree, filled the stockings and then snacked on traditional Christmas Eve treats while we watched our annual screening of The Holiday.

Jelly slept until 7:00am when she finally yelled "Mom, Dad, get me out of my bed so we can see if Santa came." The night before I had told her that if she was a good girl all year Santa would bring her a big gift, and vice-versa. I had carefully placed a cute little gift under the small Christmas tree in her bedroom so that she would be surprised when she awoke. When I went into her bedroom Christmas morning she looked at me and said "Oh, I had an accident, so Santa just brought me a little gift this year." Obviously she was beyond joyful when she entered the family room and saw a giant present left especially for her! (Ben and I actually only gave her about half of the gifts we bought as we didn't want to spoil or overwhelm her. The rest we will save for a future holiday.)

Isabelle was surprised with the Loving Family Dollhouse and several of the rooms that accessorize. She also cheered when she opened Hi Ho Cherry-O! which she refers to as "Carmel Apple Crunch." Ben's favorite gifts were his books on CD's that he enjoys during his daily commute and I was surprised with my new HP laptop. We spent Christmas morning lazy in our PJ's and eating Mexican food before getting cleaned up and heading to the theatre to see The Tale of Despereaux. It was a quiet Christmas Day, just the three of us, and I don't think Ben worked much at all, which was a real gift. (By 7:00am the following day he was back on the phone and computer still trying to close the deals.)
A few days after Christmas, we loaded up the car and made the 3 hour drive to Houston to visit the Christensen Family. We were greeted with another mini-Christmas morning, where we were all spoiled with more gifts than we knew what to do with. Belle was very relieved to finally receive Lily Gray,the horse that goes with her dollhouse. She also opened her very own computer and camera and took about 100 pictures in 10 minutes and then asked me to put them on the blog! Luckily she had many willing models who posed for her even long after her memory card was full.

While in Houston we enjoyed jogging together, seeing movies (Belle saw Marley and Me twice), shopping, pedicures and celebrating Grandpa's birthday. We enjoyed dinner at Alee and Nick's new apartment and read books with Aunt Tara. Belle adores her Grammie and Grandpa more than words and Ben and I enjoy them too...especially when we send Belle downstairs at 6:00am and stay in our warm bed a few more minutes. We rang in the New Year at about 5:45pm New Year's Eve with a fire and loud banging of pots and pans. Afterwards, Belle said "that was a great party, huh mom." Once she was fast asleep we stayed up eating all sorts of hors d'oeuvres outside by the fireplace and guessing the answers to some of TIME'S Best of 2008 Lists. I actually was in bed before midnight, but I think Ben may have seen the 2009 ball drop in Times Square.

This holiday season has truly been enjoyable as we have experienced it through the eyes of a toddler. Isabelle sincerely loved driving in the car looking for Christmas lights, baking cookies and delivering them to neighbors, playing Santa's "helper" with some special gifts we wrapped and most importantly singing carols. We have woken up to her singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer many mornings loudly from her warm bed. After many more hours working than relaxing over the holidays, Ben successfully closed both deals by close of business on the 31st and although the break is over, now is in need of a vacation. We are not sad to see 2008 go as this has been a challenging year for all of us. Rather we are excited, motivated and hopeful for a prosperous 2009! Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!