Isla lately

It's been a while since I have done a post because we have been so so busy preparing for new baby girl to arrive shortly! (8 weeks to go!) Also, I have been so sick this pregnancy its not even funny. I think I have gotten everything imaginable from the flu to viruses and the worst was food poisoning! Oh man, hopefully all that stuff has passed and I can just enjoy the nice discomfort of being in the third trimester:)

Isla continues to be off the charts as far as height is concerned and then average for weight. I think this picture below shows some of how Isla is right now. She is such a girly girl! She LOVES necklaces, shoes, bows in her hair, bracelets, skirts, dresses, pretty much anything girly she loves and I'm not going to lie, I love dressing her up everyday and am so glad she still lets me. I know there will be a time soon when she doesn't want to wear what I want her to wear anymore so I'm trying to live it up!

For the last 3 months or so she has suffered from really bad eczema. It flares up on her face and bum. It looks like a rash and I literally have a pile of creams and lotions that I would apply to the affected area's multiple times a day and nothing was helping! I finally got fed up with it when her bum started getting little blisters on it and she was always trying to itch it. Up until that point it never seemed to bother her it just looked red. I took her to the doctor who prescribed her a special cream to apply twice a day and I am happy to say it has completely disappeared! I know it can flare up again but hopefully this magic cream can keep it in check otherwise we will need to see the dermatologist about it.

Isla amazes me with how fast she has learned and picked up on things. Her doctor was very impressed at her 1 year and 15 month appointments with how many words and animal sounds she knew! She also says a lot of them very clearly! I love to hear her say apple, Isla and Haddy, she says them so perfectly among others. Right now she is just about 17 months old and knows too many words to count. Seems like she picks up on a new one everyday!

She likes to repeat back things that we say to her. It's fun for us to go through the abc's with her and have her repeat back each letter.

Loves Weston still:) I think he wishes she didn't love him so much so he could get a break every once in a while.

One of Isla's biggest pet peeves is having a clean house:( I put one thing away and she immediately takes it back out again! I am trying to learn how to keep on top of this because I have a hard time being relaxed if my house is a disaster. It drives me crazy!

Isla currently loves to watch Elmo singing videos and baby McDonald from baby Einstein, she loves it even more when daddy will watch them with her. We try not to watch a ton of videos, but, sometimes it's just so convenient to pull it out and get a break! She has such high energy!

A few more things about Isla right now:

• She loves to dance and spin, especially if someone is watching!
• Loves outside, even when it's 119 degrees here and her mommy is already so hot and uncomfortable!
• If she were to have a birthday party today it would be Old McDonald themed. She could sing that song and watch the video a million times a day if I let her, she loves animals!
• She's a great sleeper and a great napper! Hoping for that to stay the same when new baby comes:) Maybe I will have a fighting chance at getting some rest every so often.
• Loves to be tickled and LOVES to jump on top of dad over and over again.
• Loves the pool but is extremely independent and doesn't want me to hold her. Luckily they have invented those body arm tube things and she can float around in all by herself with me close by her side:)
• Strange quark: She loves to close her eyes and lift her face up towards the ceiling and walk around like that. It looks so funny but she gets a kick out of it. She often runs into things that way as well.

Help! On a side note she has also picked up on a few bad habits that I don't know how to get rid of!!!
Just the last week and a half or so she has started saying "no" all the time! She also has been hitting a lot (especially the dog) AND throwing these really awesome temper tantrums... Seriously, help! How do I stop this from continuing! I have tried changing her attention to something else during a tantrum and we have tried to stop using the word no at all (so hard) and telling her to be soft over and over again and showing her what soft means. So far... nothing. Any and all advice welcome!