My Belle

This is Miss Isabelle, our darling 6 year old.

She is in first grade this year and my oh my has she blossomed into a beautiful young lady. She has entered a whole new phase of self discovery and growth this last year and continually amazes us with her witty jokes and insightful words. Her interests are as varied as the stars in the sky, her personality is as big as the universe. She has a beautiful collection of friends and is a real life social butterfly. She is giggly, loud, and big in everything she does. She is mischievous at times but very honest about her mistakes, very aware of her responsibility to others. She is very goal oriented and enjoys having a list of tasks to perform. She is in her fourth year of dance at the dance studio I studied at and is a natural born performer. She loves to sing and pretend and can often be overheard talking to herself or putting on a production for her dolls. She enjoys cooking and helping mommy and daddy. She loves her new baby sister more than I could have ever imagined. I had feared she would have jealousy issues after having been the only child for so long, but they have already formed a bond that I can see will bind them together for a lifelong friendship. She is very smart and learns new concepts quickly but sometimes has trouble in school due to her constant need to talk and make others laugh in class. We are working on this:) She is extremely affectionate and needs lots of cuddles and physical displays of love, which we are happy to oblige. She is very messy and unorganized and keeping her room clean is a daily struggle. She is a collector and memory keeper and has just started keeping a diary. I plan to help her start her very own scrapbook soon as a way to keep all of her treasures together.

I think that adding baby Brees to our family reiterated to Shawn and I how much Isabelle has grown. It's one of the most soul connecting things to witness when you see your baby grown into her very own person, when you see yourself and your husband alive in another being. She is vivacious and energetic and brings a beautiful energy to our world. We are learning to appreciate her qualities while still steering her into the right direction, which is one of the hardest things about parenting. You want your child to be who they are yet you also want them to be the best version of themselves they can be.

Isabelle has helped me grow into a mother, taught me to love with reckless abandon, and inspired me to live out loud. We are so proud of this little butterfly and can't wait to see what she will become.