The past couple of weeks....

By -
Dear Diary,
Yesterday we had a really nice Thanksgiving lunch with Merlin and Janet Moore. We (Colin) cooked and they brought a delicious pumpkin pie for dessert. I could eat pumpkin pie all year long! This was Colin's first Thanksgiving ever since it is not celebrated in the UK and I think he enjoyed himself, even if it just meant getting a couple days off work.
Nothing exciting has happened lately but we did finally get the van registered in Colorado. Out with the Ontario license plates and in with the Colorado plates. We went a few weeks ago to the DMV to get it done but we didn't get the right forms completed by Border Control when we crossed over in October. We had to go to a Border Services office near Denver airport for a VIN check and complete the importing forms. No hassle, no fee, no fuss ~ just the way I like it. Anyways, back to the DMV on Friday morning at 7:45 and we were out of there by 8 a.m.
Now we have to work on our drivers licenses. I'm dreading this but it has to be done. I have to make a few phone calls to see what they need from us and I think we have to make a trip to the Social Security office as well because we don't qualify for a number and we need proof. Colin is off Wednesday to Friday next week so that is added to the list of things to do.
Isla is doing well. Happy as ever and getting into mischief. The latest thing is closing her eyes and smiling at the same time. She's a little ham!
She loves the cats although she has been encroaching on Pearl's space. This morning, Pearl was sitting on her scratching post and Isla came to close to her and cornered her a bit. Anyways, the furry princess didn't like it and gave Isla a swipe on the side of her head and now Isla is sporing a scratch. If Isla gets too close to Dixie, she just takes off but Pearl sticks around. Oh well, they are both going to have to learn to get along. Normally Isla is very good with the cats and she loves them. She giggles and laughs when she sees them and wants to pat them but I think we're going to have to enforce some boundaries. It's best for all three of them!
Pearl and Isla in happier times!!
Isla loves to wave. She waves at everything and everybody, even the cats! It's so cute to watch her look at her hand as she waves. She's also started to pull her self up mostly just on the sofa and she's trying to do it in her bed but no joy yet.

She crawls everywhere and is into everything. I long for the days when I could just lay her down on her playmat and she would just lie there!!!
We've decided to finally move her from her infant car seat to a regular car seat in the rear-facing position. Her infant car seat is a Graco Safe-Seat so she could stay in it up to 30 lbs. and at least 32 inches but we've noticed that with the cooler weather coming and with bulkier clothing the straps are a bit tight even if they are loosened and her head is nearing the top of the seat. We bought her a Britax Roundabout car seat on Amazon.com and it's going in the van this afternoon. She should be rear facing until 20 lbs or one year old (minumum requirements) and I anticipate she'll stay rear-facing until April or so since she is a little peanut. I'm not sure how much she weighs but I'd say about 19 lbs or so.

I did a lot of research into safe car seats and Britax always came up on top. They are a bit more expensive but for a car seat I think it's worth spending a few extra $$. We bought her new seat at a really good price on Amazon since the fabric was being discontinued and no shipping fees. Woohoo! Now she'll have more room to wiggle about.