Update!

I'll come right out and say it, since I know you're all thinking it. I lied. I'm a liar. My pants are totally on fire. All of my promises to "blog more often"... just empty words. But let's face it, I'm too busy with super important stuff like watching that vampire show from HBO.

Life has been pretty exciting here in the Hayden household since the last blog post! Isabella is now 4 1/2 months old! She is really starting to figure it all out. It seems like everyday she is growing by leaps and bounds. We had her 4 month check-up last week and after giving her a couple of yucky pokes in the legs, mean ol' Dr. Ferranzzini revealed what we thought all along to be true. Isabella is a giant - in the 97th percentile! Booya! He also says she is as advanced as a six-month old, so I figure at this rate she should have her first PhD in, I don't know... couple months?

She's been trying her darndest to crawl and I think she'll find it a much more efficient means of transportation once she stops using her own face for traction. In the meantime, the method seems to be working pretty well for her and she improves each day. She's also been talking a lot more. Right now her favorite words are "un-guh", "bway", and "dlurr". Her latest fascination is the index finger on her left hand. It is almost always fully extended and she goes back and forth between staring at it cross-eyed, and putting in right in front of mom and dad's faces.

Last week our friends Mike and Nelly made a visit as part of thier whirlwind tour of the Netherlands, France, and Switzerland. We met up with them in the beautiful Alpine village of Murren. It was an incredible setting... and felt surreal to share a pot of fondue with friends from home in a little stone dining room adorned with cowbells and swords in the mountains of Switzerland. While walking through the village one night, Mike and Nelly, who are both professional musicians, noticed a bunch of instrument cases accompanying a group of people in a restaurant and asked where the gig was. Their keen observation resulted in a lovely evening of Baroque music in a darling Swiss protestant church... well, I mostly listened from outside. Turns out Isabella isn't a huge fan of Vivaldi.

We took a hike along the North Face Trail that offered breathtaking views of the massive Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau peaks. Unfortunately the weather was not cooperating, so we are saving a trip to the top of Jungfrau or maybe Schilthorn (with the revolving restaurant made famous by James Bond "On Her Majesty's Secret Service") for another time. Perhaps when you, dear reader, are here visiting us! When we got back to Zurich, Eric and Mike put together a poker game for old times sake and a good time was had by all. It was a really great visit and we were sad to have to say good-bye.