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Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Bella Babbles the Day Away (and rolls too!)

Bella is quite the little chatterbox these days. She babbles so much during the day while she plays, it's SO cute! And occassionally a "mama" will slip out (don't worry, I'm not delusional enough to believe she intentionally said it......or am I....) ;-) Also, towards the end of the clip she rolls from back to belly. She has been doing it for about 2 weeks now and she as become quite proficient at it. She is getting so big I can't believe it!

Houdini in Training

How does this child do it?! Seriously, she amazes me! She was always able to get out of any swaddle, not just with blankets, but with velcro, she would get both arms out and be wearing her swaddle like a skirt. We haven't been swaddling for a while now but today she reached a whole new level of "impressiveness." I was listening to Bella play in her crib this morning after waking up, I didn't look at the video monitor but just listened as she babbled and made sounds and seemed to be just enjoying her time in there. I finally decided, alright, it's time to go in, she has to be getting hungry, she's been awake for a little while. I walked in and this is the little goofball that I found. I don't know how she did it but somehow she managed to get her ENTIRE left arm out of her LONG SLEEVE pajamas. Not buttons undone (unless she has somehow managed to master the skill of buttoning/unbuttoning!). The neckhole was pulled under her left armpit and she was playing with the sleeve and chewing on it. She gave me this huge smile when I came in and just kept on chewing her sleeve, almost saying "look what I did mom! pretty cool, huh!" I love her and all of her craziness!

"Whats up mom, did you sleep good? I've ust been hanging out in my crib, and look at this cool thing I did!"

Super cool new chew toy, her sleeve!

Cute little baby in her big crib

Yum!

She was so pleased with herself!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Sunday Morning Family Time

This Sunday we played hooky. We skipped church and just enjoyed some fun time together as a family. Don't get me wrong, we love going to church together but so many times we are busy on Saturdays and don't get to spend time together just enjoying each other and then Sundays hit and before we know it, we are scrambling to get Bella a nap after church and get lunch and get the house cleaned and so on and so forth. So today we just slowed things down a bit and enjoyed being together, with NO plans! We slept in (Bella let us, yay!) played around a bit and headed out to Mimi's Cafe. Bella is getting so big and loves to look around and see things, she gets frustrated sitting in her infant carrier now when we go places so we decided since she is getting so close to sitting up independently that she was ready for the restaurant high chair. I love my Floppy Seat that I got as a gift, it is so handy and she loves playing with all the toys I can attach and bonus on the germ front, nothing falls on the ground if it's attached and trust me, everything ends up on the ground if it's not attached! You can also see in the pictures below that Bella is rocking a pretty sweet mohawk courtesy of Dad.

It was basically impossible to get her to look at the camera. It's usually so easy! She was just so fascinated by everything happening around her. She would just watch all the waitresses, following them from table to table, so cute!

She was so cozy in her seat! She looks like a little princess on her throne! (Everyone at Mimi's agreed, they all thought she was adorable!)

Here she has decided to suck on her thumb, which she has rediscovered in the last few days, still watching the waitress....

Every bite Rowdy would take she would watch him get the food on the fork and then watch him as he brought it to his mouth, and again, and again, she was practically drooling! (Actually, she probably WAS drooling!) Rowdy picked her up and she LUNGED at the french toast!

Heading back to the car, it was so bright out so Rowdy lent her his hat :-)

Just some general cuteness

Bella is officially rolling from back to belly. She has been doing it for about a week or so now and she has become quite the expert! When she decides she wants to roll she is going to roll and it doesn't matter who or what is in the way, she's rolling! This has brought in a whole new interesting chapter in sleep for her. She will roll to her belly in her sleep (which still freaks me out!) and she will sleep in some very odd positions but sometimes in the middle of the night she is too tired and easily frustrated to try to roll back over so she wakes up and waits for us to come in and roll her back to her side (her favorite sleep position, she pretty much never sleeps on her back anymore). She goes immediately back to sleep when we do this but hopefully she will start figuring it out for herself soon also! I am sure I will say this many, many times but I just love this phase she is in. It is by far my favorite up to now. Each phase is so special but right now she is so fun, she does things intentionally to entertain us and make us laugh, she is discovering so many things right now and is just the sweetest little thing on the planet!

She just rolled onto her belly to play with Dad

Daddy kisses!

Love them!

This is how she was sleeping, arm pinned under her and face planted into the mattress, yikes! I started taking pictures while she was still waking up for the morning.....picture her turning her head to the side after this and giving me a big grin with sleep lines still on her face, adorable!

Another funny sleep position, this was after a nap, she is laying the "short way" in the crib, the next picture will clarify a little more....

What a little goofball!

When did my baby get so big?!? She loves sitting in the grown up chair with pillows and blankets around her, so cozy!

She, of course, had to bring her froggy blanket with her, love that smile!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Acrobatic Sleeping

Lately we have been finding Bella in some hilarious positions when we go to get her in the morning. Her favorite position to sleep in right now is laying on her right side. When you put her down in her crib she rolls immediately to her right side. It is so adorable. Below is an example of some acrobatic sleep (if only the video monitor recorded her and we could see how she manages to do these things...)

The picture above is how we put her down in her crib. When you are facing the crib her head is on the right side and her feet on the left. Below is how we have found her a few times now....

Totally turned around! How did you get there Bella??!? Head on the left and feet on the right. Crazy lady! This is also how adorable she looks when she is waking up. Biiiiiigggg stretch!

So cute, trying to open her eyes!

And there is that big smile! Love her and all her cuteness!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

She makes me laugh

I just can't help but giggle at the things Bella does sometimes. Here are some things she has been up to and some hilarious faces she has made.

She is just so sassy. I love her little personality that is coming out, she is adorable!

So cute!

And this begins a series of photos of a new thing Bella is into. She sees something she wants, she MUST have it! She throws her body at things trying to grab them. On this occassion Bella decided she wanted the Ipod docking station. She went for it....

"Uh oh, I think I have beens spotted"

Hey mom, this thing is pretty cool!

"It's mine!"

So snuggly

Here is Bella and her daddy watching Backyardigans. She is definitely into it, and I think it's so cute! I put her in her Boppy and she cuddled with her blankie and was mesmerized by the show!

Oh yeah, and I think she is teething....

Best Friends

Sometimes friends are just meant to be. My sweet friend Jenny had found out she was pregnant and we were so thrilled for them. We were also trying to get pregnant at the time. When I took a pregnancy test and it was negative I was sad. My friends knew I was trying, I told them and they were supportive and offered their support. A few days later, the doctor's office encouraged me to take another pregnancy test and I found out I was indeed pregnant! I couldn't wait to tell Jenny that both of our dreams were coming true, we were both pregnant! When I saw Jenny and told her she was only a few weeks pregnant and still in the morning sickness phase. I told her and she almost threw up on me. It was hilarious and perfect. God knew what he was doing when he gave us both everything we could have ever dreamed of, we have loved experiencing these moments together and the girls get to play together frequently because I watch Maya a few days a week. They are finally starting to notice each other and the other day I put them next to each other and they just started holding hands. No prompting, no pushing them together, just holding hands. And they didn't stop....for 3 or 4 minutes (which in baby land is a LONG time!). It was so adorable. Here are just a few of the many pictures I took of this adorable occassion!

Besties

Love

Maya checking out her friend


Bella offering a comforting hand

Bella wiping Maya's chin.....such loving care :-)

Monday, July 12, 2010

Bella's "Skills"

This entry is primarily about Bella's feet :-) If Rowdy has his way Bella will be in basketball shoes as soon as possible. And, of course, she has to represent the Suns! We were over at Grandma and Grandpa Julia's and going through the closet full of my old things and Uncle Matt's old things and we found some pretty sweet Suns slippers that were Matt's. Rowdy proceded to immediately make Bella wear them. And, like the magic slipper in Cinderella, her basketball skills started taking over as soon as she had them on! Recently Bella found her feet also. It is hilarious to me how she can go one day not really being aware of them to the next day where her obsession is trying to get them in her mouth!

Ummmmm Dad....these might be a little too big for me!

Holding the basketball

Dunking! (She immediately pulled herself to the rim and proceded to start chewing on it!

My little girl eating sweet potatoes! SO BIG! (She loved them on her first taste!)

Yum!
And what you couldn't see in the last photo was that Bella was obsessed with holding her foot thru the entire feeding

"Yummy, this foot tastes so good, like oatmeal and sweet poatoes!"

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Hey Mom! Look What I Can Do!

Lately Bella has just felt like showing off :-) She is just so much fun right now and loves trying new things. She is getting so much stronger too! The way she looks at me when she does things, I swear I hear her saying "Mom, look at what I am doing!" I just love watching her try/learn new things!
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I can ride on Dad's shoulders!!
And of course try to eat his hair!

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I can drink out of a water bottle!

Well, she is working on it! She LOVES water bottles! She gets so excited when she sees one. I think she thinks it is mom's "bottle." (She also may be trying to just eat it but that's ok!)

Determination!

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I can sleep without being swaddled and without my sleep positioner!
Here is Bella's last night in the swaddle and sleep positioner. She really didn't need the swaddle at all anymore and she is liking sleeping on her side now so we moved the sleep positioner out too. (How cute is she with her teddy bear from Grandpa Julia! She loves it!!)

Big girl in her sleep sack with her arms free! Holding her pacifier. Her new favorite thing is to take the pacifier out of her mouth look at it, look at me, and put it back in her mouth.

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I can ~almost~ sit up!
She loves sitting in the boppy and playing with toys. I can't believe how big she is getting!

Could there be a sweeter face?!

And of course, trying to eat her toys!




She loves her little steering wheel from Great Grandma and Grandpa Julia

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I can play with the dog!


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I can just look plain old adorable!

So pretty in pink!


I seriously can't get enough of those eyelashes! I am biased but I am convinced she is the most beautiful baby that ever existed!