New Expressions

Bella has started a new expression. It appears pensive or that she's looking at us like "what are doing or what were you thinking". It is hard to explain but we got a few good pictures of her new favorite "face". I also had to throw in a few others.

I can't believe we are celebrating her 1st birthday next weekend. Time has flown by...I can't believe how she's grown...she's so talkative (well at home) and is fearless. One of her new things to do is stand up next to us if we are laying on the ground and do a belly flop onto us. I don't know why that's fun but she keeps doing it. Another new one is to jam a ball in one of our mouths so we can spit it across the room...she got to giggling so hard this morning her little (ok not so little) belly was shaking! Well...time to relax before cleaning and working tomorrow. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

She loves to be a "snuggle bear" as her daddy calls her, especially with the soft blankets

Tempe Town Lake

We had family time this afternoon and headed to the park, since the weather has finally dropped in temperature (at least for today). We were hoping for swings but we couldn't find any, so we just walked up and down the river walk along Tempe Town "lake" and watched the little sailboats cruise around. We parked on a hill and went tree climbing...here are pictures of our adventure. We had so much fun that Bella crashed on the way home.

Where there's a will...

...there's away. Bella has decided that she doesn't like the barricades that we have put up to keep her out of certain rooms. So she had figured out a way to craw/climb/duck through the bar stool to get to the other side. She no doubt figured this out after watching Cosmo and Zona go through the chair to get to Bella...I guess there is no way to keep them separated.

Taking Steps (and we got it on camera)!

So Bella has been standing, balancing and dancing for awhile now...but this past week she started to take more steps. Yesterday she took 5 and then some more at Papa & Nana's house. Then today, she just kept taking steps on her own. She walked for Joel and then I was playing with her and I turned around and here she came walking to mommy....so then we attempted to catch it on film. Usually when she wants something really bad (like the camera) she will just plop down and crawl over to us...so today I used the football she was playing with...and got it on camera...she of course is extremely upset, but she walked anyway...we uploaded the video link for everyone to see. I don't know why we are so excited...we can hardly keep up with her when she's on all fours. I'm not ready for her to grow up so fast.

Here she is standing this week playing with her phone.

She is now facing forward...and looks so big in her car seat :(
Playing with Daddy's football...it is Saturday...football day
We aren't sure what to do with her hair since it's always in her eyes...so we tried this...but it made her hair stick up.
And of course...giving Zona back her toy.

Steph sent me this email today and it was too good not to post...although I probably already emailed it to you...

The Price of Children

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down.

$8,896.66 a year, $741.38 a month, $171.08 a week, $24.24 a day, Just over a dollar an hour.

What do you get for your $160,140?

• Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
• Glimpses of God every day.
• Giggles under the covers every night.
• More love than your heart can hold.
• Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
• Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
• A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
• A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites
• Someone to laugh yourself silly with
• You never have to grow up.
• You get to: finger-paint, carve pumpkins, play hide-and-seek, catch lightning bugs, and never stop believing in Santa Claus.
• You have an excuse to: keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh, watching Saturday morning cartoons, going to Disney movies, and wishing on stars.
• You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.
• You get to be a hero just for: retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof, taking the training wheels off a bike, removing a splinter, filling a wading pool, coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.
• You get a front row seat to history to witness the: first step, first word, first bra, first date, and first time behind the wheel.
• You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits.

Buckeyes and Birthdays!

Well...it was a fun day since we actually got to watch The Ohio State University beat Washington today. Bella and daddy were all set to go with their Ohio State gear on today (thanks Granna and Pappa for the Jersey)!

This afternoon was Logan's 1st birthday. There were a lot of people there, but Bella was great and wanted to see everyone...she wanted everyone to hold her but us (I guess she's over the separation anxiety babies get). She loves to play with Logan's toys, but was of course mad when she couldn't open his presents. Logan had fun "talking" to everyone, but when it came around for cake time...he wasn't sure why everyone was staring at him.

Last but not least...Bella has begun her music career by banging on her drum and shaking her maracas. She has also started to dance with her feet! It is too funny! I had put in a sing-a-long video and all of a sudden she just started to dance and watch the video.

Last night was great, in that I got to see Bella take two steps without any help. She of course didn't realize she did it, but got just as excited as I did once it was over. She was going from her toy chest to the couch and just walked over. So strange to see...I guess it will be any day when we start to chase her around the house.

Swimming with Mommy

Since I went to work early today, I left early and thought it would be fun to have mommy and mini-me swim day! We hadn't been in the pool in what seems like forever, so we loaded up all the gear and headed to Nana's house (since they are Cabo we figured they wouldn't mind). We had such a blast...now that Bella understands how much fun splashing is and how she can move herself in her raft by kicking her feet. She can also reach the bottom of the "kiddie" part, so she was walking all around in her raft.

Movie Star Glasses

They didn't last long until they were in her mouth
Cute little bow
Future lounger

Our Little Person

I don't think I can call Bella our little baby anymore (such a sad day). I look at her now and just see our little girl...our little person! She has gotten so tall, she can now reach the things that our on top of the bathroom counter and on the bar stools. She is becoming quite independent (wonder where she gets that), although she does love to snuggle...and we of course love to snuggle with her. I can't believe her birthday is a month away...wow how this year has flown by (I only wish the baby weight had flown off as fast as the year did)! She is very vocal and I just wonder what she's saying to herself when she rambles on and on in her own little language. Well...off to relax before the crazy week starts. Here are some pictures from today.

She clocked herself at Sunday School in the eye.
Reaching to give mommy a hug.
Loves her books.

Go Devils!!!

We had the pleasure of celebrating our friend Colin's 30 birthday last night at the ASU Game. We had a great time (although it was no Big 10 Ohio State Football Game) even if it was 104 and we sweated the entire time. Thanks to Steph...our little one was watched over while we were away...so it was also nice to just be with friends babyless.
Stac, Jules and I

Baby Races, Chicken Nuggets, Playing...

I know I'm a little behind...crazy week. Last weekend was a blast, as we had a great family time fun filled weekend with the three of us playing and shopping. There are new videos on the left. I tried to embedded them into the blog and it took over an hour for one video...so now there are links instead. Anyway...Saturday night The Oestreichs came over and Logan and Bella had baby races down the hallways.

The next morning, Bella had waffles and shared them with Zona. I was in the other room and heard her laughing hysterically. I walked in and she would eat one then give one to Zona then one for Bella. That afternoon was time to try chicken nuggets...little did we know that Bella would love them as much as mommy and tried to eat the entire box.
Bella loves the peek-a-boo books that Granna bought her...although one page has already been ripped out by our little one.
Now that Bella can pick things up...she tries to pick everything up at the same time. She can hold 4 puzzle pieces or three balls.She is also fond of her bucket that we got from a drug rep...it's her new way of playing peek-a-boo
She has also become our little snuggle bunny.

Giving Props to Daddy, aka Mr. Esquire!

Well it has finally arrived! Joel got his letter yesterday stating that his character report/background check has finally been finalized and he is able to get sworn! Once he mails in his letter it will take about 2 weeks before he gets his license number!! Finally all the hard work is paying off.

Since we hadn't started the blog...here are a few picture from Joel at graduation in January. Bella seemed big at the time...but now she seems so small.

Joe, Megs and Joel...the graduates.
At dinner...and awake.

All bundled up for the Michigan Winter