Happy Halloween and Bella's First Day at "School"

Happy Halloween from our Bella BEE. I just had to post these tonight because she was the most adorable little BEE for Halloween. We (I) carved her little pumpkin...she could have cared less but she loved playing/eating the top/stem. She didn't last long after day care so we got home at 6 saw daddy and went to bed. We did have one trick or treater (our only tricker or treater) who was also a bee (however bella was cuter) maybe next year we'll have two...crazy we have a lot of kids in our neighborhood but they must go somewhere else...more candy for Joel.

Playing with her pumpkin
Carving the pumpkin with Papa

First day of school went well for Mommy and Bella. She actually did wonderful. She played with the other kids, ate all her lunch, played outside. We just need to work on her nap schedule. She didn't sleep during nap time and crashed when they were outside. She usually takes one in the morning so switching to 11:30 will be a challenge, but I'm sure she'll get used to it. She only cried once, since another little boy kept crying. They were all crying when I dropped her off and she just looked at them like look at all these toys. I think if she would have cried I would have lost it. I guess we'll see how tomorrow goes. Here she is for her first day...

Cabinets, Chopsticks, and a Pumpkin Patch

Well another week has passed and we can finally report the great news that Joel got offered a job and he starts tomorrow. He will be doing consumer bankruptcy at Phillips and Assoc, so we are so proud of him. However, this means that Bella will we starting daycare this week at Tutor Time next to the office. I know I'm not ready for this to happen, but I think she will love playing with other kids..and will help to go part days when the new little one comes. Please pray for me this week as it has been a hard decision to have strangers watch over our precious little one, and for Bella as she adjusts to new people and new little friends. I won't get all gushy, but we've had a busy week ... especially trying to walk with shoes on our feet now that we have to go to daycare. Anyways....

Well, we would love to say that Bella loved all her new toys she received for her birthday; however, they apparently do not compare to her cabinet she is allowed to play in. She can spend a good 30 minutes emptying all her snacks and juice bottles out of the cabinet and onto the floor...I mean things go flying over her head. Emptying the cabinet is almost as fun as..

...crawling into the cabinet once it is empty. We took the "kennel" down today in hopes that she will play with all of her toys one day...until then we have our family room back!! Since she is mobile she can't stand to be couped up, so the walls came down.Yesterday we celebrated Uncle Chad's birthday at Benihana's. Bella did pretty well sitting through the 2 hour lunch until the last 30 minutes. She loved her chopsticks and
daddy even fed her crackers to her using them.
Today we went to a pumpkin patch at Scnepf Farms. Yes we have pumpkin patches in Arizona, but they of course do not compare to the Midwest as Joel repeated told me. It was a lot hotter than we had hoped at the end of October, so it was a short trip. Bella and daddy found her first pumpkin to carve, so that's tomorrow night's plan. We also visited the petting zoo on the farm. There were so many people, Bella didn't know if she should people watch or animal watch. We saw a rooster, sheep, cow, ducks, goats and pigs. She finally gathered up enough courage to pet the goat but it was short lived. I think maybe when she's three it might be a little more fun. They had a small amusement park there, but we were a little young for that. After the farm we met up with my good friend Eve, who is back in town for the winter. We had a great lunch at a new restaurant, San Tan Flats. It's a real western cowboy place with a saloon, fire pit and dance floor. Joel and I plan to have a date night there sometime with some friends. It was great to see Eve since we hadn't seen her since last year...when Bella was tiny.

I love when she holds my hand and walks with me now.Finding the perfect pumpkin
Not too sure about the sheep.
Or the goats.

What a weekend.

I must start by saying what an amazing husband I have. Yesterday he surprised me and threw me a surprise 30th birthday party. I was clueless and he had been planning this for a long time. I thought we were going to dinner with my family for Chad and my birthdays, but I walked in and saw a house full of people. He was so proud of himself, since I usually figure out if he has something up his sleeve. It was great to see Dave and Deb Sebastian and Steve Short...who I haven't seen in a long time...they just happened to be in town, so they all got to meet Bella.

Bella was a trooper and we found out late last night that she had an ear infection...her first cold...guess that's pretty amazing she hasn't been sick all year but we still felt bad. She got to bed about 8 last night and woke up a little before 10. She seems fine and played with my balloons most of the day.

I know I'm jumping all over the place, but the other HUGE event of the weekend was Bella's first hair cut. As evident over the past few weeks/months, her hair has grown past her eyes so luckily Jess worked us in Saturday and cut her hair. She was so good and sat pretty still while Jess cut her hair. She even let Jess style it. She looks so cute...and I think she's glad she can see again.

She was cute sitting on Uncle Chad's lap.

Playing with my balloons.

This week was also Bella declaring her independence. She had decided that she can feed herself without any help. Therefore, we get food everywhere...even going down her shirt.

However, it is a good thing she loves bath time because she's taken a lot recently.

One Year

What a week...we had a birthday, shots, and pictures...mommy is pooped! We had her 1 year check up on Thursday and she got 4 shots (but she has to go back for one more and her 2nd flu shot in a few weeks). April my dad's MA and Gennie at the office tag teamed and did both legs at the same time...she was so brave until #3 & 4 happened and then the tears came. She loved Dr. Scott...well her stethoscope anyway. We attempted to have her blood work done to check her lead levels; however, after 3 pokes and a heel stick we gave up. Bella sat so still while they were trying to find her veins but little tears kept rolling down her cheeks (it was so sad)...so we may hold off on get blood for awhile. However, she did weigh 24 lbs and is now 31 inches tall.

Then on Friday we went to get her one year pictures taken. It wasn't as bad as her 9 month picture fiasco, but they were running about 30 minutes late so there were tons of people and kids running around. I had no idea how many parents take their kids to get their pictures in their Halloween costumes. Anyway, lots of babies distracted her...not to mention that she can crawl and walk away now, so sitting still was a task. The first room (outfit) it was hard to get her to smile because she kept looking at everyone; however, once we switched rooms she was all smiles and laughs...here are some of the pictures for the day.

We love this one, where she's squealing at Joel and her toes are pointy.

No This is Not a Joke

Bella is so perfect we thought we'd try for another angel...we just didn't think it would take 6 weeks. I am due June 12th, so now we'll keep you updated on both children.

We should have just bought her a balloon

Well Bella would rather play with her balloon than all her new toys. She is actually pretty funny to watch as she tries to catch it. Tomorrow she turns one and what a year of blessings it has been. I won't get all sentimental but just thought some pictures would do the trick...oh and some new videos.

Birthday for a Princess

Yesterday we celebrated Bella's 1st birthday! It was filled with family, friends, balloons, cake and presents. She absolutely loved being the star of the show...and frosting. She wasn't too big on digging into her cake, but after the first lick of frosting her words were "mmmmmm" and then just kept talking the whole time. We were excited that Pappa and Granna were able to fly out from Ohio to be here for the big day...and Bella loved all the presents they brought with them from Auntie Miriam and Uncle Shawn, Great-Aunt Barb and Cousin Drayton, Cousins Christin, Tony and Dean, Great-grandpa Callison. All in all we ended up with a house full of noisy toys, cute outfits and a pooped baby by the end of the day! Here are a "few" pictures of the day.

Walking with her crown on to greet everyone.

Singing Happy Birthday. Yummy Cake
She was licking the frosting from her lips while we were trying to wash her hands.
She loved to open bags and then stand on her presents that made noise when she moved her feet.

So excited with PapaShe loved her alphabet caterpillar from Uncle Chad and Steph

Playing with Ashley with Papa's sports center....I'm not sure if he bought it for her or Joel.

And we had to try on the Ohio State outfit from Aunt Barb and Cousin Drayton.

Walking Everywhere

Well, she has some wobbly legs, but she can get from one end of they playpen to the other...and then some. She has started turning and carrying things around, and even walked across our bathroom the other day without falling. Tonight she figured out how to stand up without holding on to anything. It took her a while and several attempts to figure out how, but she finally got up a few times...even though Joel said she had done it earlier in the day...it was the first time mommy got to see. The best thing that happened tonight, was when I got out of class and jumped in the playpen and opened my arms, Bella walked over to me with her arms opened and gave me a giant hug!