JELL-O & Gabby's 5 month appt

I'll start with my check up today. Everything looked great. Her heartbeat was about 140, which is nice and strong. I feel her moving everyday and Joel could feel her kicking the other night. She's about a pound...nice and large. The good news (for me) is that Dr. Watters said he won't let me have another big baby, so this one will be forced to come a lot earlier...even though Bella was two weeks early, she was still an ounce shy of 8 lbs. Dr. Watters said 7 lbs would be better for her and me as well as less labor time, since we had to use a vacuum for Bella to get her out after about an hour of pushing....so here's hoping for May!

Last night I gave Bella JELL-O. We started with a spoon...
and she soon moved to her fingers. It was everywhere, but she had fun.
We attempted coloring this weekend...it was short lived, but I got one picture out of it.
I spent all morning trying to get a picture of Bella in her Valentine's shirt, but first she had her sippy cup or snack cup covering up her shirt...and then it was wet wipes. I eventually gave up and we headed to school. I did get some cute ones afterwards at my parents house, but this face was too cute.

Bella Language and other tidbits

This past weekend Bella created a new language...if anyone can decipher please clue us in. Joel says she's making fun of us. She started talking this weekend and hasn't stopped. I guess since she's figured out her motor skills now she's working on her verbal ones. Joel and I have no idea what she is saying, but she gets pretty animated with her arms when she's talking to you. Here's a video from the other day...it gets especially noisy at dinner time.

Bella and I spent the day together - well she slept most of the day - but when she was up, she was funny like usual. She didn't feel well, so we finally put her on antibiotics and she slept until 10:45 this morning....we had a nap until 4 and then she was ready to go. It was so nice to spend the day with her. I love working, but have been so busy and stressed the past two weeks (working everyday for the past 16 days some of them 12 hours plus), I think it was God's way of forcing me to slow down today and enjoy her. So we were playing and she started spinning in circles...then she'd try and walk. It was the funniest thing. I got a video after she had started the first time because it was so funny.

At dinner, once we had tried a few different meals she ended up with fish sticks and an apple. She is getting pretty picky about what she wants...the other night all she would eat was corn. She has also decided that she is old enough to feed herself and that mom doesn't need to hold the plate or bowl...so I got the bright idea to buy plates that use suction to stay on the tray...well it didn't last long and she had peas all over herself tonight and the plate on her head. One smart determined girl to get that plate up.

She also didn't like the idea that mom cut pieces of apple for her and she ended up trying to eat the big apple. She did pretty good and sat there for a good 25 minutes eating little pieces she was able to bite off.

Bella's other favorite thing right now is to hug Zona and Cosmo. She has been tormenting them since she could crawl, but now I think they actually are used to her snuggling up with them and them petting/slapping them. Bella also "throws" (drops) Zona's ball and she chases it around. Here Bella is giving Zona a hug.

Last but not least, we went to the park this past weekend and took Bella on the slides and swings. It's so amazing that she is big enough to go down slides. She does it at school, but it was the first time mommy and daddy got to enjoy seeing her do it.

Our two daughters

This is going to be long...but there are videos at the end, so bear with me...it's been a long few weeks.

I will start with Gabriella, since she has been such a focal point the past two weeks. After my original ultrasound a few weeks ago we found out that she has something called EIF (extragenetic intercardiac focus), basically it is a freckle on her heart. We went and had a higher level ultrasound done this week to see if anything else would show up, and everything else came out perfect so we have opted to not do anymore testing. We did get to talk to the ultrasound doctor and she explained that it does not effect the function of the heart and is either dense tissue or mineralization, but it typically goes away before they are born. I think God just wanted Joel to see his new baby girl before she was born (since he couldn't come to the first one). The tech did do the 3-d and 4-d so we got to actually see her rolling around and grabbing her feet, and we now have a dvd of bella and gabby. I thought Bella was a mover, but Gabby has her beat. I didn't feel Bella moving until into the 6th month, but I've felt Gabby for the past few weeks. Not everyday, but she is a kicker - especially when I was rocking Bella the other night, Gabby wasn't too excited with her on my tummy. I also think God has blessed us with another LARGE baby! Typically babies are about 8 oz at 19 weeks; however, at 18 1/2 weeks she was already 10oz and 2 inches longer than most. However, my due date has only moved up a few days to June 9th (according to the 2nd ultrasound)...I know my dad is hoping to hit his birthday on the 5th, but I'm hoping she comes two weeks early like Bella so I'm not delivering a 10 lb baby.

Well, onto Bella (our crazy girl). It is so hard to put into words how much she is growing physically and mentally. For awhile she has been so mobile and into discovering everything, but now she is trying to bring us into her world to share what she's learning. She throws little tantrums and then looks at us to see our reaction or if we are paying attention to her...she'll roll around on the ground and get more and more dramatic then get up laughing or smiling. It's also wonderful that she understands what we say now (most of the time). She has favorite books and I love when she brings them over and sits on my lap to read them. She still loves peek-a-boo and walks around with her blanket over her head a lot of the time. She woke up about 10:30 the other night and I went in and laid her down, I opened the door and she had her blanket over her head and she pulled it down and went "boo"...it took everything not to laugh out loud...I laid her down went back to our bedroom and started cracking up.

She also has followed in her daddy's shoes and loves to dance and sing. One of her favorites is "if you're happy and you know it" and "itsy bitsy spider". Below is a video of her dancing to her fridge dj before going to school...

Last night, we got home and I thought she would go straight to bed since she had been going to sleep around 5 all week....boy was I wrong. I was attempting to get pjs on when Bella decided she wanted to play in her diaper until about 7:30 (I think she just wanted to see daddy). She ran around playing and singing and terrorizing the dogs. Here are a few videos of her playing with her dishes and monkey chair...

Gabriella Joy aka Gabby

It looks like another girl will be joining the family in June! I had my ultrasound today and it is still so amazing all that you can see. She keeps her hands by her face like Bella does and she yawned and it was so adorable and miraculous to see that. She rolled around a lot and we got a great picture of her hand that it made it look like she was waving to me. Below is a picture of her profile. A few more months and we can hardly wait!

Taking after Daddy

Bella has most of my personality (independent and stubborn - I guess that's Joel too), but picking up things she definitely didn't get from me. She has started to empty out her drawers of pjs and pants and then puts them all back. It's pretty funny to watch. She does it with my purse and her diaper bag too, now if she would put the rest of her toys away we'd have a half way clean house.

I got great pictures of her smiling this week and a video of daddy making her laugh in the bathtub last night. She has most of her teeth now just need two more on the bottom. Nothing much else exciting happened this week, except for my 16 week check up. The baby is doing great but moves a lot, so it was hard to get the heartbeat at first (which threw me into a panic), but they found it after a few minutes and it was strong. I have been feeling he/she move every once in awhile and it reminds me of what a miracle God has given us (for a second time). I have my ultrasound Wednesday so hopefully we'll know if Bella is having a brother or sister! We are also gearing up for the big game tomorrow night and Bella has her 15 month check up tomorrow too! It's exciting to see how much she's grown.

Happy New Year

We spent New Year's Morning having a tea party (however I can get the pictures off my new camera) and New Year's Day celebrating Bella's Uncle Ryan's birthday. We had a great time eating hamburgers and watching football. She also decided it was a great day to learn to pick her nose (but I won't embarrass her with posting the pictures we took).

Here is Bella snuggling with mommy and Nemo. I love her pumas.
Helping Uncle Ryan open his presents.
Grilling out with daddy and Papa T
Lounging in her chair outside.
Playing with uncle chad.