Dress up

First we have to wish Joel a happy birthday. He turned 27 on Tuesday. We celebrated by going to Outback on Saturday after the zoo. Tuesday he didn't get home until 9ish, so we shared some ice cream cake to celebrate - even though Bella was already asleep.
Trying on Dad's hat - a little big
As we were hanging out in the bathroom this weekend, Joel thought it would be funny to put a bra on Bella. Well, this has now led to her going into my drawer and putting all my bras on...the picture is a little funny.
If Bella could dress herself - she'd wear a different shoe on each foot and no pants - and probably no top either. She's been going into her room and bringing us shoes to put on her feet - although she tries to do it herself. She'll wear them for awhile and then will bring out some other ones she wants to wear.
She also thinks everything is a chair she has to sit on. The scale in the bathroom is so low, when she tries to sit she stops 1/2 way and then goes a little farther and a little more until she reaches it.

Hope everyone had a good week. I love the weekends because I get to see Joel and Bella - well Joel is on call Saturday so I'll get to see him for half of the weekend.

busy weeks.

We have had a busy couple of weeks...seems to be the theme in our house. I had my 24 week appointment last Thursday and everything looks good. I can't believe in a few months Gabby will be here...we have so much to do before then. Mom is also doing great. She came home from the hospital last week and is doing her 7 weeks of antibiotics. Once those are done she'll get another MRI to see how the bone looks. All of her other tests came back negative, so we're hoping these drugs do the trick.


Anyway onto Bella...I guess I'll start with Valentines. I took the day off and Bella, Nana and I went shopping and playing at the mall. Bella loves the indoor playground at the mall, but I would rather have people actually watching their kids so they don't run over each other.


Bella loves the slides, but she goes down backwards. I think it is because we make her go backwards on her belly down Nana's stairs. "Talking"on my cell phone while at lunch
We came home and she found her sunglasses...she's going to be a diva
She also loves to walk around the house and put things in her bags. Then she'll grab her purse and wave good-bye.
Two weekends ago we got to hang out with the Hodges. It had been a long time since we saw Mason. Bella had a blast playing with him...well running around the house while Mason played with his toys. It was fun to share stories and remember when they were small.

Our fridge. Bella has become quite the artist at school. She loves to finger paint.
Saturday we went to the zoo. It was perfect weather. Bella seemed to have more fun playing with daddy than watching the animals. Here she is running down the hill after seeing the bears.

This petting zoo experience was a little better than in October at the pumpkin patch. She actually petted and brushed the goats this time

Mommy and Bella in front of the zebras.

I love her kisses. Usually she just leans in for the kiss, but I actually got one from her this time.

I think Joel won the award for most worn out by the end of the day (and we were only there 2 hours). Bella of course kept using her new favorite word "up, up".

We've been working on animal noises. Here is her lion roar. It's pretty funny.

Swing, Spaghetti and Stickers

I'm a little late getting these posted, but life has been crazy as usual, but don't worry I'll put lots of pictures of the little princess on here, so everyone can get their Bella fix...there's a video at the end too.

Mom's surgury is still up in the air. The original surgeon didn't put the order in until yesterday to have it done, even though he told her last week it was urgent and needed to be done ASAP. So she's looking for a new surgeon to do this...so we are hoping by the end of the week, but it may not be until next week.

Anyway...Bella continues to light up our lives (unless she's in the middle of a tantrum because we told her "no"). She is "talking" and singing all the time...and now runs as much as possible everywhere she tries to go. We have started to let her walk next to us holding our hand (since she's heavy and I'm growing more and more) and she usually does pretty good until something distracts her like trash on the ground, then she wants to go play with it. She also tries to climb onto everything...couch, chairs, end tables. Luckily everything is still a little too tall for her, but soon she'll be on top of everything.

She has finally started to eat more things besides chicken nuggets and corn. She of course has to have a spoon or fork to hold while she uses her fingers to actually get it in her mouth. We attempted spaghetti again...and this time she loved it...as you can tell by her face!

She looks so grown up waving to the camera. She loves to sit in this box and have daddy push her around the house (and chase Zona)
She thought Cosmo would make a good couch to lean on.
She's snuggling with mommy and Gabby....although Gabby still kicks when Bella leans on my belly.

She has had a cold again (me too)...so she cuddled up while I was making breakfast the other morning.

She still loves to be in her catchers stance. I would think it would hurt to couch down like this all the time, but that's how she plays.
Today we stopped by to see Nana and Uncle Ryan...Bella of course just wanted to play with Gus and chased him up and down the stairs, until Mommy got tired of chasing Bella.
She LOVES stickers. Usually they are all over herself, but today she thought she would put them on me while I was checking my email.

Last but not least...Uncle Ryan makes a great swing. She loved it and of course wanted him to keep going.