Grandma's Spoiled Girl

My mom took Bella and I out to lunch today and then we ventured over to babies R us to get Bella some PJs and an elephant that she discovered she liked in Montana. My mom ended up getting tons of clothes for Bella as usual and I can't thank her enough. Then we went back home and all watched a movie. Here are a couple cute pictures from today.

Back to Our Daily Routine

It was so wierd waking up to just Bella today. It is the first day in 2 weeks that I have not seen CJ all day. I think poor Bella missed her grandpa because she wanted to hang out on my shoulder all day,which is grandpa's thing. I hope this week flies by, it will be nice having CJ home on the 1st. Here are a couple cute pictures I took today.

Montana

We just got back from Montana and boy are we glad to be home. We had lots of fun over the week that we were there and Bella just loved visiting with everyone. Bella made out like a bandit for her very first Christmas and she loved opening her presents. Thank you to all that made the trip possible! Love you all.

Snow Fun

It snowed another few inches here in Tacoma last night. We decided it was time for Bella to really experience the fun snow has to offer. Everyone in the park was sledding down the big hills! We found a cardboard box and joined in. A very friendly family lent us one of their sleds after watching us try and macgyver a cardboard box into a sled. It was so much fun! Bella loved sledding so much! She ended up falling asleep while sledding with daddy.

Family Night Sans the Monkey

Mommy and baby ready to go see Great Grandma...all geared up in our white winter wool.

Not only is this Bella's first time celebrating Christmas, it is Mommy's first time celebrating Christmas away from my family. It is really hard for me not being able to see my brother on Christmas, so today we dropped Bella boo with great Grandma B and spent the night with my family. I thought it would be nice to give Jadyn some play time with CJ and I before we left for Montana. Jadyn was supposed to have a winter concert tonight but they cancelled it. I was pretty sad but we still had fun playing the new game I bought him for Christmas and driving around to look at Christmas lights. We also enjoyed playing with Bella's Xmas gift from my mom. Elmo Live! If you have not experienced Elmo Live yet...you must see him...he is too cute.

Turns out that "Ker-Plunk" gets pretty competative... haha

Mommy's Little Helper

Today Bella helped me start packing for our trip to Montana. She may not fold the clothes, but she will certainly let me know where they go.

Bella's First Snow

Tacoma showered us with a little pre-Montana prep snow today. Bella just LOVED it. She was looking all around in awe. Daddy even let her taste the snow. It was so special to share this wonderful and new experience with her.

Sittin' Solo

Here are some better pictures of Bella sitting all by her self. The one of her on the couch looks like she is leaning on the pillow, but she is really doing it all by herself. She is getting so big. Every now and then she leans to one side. She uses her hands a lot to hold herself up straight. I am so proud.

Strength Training

Sorry I haven't posted much this week, I have been busy trying to get miss monkey to crawl. So far, if I put the cell phone a little out of her reach, she will scoot towards it. She doesn't get much more than a few inches, but I am very proud of the progress we are making. I am also working on getting Bella to sit by herself. I think she will be fully mobile in no time. I'm sure when that happens, I will somewhat regret all the work I am doing now to get her there haha.

This is Bella sitting by herself..she still leans a little..hehe

This is Bella during our crawling practice today..she's looking at me like "mommy give me that darn cell phone already!"

Good Old Hip Hop

Ever since Bella was a wee little fetus we have surrounded her with our favorite music. I think her favorite is hip hop. Here she is enjoying some tunes with her daddy.

Bella loves Christmas Time

Bella with frosty at grandma and grandpa's

This was just after she got her santa picture done

Our Christmas tree

I just love showing Bella all the fun Christmas has to offer. Having a baby at Christmas is so much fun because it is almost like experiencing it all for the first time for yourself. Bella loves all the lights and sounds that come with Christmas. I can't wait for Bella's first Christmas!

Cute Pictures

Bella and her cousin Owen
Bella and aunt Carrie

Bella playing with her grandpa

I just love this one of her and daddy.

Thank you Ed and Carrie for sending these to us. We just love all of the pictures so very much!

Christmas Cards

My mind has been so crazy lately. I have a lot going on. Apparently when I sent out Christmas cards...some of them were empty envelopes....so if you are one of the lucky ones that got an empty envelope, let me know and we will get your card to you.

He Knows if You've Been Bad or Good

We are teaching Bella the Christmas basics. So far she digs the tree, LOVES the advent calendar, and thinks frosty is fun to chew on. She wasn't too fond of the whole wrapping presents. I think she was getting mad watching me wrap up her new toys, or maybe it was the green bow mommy put on her head? haha. I just remind her that Santa knows when Bella is crabby. I think this monkey might get some coal in her stocking. hehe...just kidding!

Shopping with Grandma

Bella and I went shopping with my mom today. I am so glad Bella will finally let everyone hold her! She even snuck in a "hello" to grandma when mommy wasn't around.

Forget rudolph, Bella's the most wonderful reindeer of all.

Christmas Card Outtakes

I took photos of Bella today for Christmas Cards. My original idea was to stuff her in a stocking, but I couldn't find one big enough for chunky monkey. So, I just tossed some tinsel around her and gave her a bow hehe. These are some of the pictures we didn't use.

Growing Girl

It is crazy how big our Bella is getting. Tonight we picked her up from her great grandma's and we were talking about how crazy it is that babies learn to do things so quickly. Such as when Bella rubs her eyes when she is tired and when she smacks your hand when she wants you to let go of her toy hehe. She is getting so big.

I snapped this when she was standing by herself watching elmo!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Thanksgiving was a blast! I am so thankful for the opportunity to be with family. The food was amazing and the company was even better. Miss Bella tried mashed potatoes and seemed to really enjoy them. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. HERE COMES CHRISTMAS TIME..YAYY!

This is Bella chowing down on some taters.

She was pretty in poka-dots. Her dress was super cute. And nothing beats those beautiful (now turning brown) eyes.

Our Big Brave Bella

Today was a VERY eventful day for Bella Mae. First was her 4 month check up. The doc gave Bella a clean bill of health and tells us we get an A+ for raising her well thus far. She got 4 shots and she did her usual scream for a minute then be totally fine. She weighs 14 lbs 11.5 ozs and she is 25.5 in long. She is ranging in the 95th percentile for length and 75th for weight. The nurse even ok'd us for a few bites of mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving. The doc says nothing other than formula and rice cereal for another 2 months. I also got the ok from the doc to pierce miss monkey's ears. I was going to wait until a different day to pierce her ears, one when she didn't have shots as well, but I decided I didn't want two rough days of pain for her. That's right, we did it! Bella is now a proud owner of her first 14 kt gold earrings from dad. She was such a trooper. I was so scared through the entire process. I had to hold her head still while they cleaned it, marked it, and pierced it. If you have ever tried to hold a baby still, you know how hard that can be. Even worse was the fact that they had to do one at a time. She was so brave! She screamed for a few minutes and then was totally ok. She passed out in the car on the way home. We gave her tylenol and hope that the rest of the night goes well. Here are the battle scars...