"booh-ee"

Everyday Bella is constantly making pit stops in front of a window or door where she can stare at the birds. We get a ton of birds on our balcony due to the fact that we have 5,745,123,757 (well maybe not THAT many) bird feeders. She has started to say the word birdie (or what we think is birdie). She points at the birds and says "booh-ee, booh-ee!" It is so darn cute! This picture was taken while Bella was looking out the window today.

Fun With New Family

CJ, Bella, and I went out with my aunt and cousins yesterday. One of my cousins has a baby that is Bella's age and they absolutely loved playing with each other. I really enjoyed meeting them and I look forward to seeing them more often. This is Bella and Jayden (my cousin Brandi's son) driving a car together =]

March for Babies 2009

CJ, Bella, and I participated in the 2009 March of Dimes March for Babies today. It was a 6 mile walk with all benefits going to the March of Dimes foundation. Bella did great! She slept in the bjorn for half of the way with mommy (which got extremely heavy after a couple of miles) and then she went in between the stroller and daddy for the rest of the way. The weather turned out to be pretty decent and we had a great work out. Trust me, 6 miles is a work out for us. We are so happy that we could do this, even if we had just a few donations. Thank you to those who donated! I am very supportive of the March of Dimes foundation, especially after almost going into labor with Bella 7 weeks premature. We look forward to participating in this event every year!

Bella's BIG Boo Boo =[

Today had to have been the scariest, most horrible day of my life. This morning I took Bella out of her crib and put her on the floor in the living room as I was going to go make her cereal and a bottle. I looked behind me to check on her and she had went into her room. When I went in to see what she was doing, it was too late. I walked in on her wobbly feet slipping out from under her as she hung on to her crib. She smashed her mouth on the bottom of the crib and all I saw was blood and teeth. I was absolutely frantic. I picked her up and somehow got dressed and packed a bag in like 10 seconds (all while holding her) and called everyone I know to figure out what to do. My first instinct was to take her to the ER but then I ended up talking with the pediatrician and he said to just bring her in to see him. He said she would be fine and to take her to a dentist. On our way to the dentist Bella lost another tooth (which was loose from the fall). We took her right away to CJ's old dentist and he said Bella was going to be just fine. She had a little tear in her gums and she lost 3 teeth! I have felt the most intense amount of guilt all day. I feel like the worst mother ever. I know that these things happen but as a mom you are always thinking about the "what if" factor. What if I was a little quicker to check on her...could I have caught her?
Bella has been such a brave little trooper. She has barely fussed at all today. She has been smiley and sleepy. I have been exceedingly protective of her since the incident. I feel like she is going to constantly hurt herself. Hopefully I will start to feel better soon because I haven't really let Bella do anything today. I have been so excited about her mobility, but after today, I could have been fine with her putting off crawling for a few more months haha.

I really hope it will be a long time before her next big spill!

Monkeys Belong In A Zoo

We took Bella to the zoo today. It was so much fun! The weather was great (66...which was great for a spring afternoon in Seattle) and Bella really enjoyed herself. Those of you who have spent time with Bella know that she LOVES animals. I think her favorite animal was the tiger. We had a great day and we look forward to many more trips to the zoo. (zoo membership for Bella's birthday anyone?? =])

Brick Competition

Here are some photos of CJ doing his thing at the competition today. We are all a bit upset over the judging because CJ should have placed, but CJ doesn't have to win for us to know that he is good at what he does. I am soooo proud of him!

Enjoying The Partially Sunny Skies

Lately Bella has been pretty happy just hanging out by the patio door enjoying the somewhat sunny weather. Here are a couple cute pics of Bella hanging out in the very cute outfit that my Aunt Laura got her. Thank you Laura!

Tunnel-O-Fish

Today Bella was finally brave enough to enter her fishy tunnel.

Finished Product

We just finished Bella's toy box today! It is beautiful and we absolutely love it. Thanks to Ron for all of the help making it and thanks to Deb for all of the help watching Bella while we were busy working on it! Remember, this was built from scratch. I think CJ and Ron have so much talent! I helped paint and glue but they did all of the real work! This is going to be such a special thing for Bella to have for the rest of her life.

Hippity Hoppity Happy Easter

We have had a marvelous Easter Weekend! We spent yesterday in Edmonds with my Grandma and Jadyn. We went to an Easter egg hunt and then colored Easter eggs. Bella got to meet my Aunt Laura for the first time...so it was an extra special day for Bella. Today we are having Easter dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Cooper as well as painting her toy box. (Don't mind my hair in the painting picture...I know it looks awesome..ha)

Built With Love

Ron (CJ's father) and CJ have been working hard on building Bella a toy box. We decided that having a hand made toy box from Daddy and Grandpa would be special for an entire lifetime. It is coming along very nicely and I will post photos when it is finished. They started this from scratch with just a few directions from a website. Here is Bella helping Grandpa sand her toy box.

Exploring Mobility

Sorry again about the lack of posts...we get the Internet Monday! Woo!

Now that Bella is a pro-crawler she is exploring what exactly her new skill can offer her. So far she has learned that she can get into whatever she wants (including laundry as pictured), go play with her toys when she wants, chase Buster the kitty when she wants, and even explore new ways of getting around (i.e. push and go car at grandparent's house). We are now learning about all of the advantages of baby-proofing and thinking that a baby gate would be a good investment since she can get anywhere in the blink of an eye. This has all been so much fun but also bittersweet. She is becoming more independent everyday, which makes me realize one day she won't need me to help her up a step or grab something out of her reach. She is growing up fast...in a mere 3 months we will be celebrating her 1st birthday...wow.

Photos

Here are some pictures from the past week..enjoy!

This is Bella going for her first swim!

All dressed up for the Easter Bunny!

Crawling through the grass to mom

Coming Soon...

Sorry about the lack of posts lately! We are all moved into our new place but we do not have internet access yet. As soon as we do I will post photos and a video of what all has been going on lately. In the past week Bella has learned to crawl (and has become a crawling machine) and we have taken Bella to the pool for the first time. We are also going to take Bella to see the Easter bunny tomorrow...yay! So look out for up-coming posts and hang in there for now. Love to you all!