One Year Old

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Wow – turns out, one year goes by REALLY fast! Our baby girl is a whole year old! To celebrate, we decided to take Bella on her first trip to the zoo. She really enjoyed it, and in fact, we decided to get a membership, so that we can go back anytime we want over the next year and really explore. There were two big highlights of the day. 1> the polar bear: It was playing with a big ball in the water – dribbling it, actually…and we got right up close to the glass. His paw was SO big – Bella was in awe (as well as everyone else watching…you really couldn’t help but be fascinated) 2> A baby gorilla: I love the chimpanzees, and in my quest to find them, we came up the the gorilla viewing area (which is equally entertaining) There happened to be a baby gorilla goofing around in the camp, and it came right up to the window to take a peek at all the people looking in. It was strolling along, not really paying all that much attention to anyone, but when it got to Bella, it stopped right in its tracks as if to say hello! It was really cool. There happened to be a zoo volunteer nearby, and she told me that the gorilla always stops to look at the babies. What a treat for us!! We only spent a few hours at the zoo, but we saw lots of primates, zebras, polar bears, elephants, condors and even meerkats. We came home and ate cake with the neighbors and Bella opened her presents. Overall – it was a great day!

Bella went to the Dr. this week for her one year well checkup. Here are her stats:
Height: 32.25 in (off the charts)
Weight: 19 lb 12 oz (25%)

Dr says she is doing great and right on track. I started the weaning process last week, and she likes whole milk well enough, so hopefully it won’t be to painful for her. Here is an example of our current routine:

7am- wake & nurse
8am-breakfast
11am-big morning snack
Noon-2:30pm-nap
 2:30-big afternoon snack
6pm-dinner
6:45-bath/bedtime routine
7:30-asleep

We are in the transition phase for naps right now, so sometimes we have a short one at 11 am and another around 4 – but I am really working on one long nap per day so that we can stick to a 7:30 bedtime. Bella is having some separation anxiety at night right now, and seems to want to be held a bit more to be calmed to go to bed, but that is ok – I figure it is just part of the weaning process. It is quite an exciting time, as we are trying new foods (tried eggs this morning – she seemed to like them), she is becoming more independent (for the good and the bad – sometime it would be so much easier if mommy could just do it – especially around mealtimes…but I guess that they have to learn somehow), and she is understanding and responding so much more. It seems she learn a new word every week (this week was car…), and her favorite thing to do right now is blow kisses (at everyone and everything). I gave her a baby doll for her birthday that she can feed with a bottle and it makes a sucking sound – and she LOVES to do that (as well as feed every other stuffed animal in the room, even though they don’t respond!) 

I created a (psuedo) baby book for her for her birthday (it doesn’t have all the stats- those are here, but there are lots of fun pictures) – please feel free to take a look – click here!

More adventures coming soon….


Bella’s First Words

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I’ve been meaning to write these down as they happen, but of course, time flies when you are having fun…

Bella’s started saying a few words…I think her first ones were DaDa and Home. She also says Hi, Up, Down, MaMa and this morning I got a Bye-Bye 🙂 She loves making animal sounds, especially quacking like a duck (although it is more like CLACK, CLACK when she says it…), for a fish she smacks her lips together and for a cow, she blows (or more like spits through her lips with a BBBB sound (not really sure why? we always say moo – but this is the sound she has decided a cow makes…) She also recently tried to oink and cheep to a book we have with Daddy, but these sounds are few and far between at the moment.

She is definitely getting into “toddlerhood” – and gets very frustrated and angry when she doesn’t get her way. She will point and scream when she wants something, and continue doing so until you either give it to her or distract her with something else. She is also learning to test our boundaries. She knows that certain areas of the house are off-limits, but will go up to the stairs and climb the first step, look at you and shake her head “no”…but we still have to go get her and bring her down. I guess after the millionth time it might sink in. 🙂

She is still trying very hard to walk. She will stand up, so proud, and take about 7 steps and then crash to her knees. She loves walking all over holding onto an adult finger, but is still pretty iffy about going more than a few steps on her own.

Her first Birthday is coming up this week (I can’t believe it!!! This year has gone by SO fast!) I think we are going to either go to the beach or make a trip to the zoo for a small family celebration.


Let it Snow, Let it Snow,
Let it Snow!

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This weekend was Bella’s first trip (of many!) to Mammoth – and it was quite the snowy weekend! We stayed in an awesome house that was beautifully arranged by Jeremy and Allison. Nate, Terri, Kaelyn, Brad, Sheri, Greg, Allison & Jeremy all stayed at this huge house – and we even got to see our Simi Valley friends while at the mountain – Eric, Michelle, Treyton (we missed Taylor – she wasn’t feeling well), Jim, Heather (we also missed Cole & MacKenzie – although Terri found Kaelyn playing with MacKenzie in the daycare when she picked her up on Saturday!), Suzy & Dan . And boy did it SNOW! It was pow, pow everyday on the mountain with foggy, white conditions. I got to try out the new snowboard that Jeremy gave me for Christmas – and it was a perfect trip to do it! After spending the last year off of the mountain (due to being preggers..) I was a little nervous as I hopped off of the first lift, but it comes back just like riding a bicycle – and I was reminded why snowboarding is my favorite sport ever. There really are few things better than looking out on that beautiful mountain as the wind whips through your hair and you fly down the hill. With my ipod cranked, it is almost like dancing when I float down the mountain – my mood is always instantly lifted to such a euphoric state. This trip – I really noticed all the little ones learning to ski around me. I know it will be a few years – but I think it will be so much fun to teach Bella how to board. Hopefully, she will be more like Jeremy than me – and pick it up quickly without much fear. (My poor parents, they must have had a LOT of patience that trip to Park City where they taught me how to ski – I remember that I was a very timid skier.) Most of this trip, Bella stayed inside and hung out in the warmth of the house (we did spend quite a bit of time staring out the window at the snow and evergreens). She is grabbing for EVERYTHING right now – so I layed her on the blanket alot on Saturday, and let her log roll towards everything (including this pic, where she was coming for the camera). But, we of course had to take advantage of the photo opp with such a beautiful snowy setting. The top pic was my favorite from the weekend – you can see the snow falling all around Jer and Bella – it was taken right before we headed out of town, but you can get an idea of what our weather was like by looking at it.

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Solid Foods, First Football Games – were moving fast already in ’09

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2009 has started with quite a few fun events.

Since Bella seemed like she was hungry all the time, and just not satisfied with only milk, last Saturday (the 3rd) we decided to see if she would like some rice cereal. We got all excited for the big event, and she pretty much just took it in stride like she does everything else. We brought the spoon to her mouth – she opened and swallowed it right up. She doesn’t seem to LOVE it, but she doesn’t dislike it either – it seems she just figured that was what she was supposed to do…I made some homemade baby food last night (sweet potato and butternut squash), and we’ll give her something different this Saturday to try. Right now, she eats about 2 oz of rice cereal every morning, and we’ll move that to the afternoon on Saturday and give her the new food during that time.

Bella also attended her first horns football game – and what a game it was!! We traveled out to Phoenix for the Fiesta Bowl – TX vs. Ohio State (we won 24-21 with a clincher ending!). Jeremy and I stayed walking distance to the stadium. We walked over and tailgated for an hour or so before the game, and then met up with a couple of Jeremy’s clients for the big event. Bella was so good all day – she just hung out in the sling, slept during part of the game, and watched all the crazy fans the rest of the time. She has become quite the expert traveler as this was her third round trip flight in 3 months! Thanks to Dee Dee and Pa Pa for the tickets – we had a GREAT time!


Bella’s Christmas Shots

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We had a great time in Texas over Christmas. It was so special to get to see all of the great-grandparents, and grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, extended family, and friends. We traveled to Austin, Temple, Athens and Houston. So much has been going on there is just too much to write, but I’ll give it a little try… Bella was her mellow wonderful self as usual during most of the travels. She was pretty clueless about the whole Christmas event, but she’s enjoying the new toys, and we enjoyed getting her all dressed up for it. I think the photos really tell the story of our trip, so I will post them in a photo gallery after I finish downloading them. Towards the end of the trip, I’m pretty sure that she started teething, as she is drooling tons and seemed a little fussier than usual. We are now back home for the new year, and trying to settle back into our old routine ( I haven’t gotten a full night sleep in over eight days – but each night we are getting closer, so I am trying to have some patience. 🙂  ) Bella is gnawing away at her teething rings, and there is so much drool, that I’m considering put a bib on full time, so I am hoping that a couple of teeth will pop up and give her a little relief soon. Over the holidays, she started putting her knees underneath her body when she was on her tummy – I think it is the beginning of her trying to learn to scoot. She is also babbling with alot more sounds. Most nights lately, she wakes on her tummy trying to practice these new skills, and screaming in frustration.

I think that all of these changes is why she is fussier than usual, and so her sleep patterns have been interrupted, which only begets more crabbiness.

Luckily, she is fairly easy to pacify with a little cuddling and calm time, even when in a bad mood. We are going to Phoenix in a couple of days for the Fiesta Bowl (Bella’s first horns football game!), so I am not so concerned about fixing up the routine, as I am sure that it will just fall apart again during our travels. When we return, we are going to start her on solids!! I’m excited to see how she reacts. The photos from this post were her Christmas 2008 portraits. Enjoy – Happy New Year!



4 Month Checkup

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Bella had her four-month checkup today. All is going great! Here’s the info:

Height: 27 in (off the charts for a girl)
Weight: 13 lbs 7 oz (perfectly average at 50%)
Head Circ: 42 cm (soft spot still great)
Temp: 98.3 degrees

She had all of her shots, and even though she cried pretty hard for a few minutes, she relaxed and went to sleep on the drive home. Doc says she is doing GREAT! He wants us to wait until 6 mos to start solids, unless she starts seeming dissatisfied and unfulfilled with breastmilk – for the time being she seems fine, so I’ll follow his orders. The only thing he is requesting is that we train her to sleep a little longer at night (she currently sleeps about 9.5 hours, Doc wants 12). I guess we will have to figure out a way to get her to bed earlier…I think this will be more of a challenge for Jeremy and I, than it will for little Bella. It is just SO hard in the evenings to get it all together before 9 o’clock… 🙂 As soon as we get back from Austin, I am going to make it my goal to move her bedtime down to at least 8 o’clock consistently…

I’ll keep you posted on her progress!


Latest Milestones

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Last week, Bella let out her first little giggle – and we’ve been hearing them just about every morning since. 🙂

Today, she rolled over from her belly to her back 4 times! She accidentally went from the back to the belly a week ago, but the rolling today was no accident – she was just not into tummy time, and she was letting us know it!

I’ll try to get some video soon!