THE BALLOON

The other day Bella and I went to Granny's house to visit for a bit. We all went outside so that Chloe (the new puppy) could go potty. Bella and Chloe chased each other round and round the yard. Granny and I were watching from the steps. Bella ran over to the fence and was rustling through the leaves and dirt. She reached down picked something up and then came racing toward Granny and I. She looked so very pleased with herself. She was waving something in the air. As she approached we realized the had a leaf still attached to the stem. She was waving it in the air and saying baoon, baoon. It took me a moment to realize that she was saying balloon.

She was so excited about her new found toy. She would wave it up in the air then wave it down by her feet. In fact she waved it so proudly by her feet, that the leaf fell off the stem. She looked up at us with such horror in her eyes that it nearly broke my heart. She carefully picked up the leaf handed it to granny and gave her a look that begged that she fix it. We told her that it was broken and she looked sad for a moment then she walked off carrying what was left of her baoon.

It reminded me of the Winnie The Pooh story where they had the deflated balloon. I walked out and found another leaf attached to its stem and carefully handed it to Bella. Her eyes shined and her grin was so big it took over her pretty little face. She looked at me as though I had given her the most amazing thing she had ever seen.


Things get busy sometimes and I get a little tired, a little crabby (imagine that), and sometimes a little down. But then I get a pleasant reminder of the good in our life. Those everyday baoons appear to remind me!

The Window

I bet you can't find me Mommy!

Keep looking Mommy!

I am gonna get you Mommy

Peek-A-Boo Mommy!

Bella enjoys playing in the window. She will play peek a boo with us. She also talks to birds, bugs, and people that she sees. She will take her baby doll and a book, sit back there and read away. Sometimes she will even sing behind the blinds. Who could have imagined such a fun play spot!

Dawson's First Birthday!

Little Miss Personality

Bella knows exactly what she wants and when she wants it. She and I have so much fun together. It makes us all smile at Bella's fun little girl ways. She is most definitely all girl. She loves to wrap fabric around her, put necklaces on and pick out her own shoes. I will have her completely ready to go and we will be at the front door to leave when she throws a tantrum, runs into her room and puts a necklace on. She comes back to the door smiles and everything is all better. In the mornings she sits on the bathroom sink and brushes her teeth while I fix her hair. She is getting enough so that I can do fun things! She smiles and makes faces at herself. What a fun time we have!

Such Big Kids!

I can't believe how much they have grown. It seems as though each day when Bella comes home she has learned something new. She is losing the baby look and becoming a little girl more and more each day. Her activities are constantly changing. Dawson spent an evening with us and he and Bella had so much fun. I set up the table on the tile and they had a fun dinner together.

Fourth of July Fun

Bella likes Watermelon!

Bella plays with Dawson in the pool. They had so much fun!

Bella did not like being in the lake. It was getting close to bedtime though, so we will have to try again another time when she isn't so sleepy.

Way up in the sky, the little birds fly.

Low down in the nest, the little birds rest.

With a wing on the left and a wing on the right, the little birds sleep, all through the night.

Out comes the sun, the dew goes away. Good morning, good morning the little birds say

Dawson is growing up too! We have so much fun with the two of them. They like to have us set them on a branch of a tree in granny's yard. Bella enjoys watching birds. There is a big window in her classroom at day care. A bird feeder is located just outside the window. Bella watches the birdies. She has learned to say "tweet tweet". She first learned to say "toot toot" but finally she figured it out. Yeah Bella! The above lyrics are too a song that Momma always sang to us and now I sing to Bella.

Kissing Cousins

Oh so active and grown up

Oh Bella. She is growing up so quickly. Things have been very busy for us. We are fairly settled into the new house (pictures coming soon). We have been working on our new schedule. Bella has started her new day care. She seems to enjoy it. She has been slightly crabby, but I believe that it is just the change in her schedule. She is playing harder than she ever has. She plays outside every day and rides little tricycles, does painting projects, plays in the sprinkler, slides and climbs. She is just an amazing little girl. I have my video almost complete but I am waiting for a DVD burner to use. I hope everyone enjoys it. WE would love to hear from everyone!!!!

Finally..Updates of Bella

More Picture Soon

Really I promise.... Bella and I have been pretty busy lately but I will update with more pictures very soon. I have her first birthday pictures and a few others that you all might want to see. Over the last month we have had lots of changes and I think things are going very well for us. I no longer am working at Chilis, I actually have a nice day job working for four county mental health as a case manager (will describe this some other time..... Probably after I figure out exactly what that means !) Bella is walking every where and growing up so quick. Her favorite toys right now are books, which I love. She loves and flip through the pages and read to herself. What a wonderful little girl. Be looking for Birthday pictures sometime this week.

Eating is hard work!

Today Bella ate her grilled cheese for lunch for nearly an hour. She just couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. She kept eating up until the end though. That last bit fell out and landed on her shirt. Eating is becoming a very important part of Bella's life. Food is beginning to replace bottles and as of Thursday Bella can switch from formula to big girl milk. It is also time to get rid of the bottle. I am not looking forward to that adventure, but I guess it is time.

Say Duck Bella

While reading a book in the waiting room I discovered that Bella can say duck. So naturally I decided we should go see a duck. Miller and I took Bella to a duck pond in Bartlesville. She managed to say duck a couple dozen times. When we got home we went to go see Granny and tell her about what we learned, as you can imagine, Duck was not something that came out of Bella's mouth that night. Oh well, I know that we had fun.

It amazes me how every day Bella seems to have learned five new things. I can barely keep up with all the things she is discovering. I think it is sort of interesting how in the beginning changes start occurring rapidly. You sort of think that soon things will slow down, but instead the growth and learning just gets faster. It's only been one year, and I am not sure I can even remember before.

Such a Big Girl

Bella is such a big girl! I found her earlier today playing in my room with my purses. She would put one on her arm and jabber to herself. Then she would get another and play with it. She also likes to brush her hair and my hair. I get whacked in the face mostly, but it's as cute as can be.

It's hard to believe one year will be here next week. I can't wait to celebrate and see Bella eat her cake.

I'm So Full

Bella can eat and eat and eat.... but sometimes we actually get her full. She is eating basically all table foods now. Still no teeth but she can still manage crackers, cookies, ground beef, eggs, chicken breasts, pretty much anything we will let her get a hold of. She eats three or four meals a day. She doesn't have very many bottles anymore. The bedtime and nap bottles are still a must have. Those will be the hardest to get rid of. This morning Bella had some rice cereal and applesauce. Then we had some leftover Chili and crackers together for lunch. She is napping right now, but when she wakes up we might have a little bit of yogurt. She won't allow for anyone to be eating in front of her. She wants food too! She ate spinach with Brandon the other night and enjoyed it. I have yet to find something that she absolutely doesn't like.

Holiday Fun

Aunt Laura loves to put diapers on Bella's head. Sometimes I think that Bella has inherited a little of Laura's goofiness!

Here I Am

Bella can get anywhere she wants to go now. You can turn your head for only a moment and she is off and gone. Then you have to search for her. The places she ends up! Granny found Bella on the dishwasher. Bella climbed up all by herself. I can't believe how big she is getting. Almost 10 months. It's just crazy.

ATTACK AUNT LAURA

Trip to KC

To start off the new year Bella and I took a trip to Kansas City. We went and stayed with Nakisha and Lance. Taegan and Aedan are geting so big. We spent an entire day jut playing with the kids. We also went to visit Gene and Tony. These are pictures of Bella with Tony and Katrina. I can't wait until Anthony is born so Bella will have another cousin to play with.

Christmas Girl

Bella wants to walk, but just can't quite get it all figured out. She did pretty well with this walking toy over at Aunt Starla's house.

So many presents! Bella ended up playing with some ribbons and then drinking a bottle in the middle of all of her presents.