The Parade

While I was at work the other night Abbi was in a parade. Laura and Brandon bundled up Dawson and Bella and took them to their first parade. It may appear as though Brandon looks pretty funny. You'll notice that strange thing sticking out of his mouth. It is actually Bella's wooden spoon! She was playing with it before they left and refused to leave it behind. Of all the wonderful, expensive toys we have all over the place, Bella loves her spoon!

Two Babies!

Laura and I are getting pretty good at juggling two babies. We like to switch sometimes and play with the other. The switching can be kind of tricky but as you can see we are beginning to get it down. What a unique experience motherhood is, but to get to share it with your sister at the same time.... thats an amazing experience. How lucky we are!!!

Bella & Halle

Bella has a friend named Halle! My friend Erin's daughter loves to play with Bella. We see her and she gets all excited chanting baby, baby. She is working on saying Bella but it just doesn't quite come out right yet. Sunday we went to Halle's first birthday party. She had so much fun. She is an absolute doll! After her cake she decided she would rather chew on a frosting flavored apple. Erin and I are determined that Halle and Bella are going to be best friends!

Diapers

Bella has made a new discovery recently. We were taking a nap in my bed and she didn't want to sleep but mommy needed a little cat-nap so I let her play next to me. I was awoken by a warm wet sensation on my back. I turned over and Bella was grinning at me. Her diaper was off and next to her. She has figured out how to remove it and then pees with it off. A couple days later she was playing in the pack and play and I noticed she got rather quiet. I looked in at her and she had once again removed the diaper and this time pooped everywhere. She was smart enough to even move to the side so that she could play comfortably. What a mess she is! I keep trying to tell myself that somehow this means she will be easy to potty-train... mommy's dream. I am sure we will be dealing with this for quite some time.

OH BELLA

Bella was Aunt Laura's big helper. She helped her cook dinner and had so much fun! She loves to be up with everyone. Her eyes get big and she takes it all in. She is such a smart little girl. We play all kinds of games like pat-a-cake and peek-a-boo. She is just a blast! She had so much fun with Aunt Laura that she wore herself out and fell asleep. She had a death grip on the spoon. No matter how hard granny tried she would not let go!

Bella goes all over in her walker. She is starting to discover fun things. She will see something and go towards it. Tonight she found granny's flowers in the dinning room. She worked her way over to them and managed to pull them down. I'm sure this will be the first of many pictures taken like this. She changes every day and will soon be into everything.

My bright-eyed girl!

More fun pictures

Bath Time

We love to give baths! Bella has so much fun playing with her rubber ducky. She cries when we get in and then cries when she has to get out.
After the bath we have fun putting on lotion and getting dressed. Then we get to cuddle!

Everyday Life

The beautiful cradle

Twins?

Whenever we go out, people often ask if Dawson and Bella are twins. Laura and I always are amused by the confusion that we cause particularly when it is me, Laura, Dawson, Bella, and Brandon all out together.

Changes

Bye-Bye Monitor
Bella is growing up so quickly. I can hardly believe that she is six months old. We had a doctor's appointment yesterday and received some wonderful news. Bella has been given the okay to go monitor free! Officially this coming Friday is the last day she will have the monitor. I am so very excited. It will be nice to not have to deal with all of the extra stress. I am thankful to have had the monitor, but am also thankful that Bella is well enough and strong enough to no longer need it. What a great day!

Growing
Bella is a little over 13 pounds now. She is actually the same size as cousin Dawson. He might even be slightly bigger than her. She is doing wonderfully though. She eats three meals a day of baby food and coming soon..... table foods! We tried juice yesterday. She does very well with it. She can drink her juice and water out of a big girl cup. Most of it even stays in her mouth! What a joy she is.

Crib
She is so active now that we have replaced the cradle with a big girl crib. She loves her crib. She will stay in her crib when she wakes up in the morning for quite awhile before letting me know she is ready to get up for the day. She entertains herself in there. She uses her blanket to play peek-a-boo with the critters hanging from the mobile above her. She jabbers and tells them all about the wonderful things she dreamed of. And than I walk in and lean over the edge of crib to tell her good morning. I am greeted with squeels and grins. We get up and change her diaper (very important after sleeping for 8 hours) and then go to the living room for some breakfast. Our morning routine is a very special time to me.

Sitting up
Bella loves to sit up and play. She is able to sit by herself so long as she is leaning forward and has something to entertain her. As soon as she is distracted she topples over to one side and squirms to a crawling position. She gets those little knees up under her but just can't quite figure out what to do next. She will wiggle all over the room though. She gets frustrated when she can't figure out to get something she wants. Soon she will figure those things out though.

ZOOM ZOOM
The walker is Bella's best friend. She is able to go all over in it. She can go forwards and backwards and even turn herself around. Last night she found her way from granny's dining room to her kitchen and then found some flowers in the corner of the room. She very intently stared them down and tried to reach out and get them. She played there for awhile before getting frustrated with the silly flowers. What a funny girl she is.

Jabber
DaDa AGaGa....Bella is learning all kinds of fun things. She will just sit and talk to you. She can't get mama yet but I know it will be coming soon. Everyday something new amazes me about her. It's a great adventure!

Poor Bella

We like to play all kinds of games with Bella. We found Abbi's old play wig while doing some cleaning and decided that Bella would look pretty cool in it. As you can see, she was not nearly as amused as we all were.

Play Time

I like to come over to mom's house in the mornings so that Laura and I can play with the babies. One morning we spent a long time playing with Bella and a blue bandana. Bella thought it was the greatest thing ever. She chewed on it and we pulled on it. We played dress up with it. It turned out to be an exciting toy. We try to get Dawson and Bella to play together, but really they just dont' have any interest in each other.

Playing with Bella

What exciting lives we have now.... Saturday night and what have we been up to? Playing with the babies ofcourse. Bella has discovered her feet and enjoys spending time chewing on them as well as talking to them. She is working very hard on sitting up. She loves to be up on everything so she can see what everyone is doing.

I love my hand!

Don't get in my way!

Look at her go. Bella sure loves to play in her walker. Her little toes can barely touch the ground but she can still manage to go across the floor (backwards ofcoarse). The little toys on the top of the walker spin and she can spin them round and round and round. What a joy the walker is to Bella..... and to mommy (I get 20 minutes most days to work on stuff around the house thanks to this fabulous invention.

Two peas in a pod

...or two sleepy babies in carriers

Aunt Abbi

Look everyone.....I have two!

Veronica and Bella

My friend Veronica came to visit. We had a wonderful time. It was nice to get to have someone my age to hang out with. Bella took right to Veronica, but then again who wouldn't.

The blue sucker

So, maybe I give in occasionally. I let Abbi give Bella a blue sucker. You can just see how much fun that was!

shake rattle and ROLL

boy oh boy.... Bella has most definitley figured out how to get from point A to point B. Her method of travel however can be quite amusing. She has a very sophisticated method of scoot, scoot, roll, scoot, roll, squirm etc. She is so fun to watch. She will be peacefully playing on a blanket when out of now where she sees something across the way that she just has to have. She does her combination of rolls and scoots until she gets to where she wants to go.

She has figured out how to get her knees slightly up under her, but crawling will still take a bit to figure out. What a joy she is to watch. She discovers new things all the time and I discover them right along side her. She talks up a storm now. We spend so much of our time visiting and playing on the floor. I am in the process of childproofing my house as well as getting her bedroom all ready for the upcoming adventures she will have.

Bella's great-grandma Harke is coming to see us tomorrow and we are so excited. Cousin Dawson is getting so big! I can't wait for the two to get to play.

Growing Up

Bella has filled out so much. She is such a joy to watch. Everyday holds some new discovery for her. At this exact moment she is in the other room talking to some sheep that are hanging from the pack and play. She squeels and gurgles and makes all sorts of fun noises constantly now. She is such a beautiful little girl ( not that I am biased or anything). She loves to sit up and stand up all the time. She is very active now. I am so amazed at how much she has changed in such a short time. I am anxious for visitors that we have coming soon to see how much she has changed. My friend Veronica and Bella's Great Grandma are both coming soon!

I'm an Aunt

I guess I hadn't really given it much thought. I knew that I was a mommy and Laura was going to be a mommy.... I forgot all about the fact that I get to be an Aunt! I get to have a very special role in Dawson's life. I get to buy all of loud annoying toys for Dawson that I would never buy Bella.

I had to work Friday night and didn't make it to the hopsital until about an hour and a half after Dawson was here. Thankfully I was escorted right in and got hold my special nephew.

Cereal for Me

Bella had her four month doctors appointment a little over a week ago. She is doing wonderfully. She weighed 11 pounds 10 ounces. Her pediatrician and I have decided to be cautious and keep her on the monitor until she is sixth months. But really for Bella six months is 7 and a half months because of her being premature. The monitor can be a hastle sometimes, but it is all worth it in the end.


It's finally time. Last night Bella had her first taste of cereal. She did quite well with it. She is definitely growing up quick. Seeing Dawson reminds me of just how far we have come in four short months.

I have a cousin!

Bella and Dawson...Best Friends Already!

Dawson Michael Rees was born Friday July 22nd at 10:56 p.m. Weighing in at 8 pounds 4 ounces he is exactly double what my petite princess Bella weighed. Bella decided to properly welcome Dawson into the world by chewing on his hand. Dawson wasn't very impressed.