I am one lucky girl!

VOTE!

VOTE VOTE VOTE
(I guess we have to wait for the day when Bella is one of the 200 babies to vote for....so if you don't see her today that is why!)

And re: Michelle's comment ---- then you are a bad auntie.

Stop growing so fast!

Bella bella bo bella, banana fana fo fella

mi my mo mella, BELLA!

I'm pretty sure we are going to have to get Bella a kitty at some point. Man, she loves those things. I'll wait until she is older and can fully appreciate it (especially since it'll be a sacrifice to mom, who is mildly allergic), but I feel it is inevitable. I don't know if it is normal baby behavior, but she loves all things animals. It's pretty cute when she'll 'steer' me to take her downstairs to see Scrappy. Or when we look though picture books and she'll point out the dog or cat and say "diy!". So, for now, "diy" is dog or cat. She also knows how to play w/ the cat, Milton, at Grandma and Grandpa's. She'll take the cat toys and wave them in front of Milton - or take one and crawl away, looking back to see if Milton is chasing her. So cute...I'll need to get/post some pics.

You didn't know that my child is a genius? Oh, well now you do.

She loves black beans...here she is asking for "more" (the sign is putting your fingers together and moving them together and apart). She hasn't quite mastered the sign yet, but she is getting there. We have to work on the 'all done' sign next. I know they say babies aren't supposed to over stuff themselves, but I swear that some nights this girl eats more for dinner than I do!





She has an outtie belly button just like her daddy :)


Swimming was fun - but I think it was more fun for Mom and Dad. I don't think she quite knew what was going on. I was too nervous to take her out and hold her in the water, so we left her in her floatie for most of the time.



More teeth are coming in to add up to 6. We need to be better at the brushing routine. She loves it, which is a little bit of a problem since it can take 10 minutes by the time she is done playing w/ the toothbrush. It's fun to see her try to figure out how to do it herself, though. I think she is starting to do that with spoons, too. She just needs to realize that once she puts it in her mouth she has to take it out again...not just sit and chew on it.

We are still here

I don’t know what we are busy doing, but we are just busy I guess. I don’t even know where I left off…but the most recent things Bella is amazing us with include

• Pulling herself up on everything
• Standing by herself for seconds at a time
• DEMANDING to take your hands to walk around. She only crawls if she has to.
• Increasing her vocab to include “nananananana” and “doy doy doy”
• Eating more solid food like shredded chicken, cheerios, chunks of potato and fruit, etc…and making a BIG mess in the process
• Getting diaper rash so bad it blistered :(
• Getting her first bad cold (then giving it to mommy, then to daddy, then to the grandparents)
• Using a sippy cup by her self (this one is scary to watch…it makes her look so big!)
• Having her 9 month check up – 28 inches and 20lbs 3 oz
• Growing out of clothes to the point that Mom and Dad actually had to go buy more
• Going swimming for the first time
  
  
  And I’m sure much more. All I can say is that my favorite part of life right now is being able to go home after work, feed Bella (and JT) then have a good solid chunk of family playtime. The only thing that tops that are weekends where we can have hours on end of family playtime. All we have to do is let her loose with some of her toys and it is hours of entertainment. I can’t imagine it getting much better than this, but I know it does – which makes me very fortunate!
  
  If you want to see pics check out my facebook page or flickr page. Flickr isn’t updated with recent (swimming!) pics yet but will be soon.

BRRRRRR it's cold out, Mama!

Look at her go:

My baby LOVES...

......water?? Seriously, she can't get enough. We've started giving her a sippy cup at dinner with her cereal and veggies and all she wants is the water! She can't quite handle the sippy cup on her own, so if (god forbid) JT or I put it down to eat some of our own food she gets royally pissed! It is OK though, becuase it is, of course, very cute.

Other updates from the most amazing, talented and intelligent baby ever?

• She's crawling all over the place, but prefers to "walk" using your hands for support. She is so proud of herself when she stands up (using your support).
• She talks all the time and has added a 'nanana' to her vocabulary (which also includes mamama, bababa, dadadada, and screaming in joy).
• Her laugh keeps getting heartier - that's the best word I can describe. There is nothing better than a good, hearty baby laugh.
• She's eating "finger food" (gerber puffs) and loves to shove them in her mouth but hasn't quite realized how long to keep them in there. The puffs end up falling out of her mouth in a pile of mush before she can swallow, but she's working on it!
• She is starting to mimic and remember things. If we show her something on a toy, she'll lead us towards it/crawl to it and do it herself later. Sounds so simple, but it is so amazing to experience considering a few months ago all she did was lay (lie?) and look at us.

Christmas was amazing and fun, but will be even more fun next year when she knows what is going on (and how spoiled she is).

I’ll try to get some pics up later. Just think of the cutest baby you’ve ever seen and then multiply the cuteness by 100 – that’ll be Bella right now. (And yes, I’m being this obnoxious on purpose!).

Also, we are super excited because our good friends Emily and Eric had a baby GIRL on Jan 3! This is the first other girl in the group that will be close in age to Bella. Of COURSE they will be required to be BFFs! J We welcome Madilyn Sophia and can not wait to meet her!