Bella's 1st Birthday!!

Okay, so I'm horrible, and it's been two months since Bella turned a year old, and I still haven't posted anything! (It's not like I've been busy or anything... but I'll post about that later.. hopefully.. haha)

Her birthday (April 28) was on a Wednesday, so her daddy was at work, and then he and I both had activities at church that night. So, on her actual birthday, it was just Grandma, Taylor, and I there to sing to her.

Taylor was very timid when it came to eating the cake on her first birthday. In fact, I had to grab her hand and smush it into the cake to get her to really touch it.... not the case with Bella.

She had her eyes on that cake from the very beginning.

and she was not the least bit shy to go for it!

and she ate every single bit of it! except for maybe a few crumbs and what was stuck to her shirt :-)

Grandma made sure that she was not lacking in presents.... Taylor even got a present- a brand new Dora bike! She really loved Bella's birthday.

We celebrated her birthday with the rest of the family the following Saturday. I was lazy (partially lazy, partially busy) and didn't make a cake, so we just picked one up at Costco... but you can't go wrong with a Costco cake!

One of the presents I got her was a toy cell phone because she LOVES to play with our phones, and I was hoping it would keep her from wanting the real thing.. but no such luck! Her Aunt Cari gave her tons of hairblooms (that she made herself, of course!), and they look so stinkin' cute in her short curly hair.

She had a little snaggletooth when she turned one (she now has six teeth!- two bottom teeth, two top front teeth, and then the two teeth next to that on top just cut through)

I stopped breastfeeding about three weeks before her first birthday, and now she is very attached to her bottle. I think we're going to have a hard time getting her to stop taking the bottle. It just makes her so happy!

She took her first steps on April 11th (thank goodness for facebook so I can go back and check my old statuses... otherwise I would never remember this!) but still mostly crawled for a few weeks after that. Now, she is walking- practically running most of the time- and getting into everything. Her favorite thing to get into is probably the toilet... disgusting, I know.

Caught playing in Grandma's potty! We have to try to remember to keep the doors to the bathrooms closed or at least keep the lid to the toilet down... otherwise, she would be doing this all the time! One day, I actually found her with one leg stuck down inside the toilet and the rest of her body hanging over the front of it.. man, I wish I had a picture of that!

At her one year check up, she was 19 lbs (can't remember if it was 19 even or not, and they didn't give me a little sticker to remind me this time!)... she also had an ear infection (her 3rd one in a year) and then of course had to get shots... combine all that with teething and she was quite fussy for the next couple of weeks.

Bella was the mildest, sweetest, easiest little baby, but once she turned a year old, she really started to develop her own personality. She is silly and lots of fun but also very vocal about what she likes and doesn't like--- basically meaning that she screams ALL the time! It doesn't matter if she is happy or mad; she is always screaming, and it pretty much drives us crazy.. haha She and Taylor fight over Taylor's sippy cup a lot. It doesn't matter if Bella has her own; she will still go for Taylor's. Occasionally, they will fight over toys, but mostly, they really love each other. Taylor is the best big sister. She's my Little Momma and is really good about letting me know if Bella is doing something she shouldn't be doing and just watches out for her in general. The other day Bella did something I didn't like, so I grabbed her face at her chin to get her to look at me and tell her "no!" and she flopped down on the ground in retaliation, and Taylor said, "Momma! You push her? I'm gonna give you a spankin'" haha I had to assure her that I did NOT push Bella... that was all her being dramatic! Luckily, since Bella has decided to test us with this new BIG personality of hers, Taylor has gotten milder and so very sweet. Don't get me wrong- she is still quite stubborn, but she tells me all the time how much she loves me and has even called me her best friend! I thought my heart was going to melt!

Another good thing about her turning a year old is that she is now sleeping through the night! Yay for sleep!

I feel so blessed to be the mother of these two little girls. They definitely make life interesting and very worthwhile!

January & February

So, the past couple of months have been pretty busy for us. January was not a good month. We were all sick at some point during the month. It started out with Bella. She just had a runny nose and cough for about a week. I thought Taylor was somehow going to avoid it, but she eventually caught it, too, and her cough would get so bad that she would throw up every night when she went to bed. Of course, there are really no medicines that you can give them at this age. It used to be if they were over two you could give them cough medicines, but now they are raising the age limit. Some friends told me to give her honey, and that seemed to help her, but poor Bella couldn't take anything, and her little cold and cough eventually turned into a sinus infection and ear infection. She did really well through it all. I only took her to the doctor because her snot started to turn thick and yellow and she developed a fever and then found out she had an ear infection, too, while we were there.

Then I started to have cold & sinus symptoms which led to a sore throat. The sore throat wasn't so bad, but I started to notice white spots on the back of my throat. I figured I better go to the doctor to make sure that it wasn't strep since Taylor is constantly eating or drinking after me. My doctor wasn't in the office, so I saw one of his partners who said that I qualified for antibiotics anyway since I had had the sinus symptoms for a week, and IF it was strep, the antibiotics would cover it. By the next day, my sore throat was better, but I started getting body aches, hot flashes, chills, fatigue, and a little shortness of breath. I would try to rest a little and would start to feel better, but as soon as I got up moving around and doing stuff, I would start feeling horrible again. By the weekend, most of the symptoms were gone except the shortness of breath started to get worse. At times, it would get so bad that I would feel very anxious. I've never experienced anything like this before in my life. It felt as if I had asthma and needed an inhaler. Bella had her 9 month check up the following Monday, so I scheduled an appointment for myself as well. My doctor said my lungs sounded great, my white count looked fine, I was negative for mono, everything looked fine as far as the physical exam went. He said he thought it was probably just something viral from the very beginning and to give it another week. If I wasn't better in a week, come back in and he would test for more rare things. That day, I went home and felt incredibly short of breath and was brought to tears just thinking about having to endure this for another week, but it gradually got better, and sure enough, after another week I was feeling much better. So, yeah, the month of January was pretty much a waste for us... haha. I think we missed 3 out of 4 weeks at church.

February was incredibly busy because we were getting our house ready to put back on the market. We (well, in all fairness, I should say Jared because he did most of the work) spent a lot of time packing things up to remove clutter, cleaning, etc. Then, about halfway through the month, we decided that we would just move in with my mom while our house is for sale to try to avoid the stress of having to keep the house clean all the time when you have little kids at home.

So, our house is officially for sale now. Hopefully the second time is the charm! I hate being in limbo. I just want to get this house sold so that we can start looking for a new house. I've had some sentimental moments thinking about moving. I don't think I'll miss the house itself- it's just the memories, it was our first house together, it's where we brought both girls home from the hospital, etc.

So far, things are going well at my mom's house. I've been worried about Taylor becoming extremely spoiled because Grandma lets her do whatever she wants, which is great occasionally but not on an every day basis.. haha.. but in all honesty, I'm going to be extremely spoiled as well. My mom does so much. She always does the dishes and cleans the house- even when I tell her not to and to let me clean my own mess ;-) Plus, I always have someone here to help with the girls (she only works a few hours a day), and it definitely helps my stress level with the girls. I am very grateful for all that she does!

We had been at my mom's house for less than 24 hours when we had our first accident. My old bedroom is directly bedside the stairs. I was upstairs in my room putting things away in the closet, and Bella was in the room with me. My mom and Taylor came in the room to tell me something, and when they left, Bella went crawling after them. By the time I realized it, it was too late, and she had already fallen halfway down the stairs. I just screamed and ran after her, and then my mom came running. She fell down about 10 wooden stairs, and when she stopped, I picked her up and just started bawling. She had a knot and a bruise on her forehead and was crying, but she stopped crying after only a few minutes and was back to her normal self. Her pupils looked fine; she was moving everything well and was crawling around and being playful. I was so torn up because I don't like to mess with head injuries... you just never know. I felt like she was fine, but I would have hated not taking her to the ER (this was on a Saturday, so we couldn't just take her to our doctor's office) and then something happen to her. So, I called our doctor's office and spoke to the on-call doctor. I just needed the doctor to give me permission to monitor her at home. He asked if she cried when I pushed on the bruise/knot on her head, NO. Does it hurt when you push on her spine? (oh yeah, C-spine precautions-- the whole nurse thing went straight out the door and I went straight into mommy mode) No pain on the spine. He said that we were probably fine to just watch her and wake her every 2 hours for the next 24 hours and just go straight to the ER if her behavior or anything started to change. Anyway, things turned out just fine, but we are definitely more careful and trying to adjust to having stairs. I don't want to experience anything like that again.

So, if you know anyone who is looking for a house in our area, let us know ;-) and please pray that we'll be able to sell it quickly!

Bella Monster

I haven't posted much about Bella since she turned 6 months old... a lot has changed in 4 months! When she first started sitting up on her own, she would sit with one leg under her and one leg out. Now, of course, she can sit straight up on her bottom. I remember Taylor would only sit up on both knees for the longest time instead of on her bottom. Bella since has started crawling and pulling up on furniture. She has become very vocal and really thinks that she is carrying on a conversation with you. She doesn't say any actual words except for "mamamama" and "dadadada." "Dada" came first, but that's okay- I'll give it to him because Taylor said "mama" first ;-) She pretty much always says "dada" when she's happy and playful and "mama" when she's fussy.

She has earned the nickname "Bella Monster." Jared initially gave her the nickname because she loves to growl; if you growl at her, she will growl back at you, and once she really started crawling good, she would crawl after everyone. Jared would be playing with Taylor and wrestling on the floor or something, and Bella would want to get in on the action, so she would crawl towards them with a big grin on her face, and Jared would say, "Oh no! Here comes the Bella Monster!" At that point, Bella was the happiest, most playful baby. Now, the nickname is starting to take a different turn. She is starting to add quite a bit of sass into her personality. Again, she is very vocal, and if she doesn't like something, she will let you know, and she's even starting little mini-temper tantrums where she'll throw her head back, scream, and kick her legs. I don't like it one bit! I told her that she HAS to stay my sweet baby!

I didn't post after Bella's 9 month check up, and now I've forgotten exactly what her height and weight was. I believe she was 18-almost 19- lbs which is how much Taylor was at 12-15 mos. I think Bella is taller than Taylor was, too. She didn't have to get shots, but they had to prick her finger to check her blood count. She didn't cry one bit when they pricked her finger, but she didn't like it when they had to hold her hand and squeeze her finger to get the blood out, and then she couldn't stand the band-aid on her finger afterwards.

She got her first tooth on February 21st. It's one of her bottom front teeth, and the one right next to it is well on its way to cutting through (if it hasn't already- she doesn't exactly like for me to feel on her gums). She was never really fussy with the first one, but she had one really bad night with this second one where she just cried and cried and cried and was pretty inconsolable.

As far as eating goes, she has become more independent and wants to be able to put things into her own mouth which can be quite difficult when you don't have enough teeth to be able to chew. I still give her baby food but give her tiny pieces of banana, strawberries, green beans, hot dog, apple, cheerios... pretty much anything soft enough that she can gum on and hopefully won't choke.

She loves the big bath tub and loves to splash around. If she's awake and I try to get a shower without her, she will scream and cry until I let her in.

Shes loves playing with that tongue!

This is the sweet baby that I adore!

3 Years Old!

The birthday girl ; She turned 3 on December 18th

Taylor loves boiled eggs!! (but she only eats the white and throws away the egg yolk) I asked her what she wanted for breakfast on her birthday, and of course, she said, "EEEGG!" She ate them while wearing only my apron and her socks and shoes.

Another angle to give you the full effect.

As she ate, I finished decorating her birthday cake.

Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! is one of Taylor's favorite cartoons. I got the recipe for this cake here. Just don't look too closely at the cake; I did a horrible job of piping the outline. (I shouldn't have listened to the recipe when it said to cut a larger hole in the ziploc bag to do the outline.) I used chocolate cake mix instead of pound cake because, well, it's my favorite and since Taylor never eats the cake anyway (surprising for a little kid, I know!... she would much rather have ice cream), I figured I would make what I wanted.. haha

She was very excited about the cake though! She said, "I like him. I like his eyes..and his nose.. and his hands.." haha

After I finished the cake, we got ready for a day of celebration! Jared took off half a day of work, so we met up with him at the mall and took Taylor to Build-A-Bear workshop. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. (I did take some pictures with my phone camera but I don't have a cord to hook it up to my computer yet). At first, she didn't understand and was insistent that she get one of the already stuffed animals, but she picked out a bunny rabbit that she loved and was fairly patient about waiting her turn in line although she had to stand right up front to see what everyone else was doing. When it was her turn, she picked out a heart, and the lady told her to rub it in her hands to make it warm, rub it on her forehead to make it smart, rub it on her stomach so it never gets hungry, etc. I figured she would just stand there and look at the lady, but she actually did everything she told her to do. We picked out some clothes and asked her what she wanted to name it. She said, "Bunny!" So, we said, "What do you want to name the bunny?" and she said, "Bunny Mommy!" haha My grandfather had sent the girls some money for Christmas, so we let Taylor pay for the bunny herself with the money he sent. She enjoyed getting to hand the cashier the money. We put the clothes on the bunny after we left the store, and Taylor started saying, "I love him! I love him so much!!" haha... It was the cutest thing ever! I think she was very pleased with her first present of the day.

After we left the mall, we headed to Chuck E. Cheese where we met up with Grandma and our friends, the Forbes.

The girls had a blast playing the games. I think Taylor mostly liked the "money." Her favorite game was where you just stick the tokens in, and it tries to knock off more tokens and then gives you tickets.... she went through tokens like crazy on that, and she also liked the game where you punch the ducks and try to knock them over. She wanted to do it all by herself, but the problem was it made you wait a couple of seconds after a punch before you could punch again, so if you missed one punch, you could be off on every single punch after that. I kept trying to help her so she could earn more tickets, but she didn't like that too much ;-)

Taylor loves her cousins, but other than them, her best friend is Megan. They are about six months apart, and they get along so well. It helps that Megan is very laid back, so their personalities don't clash ;-)

We took a break from playing games to enjoy some pizza. Taylor was informing Jared that this piece of pizza was too hot.

Miranda's younger sister was in town and was sweet enough to take pictures for us, so I actually happen to be in some of them! The Forbes got Taylor some dress up shoes, jewelry, and a feather boa. Jared and I got her a Disney Princess dress up chest, CareBears Nutcracker movie, and Merry Madagascar movie. Grandma got her the movies Up! and Snow White, a doll house, two dolls that talk and interact with each other, and a color wonder coloring book. Every time Taylor would open a present, she would say "Oh! Oh! Ohhhhh!" haha

I thought I had burned the outside of the cake a little bit because I used a different pan than normal, but it actually turned out to be quite yummy!

We invited Megan over for a slumber party. Jared and I were driving separate cars, so Bella went with me, and Taylor and Megan rode with Jared. He said they were "obnoxiously giggly" all the way home.. haha. I had to stop and get gas, so they made it home before I did. Jared's boss got him a little remote control helicopter for Christmas, so when I walked in the door, he was flying it around the living room, and the girls were chasing it and laughing hysterically- that is until the battery went low and Jared couldn't control it very well, and the helicopter flew into Taylor's eye.... yeah, she is still traumatized and runs out of the room screaming every time he gets it out.

When Taylor recovered, the girls watched the CareBears movie and ate popcorn. They were still really hyper and silly when we went to put them to bed, and we had to go back in the room and tell Taylor to get back in bed a few times (which really isn't anything different from our normal routine). Megan brought her sleeping bag to sleep on the floor.

When Bella woke up during the night, I thought I kept hearing something, and after I got done feeding her, I went and stood at Taylor's door. I heard some very faint crying, so I opened the door, and it was Megan crying. I sat down next to her and asked what was wrong. She said, "I just want to go home." I asked her what was the matter, and she said, "I'm just having horrible trouble sleeping." (I think this was Megan's first sleepover with a friend.) I asked if she would like to sleep in Taylor's bed because Taylor ended up falling asleep on the floor next to her. She didn't realize Taylor was on the floor and said, "I don't want to wake Taylor up." She's such a sweet girl! I told her it was okay because Taylor was asleep on the floor, so she got up in the bed, and then I turned on the closet light so it wouldn't be quite so dark in the room. I told her if she needed us she could come to our room and get us.

Jared got up when the girls woke up in the morning and let me sleep a little longer. When I woke up, this is how I was greeted.

I think Megan was feeling much better and ended up enjoying the sleepover after all. Her mom tells me that she keeps asking when they're going to do it again!

Here's Taylor playing with the dollhouse from Grandma while wearing her Snow White outfit.

The following are some miscellaneous pictures of her:

She has become quite obsessed with taking pictures of her tongue. She loves to get my camera and take pictures, and I'll find a million up close pictures of every toy she has and pictures of herself sticking out her tongue.

Just like her daddy.... he likes to stick out his tongue in pictures as well.

See what I mean?

The 2nd week of December was visitor's week at dance. I was so excited because we don't get to watch her at dance. There's not a window to look through or anything.

This is her teacher, Ms. Abbey.

She started out really well but a little timid. Then, she saw me holding my camera taking the video and pretty much refused to do anything.... I was not too happy!! So, she came and sat with us for a few minutes--- she wasn't the only kid that had some problems and got stage fright. I think we bribed her with some gum, and she went back out when they started doing forward rolls. Hopefully the actual recital at the end of the year will go a little better.

Our friends Savanna & Dave; Savanna was my roommate in Tuscaloosa for a short time before I graduated and got married; Taylor had a huge crush on Dave. They ended up moving back to Arizona back in the fall, so we were all very sad!

Taylor wearing her nightgown with her hat, shoes, and purse- so fashionable! Love this hat from her Aunt Mimi!

Taylor with some of her favorite stuffed animals and dolls

Yet another wonderful outfit- I can't wait until she goes to school and demands to pick out her own outfits ;-) The jacket is actually her cousin Natedogg's that he left at our house one day. She claimed it as her own, so I had to sneak it back to them. She's also wearing some lovely swim shoes.

This is what I wear when I clean house, too... haha j/k I hope she is this enthusiastic about cleaning when she gets older and can actually help without making a bigger mess in the process.

"Delicious!"

I think this was our first snow of the year.... first not only which is usually the case here in Alabama. We have had so much snow this year... more than I ever remember in my whole life!

Whew! So glad I finally finished this post almost two months after starting it!! So much that I need to catch up on. Bella has gotten so much bigger, and I need to update on her as well... hopefully that will come soon!

Update

Well, I have an update after posting about my potty-training problems...

Taylor POOPED in the potty for the 1st time today!!!! Yay, Taylor!

All day today she had been using her little potty (instead of the big potty which she usually uses), and she had been doing really well about going pee-pee on her own without me having to remind her. After we had lunch, I was in her room putting away some clothes, and I heard her go into the bathroom. Then, she came in her room and announced that she had gone pee-pee. I told her good job, and then, she let out a little-but stinky- fart (that's a sign of something to follow!) and then ran out of the room. I went after her and said, "Taylor, go poo-poo on the potty," as I have done many times and to which her normal response is to yell "no!" and run away and hide somewhere to poop. Instead, she said, "Okay," walked into the bathroom, and pulled down her pants. I went back into her room to finish what I was doing and to give her some privacy. I was totally expecting her to just pee, but nevertheless, I wanted to give her privacy in case she decided to go. She was quiet for a while, and after a few minutes, I went to check on her. She was standing up in front of the toilet, and the lid to her little potty was closed. I lifted it up, and sure enough, there was POOP there. I was cheering and yelling, "Yay, Taylor! Good job! You poo-pooed in the potty! You're such a big girl!" and she loved every minute of it. I didn't even care that I still had to clean up her poop and wipe her butt. I've never been so excited about poop before :-)

After I got through cleaning everything up, I gave her some marshmallows (which she loves and I have tried bribing her with before without success; I guess she was just ready this time; I never even mentioned any bribes), and then we called Daddy at work to make our big announcement. She was so proud that Daddy thought she was a big girl, too, and he promised to bring her home some candy which she was so very excited about.

Later on tonight after dinner, Taylor was eating an apple, which tends to make her poop, so I told her, "Taylor, if you need to go poo-poo, make sure you go in the potty." A little while later we were watching TV, and Taylor took off for the bathroom. Jared yelled at her to ask what she was doing because often when she takes off running she's up to something. She yelled back and said, "I want to go potty." He said, "Okay," and a couple of minutes later, we heard the little potty start playing music. Jared and I both looked at each other with the same thought- that sure took a while for her to have just peed. Jared got up to go check on her, and yep, she had pooped again! That's right- not only did she poop once today for the first time, but she pooped TWICE!!! Let's just hope this continues, and if I'm lucky, maybe she will be potty trained by the beginning of the year after all!

(making her fish face)

Now for an update on Bella: We had an appointment with the urologist on Wednesday to follow up from her UTI. I knew that the plan was for them to check her urine to see if it tested normal or not, so I was totally expecting that they would have to put a catheter in her. When we got there, the doctor gave me two options. He said they could attach a bag to her and just wait until she peed on her own- which could take who knows how long- or they could put a catheter in. Of course, no one wants to have a catheter (except for crazy people... and there are crazy people), but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do to get it done and over with, so I told him the catheter was fine. The nurses came in and were trying to prepare me for how she might react, that she might freak out because babies don't like to be held down, etc. (I usually don't tell people I'm a nurse because I really would rather them treat me just like any other patient). I told them that I knew Bella probably wouldn't like it, but she is a very sweet and forgiving baby. So we held her down and got her ready. The doctor came in to do the catheter himself, and she didn't struggle or cry at all.... not one bit. I was so proud of my baby! She's sweet and quiet and easy-going, but MAN, she is one tough little girl! The nurses were amazed. They thought she was cute before, but after that, they were in love. They kept telling me that I better make sure that I had everything before I left, and I better keep an eye on her or they might run off with her.. haha Once we got in the car, she must have peed for the first time after the catheter because she made a little sucking in noise like when something stings (she used to do it when she was a newborn and her bottom would get irritated or would have diaper rash), and then, she let out a little whimper. After that one time though, she never acted like it bothered her at all. So, they said they should have the results of the urine culture by Monday, and assuming everything is normal, then she won't have to go back to the urologist again.

In other news, Bella is crawling now! She's been close for a while, but she really just started crawling in the last week. She's not fast by any means, but she can definitely get around. It's so cute especially if Jared or I are gone and then come home, and she will smile and crawl right to us. I think it really made Jared's day the first time he came home from work and she did that. Before, Bella would go from being happy and calm to crying and letting us know when she was done when she was hungry and/or tired; there was no real in between stage. Now, when she decides she's hungry, she will crawl towards me- or after me if I walk out of the room- with this little pitiful cry. It is so adorable that you can't help but want to immediately pick that baby up! I'm so used to putting her in the floor to play and being able to walk around the house and do what I need to do that it still surprises me when I turn around and she's following me. She's even starting to pull herself up on things to where she is just on her knees and holding onto something. If it's something short that she's holding onto, she will even stand on her feet and lean over.

Both of my girls are getting so BIG! I just don't know where the time goes! Two weeks from today, Taylor will be 3 years old! They have brought so much joy to my life, and I feel so very blessed to be their mother!

In the dumps

I have a lot of posting that I need to catch up on, but right now, I just want to do some venting. I HATE potty training!! It's complete torture. We got Taylor to start peeing on the potty occasionally a few months after she turned two. At first, it was exciting for her, and she enjoyed going. We admit that we weren't consistent with it. I just didn't want to rush her into it. My ultimate goal was that she would be potty-trained by the time she turns 3 or at least by the beginning of the year when she transitions from nursery at church to Sunbeams (the 3-4 year old class).

Well, here we are, a little over two weeks away from Taylor's 3rd birthday, and she's still not potty-trained. About a month ago, she finally reached a point where she didn't care if she went to the potty or not. We were using Pull-Ups, and then I heard people say not to use those because they are nothing but a diaper that you can pull up and down, which is true. If Taylor wanted to pee in the potty, she would; if she didn't, she would just pee in her pull-up, and it wasn't a big deal. So, we put her back in regular diapers for a week or two to give her a break, and then we started back the potty-training- trying to be more consistent this time- having her wear panties instead.

As far as peeing in the potty goes, she has done pretty well except for the fact that we pretty much always have to remind her to go pee. She doesn't usually initiate it on her own. Our biggest problem is that she has yet to poop on the potty- not even once. She just refuses to do it. We've tried bribing her. We've tried yelling at her. We've tried telling her that big girls go on the potty. We've tried catching her right before we KNOW that she's going to poop and putting her on the potty. Let me just say that changing a poopy diaper is gross, but having to clean poop out of her panties is absolutely disgusting!

So, I think we're going back to pull-ups... at least when we're out in public in case she has an accident. I wasn't too excited when she pooped in her panties while I was out to eat with a friend at Dreamland last weekend. She crawled under the table-- I thought she was trying to get some french fries that she dropped- but when she wouldn't come back up, I knew what was wrong.

Taylor is just a very independent little girl, and I know that she will get it done when she is ready..... I just wish she would hurry up and decide she's ready! It's so frustrating for me, and I'm tired of being down in the dumps!!

6 months

Bella turned 6 months old on October 28th. This past Monday, she had her six month well-child check up. She was 16lbs 10.5 oz and 27 inches, which I think they said was in the 75th and 88th percentiles respectively.

She got her shots. She didn't cry when they stuck the needles in, just when they injected the medicine. Then, Taylor had to get a flu shot. I had warned her that she was going to have to get some medicine and it would hurt. She told me she didn't want to get hurt. We started to hold her down, but the nurse forgot to get a band aid, so we let Taylor up while she went to get one, and of course, then Taylor had more time to think about what was about to happen, so she was freaking out. She was bawling after they gave her the shot until I said, "Do you want to go get a sucker?" and then she immediately turned the tears off and was happy again... haha I've been lucky that both of my girls have done really well with their shots and have only had mild fussiness afterwards.

I love these pictures of Bella, and they actually remind me of Taylor when she was the same age.

(Jared and Taylor woke me up on my birthday with Taylor wearing this shirt. It was a sweet surprise and a great day! 6/24/07/)

Another picture that gives me flashbacks to when Taylor was a baby

Taylor was a skinny baby (and still is!) but look- she still had tons of cute little fat rolls! (Taylor was 7 months in this picture. Bella's foot hasn't quite made it into her mouth yet).

Once Bella started rolling over, it didn't take long before she really started getting around. She's not crawling yet although she will get up on all fours and rock back and forth, and I've even seen her push forward with one of her knees. Mostly, she scoots and rolls, but she can cover a lot of ground in a very short amount of time. She's very curious and loves to play with toys or anything she can get her hands on. We really have to be careful with what we leave on the floor. If she spots even the tiniest crumb of something, she will go straight for it and try to put it in her mouth.

I love watching Taylor and Bella interact. I get glimpses of what it will be like between them in the future. I hope that they will always be close. Bella is so happy and will smile for pretty much anyone, but Taylor can get her to laugh like no one else. Of course, she usually stops by the time I get my camera ;-)

Here she is squealing more than laughing. I've caught a few laughs on camera, but always seem to miss the moments when Taylor gets her laughing over and over again.

She's also babbling a lot.

I've got some catching up to do, so more pictures and videos to come!