she looks like Mommy ...

... but a little different! :)

I chopped off my hair. Perfect for the summer!

she did it!!!!

Look who held up her head for the first time during Tummy Time!

We're thrilled!!!!

our little ballerina!

I mentioned that I wanted a tutu for Bella ... so look what Grandma bought!!!

Bella went swimming again yesterday with Daddy! They both had a great time.

Bella hanging with her furry friend - Toby.

I finally started to put away the clothes Bella outgrew. It made me so sad! Here is B next to one of her preemie onesies from Aunt Jen. Oh and yes, Bella is naked. :) We just got back from the store and it was so hot so I took off her clothes and let her swing in the nude! :)

SO much to "talk" about ...

Our internet, phone and TV have been down since Tuesday! Don't get me started on how irritated I am with AT&T ... but we're up and running now ... so let's "catch up" on a busy week!

Bella and I went to Aunt Jen's house on Wednesday to hang out with John and go to a play group with them. We had a lot of fun ... but I didn't take any pictures. :( Bella was SOO good and I was amazed. No crying, no tears ... just lots of smiles!

Wednesday evening me, Bella, Aunt Jen and John drove to my parents house and met Great Grandma and Great Grandpa for the first time!! They MOVED here from Vegas and we're thrilled for them to be here and watch our families grow. Here are some photos ...

Yesterday, Tyler and I took Bella to a follow up appointment at the GI doctor in Fort Worth. We got GOOD NEWS!

** Bella weighs 13 pounds 6 ounces and is 24-1/2 inches long **

** She is in the 50th percentile for height **

** She is in the 50-75th percentile for weight!!! **

** She is in the 50th percentile for height to weight ratio!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

The GI doc says the ratio of height to weight is what is most important to them. At Bella's first visit she wasn't even on the charts! Then over the next few visits she ranged from less than 3rd percentile to (at most) the 5th percentile. The fact the she is now in the 50th percentile is huge! She's doing SO much better and we don't have to go back for THREE months!!!

Here's Bella at the doctor. Doesn't she looks "healthy"?? :)

After the doctor, we went to grandma and grandpa's house to celebrate great grandma's birthday!

We decided to attempt swimming with Bella again. We decided not to put on her bathing suit or slather on the sunscreen. Instead, she "swam" naked, in the shade. It worked! She was actually happy!!

Here's a video of swim time!

Grandma bought John and Bella cute onesies that said "My Mommy Loves Me". We attempted a photo shoot ...

And I'll end this LONG post with a photo of my FAVORITE Christmas gifts from Grandma. Tell me these shoes aren't the cutest!!

videos!!

Here's Bella "talking" ...

more talking ...

Here she is grabbing a rattle!

big girl

Bella is getting to be such a big girl! She's almost 3 1/2 months old (AHHH) and has recently hit some milestones!

She started grabbing toys!! Not perfectly but this is great progress for her! I have a video of this, but the blogger website is being funky. I'll try to load it later.

She also started to become our little Chatty Cathy! She "talks" in a high pitch and even had two phone calls today. One to Daddy and one to Grandma!

Bella and I started taking walks in the morning in hopes that Mommy can drop some of these extra pounds!! It's so hot outside (even at 8am) that I'm probably just going to sweat off this pesky baby weight. Here she is this morning sitting in the stroller like a big girl!! I decided putting her in the carseat & then in the stroller was way too hot. So we gave this a shot.

Bella's eyes started turning brown. Guess she'll have eyes like her Mommy.

We're still working on tummy time. Aunt Jen suggested that we try to put her on the boppy during tummy time. It helps!

This is the most she's lifted her head. It was kind of a one time deal ... but we'll take it.

Here's our chubby baby! Although don't be deceived. She's NOT sitting by herself! She's leaning against me. ;)

Now that she's getting older, I thought it was a good time to start "discussing" her big girl room! We looked through design magazines and catalogs to get color scheme ideas. It's never too early to start dreaming about design & this is a great way to help learn colors! She had a good reaction to a few pictures but we're going to keep searching for great ideas.

Gotta love these pants! Thanks Grandma!!

happy father's day!!

Bella and Daddy enjoyed celebrating their first Father's Day together! We let Daddy sleep in and then we gave him his gifts and hung out with Bella in her pretty father's day onesie (compliments of mom).Bella gave Daddy "tickets" to a Ranger game. It's a bit hot right now for her, so we're going to go once the summer heat is over.

I made Tyler a scrapbook ... he enjoyed "reading" it to Bella.

You can look at the scrapbook online:

http://www.scrapblog.com/viewer/viewer.aspx?sbId=1933321

We also made Tyler a "custom" coffee mug to take to work. :)

yummy!

Over the past few days Bella found her mouth! She is able to hold onto a toy (once placed in her hand & she grasps it) and bring it to her mouth. It's still a struggle and possibly even a mystery as to how it happens ... but it happens.

She also found her hands! Here are a few photos of her holding her blankie that Aunt Jen made and her "baby". She doesn't really like the texture of her fuzzy baby ... can you tell??

I also have a video of her sucking her hand ... which she does a LOT now. She can't quite get her thumb out (as you can see). I think the video is really funny (and Tyler thought so too) but Emily was bored with it. You have to watch to the end to get to the funny part. :)

And I'll end with a super cute photo honoring Daddy!!

no water babies here!

This weekend we went to a 50th wedding anniversary party and today was a pool party at Auntie Em and Uncles Jer's house. Bella wasn't too thrilled about either of these outings. She did okay at the anniv. party but was passed around a lot and got too tired ... which lead to her getting a little cranky.

She woke up super early today and I should have known it would have lead to a rough day. All was well until we changed Bella into her new bathing suit and got her all lathered up in suntan lotion. The tears started streaming and we thought the water would soothe her. No way, No how! She screamed once she hit the water and it went downhill from there. She was not a happy girl but after a few hours of being unhappy she finally fell asleep and took a 2 hour nap! Tyler let her sleep on her belly, which I know, is a HUGE "no-no", but we were desperate. And we checked quite frequently to be sure A)she wasn't crying or B)she was still breathing. :) We got B home, gave her a bath, shed a few more tears, drank a bottle and she is now sound asleep again. She wore me out today!

On a happy note - John started crawling! We captured just a bit of his new mobile milestone on video. He's such a big boy. And so good!!!

Here are some pictures ...

Mommy and Bella getting ready for the anniversarty party. We hung out in our robes as long as possible to avoid spit-up disasters on our dresses. :) Doesn't she look like a monster in this picture? Where did our tiny baby go??

Here is my one and only photo from the party. Bella doesn't look thrilled, but we were happy Christina got to meet her! And she looked too cute in her ladybug dress!

Here is Bella eating before our day went downhill. Look at the cute bib Aunt Jen MADE for her sweet niece! Thanks Aunt Jen!!

Bella's only picture in the pool, with Daddy. Can you tell she isn't happy?

John in the middle of his bottle (which he can hold himself now!) Doesn't he look like Brad a bit?
Here's the big boy crawling!!