BellaBlog

Archive for May, 2008

Picture of the Week – May 29, 2008

Birthday Cake #1

For the impromptu birthday party on May 24th with the family, we gave Bella a chocolate pudding pie with Reddi Whip on top.  I didn’t take it out of the fridge early enough so maybe it was too cold for her to dig into but she had a good ole time with it anyway.  We put her in her hot pink bathing suit with white polk-a-dots so it would be easy to get out the food later.  She would get all her fingers covered in pudding and then offer it up to anyone standing around to lick it off for her.  She loves sharing her food with others so we got some good footage of that.  Afterwards, we took her straight to the bathroom sink and cleaned her up which didn’t make her happy at all but Grandma Lee cleaned up the bathing suit while Paul and I cleaned up the messy baby-it all worked out beautifully. 

Bella loved having so much family around for her birthday.  They all helped decorate the dining room and setup her princess area with gifts to truly make it a nice surprise for Bella when she woke up from her nap.  Uncle Steve and Aunt Donna arrived just in time for birthday dinner and to enjoy the festivities.  After the party was over, I think Bella’s favorite part was getting to play with her cousins in her new wagon while The Treasures (Aunt Misty and Aunt Shasta) took turns pulling them around the inside of the house.  We all went to church together the next day, except Steve and Donna skipped out on us to go to the races-and didn’t even bring us back a souvenir–PHEW! JK, you guys:)

Paul and Mark, I have to put this on the blog so we’ll never forget it.–That same weekend, we decided to do fireworks on Sunday night to celebrate Memorial Day weekend.  As usual, Paul had a beautiful display set up for us, with which Little Mark loves to assist in setting off.  We all enjoyed the view from the front deck, lounging around with the kids and the in-laws, taking in what a great night it was to be alive-even our neighbors were in their front yard laughing and having a great time with us.  (Aunt Shasta was stuck inside with Cousin Luke who isn’t quite ready for fireworks yet-but Bella was asleep in the nursery so she kept on ear out for her while she was inside.)  During the fireworks, we heard the tile crack (this was the stand used on the grass to steady the fireworks) but there was still a large piece left over so the show continued without delay.  (do you see where I’m headed with this?)

On the next to the last round of fireworks, Mark lit the box and both backed away from the launching area.  The box begin to light off bright colors and sounds into the sky and as we all continued watching in wonder, the colors were no longer shooting into the sky but across the grass, into the woods, across the driveway, under the cars parked in the driveway and finally under the deck where we were all standing landing in the middle of a tree that was directly under the front door (right next to Bella’s room mind you).  Not sure whether to help, freak out, or die laughing at the whole scenario, I began running inside, practically tearing down the screen to the patio doors trying to get inside to check on Bella and get water.  The guys got it under control fairly quickly, although the smoke filled the house and everyone was quite scared for a good bit afterwards.  While we aired the house out and counted our blessings, we were all thanking God that it happened the way it did and nothing but the tree was damaged.

As we recapped what went thru everyone’s minds during the events that had just occured, and what everyone’s first reaction had been, I believe the funniest reaction was Aunt Misty’s.  While she was scrambling down the front stairs of the deck to help with the situation, she yelled out to me to go get the baby and grabbed my favorite blanket that I had been wrapped up in just a few moments earlier.  When she reached the fire, she immediately began throwing it on the flames in hopes of extinguishing it while Paul and Mark got the waterhose.  It was not until the blanket itself caught on fire, and Paul was putting out the flames on the tree and the blanket, did she remember that putting out flames with a blanket only works if the blanket is soaking wet first.

Note to Aunt Misty:  It helps if you stay awake for the ‘whole’ home safety training class and not just part of it:).  We still love you though–Little Mark, next time you come to my house and want to help Paul with the fireworks, make sure you bring a fire extinguisher with you.

Firsts for Bella

Okay, so when we returned from vacation, Bella had grown a few inches and had learned to pick her nose-no biggee!  Aunt Linda and Cousin Rachel did a great job taking care of her while we were gone and even showed Bella the wonders of waffles, which she’d never had before.

 Bella is now eating more table food and even strangers comment on what a good eater she is.  Right now, I think her favorite is string cheese.  Paul peels some off of his and lets her snack on it-her face just lights up when she realizes what it is.  She’s had some odd diaper rashes and I think it’s shown up ever since she started table food.  I let her have yogurt a few times a week and I think that may be the cause because it mostly cleared up when I let her go a week without any yogurt.  She still has what I think is a ringworm circle but Aunt Shasta is up here this weekend and she thinks it’s just a birthmark coming up. 

Bella and I attended the mother/daughter banquet at our church the Saturday before Mother’s Day.  She wore her Easter dress and I wore my old-fashioned black & white dress-we were beautiful together.  The theme was precious jewels-Bella got a play ring in the shape of a heart that she loves.  The first time I put it on her, I placed it on her thumb since it was so big.  As soon as she saw it, she folded her thumb down behind her forefinger like she wanted to keep it from coming off-then she just sat and stared at it for the longest time.  But then she starting eating it like she does everything else.

 The next day was the baby dedication and Mother’s Day.  She wore a sweet little dress that was covered in blue flowers with a few decorative flowers sinched at the waist.  I had bought patent leather white shoes but they looked huge on her so she wore just socks that morning.  She was such a wiggle worm during the beginning of the service that when the pastor finally called Bella Rose Lee, she had kicked one sock off and began walking to the front of the church like that.  Everyone loved it.  She didn’t really want to sit in our arms and finally wound up crawling up the stage while the pastor was praying the blessing on all the children and parents.  Again, everyone thought it was adorable-and they were right.

We had an impromptu birthday party tonight for Bella’s 1st.  We had 4 of Paul’s family and 6 of mine come in this weekend.  She got a ton of toys and clothes-loved all of it.  Aunt Misty and Aunty Shasta bought her a wagon-actually the same one that I had been looking into.  She looks like a princess being driven around her kingdom.  Of course, that is very accurate.  She still only has 2 teeth but she started walking on her own last week.  She’s taken as little as 2 steps at a time but as much as 15-20, stopping every few seconds to regain her balance.

While still beautiful, sweet and delightful, our little baby girl is growing up…

052408 – Birthday

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A week before Bella’s birthday we had a ton of people drop in to visit so we threw a party for her early. We had her Grandma and Grandpa Lee, Aunt Shasta and Uncle Mark Baldwin, Aunt Misty, Aunt LaVona, Aunt Donna and Uncle Steve Lee, and cousins Mark, Victoria, and Luke Baldwin all under one roof for a couple days.

Picture of the Week – May 22, 2008

052108 – Bubbles

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Mommy and Bella have fun with bubbles in the kitchen.

052108 – Easily entertained (like Daddy)

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We got Bella a new toy for bathtime and she really got enthralled by it.

051808 – Lil Miss Adorable

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What’s there to say?

051708 – She can walk!

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While she may not be quite an expert yet, Bella still counts as a walker because she can take at least two steps without falling flat on her face. Three is a different story but we’re getting there.

Picture of the Week – May 15, 2008