Too good to be true...

Bell, woke up on the wrong side of bed again today after her nap, but is having none of this going back to bed after a snuggle stuff like yesterday. It was a super short nap as well after a very busy morning so it looks like it is going to be a VERY longer afternoon... :( I'm still going cross my fingers that the next time this happens she will remember how great she felt yesterday after going back to bed for a while.

Back to sleep...

Today, Bella woke up from an hour long nap, on the wrong side of bed. I went in to check on her and she was screaming and whining inconsolably. We snuggled and took off her pull-up but she was still super distraught. She climbed out of my arms, found her soother and crawled right back into bed. I asked her if she wanted to go back to sleep and she said "yes", so on again went the pull-up. An hour and a half later she came out of her room chipper as can be, and ready to get on with her afternoon. How amazing is that?? She knew she wasn't ready to get up, just needed to snuggle for a minute and put herself back to sleep because she wanted to be in a better mood. Now, I just have to cross my fingers that she will remember this the next time she wakes up on the wrong side of bed...here's hoping.

Picture with Santa

We went to visit Santa with some friends this year. Most of them went ahead of her and were very brave while sitting on his lap. Bell was pretty nervous but warmed up a little bit after he Santa gave her a present. She looks like a deer caught in headlights, but at least she isn't screaming in terror this year.

The silly things we do as parents... We tell our kids not to talk to strangers, but at Christmas time we convince them to sit on a strange man's lap and smile for the camera :)

Gingerbread House..

Bella and Eli had a fantastic time decorating a gingerbread house, and were happy playing for more than an hour. Asking for more "glue" for them to be able apply the candies with - periodically we would spin the house so that they would decorate more than one spot. They even managed to keep the area pretty neat and tidy...I was thankful for the easy cleanup :)

What was most surprising about whole morning, was that these little 2 1/2 year olds played with candy all morning and neither one ate a single piece.

It's a...

On the drive to the ultrasound appointment, Gabe and I were talking how sad it would be to not see all of Bella's clothes again if this one turned out to be a boy. I have felt different this pregnancy so thought maybe it could be a boy, but I really have no idea. We would love to have one of each, but would be happy either way.

After a long wait at the office the tech and doctor confirmed that this little one is a girl!!

Bell can't wait to meet her new baby sister. Gabe and I were a little sad for maybe 30 seconds or so knowing that we wouldn't have a boy, but that passed quickly knowing we will have a wonderful little girl - plus getting to see all of those cute clothes again..

Baby girl looks healthy as can be, and is measuring in the 50th percentile. At 20 weeks Bella measured in the 50th percentile as well, but ended up in the 97th when she was actually born. That could have been because of all the Swedish fish and Gummie Bears I ate in my last weeks of pregnancy though :) We'll just have to wait and see if we have another chunky monkey on our hands...

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween - Love Miss Bella Bee!

Thanks for much for the fantastic costume Kris and Tony.

Play group Halloween Party

Our Halloween / baking swap party was at Caroline's this year. The parents and kids had a fantastic time - of course : ) Poor Ben, had a fever so we are missing our ghost.

We asked the kids to line up, but apparently they thought it was for a police line up, with them all evenly spread apart. We asked them to get a little closer and this is as far as we could get them... Soon enough Grace and Bell will be fighting the boys off : )

Costumes -
Issac - a Dragon
Grace - a Green Duck
Peter - a Fireman
Sawyer - a bottle of Ketchup
Bella - Woody (from Toy Story)
Eli - an Elephant (not shown is the fantastic padded butt of his costume)

Why..

Bell has started questioning everything..."why, why why." We thought this had started a couple of weeks ago, boy were we wrong. Then, she would question something and be done with it for the most part, and this would happen a couple of times a day. Now, it is a constant "why, why, why"... My strategy in dealing with it, without making myself crazy it to; on the first "why" I answer the question, and then on the second "why", turn it around and ask her "why." Her standard response is "I don't know" - I thought I had a couple of years before we started getting that response to everything :) Wish me luck not going off the deep end in the land of why's...

Purple Make-up

Bella loves make-up, she is quite the girly girl! Almost everyday she asks for either the purple or pink make-up I keep in my purse. "Mama, purple make-up please". She has her own "make-up" (chapstick) that she is allowed to use anytime, but of course Mama's is way better.

Kiss Baby?

Bell asked to "kiss baby" in my belly today, I told her that Mama didn't have a baby. How weird is that, I'm only a couple of weeks along - how does she know already? I'm not sure if she was just asking because of Aunt Karen's baby in her belly, or because of all of my pregnant friends. I don't think she could have overheard me telling anyone, seeing as we haven't told many people. I wonder if she is just an intuitive cookie???

We passed...

So this morning I felt a little funny, so I thought why not take a pregnancy test and see. I was super confused by the results though. The control line showed up super dark, the negative line a little lighter but the line that would make up the plus was super faint. I showed the test to Gabe and we were both "uhh I dunno". We looked at the package instructions to see they were going to be of anymore help - but nope. I didn't have another test, so we would just have to wait a while. This afternoon I bought two more tests, from a different manufacturer. I took the second test and failed miserably, the control line didn't even appear! Seriously, who can't pee on a stick correctly? Apparently me : ) A couple of hours later I took the third test, and what do you know I passed! So it looks like Bell will be a big sister this Spring! Needless, to say we are pretty excited. The due date is March 30th, Bella's birthday - so hopefully it will be a little late so they don't have to share a birthday.

Wait for me!

Bella's latest phrase is "wait for me", sometimes it is "wait for me, guys". She says it at the funniest times as well; jumping into the shower, leaving a room, or just her line of sight... It is so funny, we have no idea where she got this one.

What are you trying to say?

Up until a couple of days ago Bell spoke so clearly that it seemed very seldom that I didn't understand what she was trying to say. Lately, it has been a lot more difficult, she has added a new twist to her English language skills. Adding IE to the end of almost everything she says; soothie (soother), campie (camping), juicie (juice), bathie (bath), tubbie (tub), cuppie (cup), milkie (milk), etc... Thankfully, we have figured out this new code so we are having an easier time understanding out little Linguist.

My make-up

Aunt Karen was here this weekend, and was using a lip gloss that Bell was very excited about. Up until this point I have only let Bell play with chap stick. She calls chap stick her make-up and plays with every morning while I do my own make up. When Karen left she gave Bell the lip gloss - best gift ever as far as she is concerned. She takes it with her everywhere! She is so crazy about her make-up that, she won't leave the house without "my make-up, my make-up" and won't go to sleep without clutching it in her little fist. Now, chap stick is nothing in comparison to the amazing newness of lip gloss.

788 days later...

788 days in and finally Bell stayed in her bed until 6am today! What a dream, who knows how long it will last but at least it happened...maybe this means it will happen again sometime : ) She still woke up a couple of times before Gabe came to bed. Asking for water and needing to be tucked in again, she goes back to sleep so easily then, that is barely counts. Plus, I'm asleep then, so it really doesn't count for me : ) We are feeling so grateful with our current sleep situation, normally she just crawls into bed with us anywhere between 2 -5am. Now, if it is only going to get later and later in the morning - Fantastic!!

"Like Daddy"

Warning: Kind of a gross topic.

Gabe has a bad cold right now. At times he is a little phlegmy so needs to clear his throat and spit. Gross, but whatever he's sick and he doesn't do it around me, so no big deal. Apparently, he has done it around Bella though. She now makes a gross noise, like she is trying to clear her throat and then tries to spit. Thankfully, she hasn't perfected the art of spitting because I think that make this new trick a little too gross. Once she is done, she says "like daddy".

Oops, whould have been better...

We don't say "opps" enough at our house. Apparently, we use other expletives, and they have passed through our little girls ears, and now her mouth.

Setting the scene:
Me standing in the kitchen making dinner.
Gabe walking into our bedroom.
Bella following Gabe to the bedroom.

This is what I hear: Bella having a big "huff" then "F**king Christ"!

Gabe and I look at each other "did that actually come out of our 2 years olds mouth"? Neither of us said anything, we figured it would be better to just ignore it, and pretend it didn't happen. I burst out laughing two minutes later though, I couldn't hold it in any longer.

Not our proudest moment at parents, but at least it wasn't in public. Now, if we can just make sure she doesn't say it again. I guess it would help if we watched our mouths a little better :)

Number 16

Tooth number 16 poked through sometime today. Gabe said that it must have been the explanation for all the wake ups last night. Now, that she is sleeping in her own bed it is Gabe who deals with the evening wake ups most of the time, so I knew nothing about them. Which I have to say is a beautiful thing : ) Too bad she didn't tell us that her teeth were hurting her though, we would have given her some Tylenol for the pain.

Mama's like daddy

We recently shaved our heads and donated it to Locks of Love. Gabe did his a couple of days before I had mine done. Which is why Bell now says "Mama's like daddy," and comes over and rubs my bald head.

It is funny to think that Bella has the longest hair at our house now. We'll see how long that lasts : )

It is very liberating. Although, I do sometimes forget that I'm bald and wonder why people are staring at me. Kids give me some odds looks at the play ground these days : )

Matress fun..

Playing "fort" with Uncle Drew

Bell loves when we have house guests. Not only does she get the extra attention from whomever is here to visit her, but she loves to play on the air mattress that they sleep on.

Early in the morning she comes out and snuggles with in Uncle Drew and Aunt Karen. Later on in the day they play "fort" with the mattress. Which means they crawl under the covers and tickle each other, with Bella giggling and squealing while saying "more, more".

Sometimes it is tough to tell what makes her sadder to say goodbye to, the guest or the air mattress.