30 seconds - Bella's first Christmas

OK, so this isn't really 30 seconds...it's actually 7.5 minutes, but if you're interested, here are some snipits from Bella's first Christmas!

The Day Bella Became Smarter than Vinny

Mark the calendars for December 10th, 2008, because that's the day that Bella's IQ surpassed Vinny's. He was feeding her last night, and she was clearly done with her food and just wanted to play. Every time Vinny would bring the spoon toward her mouth, she would swipe at it and try to grab it. After two or three times of this pattern, Vinny sat back and decided he wasn't going to give her any more. Until Bella opened her mouth and sat there acting like she was SOOO hungry. So Vinny went in one last time, she clamped her mouth shut at the last possible second, grabbed the spoon and flung it everywhere! Score: Bella - 1; Daddy - 0.

30 seconds - open and close

30 seconds - finding the letter N

Na No Ni Nu Na Na Na NA NANANANAAAA!

30 seconds - Baby Prison

Bella is learning to stand by herself at the playroom gate and is so excited to be doing it that she wants to do it all the time. Usually this involves holding onto Mommy or Daddy. It is absolutely exhausting!

30 seconds - Halloween Costume

meeee-oooow!

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Bella's Beloved - Pumpkin Farm

The weather was pretty gross on Sunday, but we still hauled the kids out to the pumpkin farm to check out the animals and pick out a pumpkin. On Saturday, Lauren, Stefanie and I all went to a craft fair, and bought the kids these pumpkin knit hats.

So cute! They needed them because it was so yucky out. But they got to see roosters and chickens and a goose, and they got to check out a tractor!

We're hoping to head back out there one weekend if it's a bit nicer. We cooked the pumpkin we got and gave it to Bella and she LOVES it so I have to make sure and get enough to last us through the winter!

Lauren also put together this cute video of the farm: http://sharing.theflip.com/greeting/2251545

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Happy Green Bee

So, we finally got one of the pictures from the Happygreenbee photo shoot. Here's our little model:

Also to check out: the video that lauren took of her at the photo shoot. http://sharing.theflip.com/greeting/2234476 And if you want to see all of the pictures from the shoot, check out the main website: http://www.pictage.com/client/event.do?event=541244

30 seconds - Eating Puffs

Bella eats her puffs. She won't touch them, but she likes to eat them.

Bella's First Haircut

So much is happening in our little baby girl's life! This weekend she had her very first haircut. We went to Snip-its, and they were so good. I highly recommend them. I think she thought that she was going to eat because of the big bib they put on her! She was SO excited!

This place was so smart, they put a set of bells on her feet to get her to look down. She was a little short for the chair still though, so we had to spin her around and put her in the chair backwards. She did awesome until another little girl started crying and she realized she was kind of hungry. A few bubbles later, everything was ALL GOOD and she got a prize for doing so well.

So, she now has bangs, which I wasn't thrilled about, but it does keep her hair out of her eyes, which is good. She's growing up!

Bella's Weekend

Bella had a great weekend. Our friends Lauren and J came over on Saturday with their little boy Aiden, with whom Bella goes to daycare. Lauren took some awesome pictures of both kids, http://www.flickr.com/gp/94324507@N00/7fe0ti

Aiden and Bella had a great time grabbing one another's face and hair and pulling. We're hoping she grows out of the "grab and pull" reflex soon.

She tried blueberries this weekend and those are going great. Next on the list are cherries!

30 seconds - toy wonderland

Bella hangs out in her new play area and munches on her favorite book, one that features her family!

30 seconds - Did I say I DIDN'T like carrots?

I meant...gimme more!

30 seconds - The best bath toy is the water!

Not Much

What's going on...not much. I just realized I haven't really blogged at all this month.

Motion: Bella is sitting up on her own...trying to crawl, but not really going anywhere just yet. We have set her up a play area in the back room of the house so she has a safe zone to play in, aka my worry free zone.

Food: She's eating great and is pretty laid back about what she will and won't eat. Basically, she'll eat a few bites of anything, and there are just a few things that she tires of quickly. Foods that are on our menu right now: mango, pear, apple, banana, cantalope, peach, nectarine, plums prune, peas, green bean, carrot, sweet potato, squash, butternut squash, zucchini, avocado, yogurt, oatmeal, barley, rice, brown rice, and quinoa. I'm making almost all of her food, which is actually pretty fun. It's definitely cheaper, and it definitely tastes better. I don't do prunes, because they're a pain and just 4000 times easier to buy or green beans, for the same reason. I've noticed that all packaged baby food kind of has the same aftertaste (I check all of her food before she gets any), maybe it's the preservative stuff, but I think it's pretty gross, so I'm proud to make her food for her. And I'm able to make sure that what she's getting is organic, which is also nice.

Cognition: Bella has decided that faces are fun...to grab and pull. Same goes for hair. It was pretty cute and funny at first, but we're now working on "soft touches" and "rubbing" hair instead of pulling.

Play: She LOVES the stacking rings, and the O-Ball, and the plastic links, and the fisher price piano. Myla Monkey is pretty high on the smile list too. And splashing! Boy does Bella love water and splashing! Bath time is really fun now and she is going to miss all the pool parties once summer is over!

Social: Bella has a better social life than most party planners. Her best buddies are Kate and Owen Managhan, Aiden Brennan, and Xander Howell, whom she has fun playing with (or rather, playing in the same general vicinity as). She's so laid back. At day care, the older kids will push her or pull her hair and she just looks at them. She doesn't cry or get mad. Very easy going...she takes after Vinny there! She participated in a study at Brown University about language development in infants this morning where she got paid in playskool for sitting for 10 minutes and watching a video. Pretty good deal! Watch a video and get free toys! We're scheduled to do a photo shoot at Whole Foods in a few weeks for Happygreenbee organic clothing, which I'm looking forward to as well. That isn't though the modeling agency though, they just use regular kids for their catalogs.

I'll let you know when she makes the next big leap in development!

30 seconds - Ready to Move

30 seconds - Baby You Can Drive My Car

Beep Beep...Beep Beep...Yeah!

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4th of July in Vermont

We went up to Stowe, VT this weekend with a group of friends for a little 4th of July getaway and we had so much fun! A few highlights:

- We met TONS of people! There were 31 adults and 17 kids all under the same roof. A very large roof...

-Moose Crossing, Bear Crossing, and Deer Crossing. We didn't see any wildlife, but the signs alone were exciting!

-Marcus as a caterpillar...while it's funny enough to see a very tall man squished inside of a child's spring tunnel, it's even funnier to watch him use it to eat a baby. The few seconds after the video ends are really the funniest, trust me...

-Bella went swimming in the big pool! I thought it was freezing, so I was surprised she didn't cry when we put her in, but she was as happy as she could be, splashing about. And even more exciting, she tried watermelon for the first time. She didn't really eat it, just licked it, but she seemed to like it!

-We went on a walk. No, the car wasn't broken. We really just went on a walk voluntarily with some of the other dads. I was sore from head to toe the next day.

Then again, that could have just been the mattress. I never realized how addicted I was to the sleep number bed until I didn't have it anymore!

- We went sightseeing; Ben and Jerry's, Lake Champlain Chocolates, Vermont Teddy Bear Co., Cabot Cheese, Cold Harbor Cider Mill, Harpoon Brewery, Grandview Winery, Zeimke's glassblowing

- we learned to play "koob" and "horseballs." Koob, which I know I'm not spelling right, is a game where you throw wooden batons at wooden blocks. Hard to explain other than to say that it's a mixture of bowling, chess, and pool. Horseballs is where you throw two golf balls tethered together with a shoestring and try to get it to wrap around a post. Much like horseshoes...only with balls. Here is Oliver cheating at horseballs:

- we stopped on the way back and Bella got to meet her Great Auntie Peanut and Uncle Fran, who live in Windsor, VT

So, now we need a vacation from our vacation. 4 and half hours up and back in 3 days is a LOT! And we're leaving on Friday to go to North Carolina! On the plus side, Bella did great in the car. She took her usual naps and even seemed to be ok with the hours of immobility. I have a feeling this is going to be much more difficult once she is really mobile, but it works for now.

30 seconds - Hula

Getting ready for our luau at Children's Workshop. We had to learn how to hula!

30 Seconds - giggles

Bella is very amused by Logan - a little over 30 seconds

Happy Father's Day

I just want to wish Vinny, and all you other Fathers out there, a Happy Father's Day. Vinny has been the best father that a wife and daughter could ask for. He selflessly helps out all the time, even when he's exhausted, and usually with no complaining. He is every bit the father that I knew he would be, but better. Words can't express how proud I am to call him my husband and Bella's Daddy.

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30 seconds - eating

Bella just had her first bites of cereal this week. Here she is trying to eat some rice cereal from a spoon.

30 Seconds - the bouncer

Bella is working the bears on the bouncer chair like she is solving the most complicated puzzle in the world. Too cute!

Starting School

Bella officially started daycare last week. I had no idea how hard it would be. I mean, she has stayed with family now for a while, and even with friends before. But leaving her in a room with 6 other babies and she wasn't the complete center of attention...man that was hard.

But what came as a surprise to me was that she almost seems happier with this. Well, not really happier, but happier with us. When she stayed with friends and family she was grumpy in the afternoon. I think they played all of her "happy" out of her, so she was a real grump by the time I saw her every day. But now, I go pick her up and she's happy to see me, and wants to play and be with me. Which is awesome. This morning, I wasn't super excited to find out that, of the 14 kids int he two infant rooms, only 7 were going to be at school today. Most are out because they're sick. That's scary. But there isn't much I can do about it.

Memorial Day

Wow, I just experienced a 3 day weekend with my whole family home. That hasn't happened in...well I don't remember when the last time that happened! Vinny and I took Bella swimming in the hot tub (which isn't very hot). Then we hung out around the house and just enjoyed being together, shopping and watching movies. It was Bella's first time in the spa, which is doubling as a really little heated pool. She hung out in her float, looking none too happy about the whole thing. I think she'll like it better once she figures out how to splash.

Bella's Christening

This weekend was Bella's christening, which overall went very well. There was mass confusion when we started to sing the second verse of "Jesus Loves Me" because no one realized that "Jesus Loves Me" had a second verse, and also when we sang "Jesus Loves the Little Children", because there are so many different ways you can sing the order of colors, but great nonetheless. The pastor even got Bella's godparents to pay for her college education by sneaking that into the list of promises :) Somehow I think God might let them off the hook for that one though.

And the party afterward was awesome. The food was great. Chiazza gave us a full brunch instead of the lunch we had ordered and it was still less than we had anticipated price wise. Always a nice surprise!

Not so nice as a surprise, Bella had a MASSIVE diaper blowout at the beginning of the party. I've never actually watched a diaper overflow, especially not onto my lap, but I got the opportunity Sunday and it's an opportunity I would gladly have given up. So we had to run home and change. Luckily, we had already taken her out of her white christening gown, so no harm done.

Jumparoo

Since Bella has decided that sitting is no fun, everyone's arms have been getting a good workout. She's trying desperately to stand for about half the day. So we broke down and bought a jumparoo. A nifty little device that basically hangs your baby in a seat suspended by 3 bungee cords with toys surrounding them. The problem...even on its lowest setting, Bella is about 3 inches too short to reach the floor. So we put a box under her, and she bounces around to her heart's content. She's even started to make the seat spin so she can turn for a new set of toys. The total wonderment in her eyes is awesome when she makes herself move. Almost as cute as when she found her feet in the first place. Not so great is that one of the rattles drives to dogs to howl, and it isn't removable. I'm hoping they'll learn to love it.

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LOLSpeak is a popular internet meme juxtaposing a bold, sans-serif caption with a picture . The caption generally acts as a speech balloon encompassing a comment from the subject of the photograph or as a description of the depicted scene. The caption is intentionally written in the grammar- and spelling-poor patois stereotypically attributed to Internet slang, and often follows certain conventions.

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LOLSpeak is a popular internet meme juxtaposing a bold, sans-serif caption with a picture . The caption generally acts as a speech balloon encompassing a comment from the subject of the photograph or as a description of the depicted scene. The caption is intentionally written in the grammar- and spelling-poor patois stereotypically attributed to Internet slang, and often follows certain conventions.

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LOLSpeak is a popular internet meme juxtaposing a bold, sans-serif caption with a picture . The caption generally acts as a speech balloon encompassing a comment from the subject of the photograph or as a description of the depicted scene. The caption is intentionally written in the grammar- and spelling-poor patois stereotypically attributed to Internet slang, and often follows certain conventions.

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LOLSpeak is a popular internet meme juxtaposing a bold, sans-serif caption with a picture . The caption generally acts as a speech balloon encompassing a comment from the subject of the photograph or as a description of the depicted scene. The caption is intentionally written in the grammar- and spelling-poor patois stereotypically attributed to Internet slang, and often follows certain conventions.

LOL.4

LOLSpeak is a popular internet meme juxtaposing a bold, sans-serif caption with a picture . The caption generally acts as a speech balloon encompassing a comment from the subject of the photograph or as a description of the depicted scene. The caption is intentionally written in the grammar- and spelling-poor patois stereotypically attributed to Internet slang, and often follows certain conventions.

Wubbanub

I realize I have not really defined the "wubbanub." It is definitely one of the best suggestions for baby items we have gotten. It is basically the soothie pacifier that the hospital uses attached to a little beanie animal. This little attachment is great when they're little because it weighs the pacifier down a little and keeps it from flying all over the place. And it's great when they're a little older because it's a bigger target to grab onto and get to their mouths.

So, we have quite a few of these. We started out with the red and yellow Dougie Doggie, so named because my friend Natalie, who is a social worker, says alliteration is good for kids' development. i have no idea why, but that's why he has his name. This is Dougie:

Then we decided we wanted to get something a bit more feminine, so we ordered the purple and green Frenchy Frog. Aka Francois le Frog, aka French Frog, but usually he just goes by Frenchy.

Dougie was relegated to being a traveling dog, so he now lives with the carseat. This is largely a result of his going out frquesntly in her first few weeks and being the victim of a dropping in the parking lot in the rain. So he knows the dark and dirty side of life. And we wanted to spare the Frenchys.

Yes that's right, plural...Frenchy's' After Dougie went down in the parking lot, and we had to wait (read "suffer") til he was washed and dried, we made sure we had a Frnechy on hand for all occasions. So we have 1 on each floor on the house, Uptown Frenchy (who hangs in his crib), Downtown Frenchy Brown (the main floor Frenchy), and basement Frenchy (who is a bit ghetto and occasionally tries to sneak upstairs). For a while I also had a working Frenchy, but he was kicked out of the building with Bella. Here is Uptown Frenchy, getting breakfast in bed with Bella:

I don't know how long it will be before we can wean her off these things. She doesn't really use them a TON, but they are completely invaluable in the middle of the night and when she's tired.

Hanging with Owen

Yesterday Bella hung out with our friend Natalie and her little boy Owen, who is 20 months. He was so sweet with her, bringing her Dougie Doggie (the wubbanub) when she cried and putting it in her mouth. Of course, he also wanted to see what her eye felt like too...but you can't win them all.

I love the fact that she has some kids to hang out with, and that she actually seems to be interested in it now, as opposed to being a baby blob. I think it's the quietest I've ever seen her while awake - just watching Owen and Vinny playing.

We're going to hang out with our friends Stefanie and Marcus this weekend and their little boy, Xander, who is a month older than Bella. I'm so excited to see how she does with another baby her own age!

Baby Idol

One of the students in the Epidemiology program saw a contest for "Baby Idol" being promoted from a local radio station. The winner gets some pretty great prizes, so I entered Bella. Now she just needs your votes. You can vote everyday through the end of the month. Anyway, here's the link: http://www.92probabyidol.com/vote.aspx?Id=4504

And while I am definitely biased, I think she's the cutest one they've got by any measure. So cross your fingers and get to voting!

focusing on our looks

This is the weekend to focus on our looks. I finally lost enough weight to earn a trip to the salon for a cut and color. After much deliberation, and input from half the known universe, I decided to go with honey colored highlights and to cut off a ton. So here's the final product:

Which I love. So thank you to everyone who gave me input. And sitting with me is our newest little model. Vinny and I took her to an open casting call for models this morning and she is now being represented by Model Club Inc. It's all a matter of luck as to whether she gets chosen by clients, but we'll see what happens.

So now its time to figure out what to do with Vinny. What do you think about a shave head, or maybe pink highlights?

Bjorn Bouncer

So, we have a bouncer. A nice Fisher Price rainforest bouncer that makes pretty sounds and lights and moves and has lots of toys. The problem: we keep falling over it. The legs stick out so far that it almost jumps out at you as you walk by. So, after some research, we bought the Baby Bjorn bouncer. This thing was expensive. No question about it. But worth every penny. She sits in it happily for hours, just looking at the simple wooden blocks on the toybar, it's lightweight, it folds flat, it bounces nicely, she can use it til she's 2 years old, and best of all, the base is right under the seat, so no more tripping!

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LOLSpeak is a popular internet meme juxtaposing a bold, sans-serif caption with a picture . The caption generally acts as a speech balloon encompassing a comment from the subject of the photograph or as a description of the depicted scene. The caption is intentionally written in the grammar- and spelling-poor patois stereotypically attributed to Internet slang, and often follows certain conventions.

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LOLSpeak is a popular internet meme juxtaposing a bold, sans-serif caption with a picture . The caption generally acts as a speech balloon encompassing a comment from the subject of the photograph or as a description of the depicted scene. The caption is intentionally written in the grammar- and spelling-poor patois stereotypically attributed to Internet slang, and often follows certain conventions.

So, Nanny is here now

So, Nanny is here now. While this is lovely, she is mainly here because some nutjob at work decided that having Bella at work was interfering with their productivity, and rather than say that to me or the department chair, they went straight to human resources...who kicked Bella out of the building quite unceremoniously. And of course there is a HUGE waiting list at every daycare in the state, so I had few options about what to do. Not that I'm bitter.

So, Nanny is here now. Which is actually really great. Bella is getting to know her great-grandma, and so am I. I'm learning all kinds of things. We have taken to watching Dr. Phil in the afternoons, and I never know what new disfunctional information I'm going to learn!

So Nanny is here now. And I'm saving lots of money. It was cheaper to fly her up from North Carolina (even with the crazy price of gas), than it was to pay a sitter for a week. So, we now have in-home help, which I never thought I could afford. Most of them don't get paid in kisses and hugs.

So Nanny is here now. And things are so much more productive around the house. She doesn't usually cook, but she helps occasionally. And every once in a while she decides to do laundry, which keeps it from taking over the floor in the bedroom. And she washes the baby bottles after she uses them, which is more helpful than it sounds. I never knew how many peices baby bottles had! And she got the notion to help us plant flowers...well, plants at least, which I probably never would have managed by myself. So we've planted lettuce right outside of the kitchen, which will hopefully grow, so we can eat it. I'm trying hard not to kill it.

So Nanny is here now. But she's going home on Tuesday morning. She'll be back in a week and a half with Papa in tow. But I'm really going to miss her until then!

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LOLSpeak is a popular internet meme juxtaposing a bold, sans-serif caption with a picture. The caption generally acts as a speech balloon encompassing a comment from the subject of the photograph or as a description of the depicted scene. The caption is intentionally written in the grammar- and spelling-poor patois stereotypically attributed to Internet slang, and often follows certain conventions.

Starting to Blog

Alright, our friends Marcus and Stephanie have inspired me to blog. After watching them document the comings and goings of their little guy, Xander, http://thexmarksthe.blogspot.com/, I am inspired to share our little beauty with everyone too. While I'm not nearly as amusing as Marcus often is, I have high hopes that I can develop my skills if only given enough time.

So, let me introduce you to Bella. AKA, "Bella Bella!", aka "stinkybutt," aka "pookum," aka "piccolina," and a myriad other names that pop into people's heads when they see her. Her basic stats are on the main page, so I won't elaborate in this blog, but basically, she's our first (and likely only) child and, of course, the center of our universe. Since we have family and friends all over the country, I thought perhaps folks would like to follow her progress here instead of getting photo galleries and guessing about what's actually going on. So I'll try to keep this up to date and we'll see how it goes!