Diving Head First into the Parenthood Party

Well, it seems that Miss Isabella does not want us to feel left out on all the types of parenthood fun that there seems to be. She officially initiated us into the parenthood party last week when she decided to give us a little extra coloring and texture all along and down our wall when Chris was changing her. No, we are not talking about just the liquid delight, we are talking about a whole plethora of poo!

Yep, that's right. Bella decided to take advantage of daddy having her legs raised in the air as he tried to replace her diaper, but alas, he was too slow! Next thing we knew was that there was a path of poo from her changing table to the wall...leaving no victims behind. Daddy, having more of a tolerance for gross things, took on most of the clean-up duty, so mommy's gag reflexes could get under control!

Yes, it was gross. Yes it was messy...but oh man, you should have seen the look on both of our faces....it was down right funny!

I will spare you all from showing any pictures of that special surprise, but do want you to see my little beauty over the past week!

Here are some photos/videos of her time with mommy at home:

In fine fashion like her mommy in the morning, Bella does not like to wake up! We go through probably 5-10 minutes of stretching before we like to open our eyes!

Loving her kisses from mommy...or at least we think she does!

Trying to Roll over...I almost got it!

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY, DADDY!!!

I was all decked out for daddy in this outfit with balloons and all surrounding me when he came home from seminary class on Saturday! His birthday was the 20th (Saturday) and mommy and I wanted to make it special for him! Mommy let me invite over all of my friends and we had a great time eating pie and ice cream all night long!

Family Photo Time! These are the first of many to come, we are sure!

Making a funny face, but so cute anyway!

Daddy's Girl

Mommy's Little Angel

Bath Time, Tummy Time, and some Friends

Okay, so I know nursury pictures were to come next, but mommy has been snapping pictures of me with her little digital like crazy and she wanted to get them off of her memory card for more room!

Here are some of her favorites:

Meet some of my Church Friends!Nica, Ada, and Evie Johnson

Kyndal Minnick and Braden Harmon

I LOVE BATHTIME, especially in my new tub! (Thanks, Aunt Traci, Lori and Steph). Daddy is really good at getting me all nice and clean! He talks with me alot and puts really good smelling oils and lotions on me afterwards! When my hair is wet, it gets kind of curly like mommy's. In fact, I have the curl swirl in the middle of my forehead like mommy did when she was a baby! She'll have to post a photo of that soon so you can compare!

Bath Time Video with Daddy

SPECIAL SHOUT OUT:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Aunt Traci and Uncle Dave! I love you!

One Month Old!

Well, despite the fact that according to the docs I should only be 7 days old today since my due date was last week, I am officially one month old now! Look how big I am!

At my one month appointment, I weighed 9 lbs 5 oz and was 21 inches long. That puts me in the 50th % for both. My head circumference was in the 5-10%, so it looks like it won't outgrow my body any time soon! I have a bit of cradle cap and some baby acne trying to clear up, but hopefully with this new lotion mommy got me, it will be all better soon!

Mommy and Daddy love to stare at me and mommy goes camera happy while daddy is away all day at work! She takes random video of me too! Here I am trying to roll over already! It won't be long till I get this little body on the move, then there is no stopping me!

I have already been to church twice and love to have wake time with mommy and then fall asleep on her chest. Daddy often gives me my baths and then has "Daddy Doodie" of changing my diapers! He loves that job and I've only squirted him a few times...yep, girls can shoot, too, just not with as good of aim!

Mommy thinks its funny to see me when I am really really hungry! She took this video when I woke up ready to eat! I know that she is around because I know her scent (or at least the scent of milk), but I can't quite figure out why there is no milk coming out of her arm! I have also discovered my thumb and enjoy sucking on it until I get fed! I am a good eater (like Daddy) and a GREAT sleeper....thanks for passing on that gene mommy!

Daddy has a hard time letting me cry (and who can blame him, I'm pretty darn cute!), so he sneaks in alot to my room, which I have been sleeping in for the past week by myself, and often picks me up or rocks me...but don't tell mommy or she'll make him stop! :0) (Mommy has a hard time sometimes too during the day and does the same, but don't tell Daddy, he'd make her stop!)

I have meet some of my extended family and am anxious to meet many others in the up coming months as I continue to grow and get big! Keep checking back! Mommy will post pictures of my pretty nursury next!

Labor Day Weekend

It's hard to imagine, but if Baby Isabella came when the docs said she was due, she would not have come till TOMORROW! Chris and I thought about that last night and how weird that would have been to not have met our little princess yet!

(Isabella and Cousin Hailey)

Our labor day guests sure are glad she came early though! Kelly's oldest sister, Traci, and mom were to come in on Friday night. Only come to find out, Chris had been conspiring with them to surprise her with the arrival of her other sister, Lori, too, and her little neice, Hailey! Kelly was home waiting for Chris to arrive to mingle with friends that so graciously brought us dinner. He told Kelly that he had to run a work errand, which did not make her very happy knowing guests were coming by.

Needless to say, Chris arrived home just minutes before the guests were heading out the door. He gave his hugs and said hello. Minutes later, the doorbell rang. Kelly was partially annoyed by yet another interruption. Chris opened the door and there stood Kelly's sister, Lori, and Hailey her neice! You should have seen Kelly's expression! I think her mouth dropped to the floor as far as it would go and stayed that way for several minutes! (Chris was lucky to escape the doghouse this time with the wonderfu surprise! HA!)

Later that night, Traci and Mom arrived and Chris managed to make it through the entire weekend with 6 ladies around! We had a wonderful time shopping, playing with babies, and just hanging out and relaxing! Bella got to meet her first cousin and anticipates meeting Travis soon! Check out Chris' Picasa site for some photos of the weekend! Below are a few of my favorites!

(Mam'ma and her baby girls!)

(Daddy and His Princess)

(Cousin Hailey testing out Bella's towels!)

(Yeah, Finally some clothes that fit..well, almost!)

Our Daily Routine

Man, those people weren't kidding when they say that all babies do when they are born is eat, sleep, and poop, eat, sleep, and poop!

Chris and I find ourselves making plans and talking about our day as it revolves around the feeding schedule! We rarely look at the clock anymore since Bella is on a 3 hour rotating schedule of eating, pooping (well, that is WAY more than 3 hours!), and sleeping!

Daddy goes off to work around 7:15-7:30 in the morning and that is either right in between a feeding or right before/after one. Mommy and Bella then spend the next 2 feedings catching up on sleep after nursing. Around 11:00-12:00, mommy usually has enough energy to get moving for the day and usually stays up after that feeding until the early night one. Bella is struggling with sleeping a bit right now at night time and daddy usually gets up to console her...he really, REALLY does not like the sound of her crying! He says, "How can you ignore or resist that little whimper?" Being around it all day...I guess I've learned in order to survive!! :0)

I have to be honest, I haven't had a ton of energy to want to do much more than lay around and do an occassional load of laundry here and there, but I have managed to do a little bit of straightening up things around the house at times! Overall, I am feeling well and Bella is doing great. We can not complain!

Each day is a new day! God definitely put Isabella into my life to teach me patience, how i need to slow down and not rush through things, and also that my perfectionistic nature will have to take a back seat to Baby's plans for our day! Some of my friends have said, "Gosh, Kelly, I can't believe you have her on a 3 hour schedule for the most part already." And here am I saying, "Gosh, shouldn't she be sleeping through the night and stick to the same schedule each day already...I mean, she is 16 days old now?!?" :0) THen I remind myself..."Yes, Kelly, she is ONLY 16 days old...put your perfectionism aside and let your baby do her thing!"

I'm learning! It's a process! And tomorrow, I get to start all over!

Can't say its been easy every morning, but then when you walk in and see a face like this laying in her bed....rushing the day or forgetting to cherish the moments before she grows too fast before our very own eyes....I smile and thank God for the precious gift, the most beautiful little life He has blessed us with!

Waking Up Bella

As of today, Bella is 9 days old! She is such an incredible gift from the Lord and we are trying to capture and cherish each and every little memory with her before these days are gone! After yesterday's appointment, she is now just a 1/2 an ounce below her birth weight, so she is eating like a champ...which makes mommy very relieved and happy! It is still very difficult to wake her up sometimes as she is usually more interested in sleeping the day away, but nonetheless, the doc's report confirms that she is indeed eating and on the fast track to regaining her weight she lost due in part to her jaundice issues at birth.

Isabella has many little faces that we've already been able to identify. Chris cracks up at her little "pooping" face where she makes an "o" out of her mouth, tilts her head back, and freezes. It really is a crack up! I love her wake up faces/moves! Below is a video of one of them! She flexes her back forward, kicks back her head, and rolls her little legs up in froggy style up towards her behind! She usually does this like 4-5 times in a row (told ya she was a sleepy baby!)



On Wednesday, the 20th, Bella will be going in for a minor little procedure where she will have a frenectomy, which cuts back the frenulum linguae (medical name for that string like looking thing that connects the bottom of the tongue to the bottom of your mouth!). The Pediatrician hopes that this will help with some of her latching problems, but it will also help with future speech problems that can be a result of the frenulum being so close to the end of her tongue. The doc said it will also help her be able to french kiss in the future...which almost through Daddy off his rocker and made him want to veto the procedure! :0) We were able to convince him otherwise and he is on board! Do pray for Isabella and Mommy on Wednesday even though the procedure is an outpatient procedure and should be done quickly.

Other than that, Mommy and Bella are learning to find a routine in our schedules. Some days we do really well and other days it is more of a hassle. Last night was a struggle, but today has started off very well! We are praying that the progress continues, but giving ourselves grace knowing that she is less than 2 weeks old!

Oh gotta go hear baby crying!

I wanted to try out this little program I've had sitting around for awhile and couldn't think of a better subject than our freshly minted daughter! If you got a few minutes, here she is in all her glory!