Lists, Lists, and More Lists!!

I am a list kind of girl. I make lists for everything....grocery lists, dinner lists, around the house to do lists, to do lists at school, lists of my other lists....it is kind of an unwanted obsession of mine. One night I was feeling overwhelmed with things that needed to be done, so I confessed my list problem to Andy. That's when he finally realized how list-crazy I was and how it was taking over control of me :) He told me that he has never even thought of making one list about anything. Since he is a helpful and kind husband, he asked what was on my list that he could help out with....so guess what I did??? I made an "Andy List" for him :) Another obsession - I also love post-its. My computer screen at work is full of post it notes. The post-it notes are sometimes also on my school to do list. Oh, and I love how great it feels to cross things off my list or throw away a post-it note......a sense of productivity and success!!!

Anyways......the original story that I was going to post needed the above background information about myself. I think I have passed on my list obsession to my daughter. Whenever she sees me with a notebook or pad of paper, she immediately starts begging for it and a pen. So I give her a pad of paper of her own and her own pen. She walks around the house acting like she is working, working, working. She pretends to scribble and take notes. It is one of her favorite things to play! I just need to start working on teaching her how to write real words, so she can make her own lists!

I interrupted Bella while she was playing "lists" to video tape her....not sure what her goofy faces are all about. She started that a couple of weeks ago!

Safety First

About a week ago we took Isabella's bike helmet out of the box. I tried it on her to see if it fit. Ever since then, this girl has been in love with her helmet. It's her new favorite toy! She brings it to one of us and begs to have us put it on her head. She just wants to wear it around the house. Bella has become "Little Miss Safety"!

Here are some safety tips from Bella:

#1 - Always wear a safety helmet when reading books.

#2 - Always wear a safety helmet when playing with baby dolls.

#3 - Always wear a safety helmet when getting ready for bed.

#4 - Always wear a safety helmet when you eat.

#5 - Always wear a safety helmet when you play outside with rocks.

#6 - Always wear a safety helmet when you ride in a little red wagon.

#7 - Always wear a safety helmet when you brush your teeth (but run around naked only if you are one year old or under!)

I love her little personality and it cracks me up to see her run around wearing her helmet....what a goofy girl!

Box Head

We got Bella a bike helmet at the beginning of the summer so we could go on family bike rides. Well, it is the middle of September and we still haven't gone!! There's been too many excuses like it's too hot, it's too late, we're too tired, the tires aren't pumped up, bla bla bla......Last night I went to the closet and got out her helmet to show it to her. We thought we would finally go for a ride this weekend. Bella was happy to see the helmet, but not as excited as she was about the box it came in! She put that box on her head and started stumbling around the living room. Then she'd take it off, giggle at us, and put it on again. She would go around and around the recliner. Maybe I could get off easy this Halloween, and she could just be a box!

Here is a video of Bella running around with the box on her head. She is such a goofy little girl, and she makes us laugh constantly. She loves to entertain and make people laugh! I apologize for the shaky footage, but hang in there until the end to see her crash..... :)

For the record.....it is Saturday night and we still haven't gone for that bike ride yet!

The Zoo!

At the beginning of the summer we had all of these vacation ideas and hopes of going somewhere fun! Well, on Tuesday August 24th I wondered where the summer went. It flew by and we still had not gone on a vacation! I had to start work again on Friday, so we really didn't have many options left. Andy decided to take Thursday off from work and we decided that we were going to the Milwaukee Zoo! Even though it isn't that far from home, it was still something fun to do and a mini vacation for us.

I hadn't been to a zoo in a long time, so I was pretty excited. I couldn't wait to see the African animal section....but I saw these guys first. I loved the flamingos!! I had never seen one before, and they were so cool looking. They looked more orange to me than pink.

Here is Bella enjoying her tour around the zoo.

Bella loved watching the giraffes. There was kind of a long line to get close to the giraffes, because they were letting people feed leaves to them.

And elephants!!! They were fun to watch. The elephants kept occupied by playing with tires.

At the zoo there is a dinosaur land area. It was pretty neat and Bella enjoyed seeing the big dinosaur statues.

This is the big guy that she's pointing at!

Another favorite animal of ours was the polar bear. There was an area to watch him swimming under the water - it was very up close! Monkeys aren't my favorite animal, but it was neat to see all of the different kinds of monkeys....there sure are some ugly ones!

Bella was so tired and ready to go home. She fell asleep as soon as we got in the car. I look forward to going to the zoo again when she is a little big older and can get really excited to see the animals.

"Uh-Oh"

What do you see in this picture? Yes, it the baby monitor with Bella sleeping....It is hard to see the picture, but look again - do you notice anything strange? When I checked the monitor the other morning, I had to do a double take myself.

If you can't tell by the monitor picture, maybe you will be able to notice something strange in this picture......

How about this picture?

Yup, she not only has no pajama pants on but she also is missing her diaper!!!

The first thing that Bella did was sit up and say "Uh-oh." It's not odd that she says "Uh-oh" when I go into her room, because she often throws Eeyore, baby doll, and her blanket out of her crib. She stands there and points at them and says "Uh-oh". But this morning there was a bigger problem. She looks a little guilty to me!

I put these pajama pants on her that don't stay up very well. She's worn them before, and there's never been a problem. That night when I checked the monitor to see if she was sleeping, she had the pants off! Andy and I laughed about it and just left her sleeping without pants on. She got up about midnight for about 10 minutes. I changed her diaper and put her pants back on. The next morning I checked the monitor again and saw she had her pants off again, but this time I had to do a double take. It looked like she had nothing on! I sat there staring at the monitor for a few moments confirming what I thought I saw. I started laughing and had to call someone else who I know would laugh with me about it....so, I called Andy and we giggled about it.

It was going on 8:15, so I decided I needed to get a picture of this. It was a risk that she would wake up, but I was ok with that. As soon as I snapped the pictures, this little girl immediately sat up and started saying "Uh-oh" and held up her pajama pants. Of course her sheets were wet, but I'm thankful that they were ONLY wet! I grabbed her bedding and threw it right into the washing machine. When I went to switch the laundry, I opened up the washer and saw a mess! There were all of these jelly-ball like things on everything....I accidentally threw her wet diaper from the crib in there too!!!! It was such a mess! Washing disposable diapers is not a good idea!!

Click on the video to see Bella looking guilty in her crib after she woke up!

Wobbly Walker

Bella is walking!! She's been taking steps for a couple of weeks now. Every time she would take a few more steps, but on Friday she started walking so much! She still crawls a lot, but every day she walks more and more. She holds her little arms out as she walks to help balance herself. She is still a little wobbly, has stiff legs, and falls a lot.

Today I was in the living room and she walked out of her room and down the hallway! It was crazy to see her come walking out of the room. You can tell she is so proud of herself when she walks, because she gets pretty excited. Then when she gets excited, her feet go faster until her body can't keep up and she falls! When she goes down, she gets right back up and keeps going. What a big girl!!

Dancing Machine

Isabella loves to dance. When I turn on the radio she gets all excited and squeals. Then she starts shaking her legs and bounces up and down. Sometimes when I need to get something done, I can turn on the radio in her room and she will stand next to it and dance and dance and dance. She loves it and it keeps her occupied! Hopefully she doesn't get her dance moves from me, because I don't have much rhythm - I pretty much bounce up and down too :) Someday she will wonder who taught her how to dance?!?! Maybe I will tell her that her dad taught her those moves :)

Sorry the video is a little long, but she does take two steps in it!

Birthday Party

We had Bella's first birthday party at our house in Appleton. I don't often host a party at my house. The only parties I have thrown have been Bella's dedication party and now her birthday party, and I have to admit that I don't do well with the planning and preparation. First of all I have never been great in the kitchen, so I always struggle with deciding the menu. I had to call my mom up two days before the party and ask her what side dishes I should have! Then comes the preparation...I get so stressed out about timing everything so it gets done at the right time. Even though it's not a huge party, I still get all flustered and forget things. Thank goodness I have a wonderful husband who is so willing to run to the store for last minute things that I forgot and who helps me with the food! My mom has so many parties at her house that she would think I'm ridiculous for getting frazzled by having a few people over :) I'm not sure I could ever pull off hosting a holiday gathering, so it's a good thing I didn't have to cook a turkey, make a pie, mash potatoes.....we kept it as simple as possible with a cookout!

On to more important things.....it was great to have family visit us! We ate, chatted, opened presents, and had cake.

Bella before opening her presents. Not sure about the nuk in her mouth. She never takes a nuk, but she found this one in the bottom of her toy box the other day and now she thinks she has to have it at random times now. She thinks it's funny.

Who doesn't open presents by sitting on them first?!?

Playing with her Noah's Ark set! She loves this toy, and I will forever be picking up little animals every night all around the house :)

"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to..."

She was getting a little tired by the time we had cake.

She loved the cake! It was followed by a fist full of ice cream too.

I can't believe my baby girl is ONE!

Bella's 1st Birthday

On Thursday Bella was the birthday girl! It was a fun filled day. When Bella woke up she got to see her cousins! The Kapitz family was visiting for a couple of days and they were there on the morning of her birthday.

Bella opened her first present from the Kapitz's.

In the afternoon we went out to lunch. Bella flirted with two guys that were having lunch next to us. She kept turning around in her high chair and smiling at them. At least they were entertained by her. She also had her first french fry - I thought since it was her birthday, she could have her first try at fried food.

Then Bella opened a few more birthday presents. She really liked the rocking chair that we bought her. She knows exactly what to do on the chair. She sits in it and rocks back and forth by moving her whole upper body - so cute!

Of course she also needed her first taste of cake! She pulled out the candle right away when we were still singing her Happy Birthday. She dug into the cupcake with no hesitation.

Bella took a couple of more steps on her birthday. She's so close to walking!

In the evening she went to a friend's house while Andy and I went out to dinner for our anniversary. They had a little party for her with ice cream sundaes and balloons. Bella LOVES these birthday balloons!

Bella was exhausted by the end of the day. I can't believe my baby girl is one!! She is growing up so fast. Her party was on Saturday, but the party pictures will have to be for another day.

4 Years!!

On July 29th Andy and I celebrated four years of marriage! Here is a picture of us four years after the big day.

It was fun looking back at some of our wedding pictures and remembering everything that happened on our day! Here are just a few...

4th of July Weekend

We went to Medford for the 4th of July weekend. It was a jam packed weekend! Lisa, Gary, and the girls were there from Colorado. It was so great to see them. Here are some pictures from our weekend.

Kaila loved Bella! She would come by and snuggle her, hug her, and touch her cheek and say "Isn't she the cutest thing!"

Taylor took Bella swimming in mom and dad's pond for the first time. Bella enjoyed floating in the water and watching all of the other kids swim.

Since the 4th was a rainy day some of the boys played checkers against Gary. Bella had to get in on the action. They were ok with it until she started messing up their pieces.

We had decided not to go the park to watch the fireworks since it was so rainy and icky out, so I put Bella to bed. Then at about 9:00 Lisa decided that her and Gary were going to take the girls to the fireworks even though it was raining. So, my wonderful husband stayed home with sleeping Bella and I went with them to the park. Joni, Kiana, and I tried to stay dry under the umbrella....it didn't work so well.

Bella was exhausted at the end of the day!