To Grandma's House She Goes

The other day Bella came out of her room, rolled her suitcase down the hallway, and announced she was going to grandma's house. She was all ready to leave. Her bags were packed, hat and mittens were on, and her sunglasses in place. Bella played "going to grandma's house" for several days.

She packed the most essential items...a fork and three ornaments.

All ready to go to Grandma's house!

She is also wearing her FAVORITE pair of pajama pants. The first time I put them on her I told her they were silky pants. Ever since then, she always wants to wear her "swiwky pants." She seriously gets so excited about them. Sometimes she will wear them over the top of her regular clothes during the day.

Christmas Card

This is my attempt at trying to get a picture of the kids for a Christmas card. It didn't go the greatest. Bella was too distracted by the presents and wanted to hold them in front of her face. Drew wasn't smiling and usually not looking. When he was looking he looked like he was surprised with his eyes wide open. After my attempt at getting the perfect Christmas picture, I didn't even create a Christmas card this year! So, I didn't forget to send you all one....I shamefully admit I didn't even get around to creating one. Hopefully next year!

The brotherly and sisterly love begin at a young age - he started pulling her hair.

The last picture is the best one I got of Bella and Drew. This would have been the Christmas card picture!

Baby Sheep

What do you see when you look at this picture?

Most people see a white sandal.....but you are WRONG!

Bella is always using her imagination and playing pretend. Lately she has been saying things like, "Yuck! I have to change my shirt. Baby Sheep puked on it!" The other night she changed her shirt several times, because she kept getting puked on. I tried to convince her that she didn't have to keep changing her clothes, because it was all pretend but she insisted it was real. Over the past week she continued to talk about this Baby Sheep. At first I didn't realize who Baby Sheep really was until Andy filled me in. I got home from school. The conversation....

Andy: So, Bella was breast feeding her shoe today.

Me: What?!? Her shoe?

Andy: Uh, yeah....a shoe. You know her shoe is named Baby Sheep?

Me: That's who Baby Sheep is?!?

So, now I know Baby Sheep is this white sandal that she carries around, breast feeds, cleans up his spit up, and puts him to bed. I tried taking a picture of her with Baby Sheep, but she started being goofy in front of the camera. She wouldn't look at me and she kept throwing the sandal and yelling, "I don't like Baby Sheep!" Don't worry though, she really does still like Baby Sheep.

I think it's great that she has such a great imagination, but why does it have to be so strange? :)

Update

Things have been a little busy around here, so I thought I'd include a couple of quick updates in one post.

Drew:

I missed his 4 month update, but the only thing I can think of off the top of my head that is new is he started rolling over at 4 months. He worked really hard at attempting to roll for about a week. He would get on his side and get stuck. Once he finally made the first roll, he was an expert. Every time I lay him down, he rolls over. He can only go back to tummy.

Drew likes to be sitting upright now, so he enjoys the bumbo and exersaucer. Bella is also fun entertainment for him now. He really likes watching her and laughing at her.

Bella likes to line up all of her "friends" in front of Drew.

Bella:

Bella is still making up names for the whole family on a daily basis. Her most recent name for herself is Andy. Then she calls Andy, Rocket. And I'm Big Blue Jet....WHAT??? Really? Do I have to be the Big Blue Jet? I guess the Big Blue Jet is from one of the cartoons that she watches. I liked Minnie Mouse better! At least she's a girl...She consistently calls Drew, Pluto. Once in a while he is Snoopy, but usually he's Pluto. Andy and I were trying to figure out why he is always the dog. We came down to these two possibilities:

1 - Drew doesn't talk yet and neither does Snoopy or Pluto; therefore, he has to be a character that doesn't speak.

OR

2. She thinks Drew is our family pet just like Snoopy and Pluto are pets.

Work:

I have been back to work for 3 weeks now. It was really hard to go back after getting to spend so much time at home with Bella and Drew. I wish I could always be home with them during the day. I feel like I'm missing out on things when I'm away all day. (I know, I know....at least I have the summers off!) Now that I am back at work Andy is working 4 to midnight. This is a good thing considering the kids can stay home and not go to a sitter. The downside is that when I get home from work, Andy and I have about 15 minutes to catch up on the day and how the kids are doing. Then he leaves for work. I am sleeping when he gets home after midnight, and he's sleeping when I leave early in the morning. We don't really get to see each other until Saturday morning. It's only been 3 weeks of this routine, and it is already exhausting for both of us!

I really do enjoy the Christmas season, but hopefully things won't feel so crazy after the holidays pass by.

Who Am I?

I can't seem to keep track of who I am these days. Every day Bella gives me a different name. She comes up with a name for me and seriously calls me it all day. Then she makes sure I call her by her new name all day also. Of course I forget and she corrects me every time I call her Bella.

I started the week as Minnie Mouse. As the week went on I was known as Snow White, Cinderella, Anna and Grandma. She usually names herself Boxy or Princess. Well, except for when I'm Grandma, then she is Ottis on those days.

Andy is always Goofy, and Drew is always Pluto. She will say, "Pluto is crying!" Oh...and I can't forget Mickey Mouse. He lives in our backyard in the pine trees.

This girl keeps me entertained daily! :)

Eggs and Toast

Bella's all time favorite meal is eggs and toast. She would eat it for all three meals every day if we let her. Andy is gone working at night now, and if I don't have a plan for dinner I will ask her what she wants for supper. It never fails.....her answer is always "eggs and toast!"

She insists on picking the piece of bread for her toast every time. If we pick the bread she gets upset. Then we have to put the bread back into the bag, so she can pick out the bread that she wants (which is always the exact piece of bread that we just put back into the bag!) She is so independent that she has to do it all herself.

After she picks her piece of bread she always takes one big bite out of it before giving it to us to put in the toaster.

It doesn't matter to her if the eggs are scrambled or fried....they just need ketchup! Ketchup....that is the Poyda coming out in her :)

Halloween 2011

This Halloween we got some pumpkins to carve. Bella was so excited to get started....until we made the first cut into the pumpkin. She immediately started yelling "No! I'm too scared! I'm nervous!" (She always claims she's nervous lately) After trying to convince her that she wasn't really scared, she decided to go to her bedroom to wait it out. About every 5 minutes she would slowly sneak back into the kitchen to check on things. She'd get too close and get scared of the pumpkins again. What a goof! Everything about it was scary to her.

When the pumpkins were done, we got her to take a picture with them and even touch them. Once they were outside on the front steps and lit, she was scared again. Whenever we'd come home from somewhere she would see them on the front porch. She'd ask to go see the pumpkins. As soon as we got about 2 feet away she'd start yelling "I'm scared!" Every single time - the same reaction.

Bella was so excited to dress up for Halloween this year. Last year she was still to little to really understand what was going on, so it was fun dressing up this year. When she got her costume on she flapped her arms and ran around saying, "I can fly! Like a bird!"

And here's my sweet little pea pod. He didn't know what was going on and spit up on his costume within the first half hour of wearing it. But he was so cute for the small amount of time that the costume lasted!

We were in Medford for the weekend and we went to the church's Fall Festival. They do trunk-or-treating at the end of the night. That was Bella's first experience trick-or-treating. Of course she loved it. What's not to love about getting a bag full of candy. As soon as she was finished going to the different trunks, she crawled into the back of our van and secretly opened the biggest sucker she had. She sat there indulging in it the rest of the time.

Bella, Hannah, and Chloe after trunk-or-treating.

On Halloween Day we took Bella trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. We bundled up Drew and put both kids in the stroller. This kind of trick-or-treating was new for me too. I have never walked door to door before. Growing up we always went with my Aunt Julie and cousins. We'd all pile into her vehicle and she would drive us around the country to what felt like everyone she knew. Definitely a fun way to trick-or-treat! Anways...Bella loved going door to door, and she was so polite to everyone. It'll be even more fun when Drew can join her.

He needs toys!

Bella likes to stand on a stool and peek over Drew's crib. One day I could hear her saying, "Baby Drew needs toys. He likes toys." Then I found him looking like this. There were baby toys crowding him in his crib.

She does this often now. It is not abnormal to find him surrounded with baby toys. Bella just needs to make sure he's not bored...I think he likes it!

Bella Update

A couple of weekends ago we were hanging out with my cousin, and she took some snapshots of Bella. She looks like such a big girl in these pictures. Bella has her moments of "the twos" and being super independent, but she is still such a sweetheart.

• Potty Training - We are currently working on potty training. It is going pretty well. Every once in a while there are some accidents, but it is getting easier every day. The night time training is not there yet, though.

• Dancing - LOVES to dance...Bella always wants music turned on. I will find her in her bedroom with her skirt, hat, shoes, and babies dancing around. She has a radio that she turns on all the time and twirls around. She always wants us to dance with her too. Her favorite songs are "Shake it For Me Girl" and "Crazy Girl". I'm not sure why. I usually listen to country music, but those songs haven't been favorites of mine. She discovered them on her own! This is how I found her dressed up and dancing one day in her room. She even has wings on :)

• Imagination - Bella has a great imagination at this age. She loves to play babies. They are all currently named Andrew, except for her Puppy Bumbles. Bella changes their diapers, rocks them, puts them to bed, feeds and burps them.

• Cooking - She is always playing with her play food and cooking for us. Every morning she makes Andy some "coffee" and birthday cake. The cake is just little foam shapes. She could play with those shapes all day.

• Singing - Her favorite songs to sing are ABCs, Jesus Loves Me, The B-I-B-L-E, Have Patience, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

• Humor - I think Bella has a great sense of humor. She likes to be funny and make people laugh. She always asks me "Is that funny, mama?"

• Names - Bella has been calling me Mama Mia for the past couple of weeks. Sometimes she will call me Miss Mama too...so strange! Bella has been a little stinker lately too...She will call us Andy and Tabby. The other day in the grocery store we were checking out and she kept saying "Ok Tabby" The cashier thought it was funny that she was calling me by my name. Oh, and lately she likes to be called Honey Butt, Bell, and Baby Bell. Randomly while we will shorten her name to Bell, and she thinks that's cool so now she tells us to call her that.

• Big Sister - Bella is a great big sister. When Drew is crying she will find his nuk for him and tell him it will be ok. She tries to entertain him and bring him toys. I always find a stool next to his crib, because Bella likes to climb up and peek into the crib at him. The funniest thing is when she mocks my baby talk to him.....Do I really sound that goofy when I baby talk??? :)

• Sassiness - We are working on saying "Please stop" instead of "Don't!"

• Money - Hide your money! She loves putting coins in her piggy bank. This morning she went into my room and saw a quarter on my night stand. She yelled "I found my money!!" (As if she has been looking for this long lost coin.) After she claimed the quarter, she ran into her room to put it in her piggy bank.

(By the way....this post took me way too long to put together!! Sometimes Blogger frustrates me when it changes everything on its own like underlining, text size, organizing pictures, etc...ugh! Please ignore any weird spacing. I got tired of trying to fix it. At least it's done!)

Drew - 3 Months

My little boy is now 3 months old (on Oct.19th...I'm just a little behind!) Drew is a happy boy whenever he is being held and talked to.

Some 3 month highlights (some of these may be closer to 4 months since I'm behind on posting):

• He smiles a lot now and is so noisy....VERY noisy. I don't remember Bella ever being as noisy as Drew is. He babbles nonstop, and sometimes he is so loud that we have to turn the TV up :) There have been a couple of giggles - not many. I can't wait for those giggles to be all the time.
• He grabs at toys and books. He will wrap his little chubby fingers around something and not let go. The play mat on the floor is a hit right now with him, because there are toys that hang down and he pulls on them.
• He still loves his nuk. Now he grabs it and tries to put it into his mouth...sometimes he even gets it in!
• He likes his hands and feet. His hands are always in his mouth, and he likes to watch his feet as he kicks them.
• He likes to watch Bella. It's cute watching her interact with him. One day I was in the other room getting some things done when Drew started fussing on the floor. As I was coming into the living room I stopped and spied on them. She was over by him saying "It's ok" as she was trying to put his nuk in his mouth. Then she sat next to him for a while. :)
• He is drooling a lot! The front of his shirt is always wet now. I hope he's not teething yet...isn't it too early to get teeth?
• No rolling over yet...I'm afraid Drew won't roll for a while. I am a forgetful mommy who forgets to give him tummy time! Shhhh...don't tell his doctor. She always asks me if he is getting his tummy time.

Drew at 3 months...

Don't you just want to smooch those big droopy cheeks???

The Girl Choir

Click the link to watch Bella, Hannah and Chloe sing their hearts out. They just had to dress up for the concert. The singing starts out strong, but the younger ones quickly lose focus. It makes me laugh every time I watch them...I think they have about as much singing talent as their mothers do :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOFABtuCJ3A

Shhhhh

Shhhhhh.....everyone is sleeping....well, except for me! It was a long night with Drew last night and an early morning, so I am tired. My eyes even burn a little bit. At 5 in the morning, when I was up with Drew for the third time, I was hoping that Andy would let me catch up on some missed sleep and that he would get up with the kids. But then the phone rang at 6AM. Andy got called into work for a couple of hours. After he left the house, I got some on and off sleep with popping the nuk back in Drew's mouth every ten minutes. After about an hour of that I decided it was just time to get up. Andy came home at 11:30, and we were both looking forward to nap time. We put both kids down and crawled into bed. Here is how the next hour of my nap went:

Five minutes later - Drew needs his nuk popped back in.

Five minutes later - the nuk is needed again.

Two minutes later - Rock the baby to sleep.

Ten minutes later - Bella is still gabbing away so I peek in on her to tell her to go to sleep. She is standing between the curtain and window, so all I can see are her little legs sticking out. She responds with "I'm busy! I'm playing computer" (with the blinds)

Ten minutes later - Bella is crying for help. Her leg is stuck between the bed and her bed railing.

Ten minutes later - Drew crying and I change him.

Two minutes later - Drew crying.

One minute later - Drew crying and I feed him and I rock him to sleep again.

Five minutes - Drew crying....AHHHHH!!! All this mama wants to do is catch up on a little sleep!

Finally I decided closing and opening my eyes over and over is just making things worse for me. My attempt at a nap is over. As of right now the house is quiet and Andy, Bella, and Drew are all sleeping. I'm glad, because they all need it. Andy worked late hours last night and early this morning. Bella and Drew both have coughs and don't feel great. They need it more than me. As tempted as I am to lay down, I am not going to because I know as soon as I am about to fall asleep someone will wake up!!

Here is my sleeping baby....Finally!

Drew- 2 Months!

At Drew's 2 month appointment he weighed 15.5 pounds!! What a chunker! I love the rolls and chubby cheeks :) Sometimes I will call Drew Buck-a-roo or Bug-a-boo, and Bella thinks it's funny. Then she starts calling him a whole bunch of different names. Names of her stuffed animals - CindyLou Who, Puppy Max, Grinch, Bumbles, Booger....she thinks she is so funny and laughs at herself when she calls him these names.

Look how long he is getting!

Drew is cooing and smiling a lot now. He loves to be talked to and smiled at. He will "talk" back to us when we talk to him. I love his sweet little voice. It's also fun to watch him sleep because he smiles in his sleep a lot....so precious!

I am just in love with his dimples!

I love pictures of babies yawning....

Drew is getting better at holding his nuk in his mouth. I decided to buy him nuks that were 6 months and up, and he is better at keeping it under control. We can't seem to have enough nuks in the house. Every time I go to the store I feel like I need to buy another pack! I think we have 7 nuks around, but whenever I need one I can't find one! Maybe Bella is hiding them on me! One day I rounded them all up, cleaned them, and put them all in one spot so I would know where they are. Within one day I was searching again!

Drew still naps on and off during the day. When he is crabby I wrap him up all snug in a blanket and snuggle him. He is usually tired and falls right asleep then. The boy likes to be snuggled! He isn't sleeping through the night yet. I usually get up with him 2 times during the night. I'm afraid it will be a long time before I get an uninterrupted night of sleep!

Life with Lisa

My sister Lisa has been staying with us for a couple of months. Her room is down in our basement for the time being. When Lisa is downstairs Bella stands at the top of the stairs and yells down, "Lisa! Lisa! I"m coming Lisa!" She repeats that line over and over until she finally hits the bottom of the stairs. While those two are down there, Bella cooks for her and makes her all kinds of fake food. Lisa's favorite dish was the fish Bella made....AKA Big Mouth Billy Bass served on a plate :)

Other things she does when she's downstairs with Lisa - dancing around to Lisa's music and pooping. Oh yes, she always decides it's a great place to fill her diaper down in Lisa's space. I always hear Lisa say, "Bella - go upstairs and tell your mom to change you!" Soon there's little footsteps coming up the stairs and across the kitchen floor. And then I can smell her!

This is a look Lisa is often giving Bella, because she is so goofy.

Bella loves having Lisa here. She is always asking where Lisa is. They argue like they are sisters! Bella loves sitting by Lisa and looking at pictures of her trip to Disneyland. She steals Lisa's food while she's eating. But the best thing of all is that she plays "Lisa". Lisa has been working at Famous Dave's, and Bella copies her. She grabs her little bunny purse, fake keys, cell phone, and Lisa's shoes. Bella throws her purse her shoulder, waves her keys in the air, and says, "I'm going to Famous Dave's!" She walks out of the room and about a minute later comes back into the room and announces that she is home.

I love when little ones play pretend. It reminds me of when I was younger and we played house with Mr. Clean....ahhhhh....the memories :)