Bella's Big Day Out

Bella had her first big adventure without Mommy or Daddy today. Our regular babysitter (and good friend) had plans to go the the Children's Museum in Salem today at the same time she normally watches Bella. Instead of stressing out and trying to find someone else to watch her, Katrina offered to take Bella with them. So off they went. She spent the morning and afternoon with the kids from her play group (sans mommy) exploring the museum. According to the adults involved, Bella was very well behaved. That is until they put her in the car to head home. She cried all the way home about 30 minutes). So sad. Thankfully, Katrina and Caroline (the two adults in the car) have been around Bella enough to know that some times she just cries and there is very little you can do to soothe her. I figure it couldn't have been that bad because Katrina is still willing to watch her tomorrow. Thanks Katrina (and the rest of the girls that helped with my kid today).
As a side note: Just a suggestion, check the balances on all of your accounts (checking, savings, credit cards). This week we had some suspicious charges on one of our credit cards (one we rarely use). I talked to the fraud guy and he said it looked like someone was piloting our account to see if we would notice the charges. Luckily I caught it about 8 days after the charges were put on there and was able to cancel our card. Hopefully we'll be able to get the charges clear (it was only about $20, but hey, $20 is $20, I could buy a movie with that money). So be aware of what is happening with your money, especially now while everyone is so stressed about the economy.

11 Months! (and lots of pictures)

"Um... Excuse me. I'm 11 months old."So Bella officially hit the 11 month mark on Saturday. We have had quite the eventful month. Dusty and I started a new school term which means that Bella has been spending a some time with her neighbor friends. We are so grateful for them and their willingness to watch Bella while we are in class. Bella has been through the ringer this month. It seems like she's sick for a week and then a day or two after she gets better, she gets sick again. She had croup for a week. It was horrible. She saw the doctor, but there was nothing that we could do besides tent her crib. If you've never heard of this, it's quite inventive. We put a sheet over the top of her crib with the humidifier on the side of the crib under the sheet. Everything in her room was wet for a week. It was so scary listening to her struggle to breathe all night. She finally got better and then last week she go sick again. This time we think she has the flu. It's not quite as scary as croup, but much much more messy (for you moms out there, you know what I'm talking about). We got a hamper for her room (she didn't have one before, we just piled her clothes on the floor) and we have been getting good use out of it this week since we have to change her clothes multiple times a day. I can't wait for her to feel better.

As far as progress goes, this month she's become a master at standing and climbing. She loves to get into the middle of the living room and stand up by pushing up off the floor. She is so proud of herself. Once she's up, she looks around the room to see who was watching her and wait for praise. Some times she gets her Curious George Monkey and just stands in the middle of the room holding her stuffed animal. It's pretty funny. Also she loves to climb up the back of the couch. She likes to look out the window and she just has to have the best view.

We have been working on walking this month. We took her to the park on Saturday to see if we could get her walking, but she wasn't having it. We were trying to get her to walk before her cousin, Lily, but Lily beat us out and started walking this weekend. She has taken a couple of single steps (Daddy even got to see one today, the first he's seen), but it's hard to tell if they are actual steps or more of a balancing thing. There's no video proof yet, but we'll post it as soon as we get it.

Bella finally got her first tooth this month and has been having fun playing with it. She likes to stick her fingers in her mouth and bite them or rub her tongue across her tooth. It's pretty funny to watch her. Although today I think she fell (after standing up) and bit her tongue.

Here are Bella's 11 month pictures. Usually I can't get a good picture of her and I can't figure out which one to post, this time I got like 10, so I put "a few" of them up because she's just so darn cute.

What are you lookin' at?

Aye, Aye Captain.

Look at my belly.

Woo Hoo, Mom's letting me stand on the couch!

What?

She's been sitting in corners lately. I don't know why she does this?

Again, in the corner.

I think you can see her tooth in this picture. Maybe not.

Typical Bella.

Playing at the park. She loves the swings and this park had some pretty cool ones. It was very windy, but not too cold. We still had fun.

Sliding...

Sliding...

Sliding...Climbing up the couch.

New hamper. Can you tell why I got it? Oh, there's a surprise inside...Tada! Bella had fun playing in it. Okay, I made her get in it, but at least she didn't cry.

Peek-a-boo! (see the fingers in the mouth, she's checking out her tooth)

Sleeping with Curious George.

She loves to look out the back door and Grandma and Papa's house, this is the best we have to offer. I don't even think she can see the parking lot due to the porch. Maybe she's looking in the neighbor's window, directly across from us?

We had some great weather last week so we were able to play outside. Of course, Bella had to find the biggest bike out there.This is more her size. A few days before this she was pushing her buddy, Lizzy, on this trike. It was pretty funny.

Dusty caught her sitting in this basket the other day. She took all the toys out of it and then just sat down. Weird-o.

It's about time

We have been patiently waiting and Bella finally has her first tooth. It only took her 10 and a half months, but she's finally got one. She was growling and yelling at Daddy during dinner so I tried to get a picture of it. I don't really think that you can see it from this picture, but it was worth a shot (it's on the right, Isabella's left).

We went to the park today with some of our friends. We were trying to take advantage of the awesome weather we've been having, but it was cloudy most of the time we were there. It did clear up after lunch, enough so that Dusty and I got a little bit sunburned. It was fun to see all the Daddy's playing with their kids.

I just set up my phone to post messages to blogger and I had to check it out. Pretty cool.

Climbing Bald Hill

Dusty wanted to hike to the top of Bald Hill (one of the foothills west of Corvallis). Normally I would have let him take Bella and go alone, but the weather was so nice today (almost 60!) so I decided to go too. Usually it would have been an easy hike (well, at least for Dusty), but the path was still very muddy, so that made it a little harder (for me). But we still had fun.

I love this picture. It's a little hard to see, but I love the look on her face.

A shot of Mary's Peak.

Corvallis.

"What are you lookin' at?"

She loves the flowers.

To me, this looks like it was photo-shopped. Notice the flower behind her ear, Dusty put it there.

"The hills are alive, with the sound of music. Doe Ray Me Fa So La Tea Doe"

Getting ready for a photo shoot.

Strike a pose!

"Wait up for me... I'm coming..."

Easter Weekend

We had fun hanging out with family over the Easter Weekend, my family came up from California to see us and Kellie came up from Eugene. We headed up to Portland (well, Woodburn) to go to the Tulip Festival. It's still a little early to see all the tulips (since it's been cold this spring), but it was still pretty cool.

We put her in this wooden shoe and she was a little confused, but very cute.

I think this was the only picture of her where she's not trying to eat the flowers. So cute.

Little Tulip Family, Dusty was so excited to take this picture.

We're looking into renewable energy. I think we're going to get one of these when we buy a house.

Oh Deere! (or should I say, Oh Kubota!)

Kellie, will you quit horsing around?!?

Easter Morning, Bella got to open her Easter basket. She went straight for the piggy toys, I've taught her so well.

It took a little persuading (and multiple sets of hands) to get her into her dress...

But it was worth it. It was so cute. Grandma Sue made her this dress. It was awesome. Aunt Anna kept calling her a little cupcake all day long.

She did not like the hat...

After church, Bella got to open her Easter basket from Grandma and Papa. She was right for the chocolate. Needless to say, I just had to take it from her.

What she did get to play with was a plastic carrot. I don't know why it was so fun, but she carried it around for the rest of the day.

We had to put the dress back on after her nap so Aunt Kellie could see her in it. She had fun cruising around the house in her fancy dress (and she still has the carrot).

I don't know what it is about this picture that makes me laugh, but it cracks me up. I think this is a pose she strikes a lot and that's why it's so funny. She looks like she's a little bit gangster.

On a side note, Bella had croup last week. It was horrible. We went to the doctor and they told us that she had croup and that there was pretty much nothing they could do. The only thing they could tell us was to go to the ER is she was straining to breathe. That scared the crap out of me. It seemed like every night she was straining to breathe, but we made it through the week without another trip to the doctor. She had to sleep under a sheet with the humidifier under it. She and I didn't get a whole lot of sleep all week. We're so glad that it's finally gone. Hopefully we didn't pass it along to anyone. She didn't go to daycare last week to try and minimize the chance. Dusty and I traded off not going to class so we could be home with her. We even had Rema (the one I babysit for) come over and watch Bella one day (since she doesn't have any small kids at home). I thought that was pretty funny.

Postcard from Uncle Grant and New Toys

We got a postcard from Uncle Grant last week. We were sure excited to hear from him. Per my request, it was written entirely in Spanish. I had a lot of fun brushing up on my Spanish so I could read it. As you can see Bella is already bilingual, clearly she can read it. Bella has been playing with her new toys like crazy. She got this 'push and ride' thing from our friends and she loves it. Also as you can see, she's found another new toy as well. I don't know what her fascination with socks is, but she loves to crawl around the house with it in her mouth. Watch out, we don't have a dog, but if you leave your socks laying around our house they could end up getting eaten.