Rogersons

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Bella is officially 13 months old today (there will be pictures as soon as I can get our laptop squared away). It was a pretty eventful day. Two days ago we found out that instead of living in Portland in our new apartment for the summer like we thought, we would, in fact, be going back down to California to spend the summer in my parents guest bedroom. The job Dusty got in the Portland area required too much commuting and not enough security so we decided that it would be better if he worked for the same people that he worked for last summer. So we got to spend the day in the car. Bella did surprisingly well considering the long trip; she wasn't happy all of the way, but she wasn't horrible. Anyway, here we are.

Bella is becoming such a fun little girl. I can see her progressing from baby to toddler everyday. And it is so much fun. She loves to play and laugh. If you chase her, or even pretend to, she thinks it is the best game in the world. If she is bored or tired or even mad, if you let her stand on her own and then say "I'm gonna get you." she cracks up and runs away. And yes I do mean run. She has definitely developed a second speed. She throws her arms out to the sides and takes off. She loves to go fast. It usually results in landing on the ground, but even that doesn't faze her.

She is also becoming a wanderer; she has started testing her boundaries. We have a small patch of dirt behind our apartment and she likes to see how far she can get before I call her back. We have a backpack for her that has a handle on it. My sister makes fun of me for putting a "leash" on Bella, but it has come in very handy when Bella tests these boundaries in public. Bella actually loves wearing her backpack. She brings it to me when we are at home and wants me to put it on her. It cracks me up because it looks like she's going to school.

Her voice is also developing. She's started mimicking what we say to her. Other than "Mama" and "Dada", she's also said "cookie." She says "yea" to most of the questions we ask her. (I guess that's better than saying "no" to everything.) However, in the last few days she has started shaking her head (as if saying no) when she says "yes". I'm not so sure what this means so we'll have to wait and see if she can get them straightened out. She also has full conversations with herself in 'baby.' It is the funniest thing. She just talks and talks. Some times she even does this with her stuffed monkey or baby doll. She loves to sing as well. When we are in the car with the radio on she sings along to the music. If I start singing (which, lets face it, I do most of the time) she really gets into it, even dancing (as much as her car seat allows). I'm pretty sure that she understands most of what we say to her as well. I can ask her to pick something up and if she doesn't get distracted on the way, she can usually get it. She can also find her Daddy even if he's in the other room. (One side note, the other day Dusty went out the back door to take out the trash. Bella was standing at the sliding glass door watching him walk away. As soon as he turned the corner and was out of site she yelled out "Dada!" and turned around to me and pointed to where Dusty went. She really wanted to go with him or get him back. It was so cute.)

Some times she likes to be a little crazy. I think she likes the attention that it gets her. She'll shake her head, swing her arms and twist her body all while making noise. She thinks it's so funny, especially if you do it back to her. Most of the time this happens when she's sitting down, but every once in a while she tries to do it while she's standing up and it's even more hilarious.

Everything she does amazes me and I could go on and on. I love this little girl more and more everyday and I count myself lucky that I get to be her Mommy. I can't wait to see what she'll do tomorrow.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Portland Residents...

We are now offically Portland Residents. It's nice to finally be up here and into our new apartment. We are glad to have the larger space (not to mention two bathrooms). We are also excited to live close to some of our friends that also used to live in Corvallis. It's going to be fun living up here even if it is only for a year.
If any of you out there need our new address just shoot me an e-mail (we are keeping our phone numbers). Also if anyone has any good ideas of things to do in Portland let us know. We are always looking for things to keep us busy.

One crazy week...

Bella found my boots and decided to put my keys in them. It's a good thing I saw her do it or I might have never found them.

Here's Bella in her swim wear. I love the bikini that she's wearing, it's too bad I didn't get a picture of it. It's an itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini...

She LOVES this doll that Grandma Sue and Papa gave her for her birthday. Some times she won't even put it down to eat. I think we're going to have to make some clothes for it this summer because it's getting pretty dirty (since she drags it everywhere!).

She got a couple balloons for her birthday and absolutely loved them. She pulled them all around the house.

We had some crazy weather before we left Corvallis (a parting gift?). It rained like crazy followed by thunder and lightning.

Bella enjoying the grassy area at our Corvallis apartment. This is one thing that our new apartment doesn't have that I am going to miss. She really loves picking the clovers.

Hanging out with Lizzy, one of Bella's best buddies in Corvallis. We sure are going to miss them.

We went to Seaside with my family and rode the carousel. I wasn't sure if Bella was going to like it, but she loved it.

In Seaside, we went to the beach. This was Bella's first ocean/beach experience. She didn't enjoy it all the much. When we first got in the water she cried (it might have been too cold) but once we started stomping around in the shallow surf she had some fun. The sand didn't impress her at all and most of the time she just wanted to sit with mommy.

We took my family to the zoo since we have a membership and we all got in for free. We put Bella in the giant eagles nest, but all she wanted to do was fly the coup.

Poor little unsuspecting gold fish... we were wondering why there were goldfish in the otter exhibit and apparently they make a fun snack for the otters. All the otters have to do is tip over the bottle containing the goldfish and the chase is on. This was minorly disturbing...

Last time we came the elephants were hiding. It was nice to actually see them this time.

Bella is so independent. She loves to wander off on her own. She usually comes back on her own, unless she finds someone with food (this does not bode well for the future).

She sure loves to make friends. While we were waiting for a show to start she found these little girls and decided that they were having more fun than us so she went with them.

The giraffe was walking around and even eating grass. It was neat to see how he bends down to get to the grass. By the way, a giraffe heart is 2 feet long and they can run up to 60mph! That is amazing.

Kellie got to pick our last activity for the day and she took us to Pitock Mansion (that place was pretty cool and very high tech for its time) and this cool fountain in downtown Portland. Playing in the water was a lot of fun.

While waiting for Aunt Jennifer and cousin Lily at the airport, we found this little play area. Bella had fun climbing the stairs and going down the slide.

Bella had a little cold and was practicing blowing her nose. She was getting pretty good until she started doing it without a kleenex. Watch close at the start of this video she actually blows into the kleenex.

I am Educated... at least according to OSU standards.

Last Saturday I officially graduated with my Bachelor of Science in Earth Science with a Public Interpretaion Option. As of yet, it's hard to believe that it's real. When Dusty graduated it only meant that we was that much closer to going to Pharmacy School for 4 more years. Now that I have graduated I don't ever have to go to school again (unless I want to, and I don't see that happening any time soon). I'm not sure that it will feel that real until Dusty goes to school in the fall and I get to stay home. I guess at this point I'm just glad that when I showed up for the ceremony they knew who I was and had a diploma for me.

Bella didn't make it through the whole ceremony... she was OUT!

She did dress for the occasion though. It was fun to put her in this even though it will probably be the only time she'll wear it.

Friday, May 29, 2009

I took someone I love to the doctor and all she got was a Dora band aid...

Well Bella had her 12 month check up today. I was excited to get her weighed to find out if she's passed that ever important weight limit where we are able to turn her car seat around (...yes, I know, Jen, it's supposed to be two years now)... well, she hasn't. Not that it comes to any surprise, but she is not yet 20 pounds. In fact she's weighing in at 18 lbs. 5 oz. She's also up to 27 1/2 inches. After seeing these low-ish numbers and looking at her growth rate on the 'percentage chart' (she's in the 9th percentile) our doctor told me that she's probably just destined to be a "dainty little thing." I thought it was funny that he said that, although, I felt like saying "Duh!" But all in all she's a well proportioned LITTLE girl.
During our appointment Dr. Nelson asked me several questions about her development. Can she walk? Yes. Can she pick things up with her fingers? Yes. Then he asked me, if I gave her a crayon would she color with it? I thought for a minute and then told him that she would probably eat it. As anyone who has ever played with us outside knows, Bella loves to put anything she can get her hands on in her mouth. I haven't tried crayons yet (we got her some for her birthday), but I do know she loves to eat chalk. Yummy. She used to do it out of instinct, but now I'm pretty sure that she thinks it's a game. If you watch her you'll see her check to make sure you're watching her, then she'll smile, then she shoves whatever she has in her hand into her mouth. Yes, we all think you're very funny, Bella.
At the end of our appointment Bella had to get three shots. They were pretty bad, but will be worth it if they prevent her from getting these diseases. I'm especially looking forward to her not getting chicken pox. I remember when I had them and then all the kids in the house got them including my brother who was a baby at the time. It was terrible.
Anyway, we love our baby girl, even if she is destined to be dainty.