My 19 month old

These maybe the most boring posts to everyone else.. but I love looking back on them! I wish I would have been consistent about doing them each month but I'm just grateful that I did them as much as I did.

Bella's little (big!) personality is shining right through lately. It makes me happy when she holds her baby doll sweetly and gives her kisses. It makes me hope that she sees that is how mommies treat their babies, because I've treated her that way. She is really good at making demands and throwing a tantrum when she doesn't get her way. Parenting is hard. Especially at this age because they are so little and don't understand as much. It is also the most rewarding thing in the world so I'll take a storm of temper tantrums if that's what it takes!

Bella loves:
- Chocolate milk. She stands by the drawer where I keep the chocolate powder and says "chicote" (chocolate) until I give her some.
-Strawberries & bananas. Wahoo! She is finally starting to like some fruits again. Now if only it were the same story with vegetables.
-Yogurt.
-Tinkerbell. Such cute movies! I think I like them just as much :)
-Blue's Clues & Teletubbies. Although I can only find Teletubbies on Youtube.
-Dancing & music. She is seriously the cutest dancer ever and I could seriously put a whole play list of songs together that she has found on the radio.
-Books. She really likes to be read to lately. Yay!
-She knows most of her body parts and likes to play the game where I ask her where each one is.
-Loves the Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed song!
-Likes picking out her clothes for the day, although it's not what she ends up wearing cause that would be scary.
-Making messes. Dumping out her toy box. Ripping pages out of books. You get the idea.

-Coloring.. first coloring book, Hello Kitty!

 Still loving that "puppy". So sweet!

Lip gloss.. 

Stickers! She gets them as rewards at dance and she loves them! This was the best picture I could get before she jumped back in her car :)

She also likes to stick things down her shirt. See exhibit
A to the right..

And don't mind the messy face.

Stay of the sidewalk!

We got this car for Bella a couple of days ago and she seriously lives in it! Eats, watches TV, demands to be pushed around in it. She is loving it! Luckily our entire upper level is hardwood so she can easily get from room to room.

Seriously, look at that smile! So happy!

Summer 2010 review

The leaves are slowly starting to change and our wedding anniversary is right around the corner.. that means that summer is almost over! We had such a fun summer. It was nice to be able to spend it home with my daughter and not worry about a 9-5 job. I'm one happy mama. Here is what we were up to this summer.

• Camping at Skye & AJ's property
• Bedroom redecoration
• Swimming
• Dinosaur museum
• Splash pad
• Playing outside
• Going to the park
• Carver's Cove
• Relaxing at home
• The Children's Museum
• Jaden's baseball games
• Hanging out at grandma & grandpa's house

That's all I can think of for now! I love love love taking Bella and doing new things. Everything looks so different through her eyes. I'm excited for all of the holidays to finish out 2010. Lovin' life!

Airplanes & Birds!

Bella loves airplanes and birds right now. She loves to sit outside and watch them. And she waves to them. It's so sweet!

Dance!

Bella all dressed up & ready for dance

 I took Bella to her first dance class yesterday. She is at a really shy stage right now and she wasn't to sure of it yet. Luckily it's a Mommy & Me class so I get to stay with her the whole time and help her. They learned how to stand on their tippy toes and learned to do toe jumps. They also got to practice somersaults. Her teacher is super cute and gave the girls stickers and let them play with princess wands. Bella is definitely the youngest dancer in her class (the age group is 18 months to 3 years).

Tiny little ballet shoes

She looks so pretty in her dance outfit and loves to dance at home. I'm sure she will warm up soon and have fun dancing with her new friends!

Happy Birthday Ty & AJ!

Yesterday was Ty's birthday, the big 14! He is the best little brother a girl could ever hope for!

Today is AJ's (my sister's husband) birthday. He is the big 21 (ha ha ha). Happy Birthday boys!

Yesterday we went to Boondocks to celebrate and the to our favorite restaurant Lorena's. Boondocks was a blast, wish we had the camera. Lorena's was a nightmare. They ran out of beans (what Mexican restaurant runs out of beans?!) and they didn't tell us until after they brought out our "burritos". They also ran out of their homemade tortillas so they used different ones and it was not a good thing. Our waitress was rude about it and so was the owner. Sad. Lorena's smothered burritos are AMAZING but their service has always been terrible. It's sad that not all business owner's care about their customers the way they should. Oh well we still had fun!

3 years

Today it has been 3 years since my dad died. 3 years. I wish I could say it's easier now but it's really not. This past year I've missed him so much. I want him to know Bella. I want him to see where I'm at in my life and be proud of me, because he always was and he always told me he was. I need that right now.

I know I haven't really talked a lot about my dad's death on my blog because it's hard to talk about. I had a lot of regrets when my dad died. Month before he died I had a feeling that I needed to fix things, to say the things that I've always wanted to say but of course I didn't. I feel like I've moved past that now and I have told him the things I needed to say. I know he understands. I believe that he can still see us and he's always watching over us. And I know that I'll see him again and it will be at a time and place where the unsaid doesn't need to be said. Today though, my heart is heavy with sadness.. but also with love and I'm grateful for all the beautiful memories I have of him.

This is the headstone that my sister and I got for him. It's beautiful and so perfect. It stands out so much at the Ogden City Cemetery. It makes me happy when I see it.

The front of his headstone is created from a painting he painted me when I was a little girl.

His favorite song. The guitar is a Fender, just like his.

18 Months

I can't believe that it's almost time to start planning another birthday party. I've been meaning to a do an 18 month photo shoot with Bella but haven't done it yet. I'm such a slacker lately when it comes to taking pictures!

Bella loves:
-Airplanes. She gets so excited when she sees them.
-Dogs, especially our dogs. One of my dogs can jump over the baby gate and the other can't. Bella will stand at the baby gate and scream until I let the dog in that can't jump over it. They are so patient with her climbing on them and poking them in the eyes. Luckily.
-Her newly decorated room. It's so pretty and definitely my favorite room in the house now.
-Chinese food. She is getting so picky and I was worried when we went out for chinese food the other day. But she loved everything, especially the fortune cookie.
-Her binky. I'm in so much trouble. The goal was to have her broken from it by 18 months but that obviously didn't happen. For sure by 2.
-Purses and shoes. She likes to carry around my purses on her shoulder and loves putting everyone's shoes on & trying to walk around in them. It's so cute.
-She likes pushing cars around on the floor and even makes car sounds.
-She LOVES collecting rocks. And eating them. Ahh!
-Macaroni & Cheese!

Bella does NOT like loud sounds lately including the lawn mower, vacuum, & hair dryer. She also hates getting her diaper changed and getting her face washed.

It's almost time to start thinking about potty training. Anybody have any tips?

Random Bella pictures..

She was NOT impressed with the riding lawn mower.