Bella's Dance Recital 2012

Bella danced her little heart out at her dance recital this year. Grandma, Grandpa, Ty, Aunt Skye, Uncle AJ, Jaden, Tayzhia, Gretchen & Emma all made it out to see her. She said she was scared of falling off the stage this year but once she got up there, there was no stopping her.

She did awesome! I was so proud of her!

Bella far right

Flowers her daddy bought her!

She loves her trophy!

Song: Happy Tapping with Elmo

Kate's first week

I'll admit that I was so nervous about having a newborn again.. no sleep, will I remember what to do, how can I possibly love another child as much as I love Bella, am I prepared.. etc..

But from the second I heard her cry, I knew that everything would be okay. I absolutely love being a mom. There is nothing that can top it. I may sound crazy (sleep deprivation tends to add to that) but I even love the 3 am feedings. I love when the house is quiet and dark and it's just me and my tiny sweet girl. I'm one happy momma!

Getting ready to come home from the hospital.

Katelynn already has quite the personality and she looks almost identical to Bella when she was a newborn. We quite adore her!

Kate loves..

• Snuggling. She wants to be held all the time. I love it!
• Sleeping - no big surprise there
• She had her first sponge bath at home and loved it!
• Bella - I wonder if she recognizes her voice because when Bella talks to her she lights up and her eyes get huge! So sweet!

After her first sponge bath

Kate dislikes..

• Getting her diaper and clothes changed
• Getting burped. She would much rather sleep!

That's pretty much it so far :)

Proud big sis! Messy face and all!

Bella is still doing a great job with being a big sister. We've tried really hard to include her and make sure she is getting enough attention. I bought her a new tea set for when we came home from the hospital and she loves it. She is only 3 though and has had a little bit of a hard time sharing mommy. She told me that the baby doesn't love me and was quite confused when I told her I loved the baby anyway. She said she only wants me to love her. She loves the baby.. she just doesn't want me to. I explained to her that my heart can love lots and lots of people, the same way that hers can love mommy and daddy both.

I was starting some laundry yesterday and the baby started to fuss. She got quite all of a sudden so I came out to check on her. Sleepy little Bella was standing at the side of the bassinet patiently holding the binky in Kate's mouth. Seriously the sweetest thing I've ever seen. Daddy took her out for ice cream yesterday and she really enjoyed having some one on one time with him. I'm very proud of her this week!

Katelynn Faith

We welcomed baby Katelynn Faith into our family on May 3rd, weighing in at 7 pounds 5 ounces and 18" long. She is the biggest baby out of the kids and grand kids in my family and she wasn't even the average baby weight :)

I was scheduled for a repeat c-section at 6pm. Justin and I checked into the hospital at 4 pm and they got an IV started, did paperwork and asked lots of questions. By 5:45 pm they were ready to head to the OR. I was surprised that everything was ready so quickly. I was super nervous at home but it was really calm and relaxing at the hospital. Kate was born at 6:11 PM.

Isabella loves her baby sister and is the best helper ever! She has had a hard time sharing my lap. She always wants to be sitting my lap and doesn't think it's fair that her baby sister has claimed that spot. I have to hand the baby off to Justin every now and then so that I can snuggle my big girl.

Bella, Babies & Baseball

Okay so once again I apologize for the cell phone pics.. does anyone else just find it easier since you always have a cell phone around?

The time is slooooowly ticking down to the time our new baby will be here! I am so excited. The best part is, it's only 12 days away! I'm scheduled for a repeat c-section on May 3rd! I cannot wait! I honestly wouldn't be surprised though if she decides to come earlier. We almost ended up in L&D last night but we held out and I felt better this morning. She's officially full term now so anytime is good with me!

Bella has been such an angel lately. I feel really bad because we can't do all the things that we normally do and I'm not the funnest mom in the world right now. She has been such a good kid though and I keep telling her mommy will be fun again once the baby gets here!

We did sneak out of the house the other day for a date to Noodles & Co. One of our favs!

  

She is also being the biggest helper by becoming our new "baby product tester". She LOVES the baby's new stroller. It's funny because when she was at the age where it was nice to push her in the stroller sometimes, she wouldn't stay in there for anything. I bet I could go shop the entire mall right now and she wouldn't try to climb out once. 

 

The other day we went shopping with my best friend and she was babysitting her baby niece. Bella LOVED her and had fun practicing her baby talk :) She is going to be a great big sister! This picture is blurry but I don't care because it's so adorable!

Baseball season has officially begun! My little bro Ty is playing on a city rec team and on a competition team. He is soooo athletic. He is the only one out of all of us kids that is athletic.. so maybe he got extra athletic abilities and is gifted or something. Ha! Today was a double header and let me tell you.. being a big ole preggy penguin and sitting out in the heat for like 5 hours, doesn't mix well! But it was fun anyway!

This summer is going to be so fun with baseball and a new baby! I can't wait!

Happy Easter!

Bella woke up bright and early Easter morning. It took her a minute and all of a sudden she said "I think the Easter bunny came last week!" She is so silly! So we headed up to the living room to see if he came.. luckily he did!

All bright eyed and bushy tailed

Next year there will be two Easter baskets!

Checking out her Easter loot

After she found all the eggs and played a little bit, we all watched Hop. It was really cute. We had bought it earlier in the week and she refused to watch it because of this guy..

Add caption

She said "He is MAD mom!".. when they showed him in the movie she said "See! He IS mad!" She still watched it but did not like that guy at all!

After the movie we all got ready and headed over to my parents house. Bella had fun playing with her cousins and it was great having a whole day to visit with my sister. Easter dinner was really great and the best part was the strawberry shortcake!

We had a great Easter!

Bella at 3!

This girl is definitely not a baby anymore and has turned into a kid! She is such a little firecracker!

She has her grandma and grandpa wrapped around her little finger. Grandpa even bought her a kitty to keep at their house because she put her little hands and on his face and said "please grandpa". He is sort of a sucker that way.

Bella is very feisty and has the cutest personality. She is quite sassy for being 3 and Justin and I worry all the time about what she will be like as a teenager. :) She is going to make the best big sister in the world.




Some fun facts about Bella at 3

She loves cookbooks. She will go pull one of my of the shelf and look through it all day. Definitely her favorite kind of book to read. Her favorite is my Cake Pop book by Bakerella.

She loves spending time with her grandma and grandpa

She loves the snow

She loves the moon and stars

Our dog Onyx and her are quickly becoming BFFs

She loves flashlights

She hangs out in her underwear all day. Clothes are apparently optional at our house.

She loves to snuggle

She loves playing with the clothes from my closet.

She loves tv. Waaaayyyyy too much! I'm glad that it's almost summertime so that there is more to do!

She loves dancing and looks forward to her dance class each week. 

She loves to pretend. Lately she has been pretending she is a dog and will assign random characters to everyone else in the house. Just this week I've been a teacher, the Bubble Guppy with blue hair, Kai Lan.. she is usually the main character while I come in as a good supporting character. She makes sure she is the cutest one :)

Silly things Bella has said lately

Bella: Dad threw my paint brush away!
Me: Didn't he say it was broken?
Bella: Yes! But it wasn't garbage!

While carrying around a notebook and pen, Bella says, "I've got to finish writing my article!"

Dad doesn't understand me at all!

Bella: I'm going to punch you with my foot!
Dad: I think that's called a kick.
Bella: It's called an owie!

She also has a schedule that she checks quite frequently. "Mom! I've got to check my schedule!" And she will pretend to mark it off when she finishes something. I have NO idea where she got this from as neither me or Justin have a schedule that we have to follow.

We love you Isabella!

Bella's Easter Pictures!

Normally I just take all of Bell's pictures myself but I saw this Easter mini shoot and knew I had to do it because they had bunnies! I've talked about how much Bella loves animals and knew she would love this. I'm really happy with the pictures that we got out of it! Here are some of my favorites..

I'm actually surprised there were so many good ones with her smiling because as soon as they got a smile out of her, she would go right back to this..

Cute anyway :) Pictures by Photo by Emilie

What we have been up to..

It's been crazy around here! Luckily things are starting to settle back down. I don't miss many things about having a traditional job but I do miss have sick leave, vacation time, bereavement time, etc. Overall, I work less than I did when I worked at Citi but if I'm not here to do my job.. then it doesn't get done. But luckily we are caught back up and everything is going great. I love what I do!

Bella is having lots of fun playing in the semi-warm weather. We've snuck over to the park a couple of times and she loves it. We've also done lots of baking lately, played with play-doh, colored, and shopped. We have been staying busy lately!

As of last night, my brother Ty is all finished with basketball and I'm sad to see the season come to an end. He is a fantastic ball player and it was really fun to see him and his team grow over this season. They made it all the way to the last game before the final game and they only lost by one! It was hard to see them lose, especially after some bad calls by the refs but I couldn't be more proud of him and his team!

I only have about 48 days until this baby will be here! This pregnancy is flying by and we are so excited to welcome our new little into the world soon. I wish I could fast forward the time!

Another angel in heaven

In the early hours of March 2nd, Justin's dad left us for a better place. Not everyone knows but for pretty much our entire relationship, Justin and I have stayed with his dad to help care for him because of his medical problems. Bella has never lived in this house without him. While his medical problems didn't make it easy for him to play with her, he always did his best to give her attention and she already misses him so much!  I'll miss "Papa Mike" call her "peaches".. I always thought it was the sweetest (of his many) nicknames.

I can't even tell you how proud I am of Justin. He has never had it easy with two sick parents and now he has lost both of them before hitting 30. He is an only child so the responsibility has always fell on his shoulders to make sure that they were taken care of. Did living with his dad make our marriage rocky at times? Heck yes it did. I won't pretend that it's always been easy for Justin's time to be divided between taking care of his family (and our business) and making sure that his dad was taken care of too. But he can go on with the rest of his life knowing that he kept his dad out of a nursing home and did his best to help him everyday. I love him more because of it and I know that his dad appreciated him and was so proud of the man that he has become.

The services were Tuesday, March 6th. Everything was planned and arranged by Justin. I supported his decisions and gave him my opinions but he did everything to what he thought his dad would have wanted and according to his dad's final wishes. Not an easy task but I know his dad was smiling that day. In the morning before the funeral, Bella asked if she could see grandpa's angel wings. I know he got a laugh out of that one.

It's not fair to think that between Justin and I, we have lost 3 parents in the 8 years that we have been together. But we know that everything happens for a reason and we are closer and more devoted to each other because of it. I can't even begin to tell you how loved we feel and we are so grateful to our family and friends and the support that they have given to us over the past week. Thank you all!

20 Questions with Isabella

I've been waiting to post this until I could take Bella outside to take some pictures but it has been soooo cold! I'll edit this post later on to add some pics once it warms up. Hopefully it's soon!

I saw this cute idea to ask 20 questions to your children on their birthday starting at 3. Perfect timing! I asked Bella the question the other day and she did great answering them.

Here are her answers word for word:

1. What is your favorite color? Pink & purple
2. What is your favorite toy? Uhh the pig toy
3. What is your favorite fruit? Apples and peaches
4. What is your favorite tv show? Wonderpets and Dora and Go Diego Go
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Mac & Cheese
6. What is your favorite outfit? My new birthday dress
7. What is your favorite game? The teapot stuff. It's in my room
8. What is your favorite snack? Goldfish crackers
9. What is your favorite animal? Crocodiles and elephants and tigers
10. What is your favorite song? The duck song
11. What is your favorite book? The cook book and the Dora one
12. Who is your best friend? Tayzhia and Emma
13. What is your favorite cereal? Crackers
14. What is your favorite thing to do? I don't know. Go to the mall and to the store
15. What is your favorite drink? Strawberry milk and water
16. What is your favorite holiday? I go to parades a lot (4th of July)
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Books
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Mac & Cheese
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Cake
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a doctor