Easter weekend...

This past weekend, we enjoyed some special family time as we celebrated Easter together! Originally, we were planning on heading up to Huntsville to welcome my sister's little baby, Sadie, into the world.......but the Lord answered our prayers and little Sadie bug flipped! She had been breech and the day before her scheduled c-section she turned! So, we ended up staying home for the weekend. =)

On Friday we went to the Good Friday service that was held in our church's prayer garden. We participated in the communion service and it was a such a beautiful day to remember our Savior's death on the cross.

Saturday morning, we headed to the beach! Bella loved the big waves! It was actually a red flag - but ankle depth was just perfect for our little Bella! =)

She loved sitting on her towel and watching all the people...waves & sea gulls...

"Dadda" helped Bella build a sandcastle! She got so excited.....she was clapping...yay!....it was beautiful! =)

"I love this mamma....it's so FUN!"

Sunday morning, we put on our Easter dresses and went to church! It was such a wonderful day of celebrating our Savior rising from the grave!

Little bunny got lots of sweet kisses too...

After church, someone discovered her eggs......before the Easter bunny had time to hide them! Haha...

Church wore her out! She fell asleep in her puffy Easter dress.......

But, she woke up an hour and a half later eager to hunt for eggs! (Well, it took some prompting on our behalf to get the party going!)

As soon as she discovered there were Cheerios inside the eggs, she was ready to hunt for more! =)

More eggs....

More cheerios...

And a kiss for "mamma!"

She found all her eggs.....and ate all her cheerios....now time to go inside! =)

After dinner, we went for a family stroll around the neighborhood........someone has sleepy eyes on this Easter evening......

Sleeping Little Angel

Last night I woke up around 11:30 and realized we had forgotten to open up Bella's door. (We close her door at bed time and open it when we go to bed so we can hear her if she needs us.)

So, I made my way to her room and quietly opened the door.....tip toed over to the side of her crib to find her so peacefully sound asleep curled up on her side. I just stood there and watched her sleep. Her precious little face......oh, how I just love her. It seems like my days tend to get so busy with changing diapers, wiping noses, feeding, chasing, bathing, reading books, folding laundry and the list goes on. As I looked at her so quietly sleeping, I started thinking back to one year ago when she was just 3 weeks old.....so tiny and so dependent on me. Now, don't get me wrong she is still dependent on us to an extent - but she can feed herself now, soothe herself to sleep, play by herself, flip through books by herself, entertain herself, sing to herself and so on. As I stood there reflecting on how fast she is growing up and how blessed we are to have her, I was overwhelmed with a heart of gratitude. I don't ever want to take her precious life for granted. I said a little prayer over her thanking God for her little life, praying for her to continue to grow strong and healthy and I even prayed for her future husband (wherever he may be)! =)

I wish I could have snapped a picture of that sweet girl sleeping.......but I didn't want to risk her waking up.........

I officially decided last night that watching a baby sleep is one of the most beautiful experiences in the whole world. =)

Tea Party...

Isabella's friend, Charleigh, came over to play and I was able to capture some pictures of their "tea party." (They had a little prompting to help get the party started......)

So, this is how you have a "tea party"...

pour your tea...

drink your tea...

eat a cookie, cupcake or brownie...

share with your girlfriend...

say "thank you" and "your welcome" and share again...

You can learn a lot by having a tea party.....sharing, manners, etiquette and most importantly how to be a lady! =)

Lovin' this weather!

Isabella and I have officially decided that spring is our very favorite season! It's not to0 cool, not too hot but just perfect to.....

swing at the park...

enjoy a picnic with friends...

ride the little car in the back yard while daddy works in the yard...

and we love wearing our bunny outfits!

The other night after one of our lovely days of enjoying this beautiful weather, Isabella strummed Jer's guitar for the first time! Its was the cutest thing to see her do it all on her own! I didn't want to get too close 'cause I was sure as soon as she knew we were taking pictures, she would stop strumming......and we wanted to enjoy the moment! =)

Soul Surfer

I just want to put a plug-in for the movie "Soul Surfer." We took about 70 of our high school students last night to see it and it was amazing! I'm always encouraged when a movie with Christian values and morals is in the theaters. Our students seemed to be really impacted by the movie too! I called my parents on the way home and told them they must go see it! The movie made me miss my family......the family in the movie is super close and have such a central focus on the Lord. Watching how the dad encourages, challenges, and teaches the daughter to surf made me miss my dad for sure! =)

So, go on a fun date......and enjoy a heart warming movie...while shedding a few tears along the way! I'm sure you'll be moved and inspired when you leave.

We love spring!

We couldn't ask for prettier weather than we've had this week! Clear blue skies, sunny.....75 degrees! Bella and I decided to invite some friends over for a "Splash Day!" So, we pulled out our baby pool, water table, bubbles and all our fun beach toys and played with our friends today! There were 6 babies total all 2 yrs. old and under which made for quite a fun morning.

It took the babies a little bit of time to get used to the baby pool, but they did find in no time at all. Isabella adjusted rather quickly once I let her take her Cheerios in with her. =)

We love this beautiful weather and we are blessed to have such fun friends!

12 months...

Tryin' to walk! I love my sweet girl...

My sassy but classy one year old! =)

I can not grasp that my baby girl is already one year old! It just seems like yesterday that I was holding a 6 lb. quiet little newborn who would just barely open her little eyes through out the day. Now my days are spent chasing after a baby who is quickly approaching the toddler phase of life! I can not even begin to express into words the joy that Isabella has brought to Jer and I. Her contagious smile, tender disposition, sensitive heart and love of life has forever changed us both! We are truly blessed to have the privilege to raise her and be her parents! =)

Let's see....let me try to share the new things she is doing this past month. She is cruising around all the furniture and will only take a pause if she hears music in which she will stop moving, clap and then continue on her way! She will stand alone for a minute or so and she even took 1/2 a step last week. But, she's not quite walking yet. She is a super fast little crawler! I mean she's so fast that I'll be in the kitchen doing dishes and I'll look down where she was playing and she will have crawled off......or hidden. Her petite body makes it quite easy for her to squeeze between furniture or under chairs to grab a fallen cheerio or hide from her mamma and daddy.

The other day I grabbed my camera to capture this.......which she does quite frequently:

"Ok, I finally got this heavy door open.....now if it will just stay here so I can pull out these pots and pans!" says Bella.

"Hmm, I think I'll start with pulling out the biggest, loudest pan!"

"Now for a different cabinet......yeah, I'm pretty sure I can squeeze my entire body into this cabinet!" =)

She loves music! Anytime she hears any type of music whether it's a cell phone ringing, music in a store, a toy or the radio, she claps and giggles! When she is sleepy, she soothes herself to sleep by rubbing her tiny bunny's ears and hums herself to sleep. I think we may possibly have a little musician in the works! She continues to enjoy books! We read all the time together and sometimes I'll catch her crawling to her room, pull her favorite books off the shelf, and start flipping through books all on her own! I mean majority of the time the books are upside down.....but hey, at least she has fallen in love with books! =) She loves to eat.....and I mean LOVES! I've decided that my child would eat every minute of the day if we let her!

She'll find her little container full of cheerios in her diaper bag and take it with her all day!

I found myself asking Jeremy this week, "Babe, I mean I guess we're not overfeeding her....I mean if we did she would either get really chubby or throw up...right!?" I even ran it by her doctor today....he laughed and reassured me that I'm not overfeeding her. Jeremy and I just laugh because her little tummy looks like it could explode and any moment....it's so tight and round....like a little basketball. Her pediatrician explained to me that she must have a "high metabolic rate." Haha!

I captured the sweetest little pic after driving home from church on Sunday. (Church day continues to be quite a long and emotional day for little Bella.........as she spends most of her energy crawling to the door, sitting and crying for her mamma and daddy while pointing to the window!) Anyways, I gave her some cheerios to snack on while we drove home and when I went to get her out...this is what I found.....

a shoeless, bowless precious angel with cheerios all under her chin and her hand still in her cheerio container.....=)

But, anyways, she eats everything.....except for sweets (birthday cake) and milk! She's not a huge fan of either! I'm great with her not loving sweets.....but we are working on the milk. Since she's still nursing twice a day, it's not quite necessary for her to drink cow's milk. But, she is slowly continuing to ween herself from me........so eventually, she'll need to drink milk! =) She has such a tender side to her personality.......she's very sensitive to change, new faces and does not like to be away from her mamma and daddy. But, she also has a very strong will to her too! She's a girl who knows what she wants and is determined to get it! I can tell she's going to be a go-getter, hard worker......she's going to love people and be full of energy!

The other day, I caught her peeking out the kitchen window to watch our neighbor skate boarding in the driveway! (notice her size 6 mo. shorts are still baggy in the booty! haha)

Here's a list of some of the other things she is doing...

-words: "mamma", "dadda", "ruf-ruf", "cheese", "hey", "ca" for cat, "beya" (bella)

-waves to everyone......we'll say "wave bye-bye" and her little hand starts a moving!

-gives big open mouth, slobbery kisses!

-points to everything...she loves pointing at the helicopters that fly over our yard in the afternoons

-lifts up mamma and daddy's shirts to stick her finger in our belly buttons! (we'll say "find mamma's belly button" - and she'll find it!)

-loves water - her new water table, baby pool, bath tub....and points to mommy's big water cup all day cause she wants a sip!

-loves animals....likes to pet them =)

-as soon as she hears her sound machine turn on for naps/bed time - she starts humming and rubbing her bunny's floppy ears

-knows the sign language for "all done".....when she wants to get down from the high chair

-enjoys riding in the running stroller!

-hears daddy coming in the door from work and starts looking for him......and then squeals with delight when she sees him!

-loves bubbles....especially when she gets to pop them

-enjoys story time.....but mainly likes to play with the other kids and sit next to them

-giggles continuously when she gets to swing at the park...LOVES it!

-so far it looks like she may be left handed....but we shall see!

-loves to listen to her veggie tales, color songs & numbers songs music in the car......as soon as she hears them come on she starts clapping!

We continue to pray the Lord gives us wisdom as we seek to raise her in the knowledge of Him.

Her Stats:

Weight 18 lb. 5 oz. 9%

Height 28.75 inches 45%

Head 47 cm 85%

Here's a typical day in the life of little Bella boo....

6:50 Wake/Nurse/Snuggle with Mamma and daddy =)

8:00 Eat breakfast (fruits, cereals)

9:00 Story time

9:30 Nap (1.5 hrs)

12:00 Lunch (fruits, veggies, yogurt, cheese, turkey etc.)

2:00 Story time

2:30 Nap (1.5 hrs)

4:00 Snack

5:00 Play with "dadda" while mamma cooks dinner

6:00 Family Dinner at the table!

7:30 Bath

8:00 Bed

The Birthday Girl!

This past Saturday, we enjoyed celebrating our sweet girl's first birthday! Since we had her big party the previous Saturday with all our friends and family - we spent Isabella's actual birthday enjoying precious family time with just the three of us! =)

When Isabella woke from her morning nap, daddy had blown up her brand new zebra swimming pool! She enjoyed a nice little swim with mamma while daddy brought us buckets of warm water! What a great daddy he is!

We enjoyed lunch together and then, we headed down to "Oh Snap!"

......a cute little cupcake store in downtown Pensacola. With a little help from mamma and daddy, she picked out the pink "confetti" cupcake. =)

When Bella woke from her afternoon nap, one of the sweet girls from our student ministry brought over a little gift for her.....a stuffed bunny and a cute bunny book! Just perfect for Bella! She was full of kisses for her new bunny!

We enjoyed a delicious spaghetti dinner together and then celebrated with the cupcake!

She tried the cupcake one taste at a time....

a little more...

But, she is still not a huge fan of sweets.......

So, she was just fine with mamma and daddy sharing the b'day cupcake! =)