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