The Melting Point

Stephen's band played their third show a couple of weeks ago at The Melting Point, one of the most desirable music venues in Athens (chosen as one of the top 40 music venues in the country by Paste Magazine!). It's a cool historic building with a beautiful bar and semi-gourmet food served up at tables in front of an intimate stage. Stephen's parents came out to stay with Bella at home so that I could go to the show, so it was sort of our first date in seven months, even though it wasn't exactly a date... but it was still nice to go out past 7:00 p.m., and hang out with other adults! The guys had a blast playing there, Stephen sounded great, and I entertained myself by taking over 300 pictures, which I haven't been able to do at the other shows because Bella was always on my hip!









While Stephen's folks were here, they also watched Bella while I went to the doctor, the grocery store, and cooked... it's nice having someone around to babysit!

Roly Poly

Look who's decided she LIKES being on her tummy!



Just a couple of weeks ago, Bella had no interest whatsoever in rolling onto her stomach. Then one morning I had her doing tummy time on MY tummy, and something clicked. She realized she had a cool point of view from what Stephen calls the "Sphinx" position. That night, she made two complete rolls on her own, conveniently timed while she was being viewed by Dad, Mema, and Sonya via Skype, and she's progressed quickly from there. Today she rolled all the way across a room! My child is suddenly mobile. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!



I am SO not mentally ready for this. What happened to the newborn phase?? How is it over already? Can someone stop the clock, please?!

The good news is that I no longer have to fret over whether she's getting enough tummy time since she is getting plenty on her own. The bad news is that I can't seem to get our house baby proofed fast enough! Electric outlets and wires are obvious targets, but there are other things that I never considered. For example, I'm not so sure that I want Bella gnawing on the coffee table legs and the bottom hem of our couch slipcovers, but that is exactly what she managed to do this afternoon. Bella is delighted with all of the new territories and objects that are now within her domain. She is no longer confined to the pink blanket I place her on, or the toys I hand to her. I am finding more uses for the word "no" in my daily rhetoric with her, but she is oblivious to its meaning, and just looks at me with an angelic smile and a sweet baby giggle.







Look how she's pushing her little butt up into the air... she's trying to push herself around on the floor already. No luck with that for her yet, but I just know she's going to be creeping and crawling WAY too fast, and I am about to start burning an extra 500 calories a day from a new workout called "The Bella Boogie Chase."

Little Auburn Girl

It was easy deciding what Bella should be for her first Halloween: an Auburn cheerleader, of course! Those itty-bitty uniforms used to give me SERIOUS baby fever, so we thought it only appropriate that we get one for Bella!



And what a GREAT year it is to be an Auburn fan! Auburn is currently undefeated, ranked #1 in the BCS, AND is privileged to have the current #1 contender for the Heisman trophy, quarterback Cam Newton. So the great thing about this costume is that it can be worn several times... there's the Iron Bowl in a few weeks, and perhaps the SEC championship, then maybe, just maybe, the National Championship... Okay so maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself. But regardless, War Eagle!!!!

The Athens Mother's Center had a Halloween party Bella got dressed up for. (No trick-or-treating this year!) Luckily, most of the people who go there moved here from out of town, so there weren't too many die-hard baby Georgia fans (a.k.a. Auburn haters) to shun Bella =) Here's Bella with one of her baby buddies, 10-month-old Nicholas (a.k.a. Mickey Mouse). We saw sooo many cute costumes! I'm looking forward to when Bella can pick out her own costume and have fun on Halloween!