Mema's 90th Birthday Party

Family from all over the country came together in Dallas to go to Mema's 90th birthday party. It was so special for us to be there to celebrate and get to see family from Texas, Alaska, Montana, Colorado, and New Mexico. Mema didn't know that all of her children, and some of her grandchildren, who live hundreds of miles away, would be there until they showed up an hour before the party started and surprised her! This was Bella's first birthday party to go to and she loved being there to meet so much of her Ing family! Now she just needs to meet my sisters Jennifer and Emily, who live in Sacramento, California, and she will know almost all of her Ing family relatives!

The birthday queen in her crown!


The infamous birthday cake made by Martha and Heather



The Ing family


Four generations


So happy to see Uncle Ron and Aunt Becky, our strong and beautiful breast cancer survivor!



Uncle David, who bent waaaay down to kiss Bella's head several times


We had such a good time visiting with the Kay family, who we never ever get to see, and they were SO good with Bella!

Aunt Mary


Bella loved Andrea, who gave her some awesome baby massage!


Cousin Jason


Heather, who loved Bella's feet, and Uncle Richard, who loved her tight little grasp on his finger


Debating over what musical instrument Bella should play when she gets older!


The sweet, sweet moment when Mema was thanking Martha for planning such a wonderful party

Road Warrior

The day Isabella turned six weeks old, we left for a two week road trip to go to my grandmother's 90th birthday party and visit family and friends in Texas and Alabama. It was wonderful for Isabella to get to meet lots of these people who we rarely get to see. I loved how happy everyone was when they met my sweetie! At first we were quite apprehensive about taking a baby that young on a big trip, but it turned out to be great. Isabella loves to sleep in her car seat, so being on the road was the easiest part of the trip, even though we had to stop every couple of hours to feed her. And taking a big trip turned out to be just what I needed after feeling chained to the house for weeks.

Bella's first time to cross the Mississippi River (she wasn't as excited about it as we were!)


Chilling out on the huge king size bed during Bella's first night at a hotel


Dad's expression the first time he saw Isabella


Papaw and Nana happy to be with their first grandbaby!


Mema said she was "studying all of Isabella's features," it was really cute


First trip to Aunt Martha and Uncle Richard's house


Meeting cousin Chad


Our Tucson friends, Andrew and Whitney, who now live in Denton, Texas, came to see Bella


First trip to Austin to see cousin Jesse, Heather, and Aunt Mary


Meeting more Tucson friends who now live in Texas-- Astrid, Justin, and baby Tilly (who is still residing comfortably in her mommy's tummy!)


Bella meeting her Great-Great Aunt Jane


Back in Alabama, meeting our friends Adam and Christan


Meeting my brother Lloyd for the first time


Bella meeting Stephen's grandmother


Meeting my friend Jenny and her son Isaac (who is five months older than Bella) and my friend Inna who was home from Portugal




Isaac kept trying to hold Isabella's hand and right after this picture was taken he rolled over to be closer to her! It was so cute!


In Huntsville, Alabama, meeting Bella's cousin Caden, who is just four weeks older than her


Back in Athens, Isabella meeting another Tucson friend, Al, who was taking a road trip of his own and stopped by to see us


Whew! All of this visiting wore Bella out!

Two Months Old: Isabella's Stats

At Isabella's two month check up, she weighed 9 lbs 13 oz and was 23.5 inches long. She's grown four inches and has gained four pounds in the two months since she was born! WOW! She has become much more alert over the past couple of weeks and is extremely inquisitive about her surroundings. She can stare at her mobile or play yard for 20 minutes and be content with just looking at everything. She's starting to kick her legs a lot and move her arms constantly and she's losing her grasp reflex. She LOVES her bath time now, I think it is her favorite part of the day. When she is fussy and crying, we slip her into the bath water and she stops crying immediately! Best of all, Isabella is starting to make lots of big smiles and is laughing too! She laughed for the first time last week while Stephen was playing with her. Her smile is my favorite thing in the whole world to see! Her eyes are the most beautiful dark blue right now, and she definitely has Stephen's dimples! I haven't caught them on camera yet, but they're there!



This is the only smile we've caught on camera. It's when Isabella met mom's fiance, John. I'm guessing that John got Bella's approval since she gave him such a big smile!

Confessions

I have to admit I've been a very bad blogger the last month. We have been super busy with a long road trip and house hunting, but I promise a blog is on its way! Thanks to all you loyal blog readers for checking in and not giving up on me!

One Month Old

In some ways this feels like the longest month of my life-- I can't even imagine not having Isabella in our lives now, it seems like she's been with us for much, much longer than a month. But at the same time, the month seems to have flown by, just like each day flies by.

I can just imagine her making this face when she's 13...


Bella's first real bath (luckily for us, she has grown to like it more than she did this first time!)


Tummy time with Daddy


The last time my mom was here, she asked me if I like being a mother. When I signed up for the mommy job, I had NO IDEA how hard it is. But it's also so much more wonderful than I ever imagined. I love being Isabella's mommy, and it's becoming much more fun now that I can do more stuff with her. I think my recovery is taking a couple of weeks longer than usual because of the anemia, and it was really frustrating for me when I couldn't even carry Isabella. But last week I gave her a bath by myself, and started cooking easy meals and doing some light housework, so things are getting much better.

Mother's Day with Isabella (Isabella gave me a present of her own-- she slept four hours in a row for the first time that night!)


Everyone wants to know what kind of father Stephen is. Since I couldn't do any of the babycare in the beginning, other than feed her, Stephen has had a lot of opportunities to bond with Isabella and learn how to take care of her. He's changed 90% of her diapers (and was the first one to diagnose her first diaper rash), given most of her baths, rocked her to sleep, read to her, washed and folded her clothes and dressed her, sang to her, given her rides in the stroller... so I would say he's doing a great job!

Pretty in Pink

We got Isabella dressed up in pink for a visit with the fam this weekend and she looked soooo cute!




Bella loves her swing!


And so do we! (Anything that will keep her asleep while mommy eats!)


My mom is so in love with Isabella! (Who can blame her?) It had been two and a half weeks since she'd seen Isabella and she couldn't stand it any longer, so she came back out here on Friday and brought my brother Lee with her to meet the baby. As soon as Mom walked in the door, she washed her hands and grabbed the baby before she'd even finished unloading the car. Then she "volunteered" to hold Isabella while the rest of us ate supper, and when we went to the park she stationed herself immediately at the helm of Isabella's stroller to push her. She also has a pink "Grandma's Brag Book" photo album that she keeps in her purse and she whips it out EVERY time she sees someone she knows in town. She's showed it to people in Winn-Dixie, Walmart, Lowe's, Sunday school class... She is one proud grandma!


My baby brother holding my baby girl!


Bella's first trip to the park




I love this little sweetie!

First Night Out

We took Isabella on her first real outing to go out to eat at a restaurant in Athens. This was probably more fun for Stephen and me than it was for Isabella since she slept through most of it while we got to chat and eat some yummy food, but still special nonetheless. She was so good that she didn't wake up until we were leaving, then fell asleep in the car on the way home and gave mommy and daddy another hour to hang out and relax together. Amazing how few and far between these moments are which we've always taken for granted up until now!

We are finally learning to organize our day around Isabella's eating and feeding, and that's made the days much more enjoyable and functional. I'm actually able to get a few things done, eat my food while it's hot, and take some breaks in the day. Hooray!



This is Isabella taking her first ride in the stroller. She loved it! Stephen can't wait to take her for walks in it. He loves to carry her around outside and takes her for a little walk outside almost every day.

Few things have ever made me happier than seeing Bella smile. I swear I fall more in love with her every time she does it. We haven't caught a smile on camera yet but we're working on it. For now you can enjoy seeing her beautiful blue eyes, rosy pink lips, and adorable chubby cheeks! (Can you tell how beautiful I think she is? That old Prince song about the most beautiful girl in the world gets stuck in my head when I cuddle with her!)