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!

28 Times 'Round the Sun

Stephen asked me what I wanted for my birthday, but how could I possibly ask for more than this?? These two are more than I ever could have asked for, more than I ever could have dreamed of.



When I was a little girl, my mom told me not to get married until I was 28, so I grew up thinking that I would be lucky just to be married to a good man by now (not sure why 28 was the magic number for Mom). But here I am, with a sweet husband who has been by my side for almost a decade, and an amazing little girl who brings us laughter every day and more love than I ever could have imagined.



















Instead of asking for more on my birthday, I'm just profoundly grateful for everything I've been blessed with already-- a caring family both near and far, supportive friends both old and new, a life rich in experiences both good and bad, for all of the love that surrounds me every day.

Halfway 'Round the Sun

Wow! I can't believe my baby is already half a year old. She is no longer an unresponsive, cuddly lump like she was in the beginning. She is now one of the most inquisitive, funniest, happiest, most flirtatious babies I have ever known.

Bella now weighs 16.5 lbs, and she's 26.5" long. Her body length and head circumference are both in the 70-90%, and her weight is finally getting closer to the 50% (after losing weight after birth, she was in the 5-10% for weight, so she has come a long way since then!). She's finally starting to get the chubby baby look, with a permanent fat roll in her left thigh, and little creases on her wrists between her arm fat and hand fat. Her cheeks are so plump and luscious-looking that I just want to nibble on them! And what a sweet soft round little belly she has.

Look at how much Bella's grown! Here she is during her first bath when she was just a few weeks old:

And here she is at six months old! She's almost outgrown the tub!


Bella can almost sit up unsupported, and she can stand up on her own while holding onto something for balance. Standing is still her very favorite position to be in. She can pass objects from one hand to the other and her eye-hand coordination is incredibly good. She has started doing lots of back to tummy rolls, though she never stays on her tummy for long before rolling onto her back. (We've been trying to have her do tummy time on top of our chest, which she tolerates a little better.) I can no longer set her down on the floor, look away, and expect her to be in the same place when I look back down a few seconds later. Time to do some serious baby-proofing!

Tricking Bella into doing some tummy time on her Boppy pillow!


We finally started Bella on solids (rice cereal last week, baby oatmeal this week, food with actual flavor will be served up next week). I know a lot of people start sooner, but since I have food allergies, waiting until six months is supposed to lessen her chances of getting them too. Also, after all the stress of moving, I was in no rush to start The Baby-Feeding Challenge, which I've already battled with my little brothers, and with babies at the preschool where I used to work. Eating will never again be as simple as popping out a boob, and knowing that it is providing the best nutrition possible, isn't making a mess, and Bella isn't complaining about not wanting it. (Those were the easiest meals I've ever prepared!) I am in awe that my body, which I take so much for granted, has been the sole support of this little human for 15 months since Bella's conception. 16.5 pounds of Mommy-grown goodness. It's almost unbelievable that my body is capable of creating something this amazing. Now we have the responsibility of getting her started on the right track for a lifetime of healthy eating. Talk about pressure!!

Here she is after a delicious round of oatmeal.




She tries to bite everything!


Bella has been drooling and stuffing things into her mouth for several months, but she hasn't gotten any teeth in just yet. Her two bottom teeth are just below the surface of the gum, and we have gone through several nights of teething woes already.

Bella is now at a point where she can put herself to sleep almost every time we put her down in bed. Yay! She sleeps through the night most nights, and sometimes she will put herself back to sleep when she wakes up. When she needs some help getting to sleep, a little tummy patting and "shhh"-ing will usually get her there. Now teething is probably going to mess up all the hard work we've gone through to get her to this point! Drats!

I finally got around to reading The Baby Whisperer by Tracy Hogg, and it has made a tremendous improvement in my daily life with Bella. She is like a whole different baby now-- so much happier-- yet I don't think she has changed, rather my ability to understand her has changed. It's taught me to do a much better job of recognizing what she's trying to communicate, especially when she's tired. And it's surprising, when you pay attention, at how many different ways she has of communicating. She says, "Geeeee," and makes a gurgling sound, only when she's upset. She kicks her legs, flaps her arms, and says, "Ha, ha, ha," in a breathy voice when she's excited. She tenses her body straight, looks imploringly into my eyes, and says, "Ahhhh," when she's bored and wants a new toy to play with. She sucks her thumb, rubs her eyes, yawns, looks away and arches her back when she's tired. When she's hungry, she bites down desperately on anything she can get her gums on. There's also the long loud wail when she's in pain, and the sweet giggles when she's entertained. Bella's cries are no longer such a guessing game for me. Thank God for Tracy Hogg. I wish I'd read that book sooner!

Bella's angelic side:








When we went in for Bella's six month check-up, we did get one unpleasant surprise. She has gotten petechiae, a rash that is all over her body and looks like tiny faint freckles, and is caused when blood vessels bleed under the skin. After the pediatrician diagnosed it, we had to get blood tests done immediately to rule out some awful diseases that can be related to petechiae. I have had blood drawn so many times over the past year that I don't even flinch about it anymore, but taking Bella to get blood drawn was a different story. We had to take her to two different labs, because the first lab couldn't get enough blood to fill a regular-sized vial needed for one of the tests. THAT was a nightmare. Bella was screaming in my lap for what seemed like an eternity while they were pulling blood with the tiniest needle you've ever seen, and I was crying with tears falling on top of her head. It was the worst feeling in the world, not to be able to make her feel better, then to find out we were going to have to do it all over again. Next we went to the pediatric center at the hospital, where they found a vein in her foot they could draw blood from, and had to attach a syringe to the needle to pull out enough. She still has bruises from the two places where so much blood was drawn. Poor Bella was just so happy to be going to these new places and smiling at the friendly people. She is so innocent and had no idea what was about to happen, and that made me feel terrible. She was stuck with five needles that day, and in the meantime we were scared that she could have something awful. That was a really, really bad day.

But the good news is that her blood tests came back fine, so hopefully there isn't a terrible disease causing her rash. We took her to see a dermatologist, who thinks it's just caused by her skin being so fair, but I'm taking her to get a second opinion at another dermatologist in a couple of weeks. It's upsetting to think there's nothing that can be done about it, and now I'm ultra-paranoid whenever she is acting out of sorts, thinking that there could be something wrong, and we don't know what it is.

Stephen's 28th Birthday

I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this, but this is the first time I've done a cake for Stephen since he turned 21. Because he just doesn't like desserts. But now that we have Bella, it seemed like we should do a birthday cake, just for fun, and luckily I found an angel food cake (the one kind of cake Stephen really likes) at the bakery and decorated it. Still, it was a little weird to be the only one singing happy birthday. I'm really looking forward to when Bella can help out with celebrations like this, because everything is so much more fun when you have an accomplice!



We're taking a trip this weekend to Smoky Mountain National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina to celebrate Stephen's birthday, my birthday (which is in a couple of weeks), and Bella's six month birthday! We've taken Bella on four out-of-state trips before, but they all consisted mostly of sitting in our relatives' living rooms. This will be her first real sight-seeing trip, and I'm a little anxious to see how it's all going to work out. But we're really excited about getting out of town and seeing some big mountains with beautiful fall color!

Lots of Bella

I've really fallen off the blogging bandwagon the last couple of weeks... sorry guys! We have been so busy, and little Miss Bella does not allow me much free time to post blogs. Stephen is finishing up his first round of essay grading tonight (96 essays!), so I'm going to upload pictures in between washing dishes, as Bella has already gone to bed (free time is definitely a thing of the past!). I've gotten several requests for more Bella pictures, and I realized that I haven't posted very many pictures of her since she was born, so now I'm feeling guilty. And I'm going to try to start posting more pics of my little angel.

(Warning: These pictures may give you baby fever. I recommend taking your birth control before scrolling down...)



Gameday

Stephen and I have not fully converted to being Bulldog fans yet, but we figure that it's Bella's right to be a Bulldog fan, since she was born right here in the heart of Bulldog country. Plus, she kinda looks like a bulldog with all the baby fat on her face. (For those of you not familiar with southern football, the Bulldogs are the team for UGA, where Stephen works. They are also one of the biggest rivals for Auburn, our alma mater.)

Bella's gameface








Gooooo Bulldogs! (FYI: in Athens, they actually spell it "Bulldawg" to account for the Southern drawl.)


Halftime break: package of goodies received in the mail from Sonya, with Bella's first "pearls" and Mema's 90th birthday crown! Even a bulldog needs to dress up!


Nap during the third quarter to get ready for the fourth quarter showdown!


Post-game trip to the World of Wonder playground, where Bella had her first swing ride.




The Front Porch (Series 1, by Stephen)

I love how this captures Bella's expressions as she grabs hold of one of her favorite toys:

The excitement (My bear!)


The concentration (How am I gonna get that bear?)


Ready to grab...


Got it!


Examining the bear


Eating the bear


Memorial Park

This is one of our favorite parks in Athens. It has a miniature (free!) zoo with alligators, turtles, owls, eagles, bears, deer, turkey, and more. There is also a pond with ducks, and a big playground. Bella will love going there when she gets old enough to appreciate the animals.

















Show #2



Junker's second show was great! There were tons of people there and the band sounded awesome. Like a real band! The guy who did the sound for them at that show also runs the sound at The Melting Point, one of the best music venues in Athens, and he recommended that they book Junker for a weeknight soon, which would be a huge step up for the band. The Melting Point has already been in touch with Stephen and they are trying to work something out for next month. And... if you have been wondering what the band sounds like, there is finally a video recording from our friend's camera on Junker's facebook page. Not quality footage, but you can at least get a sense of what their sound is like. (http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=480981180020) This is one of Stephen's older songs that he wrote in Tucson.

Bella and I went to the show together, and had quite the adventure when she got hungry. This time, Stephen's parents weren't there to keep an eye on her while I warmed up her bottle, so Bella and I traipsed into the women's bathroom together (with Bella in her stroller, which took up half of the two-stall bathroom). I really, really felt like a mom as I strolled her past inebriated college kids, lugged the stroller inside the bathroom, and parked her in front of the sink so I could warm up the bottle in the sink. She loved all the attention she got from the college girls who were waiting in line to use the bathroom, though. It would have been much simpler to pop out a boob and skip the whole bathroom adventure with the drunk college girls. Maybe next time I will be brave enough...

I got this huge headband for Bella to wear over her ears and keep her earplugs from falling out. She had such a great time at the concert and I was so glad that she was in a good mood. She pretty much entertained herself for most of the show with toys, and of course with her favorite game (putting her feet in her mouth).





Mom's Visit

Mom recently brought my brothers and her hubby over to check out our house for the first time. Check out these awesome white rocking chairs Stephen's parents passed down to us. Our front porch is really starting to get that Southern feel to it now!





The Swing

Bella is so funny when she cranes her neck up to watch the butterflies on her swing's mobile.







The Front Porch (Series 2, by Loreal)

Bella and I had got ready to go for a stroll around the neighborhood, then it started pouring down rain just as we were about to leave. So I took a million pictures of Bella instead.

















Bella has been rolling over, tummy to back, for two weeks now. I had just gotten her to tolerate tummy time, and now we're back to square one. When I lay her on her tummy, she immediately rolls onto her back, and she gets mad if I try to block her way and force her to stay on her tummy! It's pretty funny. (No back to tummy rolls yet.)

You don't really think I'm going to stay on my tummy, do you?

Here I go...

Yea!


The Jumperoo

This is one of her favorite things right now, even though she doesn't jump in it yet.





Another afternoon at Memorial Park

After I complained to Stephen about how he never takes pictures of me and Bella together (there are ten times as many pictures of Stephen and Bella than there are of me and Bella), he took this whole series at the park (of course on a day when I wasn't wearing any makeup and hadn't washed my hair... thankfully he mostly used the sepia setting, which is so forgiving). So, here are some mommy and daughter pictures...















And here are some daddy and daughter pictures, too!




Do I have to say how much we adore this little girl? Yesterday, we were eating at a restaurant for Stephen's birthday, and a man came up to us and said that we needed to quit smiling so much because he could see me beaming from across the room. I can't help it if the most wonderful thing in the world is sitting right across the table from me!