Can't Get Anything Past Us...Usually

Bella's most recent line is, "Oh gosh!" We weren't really sure where she picked it up (stop looking at me), until I sat on the couch with Bella and watched The Little Mermaid. Apparently Ariel says, "Oh my gosh" three or four times, and it just happens to be one of Bella's new favorite movies. Combined with the fact that Ursula has to be the most disturbing Disney villain EVER, and we've decided to take a break on Ariel...maybe not forever, but for now. Parenting has a funny way of making me a lot more prudish. I prefer to think of it as discerning.

Seriously...she haunts my dreams. Maybe that's just because I can quote all of her lines.

Oh, it's time for a Potty Update: I think I started too early. I just don't think Bella is ready, and I'm completely okay with that, so I'm taking a break until she seems to show more interest in whether or not she's sitting in her own poop. I've heard a lot of people say they started around 30 months, which for us would be about October, so we'll try again then.

Counting And Waiting

I'm warning you ahead of time that this post may be way too much information; bear with me...

I went to my OBGYN a week ago today to get what Steve and I affectionately refer to as the "baby pill". It's actually a pill that helps to jump start ovulation if you're trying to get pregnant. My cycles have always been very irregular which makes it difficult for me to know when I'm ovulating and when the best time is to try and get pregnant. With Bella, my OBGYN had to give me a pill to start my cycle in the first place because it had been 6 months since my last one.

This time around, I've been off birth control since last Fall and my cycles have been more or less every month. When I went to the OBGYN last week, we didn't even discuss the pill to start my cycle because I had skipped May, but had one in June. The directions for the ovulation pill say that I don't even start taking them until Day 5 of my cycle, which brings us to now...

I'm about a week late on my cycle based on last month, so that means I'm about to skip the month of July altogether. I have this bottle of pills that I'm just staring at, waiting to actually be able to take some action instead of just waiting and hoping. It's not exactly stressful, just frustrating. I absolutely know that it will happen, but Steve and I want a baby so badly, and it's hard to keep buying pregnancy tests, wondering if a random symptom is really a baby and then being disappointed.

I'm not walking around covered in stress and turmoil or anything, I just had to get out what was in my head. When we finally make this baby, we'll forget all of the effort it took to get here, but at this moment, it's hard to wait.

What's In A Name?

Bella is the first grandchild on my side of the family, and we've been trying out a few names to see if my mom and dad would like to be called something different than "Grandpa" and "Grandma". I kind of think it would be fun to have Steve's mom and dad be Grandma and Grandpa, and my parents be something else. Bella calls my dad "Papa", so that seems like a fun option for him, but we're still not sure about my mom...we all like Mimi, so we're trying to actually remember to call my mom that. Who knows, after all this, they might end up being Grandpa and Grandma Meyer after all. (That's okay with us, too!)

Here's what "Papa" and "Mimi" have been up to this week!

Watching Papa fix the back door

Swinging and dancing with Mimi

Bella loves playing in the pool with her Papa!

Water fights and splashing!

Pool time with Rex and Papa

Dad really likes mocha frappuccinos from Starbucks (Who doesn't?) and last night, he shared his recipe to make them at home. They were delicious and tasted just like the real thing!

Dad's homemade mocha, chocolate drinks

Enjoying the yummy drinks!

The Power Of The Cross

Last week, our friend, Will (Liam's dad), asked me if I would take part in a study for his Anthropology class. He had to observe someone of a different religion and write a paper about what motivated them, drew them to it, etc. Steve and I have been praying for Will and Erin since I started watching Liam and we've invited them to our church many times, but they are both strong Catholics and attend mass every Sunday. When I found out that the study included Will coming with us on a Sunday morning to observe the service, I was thrilled with how God works!

We met on Friday, and Will had a list of questions to ask me about my own personal faith, as well as the workings of our church and the individual service. It was a very interesting experience to explain your faith in aspects that I frequently take for granted like prayer; and to use phrases like "legalism" and "on fire for God" that Will asked me to go back and explain. I was praying the entire time that God would give me the right words to say and that I would do more than simply answer a question, but would really weave the gospel throughout.

We had a guest speaker on Sunday, but his message was incredible! Our choir sang, The Power Of The Cross that one of our own members wrote a few years ago and is now sung by Natalie Grant. It's such a powerful song and it was a blessing to have those words ring out when Will was sitting with us! Pray that this is just the beginning of God working in Will and Erin.

Here are the words to my favorite verse:

The Power Of The Cross (verse 3)...

Once a prodigal, now home

Once lost, now found.

Once an enemy, now a friend

Once poor, now crowned.

Here's the video!

Salsa, Lil' Jon, and IMAX

Steve and I had a (very rare) date night on Friday, and it was so much fun! The Fernbank Museum has an event during the summer called Martinis and IMAX. We didn't drink martinis, but we did get to see an incredible IMAX film! The event is held in the museum's main atrium and there is live music. The music style changes each weekend, so Steve checked ahead and found out they were featuring salsa music. We looked up salsa lessons for beginners on YouTube and practiced the night before so we would at least know a few steps!

The Fernbank Museum; it's a very pretty museum and we're looking forward to bringing Bella back sometime.

The IMAX movie that we saw...lots of huge waves and really impressive surfer moves!

This is a very dark shot taken on Steve's iPhone, but you can see the models of dinosaurs set up with people all around it. This is where the live dancing and music took place. We were a little intimidated by the couples who actually knew how to salsa, but we had a blast! We repeated our two or three steps and ended up laughing most of the time. Towards the end of the evening, the salsa music suddenly stopped and hip hop music came on...we were going to leave, but Steve agreed to stay on the floor for a few more songs! I married a daring guy!

Celebrated our 6th anniversary in a photo booth! So the 3rd picture...we ordered some food and had been given the number as our table marker so a waiter could find us. We decided to have some fun with it since it was "#1". An absolutely perfect date night!

To Infinity and And Beyond!

Bella has been hooked on Toy Story 2 lately and Steve's mom said she would send some of Steve's old toys for Bella to enjoy...

[Side Note: The first Toy Story was made in 1995, which means Steve would have been about 14 years old. Does anyone else wonder why he had Toy Story toys at that age? I found out that his Woody doll was actually a gift from an ex-girlfriend, and I'm assuming the rest were picked out for assorted grandchildren. I haven't asked his mom about it yet, but it made me chuckle. I had to fight the brief impulse to throw Woody on the firepit...I'm kidding!]

Back to Bella...I knew she would be excited about these toys and they did not disappoint! Here was her reaction when I lifted Buzz and Woody out of the box: "OOOHHHHH! BUFF!!! BUDDY!!!! OH!!! COOL!!!!!" I'm not exaggerating any of that; it was unbelievably loud. "Buff" is Buzz and "Buddy" is Woody, and there were other little toys in the box of Woody's horse, the racecar, and the aliens.

There was a quick rumble in the living room when Bella decided she wanted to play with Buzz and Woody at the same time, and Rex was feeling left out. After some shrieking, we settled on a good compromise, and they had a great time enjoying the toys for the rest of the afternoon. Bella has already picked them up first thing this morning.

"Hat! Hat!" Bella wanted to take Woody's hat on and off about a hundred times.

"There's a snake in my boot!" Bells thinks the pull-string is the coolest thing ever!

Maybe An Architect?

We had fun playing with blocks this morning, and Bella built her own (and first, I think) tower! Mel and I passed the time trying to get blocks to stick to our eyes and mouths.

She was very focused. You do NOT want to mess with her when she's like this.

S-U-C-C-E-S-S!!!

Mel got the blocks to "stick" in her eyes! I think she has abnormally large eye sockets!

I gave up trying to get it to stick to my eyes and just went for my mouth instead.

Copying Mama

This video shows her concentration. After the tower falls over at the very end, she says, "plane!" and then makes the blocks fly around.

Signs Of Summer

Summer is already half over, but I had to point out some of my favorite things about this season!

Naked baby bottoms! I don't know if nakedness is an official sign of Summer, but it should be (at least in toddlers). Let's face it, you just shouldn't do this in the middle of January.

Friends...no school, no evening activities...just long afternoons to spend by the pool or playing dress-up.

The dahlias are blooming! I'm excited that they bloomed in time for my Mom's visit next week!

Our veggies are growing! The cucumbers and bell peppers are looking more yummy everyday! Mel has been working hard to keep our small garden thriving this year!

Lazy days...okay, so my house looks like this on a daily basis, but who doesn't love shirking house-cleaning duties to have fun instead! Summer seems like the perfect time to do that.

Mel's birthday! (It's coming up next month.) My favorite thing about Mel's birthday, other than celebrating Mel, is that it's always warm! You never have cold fronts in the middle of August! Even in Georgia, it's frequently still chilly on my birthday in March, but we get to celebrate Mel's birthday by sitting at outdoor restaurants or going to concerts in the park. Pure joy!

Never A Dull Moment

Once I decided to really commit to this blog, I started to love the "scrapbook" aspect of it; it was great knowing that this was a record of our family's journey - the big and the little moments together. With that in mind, Bella has had some cute little updates lately that I want to make sure I document so that I can tell her about them one day. They might be boring for other people to read, but they're important for me as her Mama to remember.

Bella loves Toy Story 2 right now! She can say "Buzz" and "Woody", but sometimes she mixes them up. We played in our neighborhood pool last weekend and there was a little boy who had 4 or 5 Buzz toys with him. Bella went wild with excitement! We were lucky the boy's mother believed in sharing. :)

Bella is obsessed with animals, especially horses. Her favorite book lately is a random one that Grandma Wires gave us from her teaching collection. It lists all of the fastest, slowest, largest, etc. animals. I actually know what an Etruscan shrew is and how much it weighs because of this book. Oh, and I know way more about anacondas and spiders than I ever thought I would!

Bella also really likes her book, I Love My Bible. I'd like to think it was because of the Bible, but I think it's actually because there are two African-American children on the cover and throughout the book. She seems pretty fascinated by people of other colors.

Steve and I have started going into her room to peek at her every night before we go to bed. It's so cute to see her in her big girl bed; she has even started wanting to use a blanket as her "pillow." It's one of my favorite moments of the day, to see her laying there like a big kid instead of a baby.

Speaking of bedtime, I have to share tradition we have started. Bedtime is "Daddy Time" - Steve will start about 30 minutes before her bedtime by playing with her and reading her favorite books. (We try to sneak in her potty books, too.) Then he changes her diaper, gets her into PJ's and brushes her teeth. They come to find me for bedtime kisses and then he takes her upstairs and prays with her before laying her down. I love waiting outside her door and hearing her say, "men!" at the end of Steve's prayer!

I have a funny potty training/poop story, but I'll have to save that for another time...

If We Had Triplets...

Liam, the little boy I used to watch, came over for a few hours this morning, and they had a wonderful time playing and running around! Steve had to run home from a meeting to change his pump and we had a funny moment of imagining what life would be like if we had three 2-year olds all of the time. I'm so glad everyone except Bella goes home at the end of the day!

Potty Update: Bella loves her potty! She loves to sit on it and seems to know that her diaper should be off for the potty, but she doesn't make any connection between the potty and actually peeing in it. Right now it seems to be more of a new, cool toy. We'll keep you posted!

Baby #2 Update: I have an appointment with my OBGYN on Monday, July 18th to get my "baby pill." When we were trying to have a baby the first time, my cycle was all out of whack, so my doctor gave me a pill to jump-start ovulation. (Way too much information, right?) Having a few hiccups in the process makes me very thankful that we don't have any real infertility problems!

Potty Time!

I'm not sure how to even start this post, because this absolutely overwhelms and terrifies me! Whew! I know I'm supposed to be reassured by the fact that she will eventually get it, and every parent goes through this, etc., but man! The whole potty training thing just really makes me want to keep her in diapers until she's seven - and I haven't even started it!

We took Bella to Target today to pick out two potties; we put one downstairs in the half-bath and one upstairs in our bathroom. We waited to set them up until Bella had already gone to bed, so she'll get her first look tomorrow morning. Hopefully seeing them in the house for a couple of days in a row will make her interested in trying it out. Bella is definitely an "on my own time" kind of a girl, so I'm already prepared to go slow and let her move ahead on her own. She totally blew us away by how easily she transitioned to a little girl bed with no rails or anything - we thought she'd get out of bed and be crying, but she never even seemed to notice - so maybe we'll get really lucky and she'll figure it out quickly. Cross your fingers!

Our big girl princess potty!

Newest reading material...Daddy will be reading this to Bella every night!

4th Of July Weekend

The long weekend isn't over yet, but I thought I'd get some pictures now. If we actually remember to take some tomorrow, I'll add them later. It's been a wonderful weekend so far! Trey and Whitney came over with the kids on Friday night for burgers and s'mores. Our vacation in Oscoda definitely inspired us to get a firepit, and we have had a craving for s'mores ever since!

We're not crazy...we put the kids to bed first, THEN broke out the s'mores!

Saturday morning, Mel made pancakes! We gave Bella her own bowl with flour and water, and I poured in some green food coloring to make it fun. She got a little artistic and started painting her own face...and Daddy's!

Getting kisses after painting Daddy's face with green dough.

We got a call on Saturday afternoon from friends that we haven't seen in almost ten years! My dad and "Uncle Stan" were college roommates, and we grew up going on summer vacations together and playing with their boys. During high school we actually lived in the same town for about four years, but I haven't seen them since I graduated. Which brings us back to Saturday! Stan and Theresa called and said they were driving through, they were going to stop at Stone Mountain with their family to see the fireworks, and were we free? We had a great time!

We had Bella awake about 4 hours past her bedtime, so we were nervous about her reaction to the fireworks and having to stay on our blanket. She was a champ!!! She loved the laser show on the mountain and played great with the other kids. I can't say she loved the fireworks...she stayed buried in either my or Mel's chest the entire time, but she didn't start screaming either. About halfway through the show, she fell asleep on my shoulder and didn't even wake up for the fireworks' finale!

Bella's future husband is definitely going to see this picture one day! We are watching our friend's dog, Jack, for the night. Jack loves taking advantage of forgotten or dropped food, and this afternoon, Bella dropped her juice cup on the ground. When she saw Jack lick up the juice, Bella wanted to get in on the action! We couldn't stop laughing and I had to take a picture before we made her stop!

Monday is more fireworks and a cookout with friends! Happy 4th of July!