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!