Trick-Or-Treat

Getting ready to head out! This picture is a little fuzzy, but she's actually looking at the camera and smiling, so I couldn't pass it up.

Bella started out wanting to be carried, but she quickly learned that open doors equaled candy!

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Liam and his family came over to go trick-or-treating with us. He was dressed as a lion and he actually roared!

Snacking on her loot!

Mel had a party with her small group, but she managed to visit a few houses with us. She dressed as Charlie Chaplin! She looked so awesome! I'm claiming a small piece of credit because I did her face makeup.

From the Week

Some pictures from the week...

Bella was playing with Adam's lunchbox. She totally looks like she's ready in the morning with her Starbucks and briefcase!

These are another couple of pictures of Bella wearing Steve's hat. She loved it and whenever it would come off, she would carry it back to me to put it on her again.

Last night, Steve and I went on a date for his birthday. We went to the Cheesecake Factory and it was wonderful! It was so nice to relax and order (and eat!) slowly. We had the babysitter take a picture of us before we left.

We are doing work tonight for the weekend at church. Saturday is the Harvest Festival - we have set-up in the morning and then the event in the afternoon/evening. Sunday morning is our Missions Conference with a luncheon after church. Sunday night, we're going trick-or-treating! Bella is going to be a spider and I'm going as a gypsy.

Little Miss Muffitt!

Had to be creative this morning to keep Bella's hair out of her face. She looks super cute and it gave me an idea! I think I can make this part of her Halloween costume - I'm going to dress her in her spider costume and use hair ties to put a bunch of these little "tufts" all over her head. Then, I'm going to see if we can paint the tufts black with hair paint...we'll see if she'll sit still for that! It will look like little antennae...hopefully!

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We Made It Out Alive!

We survived the weekend...barely! Steve got the stomach flu on Friday night and spent the entire night throwing up. Then Mel had to come home early on Saturday morning because she was throwing up at work. Thankfully, Bella and I haven't shown any symptoms yet, and the boys staying at our house seem to be fine, too.

I thought I'd include some pictures of the guys at our house this weekend. They were a fun group to be around! We somehow managed to shuttle them back and forth to church, get them all fed, make sure Bella napped, and kept Steve in bed! Whew!

We decided to come home after Sunday School today. Mel stayed home with Bella until we got back from dropping off the boys. Steve and Mel seem to be feeling a little better - very weak and comepletely exhausted. Hope no one else gets sick!

Getting Ready For The Weekend

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I don't know if everyone else's fridge and pantry normally look like this, but ours does not. We are literally overflowing! This weekend, we will have TEN 11th and 12th grade boys and two leaders staying at the house for an event called Disciple Now. It's probably one of our favorite weekends of the year after holidays. Our whole youth group gets divided up by age and gender, and then sent to different houses in the area. They have bible study, games, discussion, and service projects. This is our third year doing it, and we know from experience to not expect much sleep in the next 48 hours. We'll let you know how it goes!

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Poor Baby!

The kid has had quite a week so far! We got a new nightlight in the hallway that uses a larger bulb. I normally remove it during the day so the kids don't play with it or break it. Early yesterday morning, Bella grabbed the bulb for just a second, but she burned her little thumb. It looks worse than it is - she's actually coping really well! At first, it was just really red, but this morning it had a blister on it. It's located on the thumb that she sucks, so I'm hoping that won't hinder the healing at all. Poor thing!

Bella's 18-Month Checkup

Monday was Bella's visit to the pediatrician. She started out really well; she was in a great mood and she loved the aquarium in the waiting room! We started off being weighed and measured...Bella is about 29 lbs. and 32 inches long. That works out to be the 95% for weight and the 75% for height. She has stayed pretty consistent to those percentiles since she was born. We definitely have ourselves a healthy girl!

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The pediatrician spent a lot of time asking about naps, food, and talking. About three weeks ago, I had been concerned about naps because Bella was taking two 3-hour naps a day! And then sleeping for 12 hours at night - it was crazy! Even in that short amount of time, though, her system has finally sorted itself out and she seems to be sleeping for a total of about 3 1/2 hours during the day.

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The pediatrician also wanted Bella to be able to say more words. Bella can say: Mama, Daddy, bear, tree, dog, bye, wow, baby, and we just added "ta-da!" tonight. The ped. said that Bella should be able to say an additional 5 words in the next three months. I'm not really worried about Bella and the talking. The other babies that we come in contact with who know more words are babies that are in a daycare of some sort. Anytime we meet a baby who stays at home with mom, the baby is right in line with Bella. I AM going to try and find some word books that have simple, practical words that she can work on.

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Bella also got a flu shot. She doesn't really notice shots because she is usually already screaming from simply being laid down on the table. And that's where the visit became stressful. Bella has entered a rough stage. I know that one of the negatives of staying at home would be that Bella would naturally be more clingy with me. Lately, though, this has seemed on over-drive. It usually happens when she is tired or in a new environment, and I know that's normal, but it doesn't make it any more pleasant. Bella also HATES to be restricted - either physically or in her environment.

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When I laid Bella down to be weighed by the nurse, she went ballistic. I don't mean she was fussy; I mean she went berserk. She stayed that way throughout the entire visit with the nurse and pediatrician - either sobbing silently or screaming straight out. And it wasn't just with the doctor; at one point, she and I were in the room by ourselves. She didn't want to be touched, she didn't want to be laid down, she just sat on my lap and screamed. She's smart enough to realize that she's trapped in a little room or trapped on the table, but she's not advanced enough to understand that she will eventuallly be out of the room.

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Needless to say, I left the office pretty much exhausted. I have been praying for calm and patience in those sitautions. I know there are many more potential disasters in our future and I don't want to go crazy for each one. The fact that it's always in public doesn't make it much fun, either. So that can be a way that you pray for us! I don't expect Bella to change much since she's still a baby-toddler; but I do need help staying calm in the heat of the battle.