23 months!

A year ago today we were here. Crazy what a year does, isn't it! I get teary-eyed looking at those pictures so most of the time I don't. Little cutie!

Little happenings this past month:
1. I think Bella is taking after her mommy and her Aunt Alli. You see, when Allison and I get together we can usually pass loads of time (like hours) by looking at cookbooks. One time we took lots of new cookbooks from the library on a 7 hour trip to our Grandparents house in Lubbock. And, we looked at them most of the trip. One day this past month, Bella didn't want to read her books but she sure wanted what I had in the kitchen - my cookbook. So I gave it to her, she went and plopped down in her chair, and proceeded to read it for quite a while!
2. She still enjoys to color. As long as she is in her "chair" she can reach the coffee table. I think i'll frame some of these large portraits one day. When did I become "that" mom!

3. One of the biggest new development these days - she wants to dress herself. She went and found her hat from Mark and Gayla...

...and went and found my shoes...after she took off her pajama bottoms. She then proceeded to push her stroller around the house for a while like this. This is how we roll after breakfast.

4. We had to make a trip to the doctor for an ear infection this week. Hopefully that medicine will kick in! While we were there we found out how much she had grown. She now weighs 25.4 pounds and is 33.5 inches long - way to go Bella. That puts her around 50% for length and 25% for weight.

5. She loves to say "Where'd it go?". But imagine that in a high pitched voice with both hands up in the air. Sometimes while we're watching Sesame Street, the picture will go in and out (it's a PBS station so we'll take what we can get). Every time, she'll go up to the screen and say "where'd it go" fairly dramatically. Then when it comes back on she'll say, "There is is!". Adorable!

6. She recognizes all the animals on Sesame Street and will usually growl, bark, hiss, mooo, etc at whatever she sees.

7. She's becoming Ms., uhm, how do I say this, "I-don't-like-my-clothes" anymore. And I mean ANY of her clothes. We have to make sure we put pants on her that she can't take off. The one time we didn't was one of the evenings when we put her to bed. I walked in that morning to a cute little gal standing in her crib, without ANYTHING on. Everything, including her diaper, was thrown over the crib railing. And it gets better. She had poo-pooed! Yucky indeed! Fortunately it was little pebbles (is this TMI or what?) so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. We spent lots of time disenfecting everything in her room. And she got an early morning bath from her daddy!

8. She was in her first wedding. My sister got married in a GORGEOUS ceremony. I will devote a full post on that later in this month.

9. As you can tell, the giraffe pictures are getting harder to take. But I still want to post them. Also notice her outfit she picked? Her onsie, two headbands around her waist (tribute to '80s workout videos, i'm sure), winter wool hat, pink polka-dotted socks, and sandles. I promise I did not help. She is just that awesome. And we may or may not have gone to Target wearing this. She wouldn't let me change her. You gotta keep the kids happy while we're out to avoid the dreaded tantrum...can I get an amen from the other parents!

And, I promise i'm going to cut her hair. Mike says i'm in "denial" that Bella needs another haircut. He may be right. =)