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. =)

7 year anniversary!

Mike and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary this month! 7 years!

I love it! We couldn't find a babysitter on our actual anniversary. So Mike went and picked up Olive Garden, I set the table really nice with white linens and all, and we celebated at home...with a toddler. And, it was so sweet. (In the next picture...yes, she needs a haircut!)
We were laughing at how different this was compared with year 2 or year 3 celebrations. My my my, how things change. We exchanged gifts, put Bella to bed, watched a movie and fell asleep. Partay! It was actually a really nice family night.

The next weekend we went to stay a friend's beach house in Houston. And it was perfect! It was right on the bay where the ships came in - and when I say right on the beach I mean right on the beach. Private beach. After dropping Bella off with my grandparents, we settled into our quaint, beautiful beach house. No TV, no internet, no phone - just the two of us. The entire weekend was spent sleeping, swimming, reading, talking, swimming, reading, chatting, and simply being with one another. It's amazing what a few days of doing nothing but being with one another will do! It certainly was refreshing and rejuvinating to us both. And, Mike I look forward to years of life left with you. I love you more now than I did 7 years ago.

Now, enjoy some of what Bella did while she was with the Smith grandparents.

Bella saying "hi you". Bella giving a fist bump!
Watching TV with PawPaw.

See that face on Bella? She's trying to "sneak" on her PawPaw. hilarious!
Sweet little thing. This was her Aunt Christie's dress when she was Bella's age.

Bella trying her hand at playing pool.
Bella sorted wanted to play pool with PawPaw...
She really just wanted to throw the balls.
Don't you love this one! Such a sweet picture of Grammy and Great MeeMaw with Bella.

Bye everyone!Have a good week!

22 months old

This time last year I had Bella's first birthday party planned out. Fast forward to this year....her birthday is sneaking up on me. I have the date of her party and general ideas of what I want. But nothing like last year. That's ok though. I can not believe it is coming up in a few weeks!

Here's what we've been up to this past month:
1. She still loves to play in the bathtub. And I think it's time to put her in swimming lessons because she likes to get on her tummy and slide all over the tub. This is usually accompanied by her adorable "whoooooaaaaa". Then she'll look at us and say "whooooaaaa" again.

2. She is counting but she can't quite get "one". She usually starts with two and then every number after that has a high pitch voice inflection at the end of the word. "Twwoooeee, ThreeeEEE, FourrRRRE..."

3. One of her favorite things is to go get the mail with us. She just likes to be outside. But it's so stinkin' hot in Texas that we can't get out and play because it's 100 at 6pm. Yes, that's right non-Central-Texans. 100 degrees at 6 or 7 or 8 pm. And this is followed by a full day of hair-destroying-humidity and sweat-inducing-sun... Too hot for us! (Can you tell i'm a cool weather mountain type of gal?) Anyways, back to the point. She will walk towards the door but not go outside until she has a hold of my hand. Very good Bella! The whole point of this paragraph is that she's doing great at understanding she has to hold our hands if she goes anywhere outside of the house. This feels like a big deal to us because we had to work a while on this lesson!

4. We were watching an interview Oprah did with Justin Beiber (nothing else was on). Just to clarify we are not Beiber fans nor do we watch Oprah every day. Bella was actually just inconsolable for some reason and we were hoping we could distract her. I know - parents of the year, right? Beiber actually sang one of his new songs and Bella started dancing. So I proceeded to teach her to say "daddy-fever" since we're working on the no-dating-until-you're-28.4-policy. She thinks it's funny.

5. She is wanting to put on her own clothes. She can get to her drawer with her pants and skirts. This past week we've found her sitting on her window ledge putting on a skirt over her pants over another set of pants...you get the picture.

6. Discipline is gradually being needed more often! I (Emily) just have a hard time enforcing it sometimes because she's so funny. Tonight I found her on top of our desk. I asked her to get down and she started jabbering really, really fast - almost like a teenage girl would when she's talking to her best friend over the phone. Bella even had the hand motions. What did this mother of the year do? I busted up laughing. What did Bella do? Busted up laughing too. So, that discipline episode was an epic fail. But we both had a great laugh!
Bella Grace, we sure do love you. Thanks for keeping us on our toes and always smiling.
Love you,
Mommy and Daddy


This was my first attempt at the giraffe pictures. Notice a little someone running in the left side of the picture? See that little tuft of hair running away...
She just wanted her daddy!

Just because there are more cute pictures...

I decided to do another blog in honor of ...wait...wait for it...
just because I have more cute pictures!

My parents came to Temple for a visit and to help Allison wedding plan. So of course, when my mom comes to town we get great pictures!

Here is Bella lovin' on her Granddad.

Don't you love this picture! It looks like she's having a conversation with the duck. And she probably is.

All animals need hugs too.
And lots of tickling ensued.
Another conversation picture? I think this one is hilarious.
As you can tell, there was lots of playing going on here!
And one of my favorite pictures of our happy (most of the time) gal!

Allison's bridal shower

My sister is getting married in 36 days...she's counting and i'm counting! I could not be more excited for her. And, yes I cry when I think about the wedding day and seeing her walk down the aisle and thinking about what i'm going to say in the toast - I cried in HEB the other day thinking about it. I will be a hot mess on that day! Two words - waterproof mascara.

A couple of weekends ago, the ladies (aka. Allison, Bella and myself) headed to Lovington for the extravaganza. Brad had to work and Mike had to preach so they stayed in Temple. It was a rare moment for just Allison and I to be home without our men-folk. So, of course we got in some good daddeo-lovin'. Don't get me wrong. I love my hubby. It was just another special time with mom, dad and Allison. I stayed up too late on both nights hanging out with my dad outside in the gazebo - with 70ish degree weather - and christmas lights strung through the grape vines - and lots of potato vine and flowers and wind chimes - it was as magical as it sounds! Hence, I stayed out as long as I could. Dad commented that, "This feels like college". To this I responded, "Yes, but there is a baby sleeping in the back room closet now". ha! Times have changed a little bit.

All Bella wanted to do was walk around outside. And I don't blame her. That's why it took me so long to go inside for bed. I love it too!

And, she had a great time with her Nana! Thanks mom for letting me capture this sweet moment with you two.
High five!

Dad asked Bella to smell the rose. And here is what she did. Does licking count?

The girls at the shower. If people say Allison and I are pretty, this is where we get it.

Grandmother with 3 of the granddaughters and 2 of her children. What a sweet family! Cybil is expecting her first baby, Allison is getting married, our other cousin Drury is engaged - it's a busy year!

Another daddeo shot. We still can't get enough of these hugs.

This is the first thing Bella did when she woke up. Notice she doesn't have any pants on? Who needs pants when there is a bridge to cross and a stroller to push and a Granddad to follow her every move.

Enjoy the week! And go invest is some waterproof mascara too. I have a feeling there will be lots of sob-blogs coming in the next few months.

21 months old!

Dear Sweet Bella Grace,
Let me start out by saying you are so stinkin' cute! Your daddy and I say that multiple times per day. Sometimes you don't do anything special or unique - sometimes we just watch you play and say to eachother, "She is so cute". So, just know you are cute!

One of my favorite things these days is when you pray with us. Before each mealtime, your daddy and I say one or two or fifteen things we're thankful for. You are always included in those statements! When we do this we hold hands and you have started holding our hands too. Then you'll bow that little head and "pray" with us. Usually you mutter something under your breath like you're praying. Then you peek out and start laughing at your momma who is peeking out at you too! That's ok. I think God probably laughs with us too.

You LOVE to draw and color. We bought you some crayons and that keeps you busy for quite a while. Also, see that Noah's ark book? You like to read that one and analyze the pages with the animals for long periods of time.
You are changing so much these days and coming into your "own" personality. Sometimes it's stubbornness or tenacity, whichever you want to view it. Most of the time you're just sweet and happy and talkative! Even though we can't understand we have full conversations with you that are hysterical! You could totally be asking for a car or your own bank account and we're agreeing to it. Regardless, you talk with voice inflection that sounds like you're asking questions or answering questions. You can say "No" really well...and you like to stretch out the 'o'.

I couldn't get a good shot with you and the giraffes this month. You wanted to read to it and then "feed" them all with your books. Notice your face? You're having a conversation with the giraffes.


I went to pick you up from day care and they moved you to the next class! What? When did you get that big? The new lady said "Are you Bella's mom?" And I was thinking "uhm, depends on why...". No, just kidding. I told her I was your momma and she said "oh she is the sweetest little girl! She's nice and never complained or fussed. There was a little boy that was upset and she went over to give him her toy." Bella, you make your momma happy! You are certainly so sweet!

You like your ice cream! This month we had our first family ice-cream date!


You know what certain animals say - a lion goes "rarrr" (and you say it so scary!), a cow says "moo", and sheep says "baaahaa" (yes, it sounds like you're laughing)...We run by 4 horses in the mornings when I take you out with me - and you start waving and yelling "hi horsey" over and over again. You are getting good at pointing to animals in your books.

Speaking of books, you LOVE them! You love them enough to even wake up at 2 or 3am, say 'boouuu' (which is book in your vocabulary), and proceed to want to read every one of them with your parents. uhm, maybe we could wait until daylight hours to read all 14 of your books again?! Or maybe it's your parents fault since we do have an entire wall covered in our own books!

Your hair is getting so long and is still curly. It can even fit in a ponytail - which I don't do because then you really look like you're 12.

You LOVE the outside. If it wasn't 147 degrees outside we would be out there all the time.

You love your Grammy's cookies!


You like to "help" momma water and tend to the garden. Typically, you get really, really dirty and we always have to take another bath.
Bella, you are such a joy to your daddy and I. And you don't have to do anything except be yourself. You remember that! We love you simply for being you. We love you, sugar bean!
Your mommy