snow day!

it is a crazy blizzard here. i didnt even go to work today because i literally couldnt get my car out of the driveway. bela and i are home and so i bundled her up and took her out in the snow for 5 minute photo shoot.

what i did on saturday while bela took a 4 hour nap...

joanna and i went to kellys wedding shower! the only bad thing was that i was starving and the provided snacks didnt do the trick! the whole affair made me feel really old, many old high school pals who now have kids also. its nuts, i am so old. but thats ok cuz i have my bela girl! but it was nice to see those ladies and always great to hang with my joanna!

you're too cute not to be somebody's wife

"You know I still love, you, right? More than ever?"

"I like to hear it."

this morning on the way to work i was listening to npr, as usual, and on fridays they have a special segment called storycorps. i know most of you are npr kids like me so i wont go into the description. anyhow this one was really interesting to me because it dealt with the topic of alzheimers disease. check out the article here. (i think it is way better if you listen to the entire thing rather than read the recap) my nanny(dads mom) suffered from alzheimers disease from just about as far back as i can remember. i cant honestly say i remember her in a time before it. through it all, my poppa(dads dad) was right there to take care of her and help her through it. my nanny was always so together, she was a beautiful woman and worked to keep herself looking that way. as time went on, and her condition worsened, she no longer looked like the nanny i remembered. "my doctor told me he did not want me to cook, and that was music to my ears." while listening to the storycorps segment, it really hit me that this was an exact conversation that nanny and poppa might have had if she had been aware of her condition that early on. the woman was more afraid of her husband having to take care of her than she was of the disease itself, she didnt want to be a burden. "you know I'm going to take care of you, don't you?" my grandparents are both gone now and i realized at that moment that i dont think about them as much as i should. halfway to work in the car, tears streaming down my face, all these memories of my grandparents together came rushing back to me. as soon as the story finished, i called my sister. as i suspected, she was standing in her kitchen in tears listening to the same program.

where i've been

sorry for the lapse in posting, my life has been overrun by a giant veronica mars obsession and i have little time for anything else. its really quite sad, but damn is it good! this show is such a great time waster. i will not go on any longer raving about it, you have all heard it a million times. i should be finishing season 2 tonight and then hopefully return to the non tv world.

its offical

my bela is the walking girl! she isnt crawling at all anymore. she is still kinda shaky and looks a bit like frankenstein, but she is getting better everyday.

mama night

last night my mom took bela for the night and i went out for dinner and drinks with joanna. we were out celebrating my birthday, which was december 19th, that shows you how often this mama gets out of the house for adult time! we had a great time, as always, just chatting and hanging out. i miss times like that, being able to just go out without worrying about having to be responsible mama. although i missed my bela every minute of the night. now i am at work, a bit groggy and sleepy, but it was all worth it. i cant wait to see bela now though, being away from her for this long is tough, but i know i need it every once in a while.

so many boys

two of our good friends and two other boys are moving in to the other side of our duplex. they all came over yesterday to get the keys and sign the lease etc. bela was so overwhelmed she didnt know what to do, she seriously loves boys.

there are no words

today we are going to oma and grandpas to hang out and sleep over! yippee!

all good

bela is fine, no more throwing up. thanks goodness. also i have totally been slacking on pictures, the reason for this is that i cant find the cord to charge my camera. i will work on that this weekend.

more sicky

so today bela is sick still/again. she threw up this morning, i feel just awful for her because i think throwing up is just about the worst thing ever. i wish i could go get her, but my coworker is off today and i have no one really to cover for me. ugh. i am going to see if i can at least leave early to be with her, poor pukey baby.

our resolutions

happy new year! i never make new years resolutions because i know i will just break them. i decided this year that i am gonna give it a try. so here goes.
mamas resolutions: cut down on sugar and junk, join a gym with a daycare so i have no reason not to go (does anyone know of one?), learn to sew, perfect my knitting skills, get back into reading. i guess i must think i have a lot of free time, or just time wasted in front of the tv.
belas resolutions: master the art of walking, learn some new words other than kitty baby and bang, grow some more teeth, not be so wiggly during bedtime books.
ok, so lets see how we do for 2007!!

2 things

we are going to cincinnati for the weekend!! cant wait!! and equally as important, bela is so on her way to mastering this walking thing. she took many many steps yesterday. at one point she walked from me to chris and then did a u turn and came back to me. big big girl.

babys first...

ear infection! i am such a bad mama, i didnt even know. yesterday mama chris mentioned that she was tugging at her ear a bit. also she woke up with a bit of a froggy voice and a cough that morning, but i figured its the season. this morning i had to take bela to the doctor anyhow for flu shot part 2. i mentioned the cough and the ear thing to the nurse and we quickly found out that bela had a fever and an ear infection. for a baby who loves having her ears cleaned, she did not like the doctor putting the scope in her ear. i actually had to hold her down while she screamed so he could take a look. so now she is on antibiotics and mama is working from home today, rather unproductively.

party girl!

brett and i went to patricks annual new years eve party this year. last year we took bela along, but this year we left her with my parents. they also went to a party at a friends house. my little party girl bela stayed up until midnight! she was the life of the party, of course, and just a little bundle of entertainment all night. i am sure she was out like a light when they finally got her home and in bed though. even though she didnt go to bed until about 12:30, she was still up at 6:30. its like clockwork. my mom put her for a nap at 10 and she slept for 3 hours! I picked her up around 2 and we headed home. brett had the day off and so we all got to spend the day together. at about 4, bela turned into the demon seed. i thought her head was going to start spinning around. she was so tired that i couldnt get her to do anything, even eat and bela is the eating queen. i put her in the tub at 5 and she was content for a bit. i was able to hold her off until 6, but i had to give in at that point and put her to bed. she fell asleep in my arms while eating a bottle within minutes. she slept straight through until 7 the next morning and woke up refreshed! we made it through! i am glad though that she had a good time, i guess its fine every once in a while for the girl to have a party night!

christmas after

bela had a wonderful second christmas!! of course in true baby bela princess style had a pretty dress for both christmas eve and christmas day! she was not old enough to enjoy the first one, she slept through most of it i am sure. this year she was opening presents and playing with a lot of paper. on christmas eve, bela and i went over to my parents house early to hang out and get in the way. my moms family celebrated at my parents house and there are a lot of people. bela and i had to met brett at his dads house later, after he got off work. we ended up having to leave my parents house just as the guests were arriving. we had so much fun with bretts family though, bela got to play with her cousin hailey. at thanksgiving, hailey was not a big fan of bela, she seemed pretty scared of her, but on christmas they were great together! we got back to my parents house around 7, bela was tired, but stayed up until 8:30. she is not quick to go to bed if she knows that people are around to oggle her. christmas day of course brought delicious eats with the ladies k. and plenty of family fun. we are so lucky to have such great friends and family!
she got so much stuff, clothes, toys, books... stuff. we have been having lots of fun playing with new toys! although most of them are still in packages at this point though, the one thing we didnt get was a toy box. we desperately need one. well two would be cool actually. a certain someone is going to attempt to build one for her. i have high hopes! anyhow, christmas was tons of fun and i know it will only get better next year! i think her favorite toy right now is her cabbage patch kid newborn, its a small size of the original and came with a little car seat. she has been carrying her around since christmas, mostly by her feet.
hopefully being a mama will help me to appreciate christmas more, although i am not sure i will ever come around with the christmas music.

big 30

today is my 30th birthday. is it the end of an era, or the beginning of one? i am actually pretty excited about turning 30, ask anyone, i havent shut up about it in about a week. i am not normally one of those birthday people, its just another day really. this year is special though, this year i turn 30. yeah its just a number, but its a big number, a milestone number, a number of certitude. or something.
jay z says 30s the new 20.. smart man, then again hes a baller, im not. so that might not apply.
so how did i spend my last night at a 20-something? watching the gay cowboy movie and making truffles... look out! do i wish i had gone out and partied it up? not a chance. my beautiful baby was tucked soundly in her bed, that i wouldnt trade for all the all-night drinkfest parties in the world.
so am i where i thought i would be at 30? dunno, i never really thought things out like that. i am married to the love of my life, i have a perfect daughter, a wonderful family, etc. sounds like exactly where i want to be.
what would i have done differently? nothing, absolutely nothing.
so what do i want to do in my 30s? get a new job, have another baby, lose some weight, get healthier, be nicer. those are my goals.... let's see what happens next.

the second party!

better late than never-
so it has been so long since the party actually took place that i am totally disenchanted in my writing of this! the party went great, lots of fun people, lots of fun presents, lots of fun times. bela had her very own mini cake and she took her time in making a mess of it. grandpa helped her out and smeared a big glob on her face. the day ended with bela in the tub and in jim-jams at omas house. she passed out on the car ride home, she was wiped. thanks to everyone who came to share this fun day with all of us!!

coming soon....

the second party!!

theres nothing better than family...

my aunt elizabeth and uncle ken where in town for thanksgiving, thats my dads brother and his wife. i hadnt seen them in years. bela and i really enjoyed our time with them!! i hope that they are able to come back to visit soon, its been way to long.

the first party

yesterday was belas birthday, today was her first party with my friends. everything went really well, we ate food, bela opened presents, then we ate cake. thats the short version. bela got so many wonderful gifts! lots of great books, puzzles, an awesome music table, a learning treehouse
toy, a chair just for bela, a nursery rhyme player. a beautiful holiday dress, and some really
cute clothes!! this little girl is officially spoiled, but she totally
deserves every lick of it. of course, as i predicted, the bakery
misspelledbelas name on the cake, but oh well , she still enjoyed it!

it took her a bit to get into it, she started eating her normal thumb
an index finger dainty way, but by the end she was covered. tomorrow is
another party, more cake and more present... more later.

slack

i apologize for posting pictures instead of heartfelt and comical words about bela. i am lazy today, again. i should have more to write this week though! thanksgiving and belas birthday are both this week!

foodie

bela stood up on her own this weekend, by stood up i mean she was sitting and she stood up. i think it might be possible that she will be walking by her birthday, well thats only 4 days away, but you never know! i also continued on my "what will/won't bela eat" journey and discovered that she loves watermelon and zucchini, but does not like mango... strange.

she loves it

holy bori

the fabulous oma reached new heights this weekend when she tracked down a store that had belas favorite friend boris in stock. she bought 3 backup borises (bori?) and now we do not have to worry about the what ifs. when oma presented bela with the new frogs, i told her that she was blowing my current scam that boris was in this alone. i do not think bela caught on. the original boris has been retired, he had a nasty accident in chicago and is now out of commission. doris will now be limited to home use only, so we do not run the risk of losing her. the new bori look a little bit different, but only to the trained mama eye. hopefully bela will not catch on. these three new members of the lovey team will be names dolores, horace and florance. for lack of better rhyming names.

bela's wish list

many people have been asking me what bela wants or needs for her birthday. so i figured i would work up a list of ideas. no, she does not require a TMX... not that anyone could get their hands on it even if she did. i think that a toy with three interactive tickle spots is way out of her scope. plus i would not want anyone to get shot, stabbed or mauled in the name of a one year olds birthday. although i bet that thing is cool as hell, how could it not be? 6 AA batteries = off the hook fun. anyhow back to the list:
clothes- bela just now fits size 6-12 months, yes she is a peanut and yes i like it that way. the pants are bit big on her, but gives her room to wiggle, or grow. yes, pink is ok as long as it doesnt include lace, ruffles or looks like a garden threw up on it. she is in need of winter wear - sweaters, hoodies, pants, warm jammies, sleeper sacks. also i am currently in a tights and dress/jumper mode. we like patterned/striped/fun colored tights! you all know how much hair this girl has, we can always use cute accessories to tie it up. also any soft soled shoes - she isnt walking yet, but i am told these are best for beginners. stride rite has some cute ones, also most of you know my new obsession with robeez.
toys- she honestly doesnt have very many toys, at least not big girl ones. she enjoys stacking, putting things inside other things, toys with lights and toys that make noise, including musical toys. of course mama would appreciate learning toys - abc, 123, shapes, colors, etc. anything from the leap frog, fisher price, or melissa and doug lines are wonderful. we also need board books, puzzles (the wooden ones like the "melissa and doug" brand) and bath toys.
ok that is all i can think of right now, hope this helps!!

cousins

too cute to not post

short but sweet

bela and i spent the weekend at my parents house. my sister was in town on friday and then left for NYC saturday morning leaving behind the precious franka. my mom was watching her until my sister gets home tonight. bela and franka had a great time playing together, although it seemed like most of the time they just took turns napping. on sunday we went shopping at the mall and oma bought each girl her very own ice cream cone.
thats all for now, too tired to write anymore, plus it comes over better in pictures.

treats or tricks

we had a great time trick or treating! bela's costume was a big hit, she looked so adorable! we were out for about an hour and half, she was such a trooper. my mom just carried her around and bela loved every minute. she likes when people talk to her and tell her she is cute, thats what the whole night consisted of. by the time we made it back to my parents house it was 7:45. bela took some time to unwind and then was out like a light by 8:30. very late night for my little bug, but it was worth it. i had such a good time with her, you all know halloween is my favorite holiday. can't wait for next year!

trick or treat!

tomorrow is your first halloween! we are going over to omas to go trick or treating! i can't wait! there will be pictures soon!

11 months old!

this is late, i know.
baby b! you are not 11 months old. in the past month you have fully perfected your crawling skills and have before much braver with your cruising. you are not yet ready to let go and stand (or walk), but i think you will be soon. also this month you took your first plane ride! we travelled to chicago for a long weekend trip and you were such a trooper!
also you are getting two new teeth, the top front ones, it been 3 months since your last 2 came in! i guess you like to grow teeth in pairs.
mama is a very non picky eater, daddy is very picky. this month i have been testing my limits with what you will and will not eat. there are very few things that you dont like. new things you like: pickles, olives, foie gras, lobster bisque, french fries... things you don't like (but would most likely still eat): green beans, potatoes (unless mashed). daddy and i also discovered yesterday that you love lima beans. while daddy was feeding you dinner, he kept picking them out of the mixed vegetable medley just so he could 'see your face light up' when you ate them.
i think that is about it for your 11 month update, you are so much fun right now. i can't wait to see what happens next.

chi-town

we had a fantastic time in chicago!! thanks to brittany for taking us along and treating us so well!! thanks to jorge for letting us take over his pad for the weekend!! there is so much to tell, can't even think of where to start.
*belas first plane trip was great, she was a little wiggly, but a good girl on the whole. *friday night brittany let me pick the restaurant for dinner, of course i did some major research ahead of time. we ate at a fabulous place called sweets and savories. amazing. it was me, brit and jorge. i convinced them that we should do the tasting menus, not that it was a hard sell. of course, always the way to go. bela tried just about everything including foie gras! wonderful, i was the happiest girl in the world. *saturday-started the day with an amazing breakfast at a place called orange. wow, orange infused coffee and special babycakes for bela. we spent the rest of the day wandering downtown, shopping and what not. *gap=3 floors *h&m= 3 floors, the way it was meant to be *swirlz-cupcakes galore, friggin genius. *food, food and more food.. you know i could go on all day about that. *sunday- marathon!! big day for brittany! over 40k runners and 1.5 million spectators, holy crap. let me just say that a crowd like that is rough with a baby in a stroller, but we managed and had a great time people watching! bela of course enjoyed all the attention from strangers. brittany finished the race and we were so happy to see her! and SO proud!! *after the race we walked (slowly) to get some well deserved lunch. poor little brit was hanging in there, but was a little sore. *we got back to jorges place and crashed, i think bela might have been as worn out as brittany. she was out like a light at 5:45. *monday, good bye chicago, hello cleveland.
so now its back to reality, but we really had a great time. extra special thanks and hugs to brittany!! you are too good to us!!

countdown

bela and i are leaving on friday morning for chicago!! brittany is running the chicago marathon and is graciously taking us along for the trip! so excited! this will be belas first plane ride! i am hoping that she is a good girl for the flight. i am sure she would much rather crawl around the plane then sit in mamas lap for an hour, but we will see.
it is gonna be so much fun! i hope that the weather isnt too yucky though, dont want britt to get soggy while she is running.

sick girl

andys response

Hey Hey, I may critique the blog, but I must also contribute. Here's from the 67 minutes you left her with us. Decent pics, but she's got serious red-eye in one of them, which takes away from the hairness of my forearms.

true story

sorry i have been slacking on my posts! thanks andy for bringing it to my attention. although he didnt do it in front of the baby because she might be offended.

so on saturday we were getting ready to spend the day at my parents house. bela was playing on the floor with her blocks while i shoved the last few necessities into her suitcase. as i was finishing up, i said to her, "bela, we are going to omas house now!" and no lie, she crawled full speed to her carseat and attempted to climb inside. she loves her oma and she is a friggin genius.