Our Tiny Dancer!

Sara's wedding went off without a hitch this weekend. I was so busy I didn't get too many good pictures. Everything was beautiful. Sara's dress was gorgeous, Belle was adorable, and I looked pretty hot too.

I'm really excited to see the photos from Jessica Strickland. I've been stalking her blog for months now and it was so nice to meet her in person. And my goodness, could she be any skinnier?

But Miss Belle was the life of the party, or uh, belle of the ball. She just loved to dance. She'd get out in the middle of everyone and just sway and twirl. It was hilarious to watch her. I think we'll have to get her in some dance classes next year.

Sara and Rory are enjoying their honeymoon in St. Lucia right now, soaking up some sun for sure. Man, I'd love a vacation about now. I don't think I've been on a real vacation since my own honeymoon, 7 years ago!

Wedding shower!

We had Sara's wedding shower this weekend. She got a lot of nice things. The food looked amazing, but I think that people were afraid to eat the veggie and fruit arrangement because we had a lot left over.

Here are a few pictures.

Grandma and the granddaughters - I look like a midget next to Sunie and her heels.


Sara and Belle


The food

Belle's First Fair!

Sunday we took Belle to the Johnson County Fair with Nic's parents. Belle had fun and was good all day. She had a chocolate milkshake, a strawberry shackup, oriental rice, and I can't forget her favorite french fries.

She really had fun with goats. They were the only animals that walked up and let her pet (uh smack) them. Belle may even be in the paper. A photographer was taking her picture with the goats and asked if they could use it in the paper. We'll see.

Belle's First Parade!

Belle went to her first parade today. We headed into downtown Franklin for the Johnson County Fair Parade. Belle was having a good time at first. She liked waving at the pagent contestants and seeing all the kids running around for candy.



But........

She did not like the air horns from the fire trucks or the little Shriner cars. After a few too many fire trucks she was ready to go.

We'll just call her Turd!

Well I had the most disgusting experience so far as a parent. I was changing Belle's poopy diaper and she decided to reach down and stick her hand in it. And as if in slow motion she puts her hand in her mouth. It wasn't like she had a handful, but it was still gross.

I think she'll live. =)

Hit the Deck!!

Belle's latest thing is when she's knows she's doing something wrong, she'll just hit the deck. She immediately falls on the floor and lays on her stomach.

What a weird kid!

Such a big girl!

After looking at the pictures from the last couple days, I realized how big Belle is getting. She looks like such a big girl in this picture. Where did my baby go?

Of course she likes chocolate!

Belle is shaping up to be a picky eater like her mother. I guess pay backs are a ...... well you know.

Belle will refuse most new foods you stick in front of her. You have to hold her hand down and force a bite before she realizes that "hey maybe its not that bad". But I find it funny that when we were at one of Sara's showers this weekend that she opened her mouth right up for some chocolate cake. Is there something in our DNA that lets us know what chocolate is?

She's eating better. Her favorite foods are grilled cheese, peanut butter crackers, chicken nuggets, french fries, and corn. I think we are going to try some scrambled eggs for lunch. That'll be a new one for her.

Belle meets Clifford!

We decided to trek downtown to the PBS Kids Festival. It was rainy and miserable, but we stayed long enough for Belle to meet Clifford. She was excited to see him from a distance, but didn't want to get too close.

Can you tell she wasn't feeling good?

Our Little Monkey!

Belle has started climbing up into the window sil at work. She's been pretty good about getting up and down, but now she has started trying to stand up and that makes me too nervous.

Belle Looooves Jesse!

Here are some cute pics of Belle and Jesse. She loves Jesse and Jesse is such a sport to take all the abuse Belle dishes out.

Happy Birthday Belle!

I meant to do this earlier, but Im just now getting around to it.

This is a video montage of photos of Belle during her first year. Warning - This is kinda long and it cut off the last few seconds.

Was she marking her territory or what?

Yesterday both Nic and I got peed on.

I was at Target with her before we went to Gymboree, and I had her on my hip. I must of moved her diaper or something cause I got peed on as we were walking to the car. Luckily I was familiar with this sudden warm feelling and was able to immediately hold her away from me. Thus limiting the pee to a minimum. Yes, I went to gymboree with pee on my shirt.

Then Nic was getting her ready for her bath and took her diaper off unknowingly mid-pee. I again caught her and he was able to throw her into the tub before he got too wet.

Birthday Party!

Today we had Belle's party. It was supposed to rain, but stayed relatively cool instead. Belle wasn't too impressed with her cake. In fact she gaged at the first taste of frosting.

She did enjoy all her new presents. I think her favorite may have been a Winnie the Pooh riding toy that Chris and Cheyanne got her. She was a bit overwhelmed with all the new stuff too.

Here are a few pics from today.

Belle looking pretty before everyone arrived.


Belle with her cake


The aftermath


In her new inflatable play room


Playing at her water table with Savannah and AJ


In her bathing suit, telling us how old she is

Check out Sara's engagement pictures!

Sara and Rory just got their engagement pictures done by a photographer out of Indy. Her name is Jessica Strickland. Rhaya, a coworker of mine, was in a wedding that she shot and thats how I found her. I passed her website off to Sara and now she's doing her wedding pictures as well.

Check out her blog where she's got Sara's pictures posted.
http://www.jessicastrickland.com/blog/

Im an admitted blog stalker and just in love with this girl's photography. I would love to have her shoot our family portrait. Just have to convince Nic to spend the big bucks.

And she's off. . .

Well Belle has been walking for 3 days. She's taken some random steps for a couple weeks, but this Friday at our company open house, Belle decided to put on a show. With people just milling about, Belle wanted to entertain. She was babbling about and just being cute. Then she decided to crawl into a group of people, stand up and took a couple steps.

Well she has been working on this walking thing all weekend and she's gotten really good.

Here's a video of Belle playing in her room.

Was that a vacation?

We just got back from staying in North Carolina for a couple days. We were there for Nic's sister wedding. The wedding was very nice and I think everyone had a good time. Later Gail and Anthony took off for Pigeon Forge.

But while vacations are supposed to be relaxing, things got off to a rough start and ended the same way. Saturday before we left we were in a car accident. Minor, but enough that the van will have to be fixed.

We were still able to drive the van. Belle did pretty good on the way down, we just had to get out a few times for her to move around.

The day we were leaving I get a message from the former owner of Bean (the father of the current owner). You know it can't be good if your former boss is tracking you down on your vacation. =) Well Im gonna have to take a 50% paycut and go part-time. whoo hoo.

So needless to say, it wasn't that relaxing of a vacation.

Here are some pics

Gail blowing bubbles with Belle and AJ


Nic and Belle at the church before the wedding


Me and Belle before the wedding. She was such a trooper. She was soo tired, but was able to remain relatively calm throughout the wedding.


Im not sure what is going on here, but you got to admit, its funny

More pictures

The Happy Family



Belle just being cute



On the four wheeler with daddy. She loves the four wheeler already.

She's sleeping through the night!

Praise the Lord! The girl is sleeping through the night. For the past week Belle has slept through the night. (knock on wood) So that means its a habit right?

We did the Cry It Out thing and it didn't work very well. I guess Belle was just gonna sleep on her own sweet time. It took 10 months, but as long as this continues, Im happy.

Ah, the warm feelings of motherhood!

Last weekend, mom and I went to the Keystone mall to look for her a dress. Belle was getting a little cranky and we could really figure out why. Well it would all become so clear. We must of been in the zone or something because as I was walking around a store with Belle on my hip, things got very warm. Belle was peeing all over me. So we ran to the bathroom and I went and bought her a new shirt while mom dried her pants under the hand dryer.

So Belle got cleaned up but I had to wear a pee soaked shirt the rest of the day. Luckily I was wearing black. =)

Just some pictures

Here are some pictures I grabbed off my camera.

Here is Belle feeding Jesse at Mimi and Grandpa's house. She's pretty proud of herself. She sure does love cousin Jesse since sister Sadie will have nothing to do with her.




In one of her new sunhats. Thanks Aunt Nellie!


A picture of Belle and Grandma Horner. Belle has finally started warming up to grandma. =) Her face is really chapped in this picture.

More Gymboree!

Here are some more Gymboree pics. You can see Belle's face in these. =)

Belle in the rocking boat


Class, thats Miyu in front, Belle, Will and Aliyeh


Bubble time!

Belle at Gymboree

Ingrid from Gymboree sent me some pictures she took of her daughter at Gymboree. It is during bubble time, Belle's favorite. Unfortunately there weren't any shots of Belle's face.

Like my shades!

Belle got some sunglasses this weekend and we took them for a test run last night. She kept them on for a whole walk, which suprised us.

It's warm outside!!!

After the frigid temperatures we've been having, today was a nice relief. Belle really likes being outside and has spent quite a bit of the day outside watching daddy fix the fence. While mommy was on the phone talking to apple trying to revive her brand new "dead" laptop.

Here are a few pics from today

Belle met new cousins this weekend

This past weekend we traveled to Ohio once again. This time to visit Nic's sister Rebecca and her family from New Orleans. Rebecca has two boys, Ryan (4) and Collin (1.5). Belle had a good time playing with some new kids. Collin was really the only one interested in her, but Ryan came by sometimes to give her a hug. I think though if Belle was a little bigger, her and Collin would've duked it out. Collin was always tugging at her and smacked her good in the head a few times. And then there was the time he stole her paci to put in his mouth. It was all pretty cute and Belle took it all in stride.

Here is a group shot of the kids. Trying to get 5 kids in a group shot was hard.

Gails kids: Savannah (4)& AJ (2.5), My kid: Belle (9 mos), Rebecca's kids: Collin (1.5) & Ryan (4)


Here is a shot of Nic and his sisters. Gail, Nic, and Rebecca. Unfortunately, missing in this shot is Stacy, who passed away in Oct. 06.

Look at my pearls!

Well Belle finally got to wear her pearl bracelet Grandma Horner got her. This is also the first picture I was able to get of Belle's new pearly whites.

Do you like the new look?

Well I think I got pretty far yesterday. I was able to implement my design with a little modifications til I can figure out a few things. Rhaya was a big help. Who knew but it was kinda fun tinkering around with code.

So do you like the new look?

Under Construction

If my page looks a little weird, it's because Im messing with it. Im attempting to incorporate my own design. We'll see if I can do it. So far the only thing I've been successful in is changing the font color.

How I make it happen.

Ever wonder how Im able to work with Belle. This is how I do it. My office has been transformed into a daycare.

And the Bad Mommy award goes to . . . .

Me! Belle fell off the bed for the first time yesterday. And I was sitting on it at the time. The tv caught my eye for a second and off she went. I felt horrible. Nic was coming out of the bathroom and he was there to pick her up. She was more scared than anything, but now she has a perfect carpet pattern on her forehead. It didn't help that we just got a new mattress and our bed is super high.

I guess it had to happen sometime. I heard somewhere that its good luck to fall off the bed before you're a year old. Whatever makes me feel better I guess. =)