Belle's First Trip to the Zoo

We went to the zoo today with Nic's sister Gail, her husband Anthony and her kids Savannah and AJ. We all had a great time.

First off let me say that I was one of those people who looked at those parents who leashed their kids with disgust and said to myself "I'll never put a leash on my kid". And much like my minivan, never say never. This leash was a life saver today. Belle wanted to be out of the wagon and walk just like Savannah and AJ.

Belle only liked to see the animals from afar. First we fed the giraffe. I thought for sure Belle would really enjoy this. But everytime I tried to give her the piece of sweet potato she just wanted to chuck it. She didn't mind getting that close to the giraffe, but I wouldn't say she enjoyed it.

We headed off to the petting zoo where I thought for sure Belle would love to pet the goats. While at the fair this year she was all about petting the goats. But nope, she just clung to Nic and wanted no part of it.

There was a carosel which I looked forward to. Again Belle clung to me for her dear little life, but I think she enjoyed it. After a few trips around I was able to get her to hold the pole.

The zoo had two new exhibits since the last time we went. The dolphin underwater dome, which was really neat. Belle liked looking up and seeing the dolphins swim by. The second exhibit was the Oceans exhibit. There they had dog sharks that you could actually pet. Belle was really interested in getting a look but I don't think it had much to do with the sharks as much as it did the water.

Belle was a trooper all day and didn't get cranky once in spite of the fact that she only had one nap today. We came home ate a grilled cheese, played with AJ and Savannah and was in bed by 6:30. Now lets just hope she sleeps all night and doesn't want to get up at 3:00am like she did this morning.

Tiny Dancer - Part 3

Here is the video as promised. The kids dancing with her thought it would be fun to imitate her and from the looks of it Belle didn't mind.

Help me name this blog

I like my new design, but I don't like the name. If anyone has any clever ideas, please, please share.

A new blog to stalk!!

I finally got Sara to post on the new blog I made her. You'll notice my wonderful design skills. =) Check it out for a suprise! (Well unless you already knew)

Now Im off to redesign my blog, can't have hers looking better than mine.

Embracing my Paleness

I made a realization this weekend, Im really pale. Ok, so I knew that already, but I was really noticing it in pictures this weekend.

Look at the picture of me and Nic. Well he's got a decent tan, something I'll never acquire. But Belle is even darker than me. You can kinda see it in our Colts picture. She got her daddy's complexion, thank God.

I embrace my paleness. Yes, I hate the sun, I admit it. Maybe it's because I just feel my skin frying when it touches it. Maybe it is because I'll never have a tan. Maybe I'll never get skin cancer because I avoid the sun at all costs. Or maybe I'll get it because I'm so pale. Who knows, but I guess being pale is one of those things that makes me different. Cheesy, I know.

GO Colts!!!

Yeah the Colts won!!! Here are some shots of us in our colts gear.

Check out Pulse Creative Partners, Stefan is wearing his jersey everyday until the Colts lose.



Seriously now, I got to stop blogging. I have got to go to bed cause I guarantee Belle is going to wake up anytime. She's sick and hasn't been sleeping well.

Tiny Dancer - Part 2

Well Belle got her chance to dance once again. This time at my cousin Sunie's wedding. It was beautiful, I especially loved the flower arrangement at the altar. Belle and Nic stayed home for the ceremony while Belle took her nap. She was saving up her energy for the dance floor. And she didn't disappoint. VIDEO TO COME!!

(Ok I know this post could be laid out better, but Im tired and don't feel like going back to photoshop and resizing the pics to fit better.)

Belle's first trip to the Indy Children's Museum

We went to the Children's museum on Friday with Kelly and Michaela. We had a great time. Belle loved playing in their playscape area. She especially loved playing in the little house sitting at the table and playing with the fake food.

She endured one bratty little boy when he kept pushing her around the trains. I wanted to just go over and tell that little kid to be nice, but I restrained and just watched. But Belle was so nice she just went back to what she was doing. I wanted so badly to see her just push him to the ground.

She played well with all the kids. For some reason Belle and Micheala just kind ignored each other. There was one incident in the sand area where Belle threw sand in a girls face on accident. I felt really bad, but the girl didn't really mind.

Unfortunately the carosel was down, I was really looking forward to that. I wanted a picture of me and Belle on the Carosel like the picture I have of me, sara and dad when we went so many years ago. Well maybe next time.

*Edited to add* Kelly reminded me of one thing. When going to the museum, remember to take more than one diaper. I had them all sitting in my van, but they never actually made it into the bag. So I changed Belle when we first got to the museum, but during our stay Belle decided to leave me a nice steamy pile. Thank you Kelly for coming to the rescue. I'm forever grateful. Otherwise we would've had a stinky ride home and a nasty rash to deal with.

Bout time!

Im sure Jessica is crazy busy, but that didn't help us from dying of anticipation.

Belle's pics are up. Check them out.

Sara's wedding video!

Ok so we don't have any pictures of Belle yet, but Sara just showed me a little clip of her wedding video. Its really good. Sara thought there were a lot of unflattering shots of her, but all I saw was my slouching. Can we say saggy boobs? In my defense I wasn't able to wear a bra with that dress. =) Where was mom to yell at me and tell me to "stand up straight" when I need her?

And of course there is some cute shots of Belle. And one of he chewing on her hand which is kinda weird looking. =)

Sara's Wedding Video

We're so proud!

I forgot one thing about yesterday that was really funny. Belle is starting to say a few other words other than mommy, dada and no. First she said dog, which sounded more like "da...oog". Well yesterday on the way to the photoshoot we were driving through a not so nice area. Sara was like "Belle this is what we call a ghetto, can you say ghetto?" Sure enough, Belle was like "ge...o"

Ah, we're so proud, that'll look nice in the baby book. =)

Photoshoot today!

Belle had her photoshoot today with Jessica Strickland. We went to the Indianapolis Art Museum.

Belle had just woken up from her nap and was in a really good mood. She was hamming it up, but as time went on, you could tell she was getting tired. All she wanted to do was go explore. It was starting to get hard to get her to smile so we resorted to dancing around singing patty cake and itsy bitsy spider. Im sure we looked like complete dorks.

It was hard to get any pictures with me or Sara holding her too. It was HOT. Im sure any pictures I end up being in, I'll have sweat pouring down my face.

Belle may even have a spot in a Jon McLaughlin music video. There were some guys there shooting the museum grounds for something and asked if they could include us. They didn't ask us to sign any release or anything so Im not sure any of it will actually be used.

So now we wait and hope to see some pictures on Jessica's blog soon. Jessica said she'd email us when she posted them. I kinda just laughed to myself, does she know we constantly stalk her blog? We'll probably see it before she has time to email us. =)

Belle and her animals!

Belle had a lot of fun this weekend, especially with the animals. The cat showed up at the Freshour's and has to be by far the friendliest cat I've ever met. Belle laid on the cat and tried to pick him up and the cat didn't seem to mind. Then she went on to kiss Sam and lay with Jesse. You'll notice that Sadie isn't in any of these pictures because she won't get close enough to Belle to even get a picture.

Photo editing

Here are a couple photos from last weekend.

I never really edit photos, but Rhaya gave me some suggestions and I thought I'd try them out.

Thanks Rhaya!

Bustin a move!

We Met Michaela and Kelli at the Mall

We met Michaela and Kelli at the mall again. The girls are getting so big. Both are walking and running so it was hard for Kelli and I to talk while the girls were playing. But we stuck them in the strollers later and walked around the mall.

Here we are about October 2006


And today


Michaela & Belle (with Michaela's sippy)

The Many Faces of Belle

We had a little photoshoot today. Its funny to see all the faces Belle made.



And she must of thought Sadie's spot looked comfortable.

Toddler + Ice Cream = Sitting Still (priceless!)

We went to Ritters today after Belle's second nap. While we were there, Belle would not be held, would not hold your hand, and wanted nothing more than to run out into the middle of the parking lot (its all outdoor seating). But as soon as we got our ice cream she sat still and waited for each bite.

She had probably the most ice cream she's ever had in her life, which still wasn't a lot. She shared Nic's Peanut Butter Cup sundae with peanut butter sauce and my carmel sundae with nuts. Belle didn't have a preference as long as it was ice cream.

Don't worry, she came home and still ate dinner. She had scrambled eggs, a jar of veggies and played with a banana.

We're in so much trouble

God certainly thought it would be funny to give us quite the handful in Belle. Her newest thing is when we tell her no, she'll look you straight in the eye and say no and shack her finger at you. We don't even shake our finger, where did she get this?

Tubes in and back to normal!

Belle got her tubes today. We went in at 7:00. Belle wasn't aloud to eat so we kept her out of the living room and kitchen so she wouldn't think about asking for anything. Once at the hospital they got us back pretty quickly.

Belle put her gown on, which was way too small in my opinion, and watched Higgly Town Heroes on Disney. She really hated to have her blood pressure taken. But she was given a bear that had the hospital logo on it and that made things a little better.

Once it was time for surgery we walked her to the surgery doors and had to give her over to the nurse. Belle went right into her arms, but had second thoughts when she say that we weren't coming with her. She never cried though.

After about 10 minutes the surgery was done and they kept her for another 15 minutes waiting for the anesthesia to wear off. We heard her crying at that point, but from what we hear she jumped right into the nurses arms and was ready to come back to us. After some hugs from Nic (all she wanted was him) and some apple juice she was ready to go home.

Got Milk!

Just like her mommy, Belle loooves her milk. She was full of tantrums yesterday and I was trying to get by with just giving her water since I give her a ton of milk. Nope Belle really had to have her milk.

Here she is with her milk mustache.

The Pictures are Up!

The pictures are up and of course they are great. Check them out!

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.