And we're back! Merry Christmas!

O.k. so my early New Year's resolution is to try my darnedest to keep up with this blog! I'd really like to do a better job of documenting Belle's growth and activities!! This first year has absolutely FLOWN by...everyone said it would, but I didn't really grasp it until times like this when I find myself sitting at the computer wondering how to sum up Belle's first YEAR of life! And realizing I haven't been on here in 8 months!

One year ago today we came home from the hospital to celebrate Christmas with our family. It was amazing...God has so throughly to completely blessed our lives. And it all comes back to today...Jesus' birthday. When he began his life, that he ultimately sacrificed for us, so we could live. So as today comes to a close...I got a weird burst of energy at about 1130pm after passing out on the couch at about 830pm, haha. Anyway, as Jesus' birthday is ending I'm taking a moment to say a prayer of thanks and praise for EVERYTHING. Everything we have is because of Him!

And in the upcoming year, I'm REALLY going to try to document all our memories better, so I can show Belle (and her future brothers/sisters :)) someday!! Merry Christmas everyone!! I will post current pics soon!

2-4 months!

I was looking back at Belle's 2-month checkup compared to this one...in 2 months she's gained almost 4 and a half pounds and and grown 3.5 inches!! She went from being in the 50-70 percentile, to 90-99th! Holy growth spurt! She's like me when I was pregnant...at least with the weight gain :) haha

Trip to San Diego!

[Belle 4 months]

Well, Belle is continuing to grow by the minute, or so it seems...we just got back from her 4-month check-up and she's 15 pounds 15 ounces and 26 inches long! She's almost doubled her weight since she was born! She's in the 90th percentile for weight and 99th for height. She's pretty close to rolling over from back to front now too...she's almost did it at the doc's this morning :) She's becoming more and more aware and interactive now, and her new favorite things are singing in her crib when she wakes up in the morning, playing in her bouncer, and intently watching the dogs as they walk around the room.

Last week we took Belle on her first road trip to San Diego, and this week Belle got her first cold as a result of said road trip! Haha...we happened to pick a time to go to San Diego when it was FREEZING and SUPER windy. It was so windy we couldn't go to the beach with her :( We only took her outside for a walk once in our time there, and it was so windy were had to walk one block east of the boardwalk so the buildings would help shield the wind! It was still a nice trip though...we had a beachfront view, so at least we could see the ocean :)

San Diego Trip!

Bath time!

Playing with Daddy! :)

All bundled up in style!

Bouncing is fun!

...and TIRING! :)

The Rollover!

Here's the second rollover...caught on tape! YAY! Please excuse my horrendous cinematography...defintely a skill I do not possess as you can tell by my finger blocking the view! :)

Sleeping through the night!

Hello!  I know it's been awhile...Belle and the new house have been keeping us really busy!  She's growing like crazy and doing new stuff all the time!  I actually go back to work in 9 days :(  The time with her has been SO AMAZING, I never want to leave her!  But the time off has FLOWN by.  So let's see, she's grown so much since my last entry, I'll post some more recent pics of her :)  At about 7 and a half weeks, she started sleeping through the night!  The first time she slept about 8 hours, and now she sleeps for about 10 hours a stretch at night.  It's glorious! :)  I read the book, "Becoming Babywise" and that's helped us a TON!

 

[Belle 1 month]

She's just such a happy baby, such a joy and blessing from God!  She's all smiles and loves to makes faces.  Her current likes include: her playmat with mobile overhanging, she's obsessed with the star at the top of it that lights up and plays music, she'll just stare at it and laugh, her swing, and playing with daddy!  She LOVES to eat, she's already up to 6 ounces a feeding (sometimes 8 before bed!)

[Belle 2 months...looks how much she's grown!]

Also, breaking news!  Belle rolled over for the first time today!  YAY!  From her stomach to her back.  However, it was bittersweet because I totally MISSED IT!! :(  I felt like such a bad mommy!  She rolls over for the first time and we both miss it!!  She was doing tummy time on her playmat, Brian was on the computer in the room with Belle, I leave the room for a minute to get her bottle, come back and she's on her back!  So I say to Brian, "Oh, did you put her on her back?"  Thinking she got fussy on her tummy and he rolled her over.  He said, "No."  I couldn't believe it!  I even thought in the minute or two I was in the kitchen, "what if she rolls over and you miss it?" immediately followed by, "Nah, what are the odds?"  Turns out they were pretty good!  So of course my reaction was to put her right back on her tummy and watch her intently waiting for her to repeat the feat!  So at least I could say I physically saw her do it the same day she actually did it for the first time.  Think she rolled over?  No such luck, she stayed on her tummy for about 10 minutes and then started to yell at me cause she was hungry and her bottle was getting cold!  Jeez MOM!

[The infamous tummy time playmat where the rollover occurred! :)]

Haha...well the day's not quite over yet.  We have one more tummy time before bed...maybe I'll get lucky and she'll perform for me tonight and alleviate some of my guilt for missing it the first time!  Haha...jk.  I'm just so happy she's learning so much, doing so well, and she's such a happy, healthy girl!

'Twas the night before Christmas...

...and at Banner Thunderbird God chose to bless us, with Annabelle, our first!  That's right...after all the waiting Belle finally arrived, and on Christmas Eve no less!  As if we didn't already know she is SPECIAL, she chose a very special day to grace us with her presence :)  So here's the story...

On Monday (12/22) I had my weekly doctors appt. and I was finally diagnosed with gestational hypertension (high blood pressure) and it's no wonder with every body part swollen to 18x its normal size :)  So my doc sent us to the hospital for a non-stress test.  A few hours later, I was discharged, and told I was most likely in early labor.  When we got home, my contractions started getting a little more intense, but still weren't regular enough for the hospital.  On Tuesday, my water broke...or so I thought?  Not as easy to tell as in the movies :)  So we went back to the hospital to see if it had actually broke... after hours of waiting, and one test coming back negative, Brian and I were getting ready to go get dinner when my nurse came in and said, "Just kidding, you're water broke and you're getting admitted!"

About 12 hours later, Annabelle Sue Peter was born at 3:52am weighing 7 pounds 12 ounces and 19.5 inches long.  I really can't complain, I had an easy labor...got an infection and fever and gave it to Belle, but after they gave us antibiotics and we were fine.  Luckily, we all got discharged on Christmas Day with just in time to make it to celebrate with our family!  SO we ended up getting the best Christmas present we could ever ask for...and a day early! :)

The last month has been busy, but going well!  Annabelle is doing great, sleeping pretty well (usually 4-5 hour stretches at night), smiling at us...and making us fall more in love with her everyday!  We're finally now settling into more of a routine (a lot of that is thanks to the book "Becoming Babywise", which I recommend to all first-time moms!).  And right when I feel like I'm just starting to get a handle on this whole mommy thing...we're moving next week!  Haha...so it's a very busy time...but also a very exciting one.  We feel SO incredibly blessed and thank God every day for bringing this amazing little girl into our lives!

Here are some hospital ad newborn pics...next time I'll post more recent ones of Belle and ones of our new house!!

                                                    First diaper change!                                                            

"That was tiring!"

Proud Papa :)

 Life is ROUGH!!

   The Loves of my Life <3

         Hospital pictures...only 1 day old!        

...and already smiling!

Our Christmas present!!