Lasik and the Park :)

Poor Brian got Lasik on Friday :(  The end result is good, he can see perfectly...but the experience was not so fun for someone like him who hates even putting in eyedrops!  They ended up having to use some contraption called "retractors"   which sound like a medieval torture device to me!  I ask him if the Valium they gave him helped, and he says, in true Brian form, "Yeah, they gave me ONE 10 mg pill...then they gave the fat chick next to me two!  I weigh more than that chick!"  Haha...

So now he has creepy, red zombie eyes...but other than that the procedure was a success.  I made the silly mistake of waiting for him in the waiting room while he was gettting it done...with Belle.  Haha...silly mommy!  Needless to say I probably did about a hundred hot laps around the doctor's office, and had to excuse my daughter to pretty much all of the staff she ran into/got in the way of :)  At least she was adorable doing it.  Except when she decided to turn off the lobby tv everyone was watching...uh-oh!

She did do one completely precious thing while we were there though.  A family came in with several children, one was a little girl that was almost five, named Keyana.  Now Belle has no concept of personal space with anyone...I know, I know, she's only 1.  So Belle see the new family and figures, "Hey, they're the only people within a 1-mile radius I haven't poked and prodded!"  So of course, she runs up to the family.  Then she stops...looks at Keyana for a minute, then walks right up to her, arms outstretched, and gives her the biggest hug..and holds on to her for a good 20 seconds!  It broke my heart.  So adorable.  Then in true Kristyna fashion, I got jealous and said, "Jeez, she never hugs me like that!"  Haha...no but seriously it was the cutest thing I've ever seen.  And Belle must have learned early that that's a quick way to make fast friends, because then Keyana wouldn't leave her side.  Hence, I was chasing two kids around Barnet, Delaney & Perkins.  Yes!

A few days later...after Dad had recovered a little bit, we took a trip to the park!  Here's Brian and Belle on top of the world!!

Oh and Belle newest word is "down!"  Which she says pretty much anytime you're holding her :)  haha...my little independant woman!

Oh and one last thing...7 days until Telluride!!! Wahoo!  First real mommy/daddy trip since Belle's was born! Powdery slopes here we come!

I'm Domestically Challenged!

So now that Belle's one, I'm trying to transition her into eating only table food.  She's been trying different things for a while now, but I'm suddenly overwhlemed with trying to come up with a balanced diet for a one-year old!  Now, for a normal woman my age with any amount of culinary skills this would not be a challenge at all!  I mean come on, we're not talking about preparing an elaborate meal to feed a large dinner party, we're talking about feeding a one-year old here!  How hard can it be?!  If only I was that woman...nope we're talking about the girl who for the past decade, eats out or throws together something either microvavable or with a prep time of 5 mins or less.  I have zero domestic skills (poor Brian), he actually teaches me how to cook basic, everyday dinner type meals.  So now I feel completely unqualified for coming up with healthy meals for my child.  I'm the girl who still gets a "smoothie" (code word for sugar-filled chocolate blended drink) everyday for lunch!  I'm  so wishing I would have taken Home Ec :)  So here's to some online research on things like steaming veggies, and appropriate meals for developing kiddos, you know Cooking for Dummies types stuff.  Oh, there's an idea, maybe I should buy that book!  Jeez...wish me luck!  Someday I will look back at this and laugh...I hope ;)

Recap of Belle's 1st year!

Since I was so bad last year about keeping up-to-date with Belle's 1st year, I'm going to try and do a mini-highlight reel :) Hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed her first year...it' been an amazing ride!

Family pictures at Tempe Town Lake
5 months old

Belle went swimming for the first time! 5.5 months

Belle didn't like getting dunked very much! :)

4th of July Summer vacation to Ventura! 6.5 months

Belle with her Aunt Cheri and Uncle Rick

Belle started crawling!! 7 months old

Hanging out with Grandma!

GO Cards!! Belle's 1st Cards outfit...they won! 8.5 months old

Happy Halloween!! 10 months old!

Belle's fav part of the costume!

I LIKE Halloween!

O.k. so I got tired of posting pics...I'll post X-mas and birthday stuff next time. I'll end with these AMAZING pics taken by my incredibly talented best friend Krissi Kai! This was over X-mas time, so Belle was one year old! :)

A Kiss from Belle!

On Sunday night (01/03/10) while I was trying to hug on Belle and snuggle with her before bed,(She's normally very anti-cuddle) she gave me her first kiss! It totally melted my heart! In true brute Belle style, she preceded the kiss with a slap in the face...I like to think it was her trying to figure out how to grab my face and pull it to her! haha...but the second time she got it right...of course I thought she was going to try and hit me again (and then laugh.) But instead she grabbed both sides of my face with her hands, pulled it towards hers, and kissed me on the lips! It was seriously the most precious thing ever...and yet to be repeated! But hey it's a start! :)

Belle's Vocabulary

I was going over the words Belle know...it seems like she's constantly adding another one...so I thought I'd start to jot them down. i think it will be fun to look back this time next year and see where she was...

Belle's Vocabulary:

• Daddy (was her fan favorite for quite awhile)
• Mum (haha...she uses the British pronunciation) or Mama
• Uh-oh (another fan favorite)
• Doggie
• Light (new one this week, she says as pointing to a light or ceiling fan)
• NO! (and she only yells this word...it's hilarious. Well for now...)
• Snack (sounds more like 'ack!')
• All done (This one's debatable, but I could have swore I heard her say it tonight after I did.)
• oh, and her absoulte #1 most used word....'Hi!' She says it all the time to anyone who can hear her, while waving "hi" with her hand as well. It's adorable.

Belle at 1 year