Teeth, steps and chocolate cake!!!

Everyday is something new with our beautiful little girl. She will be one year old in tomorrow, hard to believe God has given us a full year with her already!!
Bell has two new teeth coming in on the bottom, so now has six in all. But she does just fine with the four that are fully in, as she eats almost everything. This week her new additions were dried Blueberries and pinapple chunks. I think she thought the blueberries were raisins (which she loves), so it was funny to watch her face - you could tell just when she knew they were different. But I guess she decided they are as good as raisins, as she ate them all.
Speaking of eating, I am awaiting some pictures from our neighbor Steph (got them) that they took Sunday night of Bell eating her Birthday cake (our camera is giving us a VERY hard time lately!! ). Anyway, we had a little pizza / Birthday party for Bell Sunday with our friends from Delaware. Bell had a great time playing with her birthday balloon, her new toys and eating her piece of CHOCOLATE cake!! Don did not understand why the first birthday cake had to be chocolate, until he saw his beautiful little girl a mess in chocolate. Everyone should have pictures of them eating their first birthday cake!! I have some great ones of Austin at that age. We had fun making her birthday cake (the first one flopped due to our electric going out half way through cooking it!!)

I really can open a box of cake mix and make a cake, but NOT when the power goes out in the middle of baking it!! Since our oven is electric, the cake looked like a cake with a big glob of pudding in the center. By the time the power came back on it was to late to salvage it, so back to the store for another box of mix!
She is also taking steps everday now!! She took 6 in a row at her party. Mostly she is doing three or four at a time. Not long now and she will be running all over the joint.
Saturday was a beautiful fall day here, clear and a bit cold. I am one of the Activities Coordinators for the local Mothers & More group, and we had set up a family outing day at the local orchards for Saturday. The weather and the turnout were both great! Don was helping out our neighbor Brett finish up putting together his Corvette before they move :((((, so Austin invited his friend JD. Well the boys had so much fun doing the corn maze, painting pumpkins and playing in the grain boxes, they did not want to go home!
We are off to New York on Friday for the weekend and another Birthday Party for Bell. It will be nice to see family and friends on Saturday. But of course, we will be out bright and early to get home to see the SAINTS game. They are having a GREAT SEASON this year!!! GO SAINTS!!

Pics will not post right now - ugh!!

Karen

4 steps !!!!

Don't have much time to write, but just have to share...
Bell took 4 steps tonight (actually she did it twice!!). Both times to her DAD!!
YEAH!!

My Tuesday update..

This morning Bell did not want anything to do with me. She cried and reached out for daddy. When he picked her up she snuggled up in his arms and almost went back to sleep. Of course he eventually had to give her up to get ready for work, but the she cried again. All she wanted was dad!!! It was such a beautiful sight to see Don holding his little girl. I love the look he gets on his face when he holds her, just so full of love. He was not able to hold her much in the past week due to the surgery on his neck (he had a very fast growing cyst taken off in out patient surgery). He is feeling much better now, with a nice little scar to show for it. When dad leaves for work in the morning I hold Bell at the door so she can wave bye. Dad is the only one she says "eye-eye" to when she waves goodbye.
We finally got the pool covered this weekend and now with all of the rain today will need to pump off the cover. Pools are such fun!! It is supposed to be rainy here all week long. I hope it clears for the weekend.
Bell has made a new friend Roxanne in her playgroup. The group is the 0-1 age group and we meet every Tuesday morning, so some of the ones are babies, and some are Bells age. Bell and Roxy are about the same age, and like to spend the time trying to take each others sippy cups and snack traps. They had a great time chasing Jenny's cat all over today, but never caught him. There are 7 of us and we each take a week hosting it at our house. It is a fun time for the kids to play and the moms to chat. I am learning about the pre-schools and other things for kids to do in the area (from the other moms with older ones). Roxy is already signed up for 2 year old pre-school for next September. I didn't even know there was two year old pre-school. Needless to say we will be doing stay and plays, playgroups, library time and stuff like that at two!!
Austin started swimming yesterday for the winter season (until mid February). He will be swimming three days a week, with meets every other Saturday morning (8:30 AM warm ups - yuck!!). Today they switched specials in school, so he now has gym everyday for two months.
As for me, I have to go ship some packages and do the dishes.....
Karen

Beautiful days

Yesterday and today were beautiful!! After two days of cold and rainy weather (we got 1 1/2 inches of rain over two days), the sun and warm weather are so welcome. Today was 85 degrees, on October 9th! Bell had a great time playing outside with the dogs. She has a little picnic table that she is now big enough to climb on, so she does. She loves to give kisses, although they are mostly to the dogs! You know how little kids give kisses, with their mouths wide open, they dogs don't hesitate to lick her up. But she gives as good as she gets by playing in their water bowls!!

Don and I worked on the pool today while she played, after finally tracking down the manufacturer of the pool (almost impossible if you do not know the make and model!!). It is almost ready to be covered for the winter, but today we were wishing the water was a little warmer to go for a swim.

I am in the process of staining a bookshelf that I picked up at a yard sale to store her toys in the living room. As you can see, her car needs a new home as well, other than next to the end table!! Boy is she quick, one moment she was playing with her car, and the next she was tossing stuff off of the table. Our little climber.

More later, time for bed now!
Karen

Up, Up, and Away

Isabella is standing on her own all of the time now. Of course I sat on the floor for a half an hour this evening trying to get a picture, but could not get it fast enough before she fell down. She is reaching out for things while standing and will be taking that first step any day now!! She also now knows how to get down steps as well as up them and off of the couch. Then again she also knows how to climb from her little car onto the end table next to the couch.

Austin is doing great in school, interim report grades were all 94 and above, with two 100 grades!! He really seems to like his new school, except for carrying his backpack all day as his locker is so far away from everything! Austin and I took the dogs to Saint John's church on Sunday afternoon for the Blessing of the Pets. There were about 25 dogs there and a few cats. Then we took them to the park and had them jumping over the benches. To round out the day, Austin got to vacuum out all of the dog hair from Dons car. Don and Bell stayed home to watch the Saints game :( - they lost, but with a 3:1 record are off to a good start this year - GO SAINTS!

I have been busy with the business. Last week I had quite a few local customers come to the house to try on - and buy :) carriers, a great customer of mine who is a photographer is coming here tomorrow to do a photo shoot of some new carriers (and my two babywearing friends Lori and Virginia and their babes are going to be my models), and Saturday I am doing a local children health fair. Keeping busy and having fun.

We are all so sad that our next door neighbors will be moving in a few weeks (to Guam of all places!). They have been great to us over the past year, and we will miss them (and their three dogs). We are hoping and praying for nice new neighbors, who hopefully have dogs that get along with ours!

That's it for now, more pictures soon!
Karen

My sister Sue....

It is amazing that after 16 years, you can still miss someone when they are gone from your life. Today was my sister Sue's birthday, September 25th, 1960. I wish I had a picture of her to post here, but that was before the digital age, and I have never gotten to scan any in.
When we were at moms a few weeks ago we found my copy of the family video. We kids had the old reel tapes put onto video for mom and dad years ago (what we really need to do is now transfer it to disk). Dave and Denise came in and we got a kick out of watching some of it. It is so funny as the tapes are all out of order, so you go from Dan running track in high school to us playing with the bunny rabbit in the backyard, to my 8th grade dance dress (red with white polka dots - how could I forget that!!), to Sue being in her school play. It was fun to watch and Austin had not seen it since he was a kid.
Anyway, I was just sitting here looking at my beautiful daughter, Isabella Susan and remembering what a beautiful, loving sister I had - how so very special she was in everyone's life that she touched!

Bell's Birthday WISH LIST

Hi all,
Bell’s first Birthday is fast approaching. We cannot believe this first magical, wonderful year has gone by so fast!! She is crawling like crazy and will soon enough be up and walking.
As you know our home is small, and big toys take up space, so we just wanted you to know that we already have a walker and car for her. We are NOT asking you to specifically purchase anything on her list, this is just a WISH LIST and ideas.
Books, music (she loves music!!), learning toys (stacking, colors, ect..), wooden toys, large blocks (mega blocks) are all great ideas.
Bell is set for clothes for this winter (with the exception of some long sleeve onsies – Size 12 months), and for the next year ahead (thanks to Morgan, Katie and Emily) and I only have so much drawer space.
Please NO Barney or Tellatubbies (Say what you will, but we will respect Don’s wishes on this one!)
I put a few web address’s for deals where I found them. We do not have any problems with pre-loved CD’s or DVDs if you can get them on Amazon or Ebay any cheaper.

NOTE:
I WILL NOT read the comments on this post, so if you get something on this list it would be great to come back here and post it under the comments so that others know not to buy it.


Lori Berkner
We are . . . The Laurie Berkner Band - DVD
Buzz Buzz – Music CD
Victor Vito – Music CD

Signing Time
http://www.signingtime.com/products/
http://www.1010mlm.com/signingtime.html (bonus CD w/ DVDs)
We are looking to get Vol 1,2 and 3 of the DVD
And the Vol 1-3 music CD


Other Stuff
http://playcottage.com/products.php?cat=48a
Lots of good stuff in the 1-3 age group category at the Play Cottage site: Any of the Jumbo Knob puzzles, Water Blocks, Fun Hammer Balls, Oval Xylophone, Concherta, Geometric Sorting Board.

Veggie Tales DVDs
Baby Einstein DVDs

Robeez Shoes
Free S&H at Bippity Boppity Baby
http://www.bippityboppitybaby.com/robeez1.htm
Booties – Pink 6-12 months
Trainers – Pastel Pink 12-18 months
Sandals – Pink 12-18 months
Hearts – Brown 12-18 months

It's my birthday I'm 12 !!

It's Austin today posting this to tell u about my birthday party. Ok the people that were invited to my party were from left Kyle, Austin, Tyler, and J.D. My party started at 1:00 pm on Saturday and ended at 1:00 pm the next day. On the 23rd we went to Dave and Busters and won 4400 tickets. Then we went back to my house to have a sleep over. We stayed up until 4:00 AM and then finally fell asleep. When we all woke up we played video games on the Gamecube and on our D.S's. When J.D finally left at 5:00 because he asked to stay longer I was finally ready to go back to bed. For presents I got a mp3 player a few D.S games and one ps2 and Gamecube game and a wireless controller. I also got at least $75, overall my birthday was really GREAT and I had a lot of fun.

Our Little Cookie Monster.....

As I posted yesterday, here is what you get when an (almost!!) 12 year old hangs out in his room with a friend and forgets to clean up after himself. Bell crawled out of her room and was roaming the house. This is all good, as long as the dog dishes are up on the table. But she was to quiet, so I went in search of her. And I saw just a foot sticking out as I looked into Austins room. And there she was, cookie in both hands, discarded ones already on the floor, having the time of her life!!! Mind you this was only about a half hour after her bath. Needless to say, she LOVES oreos.





Grandma T. has gotten Bell a whole bunch of books, and we read all the time. As space is tight in Bell's room (with her sharing it with our office at the moment), we have gotten creative as to storage. The bottom of Bell's changing table used to hold clothes, then she learned to stand and would pull them all out every day. Now the clothes are all in the closet and dresser, and the changing table holds books and toys. This works great as she can reach everything, and they are easy to see and put away!! We take out the toy basket on the bottom shelf and she empties out all of the toys and then climbs from the basket to the shelf and back again, over and over. She is just to cute, and really is good at solo play. Oh, and she climbed from her car onto the coffee table today - YIKES!!




Tomorrow Austin turns 12!!!

Late night thoughts...

I went to bed about 11 pm, but just could not sleep, Don had no such problems and is fast asleep. As he should be after work all day. It's about 1:20 AM, and I just finished up some updates to my website and getting out my Fall newsletter - things that are so hard to do with Bell underfoot. Sometimes late at night affords a nice quite solid block of time, no "mom" from Austin, or dogs barking - just the keyboard tapping away. The only person I know might also be up is my mom, but hopefully she is sleeping sound tonight. I would also included my mother in law in this, but with her computer crashed she may actually be getting sleep these days at this time of night!
Mom is feeling a little better everyday according to our phone conversations (she was in a car accident last week). I thank God she came out of it without major injuries, just the car got totaled. It is times like these that it is hard to be so far from our family (and friends!!). I am really looking forward to our October trip to New York for Bells birthday.
Last trip to New York was really a trip to New Jersey. Our plans changed last minute with Gina's grandmothers passing, so we went to visit Don's Aunt Nell (really great aunt) over in Phillipsburg, NJ (as close to the PA border as you can get). It was a really wonderful visit, as we have been exchanging cards, but had yet been able to meet IRL. She is a wonderful woman, and we had a great visit with her, and then went out to dinner with Dons parents. It was nice for them to get to spend some time with Bell. We spent a few fun hours on Sunday with Nick and his family on the way home. It was a BEAUTIFUL day and we met then in Hoboken Park. They have this one section totally designed for little kids, and Bell had a blast as everything was her size. I have never seen see saws so small. We do not get to see them often enough, especially seeing as both guys are godfathers to each others daughters.
I have been so busy lately, I feel like I am busier now then when I had a full time job. No complaints, I love it! I joined the local Mothers and More group and right away got sucked into a committee. I am helping to plan all of the activities from the group for the year, and getting to meet a lot of new moms along the way. Next week Bell will start a play group with the 0-1 year olds (and I ended up as group leader there as well). And with Don as a Knight of Columbus I of course have been getting the "when are you becoming a Columbiette" question from the ladies all the time. So, they have my application and check, but I am not sure how much free time I will have to give.
I am trying, with this beautiful fall weather, to get out on the bike everyday with Bell, and soon Austin will start swimming 3 afternoons a week. He started the Teen challenge RE program at church this year, and got to pick which 20 hours of activities (plus three 4 week classes) he wanted to participate in. The kids get to pick from things like spending a day making a quilt to go to someone who is sick, to community service days, to movie night. He liked the movie night until he read that you then have to discuss how they are relevant to the church, but I still think he signed up for it!!
Well, the original thought was to come on and post some pictures of Bell, but now I am going to bed. Tomorrows post will be titled "Cookie Monster"... just imagine. You 12 year old brother leaves a package of Oreo cookies on the floor in his room and you find them before moms knows about it.....pictures to follow.
Night,
Karen

Dinner and bedtime...

Evening all,
Food is always interesting in our home.
Don makes the BEST sauce !! Two weeks ago he made it with sausage and meatballs (and tomatoes from MY garden I might add), so we have been having great meals of eggplant parm (also from my garden), ravioli and pasta. Next time he promises ox tails again, yum!
Austin, has been such a picky eater for so long - mom remember when he used to eat raw broccoli at the grocery store with you!! Well under much duress he has finally begun to spread his wings and try burgers, pizza and Bologna!!
Bell on the other hand has no such food issues at 10 months old. For those who don't know, she did NOT like baby food and has been eating table food since 7 months.
Tonight dinner was (and in this order I might add):

• Cut up chicken cutlet
• 1/2 pear
• a hunk of chedder cheese
• Cream of Broccoli soup
• 2 tater tots (curtesy of Austin)
• and yogurt covered raisins

Here she is at dinner tonight....

And then.... she sleeps!!

Isn't she just beautiful!!

Our little Dare Devil...

Hi all,
Bell LOVES to climb!! I am sure she would love a set of stairs in our house, but has to make due with the deck ones (powerwashing them is a fall project) and the pull down attic steps. She loves getting on and off her horse, and she just got a little car / walker and loves it!! Today she found out she can stand on it, and now does not want to sit on it, but STAND on the seat all the time. She has no fear.






(Clicking on any picture will let you see a bigger version of it and download it to your computer).

Bell has made a friend named Garrin, who is 7 months old. Garrin's mom Lori and I are friends and the kids are having a lot of fun together (thanks to Lori for the idea for the blog, she is doing one for Garrin too!). This is from our visit to Garrin's house on Dover Air Force Base last week.



We are getting ready for Austin's birthday next weekend. He is having a sleep over with 4 friends (yes, I am crazy!). The school birthday cut off is earlier here than in NY, so he is really the youngest kid in his class and can't wait to turn 12.
That's all for now,
Don and Karen

Out with summer, in with Fall...

Hi all - our first post.....
Summer is ending, and Fall is fast approaching!! We are sad to be closing up our pool, as Austin and Bell had such a fun time in it this summer. On the other hand we are looking forward to fall, my favorite time of year. Isabella became a water rat this summer and loved both the big pool and her little baby one, that is of course until she learned to climb in and out of it -over and over again!!
Bell is crawling all over at warp speed these days, as well as pulling up on anything and everything. She loves to climb stairs, and sadly the only ones we have in our home are the drop down attic ones, which she is pretty good at climbing I might add.
Austin has begun a new school year in a new school. Off to middle school, with the changing of classes and a locker that is too far out of the way for him to use most of the time (can you believe my baby is that old!). He will be swimming on the Lake Forest team again for the winter season, and gets his bottom braces on today!
Don and I always seem to be busy. When Don isn't working at work, he has been working around the house. Football season has begun, so you know where he can be found on Sundays now!!
I am busy with Bell and the business (www.handsfreebaby.com), and loving every minute of being a work-at-home / stay-at-home mom!! We just did a photo shoot here at our house yesterday for a babywearing article coming out in October in the Delaware Parent magazine. I think the dogs even made it into some of the shots.
Come back and find out want we are up to.... I will post (with pics!!) at least weekly - hopefully more.
Love,
Karen and Family