Bragging Rights

Ok, so no pictures this time - I just have to take some time to brag on my family.

First, I have to brag about my amazing husband.
He took me out last night for my birthday (it was the 27th - and my 25th), and let me tell you - I felt extremely pampered!! He took me to Ruth's Chris in Jacksonville. If you don't know about Ruth's Chris - it's REALLY nice. we're talking white linens, candle-lights, and awesome waiters who scrape the crumbs off the table in between courses. We had an awesome view of the St. Johns river (it's right on the riverfront) and AMAZING food. Neither one of us had ever been before, but wanted to, and oh my goodness - it's worth saving up for to celebrate an anniversary or something. seriously good. like, the most amazing steak I've ever had in my life!
Neil had made reservations online, and had left a comment that we were there for my birthday, so when we walked in we were asked who's birthday it was, and I felt like I was treated especially great because they knew that.
After dinner, we went for a nice walk and talk along the river, then we came back to Kingsland. a GREAT night!

I also have to brag about Bella though.
We've been working on potty training ever since her first birthday. not being pushy, just introducing it. as time has gone on, she's shown more and more readiness to go a little deeper into this whole potty training thing. About 2 weeks ago, she started letting us know, by signing, that she needed to poop, and she stopped pooping in her diaper. seriously, she never poops in her diaper anymore.
now, we've been rewarding her with a goldfish ONLY when she goes potty AND has a dry diaper/ panties. And here's the story for today:
From the time she woke up at 7:15am until she went down for her 2nd nap at 2:30pm, she had been completely dry all day - minus once. Not only that, but she had been TELLING me all day that she needed to go.
here's an example of "telling": she was playing in the livingroom, then suddenly stoped what she was doing, stood up and walked down the hall. I followed her, and found her standing right outside of the bathroom pointing to her potty. this happened twice.
then, she woke up from her morning nap, whining, because she needed to go.
Later on, we were over at a friend's house visiting, and Bella started crying out of nowhere. turns out she had to go potty, and didn't know where the bathroom was so she could tell me by going there. she ended up going in her diaper, but seriously, that SO doesn't count. then, at the same house, once she knew where the bathroom was, the next time she had to go, she told me again by walking into the bathroom, and pointing to the toilet - and she went in the BIG potty! she NEVER does that! She is seriously on a roll here, and I can't say how amazing it is, and how proud I am of her - and how proud she is of herself. she gets so excited and when I say "yay, Bella" she clapps for herself and smiles really big.
and if this keeps up, I'll be putting the diapers in the storage shed...

Punky Brewster

This cracked me up yesterday. Bella started out just in her panties and tank, then she handed Neil her shoes, because she wanted them on (the kid is obsessed with shoes), then wanted her headband on... this is the outcome. Reminds me of many pictures that were taken of me as a toddler - we called them my "Punky Brewster" pictures. Here's Bella's first of many, I'm sure, Punky Brewster pictures:

Cute, huh?

Gulfshores

These are pictures of Bella and her Nana (Neil's mom) from our trip to Gulfshores this past weekend. It was interesting to say the least. Here's my countdown:

10 - amount of time in minutes that it hailed as we were leaving Gulfshores. good thing we stopped at the outlet mall - we wouldn't have been going anywhere anyway. :)

9 - the number of hours it took us to drive to Gulfshores

8 - the number of people in Neil's family that we got to see this weekend

7 - the number of hours it should take us to get to Gulfshores.

6 - the number of stops we made on the way home.

5 - amount of items bought at the Children's place outlet for Bella for a grand total of $23. two dresses, a skirt, a pair of jeans, and a hat. :)

4 - total number of vomiting episodes from Bella, my beautiful daughter who NEVER throws up.

3 - number of in-car vomiting episodes Bella had between going and coming home.

2 - the number of times we had to completely take apart the carseat, wash everything and put it back together. Also the number of people that stopped us to ask if everything was ok, when we pulled over into a housing development in the middle of nowhere (close to Gulfshores) to clean Bella up.

1 - (a.m.) the approximate time of stoping (20 min. from the house) at McDonald's to clean her up on the way home. Neil walked up to the drive-thru and asked if we could go in and use the bathroom.

0 - the number of shoes I was wearing when I walked into McDonald's. yes, I will never do it again. I didn't realize it until I was walking in the door, holding the stripped-down-to-the-diaper baby in my arms. seriously disgusting!

However, though it may seem like it may have been a miserable trip, it was so good to see family!

Bear Crawls and Toddling

It's been a while since I've posted. I really need to get better about this.
Enjoy some videos of Bella - being Bella!

Mother's Day

I know it's a bit belated for mother's day, but here's an interesting thing about it:

Most moms get chocolates or flowers, or pretty pictures made by their kids. Obviously, I'm not the norm. The day before mother's day, Neil, Bella, and I were at Lowe's. I was looking at sanders because I needed one for refinishing the kitchen cabinets. We found one we liked and Neil said "Happy mother's day!"

Yay... nothing like practicality to get a woman's heart going. sorry - sarcasm :)

I suppose Neil was so proud of me for doing something very un-womanly he wanted to document it. so here's a picture of me in the process of sanding down one of the cabinet areas in the kitchen... Neil put the hard hat on me - I asked why - he said I should wear it to go with the rest of the get-up.

I know he's odd at times, but I love my husband :)

Babble, babble...

Bella has been having long conversations lately. The only problem is that we don't understand a lick of it! ha ha. we know that soon these babbles will be words, but for now, we're just getting a kick out of listening to her "talk."