Way up in the sky, the little birds fly.

Low down in the nest, the little birds rest.

With a wing on the left and a wing on the right, the little birds sleep, all through the night.

Out comes the sun, the dew goes away. Good morning, good morning the little birds say

Dawson is growing up too! We have so much fun with the two of them. They like to have us set them on a branch of a tree in granny's yard. Bella enjoys watching birds. There is a big window in her classroom at day care. A bird feeder is located just outside the window. Bella watches the birdies. She has learned to say "tweet tweet". She first learned to say "toot toot" but finally she figured it out. Yeah Bella! The above lyrics are too a song that Momma always sang to us and now I sing to Bella.

Kissing Cousins

Oh so active and grown up

Oh Bella. She is growing up so quickly. Things have been very busy for us. We are fairly settled into the new house (pictures coming soon). We have been working on our new schedule. Bella has started her new day care. She seems to enjoy it. She has been slightly crabby, but I believe that it is just the change in her schedule. She is playing harder than she ever has. She plays outside every day and rides little tricycles, does painting projects, plays in the sprinkler, slides and climbs. She is just an amazing little girl. I have my video almost complete but I am waiting for a DVD burner to use. I hope everyone enjoys it. WE would love to hear from everyone!!!!

Finally..Updates of Bella

More Picture Soon

Really I promise.... Bella and I have been pretty busy lately but I will update with more pictures very soon. I have her first birthday pictures and a few others that you all might want to see. Over the last month we have had lots of changes and I think things are going very well for us. I no longer am working at Chilis, I actually have a nice day job working for four county mental health as a case manager (will describe this some other time..... Probably after I figure out exactly what that means !) Bella is walking every where and growing up so quick. Her favorite toys right now are books, which I love. She loves and flip through the pages and read to herself. What a wonderful little girl. Be looking for Birthday pictures sometime this week.

Eating is hard work!

Today Bella ate her grilled cheese for lunch for nearly an hour. She just couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. She kept eating up until the end though. That last bit fell out and landed on her shirt. Eating is becoming a very important part of Bella's life. Food is beginning to replace bottles and as of Thursday Bella can switch from formula to big girl milk. It is also time to get rid of the bottle. I am not looking forward to that adventure, but I guess it is time.

Say Duck Bella

While reading a book in the waiting room I discovered that Bella can say duck. So naturally I decided we should go see a duck. Miller and I took Bella to a duck pond in Bartlesville. She managed to say duck a couple dozen times. When we got home we went to go see Granny and tell her about what we learned, as you can imagine, Duck was not something that came out of Bella's mouth that night. Oh well, I know that we had fun.

It amazes me how every day Bella seems to have learned five new things. I can barely keep up with all the things she is discovering. I think it is sort of interesting how in the beginning changes start occurring rapidly. You sort of think that soon things will slow down, but instead the growth and learning just gets faster. It's only been one year, and I am not sure I can even remember before.

Such a Big Girl

Bella is such a big girl! I found her earlier today playing in my room with my purses. She would put one on her arm and jabber to herself. Then she would get another and play with it. She also likes to brush her hair and my hair. I get whacked in the face mostly, but it's as cute as can be.

It's hard to believe one year will be here next week. I can't wait to celebrate and see Bella eat her cake.

I'm So Full

Bella can eat and eat and eat.... but sometimes we actually get her full. She is eating basically all table foods now. Still no teeth but she can still manage crackers, cookies, ground beef, eggs, chicken breasts, pretty much anything we will let her get a hold of. She eats three or four meals a day. She doesn't have very many bottles anymore. The bedtime and nap bottles are still a must have. Those will be the hardest to get rid of. This morning Bella had some rice cereal and applesauce. Then we had some leftover Chili and crackers together for lunch. She is napping right now, but when she wakes up we might have a little bit of yogurt. She won't allow for anyone to be eating in front of her. She wants food too! She ate spinach with Brandon the other night and enjoyed it. I have yet to find something that she absolutely doesn't like.

Holiday Fun

Aunt Laura loves to put diapers on Bella's head. Sometimes I think that Bella has inherited a little of Laura's goofiness!

Here I Am

Bella can get anywhere she wants to go now. You can turn your head for only a moment and she is off and gone. Then you have to search for her. The places she ends up! Granny found Bella on the dishwasher. Bella climbed up all by herself. I can't believe how big she is getting. Almost 10 months. It's just crazy.

ATTACK AUNT LAURA

Trip to KC

To start off the new year Bella and I took a trip to Kansas City. We went and stayed with Nakisha and Lance. Taegan and Aedan are geting so big. We spent an entire day jut playing with the kids. We also went to visit Gene and Tony. These are pictures of Bella with Tony and Katrina. I can't wait until Anthony is born so Bella will have another cousin to play with.

Christmas Girl

Bella wants to walk, but just can't quite get it all figured out. She did pretty well with this walking toy over at Aunt Starla's house.

So many presents! Bella ended up playing with some ribbons and then drinking a bottle in the middle of all of her presents.

Bath Time Is Fun!

The funny face.... lately when Bella is playing with toys she makes the funniest face. She almost looks like she is trying to squeeze things. We spent 30 minutes the other night videotaping the face. We would give her a toy then take it away, then give her another and so on. She is such a goofy kid!

Dawson came over with Laura and Brandon the other night. We decided they wanted to take a bath together. They had so much fun playing.

My Silly Girl

Santa!!!!

We took Bella and Dawson to the mall to go see Santa. They were both very good. They just stared and stared at Santa. It took a couple of times to get them both looking and smiling but as you can see, the result was worth the effort! Bella's ears won't ever stay under the hat and she sort of resembles an elf in the picture. We have the picture on disk so anyone who would like a copy is more than welcome to have one. We can e-mail them or print them off at wal-mart.

Pulling Up

Bella was so excited to be home and in her own space last night. She squealed for a long time in her crib. She played and played with her crib mirror and talked to her pals on the mobile. The she decided to pull up and just hang out in the crib. She stood there bouncing for almost ten minutes. Granny and Abbi showed up just in time to see it before she toppled down and smushed her face on the railing. What a big girl she is!

Yum Yum

Bella enjoyed her thanksgiving meal at Grandma Harke's house. I think her favorite part was playing with the spoon afterwards. What a goofy girl!

Fun In Troy

Bella and I spent the past several days in Troy. It was so great to get to see everyone. I can't wait until the next trip. I could do without the seven hour car ride though.

Bella Likes Brandon's Hat Too

I CAN CRAWL!

Beautiful Bella

Bella sits up so well now! She is just a joy to watch. I love to get her all dolled up and take her anywhere. We play dress up just to go to the gas station. I never dreamed I would have so much fun with pink clothes and bows. I love my pretty princess.

The Puppy Dog and The Bumble Bee

For Abbi's Halloween Parade at school we dressed the babies up and took them up town. Bella got to be the Bumble Bee and Dawson was a Puppy Dog. Laura and I supported Abbi by wearing some bumble bee antenna's as well. We sure love to dress our babies up!