The "Big Tiny" is 9 months old on Sunday...

Bella has multiple nicknames. One of the more recent ones has been "The Big-Tiny." Because she's now HUGE......(well in comparison to how TINY she was just 9 months ago) and yet, she's still really small. And with the arrival of Baby Connor (Mace) I was reminded at just how small they start out...and in just a few relatively short months....they become true little people. It's amazing. Bella has changed SO much in the past 9 months. And as she grows and learns, she becomes more fun and entertaining...and of course......cuter than ever.

Today we had her 9 month check up and thankfully....she's still a very happy and healthy little girl. She's still running on the petite side of the spectrum...(it appears we have a string-bean on our hands) but Dr. Jodi is very pleased with her progression and growth chart overall. Her 9-month stats are as follows...

Height-Long at 28.5 inches (70th percentile)

Weight-skinny-minny at 16.5 pounds (12th percentile)

Head Circumference-Sitll tiny at 42cm (6th percentile)

Cuteness-A million % (Which puts her in, of course the 100th percentile) =)

Bella at 9 months old

Bella at maybe 9 days old...Incredible!

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Maiden Voyage!

What's this?!! A NEW POST?!! Unbelievable. =)

I know, I know....I'm simply horrible at keeping everyone informed as to what's going on in our little world. I'd like to say that I'm just going through a phase and will get much better at keeping the blog current..........but I would be lying. And I'm a terrible liar. =)

Two weekends ago, we headed up to our new home away from home, for the Maiden Voyage! Overall, we had a wonderful time...but there were challanges along the way....

Because Rick and Will work for the same company and have a good amount of flexibility, they left early Friday afternoon. They wanted get up there and make sure everything was in working order before the ladies (specifically Bella) arrived. They made it up there in the standard timeframe...and got everything situated for us gals. Because I don't have AS flexible of a job, the gals were forced to leave after work...around 5pm. Our commute up was much different....ok...it wasn't just different, it was a complete nightmare. The standard trip to the lake will generally take 2.5 hours...maybe 3........It took us almost 6 hours. There was, of course, the standard weekend-rush hour traffc...mixed with multiple accidents that shut multiple lanes on multiple higways. Oh and then there were the hoards of protestors lining the various overpasses on 580. (If Jen hadn't been in the car with me...I would have turned around...as traffic and I have never gotten along.) We obviously made it to the lake....eventually. Another challange was the noise-factor. BUT due to Rick's spur of the moment brilliance, he jimmy-rigged an air-matress under the boat to significantly cut down on the lapping water sounds coming from under the boat. (Thanks Babe!) We will continue to work on a more permanent fix.

The weather, although lovely for this time of year, was still "March-y." It was sunny and warmish...but it is definitely not summer up at the lake yet. The water is still frigid! So cold in fact that Jen and I could not be talked in to riding at all. We'll gladly wait for the warmer water. Bella did really well! Nothing seemed to rattle her too much....which hopefully is a sign of things to come. She LOVED being on the ski boat. She would watch Rick and Will wakeboard behind the boat and follow them back and forth across the wake...just staring very seriously. It was darling. We also had great food and a lot of laughs. We actually BBQ'd sugar cookies! I know...that's a little "back-woods" but we couldn't get our pilot light lit...and darn it...we wanted those cookies...so we put them on a cookie sheet and "baked" them in the BBQ. HA! It worked...but it definitely wasn't AS good.

We've officially declared this summer to be the "BSE!" (Best Summer Ever) We all sat around and talked about our past-favorite summers. And for all 4 of us...our last BSE was at least 5-10 years ago. And we thought...this just will not do! We need to create new memories so that 10 years from now, we will all look back again and say "Remember the summer of 2010? MAN that was the Best Summer EVER!" We left feeling more than excited to return again and again.....and again.

Here I am posing as our boat's hood ornament...

And here's Jen....being a goober. =)

Bella is REALLY into Hide and Seek right now...she STRAINS to see where you've gone when you duck out of sight...it is just........so cute.

Boat baby!

Will...psyching himself out for the cold water...

Putting Bella in her new life jacket!

Smush-Face...

Here is a picture of just how serious Bella gets when watching her Dad wakeboard...I think she's studying his moves so that someday she can do the same types of tricks.

Rick throwing a 180

Tahoe 2010

Uh! Finally...proof that we did actually go to Tahoe. =)

We were blessed to get to go to Lake Tahoe with our family and friends last month. We had a ball! (Those present: The Payne's, Welty's, Cheeks...and our friends Will and Jenny)

Despite back and forth negotiations on whether or not the weather/road conditions would allow us to actually go through with our trip, we all made it up there without an issue. Although I will say, the drive up was pretty scary. Luckily with the HBD, there was very little slipping and sliding. (For those that don't know what the HBD is...it's the "Hillbilly Deluxe" our name for our Yukon)

Once in Tahoe, the weather was gorgeous. We stayed in the most AMAZING house...which of course, I failed to take pictures of. =) But trust me...it was a mansion.

We got to do all kinds of fun stuff while there. We got to snowboard Heavenly with Will and Jen...which was a delight. And thanks to Craig's List, we didn't have to pay $86 per lift ticket! Whoo-Hoo! We made amazing meals each night at the house and ate family-style which was awesome. At night the boys, (Will and Rick) would hit the casino's to test their luck. Unfortunately for all of us, they were not so lucky. I hate gambling...because I have never won. Rick keeps telling me that I just need to win big once to enjoy it. I guess. All I know is that I gave it (another) shot...and put $5 into a penny-slot and walked away $5 poorer. BOO!! The big winner of the weekend was Uncle Phil who put something like $10 into a dollar slot machine, hit the button once and BAM...he won $300. I guess I could see that if you actually won...it might be fun. =)

Any who...it was a total blast and I hope we all get to go again next year.

Looking out at the winter wonderland with Aunt Jenny...

Taylor and Bella

She's so "deah." Uncle Phil and Bella...

Rick and Uncle David getting silly after taco night...

Yes that is me under all those clothes...

Bella did really well in the cold-air. I was pretty scared that with the altitude, her ears or tummy would give her issues...but nope...she was just fine. Thank you God!

Out for a walk...

We are officially homeowners! (Well, kinda...)

WE BOUGHT A HOUSEBOAT! YEA!!!

This has been a dream of ours for quite some time now, but it recently became a reality. Our new home away from home is located on Lake McClure. Lake McClure is nestled in the Sierra Nevada foothills about 20 miles south of Yosemite. (About a 2.5 hour drive from our home in San Jose) The lake is surrounded by both pine and oak trees and a lot of different kinds of wild life. (Including things like donkey's and Bald Eagles!) Pulling from the Lake McClure website, it tells me that McClure has a yearly average temperature of about 70 degrees, (Reaching well into the 90's during the hot summer months) and an average yearly surface water temperature of about 80 degrees.


We decided that our little family is not really a traveling family. We both hate to fly and Rick doesn't love being outside the comfort of the American borders. But we want and need to vacation so we decided that this would be a great compromise. It's close, but it's not so close that you don't feel like you actually got away for the weekend. We just LOVE it up there.

We have been blessed by our dear friend Eric Kinser, who has selflessly allowed us to crash at his houseboat for the past 3 years. But with the arrival of Bella, we decided that it might be a good idea to look at getting our own place. (We didn't want to worry about bothering anyone with middle of the night crying baby, or early morning squeals of delight.) And although we love being recurring visitors at Eric's boat, there's just something about having your own place. It's ours and we can do what we want with it.

Our boat comes fully furnished and is 90% baby proof with gates all around both the top and bottom decks. (A HUGE plus!) It's huge. At least I think it's huge. I'd give you the measurements if I knew what they were...but I don't. =)

We are VERY excited about our new summer home. My favorite things about this lake are as follows...

#1-You have a 360 degree lakefront view that changes...all the time, no matter what.
#2-The water is warm enough so that even 6:30am wake board runs aren't unpleasant.
#3-You are in the middle of the lake so you don't have to deal with bugs.
#4-At night, it's PITCH BLACK...which makes for INCREDIBLE star-gazing.
#5-I could write about 20 more things...but this is already a really long post.

We don't just desire, but EXPECT that all of our family and friends will help us enjoy this place. One of the reasons we got it to be able to bless others with a place they could get away and enjoy. So we better see you there!

Front deck

Living room.

Kitchen view

Another view of the kitchen

Another view of the living room...

Bathroom and pantry...but just to be clear, they aren't in the same room. HA!

Another bathroom view...

Top deck

Another view from the top...

Our new BBQ...(It's nicer than the one we have at our actual house)

Back deck

And here are 2 small items that came with the boat. Ahhhh, I can see us all enjoying chips, salsa and margarita's on that big floating island!

Finally...

Today Bella finally had her 6 month appointment...1 week before she turns 7 months. =)

The appointment itself........was a total nightmare. From the Dr. being 40 minutes behind schedule, to a horribly under-prepared mom with no toys to keep the little one occupied while we waited, to, of course, the shots. (She was supposed to have 3, but it turned into 4 when the minute the nurse pierced her leg with the first, Bella kicked her so hard the shot went flying and landed on the floor.) But thankfully, after all the drama was over, we still have a beautifully healthy little squirt.

Two pearly white teeth-nubs have appeared...well kinda. We can see them just under the gums. So, naturally, once we could see outlines of teeth, we thought, OH AWESOME...in just a few more days she'll pop those two teeth through and we will be done with sad and cranky bella until the next set come in. But then the Dr. took a look and said..."Oh lookie there...she's just a few weeks away from those two teeth coming through." UM.........did you say few WEEKS away? REALLY?!! So this is going to contine for a few more weeks? JOY!!! =)

Let's see, what else...besides her constant desire to put anything and everything into her mouth, she's also very much into her feet. This seems to be her favorite thing to play with at the moment. I think it's beyond funny to watch her constantly try and put her feet in her mouth. (Thank goodness this is not something we continue to do in adulthood. Gross.) Bella is also a big eater. So far she's tried, of course, rice cereal, homemade and pureed sweet potato, avocado and apples. And on Friday we will try carrots or peas. So far she likes everything...although the apples cause a bit of a "sour-face" reaction...which was super funny to see.

Anywho...here are her stats...

Weight: 14lbs and change (I was at least 2 pounds off...I thought she was AT LEAST 16lbs...but no...I'm just THAT much weaker.)

Length: 27 inches

Head: Still really small. HA! (But it is growing.)

And I know...I still owe everyone Christmas, New Year's and now Tahoe pics. I hope to get to it someday soon. Good thing I have TONS of free time these days. HA! =)

6 Months Old!!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. We sure did! Eventually, I will steal the photo's off my mom's camera from Christmas and share the details with you all. So, stay tuned...

Yesterday, Bella turned 6-months old...and you know what that means....she can start BIG PEOPLE FOOD! Well....kinda. We are starting small with the standard, rice cereal. Overall, she seemed to enjoy it. Of course eating things that actually have a texture is a learned skill...so it was A HOOT to watch her try and figure it out. She was a total mess by the end of the feed as apparently feeding a baby big-people-food is also a learned skill! =)

I seriously can't believe how big she's getting. She's HUGE. (Well at least she feels huge to me...) She is at least 14 if not 15 pounds...but we'll find out the official stats when we have her 6 month appointment later on this month. She's still teething up a storm, but no actual teeth yet. And let it be known that I am NOT a fan of the whole teething process on SO many levels....I'm looking forward to being past this stage in oh....4 more years or so. (Wait, when do kids start loosing their baby teeth? I don't even know...HA!)


I'm ready to eat! (Oh my gosh...look at her in her big-girl high-chair. She's growing up so fast...)


Wait, is this food or some sort of face-masque for dry skin?