First Week Back at Work

Well, we made it through our first week with me back at work.  Bella was sick all week, which made Jason foray into staying at home with two kids extra challenging.  He did it...and handled it like a pro, but it was very hard.  

My return to work was tough.  I missed the girls and Jason tremendously, and had major changes to my job description.  Those two things had me feeling a bit like a fish out of water most of the week.

Thankfully, Aunt MaryAnn was scheduled to come and visit (from South Carolina) for the weekend.  Having something to look forward too helped to get us over the bumps of the week.  Now, we are all enjoying her visit.

I realize now that I'm going to be a weekend blogger.  I tried many times to get a post up, but just couldn't seem to get to it.  My apologies to anyone that's been checking for updates.

Arianna Pictures

Jason said I used the "crazy" pictures of Arianna in the previous post (I think it's the grin that makes her look a bit crazy).  I thought I'd post a few others to show her more sedate side.

Where does she come up with this stuff?

Today I'm trying to put Isabella down for her nap and she's being a absolute booger.  So I finally get her to lay down in her bed and I'm sitting on the floor beside her.  I have one hand laying flat, palm down on her pillow.  She is holding it with both of her hands and fidgeting with my fingers etc.  I have my eyes closed (hoping to encourage her to do the same).  I hear her breathing change as if she's stifling a laugh.  I look at her to see what's going on and see that she's positioned her head so that my pinky is IN her nose!  I scolded her because that's disgusting, but had a really hard time not laughing.  Seriously, where does she come up with this stuff???

Learning Curve

I figured out this morning that I've had a block on the comments area of the blog.  I had it set so only other bloggers could leave comments.  I've fixed it now (I think).  My apologies to all of you that attempted to comment and couldn't!  Please be patient, I'm still pretty new at this.

Bella the Beautiful

Nothing to post about these photos, just thought they were adorable.  And, after posting a picture of her in her diaper, I figure I owe her to post some good pictures.

Dressing Up

Bella loves to dress up.  Often it's in her own clothes (she finds the poofiest dress and asks to put it on), or she has one princess dress.  Sometimes she likes to get in Mommy's underwear drawer and find things to wear (she's fascinated with my bras especially).  

In this picture she's apparently preparing to go to the beach.  That's her old bathing suit, which she's only managed to get her arms in, her sun hat from last summer, and her princess shoes.  I can only assume that the lack of pants/shorts is because the bathing suit should have covered the bottom half!

She, obviously, did this all herself.  Mommy just took advantage of the photo opportunity.

Arianna...

It has been such a joy to get to know our little Arianna over the past six weeks.  She's really starting to exhibit her personality, and she is a pistol!  She has some really happy times...laughing and cooing, but when you do something she doesn't like, she's going to let you know about it.  She's a little fussy in the evening, but that seems to be improving some.  We're not sure if the improvement is because I'm not eating much dairy, or simply because she's getting older and more used to being here.  She's awful cute, as you can tell by these pictures.

She does sleep better then Isabella did.  In fact, I often think she sleeps better than Isabella does right now!  I'm very thankful for Arianna's sleep habits, as it will make my return to work much easier.

"I nurse my baby."

In order to appreciate this story you have to know that a nursing shawl, is a cover that has a strap that goes around my neck and covers Arianna and I when I need to feed her in public.

Okay, so last night my Dad was here for dinner and Arianna got hungry.  I got my nursing shawl out and fed her.  I must have left it on the couch, because pretty soon Bella comes up to us and say, "I nurse my baby."  As you can see from the picture, she had the shawl on and had gotten her baby out to feed her.  So cute!!!

By the way, if you are a nursing mom or know someone who is, these shawls are GREAT!!!  My friend Ronni makes and sells them in all different colors and designs.  If you are interested in getting one, just let me know I'll put you in touch with her.

Our Day

I'm having a hard time imagining that folks that read our blog really care about our mundane, day-to-day stuff that happens.  However, since I'm really doing this for the kids, I'm going to keep writing this stuff down.  If you're bored, I apologize...but I hope someday Bella and Arianna get a kick out of reading what our lives were like when they were little.

So, Wednesdays have been busy while I've been on maternity leave.  On Wednesday mornings I take the girls and go to the Mom's small group at our church.  It's a great group of women that are also on this amazing parenting journey, most of them with small children.  I participated in the group when I was on maternity with Bella too...and loved it.  They have helped me keep my sanity through the early weeks of both of the girls lives.  

Then on Wednesday evenings we attend a small group.  It's several families from our church...some with kids, others without.  It's really been a blessing to me to get to know the people in the group over the last several months.  We are really thankful to have such a great bunch of friends.

Today we had preschool at Bella's friend Ava's house.  Bella learned about fire safety (although she says she learned about fire trucks), did a craft project, had snack and got to play outside with her friends.  She absolutely loves going to Ava's because she has a full size trampoline.  At one point I looked outside and Bella and Jason were jumping together...so cute!

Tonight Jason is making dinner for us, and Papa Butch is coming to eat.  Bella LOVES her Papa.

I took pictures of Arianna today, and got a few cute ones.  I'm going to try to post them here later.

Amy

Isabella...

Bella is almost 2.5 years old.  Some of her favorite things are:

• The Wiggles...we went to see them in concert over the summer.  She loved it and sat completely mesmerized for the entire show.  She's still talking about it.
• Riding the four-wheeler...Daddy took her out riding yesterday for the first time.  They rode all over the farm, and when it was time to come in the house, she cried and cried.  Jason said she squealed and yelled in delight the whole time she was out.
• Doing art...she especially likes cutting and pasting, painting and stickers.  She enjoys coloring too.
• Target...yup, the store.  When we ask her what she wants to do today (assuming she'll say go to the park, or something similar), she'll ask to go to Target.  If we're out running errands and don't go to Target, she'll get upset with us.  I'm sure it's the toy department that she loves.  She can find it all by herself without our guidance.
• Preschool...she attends a once-per-week co-op at a friend's house.  She loves it and asks to go all week.  Thursdays are definitely a highlight in her week.

There are certainly others...like going to visit any of our friends or family.  She's a social little thing!

She talks non-stop about any and everything...I think she gets that from her Dad.  LOL.

As soon as I figure out how to upload pictures to the blog, I'll post some of her.

I Have No Idea What I'm Doing

So, I'm finally trying my hand at blogging.  I don't know what I'm doing, when I'm going to find time to keep it up, or who will read it...but here goes anyway.  

I want a place to record the daily happenings with my girls.  They are constantly amazing me with something they do or say, and I'm not writing it down anywhere.  I'm hoping that by starting a blog it will prompt me to records all of their stuff.

You'll notice I chose the title "Daily Grace and Joy."  For those that do not know, those are our girls' middle names (Isabella Grace and Arianna Joy).

Okay, so now for one of the funny things that I want to record.  Bella is constantly asking us "What's that noise?" any time she hears something that she isn't familiar with.  Recently she passed gas and Daddy asked her "What's that noise?"  She promptly responded, "Fireworks."  I don't know where she got this from, but now anytime she passes gas, she tells us it's fireworks!