My Little Poser

Like Father Like Daughter

Oh my goodness I wish I had a comparison photo but for those of you who know David you will get a kick out of this.  Is that expression of Bella watching TV not IDENTICAL to David when he's watching TV!!!! Eyes glossed over because it is too exciting to blink and mouth slightly ajar because it is SOOOOO fascinating.  I even try to get her attention and she ignores me like David does!!!!  A little scary.  And for all those reading this thinking why does she let her 8 month old watch TV??? It's a 10 minute music DVD I play every 2 weeks...I think she'll turn out just fine :)

Dolphins and Seals!!

David returned from his job interview in Temple, TX on Friday...just in time for our traditional "It's Saturday, let's explore California!"  (if you are wondering about the interview, let's just say it has made the whole "where do we want to be" decision more difficult).  Anyway, Saturday we ventured to the coast....David has been dying to do this since we got here.  Water is his Disney!  As always, there is a lot of fog in the mornings here so when we first got to the coast is was kind of dreary looking but once the fog burned off it was beautiful.  At the first town we went to, Pacifica, there was a pier where people were fishing and just watching the water.  David, I think, desperately regretted not bringing a fishing pole but I am sure we will be going back!  There was a group of about 10 dolphins swimming close by....so cool!  They were pretty big too. 

Our next stop was Half Moon Bay where we stopped at a little marine preserve.  We got there during high tide so we didn't see any starfish, urchins, or other things they boast about but we did see dozens of seals; several were in the water but most were lying out on a roped off part of the beach.  Again, we will be going back....during the fall is when tides are the lowest.    GOOD FUN!!!! The weekend go by WAY too fast!

This picture is from the park this morning and thought I would include it just because!  We have met so many great people at the park and it is one of the things I really enjoy doing.   

Event Explosion

For awhile Bella seems to plateau in her skills and doesn't do anything new for awhile, and then all of a sudden several new skills pop up at once.  This has been one of those weeks.  And poor baby started the week with a fever and nasty cold but she hasn't slowed down one bit.  I will say the first night she was ill brought me back to the newborn days of a sleepless night-every 30 minutes she would cough/fuss and although I didn't have to tend to her I was awake all night.  So needless to say we slept the day away together on Monday and then Tuesday the skills emerged. 

A few weeks ago she said "dee-dee" a few times and then we didn't hear it again.  It has returned with a vengence and that is all she says all day long.  In fact she has replaced napping with listening to herself practice her new word.  Sometimes it morphs into "dada" but mostly dee-dee.  That same day she began pulling up on her walker.  She can't get up from the floor but if she is sitting on my foot she can pull herself up without any help.  She then grins as big as possible-so proud of herself!!! 

I also let her feed herself some bananas.  Reading this you may be thinking "who cares"....but I have trained her not to grab the spoon or put her hands or bib in her mouth during meals-sorry, I'm a clean freak.  I'll be honest, i cringed the WHOLE time....I don't like messes....and now that we have to go to the laundry center in our apartment to wash clothes I am even less apt to creating more laundry!  But I let her go to town and she had fun for awhile but ended up getting frustrated and just opened her mouth like a little bird for me to feed her!

Then today she figured out how to click her tongue and I noticed a second bottom tooth coming in.  PHEW!!!!!  And daddy is missing it....boo!!! He is in Temple, TX (where? yea, that's right...Temple!!) for a job interview.  I'm not holding my breath for that one but God has changed my heart about where I "thought" I wanted to live before and He can do it again if that's where He wants us!  Sorry if the video overload is a little over the top...it's for my family's gratification who no longer gets to see Bella every week :(

Next time I will take video horizontally...sorry!

My not so secret obsession!

So I have to confess I have two over the top obsessions that I completely thrive on. One is vacation planning (especially if it is to Disney) and the second is finding a good deal. Right now I am planning a new year trip to Disney and am on cloud 9....but that is not the point of this post! The point was to share all the treasures I got this past week for only $2.95.

Now that little doll is priceless but her little crochet hat is what I am referring to:

Yankee candle and two glitter balls

Original cost of Yankee Candle....$9......I got it FREE
Original cost of white glitter ball....$5.99.....I got it FREE
Original cost of green glitter ball....$9.99......I got it FREE
Cost of Crochet hat......just $2.95
Impressed??!!  I am quite proud of myself.  LOVE it when I snag great coupons!!!!! 

The glitter balls would be utterly pointless except now I have a kid and all things shiny become toys!!!

So I am not sure I love the little hat but for less than $3 who cares!  There are many cool days here where a sun hat is just too much hat and a winter hat is just overkill....so a cute little crochet beanie seemed appropriate.  I saw them at a little craft festival one of the first weekends we were here and have been thinking about them ever since.  At the festival they were selling them for $15 but I am the queen of finding a good deal so I found the exact same thing on an internet site for much less.  The flower detatches and I can put whatever I want on there.  Bella makes that hat look good! 

Yea good deals....I can sleep soundly tonight!  (although dreams of Disney planning are abounding!!)

You Are My Sunshine

It's amazing how much joy little children have and how much joy they can bring....

Oops, that shoe sure is tasty but lets try that photo again!!

There we go....say cheese!!

Can you see my tooth on the bottom?  I know, it's hard to find amongst those cheeks!!!!!

A Day in San Francisco

When my family moved us up to California they took a day to tour San Francisco and kept saying how cold it was.  I honestly thought, how cold can it really be in the middle of summer?  But David and I decided to spend a day up there and boy was it cold!!! Good thing I brought Bella's winter hat just in case...if I didn't love her so much I would have stole it to wear myself!!!

We were advised to go to the Academy of Sciences by David's boss so that's what we did.  It was a huge museum with an aquarium, an indoor rainforest, and other exhibits.  Of course David's favorite part was the aquarium!

Here is David and Bella when we first arrived in the morning

Bella and I in the rainforest

Butterfly in the rainforest (sorry the pictures are so grainy-I keep forgetting to take the protective plastic off the lens on my iPhone-waiting on that free case to come in!!!)

After the Academy of Sciences we took a walk through a nearby botanical garden.  There were a lot of little trails and all kinds of neat plants including this chilean something or other with ginormous leaves!!

There was a little pond in the center of the gardens with dozens of geese who were quite personable.  Don't worry, daddy would have drop-kicked one if it got too close to his baby!

Overall, a great day.  One more city in California checked off the list as "visited!"