Happy 6 month Birthday!

My sweet baby girl is 6 months....where does the time go?!!

She had her well visit and is:
17 lbs 12 oz (80th percentile)
25 inches (40th percentile)
and head was 75th percentile

She got some shots but did better this time than at her four month visit.

She is truly a joy and really the only battle we have is nap time...she is laying in her bed squealing with glee as we speak...she is too busy to sleep!!

She reaches and grabs everything-and the of course it goes in her mouth. 
She has a broad pitch of cooing!
She can sit with minimal support
She eats solids twice a day-we have tried squash, sweet potatoes, and peas
She still sleeps like a champ at night-7:30 pm to 6:45 am
She beams when she sees her daddy
She gives kisses (or open mouthed slobber but still cute!)
She rolls from her tummy to her back but still HATES her tummy and has no interest in rolling onto it!
She loves grabbing her feet but can't quite get them to her mouth.

Graduation

Congratulations to my amazing hubby for enduring 5 long years of ENT residency!!!!  There were two ENT graduates this year and the program did a dinner for the ENT program and the graduates' families at McCormick & Schmidt's....yummy!  David won a research award and also Resident of the Year award....I am so proud of him.  After diner we sent our parents home and we went out and danced the night away.  Almost a week later and I am still paying for the lack of sleep!  So thus concludes David's training here in Houston and we are off to Palo Alto, California for a Rhinology (sinus surgery) fellowship for a year.  Thanks to our friends and family who have supported us in our time here.  We love you all!!!!

All the ENT residents:

Accepting his award:

My mom, dad, me, david, david's sister-Alli, and mom-Karen:

Splish Splash

Soooo far behind on blogging! In the throws of packing up....moving to Cali in 5 days....yikes!!

About 2 weeks ago, Bella and I went to Pearland for a playdate with Amanda and Maddie.  We decided to go to the pool, which I think we as adults found to be way cooler than the kids did.  There were slides, fountains, etc.  Bella is still in her "I don't wanna nap" phase and so by the time we got to the pool she was exhausted.  We swam for awhile, then she crashed on my shoulder for 30 minutes then we swam again.  Thanks for letting us come and play!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Hmmmm, how many things can we cram into the few weeks we have left in Houston?  A LOT!!!  And we are loving every minute of it.  Two weekends ago we took Bella and our neighbor Jayden to the zoo....they had a blast.  Even better was that it was the first weekend of the month which means as a Bank of America debit card holder you get in free :)

During the week, Bella and her usual playmates took a trip to the Children's Museum.  Bella wasn't much in the mood to take pictures so this is the only one we snapped.....but it also shows you one of her new tricks....we are sitting quite well!

We also LOVE our feet....she's thinking "just a little bit more and I can suck on these puppies!!"

We also like to hold our bottle-although we can't figure out how to tip it up.

And best of all, we have a sense of humor....we can pee on mommy's bed and think it is hilarious!!!

Every day with Bella is becoming so much more fun.  She went from kind of a fussy/high maintainance infant to this super sweet and for the most part very happy little girl.  She makes me smile and laugh so much more than I thought possible-she is truly a joy in my day.

On the agenda is hopefully more playdates, some job interviews this week for David, graduation this weekend for David, and PACK, PACK, PACK (thank you craigslist for allowing me an unlimited number of posts to sell all my junk!!!!).....16 days left in Houston :(

California

I have decided I am the world's worst picture taker....my camera is ALWAYS in my purse and yet I never seem to take pictures!!!  So forgive me for the scant documentation of our very exciting week!

Last week Bella took her first plane ride.  We went to California to find a place to live (since we are moving in ONE month!!!!).  I was so nervous about the flight I barely slept the night before.  I was particularly nervous about take off and how Bella would handle the pressure on her ears.  I nursed her and she wasn't bothered one bit....however apparently the pressure affected her in another way; with the seat belt sign still on she decides to have a massive diaper blow-out!  So ignoring the sign, David and I cram into the ridiculously small airplane bathroom and had to use every last wipe plus the tissues in the bathroom to get her presentable....thank goodness we had a change of clothes. Whew!!!! 

While in CA, we tried to keep her up at night because of the 2 hour time change but she was having nothing of it.   Which meant we stayed up 'late' visiting with the friends we were staying with but got up at 5:30 or 6am in the morning because that is when Bella is used to getting up!   During the day we toured a bunch of apartments and it came down to 3.  I liked each one for a different reason so made David make the final decision.  If nothing else, the town we are going to be living in is beautiful, there is a great park down the street, the weather is great, and it is only a year.   Bella was a trooper and didn't fuss a bit as we dragged her all over town. 

Tuesday the 25th was our 8 year anniversary but we had previously decided we weren't going to celebrate in CA since we were staying with friends (who also have two kids) and we were just so busy all week.  Not sure when we will have time to reschedule but we will.

One day the weather was gorgeous so we sat out on the patio.  Our friends have two huge dogs and Bella, for the first time, was laughing at them as they wrestled.  She has giggled when I tickle her but never at a situation she thought was funny.  TOO CUTE!!!!!!

We got back to TX Saturday and went straight to my parents place in Conroe for memorial day weekend.  All my brothers and their kiddos were there...it was very bitter sweet.  I love being all together but knew it would be the last time we are all together like that again until Thanksgiving.  The reality of moving is starting to hit me hard and my excitement is turning a little bit to apprehension....I don't want to be away from my family!


Anyways, back to our weekend.....Bella has never been a fan of tummy time.  She fusses after about 30 seconds.  So why would she want to ever roll from her back to her tummy?  That would be silly....but she did FINALLY roll from her tummy to her back.  That's my girl!!  We also took her swimming for the first time which she really enjoyed. We were in the pool about 20 minutes and she did great.   Our last night in Conroe my parents babysat while David and I went to see Iron Man 2.....two very enthusiastic thumbs up!!!

Vacation over....now to start packing!

Here is the ONLY picture I took in California....David and Bella playing one morning.

Grabbing a snack at Applebees in Conroe

Grandpa and Bella doing a little shopping

Parent Commitment

One of the things David and I will miss most here in Houston is our church. I think it is hard to find a church you love every aspect about but we can honestly say we LOVE everything about First Baptist.  So it meant the world to us to have Bella dedicated there before we move to California.  My parents came down to celebrate with us.  She was dedicated along with about 10 other babies.  It was very special.  They introduced each baby, gave the meaning of their name (Isabella means "consecrated to God") and read a verse the parents had chosen for the baby.  Our verse for Bella (something David would even pray over her when she was in my belly!) was Proverbs 3:5-6-"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight".

All dressed up and ready to go:

We were so grateful my parents made in to the ceremony.

Bella being dedicated by Pastor Gregg Matte.

We love you Houston's First Baptist Church!!!

Scrubs

On Friday we took Bella to finally meet some of David's co-workers at LBJ hospital.  At one of Bella's baby showers she got the CUTEST pair of pink scrubs and so I was so excited for her to get to wear them.  Um,yeah, forgot that they were newborn size....YIKES...but by-golly we squeezed her into them!!!!