Showing Off and...

...showing out. Baby Bella started her day prancing around (literally) in her new spring dress and sandals. She then continued to show her true colors at the ballpark while the family watched Skyler practice.

I had one on the field showing off and one on the sidelines showing out. Welcome to my world.

Last Call

Mommy and Baby Bell share one of the last few "bottle moments" that we will have together. As sad as it is, the bottle days are swiftly coming to an end.

Baby Bella is now taking bottles only twice a day - first thing in the morning and the last thing before bed. On her own, Baby Bella decided to move onto other foods during the day. Her diet now includes Yogurt, Diced Apples, Diced Carrots, Cottage Cheese, Apple Sauce, Ravioli, Mashed Potatoes...."

She has also progressed to sippy cups of whole milk - sort of. She does pretty well but somehow manages to spill a most of it on her clothes. What is it with sippy cups? And why doesn't "spill proof" really mean spill proof? ARH!

Bottom line - the bottle is beyond saving. Mommy and Daddy will miss those precious moments when she lays in our arms and stares in our eyes while throwing back a bottle of formula.

Got Milk?

Remind me to never turn my back on Baby Bella while she has the sippy cup in the stroller.

I turn my head for 30 seconds to have a conversation and she is pouring milk into her mouth and spitting it out over her bottom lip - laughing as it runs down onto her chin, neck, chest, and sun dress.

Thirty minutes later the dress has dried in the sun and Baby Bella smells like soured milk. To make matters worse, I have to return home to hear Mommy exclaim: "why does my daughter look like a rag-a-muffin' and smell like a school cafeteria"?

Hmm, some days.

Aquarium Cafe

Baby Bella and fam. enjoyed a wonderful Sunday together - church, Aquarium Cafe, movie, shopping and ice cream.

Baby Bella Boo was completely worn out. (And Skyler turned green from eating too much candy in the movie). What a day.

Exhausted

Me thinks the girl was exhausted. Baby Bella spent a wonderful day at Nana's house with Mommy, Nana, Papa, and Grandma Blair.

Apparently, they had completely worn our little girl out by late afternoon. Mommy sat down to feed Baby Bella some fruit but she fell asleep in the middle of the feeding.

I can see it now, visions of sugar plums dancing in her head.

Super Nanny

Mommy and I returned to home to the most astonishing news. Nanny Brandi didn't cradle Baby Bella until she fell asleep - she simply laid her in her crib and let her go to sleep on her own. SHOCK! (Picking my jaw up off the floor. I will pick up Deborah when she regains consciousness).

Now for the even greater shock. We tried it tonight and guess what? It works. Deborah laid Baby Bella in her crib a few minutes after the night time bottle and let her soothe herself to sleep. It took about four minutes. SHOCK AND AWE!

You can even see it for yourself on the monitor in our room. Baby Bella is fast asleep at 8:34 and no one lost feeling in their arm or shoulder carrying her around.

WOW! Is Nanny Brandi a Super Nanny or what?

Special Day

Mommy and Daddy are away, together, without the kids - for the very first time in Baby Bella's life. Today we are celebrating our four year wedding anniversary.

Four years ago I married my soulmate, playmate, and partner. An amazing women and an incredible mother.

We had to double dip on pictures from yesterday - but no apologies. They are adorable.

And yes, we found that we still have the ability to speak adult English and have engaging and entertaining adult conversation. We also found that we can have dinner together without mentioning the kids AND without leaving extra tip to cover the mess left behind.

Shhh! Don't tell the kids. We are having a great time together.

Bella's Dad

You get called lots of things in life, many of them regrettable. If I had to choose just one label I would say that I love being called "Dad" most of all.

Skyler and Bella's Dad - now that says it all. I have recently decided that parenting may well be the most noble of all callings. If only we had a handbook at the outset.

One of the most shocking things about parenting is that you find diapers and reflux are the easy part. You have good resources for the most talked about issues like birthing, the first night, the first shots, diaper rash, choking, and tubby time.

In the end, the most needed ingredient is faith - and you can't buy that resource at Barnes & Noble. You have to do the best you can with what you know and what you have - then summon up the faith to believe it will be enough when they leave your house for the last time.

I have lost a ton of sleep since becoming a father. I have lost sleep to monsters, wet beds, thunderstorms, bad dreams, stomach viruses, kicking, teething, colic, ....you name it. But I dare say, I have lost the most sleep to the haunting and endless question - "will it be enough?"

And the difficult part about this question is that you have to answer it over and over again - every single day. Honestly, some days you just know it wasn't. Some days you know the bar was set way too high for what you had to give.

Faith! You just have to believe - it will be enough. It will be enough. By the grace of God, it will be enough.

Captured Moment

There are moments when you, as parents, look at your offspring and say quietly to yourself: "now that is worth my whole life." These four photo's captured such a moment for Baby Bella and I.

So cute, so happy, so mischievous, so inquisitive, so Cain, so Blythe, so McNatt, so Blair - SO Baby Bella. I can't believe this is our little girl. She is just amazing.

Unruly

And no, I am not talking about Baby Bella's behavior. Shame on you for thinking so. I am speaking only of her long beautiful curls.

Baby Bella's golden locks have reached that stage where there is very little you can do to encourage them in a particular direction. And Lord help us if we are too tired to brush her hair immediately after the tubby or allow it dry in the unruly state.

Likewise with bed head. I fear Baby Bella has inherited her Daddy's tendency toward really, really bad bed head. Talk about DNA she would just as soon be without.

Duck

Meet Duckie, Baby Bella's Bath BFF. Whether sitting in the tub or on the bathroom floor watching Mommy and Daddy get ready, you always find Baby Bella clinging to Duckie. She may sort through the toy basket with one hand but she will always have Duckie firmly in the other.

Yes, she has other Ducks. There's a bigger one and another small green one. They are nice too. But according to Baby Bella, there is only one Mr. Duckie. She will always grab the small yellow one for a constant companion.

Toys R' Bella

Baby Bella made her first excursion to Toys R' Us and absolutely loved it. Much to Daddy's surprise, the very first item she picked up and put in the cart was a big blue ball. Seriously, we stopped by the ball bin to wait for Mommy and she leaned out of the cart to pick up a ball.

I would have expected a Barbie or a stuffed animal. Nope, it was a big blue ball. Hmmm. A future KY Lady Wildcat player? Maybe?

Double the Pleasure

Daddy was trying to shoot video of Baby Bella feeding herself Strawberry Apple puffs when she started clapping. I have been trying to document her amazingly cute clap for weeks now - finally!

Click play and enjoy watching Baby Bella eat and clap - all in one video. Yeah, Baby Bella. (Daddy is totally amused).

I WANT MY DADDY!

Ok, all better now.

Slice N Dice

Baby Bella is thoroughly enjoying her messy diced up food. Last night's guilty pleasure was diced apples - with plenty of sticky apple juice to go around.

We had apples down our shirt and in our lap. We had apple juice on our hands, arms, legs, face, ears, and hair. So much so that we went straight from the high chair to the tubby. No one passed GO and no one collected $200. Tubby!

As you can see, the messier and stickier it became, the more Baby Bella loved it. Just like Daddy and Big Brother with a full rack of pork ribs. Can't wait til the boys can teach her about ribs. Get ready Baby girl - your two biggest fans have some great things to introduce to you while Mommy isn't looking. Starting with pork ribs.

Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut...

...Sometimes you don't. Baby Bella wasn't feeling much like a nut when Mommy first brought her down the stairs yesterday. But she soon perked up when you realized she wasn't exactly dressed up with no place to go.

Baby Bella was dressed up for a girls shopping day with Mommy and Nana. They made a day of it and seemed to really enjoy themselves. Word has it that Baby Bella can shop with the best of them - she can really hang when it comes to shopping.

A second straight day with the family was really, really good for our angel. She was so happy tonight she kept getting tickled at everything - including the food she put in her hair.