Thanksgiving 2009

This Thanksgiving was a lot of fun, but extremely busy. Paul and I has our first experience of what it takes to cart around a baby and a dog. It was exhausting!

Thanksgiving Day we spent at my parent's house in Kalamazoo. All of my siblings were there and so were all of the kids. It's always busy when we all get together, but it is a ton of fun and I love when the entire family is together. Belle did a lot of hanging out on her playmat, napping in her swing, and taking pics with Meme and Papa. I also got some hilarious pictures of her sitting on my lap. Those cheeks are getting chubbier.

The rest of the weekend was spent on the eastside of the state with Paul's side of the family. It was the first time they had seen Belle since she was 2 weeks old, so it was fun to watch them spend some time with her and get to know her better. Mima and Bipa (sp?) got to babysit her on Friday night while Paul and I went to a Pistons game with Monique and Adam. We had a great time and we are sure Mima and Bipa relished their time with Belle for the evening. The rest of the weekend was spent playing Wii Rockband and hanging out.

All in all, Paul and I feel we have so much to be thankful for this year. We have healthy families that we are close with, and a beautiful daughter that has made us more thankful than we could have imagined. I can't say I am too thankful for all of my schoolwork at the moment, but it will all be over with soon :-)

2 Month Check-Up

Today was Belle's 2 month check up. I am so thankful it is over and done with! Poor thing.

First, the good news. She was 11lbs 6oz, which put her at the 50th percentile. She was 24.5 inches long, which put her at the 90-95 percentile. All in all, she is tall and skinny. Looks like she will have a future in modeling ☺ Her head was also in the 95th percentile, probably because of how smart she is! So, she will be my Harvard student who puts herself through school by modeling. Perfect!

Now, the sad news. Baby shots are the worst! Thankfully, they have a new shot that combines three of the vaccines, so she only got 3 shots instead of 5. Belle was having a grand ol' time laying on the table while the nurses and doctor googled over her. She was laughing and smiling and loving every minute. Then, they counted to three and jabbed the needles in her little legs. She sat there for a moment trying to take in what was going on and then lost it. It was like she felt tricked! They all loved on her, just to shove needles in her legs! Oh my poor girl! She cried and cried and I was doing all I could to console her without losing it myself. After a few minutes she calmed down and fell asleep while I was holding her.

I gave her some Tylenol and I plan on cuddling with her all afternoon.

2 Months and Growing...

Belle is 2 months old today and I can hardly believe it! In some ways I feel like the time has flown by, yet in other ways I feel like she has always been here. I really barely remember what life was like before! It's insane!

Belle has hit a few milestones this past month. She started to smile at 4 weeks, she is packing on the pounds (she is out of all her newborn clothes!), and is sleeping in her crib and has had a couple all nighters (11pm to 5:30am)! She is growing and changing like crazy! She loves her playmat, and has begun to love her swing a lot more! I have even tried some Praise Baby with her, and she is warming up to that:-) Overall, I think she is used to life outside the womb and has realized that she likes it a lot.

We feel so blessed to have her and she is the joy of our lives.

Marc and Caden Came to Visit

Last weekend Marc and Caden came out to visit! Caden hadn't met Belle yet, so we were excited to introduce the two. Needless to say, I think Caden was WAY more excited about hanging out with his buddy "woof woof" (Mac). As you can tell from the pictures, they got along very well!

Belle loves her Uncle Marc

He LOVES Mac!

Caden definitely gave Belle lots of kisses, but I'm sure he will think she is cooler when she does more than sleeps, cries, and poops. Can you blame him? It was adorable to watch him interact with her. We hadn't seen Caden in awhile, so it was awesome to see him again and to hear how much more he is talking. He is a ball of energy and such a sweet boy.

Last weekend was also the first time I sang at our church, Cornerstone. I wanted to sing on their praise team but in between having a baby and getting acclimated to motherhood, it was a challenge to find time. Overall, it went well and I had so much fun. Paul and I are glad to be part of a church again and being able to use our gifts. It had been awhile, but we have definitely found a church home that we feel is right for us. I am even a part of their MOPS groups, which I love.

Belle Smiling and Cooing

This was my attempt to capture Belle smiling and cooing a bit.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

So, Paul and I were extremely excited to dress Belle up for Halloween. She was a monkey. The costume was still a bit big for her, but we thought she was still the cutest monkey we had ever seen. As usual, we went to Jill and Jason's to meet up with everyone. The guys took the kids trick or treating and the girls drank coffee at the house :-)

The week before Halloween Paul and I went to Liz and Mike's house for pumpkin carving. It was tons of fun and we were quite impressed with our pumpkins. Paul's is the Frankenstein head.