Bella's Pre-K Graduation

Kind of in denial that she's old enough for this! But then again, it doesn't because I feel like Bella is this little lady stuck in a little girl's body :)  She's amazing to me- all that she knows and says, her thoughts and her thoughtfulness, her creative and curious spirit. I am so proud and honored to be her mom. We are truly going to miss her weekday school and the intimate setting there. It's been apart of our life for 5 years! Thank you to all the teachers who have given her a great start in her education! Love yall!!

Remembering Today

Chris made this sweet video. Today we remember the light Hallie brought to Christmas. We are doing great and love being with family this time of year! Thanks for remembering our Hallie!

First Annual Hallie Lantern Release - Hallie Lynn Green from Chris Green on Vimeo.

One Year Birthday Anniversary

Yesterday (Dec 19th) was Hallie's one year birthday.

I had NO idea how I would feel. No two people's grief is the same. And no two days of my own grief are the same, really. I didn't plan anything. Because I wasn't sure if I'd want to do anything. If I'd want to be around anyone. How do you plan something like that anyways? I knew I wanted to celebrate her, but I also felt a sadness coming over. With the holidays approaching and feeling like I'm right back to figuring out what Christmas looks like again... last year was just so different. I feel myself getting overwhelmed out shopping because I just miss last year... focusing on just her. 

A few days ago, Bella had her first real emotional time with missing Hallie. I think it's the season, too. Remembering her. And listening to her song in the car this weekend, she just boo-hoo'd. Bella is sensitive, but she's never done this before (about Hallie). She said she just really misses Hallie and thinks about her everyday. We talked about how it was ok to cry, that mommy does sometimes too. It was good. And then in true 5 year old fashion, she was back to normal in 5 minutes. 

So, the morning of Hallie's birthday I was still unsure. Unsure about what to do. It was my intention to keep Bella home from preschool, and for us three to just cuddle all day. Except that would only last the length of a cartoon. I decided I needed a day to myself. Really just to nap and be quiet for a while. The girls confirmed this when they woke up with a sweet spirit of remembering Hallie! They were excited to have muffins on our special birthday plate and Farrah even sung Happy Birthday. Bella requested that we make a special treat that she could take to school to celebrate Hallie's birthday (like everyone does, so it made sense to her!) We made some quick treats and she was kinda speaking and asking rhetorically, "It would be Hallie's first birthday. But she's not here. She's in heaven. That doesn't make sense that she died, she wasn't even 40 lbs yet!" (her weight, haha) 

And that stuck with me. It doesn't make sense. And we are sad. We miss having a third sister. Another daughter. Another granddaughter. But we love her like the other two, and I feel blessed to have had a few days with her. Many more would have been wonderful. 500 other pictures of her would have been great. But NONE of it would have ever been ENOUGH. So I just agree - it doesn't make sense. I don't have all the answers. But we love you, Hallie, and we praise God for you. 

So... after a wonderful mid-day nap, Chris and the girls came home around 2. We then felt confident in our emotions and that it would be nice to be with the family that surrounded us those 5 days. So we all got together and ate dinner. And celebrated just being together. And got excited about new babies coming next year (Christina is due with Aspen any day now, and Ryan and Melissa are expecting in May!) Melissa had a lantern that we lit in honor of Hallie's one year. It was cool and fun - and got stuck in a tree. Dad ran and got a blower, and we were able to retrieve it and let it go again. Lots of laughs and love and hope. Just what we needed. And then Chris and I just soaked in two precious, precious sweet girls passed out in the van on the way home. Love our families. Love our girls so much.

Thanks for your continued prayers! We hope you have a very merry Christmas!!!

Bella and Pre-K

Bella started Pre-K last week!

Or, as she called it, her "First Day of going more days!"

She's been going to her school basically since she was born. I volunteer at the church once a week, so she and Farrah go to school that day as well. Now, she gets to go a couple of days more and she has been looking forward to that all summer! She loves school, her friends and her teachers.

The night before, I asked her if she'd like any special requests for breakfast or lunch. She asked for pancakes (with no syrup - she doesn't like her hands sticky!?!) and for string cheese in her lunch. I can do that!

I put up a couple of balloons and paper lanterns and she thought it was the best thing ever. She is constantly setting up pretend parties during the day - mostly pretend birthday parties for when Dad gets home. So I knew she'd love it. It really was so simple, I just have to stop and remember to do those things sometimes! She walked in the dining room that morning and said, "You did this for me?" That made it so special. I love my sweet girl. She is not growing up. She is not growing up. She is not growing up.



Farrah does like syrup.

I may need a new griddle. Or maybe I just need to learn to use it correctly. But they ate them! :)

Chris and I get a kick of how she naturally likes to sit with her legs crossed.


Sister with her sparkly necklace, had to dress up for the occasion.


We are so proud to be your parents, Bella!!

Farrah counting to 10

This is in the car on our way to the beach. We just discovered she can count to 10, I didn't even know she could! ha! I guess a a combination of school on Thursdays and playing countless hide-and-seeks with Bella has taught her! I love her little voice.

Jimmy Crack Corn

Chris is so fun. He took some video of the girls eating corn on the cob for the first time. Put it to funny music. Hilarious!


Corn Girls from Chris Green on Vimeo.

Wordless Wednesday: Bella's 1st real Drawing: "Farrah"

(From 7/14/2010)

Random

I promise not all of my posts are about Farrah's flexibility, but you got to check out one of the preferred methods of sleeping:

Then a little morning stretch with breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast, Farrah and Bella now "match" with their highchairs. Bella was so excited. :)

She still loves baby food. Liking yogurt. Not a fan of little pieces of pear, banana or cheese. Liking cheerios.

Just in case you wanted to know ;)

Bella eats all kinds of things. Whatever I'm in the mood to fix in the morning. Sometimes it's an egg sandwich, or bagel, banana, or sometimes it's an easy grits morning. She also likes cereal, yogurt, pancakes and waffles. And when her daddy gets up, she often gets her favorite - Chocolate milk. :)

We're moving in T - 3 days. CRAZY!

I recently got contacts. Did I say that already? I've already managed to lose one, burn my eye with contact cleaner, and then find the lost one three weeks later stuck to the side of the toilet bowl. I have NO idea how it got there. But it's like dried on and I can't get it all off. ha! I also bought some cute CHEAP glasses off zennioptical.com, if you are in need of some extras. I always need them because I can't keep track of one pair.

How's that for a random blog?

Starting Block

Ready, Set, GO!

She's so close, if she wasn't so darn flexible, she'd actually put her knees under her. Instead, she does the breast stroke on the floor to crawl. So funny. And she looks like she's swimming at bathtime when we're in the tub.

Can you tell I'm sending these posts from my phone? We're in the crazy madness of moving right now, and my house is a disaster!

Where've I been?

Not sure. ha!

Actually... we have a big change coming up! We are MOVING! In TWO weeks! :-0

Chris and I had some friends who were looking for a house in our neighborhood to rent. He asked us to be on the lookout. When Chris and I spoke about it, we immediately were like, "Well, we're the size house they are looking for. Nahhhhh... that would be crazy to move in a month... do you think they'd want to?" And... it all worked out.

So, we'll be moving to our hometown for a bit, with my parents!

Why, you ask? Well, we needed a change. We hadn't planned on being in Grant Park for 6 years. We want to save some $, and figure out where we want to be next. We wouldn't have necessarily rented to just anyone... and it just all worked out. So, why not, right? You only live once... haaaa!

We are excited. One drawback is Chris' commute will be a bit longer. But overall, I am really looking forward to a change, and free babysitting after the kids go to sleep :)

Sooooo... if you are in L'ville, hit us up! :)

We are busy finishing up projects that hadn't been done (tiling the laundry room, cleaning up the backyard from the room addition debris, painting trim in the playroom, etc.) All things that we are like, "Why hadn't we done this before so we could enjoy it more?" ha!

We haven't taken many pictures lately (because all we have done are projects, work, pack and sleep!) But I have tons of cute iPhone pics I want to post... eventually! Farrah just had her two top teeth pop thru last week! She's slept better since. She'll be 9 months this week, and a doc appt to go with that.

Bella continues to climb in bed with us in the middle of the night, pretty much every night. We are so asleep, we don't notice lots of times. She's learned the art of delaying what she needs to do (I'm hungry. I need to go potty.) And JUST in the last 2 weeks decided to rebel against the carseat and whines for what seems like an eternity after getting buckled in. (My back hurts! My back it hot! The straps are hurting me! My dress is hurting me! My panties are hurting me!?!) I've checked, nothing is hurting her. The air is on high. And she does this no matter who's car she is riding in. Any tips?? This can make running errands (especially more than one a day) painful!

They both are awesome, though. Didn't mean to rant. ha! But Farrah is taking the nap of a lifetime right now (2.5 hours as of now!) and I had a chance to blog. So, there you go... mind dump.

Until next time!

Big Girl Bed

I can't believe I've never posted about Bella's Big Girl Bed from 8 months ago!!



Nana and GDaddy made this Big Girl Bed for Bella! Isn't it awesome? It's low to the ground, uses a crib/toddler bed mattress, and was upholstered with the room theme.

The pockets are made from Nana's baby blanket!


Now... like all new things with the first child, I wasn't how the best way to introduce/start this new bed with Bella. Since we were getting it right before Farrah was born, my thought was to have it in the room for a bit, and get her used to it. (The girls share a room.) That way, she didn't feel like Farrah was "kicking" her out of her crib. You know... a big girl bed and a sister are two big changes! She loved knowing her "baby sister" was going to be in the crib and she was in a "Big Girl Bed"!

My parents brought it up the day before I was induced. Bella loved it!! So much, in fact, that she was excited to nap in it that day!! We never turned back...

It's perfect, and I love that it's her personalized little bed.


This is a sweet frame GG had made after Bella was born:


And, can you believe she shares this little cute bed with all of her "Friends"????? At nap and bedtime, they are stacked up on each other along the left side of the bed!!

Flexi-baby

Is it too early for gymnastics? :)

Farrah has some serious flexibility.

If you REALLY look at this picture, and think about getting in this position yourself... you realize it's pretty amazing!! This is one of her napping positions.



And... therefore... this is how she has learned to sit herself up. She just learned last week, and she's so fast now! It's pretty amazing to watch. Not sure I capture it here, but just think about your hips rotating like this!





Sitting up brings some fun nap times with it... She gets up so fast, and I usually have to go lay her down because she's playing with the mobile, her bumper, or just trying to look over the side. If I leave her alone long enough, she'll just lean forward again and go to sleep like that. Cracks me up!!

Ballet

So, we started Bella in a little ballet class recently. We've been to 3 classes so far... she's got down:
1st position
She can say "passe" and look cute trying
And she likes the "teapot" song they do.

Basically, she loves to do her own version of a ballerina turn the whole time the teacher talks. :)

But of course she looks precious doing it.


"Make your feet smile!"


How fun is this?


Passe!


Farrah loves watching all the action. She just giggles!!


I couldn't choose from all these pictures Chris took!!!

Farrah's First Word

Farrah's First Words: Daddy from Chris Green on Vimeo.

Farrah eating!

Tonight I pulled out the rice cereal for the first time for miss Farrah. She ate it like she had been using a spoon for months. She loved it!!!
Here's a little video. The stuff on her bib is what I spilled! She didn't let a drop get away. :) I think she has been ready to start it... I was holding off. Guess I am holding on to my baby.

She turned 5 months yesterday! Pictures coming soon...

Some Milestones to Document!

So... I hope to get some more pictures up soon, but I wanted to blog about a couple of things before I forget when they happened!!

Saturday 3/27 - Farrah laughed for the first time. I thought for a while that the crackling noise she made was her laugh. Until... I heard the real thing. Such a joy! Oh my gosh I can't get enough of this big cuddly baby!!

Sunday 3/28 - she rolled over! Now, she loves to do it and is so proud of herself!!

Here she is rolling over before bedtime last night...


Monday 3/29 - Bella is finally saying her "F's" as "F's" instead of "S's". So, Farrah is no longer Sarrah. Isn't that sun?
She talks, talks, talks... but found myself accidentally calling Farrah the wrong name (haha) or saying, "Bella where's my sphone?" :) Love this girl:
http://www.twitvid.com/A3654

Bella's first hair cut

Right before we left to go to Pigtails and Crewcuts:


We wanted to get Bella's hair evened out, because it's different lengths all over. But I of course didn't want to lose any length! (it's taken 2 years+ for it to get this long!)



She loved getting in the car. Then we buckled her in and she started to get unsure. She almost lost it when the lady tried to put a smock around her. But, all was good when she got hold of a sucker.



Look how much it's grown in a year!!!




Farrah trying to contain her excitement:


There's not much difference in the hair cut, but I can tell :) And it was a fun experience - a toy train to play with before hand, a sucker, TV, and a toy from the treasure chest when she finished.

Nice nap on the water bottle on the way home. Sweet girl.


Video:

videos

Here are some fun videos!

Farrah recently started smiling. I've been trying to get them on camera for a week or two now, and finally caught some good ones on film! She is so sweet. Can't wait to hear what her little laugh sounds like.



Here is one of my attempts at getting a smile, and big sister wanting the camera on her. BTW, she loves the word "sandwich". She cracked herself up to sleep the other night saying it over and over.



Here's our 4 mintues (MAX!) in the snow the other day. It was just too darn cold!! Bella was so excited to look out of the house at the snow and talk about snowmen, but wasn't too excited about going out there. Thanks, Erin and Maggie, for the snowsuit!!! Bella wanted to know why I wasn't wearing one, too.



We got all bundled up (Farrah had a cute warm jacket/onesie thing on from her Uncle Ryan) I wanted to go out first to get a video of Bella coming out. We had no idea how cold it was, so I went out, and right back in!! So, this is Farrah's experience of the snow :)



Ok, here's Bella's best Jay Sean:




And, she'll kill me for this one day...

First Bath

These are pictures of Big Sister Bella helping me give Farrah her first bath last week. Bella LOVES to help!! "Mama, can I help you?" Oh if I could only freeze both of the girls ages for a bit and enjoy it even more!!

Time is going by so fast. I can't believe she's two weeks old today already!!!

Once the sprayer was used, Farrah loved the bath. Just like her sister.

Wiggles

Last Sunday, Bella and I went with Amanda and Noah to see the Wiggles!

Now, one of the best parts is how we got these tickets... My mom heard on the radio that a certain car dealership was giving tickets away if you test drove their car. Who better to do this than my Granddaddy? He loved it, and loved being able to give them to Bella! :)

I didn't bring our camera, and snuck in our FLIP camera b/c the tickets said no video recording. But then, the Wiggles guy was like, "Feel free to take as many videos as you want!!" I did so, but it's hard to catch stuff in the dark. Here are a couple of Bella and Noah getting down:





And when we left, Bella told Noah, "Hold Hands!" And they held hands the whole way out. I think Noah was a little puzzled. It was awesome!!!



What a fun, memorable time - Bella's first concert! :)