H2O Baby

Bella went swimming for the first time today!!!
Man, I had soooo much fun!!! She did too, I think!

I had been looking for parent/child classes, and signed up for some in July at the YMCA. But, that is not soon enough for me! I found "Oh Baby! Fitness" classes (have you preggo's and mama's heard of this?? Check it out!!) They have yoga, abs, swim, cycle and stoller work outs for preggo's and for mom and baby.
Anyhow, I did a drop in class today and it rocked!!!!!!! And we are both worn out.

I have a video too, but I need to edit it down a bit.

She loved all the mirrors in the locker room!


How cute is she??


Bella splashed and slapped the water so much, she was starting to fall asleep in the float towards the end.


Oh, but I could have TOTALLY done without the naked lady in the locker room as soon as I walked in. I think I said a curse word under my breath because it shocked me so bad. I just didn't expect it. I needed a little build up to that. For example, there was an older lady walking around in her underwear. If I had seen her first, THEN seen the butt naked lady, I still would have been shocked, but I would have seen it coming.
Hey, noodie, it is a huge dressing room. Do you mind not standing around in your birthday suit right by the entrance? Thanks.

"Partnership for an Idiot Free America"

I thought this bumper sticker was kinda funny.


What's better is that we were sitting at a busy intersection, and the green arrow came on. He was in front of me, and we were NOT in the turn lane. But he wasn't paying attention and went straight, like he had the green light. He almost got hit by the oncoming traffic turning their left. It was pretty ironic.

Need an electric player, dad?

Another shout out to dad, working hard in the studio!

Swingin'

Here's Bella swinging in a swing way to big for her. So, I should say, she's sitting in the swing (about a month ago - I'm really late on this one)

This is her friend, Elliott, who is about 2 months younger but fills that swing out much better!

I love meeting other moms in the park!

Dad the Audio Guy

... we miss you, Dad! Hope you are having fun in the studio!
Bella wore this today in honor of you...

Bella and Bandit lovin' on each other:

Showing her teeth off:

Thanks for the CUTE shirt, Morgan!
And here is Bella visiting Dad at work a couple of weeks ago!

Masterson Maternity Pics

We went to the park last week and took some cool photos of the Masterson's - Kristy is due any day now with little Josie! Chris did a great job! He has captured a lot of memories with our new camera. We love pictures.

Check more out at her site, but here is one of our fav's!

Katie and Bella at the Zoo

Just sharing a shot of my pretty girls at the zoo yesterday.


Here's another shot... of the orangutans; the shot of the day, I think. Of course, there is no intended reference that Katie and Bella are monkeys.

Memorial Day

In addition to thinking of our soldiers past, present, and future, we
spent the day at the zoo, on a picnic, and laying in grass. It was a
good family day!

Somebody Loves Babies R Us

Bottling

We're at St. Joseph's hospital visiting my grandmother, who is
battling a post-op infection. Bella is holding her bottle really well
now. In this pic, she's cramming the bottle down her throat. Good
times sitting here with my parents.

Short Update

Chris was in Nashville this week.
Bella likes to bite a little with her 2 teeth.
Chris took maternity pics of the Masterson's.
Bella wants to crawl. She's squirmy.
I forget to charge my phone a lot. It dies a lot.
Bella likes her portable high chair.
I want a new dining room table. Any suggestions where to shop?
I'd like a tan. Like now.
Applied for a new dog tv show.
I miss Chris when he's gone for 3 days in a row.
Chris and Katie have sinus infections.
I eat Chick-fil-a too much.
Bella is talking to her toys a lot these days.
A bum gave me ONE window blind for mother's day.
I'm (mentally, not physically) ready for the beach.
Astro is like a new man with his teeth fixed.
I am very sad The Office season is over.
We are going to the zoo for Memorial Day.
I love Bella more than I could have ever imagined.
My husband makes me laugh.

And a quote that a co-worker shared with me that has stuck with me all day: "When you say yes to a lot of things/people, and there are only so many hours in the day to get things done, you are also in the end saying no to things/people that matter." Make sense?

Have a great Friday!

Leggo My Eggo

Here is the award-winning breakfast from the Ramada Inn. Frozen french
toast sticks and Eggo waffles. Garbage.

Poo Hours

The audio boys all are in Nashville for a conference. This just about
sums up the quality of our accommodations.

My Favorite Age

I'm a fibber. Or blessed. Or clueless. I keep recanting. Every age
Bella is...is my new favorite. She's getting more playful, even more
personality, and cuddling like a champ.

The picture above was from yesterday morning. She was laying on my
stomach with her arms behind her head watching TV. But, when I went to
take the pic, she put them down. Good times.

Mirror Fun

I was folding clothes out of the crib; Bella was chillin' with me. She started talking to herself in the mirror and flapping her arms. I ran to get the camera. As soon as she saw it, she lost all interest in the mirror. It cracks me up, because I had the camera on the rail of the crib, so she is totally making these faces at the camera, not as me behind the camera.

My Mama

My mama's birthday was Saturday. With all the business of the weekend and her get together, I haven't been able to sit down to write a nice post about her.

This was her big 5-0! And it fell the day before mother's day this year. Some years it falls on the same day. She probably feels jipped by that in a way. But I think it is fitting. This mother's day, I had a whole new prespective on the celebration of her. Wow. That's all I can say for raising 4 of us. Bella is such a joy, but it's hard work. And to know she did it with such grace for me, Ryan, Keegan and Chelsie is amazing. Now I have a glimpse of how much she loves us.

Here is a shot of 4 generations! Aren't my Grandmother and Mother so beautiful?


The 11th (Mother's Day) was my aunt Kristy's (mom's sister!) birthday! This is at my cousins wedding a few days before Bella was born:


The two of them talked me into painting Bella's room during my 37th week of pregnancy. I am so glad they did! And to top it off, they did all the work!!



I love you mom, and I hope your birthday and first Mother's Day weekend as a Grandmother was wonderful!



Thanks for all you did for me growing up - giving birth, feedings late at night, wiping my nose, holding me tight, teaching me to laugh, being the team mom/classroom mom and PTA President for us all, for bringing me things to school that I left ALL the time, letting me get a perm when I didn't need one in 7th grade, checking me out when I didn't feel good or didn't have something that was due!, letting me do fun paint jobs to my room, going to the end of the world to find the "perfect" prom or homecoming dress every year, paying for gymnastic lessons (and taking me to them) for years for a backhandspring I used once a year, for the Local Motion Honda, helping me thru college, planning a beautiful wedding, for loving Chris, and loving Dad.

I love you more than I could ever tell you!

Dream Big

Jeff Henderson, Buckhead's campus director, brought in an author today
to speak to the staff.

His name: Joe(y) Reiman. His book: Thinking For A Living. His agenda:
dream big.

It was one of the most enthusiastic, authentic representations of
passion I've ever seen. Captivating. I couldn't divert my eyes from
him. Maybe because he spoke through his eyes, not his mouth. He was
overflowing with life. We all were changed today.

Here are a few key quotes from his talk:

"Be a Famili-onnaire...rich in family."

"Don't 'should' on yourself." Live without regret.

"The omission of nurturing is abuse."

"Marry someone who is never an enemy of your excitement."

"Throw your heart over the fence and your body will follow."

Buy his book. Heck, if you need another reason: he had the most
awesome shoes I've ever seen:

Makes me smile

This is what I found when I came into wake her up from a nap yesterday.
She's so awesome.

Bless his Heart

Astro went to the vet today. He had to get some teeth removed. He no longer has teeth holding him back, literally. I think we'll be seeing a new Astro now.

The tongue gets all the ladies.
dont be too mean, he's not feeling so hot.

Mother's Day

I love being a mom. This is the best gift right here.

Story of my life

This has been me all day. Wonder if anyone noticed.

Sorry Steve-O

We just saw this in the doctor's office. If you know Steve, or "Poppy"
to Bella, then you know that he can't wait to sit with Bella on the
riding lawn mower when she's older.

The doctors are dream crushers. I think we may be able to fudge a
little, Dad.

Worst Idea Ever

I get emails from weightwatchers.com for recipes. I don't ever open them because I tend to cook the same things over and over. In theory, I would love to learn a bunch of new recipes and how to cook some great dishes. But I don't have TIME.

Anyway, the subject of this particular email caught my eye, "Great Gift Ideas for Mom", so I opened it.

Who gets their mom Weight Watchers stuff for Mother's Day? I think I would slap the person!

Just my little 2 cents for the day.

10pm Vet Trip

Welp, it's 10pm and I'm at the vet. Astro has an abcessed tooth, and
has a nice golf ball under his left eye from the swelling. Looks like
the doggy dentist is in his immediate future. Yippee!

We're just plain tired

What a week.

Bella came down with a cold Thursday night. So we haven't slept well since. Poor thing just wasn't breathing well with a stuffy nose, so I can't blame her. It's funny how you are so sleep deprived during the day, but I honestly love taking care of her in the night. Maybe it's because she needs me, but she's so sweet and pitiful at the same time.

Chris has been working a conference for a week today. It's finally over which is awesome. We both have taken over that fun cold, he's been working LONG hours for the conference a little under the weather, and I've been at home while the two of us girls get better... We're pretty much all exhausted.

I went to Kristys today to see her nursery set up, and Bella fell asleep on me just standing there. How sweet is this:


Chris was able to come home a little early tonight from rehersal (8pm?). Well, I noticed earlier in the day that little Astro's mouth / face was swollen. I made an appointment for first thing Friday morning, but it had gotten worse. So the night vet said we needed to bring him in. Chris is a great dad and took him in. He has horrible teeth (Astro that is. Chihuahua's are know for crowded teeth because their mouths are so little). We think it's his tooth. He's about 14 now, so I hope he can handle what ever they are doing to him right now.

When they left the house, I hugged him a little tighter and sent Chris with a piece of cheese for him. Astro LOVES cheese. Chris called to say he tore Astro off a piece, and somehow he's gotten it in his tail. So he is doing circles in the front seat trying to get the cheese. And if any of yall know the breathing noise he makes, you know what it sounds like right now in the car.

Here's to hoping we get some good sleep tonight......

No Hand

It was a strange drive down 400 today. First, I see this car, whose
license plate says, "NO HAND." I thought that meant that he drove
"with no hands on the steering wheel," you know... wrecklessly.
Afterall, he was driving an Audi TT sportscar.

When I drove past him, I quickly realized that he was wasn't
kidding. He was holding his iPhone with a nub...he didn't have hands.
That's wrong.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

It's was my dad's birthday today!

This is from when Bella was about 6 weeks old or so:


Mom wrote a cute blog for him with some childhood pics, here.

I love you dad! Thanks for being such a great father and friend. You mean so much to me!

Weiner Mobile

It's not everyday that you get to see the Oscar Meyer Weiner Mobile.
It's my lucky day.

Sun!

Bella and mom chillin in the sun last week. Bella is working to figure out the sippy cup a little. And mom's reflection off her legs might blind you, watch out.
I LOVE summer. I like the hot weather. I love the beach!!! Anyone want to move there with me to sell hotdogs or snow cones?

Visiting

Bella's Great Aunt Renya and Grandmother (GG) stopped by last Thursday!

Uncle Keegan

Uncle Keegan came over Friday to have dinner with Bella and I. Aunts and uncles are so fun!

Nurse-ry

Bella has a gnarly cold, and today she received excellent care from
daddy daycare. The snot and fussing didn't stand in the way of the two
of us salvaging a good day together. This pic, just after lunch:

Big girl!

...in the Kroger buggy seat for the first time! She loved it!