4 months old

Time sure does fly when you're having fun...and not getting much sleep!  Sometimes the days all seem to blur together!  Adley turned 4 months old back on Oct. 21st.  She is still quite tall for her age...in the 95th percentile, but she went down from the 75th to 70th percentile in weight this month.  So I guess she's getting longer & leaner!  She weighed 14.5 lbs at her 4 month check-up.  The biggest change over the last 2 months is that she cut 2 teeth the week before she turned 4 months!  Those little teeth are so stinkin' cute, and I was quite surprised that they came in so early! I still haven't been able to get a good picture of them because she is usually sucking on her fingers these days!

Baby girl has been busy this month...not only did she cut two teeth, but she has also learned to roll over (and roll, and roll, and roll...) & she has become intrigued with her toes!  She loves to lay on the floor and roll until she bumps into something.  Then she gets mad & cries because she can't roll anymore...she hasn't quite figured out that she can just roll back the other way!   

We had fun celebrating her first Halloween, and I enjoyed getting to make her first costume!  We went to a neighborhood Halloween party (where she won the costume contest!) & to Trunk or Treat.  She was a super cute little lamb, although her ears kind of stuck up so some thought she was a bunny.  Either way, she was precious! 

This month has also been busy for Matt and me, as we considered a new job opportunity for Matt.  He was offered a job as in-house Trade Counsel at Weatherford International in Houston.  We had a tough decision to make because we didn't want to leave the Dallas area, especially our friends, the closeness to family, and our house.  But, ultimately, we decided that making the move to Houston was in the best interest of our family & Matt's career.  So, once again, we will be packing up & setting out on a new adventure in Houston!  Matt will start the new job in January, so we are starting preparations & hoping that we'll be able to sell our house with the holidays quickly approaching!  That's about all we have to report, so I'll leave you with a few more pictures of Adley (since I know that's really the reason people visit our blog anyway!)  Love to all!

Hello!

Hope you are having a wonderful day!

Baby teeth...

Well, Adley will be 4 months old on Sunday, and today I noticed that her first little tooth is peeking through her bottom gums!  I can't believe she's getting a tooth already!  She has grown & changed so much in the last couple of months.  I will post more about her soon, along with some 4 month pictures, but for now I just wanted to share the news of her first tooth!

Here's a cute picture of my sweet niece, Allie, carrying Adley in the Moby Wrap!  They both loved it...and I loved having a little break while Allie carried her around.  Unfortunately, the fun ended when Adley spit up on Allie (who said she "threw up" and was not too thrilled about it!)  I love to see Adley spending time with her cousins already!

2 Months Old!

Well, it has been 2 months since Adley was born, and I just realized I never posted about her first month.  Oops!  So I'll just include her 1 month pic on this post!  She went to the doctor on Friday, and had a good checkup.  She weighs 11 pounds, 9 ounces (75th percentile) and is 23 1/2 inches long (90th percentile).  She jumped from the 25th to 75th percentile in weight since the last appointment!  She also had her first round of vaccines...3 shots & one oral vaccine.  Of course, she cried pretty hard when she got the shots, but the nurse worked very quickly so it didn't last too long.  She settled down pretty fast, and I didn't even cry!  We also found out that she has something called Torticollis.  It is a tightening of the neck muscles on one side, and causes her to lean her head to the left.  Luckily, this condition is very curable and generally just requires some neck stretches to correct it.  So, we now have a stretching routine that we have to do every time we change her diaper.  She cries a little when we do it, but I feel like I can already see a difference.  Hopefully these stretches will correct the problem.  Torticollis can be caused by the baby's position when they are in the womb, or from the use of forceps or the vacuum at birth.

This month I have seen so many changes.  She is holding her head up well, and smiles all the time (except, of course, today when I was taking pictures).  She has started noticing the toy hanging on her car seat, and looking at it keeps her entertained for quite awhile when we're riding in the car.  She still seems to enjoy car rides, and usually falls asleep.  Even when she's awake, she's generally content unless we slow down.  Matt says she has a "need for speed"!.  Unfortunately, she's still not the best sleeper at night, although she did have 3 nights in a row that she slept for 5 hours!  She loves to bounce and move, and sometimes the only way to console her is by standing and bouncing her.  I'm definitely getting a good leg workout with this sweet girl!  She has started to enjoy her swing for short amounts of time, and seems to be getting more independent.  She still won't take a pacifier, but does try to suck her thumb and sucks on her fist quite a bit.  Sometimes it would be really nice if she like the paci though!

Trying to suck her thumb

She really likes bath time.  I think she would sit in the water all night if we let her!
 

Sometimes she gets a little upset during her bath!

We took our first road trip this month to Oklahoma, and Adley and I even spent 2 weeks in Duncan while Matt was in China.  She did pretty well on both trips to Oklahoma...she slept the entire way when I drove with her alone, which was a great blessing!  This week we will be taking our first plane ride with her to Tulsa so she can meet Matt's Mema!  I can't believe how fast she changes and how fast these 2 months have flown by!

Adley's Nursery

Well, I finally got around to taking some pictures of Adley's nursery.  Matt and I had so much fun picking out decorations and putting her room together.  Yes, Matt did help.  In fact, he may have picked out more of the decorations than I did!  He does like to decorate...but don't tell him I told you!  I wanted her nursery to be classy and and fit for a girl, but not over-the-top-pink-and-girly.  So, we found a fabric that I loved & used the colors in that for the rest of the room.  For the walls, we chose a color called "Blind Date" that is a smoky blue color, and added bead board around the room for some added charm.  At first I thought the blue walls were too boyish, but with the pink accents we added, I think it looks great.  Matt found some shelves at Hobby Lobby & we painted them pink to match the fabric, and I made a lamp shade from the same fabric to top a turquoise lamp.  We used the fabric for the curtains, a book sling, a quilt, pillow and bed skirt for the crib.  Since the fabric had butterflies, we found some white 3D butterflies at Target for the walls, and painted them the same color.  I made a monogram "A" for about the crib, out of some styrofoam, fabric, and a wooden letter.  Overall, I think the nursery looks great!

First Trip to Church...

Well, Sunday we decided to attempt our first family trip to church services.  Adley actually did very well.  She seemed to really like the singing, and only started crying when we stopped singing for the first prayer.  After eating a little bit, she fell asleep and slept the rest of the time.  She looked so cute in her pink ruffled dress & her pink & white headband.  I would say our first trip to church was a success!

Adley Lynn Bell

Meet our beautiful baby girl, Adley Lynn Bell...absolute perfection!  She made her appearance on Thursday, June 21, 2012 at 6:03 pm, 7 pounds 5 ounces, and 20 inches long.  She has stolen our hearts already!

Waiting on baby...

Well, our baby girl is due this week...in 3 days, to be exact!  I can't believe the time is already here!  I have thoroughly enjoyed my time off since school has been out.  Last week I completed lots of crafty projects, including making a "going home" outfit for Baby Girl, making some cute burp rags, and helping a friend with a fun wall collage.  I also got the nursery closet organized, and washed a LOT of baby clothes, etc.  It was quite a productive & fun week!  This week I have been a little lazier so far, but I am enjoying my down time before the baby excitement comes in full force.  Everyone tells me I will be exhausted when she gets here, so I'm trying to take advantage of sleeping late while I still can!  For some reason, lately I seem to sleep better after the sun comes up than I do all night long.  Strange.

Matt and I are both getting excited & nervous for the birth of our little girl!  I think the waiting is the hardest part right now...not knowing or having control over when she will decide to make her entrance makes this girl a little uneasy.  But, I know that God has it all in his plans, so I'm just trying to be patient and enjoy these last few days before our lives are forever changed for the better!

I have had so many calls, emails, texts, and messages from so many friends this week letting me know that people are thinking about us and praying for us.  It is so nice to hear from so many people who love us and already love our little girl, and she isn't even here yet!

Well, I'll leave you with a few pictures.  We decided not to do a full maternity shoot, but I did want a few pictures to document this special time, so I enlisted my dad to take a few pictures of Matt and I when he was here visiting this weekend.  He did a great job!

32 Weeks!

We had our 32 week appointment yesterday (although I'm actually about 31 1/2 weeks).  Everything looks great!  The ultrasound showed a very active little girl with the hiccups!  She weighs about 4 lbs. 2 oz. right now and is a little over 16 inches long.  Her bottom is under my ribs on the left side & her feet are under my ribs on the right side...which I feel quite often!  I told Matt that I think I have internal bruising on my ribs from her kicks! Every time we have an ultrasound she is holding on to her feet for at least part of it, and yesterday was no different.  She would alternate between grabbing her feet & trying to put her hands in her mouth!  Overall, everything looks good & she's measuring about the 50th percentile for all the measurements they do.  Only about 8 weeks left until we get to meet this little girl in person!

Baby Girl Bell

Well, I am reluctant to post ultrasound pictures on Facebook (I just feel like that is a little too personal to share with 600 "friends"), but today we had a 3-D ultrasound & I thought my few loyal blog readers would like to see the pictures!

In this one she is biting her bottom lip...

And in this one her hand is by her chin...

Unfortunately, she wasn't extremely cooperative, but we got a few good pictures!

Baby Girl is still in need of a name!  My class of 4th & 5th graders are trying to convince me that I should let them vote on the name.  So far I have told them "no," but I might have to consider that option if Matt & I can't make a decision!

Sunny San Diego...

Matt and I decided to take a vacation during my spring break, and we settled on San Diego, CA.  I suppose this also served as what some call a "babymoon," although I think that word is strange, so I'll just call it a vacation!  Matt had planned a surprise weekend trip to San Diego when we lived in California, but our sudden move to Texas preempted our trip & it had to be cancelled.  So, off we went to San Diego.  We had a very relaxing week, which was great!  It was colder that we had anticipated, so our dreams of laying out on the beach changed into laying out by the pool in shorts & sweatshirts.  Although we decided to skip the amusement parks (Sea World, the Zoo, etc.) we did find some interesting parts of town to explore.  We really enjoyed the Mexican food in Old Town (if you ever visit San Diego, be sure to stop by the Coyote Cafe at least once!), and Seaport Village had some fun shopping, street vendors, and a great park with some beautiful kites.  We would have liked to spend more time in Coronado, but the day we had planned to go back & spend time there it rained all day long!  The Hotel Del Coronado was beautiful!  Our favorite part of the trip was that we got to see friends and family while we were out there.  The first weekend, my cousin, Regina, and her family came down from LA to visit, and the 2nd weekend our friends Jay & Bethany (whom we met when we lived in San Jose) made the trip from Fresno to hang out with us.  What a great way to start & end our vacation!  Although Matt got sick for a couple of days, and being pregnant kept me from walking quite as much as usual, our week was relaxing and a wonderful way to spend time together!

The Baby Bump...

12 weeks:

21 weeks:

24 weeks:

25 weeks:

Gender Reveal Party

Lots has been happening at our house over the past few months!  The most exciting event lately was the Gender Reveal Party that we had a few weekends ago.  Matt and I wanted to share the excitement of finding out whether Baby Bell would be a girl or boy with our families in a special way, so we invited everyone down for the weekend for a "Gender Reveal Party."

Matt and I went to the doctor on Wednesday, January 25, for our ultrasound.  The plan was to have the ultrasound tech write down the gender in a sealed envelope to be opened at the party on Saturday night.  Although I initially didn't want to find out the gender until the baby was born, I was the one who was quite antsy at the ultrasound!  In fact, I almost changed my mind while we were there and had the doctor go ahead and tell us the news!  But, since I knew that the whole family was coming down for the big reveal, I stuck with the plan.  Besides, I've always been a big fan of surprises & this just stretched the surprise out a little longer!  

The ultrasound tech was very good at keeping the secret...although Matt and I spent a fair amount of time analyzing every word that she said during our appointment over the next few days.  For example, the speed with which she determined the gender, and the confidence she had in her determination had us convinced that Baby Bell would be a boy!  

The weekend came & all of the family arrived!  We had 10 people staying at our house for the weekend & we had a great time.  I decorated the house with pink and blue balloons and streamers, and Heather helped me make some cute tissue paper flowers!  I also made a blue and pink dessert to go with the theme!



My mom brought the cutest little pins that were pink & blue themed.  Everyone had to choose if they thought it would be a boy or girl & wear the corresponding pin.  Thanks mom!


Since we have friends and family across the US, we decided to put the reveal party on a webcast so that everyone could join in the fun (even if they couldn't be here in person).  After dinner, we had everyone gather in the living room.  Matt made envelopes (one for each couple) to open.  Everyone thought that one of the envelopes would reveal the answer...but, of course, Matt had a trick up his sleeve!  The envelopes that people opened said things like "it's a baby," "it's a boy or girl," etc.  The real envelope was in Matt's back pocket!  So after everyone opened their envelopes one by one, Matt and I finally got to open the real envelope & reveal that we're having a baby GIRL!  We were shocked, my mom jumped up & down & everyone was thrilled!  Now we just have to pick out a name, decorate the nursery, and wait on our sweet baby girl to arrive!