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!

Lots of excitement...

Well, the last few months have been a whirlwind, to say the least.  In October, we made an offer on a house (that I showed you in the last picture).  Then, the next day, we found out that I'M PREGNANT!!  Yes, folks, you read that right. Little Baby Bell is scheduled to arrive on June 15, 2012!  Matt and I are very excited!  We didn't quite expect to close on a new house on the same day that we had our first doctor's appointment, or to be trying to move in and get settled while I'm in my first trimester & can barely keep my eyes open past 5:00!  But, I know that God's plan and timing are perfect, and I am so happy that we are moving into a new phase in our lives!  I can't promise that I will be faithfully updating the blog over the next couple of months...things are about to get really crazy with the holiday travelling...but I will try to keep everyone updated as the pregnancy progresses.  Thankfully, the first trimester has been pretty easy for the most part.  Although I had a few weeks where any thought of food (besides peanut butter sandwiches) was out of the question, I have really only had 2 days of "morning" sickness (that happened to last all day long).  God has truly blessed me with not much sickness, especially since I'm teaching at a tiny school where there are no substitutes, so missing work can really cause a problem!  The one day I was sick at school, I would just leave my room, signal the secretary to watch my class, and head to the bathroom.  It worked out quite well!  Ha!  Sorry, mom, I still haven't taken a "belly" picture...although there is really no belly to show as of yet.  I keep telling Matt that if I hadn't seen the pictures of the baby on the ultra sound, I wouldn't really believe that I was pregnant!  Anyway, until next time...have a wonderful day!

Our new house...

Well, last weekend we bought a house!!  It's in a new neighborhood that we've been looking at for several months.  We couldn't decide if we wanted to buy or build, but then Matt started working in Tampa every week & we decided having him out of town for 12+ weeks would make trying to build a house too stressful.  We had originally wanted to be in a house by the time our lease is up in January, but decided that the timing might not work & we could just extend our lease.  Then, a house that was already built in the neighborhood & that we loved had a significant price decrease.  That, combined with very low interest rates, made us reconsider & go back for a second look (well, actually more like a 6th look).  Everything seemed to be working in our favor, so we made an offer & the builder accepted!  We are supposed to close on October 31st, and we'll move in during November (once Matt is back from Tampa, hopefully).  Here are a few pics of the new place...we are so excited!  To see more pictures, click on this link: Pics of the House

Family Vacation...

A few weeks back, Matt and I went with my parents & brother to Pigeon Forge, TN for the week.  We had a great cabin, complete with pool table & hot tub, and we spent the week exploring Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg.  We went to Dollywood, saw a midnight 4th of July parade (it claims to be the 1st one in the country each year), and even explored the Great Smokey Mountains National Park a bit.  The week was wonderful, although we all wished that we had spent more time in the National Park.  It was absolutely beautiful!  We also saw some pretty funny shows, and definitely got our fill of Bluegrass music!  I think every show we saw played Dueling Banjos at least once!  Oh yeah, and the temperature was in the 80's all week, so it was a nice break from the crazy Oklahoma/Texas heat!  Overall, I would say that the family vacation was a success!

Working girl...

Well, lots of things have been happening lately, but the most recent & exciting is that I got a job!  I interviewed a couple of weeks ago, and although I thought the interview went well, I wasn't very confident that I would get the job.  But I received a call yesterday & I guess the principal liked me!  The interview was the most relaxed interview I've ever had...we just sat and chatted about the school & my past experiences (which were not so pleasant) with teaching.  She didn't have my resume before the interview & when I gave it to her she didn't even look at it the whole time!

The school is a tiny private Christian school, and I'm very excited about the upcoming school year!  It is called ACI Academy, which stands for Academics, Christianity, Integrity.  I will have a split 4th and 5th grade class, with around 10 students total.  Not bad, huh?  Quite the change from the 60+ hoodlums I had in the last school! (although some of the hoodlums did turn out to be pretty decent kids.)  Now I'm busy gathering ideas & trying to figure out how to teach 2 grades in one classroom.  I guess the one-room schoolhouse teachers did it back in the day.  I'll just pretend I'm in Little House on the Prairie.  Every class goes on a field trip once a month & does a service project at a local nursing home once a month, so I'm excited about the extra activities we'll get to do.  I feel a little overwhelmed since I've been out of teaching for 1 1/2 years, and I can't even see the classroom until a couple weeks before school starts, but I think it will be a great year!  I'm already impressed with the principal, and she's even going to meet with me and discuss all the curriculum with me, which is much better than walking into a room with 10 teachers manuals and trying to figure out which one to use (that was the experience at the previous school).

We took a great vacation to Gatlinburg, TN with my parents & brother the first week of July, and the week before that spent the week in Alabama.  I'll try to post some pics & highlights from our trip soon.

Rent House...

This week Matt & I made a trip down to Montgomery to work on our rent house and see our wonderful friends.  The nice thing about the rent house is that some of our good friends live in it, so we can stay with them, which is cheap & makes it easy to work on the house.  The not-so-nice thing is it's the house that we used to live in, which I love.  And it reminds me that I currently own a house that I don't live in, while paying rent to live in an apartment, but I digress.

Back to the point.  Our original plan was to spend a lot of the time working on the house, although Matt was still going to have to do real work (for the job that actually pays his salary).  Well, he ended up with a short business trip to El Paso in the middle of the week, so I have been doing most of the work myself.  I'm not complaining, because I love doing house projects!  It's so much fun.  Plus, I feel really accomplished & tough when I know how to do things that most girls don't know how to do.  And I like going to Lowe's.  So this week I have taken off the front door, sanded it, painted it, and put it back up, changed an electrical outlet, and painted the guest bath, which also involved taking down light fixtures, towel racks, etc., and sanding the walls.  I'm about to head back to Lowe's to buy a new light fixture for the kitchen, since the old one is currently on the blink (quite literally, it flickers on and off when it's on.)  The only thing I've had to have Matty do is remove the toilet tank & mirror (which were too heavy because I'm not very strong) and paint around the ceiling (because I'm not very tall & didn't have a ladder that would fit in the bathroom).  Overall, I'm quite proud of what I have accomplished!  Thanks Dad & Matt for teaching me how to do home improvement projects!

Happiness...

This week was our 6th anniversary & my 31st birthday!  Yesterday, I found a picture frame with a saying on it that I hope describes mine & Matt's life.  It says, "Happiness is not a destination, it's a way of life."  Reading that quote got me to thinking: if Matt and I were waiting to make it to a certain "destination" in life for happiness, we most likely wouldn't have shared the happiness that we have over the last 6 years.  When we moved to Alabama 6 years ago, we fully intended to stay there for the 3 years of law school & then move back to Texas.  In our minds, Matt would graduate, get a good job in the Dallas area and that would be that.  Boy were we surprised when we realized that God had other plans in store.  I'm so glad that we were able to trust in God's plan for our lives & go with the flow.  We never would have thought we would live in Chicago, California, & for a 2nd time in Alabama!  And I'm sure we wouldn't have known how many wonderful friends & blessings we would find along the way.  If we had waited to find happiness in Dallas, we would have been waiting much longer than expected.  Thankfully, I feel like we have "lived in the moment," and found happiness all along the way.  Now, I'm not saying that every moment has been perfect, or that I was always "happy" every day.  According to Matt, I was pretty grumpy when we lived in California.  But I really did try to find the joy in every situation, and I think Matt has done the same.  Even California provided me with blessings by giving me some special time to spend with Regina, Chris, Caleb & Aidan, and giving us the chance to connect with a wonderful Christian family. I truly believe that what we imagine and plan for our lives will always fall short of what God will do in our lives if we step out of the way and let him.  So just remember, don't wait for a certain future "destination" to find joy & happiness in your life.  Live in the moment & try to find joy in the everyday blessings that God grants, no matter where you are in life.

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." -Eph 3:20-21

Thoughts from the air...

While flying to California last week, I had a few observations while on the plane...
1. (this was actually before I got on the plane) When planning to get on an airplane, it's a good idea to bring your ID.  Otherwise, you'll have to make your cousins that went out of their way to bring you to the airport turn around and take you home & back to the airport again.
2. Mr. Seat Partner, do you really need 2 vodka tonics on a flight that's only 1 hour 20 min?
3. Airplane bathrooms are tiny & the power of the toilet flusher is frightening.
4. I could never be a flight attendant.  I would most likely puke on the passengers.
5. Dear people that insist on getting up when you're supposed to be sitting down, SIT DOWN!  You're making us late.
6. To my new seat partner,  since you already smell like alcohol, I'm pretty sure ordering more alcohol will not make it easier to complete your crossword puzzle.  (An hour later) maybe I was wrong.  You seem to be doing pretty well.
7. Why does the lady across the aisle think she needs to loudly share her medical history with the stranger sitting next to her?  Her seat partner & everyone else around her clearly do not want to hear.
8. Flying makes me dizzy.
9. I'm thankful to be flying to California instead of driving.
10. I'm glad Southwest let me choose my seat...I like the front of the plane for an easy escape!


Obviously, I was somewhat bored on my flight.  The dizziness was interfering with reading & the loud talking lady could be heard over the music from my iPod!  Thankfully, the flight was pretty good overall & I made it safely to LA!

I'm in Los Angeles hanging out with these kids this week...

We're having lots of fun so far!  We've been to the park, played games, watched movies, and painted a dining room (well, their mom & I painted the dining room)...and it's only Monday!  We still have 4 days of fun ahead of us!

Busy, busy...

Well, the last few weeks have been very busy & I just haven't gotten around to posting anything.  Mostly because I keep forgetting to take my camera (Matt gets irritated that I always forget it!), and I really don't like blogging without pictures.  But, I can probably steal a couple of pictures from Facebook to liven up this post a bit!

May was quite the busy month for us.  It started out with a girl's weekend in Dallas, with 2 different parties.  First, we had a party for my aunt Robbie.  She has been going through a terribly tough divorce for the past 2 years, so her daughter (my cousin, Brook) planned a special night for her.  It was a time to celebrate her & to remind her how amazing and wonderful she truly is.  The girls spent the next day hanging out in Dallas, and then Saturday night was my cousin Amber's bachelorette party.  The weekend was a great time to hang out with the family & just relax.  Matt was on a business trip to Chicago, so he missed out on all the girlie festivities...I'm sure he was heartbroken!

The next weekend was Amber's wedding, so we headed up to Norman for that.  It was a great wedding at Thunderbird Chapel in Norman.  The setting was gorgeous!  The chapel is in the middle of trees, with glass windows all around. A beautiful place to have a wedding.  Despite the pouring rain that morning, the evening turned out perfectly. Here's a pic of Amber, Brook & Adam and Aliyah (ring bearer & flower girl):

For Memorial Day weekend, we made the 10 hour trek up to Kirksville, Mo for Matt's cousin Hayley's wedding.  She was a beautiful bride, and it was fun to spend some time with his family.  Brook & I became cupcake decorating master's as we helped Aunt Elaine decorate 300 cupcakes!  Here's a picture of the happy couple-Hayley & Derek Rouse:

I always love family time, so it was nice to have 3 weekends in a row to celebrate special occasions with our families!  Although the wedding month is over, our traveling hasn't settled down just yet.  June seems to be even busier, with Matt going on multiple business trips, our 6th anniversary, and a trip to Los Angeles and Alabama in the near future!

This year seems to be flying by...it seems like just yesterday that we were packing up our things and moving from California!  Matt's job is going well.  Although this month is busy with business trips, he doesn't work nearly as much as he did at KPMG.  Which is good, considering he was generally working 80 hour weeks out there!  He seems to be much less stressed, and I think he really enjoys his work, so that makes me happy!  As for me, the job market for teachers is looking pretty bleak for the upcoming year.  I have my teaching certification, but so far there are no openings posted for elementary positions.  Luckily, I'm still doing the online teaching, which keeps me pretty busy!  Not having a full time job has also given me the chance to spend some time with family & help out with some things that I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise.  In the last few months, I was able to spend several days in Oklahoma City with Jen, helping her out with the girls when she was sick, help Brook cook & decorate for the party weekend, accompany my mom & brother to some doctor's appointments, and just spend time with the family.  It's so nice to finally be close enough (and to not have to have a full time job) to be able to do those things.  I'm so thankful that Matt is understanding of the difficult job market (they weren't even hiring subs in California or Texas) & that God has blessed him with a job that allows me some flexibility on the job front.

As far as Dallas goes, we are getting settled in here, although I think all the traveling prevents us from really feeling like it's "home" yet.  The few weekends that we have been in town we have enjoyed exploring the city & trying out different churches.  We loved our congregation in California so much that we are finding it hard to find a place here that we love just as much.  But, our search will continue...as soon as we are home on a weekend!  I think our biggest struggle comes from not knowing where we will get a house.  There are so many suburbs, neighborhoods, etc. to check out, and DFW is so big, that it's hard to choose a congregation until you know where you're going to live (long term).  So, we have found a congregation near our apartment that we will probably call "home" until we buy a house (which will probably be January of next year, when our lease is up).  Moving & making a transition to get settled into a new place can be pretty challenging, but we still manage to have fun along the way.  Every city that we have lived in has given us new opportunities, but also new challenges.  So, we'll hang in there & keep working to make Dallas feel like home.