BUSY WEEKEND!

Bella had one of her busiest weekends ever this past weekend, and took her parents along for the ride!
On Saturday morning, she sported an '80s look and took Purplepotamus for a ride on Plastic Lion.













Later on Saturday morning, Bella took her parents to her school friend, Simone's, two-year-old birthday party at the Decatur Recreation Center's social room. It took Bella a while to get accustomed to the party atmosphere and all the people, but once she warmed up she danced and played instruments and pulled down decoration with the best of them!
All of the kids at the party got name tag stickers to wear, and then enjoyed singing and dancing with a woman named Doris.













To close out the birthday party, everyone got cupcakes. Bella had her first one and thoroughly enjoyed it while wearing a red Elmo party hat. her mommy held her in her lap while the cupcake carnage took place. Bella ran around for a while afterward, then got in the car and fell asleep for her afternoon nap.


















After a good nap, Bella got ready to go to a baby shower for her parents' friends, Michael & Amy. She had a great time playing with some of the other children who showed up, though she was the youngest. At the baby shower, Bella set a new personal best record by eating three slices of watermelon in one sitting. Needless to say, her shirt was soaked and she got changed immediately following.













Bella and Amelia, who's four years old, had a great time running from a stool in one corner of the room to the large beanbag in the other corner. They kept this up for nearly half an hour, laughing the entire time!

REBELLA!

Bella's mom dubbed her that the other day and it fits right now. She just went for her 18-month check up - at 19 months, 'cause we got off by a month thanks to our doctor's schedule - and the good news is that Bella is AOK. She weighs 24 pounds, which is 25th percentile for weight, but is 33 inches tlal, which is 75th percentile for height. Her head circumfrance is like 90th percentile or something, but she seems well-proportioned and the doctor said she looked fine to her.

Bella, of course, no longer enjoys trips to the doctor. Did she ever? But she really puts up a fight. The doctor said she's very strong, takes two people to check her ears and throat these days. One to lie on top of her with her arms pinned at her sides, and the other to hold her head and do the exam (that'd be the doctor). But Bells recovewred quickly from her ordeal. She always bounces back quickly.

Jen also mentioned that Bella is testing her boundaries and th elmits of her parents' nerves and willpower these days. The doctor said the "terrible twos" can show up at 18 months. So welcome to it.

Jen referred to Bella as Rebella not long after that as she is realyl starting to get fussy about the littlest things, enjoys doing things we ask her - and tell her repeatedly - nto to do. Examples include putting her feet on the table at dinner, standing up in her chair, drinking the bath water, or doing just about anything we ask her to these days. But we roll with it, ignore bad behavior when we can, and issue time outs when needed.

Her daddy's favorite new time with Bella comes when I arrive home from work. She and Jen are already home, and Bella comes running to greet me, give me a hug, and then she wants to take my socks to the dirty clothes. She's good at it, too!

How long will we have to deal with Rebella? Not sure, but her grandparents are about to come to town to look after for a week while her school is out and her parents work. So it'll be fun to see what happens when Nana and Nunya meet Rebella!

BUBBLE HEAD

Bath time is now bubble bath time around the Avett house, and Bella couldn't be happier about it. Of course, her mom uses it as an excuse to see what Bella would look like as a smurf.














Or as a happy linebacker or road warrior or something.

BELLA'S FAVORITE YOUTUBES

These are some of the clips she views most often. Notice the numerous appearances of a certain red muppet from Sesame Street?








http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIqofVwYi4I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoiFGva_JoY

THAT FACE! THOSE SHOES!

One of the nicest things about the new camera is that Bella's mom is totally into taking photos of her. Seriously. We just downloaded 43 photos, 30 of which Jen took in the course of 10 minutes this weekend on the porch. BUt there are some really great shots, including this close up of Bells and her baby blues.














Bella also continues to enjoy putting on her mom's running shoes and walking around the house in them. She is also showing genuine interest in how shoes are tied, vegetables are cut, bubbles are blown and tomatoes are picked. And she can do all of them, except tie shoes.

SURE SHE'S CUTE, BUT WHAT'S SHE LIKE?

We know she's beautiful and fun, but need to let everyone know what life with Bella is like these days. Well, read on friends!

She is talking a lot, mimicking words we say, counting in her own way, and singing. She loves to sing and hear us sing. Her favorite songs right now are: "BINGO," "ABCs," "The Hokey Pokey," "If You're Happy and You Know It," and "Itsy Bitsy Spider." She also loves to dance at home and at school. Pretty much any beat or rhythm gets her moving those feet up and down and shaking her head.

This morning, she was looking at an invitation to one of her classmate's birthday party and said "Elmo" because she saw him on the card. We'd never heard her say that before.

She's graduated from Yo Baby yogurt to Stonyfield Whole Milk yogurt and enjoys that. Her other favorite foods right now are bananas, home grown tomatoes, pasta, tofu, and ice cream (which we give her very little of - honestly!).

Bella loves bubbles - the kind that form in soapy water and the kind we blow through plastic wands. She has blown several bubbles herself.

She loves to play in the pool. The school does pool days on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in the Summer so she comes to school in her bathing suit ready to hop in the plastic pools. She also went ot the YMCA pool with her mom and dad last weekend and spent over an hour in the water.

She loves seeing and talking with her grandparents on Skype.

We know all children are amazing and every parent has the right to be proud and talk about their children, but we feel so blessed to have Bella in our lives. She is always fun to be with, loves to laugh and make us laugh, and is a complete daredevil showing little or no fear no matter what the situation. The past year and a half have been a roller coaster, but we feel like the ride has been worth it and are looking forward to having this little girl - no longer a baby - in the seat between us.

THE PINK BOA

SAME BELLA, NEW CAMERA

So with the help of Izzy & Bud in Dalton, Bella's folks got a new digital camera late last week. After taking only a handful of shots of Bella, they quickly realized how wrong they had been using a simple point-and-shoot for the last year-and-a-half. If you thought Bella's eyes were beautiful before, get a load of these baby blues!