Vacation Vacation Vacation!

It's been a busy 2 weeks of vacations. We flew to Louisiana and stayed there for 5 days visiting Billy's family and had a birthday party for Bella. She got to see cows and horses in real life, which she LOVED!!! She also got in the pool for the first time at my MIL's house and she loved it. We got in every day!! :)
Then we drove to Houston to visit my parents and brother. We went to a lake on Friday and Bella is definitely a water baby! On Saturday afternoon we went to the zoo and she was beyond herself looking at all the animals. She would get so excited and "talk" to the animals. It was so cute! :)
We'll be flying back this coming Tuesday and then the joy of moving begins - NOT!!

Here are some pictures of Bella's birthday party in California. I'll post some from her party in Louisiana and the pool later.

Before getting dirty...

Eating the cake I made her...

Showing mom her dirty hands (although she was a VERY neat cake eater!)...

And she's walking!!!!!!!

We've been "encouraging" Bella to walk on her own, but every time we let go of her hand she'd sit down. She's been cruising since she was about 7 months and loves pushing her walker around the house. But today while we were playing, walking back and forth between Billy and I, I let go of her hand and she kept walking on her own. Only 3 or 4 steps. But I just started crying. I felt so overwhelmed with joy to see her grow and take her first steps. We already talked to her grandparents and they are all excited about seeing her walk next week when we go for a visit/vacation to Louisiana and Texas.

We also went to her "well check" appointment with the pediatrician this morning. She weights 20 lbs 12 oz and she's 27 and 1/2 in. She's in the 30th and 20th percentile respectively. She's gonna be petite! :) She also got 2 shots and poor baby cried and cried and then snuggled with Daddy. She's definitely a Daddy's girl :)

I'll post some pictures tomorrow so y'all can see my little angel :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BELLA!!!

A year ago, Bella arrived to our world and changed our lives forever. I can't believe she's ONE!!! She's so adorable and cute and I love her beyond words. We built her a little swing/slide playground set yesterday and she was so happy swinging in it.
She's also getting more and more expressive every day. We went to Lowes to buy some paint and other stuff for the new house and she was waving "bye-bye" to a lady that picked up her ducky. It was so cute :love: She used to give me kisses (aka open mouth pecks) but I dont know why she's not doing it anymore :( I just keep telling her to kiss me and since she doesn't I just kiss her all over her face and she laughs.

Change we can believe in!

Some of you don't know that I can't vote because I'm not a citizen, but I've been following the Primary elections. And yesterday was indeed a historic day when Senator Barack Obama won the most delegate votes and became the first African-American Democratic Presidential Nominee for the November presidential elections. So, while I can't vote, I think every person that can should participate in this historic event that could become even more formidable if (and when) Sen. Obama gets elected as the first African-American president of the United States.

Billy and I watched his winning speech last night and he's an amazing speaker. So inspiring, graceful, and hopeful. We are praying for his safety and may God give him wisdom to lead this country to a better future!

ok, I'm off to scrap! :)