Who said guys can't be creative?!

Bella is crawling and talking!!

After much practice Bella has finally started crawling. She's been standing holding onto things (exersaucer, walker, couch, table, etc) for almost 2 months. But after reading and hearing from some people how important crawling is for babies we decided to encourage her to crawl. So, she's been spending more time on her tummy and learning to move her knees, instead of just lifting her butt in the air! ;) hehe

Here's a video of her standing holding onto her exersaucer and talking. Her favorite "word" is "Dada" :) I'll have to catch her crawling so I can post a video soon. Enjoy!

Yes We Can - Barack Obama Music Video

And then she was 8... months, that is!

Bella has turned 8 months and she's growing fast! She loves to stand, she's learning to crawl and takes little steps while holding onto things. And once in a while she'll let go of both hands and try to balance for as long as she can before falling on her butt. She's too cute!!! She's still not sleeping through the night and is driving us batty... :(

Here she is showing off her balancing act!

I'm a MAC girl! :)

I've been converted into the mac cult! ;) LOL... Between Billy and Sandy telling me how wonderful Macs are and how I can do a lot of things for scrapbooking and picture editing, well I finally "gave in" *wink wink* and ordered one! YAY!! It's a White Macbook and it just arrived on Friday. So, I've been playing with it trying to get the hang of things and get used to the differences between my old PC and my new MAC! Plus, Apple had a deal for a $200 rebate on some printers and I got one that can print 12x12 sheets! I'm in heaven!!! :)


And talking about cults, this is an excerpt from Stephen Colbert's book I'm America (and so can you!), under the subtitle All Other Crazy Cults (with an Apple symbol next to it) -- "The problem with cults is that they don't have the brass to be honest from the get-go. They hide behind pharases like "self-improvement wrokshop" or "human potential coach" or "improv class," then they slowly sneak in the crazy stuff so that you don't notice. If they had any guts, in the very first cult meeting they'd say, "You all need to wear yellow bedsheets and have sex with me twice a day until we get beamed up to a comet in twelve years. Also, give me all your money." Then we wouldn't have a problem - the wacky people can still join, and the people who are just suggestible can go, "Oh, this is a cult" and get out of there. I'm not trying to take away anyone's right to get poisoned in order to send their spirit to Pluto, I'm just saying they should know what they are getting ahead of time. Here's an easy way to figure out if you're in a cult: If you are wonderging whether you're in a cult, the answer is YES!"

Road Trip Adventures and Sleepless in Seattle

Well, we are back!! :) Two weeks ago Sunday, we drove to Leoni Meadows for our annual Central California Conference Ministerial Retreat. It was supposed to be a 3 hour trip. But after getting lost and driving through snow and closed roads (yes, you read it right *Closed Roads*), we made it in SIX HOURS!!! ... sigh ... It was pretty scary driving, especially at night and with a 7 month old baby! At some point I was actually making a mental list of the things we had in the car that would help us survive through the night in the car in the middle of the mountains - water, food, electric blanket, flashlight, and raisinets! :) LOL

But thank God we made it out of those "valley of the shadow of death" type roads into the campground. Late and hungry. But we made it! (And I love my car more and more everyday!)

We spent 3 days there with all the pastors from our conference and their families. It snowed almost every day and it was coooold. brrrr... It was Isabella's first time in the snow and she enjoyed looking at all the kids running around and playing in the snow.

On Wednesday, we drove to Sacramento and took a flight to Seattle, Washington. Sandy, a friend I met on 2Peas, picked us up from airport. On Thursday, we went to the Space Needle and enjoyed a gorgeous view of Seattle in 360 degrees! We also rode the monorail into downtown and walked down to Pike Market Place, where we enjoyed a wonderful variety of little shops ranging from crafts to fresh fruits and vegetables to fresh salmon!

On Friday, we went to the Snoqualmie Falls and ate lunch in a little restaurant in town. We also found a cute scrapbooking store! What are the odds?!! hehe :) In the afternoon, we drove to Bellevue Mall and walked around.

Saturday afternoon, Sandy and I spent time stamping and she showed me some different techniques like embossing and stamping on flowers. It was so much fun!!! :) Billy was so sweet and watched Bella while I had some girl time with Sandy. Ciara, Sandy's Golden Retriever, also had fun licking Bella's face and getting pet by her.

On Sunday, we went with Sandy to her church - Four Square Pentecostal Church. It was a wonderful worship service. And the facilities are gorgeous! And the mother's room was a dream!!! It was my first time at a Pentecostal Church and it was really different than what I'd expected or heard from other people. After church, we went shopping to Ben Franklin, Paper Zone, Impress, JoAnn, and Michaels!

Monday was a yuky day. It was raining/snowing most of the day, so we decided to stay in the hotel and relax. Plus we needed to pack and get ready to fly out Tuesday morning. Overall it was a wonderful trip and I was so glad I could meet a "Pea" in Real Life! :)

Well, back to reality in Merced... Bella did pretty good waking up once to eat and going right back to sleep in Seattle. But Tuesday night she went back to her old self, waking up twice and staying up for about an hour at 2 or 3 am crawling and crying... so we might be moving to a hotel room soon! ;)

Road Trip Coming!

In a couple of days, Billy, Bella and I are going to the Leoni Meadows Campground for our Ministerial Retreat. All the pastors from our conference and their wives will be there. The last couple of years it has snowed, so hopefully this year it won't be too bad. Just because we got used to the snow in Michigan doesn't mean we like it (too much at least!) hehe. And it'll be Bella's first time in snow, so that'll be really cute!! :)

Also, right after the retreat is over, we are flying to Seattle, WA. It'll be our mini anniversary vacation. Since our anniversary is on Dec. 29th, right between the holidays, we never get to do anything. So, this year we decided to go to the North West. We have never been up there and we've heard is beautiful. The coolest part is that I'll get to meet a Pea-friend (*waving at Sandy*) and I'll also see my friend April who was my roommate at Southern. She had a baby boy 3 weeks after I had Bella. So, it'll be really fun and I'm really looking forward to it!

I've also been busy finishing things for some swaps I've joined - Valentine's, Color Me Happy, Recipes, Circle Journal... oh my! I'll post some pictures later. Gotta run... the little one is calling!

Doctor Check-up

On Tuesday, we took Bella to the pediatrician for her regular check-up. She's 7 months now. She got 3 shots. She weights 18 lbs and is 25 inches long. My little baby girl is growing!!! She's STILL not sleeping through the night but she's adorable and learns new things every day. She's sitting on her own, wants to stand all the time, loves playing on her Exersaucer and all the new toys she got for Christmas.

She's also teething and wants to suck on EVERYTHING that comes across. It's really funny cause she's been biting her lower lip and she looks so cute doing it.

Christmas Pictures

I forgot to mention that we took the most adorable pictures of Isabella for her 6 month birthday and also for our family Christmas picture. Here are some of them!

New Year News and Last Year Update

I realize I haven't posted for over a month but December was just plain crazy. My dad came on the 16th, then my mom and brother arrived the following Friday, and then Billy's mom arrived a week later. Billy's dad and Mike Campbell arrived the following Friday for Billy's ordination.

We celebrated Christmas at home with my parents and my brother. Of course Bella got the most gifts!! :) She was such a cutie trying to open all her gifts and play with all of them at the same time!

Once Billy's mom arrived we did some sightseeing in Monterey. We went whale watching and the ocean was wild. Let's just say it was BAD! So my brother and I ended up "feeding" the fishes... I know, gross! Then we went on the 17-mile drive and that was gorgeous!!
We also found a cute restaurant! :)

Billy and I also celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on Dec. 29. WOW time flies!!! We went out to eat at a great Italian restaurant in Monterey and we'll be doing some road trip to Washington and Oregon after our Ministerial Retreat at the end of this month.

Last Saturday, January 5th, we celebrated Isabella's 7 month birthday and Billy's ordination. Conference officials, other pastors, family and friends spoke and prayed over Billy and I. We had family and friends come from Louisiana, Mississippi, Michigan, Texas, Nevada, Milpitas, Turlock, Watsonville, Mariposa, and of course Merced. It was an awesome day!

Well, on Sunday, my parents, my brother and Billy's mom left back to their homes. And Monday, Billy's dad left too. *Loud crying and weeping*... no grandparents to take care of Bella...

Black Friday Shopping!!

I forgot to tell you my shopping adventures on Black Friday! Billy hates shopping but ironically he ended up going with me because of his iphone... :)

I went to BB&W and got lots of wallflowers! Thanks Alicia for getting me hooked on these! ;) hehe I got Warm Vanilla Sugar, Black Raspberry Vanilla, Blissful Blackberry, Japanese Cherry Blossom, Sensual Amber, and Velvet Tuberose. I only got 3 starter kits and I think I should have gotten more... silly me!

Anyhow, after that I went to Target and got a set of the 1000 thread-count sheets they had for sale. WOW! Super soft!!! Also got a couple of other things. After that, went home and picked up Billy and Bella and drove 1 hr to another city. Billy had to go to the MAC store cause his phone wasnt working and I got to do more shopping at Babies R Us and Js. I even got 2 Christmas presents - one for my dad and one for my brother! :)

I had to return some things at BRU and so after buying diapers, some toys, a Santa outfit for Bella, a feed helper, and a Turkey plush toy I didnt spend a penny!!! I then went to Js and got some Cropper Hopper paper organizer (50% off) and a scalloped square punch (50% off) and some plastic organizers (50% off too!). I just loooooove getting good deals!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been a crazy year, but we are thankful for all the blessings, especially for baby Isabella!

Moving Out

Billy and I finally agreed on moving Isabella into her own room. Billy installed the curtains we bought for her room, and not just any curtain but blackout window treatments!! :) They are supposed to block 98% of the light! wow!! We also had to take the crib apart and put it back together in her room. And we had to move the dresser/changing table, diaper pail, humidifier, wipe warmer, diapers, and other little things. But we did it!! And it looks awesome!!

Now, we are just waiting for her to sleep through the night so WE can sleep through the night. It's been over a year since I had a full night sleep, although last night was close since my wonderful husband fed her at 2 am (but I still woke up when I heard her crying). She's almost 6 months, but being pregnant was no easy trip! Waking up every so often to go to the bathroom, sleeping with 6 pillows and trying to stay on my left side ALL night long, plus you get some nasty pains in the hips and back and shoulders... not easy I tell ya! Anyways, I'm just praying that she'll start having full nights!!

I'll post pictures later! (sorry)

Life Without Limbs

A friend sent me this video and after watching it, I watched a couple more. It's just amazing that somebody can be so positive and brave to live life without fear or anger despite of his disabilities. It also makes me thankful for having all my "body parts" working well!



Part 2


Part 3

New Discoveries

I couldn't pass the chance of sharing some cute pictures of little Bella. A couple of weeks ago we bought her an Evenflo ExerSaucer Triple Fun and she loved it! We put it together last night and today she played in it until she threw up (literally). LOL! She can't stay in it too long because she's not strong enough to hold herself and she leans forward and that puts too much pressure on her tummy and then spit... but she still loves it! :)

Trying to decide which toy to play with...
That gorgeous face of wonder! :)