Hair loss, playing in the snow, the aquarium, some cousin time, and Nickel City

Sorry it has been awhile since I have blogged. Besides the cuteness of my daughter, my life just really isn't that exciting. I really need to try and add some more excitement to my life, but I'm too exhausted and too poor. If someone wants to give me some energy pills and some money, I will gladly add some adventure to my life and thus a few more blog posts.

If you do decide to brace yourself to read about the going-ons in our life since the last time I posted, feel free, but do not feel any obligation to do so.

Some sad, sad hair loss:

As most of you know, our beautiful Belle has lost quite a bit of her beautiful curls. It has been heartbreaking, but unfortunately, there is not much we could/can do to change it. After 2 months of ear infections, colds, and fevers, Belle's body just underwent so much stress that it caused her hair to fall out (much like pregnancy does for women). Fortunately, she has not lost all of her hair, but it is definitely not thick like it was. The falling out phase has seemed to slow down quite a bit. So now we just wait for it to start to grow back - anywhere from 3 - 6 months. I am praying that it will come in thick and curly again.

A few shots to compare:

Love the thick curls Not so curly, and not so thick. :(

A pig-tail style before .... And now. :(

What it is now.

Some snow-time fun:

At the beginning of the winter, we, of course, got a super cute snowsuit for Belle. She LOVES being outdoors, and we anticipated using it a lot with her. Unfortunately, during most of the snow days/weeks/months, she was sick. I never wanted to take her out in the snow while she was sick, so her snow pants just sat hanging in her closet. The last week of February, we had one day where we got a couple inches of snow, so Dave wanted to take Belle out to enjoy it. Of course by the time, they got out in the afternoon, most of the snow was gone. But she still wore her cute snow pants and she still had fun.

Isn't she so darn cute?

She LOVES eating the snow!

If you ignore the booger in her nose, this is a super cute picture. :)

Of course, eating all the snow she possibly can.

The Aquarium:

Since I had President's Day off, Dave didn't have school, and he wasn't working on any side jobs, we decided to try and do something fun for the day. We decided to give the Aquarium a try. Obviously, it was not super exciting for us, but Belle loved it. I think she just loved getting to run around. Since it is pretty small, we could just follow her and let her do what she wanted. It was a very relaxing little trip for the most part. It was so nice that we decided to upgrade our day passes to season passes so we can go as much as we want this year. Dave has already used his again this last week while his family was in town.

I can't believe how big she's getting!

She and Daddy had lots of fun

Of course she can't hold still for 2 seconds for a picture

I thought I could get her to hold still by holding her, but that didn't even last

(hence the absence of Belle)

Some Cousin Time:

This last weekend, Dave's brother Adam and his family stayed at our house for the weekend. We also had the addition of his brother Josh, and his mom later on. Although there were some intense fights over the doll stroller and the baby dolls, Belle had lots of fun with her cousin Keziah. As long as they don't take her precious babies from her, Belle loves playing with other kids. :) (We need to work on the sharing a little bit.)

We went to breakfast at Magelby's in our jammies.

Belle sure enjoyed the french toast (or more the berries and cream)

After a sticky breakfast, the girls had a bath together

They had lots of fun jumping on the air mattress

Nickel City:

Yesterday was the last day we had Uncle Josh with us, so we wanted to do something fun, yet inexpensive, so we decided to go to Nickel City. I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty lame. It was much smaller than I expected and not much for younger kids to do. But I think Dave and Josh had fun trying to win tickets for Belle, so overall, we had a good time.

Our first game was racing cars with all of us.

Most of the time, Belle lived on the carousel in this little carriage thing

So there you have it. A long-needed catch up of what has been going in our little lives lately. Hopefully I'll be better about staying caught up so I don't have to spend forever uploading pictures next time. :)

Getting Tubes

So yesterday was the big day for us. Belle got her tubes placed in her ears. Although a very minor and quick procedure - it was still a big day. A big day because hopefully it will mean fewer ear infections! It was also a big day because Belle had to be put under anesthesia and they had to take her away from us for a little bit to perform the surgery. The part that broke my heart the most was knowing that I couldn't be there when she woke up from the anesthesia. I hated to think of her coming out of it in a strange place and with strangers. :-( But so many babies do it, so I knew that she could handle it too.

When we got to the hospital and started walking down the hallway to the waiting and recovery room for Belle, she immediately tensed up. She has been to the doctor so many times lately, and usually to get shots, so I think the minute she saw the nurses in their scrubs and the hospital bed, she thought she'd be getting another shot. It was so sad because when we first set her on the hospital bed, she said "scared" in a cute, but sad little voice. My baby was scared and it broke my heart.

When the nurse came in to take her vitals and measure her, she just clung to me and started screaming. She wanted nothing to do with that nurse. My poor girl has been scarred for life now - she will probably always hate the doctors office.

Even though she was scared, she was still so cute. She was so adorable in her little hospital clothes and her giant hospital socks. And she was even adorable when she seemed a little drunk (if you will) after getting some versed to help calm her down before the surgery. She even talked to the remote control for a little bit and thought everything was pretty funny. She was so cute. The doctor said that she smiled all the way back to the operating table. She was even smiling when they put the mask on her face to give her the anesthesia. :)





The procedure was short and over with in no time. Due to the anesthesia, Belle was not very happy afterward, and she cried quite a bit. It was sad and hard to not be able to do anything to cheer her up. Finally once we got in the car and she calmed down enough to let us give her a popsicle, she started to cheer up. From then on, she was pretty happy for most of the day. She had a lot of drainage coming from her ears (so the tubes are working!), but seemed to be doing well otherwise.



After a long few months of pain, I really hope these tubes help get rid of all the infections for Belle, so she can start to live pain free and be even happier than she already is.

Again! (insert super cute squeaky voice)

Isabelle is really starting to love playing with blocks. Right now she just likes to build a tower out of the single peg jumbo legos as high as she can. Of course there isn't a lot of support with those skinny, single towers, so her towers tip and fall very quickly. As soon as her tower topples to the ground, she hurries to start picking the legos back up, as she squeals "again!"

As I watched and listened to her to this over and over again tonight, I couldn't help, but think how I wished that I could have her positive attitude about needing to start all over again. It didn't matter how many times that tower fell to the ground, she began to rebuild it with energy and enthusiasm.

Sometimes I think we can learn some life lessons from our little ones. Although life seems to crumble around us over and over again, it is important to start to put those pieces together AGAIN without hesitation.

As we do it again, and again, we will grow stronger, we will grow smarter, and our lives will grow sturdier.

18 MONTHS!!!

2 days ago, our crazy Belle reached that 18 month mark! I cannot believe how old she is! She is now nearing her 2nd birthday and I honestly can't get over it. It amazes me how fast time flies and it amazes me that our Miss Isabelle Jane is no longer a baby, she is a little girl.

Our little girl is growing more and more every day and her personality shows more and more as well. She is definitely a girl and loves everything girl - she loves babies, clothes, shoes, make-up, and jewelry. That being said, she is not a quiet little princess. She is a CRAZY, busy body who likes to run, jump, climb, and be thrown. She has very little fear and loves rough housing with her daddy.

She is a smarty-pants with lots of determination. She is bound and determined to get whatever it is she wants and she does not like anyone or anything to stand in her way. She loves to read books and can't get enough of them. She also loves her doggies and loves to chase them around the house.

She is learning new words every day and is getting to the point where she repeats just about any word you tell her. Right now her main words include: Mommy(ies), Daddy(ies), doggies, baby(ies), bubbles, binky, blanky, bath, more, coke, color(s), help, hot, juice, candy, medicine, drink, car, shoes, boots, coat, and of course - no. She says a lot more, but those are the words she uses most. And of course every single one of those words just sound so darn cute.

Our little Belle certainly is busy and exhausts us every day, but we love her more than anything in the world and are so happy to have her. She truly brightens our lives.

a funny realization

re·al·i·za·tion

1 [singular] : the state of understanding or becoming aware of something ▪ There is a growing realization that changes need to be made to the coaching staff. ▪ She had a/the sudden realization [=she suddenly realized] that things had changed between them. ▪ He came to the realization [=he realized] that he was adding up the wrong numbers.

2 [count] formal : the act of achieving something that was planned or hoped for —usually singular —usually + of ▪ He was thrilled by the realization of his lifelong dream.

After three years of working as office manager at a medical office, and a random sequence of thoughts yesterday, I made a funny little realization.

Before I get to my little thought sequence, I must begin by saying that a huge part of my job as manager is keeping the books - I manage all the money, pay all the bills, do the payroll, pay the taxes, etc, etc.

Yesterday, after getting all the W-2s done for the employees, I began thinking about how my life has become consumed in running numbers - whether it's making sure we are getting paid enough on a certain procedure, or creating a budget for the month, or trying to figure out how much square footage we need in a new suite. I was thinking that this job has turned out to be a surprising career path for me, as I went to college in communications/editing with the anticipation of news writing or editing. So I decided to think back to my childhood and try to remember what my ambitions were then.

As a kindergartner, I wanted to be a nurse, and that ambition gradually turned into wanting to be a doctor until about the 6th grade, when my interest suddenly changed from the medical field to journalism. I specifically remember being asked in 2nd grade what I wanted to be, and my reply was to be either a nurse or a doctor because I wanted to be able to help people (what a sweet little 2nd grader I was). As I thought about that, I was then brought back to this little memory:


When I was in 5th grade, my class spent a day or two at this lovely place - Young AmeriTowne. This mini-city is made up of 17 businesses that are run by cute little 5th and 6th graders. The purpose of this town is to teach kids to have jobs, earn paychecks, spend the money that they earn within their means, and just learn how to run businesses within a community. As part of the Young AmeriTowne experience, we had to submit applications and go through an interview process for the jobs that we wanted. I, of course, applied to be a doctor at the medical office. You can imagine my little 5th grade disappointment when I did not receive the position of a physician. However, I was still given a job in the medical office. My position -- book keeper. My teacher who gave me the position tried to lift my spirits by telling me what an important job it was, and that I was given that position because of my math abilities. I was in charge of running the books for the Young AmeriTowne Medical Office. I did the payroll, I paid the office bills, and kept the office running.

Any similarities to what I did for that 5th grade assignment and what I do now? Who knew my 5th grade teacher could see the future?

I think the irony (or really coincidence I guess) is pretty funny. And even funnier, is the fact, that I have never thought of that story before.

That is my funny realization - in more ways than one.

Just some cute moments

Belle and Daddy snuggling with Porter. Belle LOVES the dogs and she loves to snuggle with them. Porter will usually last a short time with her, but poor Belle can't get Emmy to stay near her. As soon as Belle goes near Emmy, she just gets up and moves.

I was going stir crazy in the house tonight, so Belle and I went for a walk. She LOVED running around in her snow boots and playing with the snow.

Her favorite place to walk was the tennis court. She just ran around and left the cutest footprints all over it.

Relaxing in her new chair we got for her.

One morning before her bath, Belle decided to put one of her rain boots on and ran around the house forever in her diaper and one boot.


Daddy usually leaves early in the morning to go clean, so when Belle wakes up, she takes Daddy's spot in bed to drink her milk while watching cartoons.


When I get home at night, I'm usually too exhausted to control too much of what Belle does and Daddy is away at school, so this is what happens - she runs around crazy doing what she does best: making messes!

Christmas and New Years

I know this post is a little late, but thought I'd do a little catch up on the holidays. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my family in Syracuse. It was very low key, but nice. We had everyone there, but Camille's family (until later Christmas afternoon); it was fun to have most of us together. We were pretty excited for this Christmas with Belle, as last year she was too small to care about anything. For the most part, she enjoyed opening presents and playing with new toys. She certainly got spoiled this year.

Santa brought her a new baby doll (as she is completely baby obsessed) and a whole doll set - stroller, pack 'n play, and bouncer and of course he gave her some stocking stuffers as well, including a sing-a-ma-jig which seemed to be more popular with the adults than her. I gave her some books and puzzles, and Dave gave her a laptop (as she is always wanting to play on ours). Of course, she got spoiled from Grandma and Grandpa with a Madame Alexander doll (much like one that I used to have as a little girl), some blocks, books, a cute outfit, and beautiful Christmas dress. Of all the presents, she was the most excited to open the little sweat suit my mom got for her. I wish I had a picture of it, because she was SOOOO excited when she opened it, and it was so cute. It was pretty hilarious.

After coming up the stairs, she immediately ran over to her new baby.

She tried to feed her baby (missing the mouth just a bit)

Then she ran right over to Grandma

I guess she thought she deserved the binky rather than the baby doll

The best picture I could get to capture the excitement on her face for her new clothes. She is definitely a girl.

The family PJ picture

Unfortunately, Christmas day, itself, was not such a fun one for our family, as we did not sleep at all Christmas Eve and Belle had a fever of 103 all Christmas day that would not break. We spent our Christmas night at the doctor's after-hours and ended it with a painful shot. :( It was a sad day. Hopefully, we will have a better Christmas next year.

For new year's eve, we went to Blanding to spend the weekend with Dave's family. As always, New Year's is a good time with Dave's family - filled with food, family, and games. Our trip was not long enough, but it was good to be able to spend at least a few days there.