fifteen months and growing...

what a whirlwind the past week has been. moving, trying to make life live-able amidst the endless stacks of boxes (which, with a 1 year old proves to be a feat...), and getting adjusted to new schedules.

i am tired.

but it has been good. one of the downsides, however, is that we haven't gotten internet set up at our new house yet. so... blogging and doing anything via the computer hasn't happened. sadly.

we are spending this sunday afternoon at my parents, watching football and ordering chinese food (yum). so i thought i would grab a few minutes while bella is napping to write a bit about our munchkin.

i can hardly believe how much she is changing right now. i know i say this every stage she is in... but this is one of my favorites :) she is just so fun.

she has been verrrrry into babies lately, and her baby dolls. the other night she was pushing her doll around in her toy stroller, giving her kisses and patting her head&face. it was just the cutest thing. she wants her baby doll to go to bed with her, to ride in the car with her, and to play with her. such a little mama.

it's amazing to watch her little mind work. the other night we told her it was almost time for "na-night". she then went to the bathroom and asked for a bath (which she loooves. it's her daddy-time before bed). once nick gave her a bath, we put her in her jammies and she promptly said "teeth! teeth!", reminding us to brush her teeth.

which, by the way... she is obsessssssed with her toothbrush and brushing her teeth. she asks for it morning, noon and night. which is really nothing to complain about except for the fact that it's a nightmare sometimes trying to pry it from those little hands...

she has been loving her time away on the days that i work. it's been such a joy to watch her blossom and thrive in the care of others, and around other children. jude, her cousin, is her best bud. if she hasn't seen him in a few days, she asks for him incessantly. and isabella, our friend's baby that watches bella two days/week has become one of bella's favorites! just today we were going over to their house. about an hour before we were going to leave, nick mentioned to bella that we were going to go see "baby bella". she immediately ran to the door and started jiggling the doorknob saying "baby! baby!" she is as happy as a clam while i am working, which makes all the difference in the world for me!

some other random things about sweet bel:

- she can't pronounce "c" or "k" sounds yet, so everything is a "t" sound. "tootie" for cookie, "tey" for key, "tar" for car...

- our girl LOVES music. i mean, loves it. the minute she hears music, the boogy-ing begins. absolutely adorable.

- she is obsessed with being outside!!! she will go to the door or window and say "side!!!!!" even when its pouring rain or right before bed!

- she found a toy bracelet of hers that she loves to wear. just this morning, nick was putting her in the car for church and i noticed she had it on. guess she thought she needed to accessorize for the nursery. it matched her outfit and everything.

- speaking of the nursery... she looooves going to the nursery at church. after a couple weeks of crying when we left her, she is back to her social little self. the past couple of weeks when she is running around after church, she tries to run down the hall towards the nursery again and is not happy when we tell her that it's time to go home. addicted to the church nursery: a good problem to have, i guess.

- she has a new-found love for her baby einstein videos. we had most of them packed away until we unpacked this past week, and we found her "baby noah" video on animals. we've let her watch it while we unpack... she'll get in our bed and we'll turn it on in our bedroom. so now multiple times a day she'll come in our room and say "watch! watch!" yeah, we definitely have to ration it...

- she's obsessed with blueberries. and pretty much every fruit. but bananas and blueberries are the favs. and milk in a sippy cup is still a no-go... but cookies at grammie's house? oh definitely YES.

- she loves to skype with our family in texas... even if her attention span only lasts a few minutes. but she loves seeing her cousin, wyatt on the computer. so much so that whenever she sees the computer she says "wyatt, wyatt!"

we are having so much fun with her and are exhausted every night when we put her into bed :) she is super active and into everything and manages to keep us on our toes every.single.minute. i need to be more disciplined in praying for patience as we are in a stage of disobedience and testing limits... wisdom and patience are invaluable in this thing-called-parenting. i know i don't want to break her happy-go-lucky spirit or stifle her playfulness, but i desperately want to create boundaries and encourage respectful behavior in which she honors and obeys us and others.

just look at this sweet face... i *love* being her mama :)