Bella's 3 year check up

Bella's 3 year Dr check up went well. I had some concerns going in to the appointment, so I was anxious to get her there. One, I am worried about her stye like bump that keeps recurring in her eye. She gave me a name for a opthamologist to take her to , so that she can have the surgery. I am not happy about that, but I don't want her to have long term effects from it. 2nd, she has a mole/birthmark that is on her arm that has some yucky hair growing out of it. It reminds me of the big birthmark my sister had on her leg that she had to have removed. Anyway, Dr. Rampley said to keep eye on it and if it grows, etc we will need to get that removed. UGH, my poor baby!!
Her measurements were:
38 inches, which is in the 63rd percentile, and 31 pounds , which is in the 40th percentile. She has turned in to quite the skinny girl, even though she eats and eats all the time! In fact, she almost always eats her entire plate of food. Granted, most of everything she eats is healthy, but the girl can eat! She just stays very active, which I love.
Some of her favorite things to do right now include: playing in her kitchen, reading books, playing with play-dough, coloring, practicing her letters, singing, dancing, playing soccer, anything outside, and running around the house with her brother. She is the best big sister I could ever have asked for and she takes great pride in being helpful to me and to Julian. She really likes to play "pretend" with her toys and likes to add Julian in to the mix, mostly to boss him around. She loves going shopping with me, and I love taking her. It's my favorite thing to do with Bella. Her and I go alone and leave the boys alone. She loves to grocery shop, clothes shop, etc. She is definitely a girly girl! She likes to say her prayers at night, in fact if we walk out before doing them, she gets very upset.
I have started to tour some preschools, as she is now 3 and I think it would be a great experience for her. I am looking at 3 hour classes 2 days a week. I want her to still be at Bernie's house, where she can still just play and run around. I also want her to have a couple hours a week where she can learn. The schools I have looked at have all been academic based and great schools. Eric and I have not made a decisions yet, but Bella is excited about the idea. She is so smart and I want to keep her mind stimulated. We have to make a decision asap!
Some things that Bella is doing: she is talking non-stop! Her vocabulary and speech are amazing. In fact, I gave her a speech and language test that we give our kiddos at work. She did wonderful! Her language score was that of a 4.5 year old.
She knows all her letters and numbers (and has since she was tiny), but now she knows most of the sounds each letter makes. She has even started writing some of the letters. She keeps us laughing all the time with the hilarious things she comes up with. She is so kind and very sympathetic to others. Don't get me wrong, she has her meltdowns and need for timeouts, but once she is in timeout, her meltdown is short lived. She can sure drive Eric and I crazy sometimes, but overall, she is such a good little girl. I just can't believe she is 3 years old, I am so sad about it. I love this age with her and don't want her to grow anymore!!!
Bella, we love you so much, you are and always will be our "baby girl" and we are so proud of you. Thank you for being the best daughter we could ever asked for and the best sister to Julian!

Isabella Rose's 3rd Birthday

With Bella and Julian's birthdays being 3 weeks apart (and mine in between), we decided to not have a huge party for Bella like in previous years. We really had a hard time choosing a spot for her party this year. I thought having it at a local resort sounded like a great idea! We had my Dad and Tommy and Becky coming from out of town who needed a hotel anyway, and the Pointe Hilton is so awesome, I figured we'd get a room and celebrate Bella's birthday too. The pool is so pretty at the resort, and there is a waterslide. Bella and Julian stayed out at the pool with our family and friends all day. Bella played with Guiliana in the water most of the time, while us adults vegged out and had some drinks. After we had enough of the water, we went up to the room for cupcakes and to sing happy birthday. Bella had such a great time, and I have to say, it was a perfect idea for her birthday.

The next day, we said good bye to our out of town guests, and we headed to Aunty Katherine's house because she was in town visiting from Boston. We swam and enjoyed the awesome weather. Then, we headed to Nino Steve's house where he set up a mini-birthday party for Bella. It was so sweet! He decorated the whole house and made a fabulous meal (which Bella ate every bite of). Then we had more cake and sang Happy Birthday again. IT was such a great birthday weekend for Bella, we are so grateful for all the people who helped making her day special!

Easter 2011

Easter Sunday was very nice. We started the morning with a beautiful church service. We then came home to give the babies a nap before we made the trip to Grandma and Grandpa Hoover's house for a yummy Easter lunch. We had ham and all the yummy fixings. Bella and Julian opened up their baskets from Grandma and Grandpa and grandma Ruth. Bella was very excited about the Easter egg hunt outside, it was cute. We enjoyed the day outside for a while, as it was a beautiful day. It was a great day!

Julian's baptism

On Sunday April 17th, we baptized Julian. We have been attending the perfect church for us, and finally scheduled it. We had picked Tommy and Becky as his Godparents before he was born. They are the best Godparents to him, as they love him almost as much as we do!
Anyway, they bought Julian the MOST precious suit, and Becky and I planned the party. We decided I would make lasagne because it is Becky's favorite. I also made spinach stuffed raviolis with alfredo sauce, bread, and a cesar salad. It was yummmy!
The service at the church was absolutely perfect. Julian did so well and let the pastors pour water on him and did so without any tears. The service was so touching and went exactly how I had hoped. We really appreciate the overwhelming love that was given to Julian on his special day.

Julian is saying "more " words

Julian has really taken off in his language. He understands so many words. I can ask him to go get a specific toy and he will go get it. He is now using more words. His new current favorite words are "more" and "up". I have been trying to get him to say more at every meal time and he is using it consistently. I give him just a tiny amount of food so that he has to tell me that he wants more. It has worked like a charm! This video is his first taste of ice cream. He kept asking for more, so I had Steve grab the camera so we could get it on video. such a smart chunka baby! Enjoy!

Bedtime routine: bath,prayers, and goodnight kisses

Everyone who knows us well, knows we have a bedtime routine. The kids bathe together, we all say prayers together in Bella's room, we each give kisses, and Bella goes mimis in her bed, and Julian goes off to his bed. Here are some photos I captured of the kids being so sweet to each other during the bedtime routine...

Park Day with the girls and one lil man

This past weekend, Anthem had a Kids day with a carnival, pony rides, easter egg hunt, etc. Saturday was a rainy and cold day, so we were stuck in the house the entire day. So, we thought Sunday would be a perfect day to get out and enjoy the day. It was a perfect day with 70 degree weather and plenty of sunshine. Me, Bella, and Julian invited the Cox ladies and Jen to join us. We all drove down there together and had the BEST time! The carnival was very cool, but we didnt put the kids on any of the rides. We decided to try and get Delia and Bella to go on a pony ride. I got Bella on, no problem. However, Delia was understandably frightened which in turn scared Bella. We then went to the huge food and beverage area. We had all kinds of yummy food including fried oreos, roasted corn on the cob, fried chinese noodles, and of course some beer :) The girls had so much fun running around in the grass while Julian enjoyed crawling around and eating. We then took a train ride around the park and by this time the 3 kids and us 3 women were absolutely exhausted. It was such a good time out with the girls and one lil man!