Merry Christmas

Hope everyone has had a very Blessed Christmas.

Of all Bella's toys she seems to love her Sock Monkey Christmas ornament we got her from the Funky Monkey. So much she crashed with it.

Have a safe and Merry Christmas.

My Family

Of course you all know Miss Bella. Wanted to share pictures of our little family. Bella couldn't get out of the tree long enough to look at the camera I guess that is what I get for have a pink shiny tree. And no your eyes are not playing tricks on you Bella is not off the oxygen yet but with the low settings she can come off now for little time periods and can hold her oxygen it is just long periods she is not yet ready for. But keep your prayers coming and your fingers crossed we go to the doctor today so who knows what they might say.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday.
Merry Christmas

Sneak Peak

More to come.....

9 months and counting

I can't believe it Bella turned 9 months yesterday. She is getting such a little personality. She loves spending her day playing with her toys. I could not have asked for a better little girl. Actually I did ask I prayed all the time that God would bless me with a wonderful little girl. I just never could have know how wonderful she would be. Sometimes she makes me want to tape her hands down to keep them off her oxygen line but this is of no surprise after the months in the NICU pulling things out. Just a small price to pay for the most wonderful little girl.

We had a great Thanksgiving Bella was a big girl and sat in her high chair with the family. Everything turned out very nice and we had a great time with family.


Not the best picture of Bella but a good one of Big Brother. I get so few now that he is older that when I get a good one I have to share it. Don't they look just a like.



So far this month. Yes it has been that long since I posted so be prepared for a long post.

Bella's first snow 12/2/09. We didn't get a chance to take her out to play in it she had a doctors apt. So by the time we got back home it was all gone. But she enjoy looking at it when we got in the car. And it was nice to see the snow coming down. This was from our front door.

She had her OT visit last Monday all went well. She showed us ways to encourage Bella to sit herself up. Big help something I would have never done had she not showed us. She is really into sitting up now in her chair and checking the world out from that point of view.

Last doctors apt she was 12 lbs 6 oz. Everything going good. She came off two meds so now just a single cocktail of meds for her twice a day. Went down to 1/32 on her oxygen. We still have to adjust as need at night sometimes to 1/16. Breathing treatments are as needed for the smoker cough she occasional has.

Sorry for the same 9 month pics didn't get any as good as Nana's so I lifted them from her And yes she has matching boots that go with this outfit. Just one of her and PARKER at the end of the day.

Ready for Thanksgiving

As everyone knows we have so much to be thankful for this year besides our Bella girl we are also so thanksful for all the wonderful people we have meet along this jounrey who have gone from starngers to friends support us along the way. It is truely a blessing to have been given such a wonderful gift from God to have been able to see his work first hand as I watched Bella grow from 15 oz to now 8 months later 12lbs.

Miss Bella is ready for some turkey but she will just have to settle for vegetables this year. Last week she got squash with her rice cerel. Hates the rice but loved the squash. Then this weekend it was carrots and today PEARS. I know we have not made it through all the vegetable but what can I say I am a bad mommy. LOL.

Me and Bella have been busy working on the house for Thursday and lots of christmas decoration for Friday. Hope you will all make it out to Winnie and Tulula's Christmas open house. What better way to start the christmas holiday than with some great junk. I know Mom and Dad have been busy pulling from buildings to make the spot extra shinny. Hope to see everyone there Bella will be warm and cozy at home with Daddy while I get a day out.

This Week in Bella Land

This was one of the first things I bought after Bella was born, she finally can fit in it.

Lets see.
Tuesday Bella had her first visit with Ready Start to work with the OT. She is still moving right along.
On Thursday Bella turned 8 months old. I can't believe 8 months has passed already. Can someone please tell me how to slow things down. She went to the doctor for her RSV shot, oxygen check and weight in. She was moved down to 1/16 on oxygen doing fair to good with that change. Stats range better during the day when she is playing between 95-96% and then drop a bit at night but this for Bella is the norm. She tends to drop a bit once she is in a good sleep. But put her on her tummy and she stats the best. She can even knock off the oxygen and I have no idea she has done it till I go to check her. She is making great progress. She goes back in two week for blood work. I have refused to let her get anymore shots and blood work on the same day. Seems to be the two together is what put her oxygen out of wack. And her doctors agree plus what choice do they have I have to sign for them to give her the shot. LOL.

We went on Saturday and got her Christmas dress and shoes. I also got to make a stop into the Funky Monkey to see all the new christmas stuff. I grab a big chunky black and white heart ring that matches my Betsy Johnson braclett Roby got me for our aniversary this year that I have not had a change to wear. Seeing as we spent our anversary in L&D. Can't wait for a mom and dad night out to wear them.


We will be busy busy the next two weeks as this is our first year to have thanksgiving at our house and we are transforming the empty bedroom (soon to be Bella's new room) into our dining room for the dinner. I am so excited about that. Should be a lot of fun or a lot of yelling between me and Roby.

I have a long list of project I am working on between now and the end fo the year. Still never found the spray for the glitter had to make a trip back to the store for another can. I am sure it will show up someday. Will post some project as they get done.

Working on some fun stuff for the Winnie and Tulula Christmas open house that I will be putting in mom's spot. Don't forget to mark your calanders I know all the vendors will have great stuff so sleep in, save your money and skip the black friday sales, For Winnie and Tulula's Christmas open house you don't have to get up at 4am. Sale starts Friday Nov 27th from 4-9 that is PM.

House work turn Craft Project

Another pic from Bella's photo shot on Saturday.

Started today off by looking for some adhesive I bought a few weeks ago for glitter and couldn't find it. This made me realise how unorganised my craft room really was. So I started clean it up and once things got put into boxes and organised I then felt like being crafty. Still didn't find the spray so that project will have to wait till another day. So I decided to make a thanksgiving banner for my kitchen while Bella took her long morning nap and played. Sweet girl she let me get it completed finished before she got mad.
This year is our first year to have Thanksgiving at our house. I am exited and want to make it as festive as possible.

Now I am trying to get her to take a good afternoon nap so that she will be well rested for the OT visit she has today. But someone forgot to tell miss prissy it is nap time.

Check out my craft project love days when I get a good night sleep and she takes a good morning nap. And I can work on project. Hope to have many more days like that.

The week in Bella Land

Bella has had a very busy week.
Tuesday she went to Baylor to have a swallow test done. It was actually really cool. We could see her on the xray. They watched as she took a bottle of barium fluid to see how she swallowed to make sure it was going down OK. Good news with that is that she no longer will need the thickener they had add a few weeks ago. The xray tech said she did great and could start taken a regular bottle without the necter. She also tired rice cereal and they said she had no problem swallow that as well. So we have started offering her cereal this week. We couldn't get a good picture of the test this was the best we could get.

On Thursday she had her appointment at the house with ECI. That went great she is at a 4-5 month old in all her development with the exception of her social skills and on that she is right on track no delays she is right at an 8 month old. Go figure. She did not qualify for ECI to come to the house based on her devlopment bur they will bw coming once a month to work with her just based on her birth weight and how early she was alone. We are glad about that anything to help her development along until she is a year old is a good thing. They weighted her and she is 12 lbs. Can't belive it.

Friday she went to visit Nana and Pop while I ran some errons. Of course Nana did not take any pictures and is now wanting for me to send her some. Bad Nana.

Saturday her Tia V came from the other side of the planet which is Mabank. Vicci brought her fancy smancy camera and had a photo session with Bella. Bella wasn't very cooperative as she would stop smiling every time Vicci held the camera up, but she managed to get a few good shots.

Today is Go Cowboys Day with Daddy.

Happy Halloween

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween.
Just a few pics of my favorite things I got this year for Halloween. I love TJ Maxx and Marshall's. I got small print at TJ Maxx. For my birthday mom got me three Annalee trick or treat dolls. They are too cute in my cabinet behind my couch I hate to take them down. I actually hate to take any of my Halloween down. Halloween is our favorite holiday. Me and my hubby general have a Halloween party but well this year was low key.

We got Bella a cute costume and tried it on her this week and well little bit was way to little for it. She looked at me like mommy have you lost your mind.
Luckily I had made her a Tutu a few weeks before for Halloween so she was good to go. We started the day with trying to take pictures of bella in her Tutu and she was all smiles and possing until the camera came out then we got cranky baby who after two shots was so tired she crashed. Then while I was getting ready to go she woke up a happy girl just in time for us to head out. I managed to get a few somewhat good picture of her




We went to see Nana and Pop who had just finished redoing the spot at Winnie and Tulula's
after spending some time with Nana and Pop we then headed to Oak Cliff to Grandma's house.

We still managed to get a few treats. The boys got Peeps from Nana and I got some cute vintage Halloween kitty's. Can't wait to find a project to use them on. And Bella got two new teething rings. That is right folks little girl is a mad dog drooling baby who can't keep her hand out of her mouth. No signs of a toothy just yet but she is definitely feeling something cause she is chewing like crazy on anything that gets near her mouth.
Roby dressed up for work. Can you guess his costume. :)

This Week In Bella Land

No docrtors apts this week. Yippy!!! Been an almost normal week just the two of us by day and then daddy comes home to take over for play time.

Big news to report:
She is really pushing up and trying to get on her knees and arms up at the same time. I know this is not a good thing for me.
She held her bottle several times, not for long periods of time but still held it and seems to be eagar to hold it. She just hasn't got the cordination down just yet to hold it for very long.



Will update as we have more. We have two apts next week. One with ECI and the other a swallow exam.

1 Year Ago

1 year ago this month we went from being parents of a 12 year to a teenager and found out we would be have a new addition to our family. Who knew so much could change in just a year.

Brandon turned 14 on the 20th. He is such a awesome kid. I am so blessed to have him and Roby in my life. I meet Roby 10 years ago when Brandon was 4 I wish I had pictures of him back then on the computer for you guys. He was so adorable you just wanted to put him on a shelf like a little doll. It seems so crazy to me that he is 14 now and only has 5 more years of school. 5 years may seem like a lot if the past 10 years had not gone by so fast. I was so scared wondering if I could be a step-mom for the next 14 years and now we are almost done with one and starting all over again with another. He is such a good kid and a great big brother to Bella. She abores him when he walks in the room she cant take her eyes off of him. And don't tell his friends he looks at her the same way.


For his birthday we took him to eat Sushi. Yummy.


Bella is doing great. We had another doctor visit on Friday and they seemed very pleased with her weight gain. So much we get to wait 4 weeks till the next aptointment. She is still on the oxygen they are just taken that slow and letting her go at her own speed. She had her other half of her flu shot on friday. Will get her RSV shot at her next apt but no other shots for a while other than the RSV each month. I am so excited. She has a swallow test the first week of November and if all goes well with that she gets to start on cerel. She is already watch everything we eat. And I have tried cereal on her a few times and last week when I tired it she finished the bowl I made her. So I think she is more than ready. They just want to make sure no problem with the swallowing. She weight 11 lbs 2.2 oz. She is rolling over from her tummy to her back. Has not got the hang of rolling from her back to her tummy but tries really hard. She is playing so much more with her toys and loves to sit up in her boombo chair and watch everything. She will meet also at the first of November with ECI (Early Child Development program) to make sure she is develope at a good pace and not showing any signs of developmentaly problems. They evaulate at her corrected age not her birth age. Right now she seems to be running on track with her corrected age but they will be able to see if she is doing anything that could cause a delay.