Belly shot - 20 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:


How far along:  20 weeks. It blows my mind that I am half way through this pregnancy! I mean in 140 more days I'll be close to meeting this new one! Holy Moly!! So much to do! We gotta find a room for the baby! We gotta get Cora potty trained! We gotta sleep while we can!! Maybe one of these things will get accomplished and it'll probably be the sleep one.



Maternity Clothes: - This is a pretty dumb question now. Just look at the photo and you can see that I need maternity clothes! I'll no longer be including this in my updates! I will say I've been living in my stetch pants that come in black and brown!


Best moment: The baby has been more active lately and I've felt more kicks and movements. Plus William got to feel a kick too! Happened at week 18, which was earlier than with Cora.




Gender: It's a girl!! No name decided yet - We like Charlotte or Violet. Still debating.




Food Cravings: Let's just say I haven't had any aversions and leave it at that.




Sleep: If I could stop getting up to go pee, I could probably get some sleep.




Exercise: Yep. I went there. I added a new category and called it "exercise". I joined this fitness group with my church and we meet on Thursday's and have our weigh in and discuss healthy eating and then do a 30 minute walk. I started this last week and I've tried to walk everyday! I've enjoyed it and I'm hoping this will help me stay fit. Oh and while everyone else tracks their weight loss, I'll be tracking my weight gain!




Symptoms: Already I'm feeling big and round! Getting up in the morning is a little difficult. I feel sore all over and I usually have to sit down to rest while making our breakfast and Williams lunch. I feel better after I eat and have more energy the rest of the day.  I go to the bathroom all the time.




Things I miss: Sleeing through the night, Not having to pee every 5 minutes, being able to move comfortably!




Doctor appointment notes: Haven't been since finding out she is a girl! Will return on June 2nd!

Just another Monday....

It was just another Monday here at our house! Cora has discovered the washing machine and she likes to climb in and scare daddy when he comes home from work. It was really funny and I wish I had it on video. She screamed at him from inside the washer and he jumped so high! We tried to "re-enact" it but it was a bust as Cora wasn't interested in screaming anymore. She was ready to climb out. Also, William had brought home some donuts as a special after dinner treat so we got some pics of her trying those out. I will say she liked them! Who doesn't, right? I know pregnant women like donuts!!



What a crazy spot to hide!




Making funny faces with dad.



yummy donut!!




"I want more!!!"

Potty Training, here we come!!

The Bell household is about to embark on a new adventure - Potty Training!!  I feel it's a good time to start - she is 2 year's old now, she can communicate her needs and wants, and she hates sitting in her poop.  In the past week, while sleeping in her crib, she has pulled poop out of her diaper and really made a mess in her crib.  She has done this twice.  It wasn't fun either time to clean.  Not that I expect this process to go accident free.  In fact, I expect the opposite!  I'm expecting this to be full of accidents and I'm sure I'll be ready to give up at any point!!  But through alot of prayer, patience, love and with the goal that I won't have to change her diaper again, we will start this and see how she does.  I'm hoping she enjoys all the fun treats and rewards we've got her!  We plan to start this adventure Memorial Day weekend.  William really wants to be apart of this so he wanted to wait until then.  So right now, we've been discussing how gross her poop is and now she says "yucky" when we change her.  So we will see how this goes!  Wish us luck!!

Happy Birthday Celeste!

Cora was invited to a super fun birthday party today for her friend Celeste. They have known each other since they were about 5 months old! We met this sweet family through CBS. Her mom, Melissa, and I were in the same group with our sweet girls so we watched them go from little babies, to toddlers and now to 2 year olds.


This party was so great! Even a terrible thunder storm couldn't stop it! Melissa had reserved "Briley's" for the special occasion and was going to treat everyone to strawberry picking, hay rides, pony rides and animal petting. Her theme was "strawberries" and as you can see from the photos, she stuck to the theme! Strawberry lemonade, strawberry candles, even strawberry hand sanitizer for us to use. I can still remember the smell, haha!


Melissa made the cake herself! It was yummy too!



Cora saw Celeste riding on her daddy's back and she wanted to ride on her dad's shoulders too!



Melissa planned this party so well. I mean what do 2 year olds love - BUBBLES!



The sweet Feller family!




The hayride! Notice the dark sky.. It wasn't looking good at this point.



Cora enjoyed her ride sitting with dad!



Cora's first pony ride!! I was really impressed with my girl! She did not hesitate at all, she walked right through the gate (maybe jumping ahead of everyone at the party) and allowed the man to put her up on the horse and she rode like a little pro.

At this point, in the weather, it got pretty windy and it was scaring the pony a little. Plus it was thundering/lightening and it looked like we were going to see a house flying by at any moment! So at this point, they decided it was too dangerous to continue the activites and decided to move the party back to the Feller's house. I was pretty disappointed because this would mean we wouldn't get to do the rest of the activities (plus no other kids got to ride the pony) but we really had a great time at their house.



The kids decorating their strawberry placemats with stickets before their pizza dinner!




Group photo on the slide! Notice the look of horror and pain on all the kids faces.. Definitely a parent's idea for this photo!!

Baby Nathanael

Our sweet friends, The Stambaughs, welcomed a new addition to their family on May 2nd! He weighed 5 lbs 10 oz and was 19 inches long. Such a cute little peanut, oh my goodness! We travelled to visit williams family over the weekend and stop by to meet the little guy tonight. He was so sweet to hold and fell asleep in my arms and slept pretty much the whole time we were there. My heart is just filled with such happiness for this family. They have been through alot in trying to grow their family but despite it all, they have always, always praised God.



Nathanael = "given by God". Perfect name for this little one!

Happy Mother's Day!

It's Mother's Day 2011! So this is my 3rd official day celebrating being a mom and it has really been awesome! I had to write down all the fun times otherwise I would forget it!


It all started Saturday where I got to finally use my mother's day gift from last year - a gift certificate to get a pedicure. William and Cora dropped me off at my appt and I gave my feet the royal treatment! Then we took Cora to a drop in child care and we enjoyed a child free lunch at the "Daily Grind"! It was amazing just to have quality time with my man. Plus Cora really enjoyed her time at "play date".


William made me breakfast this morning for my special day. Buttermilk pancakes from scratch! He was very sweet to get up so early to do that for me. Church was very special as all the "moms" received roses. I just love our church family! For dinner, we grilled out hamburgers and played outside on the swing set. It really has been a perfect weekend. I'm so thankful for my sweet family and also for my 2 girls that I got to be a mom to!



Yummy breakfast!




Happy Mother's Day to me!




My gifts this year! Love Harry Potter and William picked out the card..




Rose from church.

Just a kickin'....

So it finally happened!  A real kick!  We were sitting watching TV tonight and I had been feeling little movements and I got William to put his hand on my tummy and he felt our little baby girl kick!  It's kind of hard to get a photo of that but I wanted to blog about it anyway, otherwise I wouldn't remember when it happened! So first real kick (when another person can feel it) happened at 18 weeks.  That is about 2 weeks earlier than Cora as with her, William felt it at 20 weeks.  I remember that distinctly as it happened after I ate some Parker's BBQ, haha.  That was like my main craving with her.  Different this time!!