First Steps

Belle is starting to walk!  I love that she is on the move.  She is so happy when she walks and has the most gi-normous grin, ear to ear, it is adorable.  My brothers were in town for the Civil War game, so she was able to show off her moves to both of them.  Even at 14 months she knew all eyes, cameras and videos were on her.

Bedtime Routine

When Belle was first born bedtime was all about calming down, turning down the lights, quietly trying to get her to fall asleep, following all of the advice we were given on how to get our precious daughter to sleep.  That is not the routine now.  Our nighttime routine includes lots of crawling and playing chase, reading books and Belle riding her rocking bear.  Let me tell you, this girl can ride too.  She likes for us to play the sounds of her stick horse trotting so she has music to rock with.  The best part of putting her to bed is still that moment before I lay her down, she rests her head on my shoulder and cuddles with me for a few moments and my heart is so full of love for our little girl.

 

Just the two of us in Palm Springs

I went on my first vacation with just Scott and it was awesome.  We had not traveled together on a flight without a baby since May of 2011 and I don't think we knew what to do at first.  No baby to juggle between hands while going through security, car seat to haul, stroller to load up, none of that, just us.  Traveling was a breeze!

We visited Palm Springs at my request as a birthday gift, since I am always in search of sunshine and warmer weather.  Our entire family went in February, but it didn't feel that relaxing at the time being it was our first trip with Belle.  This time around it was really relaxing and we had absolutely nothing planned.  Scott convinced me to go on one hike, we used our hotel's bicycles to get around town, we had dinners out, we spent one entire day reading by the pool (my first non-baby related book in a long time as well) and we watched movies.  At the end of the vacation we both really missed Belle, but we appreciated the time away as well.

THANK YOU to my parent's for taking such good care of our little girl.

The view on our hike of the Araby Trail, which takes you right above Bob Hope's famous home

Looking out onto the Coachella Valley

Cool guy on his cruiser for the weekend

On Veteran's Day we walked downtown to watch the parade

Just the two of us

Beaver Believer

Does she even know how cute we think she is in her OSU cheerleader outfit?  OOOO-SSSS-UUUU - OREGON STATE - FIGHT- FIGHT - FIGHT!

Belle's Baptism

Belle was baptized this past Sunday on all Saints Day at Saint James Episcopal Church in Tigard.  We were blessed to be joined by both sets up grandparents, one set of her god parents and Belle's uncle Colin.  Belle wore the same outfit I wore when I was baptized and she looked absolutely precious!  We had a big feast after the service and enjoyed lots of laughs.  Our little girl just keeps growing up!

Ladies Night

Ladies night at Sarah's to celebrate my fifth year of turning 29!  I feel so lucky to have these women in my life and that they were able to take time away from their families to celebrate with me.  I love their wisdom on marriages, careers and children and their humor through it all as well. 

Fall Colors 2012

Every year Scott and I enjoy taking a long walk one fall day and taking photos of the colors.  Thankfully, I have blogged about them over the years and it is fun to see how life has changed, whether it is location or an added member to our family.

2009 - We took a walk around our village and the surrounding villages in Switzerland.  It most likely was on a Sunday, since that was the day of rest and all of the shops were closed.  There are three posts of photos here and here and here.

2010 - We are once again stateside and attended a Linfield football game with friends to celebrate my birthday.

2011 - This is the year we added a member to our family and took Belle out for a walk.  In 2012 we took photos on the same street.  Instead of being in her car seat she was standing up and trying to walk around, what a difference a year makes!

Someone loves kisses from Dada

Neighborhood: Hollywood Theatre

Help Support our local theatre's fundraiser for a new marquee!  Donate just $1 here.  The goal is to raise $55,000, but I am positive more than that can be raised.