Bella's 1st Christmas!

Bella's 1st Christmas was perfect! We started out the day at our own house and then headed to Nena and Grandpa's house to open presents and eat orange sweet rolls for breakfast. Then we came back home to spend the rest of Christmas with Nena, Grandpa, Auntie Ish, Christian, Great Gigi, Great Aunt and Uncle Gene, and cousins Brian, Pam, Amanda, and Bubby. We hope everyone had a great Christmas like we did!
"Do we really have to take a picture, Mommy? I want to see what Santa brought!"
Growing up, my family had a Christmas tradition of my dad taking a picture of my mom, sister, and me on my mom and dad's bed before going out to the living room to see what Santa brought. As you can see, we are continuing the tradition with Bella. Daddy took our first Christmas morning picture today.

Uncle John made Bella her very own Baby's 1st Christmas tree. Santa put her presents under her little silver and pink tree. Thanks, Uncle John!

Auntie Ish and Bella at Nena and Grandpa's house.

Auntie Ish and Christian headed out to another Christmas party.

Bella with her Great Aunt

Bella with her Great Gigi"Christmas is fun with Nena holding me!"

Even though it is Christmas, we still had to do Tummy Time. Bella gave Mommy a Christmas Roll as her gift. Sorry...it takes a little while before the big "roll" happens.

"Christmas was very exciting...presents, family, and a Christmas roll. I think I am ready for bed now."Getting ready for bed on Christmas Night. We had to take one official family picture on Christmas before Bella went to bed for the night.

Christmas Eve at Noni and Papa's

Later on Christmas Eve, we headed over to John's parents house, Noni and Papa. Bella was so excited to see her Noni, Papa, Uncle Jimmy, and Great Aunt Bonnie again. She was also thrilled to meet her Aunt Carrie, cousin Alyssa, cousin Lucas, Noni Theresa (her great grandmother), Great Aunt Vicki, and Uncle John. We had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner and had fun opening presents. Bella, Mommy, and Daddy were all very lucky to get some fantastic presents!

Bella couldn't be happier in Noni's arms!Aunt Carrie was so excited to meet her niece and hold her. She just couldn't get enough time with Bella!Cousin Lucas enjoyed meeting Bella as well!"Cousin Alyssa is pretty cozy. I could sleep like this for hours!""Mommy, can I please see the camera? I want to take a picture for a change!"Great Aunt Bonnie and Bella
She got too hot in her little gingerbread dress, so she was much happier in her turtleneck and tights!After we got home from Noni and Papa's, Bella changed into her very cute Christmas Eve jammies. We read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (Thanks Avery!) and then it was time to go to bed.
"I don't want to go to sleep, Daddy! I want to wait for Santa Claus to come!"
"Thanks for calming me down, Uncle Jimmy. I feel much better all swaddled up. Do you think Santa will be here soon?"

Christmas Eve Morning

Bella's 1st Christmas began with a visit from Aunt Tam, Uncle Todd, and cousin Jake. We had a great time! Thanks for all of the wonderful gifts. :)

The Duvall Family on Christmas Eve

Jake enjoyed the Christmas books that we got for him. He wanted to read them right away!

Mommy, Aunt Tam, and Bella on Christmas Eve

Aunt Tam couldn't get enough time with Bella. This is a cute shot of Mommy's favorite Christmas outfit too. Daddy kept calling Bella his little gingerbread princess all day!

Jake with Aunt Heather in his Spiderman sweatsuit. He wore it just for Uncle John...isn't he too cute?

Jake and Uncle John enjoy some time on the computer together.

"Is this where I click, Uncle John?" - Jake

Get "Down" with us!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Several of my friends have made these videos, so I just had to do it! Enjoy!

Social Butterfly!

Our girl has been a social butterfly (as evidenced by her onesie!) these past few days and is now exhausted from all of her activities. Check out what she has been up to!She met Dee and Jessie. Jessie was in my class in 2nd and 3rd grade (she is now in 8th) and her mother, Dee, is a good friend of mine. Bella really enjoyed her visit with them.She met Katie and Maggie. Katie was in my class for 1st and 2nd grade (she is now in 5th) and Maggie was in my class for 2nd grade (she is now in 3rd). Their mom, Patty, will be watching Bella when I go back to work, so the girls told Bella that they will be like her "sisters." It was very cute!John and I finally got our act together to get to church on Sunday with Bella. It was hard to get up and out of the house by 9:00, but we did it. Everyone was excited to meet her and the congregation even said a prayer for her. She slept through the whole thing!Then, she went out to dinner with her Nena, Grandpa, Auntie Ish, Christian, and of course, Mommy and Daddy to celebrate Grandpa and Auntie Ish's birthdays. We had a great time!

Baby Bella Aerobics

John's boss, Lee, gave Bella the most adorable little party dress and we wanted to take a picture of her in it. However, Bella had other plans for her party dress...exercise class! John and I got a kick out of her "exercises" and then she did a cute little smile, so we figured it was blog worthy. If you listen closely, there is an embarrassing little "toot" from Bella toward the end of the video...excuse her! :) The rest of the video was too cute not to post just because of one little toot.

We finally got a still shot of Bella in her party dress. Thanks for the dress, Lee! It is too cute!

Lots to do when you are 1 month old...

Bella turned 1 month old on December 7th! This milestone was exciting because now Daddy is comfortable with Bella going "out" and having visitors that are children. Take a look at what Bella has been up to since she turned 1 month old. First things first...the mall! My mom and I took Bella to Montgomery Mall for her first picture with Santa. Santa really liked Bella and didn't want to give her back! We walked around the mall and went Christmas shopping for 4 hours. Bella slept through most of it because she loves her stroller.

A closer look at her Santa dress!We also had our 1 month check up with Bella's pediatrician. Nena came with us and then we headed out for more Christmas shopping. The pediatrician visit went very well. Bella now weighs 9 pounds and 13 ounces and is 23 inches long. This made me very happy since she had lost so much weight right after she was born. She is in the 75th percentile for weight and the 95th percentile for height/length. The doctor gave Bella a clean bill of health and said she was a beautiful baby girl. After the pediatrician visit and some shopping, we visited Auntie Ish at her salon and then went to Noodles and Company for lunch...yum! Bella's expression and position of her hands crack me up in this picture!

Bella had her first GPES and Tilden visitors, Hank and Madison Roll. Madison was in my 3rd grade class (she is now in 8th grade) and Hank is in 2nd grade. Bella looks forward to meeting more of Mommy's current and former students.

Christmas Portraits

John, Bella, and I headed over to Sears today to get holiday photos taken. I was nervous that it would not work out well since Bella is so young, but it went surprisingly well. Enjoy some of the shots that we decided not to use for our Christmas card. And please no calls to the police...I bought the portrait CD and have full copyright on all of the pictures now! :)Chillin' in the snow...doesn't the background look realistic?This was a runner up for the Christmas Card...would've probably been the winner had her hands been down.This one cracks us up because she is 4 weeks old (well she will be tomorrow) and she is holding up four fingers. Hmmm...how much longer are they going to make me sit in this cold snow?We love our little girl! Happy Holidays from the Down Family!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Today is my dad's birthday and Bella wanted to wish him a Happy Birthday! Since my dad plays the guitar and is a "rock star" at his jams, she wore her rock star onesie for his special day.

From one "rock star" to another...Happy Birthday Grandpa!
Love, Bella

Our Little Turkey

We celebrated Bella's 1st Thanksgiving by having my whole family come to our house. My aunt got her this cute Thanksgiving onesie and hat. I actually took the first two pictures on the Monday before Thanksgiving to make sure it fit.
My little lump! I thought she looked a little like a boy, so my mom and I went on a hunt for a Thanksgiving bow to put in her hair.Bella is excited to have her turkey outfit on...can't you tell?
Much more like a girl now with her homemade bow by Nena. We bought a pink and white headband and then my mom tied a Thanksgiving ribbon around it to hide the pink bow. Now she is too cute!One of our original babies, Tigger, enjoying Thanksgiving!

Tummy Time!

Bella had her first real experience with Tummy Time on her playmat last week. I will let you be the judge on whether or not she enjoyed it. She seemed to do well with lifting her head. We are very proud parents! Please excuse my "baby voice." I know it is a little annoying. :)

Exhausted after her Tummy Time session. I think her favorite part is getting to take a nap on her tummy at the end of it all. She just loves sleeping on her tummy. Don't worry...we don't let her do it unless we are watching her.

The First Two Weeks

Bella has been a busy girl in her first two weeks of life! Here are some pictures of the events that have taken place so far!Bella wore a cute dress with a sweater and tights to come home from the hospital in. Daddy brought Bella into our house for the first time. He said he felt like he was driving with a nuclear bomb in the car as we drove home from the hospital because he didn't want anything to happen to Bella! :) He was happy to get her out of the car and into our house.We had an "It's A Girl" balloon outside of our house to let everyone know of Bella's arrival! Thanks, Nena!Home at last...our first family photo at home!We had our first visit to the pediatrician. Bella was happy to be back in Daddy's arms after having to be weighed and examined. We have been to the pediatrician three times so far. When Bella was born, she weighed 9 pounds exactly. She dropped down to 8 pounds and 3 ounces within her first week. Today, we went back to the pediatrician and she weighed 8 pounds and 11 ounces...woo hoo! Bella's favorite thing to do is sleep on Daddy's chest in her swaddle blanket. Daddy likes it too!Bella had her first sponge bath at home. She cried during the bath, but then she was very happy to be clean and all wrapped up in Daddy's arms.After her bath, Bella was in need of a little R and R! Check out the feet on this picture! Bella has spent a lot of time just kicking back and relaxing with Mommy and Daddy this week! :)Bella met her BFF, Avery, and had a little sleepover with her. Aren't they adorable?One week old! This picture was taken at exactly 2:08 p.m. on November 14th when Bella turned one week old. She wasn't very excited, but Mommy sure was!If you look closely, you can see her little dimples! I know it is probably just gas, but she does give us some very cute smiles like this one.Being 2 weeks old is simply exhausting! This picture was taken on November 21st. I can't believe it has already been 2 weeks.