Happy 6 Month Birthday!!!

So I can't believe my baby girl is now 6 months old! Time flies so fast! So this is Bella about 6 months ago in my tummy as Sami tries to play with her...

Bella at 1 week...

Now our baby is doing so many things... sitting by herself, rolling over, talking to herself, working in her office (that's what I call her exersaucer toy cuz she always looks like she's hard at work), playing peek-a-boo, and laughing so loudly! She's also been on many adventures, starting with her driving trip to meet Auntie Chris in St. Louis, the driving trip to celebrate Max's bday in Pennsylvania, and her first plane trip to visit family in California. In such a short time, I can't believe all that we've done with this little girl!

Happy 6 month birthday baby Bella! Mommy and Daddy love you SOOOOOOOO much!!!

Summer Fun

Bella hasn't gone swimming since her swimming lesson, so out came the inflatable pool and the slip&slide! Unfortunately, the water was ice cold, so Bella didn't want to go in.


So we placed her on Kay & Ash's baby swing. Her first real swing ride!

This is Bella's playmate, Stela (our little caucASIAN)! She's 3 months old now and SO playful and smiley!

Look how different a 3 month old looks next to a 6 month old!

This is their second playdate together. Maybe one day they'll actually play with eachother !!!

Thanks for the birthday wishes

Thanks to everyone who called, e-mailed, or texted me on my birthday! Bella and I had a relaxing day together, then I went with my Dad, Mark, and Bella to Tapas Gitana to get me some Paella (yummy)!!! That was good food and crowded for a Tuesday.
Anyways, lots to celebrate this week... my brother's family is coming into town on Friday night for LT's bday celebration and also Bella will be 6 months this Saturday... I'll be getting her a cake for sure!!!

Bella's first airplane trip!!!

I'll get into more detail later. But overall, we had an awesome trip! Bella's first airplane experience was a success! She never cried! So at least we know that the air pressure wasn't too bad on her ears. We started off in San Francsico, then flew to LA where we stayed at Huntington Beach, then we drove to San Diego. Click on the following link to see our pictures!
California Pictures

RETIRED

So I thought I had a hard time retiring Bella's clothes, apparently Mark has HUGE issues letting go. The other day Mark dressed up Bella in a plain white onesie with shorts. When I looked at Bella, the neck line of her shirt stretched all the way down to her belly and her shorts were not shorts (they were sweatpants). So when we were going through the clothes last night I showed Mark that same outfit and he says, "I think that's still ok. Just keep it in the drawer." I guess it's time to realize that she's not going to be wearing those 0-3 month clothes anymore... she is 5 months after all. So good-bye to 0-3 months, hello to 3-6 months and even some 6-9 months!
She's growing WAY to FAST!!!

Next to retire... very pink bugaboo bassinett... that REALLY makes me SAD...

She's growing so fast!

So this past week, Mark and I have noticed that Bella's clothes seemed to be getting shorter, even the new 6 month clothes that we washed. So last night we decided to measure her. She is now 26.5 inches long. More than 2 feet!!! It must be all the new food she's been eating... cereal, carrots, and greenbeans or genetics (yeah, whatever!). Anyways, for now, I still have a hard time retiring her clothes, so she'll be wearing floods for awhile.
Another new thing I don't remember mentioning is that Bella can sit by herself now, without holding her body up with her hands. It seems that everyday she's learning a new trick... she's growing way too fast!

Happy 1st Father's Day!!!

So today was Mark's first father's day and probably the first day in a long time that nobody was sick in our household. Bella had her first fever 2 weeks ago, and kindly gave it to her mommy for the following week. So we started today by going to church, ate lunch at DiPescara's at the mall (this is where Ashley's first communion party was and they have an AWESOME shrimp appetizer which was the main reason we went there). Then we decided to shop for our next vacation... yeah!!!
So we shopped and shopped, then we had to meet up with the family for dinner. We ate at a Brazilian steakhouse, where the meat just keeps coming. I was just shocked by the amount of meat they kept piling on the plate, I forgot I could stop the madness by flipping my green card and making it red so they would stop coming by. So after 5 minutes of the green side up, it stayed on red the whole night. I was SO stuffed.
I don't remember if I mentioned that on Mother's Day, Bella and I had matching dresses...

So today, Mark and Bella wore matching Polo gear...

I also got Mark this awesome tie with Bella's picture all over it... but he'll never wear...
Anyways, so here are all the dads...

First Cubs Game

So Bella went to her first Cubs game. Luckily, Grandpa Tom and daddy went a few weeks earlier so we had Cubs gear for Bella.


So I was terrified the whole game. We sat fourth row behind the Cubs dugout... great seats... but terrifying to bring Bella. I was so nervous a ball would hit us, but luckily (but not lucky for the person who got hit) the ball went more to the left of us... phew... It was a nice day, Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn were there, and the Cubs finally won! Maybe Bella's the lucky charm.

I still have to post up the videos I promised, but I'm too lazy. I have to show you Kay's b-day party... this is great...
So, Kay's ultimate goal in life is to be a princess. So they gave her this pretty princess party.

There was nothing for Bella to wear there, so I bought her a purple tutu.

Can anyone guess who this is? hehehe

She can sing!

So the other day, we were watching American Idol (which we never watch, but there's nothing else on TV these days). Bella was smiling and laughing as she watched the show from her swing, and when one of the girls started to sing, Bella started cooing along with her. Now, I've noticed Bella do this when I sing with her, but I figured she was just following my facial expressions. But, she really is responding to music.
Also, she has moved on from her hospital pacifier, to normal pacifiers. She takes it out of her mouth, holds the pacifier, and places it back into her mouth now. Bella also prefers holding a toy in her hand at all times.
Here's Bella at 4 months...

Earrings!

So this is before...

This is after...

And this is 45 minutes after the piercing...

Happy kid!

Bella's Flipping Out!

So on Mother's Day, Bella gave me the greatest present... she flipped! I woke up on Sunday morning and looked at her and she was on her belly. I freaked out since she shouldn't be on her tummy, woke up Mark, and we placed her back onto her back. Then we wondered, did she just flip? She's been showing signs for the past month, always trying, and occasionally rolling over on couches (which give in helping her out), but Mark thought that maybe the bed gave in. So we went back to sleep, and I woke up again, and there she was on her belly again! I freaked out again, rolled her to her back, and starting thinking maybe this is it... then I thought, what a cool first Mother's Day present! So we slept again, I woke up for the third time and she was back on her belly! That confirmed it for us, she is now a tummy roller!!! Since Sunday was such a busy day... we went to Church (so I can stand up and get the Mother's Day blessing), went to visit my mom, and went for brunch at the Ritz-Carlton, we didn't have time to test her flipping on the floor. So now we've finally tested it out and she is flipping. I think she's OVER doing it now. Everytime I look at her she's flipping. We wake up in the middle of the night and she's always on her tummy, so we flip her back. I place her on the floor by me as I study, and she flips. She's like a pancake or an egg omelet... always flipping, just to be flipped back. Anyways, I will post a video of her flipping soon. We've got some good ones. Plus I'll post some pictures of Mother's Day with our matching dresses (I'm a dork!).

Bella's swimming video

Here's a movie clip of Bella's first and second swimming lesson. The first lesson they used the noodle. The second lesson they dunked her head into the water.



So other exciting things happening... so far 3 of my friends had babies after Bella was born... Welcome to the world Stela, Tanner, and Audrey! Two of my friends are currently expecting in the fall/winter time. Six babies in one year!!!
I still have to post the baptismal pictures up, but I'm too lazy.
We've been so busy lately! After Bella's baptism, the next weekend was Chase's baptism, then Abby's communion. This weekend is Grandpa Marvin's b-day, Ashley's Communion, Kyle's b-day, and Mother's Day. Next weekend is Grandpa Tom's b-day, Kayley's b-day, and Max and the gang are coming in for a visit.

Bella had her 4 month check-up yesterday. Her stats: 14lbs, 24 inches, 16.5in head.
Her weight and height bring her to the 75th percentile, but her head is anywhere between 75-90th percentile! She had her 3 shots... poor baby. Next week I'm bringing her back for her long awaited ear piercing!!! I'll definitely post pictures of her ear up next week.

Honda Odyssey

So Mark & I bought a car. We thought we were going to just wait it out and let the jeep run until the end, but after renting a similar car to drive to Max's birthday, we just had to get one. So we are joining the MINIVAN CLUB!!!
Anyways, so last week we were at the Honda dealership and my dad starts looking at the other cars there, especially this one...

Unfortunately, our daughter was looking at the same car...

Ummm... sorry Bella... not yet, but nice try!

BAPTISM & BUMBO

So Bella was finally baptized on Saturday. She slept the whole time! Here's a picture of all her godparents that were able to attend.


I'll post more pictures later.

So Mark and I realized that Bella always wants to sit up. So we bought her the bumbo chair for 3-14 month olds.


She also grabs now! She grabbed her lady bug toy and she grabbed her booger suctioner out of my hand!

LOST DOG

So we lost one of our dogs. My family has a total of 3 dogs and one of them ran away or got lost or got picked up by someone on Wednesday. Dad, Mark, Bella, and I drove around calling out her name. Bella's was so cute trying to help... when Mark and I screamed the dog's name out the window, Bella would scream at the same time. It's so sad, this dog was a very sweet dog, smelly but sweet. We called the police in the area, and Mark and I made fliers to post, and tomorrow Dad and I are going to go around and ask the neighbors and post the fliers. It's definitely frustrating not knowing where she is, and I just pray to God we find her. So wish us luck!

First Road Trip

Pictures from April so far...
The first weekend in April, we decided to take Bella on her first road trip to visit her Auntie Chris in St. Louis. So we left on Friday, and it's about a 5 hour drive and Bella slept the whole way! We stayed at Chris' very cute apartment with an awesome view of St. Louis (but leave it to me to forget to take a picture of the apartment and the view). Saturday was a beautiful day, so we decided to grab some food (really good sandwiches and yummy desserts!) and head off to the wineries of Missouri... never even knew that the midwest had wineries. In the evening, we met up with an old college friend, Peter, and his fiance. We haven't seen Peter since our wedding (where does the time go?), but it was really nice seeing him. Then on Sunday we headed back home and Bella slept the whole way back!!!
So on April 4, my friend Klodi gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Stela!!! It's so exciting that Bella now has her first friend! hehehe... The funny thing is that Klodi's delivery was pretty much the same as mine except MUCH shorter. It's as if these 2 little girls planned how they wanted to be delivered when they talked uterus to uterus when Klodi and I sat next to eachother in class.
Here's the happy family, Leo-Stela-Klodi.

And here's Stela looking so innocent, but look at her left hand. Yup, that's right, she's flicking you off! Definitely Leo's little girl... hehehe (Klodi told me to say that!)

Welcome to the world, Stela! Stela and Bella... it rhymes!
The second weekend we went to visit Max for her birthday. So on Friday we rented a minivan for comfort and headed off. Bella did a pretty good job and it took us about 7 hours getting there (that's because dad forgot his cellphone and we had to turn back when he realized it about 45 minutes into the trip). On Saturday, we took the kids swimming at the hotel. I forgot to take a picture of LT's swim gear. He had on a wet suit with built in floaties in the shape of a six pack! How funny! And of course my Bella had on a bikini... hehehe

After swimming, we ate at a Japanese restaurant, went to the driving range, and got a mani/pedicure. On Sunday was Max's birthday party at the zoo. Happy Birthday Max! This was a pretty cool place... you can just be walking and all of a sudden a kangkaroo cuts right in front of you... weird! Dad drove the whole way back pretty much, so it took 9 hours to get home!!! About the last 2 hours, Bella got REALLY REALLY cranky... but I don't blame her, that's way to long to be in a car.
So April's been pretty busy... I've tallied up all the states that Bella has either driven through or visited... we are at 6 states. Not bad for a 3 month old!

Bella Laughing

This past weekend we were visiting Max for her birthday weekend. Uncle Tom was playing with Bella and she laughed 6 times within the few minutes he played with her. We weren't able to record that, but here's a recording of her laughing last night (it's not as loud and giggly as when she was with her uncle Tom, though. We'll get that sometime).

Summary of March

Wow, so time just flies by. So many things going on. I think we left off with graduation weekend... SO BUSY!!! I took over 300 pictures in the month of March, so I'm way too lazy to post them all. Sorry
So Thursday before graduation was our graduation banquet at Drury Lane.

Friday was graduation, where we dressed Bella in a graduation gown from Build a Bear.

After the ceremony, dad threw me a graduation party at Rumba. The food was really really good and at 9:30 a dance instructor taught us how to salsa dance. Max and Ash partied it up!!! At one point in the evening, I saw people getting carded before coming in, and I chuckled a little thinking that my 7 week year old baby was in the club.


On Saturday we checked into the Hilton Towers, walked to Millenium Park, and attended the Monarch Ball. It was nice getting dressed up and going out. Haven't done that in a LONG time since being pregnant. Cardinal George was there and Jay Leno was the entertainment!
Isabella's first St. Patrick's Day.



Relaxing at the hotel with Ate Max...

Then on Sunday, the family headed out for lunch at Chinatown, then they left for home. I went on to my friend Klodi's baby shower.
The next weekend was Ate Ash's bday party! We made and played with chocolate. YUMMY!!!
This is my cousin Chase, who is 4 days oler than me. Look at all his hair!!!


Before Ash's party, Bella had her doctor checkup and got her shots... mommy and daddy forgot that she would be irritable and we went out with grandpa for lunch where Bella screamed throughout the meal. Oops!!!
The next day we went to daddy's usual Sunday basketball game and then went bowling with Ate Ash and her new spongebob bowling ball... cool!!!
That week, Ate Ash had her first reconciliation.
I wonder what she confessed?

The following weekend (last weekend in March!!!) we went to a housewarming party far far away from home, and then to Grandpa Tom's friends house for dinner. Then that Sunday was Daddy's bball game as usual.
During the week Bella met her great grandmother who arrived from the Philippines.
So as you can tell, we had a busy March. Grandpa Marvin took care of Bella the first week, Mark took off 2 weeks, and Grandma Lu finished off the last week of March.
Here's a picture of Bella wearing a hat knitted by Auntie K.K.

Graduation Day

So, it finally arrived... my graduation day. After four long years in pharmacy school (that after four long years earning my Bachelors of Microbiology), I was really looking forward to this day. The best part of the ceremony was walking across that stage... they put the hood on, shake hands with Dean Lee, and then take a picture with Dr. G.
So here it is... the picture of me getting my diploma throught the eyes of Mark's mom...

Unfortunately, all the pictures she took with our camera turned out that way, so if anyone has any to share, please share :)

Day One

Today begins the 1st day of a two and a half week vacation watching my daughter. It starts off when I have to go to the dentist to get my fillings on a couple of cavities. Here's what Bella did while she was in the room with me:



After that, we picked up a birthday cake for her uncle Tom. Then we head home where we did this:



Boy, this is easy.

Daddy's Little Girl

Well, it's official. Bella will be attending her first swim lesson next month. I will be joining Bella in the class. Now, as some of you know, I am not the best swimmer since I never passed the Minnow stage at the YMCA. To give you an idea where my swimming skills are at, I only know the freestyle stroke, the back stroke is a stretch, the breast stroke is an afterthought, and the sidestroke just makes me laugh. I can't tread water longer than 10 seconds. Here's a quick story: Sophomore gym class at Loyola. We're in the first day of swimming class, and Coach Breitzman goes, "Alright, gentlemen, we'll go one lap (there and back) in pairs." So I go with Tony Mirro. I start with the freestyle and after two or three strokes, I get tired. I'm gasping for air, and by this time, my eyes are closed because I'm afraid the water will get in my eyes. So, as I touch the end line, I look up thinking that I did a good job. Mirro's already out and the next duo is already in the water. So needless to say, here's what I'll be bringing to our first day of class.

Penguin Pat

So today was a VERY busy day. I skipped out on my Sunday NAPLEX review session (I'm just not mentally all there yet to be worried about that, although I should be. I swear, after having Bella I feel like I'm getting dumber and dumber. But also, I really miss spending time with Bella and Mark. Last week was my first week apart from her since she was born. I'm on my last rotation and will be walking in my graduation ceremony this Friday... can you believe that? Anyways, Max's penguin project is due this Tuesday, so of course procrastinator-me had to run ALL over the city of Chicago taking pictures of this penguin. So after Mark's basketball game, we head over to Michigan Avenue. Mark and I hate shopping downtown. We are just not city people... the crowds, the traffic, walking in and out of buildings... just not for us. So we park at Water Tower, go up the elevator to the ground floor, and Isabella starts to cry. Let's just say that we were very fortunate that she started to cry because Mark and I stopped to see what was the matter with her when this guy with a Marshall Fields bag filled with stuff runs right in front of us, smacking into a security guard, dropping his bags, slamming into the glass door, managing to exit the building as a female (which we later find out is an undercover cop) chases after him yelling "STOP THIEF!". That was scary, but the weird thing is that all the other people around us didn't even flinch (as if this happened all the time). Anyways, if we were even just a few feet ahead, he could've smacked into Bella's stroller. That wouldn't be good.
Anyways, so off we go to the first photo location with the penguin (the historical Water Tower building that survived the Great Chicago Fire... which apparently was new information to Mark. I wonder what he thought that building was all this time?), when we notice snow softly falling from the sky. We never go to the city, but when we do... it has to snow. So we chug along, gotta take these pictures (I really don't want to disappoint Max).
So we make it to American Girl Place. It's not a far walk from Water Tower, but in that small amount of time it went from softly falling snow to blizzard. So we took a picture outside the building and went in. When we went in, Mark and I had our bugaboo bassinet stroller, our backpack diaper bag, and Isabella. When we left the building, we had the stroller, our backpack diaper bag, Isabella, and not one but 2 HUGE American Girl shopping bags plus it was STILL BLIZZARDY outside. What were we thinking? But not to worry, we did leave something behind... we were like a ba-zillion dollars lighter in the pocket. But it was worth it, we finally got Max's long-awaited pajamas and Bella got her first Bitty Baby and we got other stuff that's a secret, cuz they're for some readers out there... hmmm... I wonder who...

So after stopping by Neiman Marcus, the Tourist Center (so Penguin Pat could get some souvenirs), and lunch at Water Tower, we stopped by Chinatown, then decided to go home.
So, now we're home. I was hoping to give Bella a bath cuz she really needs one, but since we were out all day, I'll do it tomorrow. I'll try and post more pictures of our day with the Penguin.

Ash Wednesday

So today is Bella's first Ash Wednesday. Went to Ma Mon Luk (a Filipino restaurant) for dinner where we ate Bangus and Shrimp Sinigang (yummy). Then went to Church where she got ashes. However, she almost didn't receive her ashes cuz after Father Mair put the ashes on Mark, Mark walked away. Luckily, Father Mair grabbed Mark's arm and placed some on Bella's head... that's why the ashes are on the side of her head...

I also included a picture of her smiling, just because I thought this was a cute picture. Isn't she growing SOOOOOOOOO fast? She's beginning to smile alot, laugh alot, she's really trying to hold her head up, and she can follow people with her eyes now!!!