December Happenings

I thought I better post an update before Christmas or I would have way too many pictures to upload! Not much has been going on in the past few weeks for us... maybe because we had a huge giant snowstorm and have been stuck in Pella? Oh well, we don't mind being at home! Bella has been doing well, and she has even discovered a few new tricks. She learned how to clap her hands, which is pretty cute to see. She also knows how to click her tongue. It's crazy how quickly she learns and changes every day!

Oh, the fun that a diapers box can provide ! Who needs toys? Bella is still full of smiles for her Mommy and Daddy. :) Bella has some pretty crazy sleeping positions! This is how we found her one night- all sprawled out on her kitty. She also likes to sleep on her side, and face down. This is how we enjoyed last week's big snowstorm- watching it from inside. :) This picture also shows one of Bella's favorite things- sucking on her bottom lip! I'm not sure if it feels good on her teeth, but she is pretty much sucking on it constantly. Such a pretty little face! Or rather, chubby face. :) Here was our view! And this was actually BEFORE the brunt of the storm. Bella also had her 6 month appointment this past week. Everything was fine, which was good to hear! She now weighs in at 17 pounds, is 26.5" long, and her head is 17"- and she was in the 75th percentile for everything! So she must be perfectly proportional. :) She also got the next round of vaccinations, which was not a pleasant experience for Bella OR Mommy. For some reason, after our doctor saw her, we had to wait in the room for 20 minutes before the nurse came in to give her the shots. Well, at that point, Miss Bella was already sick of being there and was quite ready for a nap. So she was crying prior to being poked with a needle, which didn't help when she actually got the shots!

Here is our little lady's pretty Christmas dress! These pictures however did not work out so well... she wasn't too interested in cooperating for us. I'll try again later!Other exciting news... Bella is starting to become mobile! She is half scooting/half propelling herself to get to where she wants to go. Everyday she becomes a little bit better at doing it, so it won't be long until she is crawling around quickly. It's pretty funny because she catapults herself off her back legs to move herself forward. Whatever works!We did take Bella out to see the snow on a warmer day, but I don't really think she noticed too much. :) Hee hee, tiny baby amongst a ton of snow!She is probably thinking, why in the world did they stick me out here?
Bathtime has also started to become even more fun! I moved her into the "big tub" this past week, and she is starting to really play with her stuff (or chew on it, whatever!). Bella also learned that she can splash water all over the place and even get Mommy wet by doing so! Such fun. :)

6 Months Old!

Our little lady has turned 6 months old already! I thought it would be interesting to see how much she has grown and changed over the past few months... Derek and I have been talking about how she looks different for some reason. She still looks like her wee little baby pictures, but she has a new look to her. She is just getting more grown-up looking I suppose!
One month (the time I forgot the sign, oops)
So it was a little difficult to take her picture this time around! Bella has become a VERY snoopy little girl, and she was more interested in grabbing the paper and trying to climb off the chair than take her picture.
Here are some quick updates regarding the world of Bella:
Likes:

• Bouncing in her jumperoo (as later pictures will show)
• Babbling very loud (she has learned ba ba ba)
• Trying to grab at everything in sight
• Being tickled on her neck and belly
• Kissing Mommy's face and pulling her hair
• Messing with Daddy's hair (not enough to pull!)
• Playing peek-a-boo
• Kicking off her socks
• Sucking on her hands and feet
• Food: rice or oat cereal, squash, carrots, green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, pears
• Nursing
  

Dislikes:

• Riding in the car seat (although I did take her by myself on a shopping trip, and she slept the whole way!)
• Being put to sleep when she is not ready to- hello temper tantrum! That's definitely a trait from Derek... right? :)
  
• Mommy leaving the room
• Most fruit- crazy girl!
  

Obviously, far more things make her happy than sad! Bella has quite the personality already, and it is very fun to see how she is developing and changing each month. It's crazy to think that 6 months from now she will be a year already!
One other momentous event that occurred recently is that Derek had his first "Daddy day." I went shopping the day after Thanksgiving with my mom, and I left my little girl for the first time other than going to work- and for work I'm never gone for more than a 4 hour stretch. Yes, I know it was perhaps time since Bella is now 6 months, but I'm pretty attached and so is she. :) However, they had a very fun day together, although she wanted to be a bit of a stinker about drinking her bottle. Now our next big upcoming event will be me and Derek's first date night without Bella- yep, haven't done that yet either. :)
We recently did a "photo-shoot" for our Christmas cards this year. These are some of the pictures! Again, these were difficult to take because Bella was fascinated by the shiny paper on the presents!
And this is how Princess Bella let us know that she did not wish to do this anymore. :) Maybe this one should go on the card? We also got Bella's 6 month pictures taken yesterday (this picture was one of her outfits), along with our first family pictures. Well I suppose we did have a church picture taken, but as that was done 2 weeks after Bella was born, I'm not a big fan of the picture. The 6 month pictures turned out sooo adorable- I'm not sure how we will pick! Here is a a link to the pictures: http://www.designerimagesphotography.com/Gallery/LDehaan
Bella is getting very close to crawling! She can get up on her knees, as this picture shows, and then she tries bouncing forward. She just hasn't figured out how to use those arms. It will be good when she does learn how, as she becomes somewhat frustrated when she can't do it!
As I mentioned, Bella has become a HUGE fan of her jumperoo! Now that she is tall enough to jump, she does it constantly! I videotaped her jumping wildly one day... it's pretty funny!

Miss Bella's Baptism

Yes, it's quite amazing- we're actually posting another update within a week rather than the normal 3 or 4. But that is only because we had a very special day today- Miss Bella's baptism!
Here is our sweet little princess all decked out in her fancy attire. She rather enjoyed playing with the tulle on her dress.
This is quite possibly my new favorite picture of her! If that isn't an angelic expression, I don't know what is.
We were told that Bella was acting pretty cute during the baptism! She just STARED up at Pastor Kevin when he was speaking. After Pastor Kevin was done, we went and prayed with some of the elders. At our church, they pick out a Bible verse for each child based on what their name means. Isabella means "consecrated to God," so her verse was something in Isaiah 60... but neither of us remembers which one- oops! We get a video of the service, so hopefully they will maybe include the verse with that.
After the service, we had over some of our family members for lunch. Here is Bella's pretty cake- which was quite delicious! Bella took a nice nap throughout the whole lunch though.
But after she woke up, she was the focus of many many pictures! Here is our little family on Bella's special day!
Miss Bella with her cousins- Jager, Dylann, and Tatum. This picture turned out a little better than the last one we took as I believe Bella started bawling during it.
We FINALLY took a 4 generation picture with all the ladies in my family- my Grandma Zylstra, my mom, myself, and Bella. We almost had 5 generations of straight girls, but my Great-Grandma Kooistra passed away just a couple of weeks before Bella was born. Four generations of all girls is still pretty neat though.
My parents and us!
Hmmm, do these three all look alike? Hee hee, just kidding Derek- she looks like you too! That has been quite a debatable subject- one person will say oh she looks exactly like her mom and then the next will say oh she's her daddy! So we have concluded that Bella is a perfect combination of both Mommy and Daddy. Bella's eyes are currently a brownish olive color, and her hair is coming in brown. (And she is finally getting some hair!)
Here is the 4 generations picture for Derek's family!
Derek's parents and us!
Overall, it was definitely a great day. We were glad that so many of our friends and family were able to come to the service to celebrate with us. We feel so incredibly blessed that God chose us to be the parents of such a special little lady. She is definitely the light of our lives, and we are so thankful for her!
Here is a couple add-on pictures, obviously not baptism related! This sling has been a new favorite of Bella and Mommy's lately- Bella because she gets to be carried around and Mommy's because her hands remain free!
Bye until next time!

Thoughts from the Male of the House

Lindsey requested that I make an appearance on the blog again, so here I am. She does a great job keeping you all up to date, but I said that I would take over the duties for this round. We have some new images of Bella ready to go for your viewing pleasure. She's getting bigger and bigger each and every day. Here are some new "FIRSTS" again for Bella, along with some other pictures that we wanted to share.
Here is Bella's five month picture. A nice big smile for the camera.
Another big smile from Bella during some photography time in her chair.
Here is Bella's cheesy smile. She does this funny smile quite often, especially when she's in a really excited and hyper mood.
Another cute picture of Bella smiling in her chair.
How sweet!

Another cheesy smile from Bella. She is quite the little smiler!
Here's Bella's first time in our swing. This past weekend it was really nice, so we decided to take advantage of one of the last remaining nice days of the year. I think she liked the swing quite a bit. However, the weather proof rope did break later and she just about had a big fall.
Bella has also started eating some very yummy foods. We have her eating carrots, sweet potatoes and squash. Here she is getting nice and messy during her dinner before bed time.
Here's chubby Bella, getting ready for bath time.
This was Bella's first bath with bubbles. She seemed to enjoy them quite a bit.
Bella also began sitting up on her own this past week. She has done it before, but not nearly as well as she is doing it now. We still have to watch and make sure she doesn't tumble over, but she's getting quite good at sitting up all by herself.
This was Bella sitting on our bed. She sat in this position for a good 15 minutes.
Bella in her Iowa gear and a new bow that somehow clips onto her very thin hair.
Just a cute side shot of Bella and her new bow.
Here's Bella and I trying to fake a smile after the disappointing loss on Saturday. There's always next year, I guess.
Here's Bella sleeping. Her mouth is hanging open and that's when you really know she's out cold!
Here's Bella after church on Sunday morning. I believe this is one of her outfits for her six month pictures as well.
Sitting up and smiling! If you look closely, you can see her two bottom teeth. We believe that she is working on some more teeth as well as her extreme drooling has resumed.
Looking very cute and snoopy as well!