15 Months Old!

Our little lady is now 15 months old! Bella continues to be as busy and active as ever. Here are some updates of what she has been up to this month along with some pictures!

This is Bella's little ornery look, which is typically the one we see when she wants us to chase her- a favorite game! We play chase around the couch at home, and she also runs into her bedroom for us to chase her there. I think she would play that game forever if we didn't get tired first!

Illustrating the chasing game with Daddy!

Bella has said a lot of new words this month. Anything we tell her to say, she tries to repeat and usually does a pretty good job. Some of her new words are all done, puppy, milk, slide, Elmo (no more referring to him as la-la!), Trey (our neighbor), chair, pasta, sky, color, cloud, bug, mow, book, help, walk, and necklace. Bella is definitely doing a great job talking!

"Smelling" the flowers!

Bella knows how to push herself on her push toys now.

One of Bella's favorite things to play with this month has been little Strawberry Shortcake dolls that are like the Polly Pocket dolls. They were referred to as "doo-doos," although we couldn't figure out why she called them that. I thought at first maybe she was trying to say doll. However, Grandma Sheri had an epiphany last week. Bella likes Dora the Explorer, and the Dora song goes "doo doo doo doo Dora." So we think she's just calling all these little dolls Doo-doo for Dora!

Bella can point to pretty much all her body parts now- eyes, ears, tongue (which she sticks out), hair, belly, nose, face, hands, feet, arms, and legs.

Apparently Bella thought she needed to sit in the fridge when I was putting away groceries one day! Bella is still a pretty good eater for a 1 year old. Some days she eats awesome... other days we can struggle. But for the most part she does great! Her favorite foods are pasta, mac and cheese, cheese, and green beans. She'll always eat those foods with no complaint! Even though she's holding on to a Jello pudding here in the picture, she doesn't really have much of a sweet tooth. Bella prefers crackers or salty things over sweet stuff.

For a girl that did not like whole milk when we switched to it, she absolutely loves it now! It is pretty much the only thing she drinks now. Bella also likes apple juice, but I don't like to give her that very much since it is so sugary. This picture shows a new way to carry around a cup- who needs hands!

Although Tommy has now been here a few months, Bella's fascination with him has most definitely not worn off. Anytime she sees him, she says "kitty! pet!" He begrudgingly allows her to touch him sometimes. Bella also likes to bring him her toys to play with- the one person she will share with!
Apparently she thought it would be a good idea to stand on the tray to her highchair. Bella likes to climb on all that she can! Thankfully, she does know how to get down from things better and has some depth perception. She also goes down by the stairs by herself now.

In mid-August, Derek had gone to the PGA championship for a weekend, so Bella and I had a "girls" weekend. We went shopping on Saturday, and then on Sunday we went to the fair with my parents and my nephew. It was a beautiful day for Bella's first fair trip!

Bella and Grandpa

Bella enjoyed looking at all of the farm animals. I believe in this picture she was looking at a big ram, which she was very intrigued by. I think she might have liked the big horns.

Checking out the chickens with Grandpa and Jager.

Mommy and Bella!

Bella showing off her cheesy smile and holding on to one of her precious "doo-doos!"

Bella also liked "driving" the tractors with Grandpa! When she drives her toys now, she makes a driving noise. Pretty funny. :)

Bella remains very much in love with all of her stuffed kitties as well. All of these are in her bed, and when she gets out of bed, she wants them to all come with her- even though she can barely hold them all!

She also still loves reading her books. Karen Katz books, books with flaps, and this book with baby animals are her favorites! Bella has also started to color- with color wonder paper of course. I don't trust her with real crayons yet!

Bella still adores playing outside, which has thankfully been easier to do since it has cooled off the last week. She goes all around the house to her favorite spots- one is dumping the sand out of her sandbox!

A new absolute favorite outside has been to go on her slide. Bella figured out how to climb the ladder up to her little playhouse (with us behind her of course!) and then she goes all the way down the big slide. She absolutely loves it!

Trip to St. Louis!

A few weekends ago, we embarked on our annual trip to St. Louis. After moving back to Pella, we decided every summer we would go back for a Cards game and to visit our favorite spots- well, mainly eating spots! We had a great weekend together and did a lot of fun things.

We headed down on late Friday morning. Bella was a superstar for the next long car ride, although she again only slept maybe 1/2 hour of the 4 1/2 hour drive. Apparently she no longer likes to sleep in the car! But she had fun watching movies, singing songs, and throwing toys on the floor for mama to pick up.
Miss Bella did not carry over her fear of the bath tub from our last hotel stay. In fact, she decided she needed to play in this one even without water!
Decked out in our Cardinals gear before heading to the game on Friday night! The weather was definitely a change from last year- we wore sweatshirts then as it was very chilly!
This was another change from last year's game. Bella slept the entire game last year, but that was most definitely not the case this time around. She had LOTS of energy, which made it fun trying to keep her in our seats.
"Watching" the game very intently with Daddy.
Bella lasted through the game about 5 innings, and then we decided that was enough. It was hot anyway!
Showing off her Cardinals pride- again, it was funny to see Bella dressed in red!

Bella had lots of fun playing in the big bathtub- plus, she was free to splash all she wanted!

On Saturday, we went to the zoo in the morning. This wasn't Bella's first trip to the zoo, but it was the first time she has gone and actually knew what she was looking at. She loved looking and pointing at the various animals, so it was a lot of fun for her.

Before we headed out to the zoo, we stopped by the gift shop to get Bella a souvenir. We wanted her to pick a little stuffed animal like a lion or a penguin, but she spotted this white snow leopard and wasn't having anything else! She thought it was a kitty and fell instantly in love. I don't think it left her hands the rest of the morning!
Looking at the penguins.
For some strange reason, the snakes were one of Bella's favorite animals. She was very fascinated by them and kept smiling and saying hisss.
As you can see, Bella does have a LITTLE more hair in the back than she does in the front. It is growing slowly but surely! I think it might have a little curl to it whenever it does come in because it is starting to curl up at the bottom. I'll be able to do something with her hair besides headbands someday hopefully!
Bella and Daddy being some type of animal, I forget what it was. Bella thought this was pretty funny sticking her head in the hole!
There is a separate children's zoo that we have never been into before, but decided to try it out with Bella. There were a couple places that you could pet animals, but unfortunately not too many. So we were a little disappointed! However, Bella did enjoy petting the goat and a guinea pig.
Daddy, "kitty," and Bella. :)
Hot, tired, and ready to go eat!
After the zoo, we went to a Mexican restaurant we used to go to that was right by our old apartment. As you can see, Bella had a great time eating a new favorite, chips!
Bella took a nap in the afternoon back at our hotel room. After she woke up, we went to the Magic House, which is a children's museum. Although a lot of the activities and exhibits there are geared towards older kids, she had soooo much fun! She definitely was a little overstimulated though because she was almost running around in circles and didn't know where to go next.
We of course had to visit the water room, otherwise known as "wa-wa."
And Bella definitely enjoyed a stop in the ball pit!
But her favorite part was going down the various slides. This was one she could climb up, which was very fun!
Snuggling with a baby in the nursery area.
This slide was in the "baby/toddler" area, and Bella seriously went down it probably 30 times.
Crawling through the tunnel to head to her favorite slide again!
After we finished at the Magic House, we headed to the place we miss most in St. Louis- Dewey's pizza. Bella being such a pizza lover herself, we knew she would want to take part in our favorite restaurant!

It was everything we wanted and more. :) Bella enjoyed it too!
On Sunday, we made the drive back home after eating breakfast. All in all, we had a great weekend together as a family. One more trip left this fall, and then our travels will be over for the year!