A Few of Our Many Visitors!

We obviously have had a variety of visitors since Grace was born, and I decided to just post all the pictures together. :)

Grandpa Doug and Grandma Sheri were the first visitors (after Bella of course) to meet Miss Grace.
Grandma Sheri with both the little ladies!
And Grandpa Doug with the youngest.
Grandpa Ralph and Grandma LuAnn were next to meet Gracie!
Great-Grandma Carla and Great-Grandpa Zeke visited the hospital later in the afternoon.
Along with Great-Grandma Bernice!
Great-Grandma Lucy and Great-Grandpa Vernon also visited that night!
Shawn, ChyAnne, and the kids also came to the hospital, but the kids weren't allowed in our room to hold Grace- only siblings are allowed into the OB. So they came to our house after we came home to see her again! Here is Dylann with her newest little girl to take care of. :)
And Tatum!
Aunt ChyAnne snuggling with Grace-
And Uncle Shawn sleeping like Grace. :)

We've had other visitors as well, but I didn't get pictures of everybody- oops!

Miss Bella's Month

Here are some pictures and updates of what has been happening in our oldest daughter's life- some before becoming a big sister and some of what she's been up to after!

First- some funny sayings she's had that I want to remember:

-"Okay? Okay!" used when asking us a question about something she wants to do. Like, "can I have a cookie? Okay? Okay!"

-"Try it, it's good. It tastes like a Dora snack!" used when trying to get Mommy to eat pretend broccoli. (She's silly:))

-"I gotta go do something." spoken when she wonders away from whatever she is playing and we ask her where she's going.

-"I wanna go home." used when she gets mad or upset about something, even if in fact she is already home. :) Pretty funny!

-"What's dat?" Oohhhh this one almost makes me cringe. Bella seriously asks me this question like 50 times a day. Miss Inquisitive wants to know everything that's going on. And I typically have no idea what she is even referring to. She also likes to ask 100 questions when watching movies- like where'd that person go? What are they doing?

Bella has quite the little imagination for a 2 year old and loves doing any type of pretend play. When playing outside, we often pretend to go to the zoo, library, or park- and she talks about everything she sees there. She also likes to pretend to be different kinds of animals- kitties, snakes, frogs, etc!
Bella also has loooooved playing with her dollhouse this past month, probably because she has been so big into pretend play. I love listening to her act out what is happening with the dollhouse family- she carries on little conversations with all the dolls, often surrounding what Derek and I talk to her about. The dollhouse has been a problem for going to bed on time, however. It is in her bedroom, and she often plays with it before she goes to sleep. But we can never get Miss Procrastination to stop playing and to come into bed. Every person has to be tucked into bed properly before Bella will agree to come!
We were actually quite thankful that Grace decided to make a late entrance into the world. When I was 39 weeks along, Bella came down with her first major sickness. She has had minor sicknesses, but nothing that lasted more than a day or two. This time, she became sick on a Sunday night and didn't fully recover until Saturday. It was just some type of viral bug, so we couldn't give her any meds other than Tyelnol. It was a very long week for all us- so hard seeing our little girl so out of it! She would try to play at times, but would just come lay back on the couch again after a few minutes.
Pre Grace's birth, we continued to make many visits to the barn down by our house to visit the kittens. It used to be Bella's highpoint to visit the horses, but once baby kittens arrived, those quickly became the favorite! We even got to name all the kittens- Here Bella is holding Misty.
And this is Cream Puff, her favorite! There is also a little black one we decided to call Smoky. We haven't been down to the barn as much since Grace came along. Bella often wants to be held on the walk down there for fear that Zoey the dog may came out, and I try to avoid carrying two children at a time. :)
The day before Grace was born, we took our official last family of 3 outing and brought Bella to the zoo! I wasn't expecting to be having a baby the next day, but who knows? Maybe walking around all morning with a 2 year old is what sent me into labor. :)
Our last trip to the zoo was with my family in July on an incredibly hot day, and this weather was much more pleasant! 80 and no humidity made for a perfect morning.
Bella of course had a blast seeing all the various animals. She continues to be such a little animal lover!
Feeding the goats with Mommy.
Checking out all the hungry fish!
Naturally, when Bella spotted the playground, she had to go down the slide a few times. :)
Looking at the prairie dogs- little did I know that you had to CRAWL to get into this section. Yes, at nearly 41 weeks pregnant, I was down on my hands and knees.
Bella's favorite exhibits were of course the big cats!
Riding a giant caterpillar with Mommy- which Bella pointed out was like the one in Alice in Wonderland. :)
We happened to go by the giraffe exhibit at the time they were feeding them, and Bella got to feed the giraffe some lettuce as well! This was fortunate as she had been sad that she couldn't reach the giraffes to pet them.
Daddy and a big giraffe- Bella was apparently distracted by something else!
We also took a ride on the train, which Bella definitely enjoyed. It was a very fun morning enjoying our oldest girl before the little one came into the world!
Along with receiving her baby Bella doll, Bella got a variety of big sister presents when people brought over gifts for Grace. Here Bella is opening her gift from Grandpa Doug and Grandma Sheri- some more accessories and a changing table for her baby Bella doll!
Bella had quite the little set-up for her baby! But I was very thankful that we decided to get her that baby- anytime I was busy with Grace, Bella would act out the same acts with her baby. It's pretty funny how much she copied what we did. Even if I kissed Grace on the head, Bella would kiss baby Bella on the head as well. :) Monkey see monkey do!
A few weeks before Grace was born, we introduced Bella to playing games on Mommy's iphone. Obviously, she quickly caught on. :) She had a definite obsession with playing puzzles on it for awhile, but that has subsided now.
Bella is developing a major love for all things princess, especially since we have been watching princess movies recently. This has led into some major dress up play lately! About every night, she wants to wear her princess dress up clothes and sing and dance to princess music. And each princess outfit Bella wears has to correspond with the correct princess music, or the clothes will need to be changed! It's amazing how quickly she caught on to the names of all the characters and even the music that goes along with it.
Here Bella is dancing with Chester the cat. :) (Bella also has a slight obsession with names! All of her kitties and dolls have names, and she wants to know the name of everything- perhaps why she knows all the characters in the various princess movies.)
Obviously she continues to love all her stuffed kitties- in this picture, she is cuddling Snow. :)
We had wonderful cooler weather throughout the end of September- perfect for playing outside! Bella continues to love having "picnics" out on our deck.
Silly girl. :)
All summer long, we have experienced a frog infestation on our deck. Every night, frogs come out and stick on our sliding deck door, and then they hide behind Bella's playhouse during the day. I, a hater of frogs, decided to shoosh them all of the deck one day, and Bella wanted to help me. :)

One other thing I want to note about Bella- she is becoming a huge drama queen (typical little girl, right?). She really is a a very good girl and doesn't have too many fits or temper tantrums. But when she does, oh my! I know my own dramatic and stubborn tendencies from when I was little are giving me payback with my drama filled little girl. Thankfully, it doesn't really happen often.

First Weeks as a Family of Four!

Our first weeks at home have flown by! Life is definitely much busier with a new baby in the house, especially when taking care of a 2 year old. But it has been quite easy, and our family seems to be adjusting wonderfully to our new addition. Granted, Grace has been a very easy baby, and Bella has been an awesome big sister. :)

The day we arrived home from the hospital- the first of many many pictures of our two girls! Bella was feeding her baby of course. :) That baby was an excellent gift choice- it has been well loved and gives Bella something to do when Mommy is busy with Grace!
We gave Grace her first bath the night we arrived home from the hospital- obviously it didn't go over well. :) But we tried again a couple days later, and she was fine then! Same with Bella- hated the first bath, loved the rest!
Chilling on her boppy with a very sleepy look.
One of my favorite pictures thus far! Bella has so much love for her little sister, especially when she's awake! She is not as interested in her when she's sleeping- apparently that's boring. But the second she is awake, Bella is laying by her and talking to her in this little sing-song voice- "Hi baby Grace!" We love it. :)
Mommy taking a few pictures of Miss Grace when she is awake- her first week, I swear she slept about 95% of the day. She was such a sleepy baby! The hardest thing about taking care of her was waking her up every 2-3 hours to eat. Who knows how long she would've slept otherwise!
Bella often thinks that Grace needs to have a bottle in her mouth. :) The poor girl used to have that bottle near her mouth about 10 times a day! I am nursing Grace, which was interesting to have Bella witness. We had read about in books how babies eat bottles, but I definitely didn't want to explain how Grace would be eating. The first time she saw us, she was a little freaked out and confused. But we explained that babies eat from Mommy when they are little, and she was fine with it. It doesn't faze her anymore, and she refers to it in quite a precious way- "eating from Mommy's belly." :) And yes, Bella has fed her baby Bella from her belly as well. Just as I thought she would!
Bella giving Grace some love again-
Grace showing her big pretty eyes! We of course get asked a lot if Grace looks like Bella- and they definitely do. Their head shape is different, but their facial features and eyes look so much alike. Derek and I think the older Grace gets, the more she looks like Bella.
One week old! Obviously Grace was quite sleepy here. :)
My parents gave us a new bouncy seat as part of her present, and it has been very loved thus far! Grace spends much of the daytime sleeping there.
I caught a sweet little smile on camera when she was sleeping- happy dreams apparently!
She was actually laying on our hardwood floor on a blanket when I took these pictures. Proof that this girl can sleep through anything! She was OUT.
Our two pretty girls in their first color coordinating outfits. :) I had fun buying for ONE girl, and it's been even better buying for two!
Oh so sleepy....
My little pumpkins sporting their pumpkin shirts on a day we went to get pumpkins. Bella wanted to hold Grace's hand. :)
Mommy snuggled up with my two little girls- and baby Bella of course.
Daddy with his two ladies on his birthday! And Henry the Horse had to be in this picture. I was glad that Grace was born in September- she gets to share her birthday month with Daddy, just like Bella does with Mommy!
As I said, Bella has been such a great big sister. She adapted without any issues at all, despite being super attached to her mommy- no regression, no jealousy- just lots of love for Grace! We have been so proud of how she has handled this change. Can't wait to watch these two grow in love for each other and become friends as they get older- and of course have occasional battles along the way. :)And we can't wait to continue to watch this little lady grow and develop! Grace has been a very easy baby so far. Obviously, she sleeps like a champ, and she's also eating awesome. I weighed her at home when she was around 3 weeks old, and I think she is a little over 9 lbs now. She was down to 6 lb 13 oz when we left the hospital, so she is definitely gaining weight well! She is such a blessing to us. :)