Day Care

Bella started day care with my friend, Katie. She is a stay at home mom who used to work at a day care and wanted to get back into it but this time from home. She has a 1 year old daughter, Emma, and another girl, Dora, who was born a few weeks after Bells who will be starting with her in November. So far, we are only using Katie's services on Monday's and Wednesday's. She emails me pictures at work through out the day, and here is one of them from Monday. She is such a happy baby!

New Pictures!

Her first Football Sunday, Bears vs. Packers. Packer's won, sadly!

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Getting ready for bed! Such a cutie!

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Sitting on the couch, being a ham!

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Flexing her Guns!

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Deep Thinking!

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Going on a walk with Big City and Mom in the awesome jogging stroller the California Crew got us!

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Sears Photo Shoot

Back at work already and I hate every minute of being away from her!

Time flies when you have a little one! She is 5 weeks old already! I am sitting at my desk at work, my first time away from the baby this long; it is so saddening! I miss her so much!

I should preface this with the fact that I have always loved my baby and enjoyed being a mom, but in the last week, I have finally felt like I think most moms should feel: just completely enamored and desperately in love with their child. I don’t know if you are supposed to feel this way when they are first born, or supposed to admit it, but I did and I am: when she was first born, I was so scared of what lied ahead that I don’t think I let myself really appreciate the baby I had brought into this world. I was almost at times resentful that I had to be available to her 24/7 (mainly in the middle of the night when Brian would be snoring next to me and I would be awake feeding her), and had to entertain her and all of the sudden my life was not my own, I wanted to go back to work! Did I love her, yes, was I in love with her, I am not sure (that makes me feel so guilty!). It made me mad that I wasn’t as happy as I should have been. Maybe it was a little post partum depression, or the baby blues, but I really didn’t feel like I thought I would, just helplessly in love with their child.

I don't know if my hormones are finally more settled or the fact that I have spent more time with her or if it was that I knew I would be leaving her soon, but words can no longer express how much I love my daughter. “Love” is not even a strong enough word to describe how full she makes my heart, the warm and tingly feeling that surrounds my heart when I think of her. I just love to see her on my lap, I love to smell her hair after a bath, to play with her chubby arms and legs, to watch her fingers wrap around mine...I love the way she stares into my eyes when I breastfeed her, or how if she is fussy in someone else’s arms just coming into the room and her hearing the sound of my voice makes her calm and smile. It is such a remarkable thing, being a mom, and I finally feel like one. I am starting to understand how strong our bond is and why parents are insane when it comes to their children. This has been a wild ride, and now I can’t imagine my life without her!

So BellaReese is now 5 weeks old! Most people call her Bella now. I go between Bella, BellaReese, Bells and Peanut. Not many people call her Izzy or Isabella. She is huge compared to when we brought her home! She is now in size 1 diapers, she no longer fits in newborn clothes (with a couple of exceptions), she has a very hearty appetite and loves to eat. At first, she slept 95% of the day, but now she is awake almost as much as she sleeps and I love it! She is cooing more than ever, having mini conversations with herself, and she is getting very good at focusing on objects and staring at peoples faces; occasionally smiles when you smile at her. When she is on her belly for tummy time, she can lift her head and move it from side to side and when she is on your lap, she kicks so strong if you don’t have a hand on her she will kick right off you! Brian, when she was first born, was so shocked by how strong she was, and my response was, “I’m not, now you know why I complained about how bad my ribs hurt!” Ha! I feel like she is getting so big, that she is almost no longer a newborn! My little peanut is now a medium peanut!

Big City only wants to lick her face and kiss her hands and eat her pacifiers (he got one completely already!). He is very jealous of her, but thankfully, never mean to her or trying to bite her. If I am playing on the floor with her, he comes over and tries to take her blanket and once I pick her up, lies in the exact spot she was in. If I am doing tummy time with her, he comes over and lays right next to her…he misses having me for himself! It is pretty cute!

Bella’s favorite activities:
Going on walks outside
Staring at lights
Eating
Pooping
Staring at lights some more
Playing with her hair
Poking herself in the eye
Eating
Staring at more lights

The days aren’t very eventful, but they are amazing and fantastic and I can’t imagine anything else being as exciting as watching my daughter learn about the world around her. I am so blessed and in love and happy to have such an amazing little family all my own. Being BellaReese’s mom is probably the best thing I have ever done, and I am so proud that she is my daughter!

Isabella Reese has finally arrived!

Our lives have been truly blessed and changed for the better.  On August 19. 2009, BellaReese was born at 3:37 in the morning.  Labor was an enjoyable experience, believe it or not, lasting 18 hours or so.  I had 11 hours of pain-free contractions, 30 minutes of painful ones, I got an epidural and I only pushed for half an hour.  She weighed 8 pounds even and was measured to be 18.5 inches long, but we think that measurement was a little on the low side.  She has 10 perfect and long finger, and 10 perfect itty bitty toes.  She let out her initial cry, but then just looked around the room and pretty much hasn't cried since, (knock on wood it stays that way!)  She is a great mixture, looks wise, of Brian and I.  She has Brian's ears, toes, hitchhiker thumbs, and relaxed personality.  She has my lips, hair color and facial expressions.  She has a full head of long hair; its so long in the back, it flips up!  Her hair is this great auburn/copper color, with lots of natural red highlights.  She has bright blue eyes, but I am sure those will change...until then, she looks like this little Irish cutie, who loves to look around the world.  She is just beyond amazing.  She lets us sleep, waking up maybe once or twice, and is just a happy, pleasant, alert baby.  I know a lot of babies are good looking, but she really is just beautiful.  We are so blessed, I can't even believe it.  My life is just so amazing right now.  Brian is fantastic with her, we are so happy together, Big City hasn't been a problem, he just wants to give the baby kisses and sniff her head, and we have this beautiful new person in our lives...It doesn't seem real!

She lost 10 ounces in the hospital, weighing 7 pounds 6 ounces.  Her belly button stump fell out on day 5.  She loves to sleep and eat! At her 2 week doctor appointment she came in at 8 lbs 14 oz and measured to be 21 inches...hence why we think her first measurement was off...growing 2.5 inches in 2 weeks is a little extreme.  She is in the 70th percentile for height and weight, and is continuing to grow and impress us everyday!

We are breast feeding her right now, as well as bottle feeding her what I pump, and so far she takes to both eating methods just fine.  We occasionally give her one bottle of formula in the middle of the night, she seems to sleep a little longer after drinking it, and that makes us all happier!!!

She is quite the traveler, we have been all over Madison, going on walks in the stroller and watching the puppy play outside.  She has been to Naperville to visit grandma Kelly and grandpa Jim and Lake Forest to a Labor day party to visit great grandma lorraine and great grandpa George, she has been to her great grandpa's house in Lodi, WI.  She has been to the mall a few times, and to a bunch of restaurants, and just does wonderful where ever we go.  I am sure our luck will change soon, but until it does, we will keep exploring.

I could talk for hours about how amazing she is, but I will spare you all the proud mom mumbo jumbo.  I will have new pictures for you in a bit!  We have no internet, so the updates will be rare until I go back to work on September 25th...Until then, enjoy the few pics we have and we look forward to showing her off in the future!