Indian Summer

It has been beautiful in Indy for the last couple of days! It was in the mid 60's today! I could get use to weather like this every day!

We were cleaning off the deck today and Izabella was playing in her bouncy seat outside with us! I couldn't help but snap some shots of her. I thought she was too darn cute in her hooded sweater Aunt Rachel got her! Once again having too much fun dressing her!

Too many to count!

As I stood in line at the gas station to get my paper so after dinner we could check out all the deals we would have to get on Friday.... the man in front of me was buying bread, bologna, chips and cheese dip...it may have just been lunch for the next couple of days or it was his Thanksgiving dinner, which is fine! It just made me realize how many simple blessing we have each day and most of the time we don't even recognize or take for granted!
Tim and I are busy traveling back and forth between families for the holidays and sometimes it is a bit overwhelming but then I am reminded how lonely we would be if we didn't have the family and friends that keep our lives full of so much love and fun!
We started Thanksgiving at Tim's parents house with all of their family and friends and Izabella continued to meet some family she hadn't met yet. Then after our bellies were rested and we had enjoyed wonderful company we were off to my parents for another round of wonderful company and food!
I hope that Izabella is always surrounded by her family and friends and knows what a true blessing they are!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Pretty in Pink

Told you I was having too much fun dressing her up! Check out the socks! The whole outfit was a gift from The Kirk's when she was born! Bella wore it to church today and then out to breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa Stafford! Everyone stopped to say how cute the socks were!

On a side note....Izabella slept for 10 hours straight last night! We are keeping our fingers crossed for another night like that but aren't counting on anything!

Two Friends Already

Addie and Bella are too cute for words! They were both playing under Bella's favorite toy and they were even holding hands when we first put them down next to each other! I am are glad they already like each other because they would be forced to be friends with as much time as we spend with Addie's mommy and daddy! I can see them already running around as little girls and then teenagers! O MY! How much fun that so many of our friends are having babies and girls at that!! We are loving every minute!

First Sleep Over

At 9 weeks old Bella had her first sleepover ! She had Olivia and Jackson Kirk (the kids I nannied for 8 years!) spend the night! We all had so much fun....Starbucks, pizza, junk food, movies, we made chocolate covered pretzel sticks and decorated them for Thanksgiving! Everyone was up until midnight and in my bed at 8am watching Sponge Bob! The Kirk kids are all so sweet to Bella and love her like she is their own....well more than their own I guess...as I love them! We are so lucky to have such a special relationship with all the Kirk's we are more a part of each others families and friends then employee and employer! I am looking forward to continuing to watch Abby, Olivia and Jackson grow as our family grows too! It was a GREAT Friday night!

2 months and growing!!!

This has been a busy month! Izabella has changed a lot and is now

10lbs 8 oz and is 23 1/2 inches long!

For the last 10 days she has been sleeping in her crib and has slept from 11pm until 6:45 am.... she wakes up for a bottle and then is back to sleep until 10am! We love the almost 8 hours of consecutive sleep!

She started cooing a couple of weeks ago and we are getting numerous smiles a day! Her favorite thing to do right now is lay on her back and play with her tummy time toy. When she kicks at the toys they sing and light up! It is so much fun to watch her as she gets excited and starts kicking and moving! She also loves to admire the pretty baby in the mirror too!

We finally grew out of her newborn diapers and clothes so now each morning we have so many more options to choose from! Not that a girl can have too many clothes! Tim likes to say that once she was born her closet "puked pink" and we love it!!! I have so much fun dressing her up!

My favorite time with her is in the morning after she wakes up for the second time...she is in a great mood and as soon as I look over the crib and say "good morning" I get the biggest smiles! We play and read books until it is time to eat again!

Tim does most of the nightly duties and enjoys playing with her. Now he is also is doing her baths which she loves! His favorite spot still though is when she cuddles up on his chest and naps!

We couldn't have imagined all the joys we have felt over these last two months as we have become parents! It has been the best gift in the world! We know how truly blessed we are to have Izabella in our lives each day!

Happy Halloween!!!

We celebrated Halloween a couple of times! It started with a "Halloween Party" at our good friends The Reusser's where we went as Cowboy and Cowgirls! The party ended up being a 30th surprise party for me! They got me good since I won't be 30 until December 5th....it was a lot of fun and everyone went all out to dress up!

Izabella was also a pea in the pod to join her good girlfriends Addison Leigh Reusser and Fallyn Rae Ranek so they were 3 peas in a pod!!! They were too cute!

Then on Halloween we started out at Grandma Stafford's office so everyone could meet her granddaughter! Grandma couldn't be more proud of Izabella so we think we met everyone in the office! Then we were off to daddy's office to celebrate in their Halloween pitch-in and see daddy's colleagues.

Halloween night we trick or treated with the Kirk kids and had our annual chili supper with them!

Lots of fun for a little cowgirl!

1 Month!!!

Today we had Bella's 1 month appointment with Dr Layman! She is growing just as she should be! She weighed 8lbs 9oz which puts her in the 40%. She was 22 1/2 inches long were she fell into the 95%....looks like she might be tall like her daddy! Dr said it looked like we were doing everything right and she looked perfect!Although she is growing we are still wearing mostly newborn clothes. Her waist isn't quite big enough to hold her clothes up. We can't wait to wear all the clothes in her closet!For the last 3 nights she has had a 5 hour stretch between her feedings....we hope this continues!

Izabella Raye Maines

Our Little Girl Has Arrived!

After nine months of patiently waiting we have a GIRL

and couldn't be more excited and overwhelmed by the instant love we have for her!

After 17 hours of labor and 2 1/2 hours of pushing Dr Box and our nurse Jean Milbee helped our family bring our daughter into the world!

She was born on September 10th at 7:44pm.

Izabella weighed 7.0lbs and was 20 1/2 inches long. She was born with big blue eyes, a full head of brown hair, long legs, fingers and toes!