Bella Rey - 7 Months

Today, November 21, 2014, Bella turns 7 months old. I can't believe how fast the past month has gone. Bella is just learning so much and has a personality that is larger than life. I am so glad that I can stay home with her and watch her learn and grow. We are so glad Bella is our little angel!

Here is a little about Bella's 7th month of life:

• Nick Names: Sweetness, Baby Girl, Belsa (Bella/Elsa - Pedro hates this one, but I can't help it!), Bella boo, Bella Bug, Bug, Tiny Bug, B-Ella, Buggy, and we like to call her Bella Rey quite often. Its just hard not to add that Rey in there because it is so fun to say. 

• Bella is getting more and more mobile every day! She is a pro at rolling everywhere, and has started to pull herself forward while on her belly. She is so speedy. If you look away for even 10 seconds she has rolled across the room and is getting into things. Right now she is loving rolling over to the Christmas tree. She is also starting to try and pull herself up to standing when we give her our hands. She loves to walk while holding our hands and prefers to be up on her feet. She is starting to pull her knees up under her belly more, but she is still figuring out how to do this while up on her hands as well. Her idea of "crawling" is shoving her face in the ground while pulling her knees under her belly then pushing forward while her face drags on the ground. She is really good at sitting up now and only falls over occasionally. She will catch her falls often, but we still have a bonk every now and again. 

She loves eating her brush!

So proud of rolling to the Christmas tree.

Just discovering new things while mom was doing the dishes.

Always getting stuck!

She loves standing up!

In progress of going on an adventure around the living room.

• Bella loves to help Mommy clean. she is so content when I put her in the carrier and vacuum. She likes to stare at the vacuum and enjoys the cuddles. She likes the carrier a lot more now, and I think it is because she can actually see over the top (haha) and she is more cuddly than she used to be. 

Taking selfies in the carrier.

• Bella is still a binky baby and likes to have multiple binkies with her while playing so she can switch them out. It is so cute. She is starting to use her binky to throw fits. She will pull her binky out of her mouth and throw it across the room when she is mad. My favorite binky moments are when Bella does the pirate bink. this is where she moves the binky to the side of her mouth and then sucks on it crooked with a little grin on her face. I am never fast enough at snapping a picture of it!. She has also started sucking on her thumb which is adorable! It is funny because her thumbs are double jointed so it just looks awkward and you can see her little tongue licking away while sucking. She also has a "My First Toothbrush" (which are the greatest teethers and only cost $2) and she loves to stick her tongue through the little loop on the end and pull it in and out. 

Binky smiles are my favorite.

Chewing on her toothbrush and looking so big!

• Bella started eating solids again and is doing great this time around. I talked to her Pedi and we decided to just have her eat fruits and veggies since the cereals seem to be rough on her belly. Oatmeal is especially rough on her. I have also tried the Gerber Graduates cereal puffs which she loves, but they have oat flower in them and they make her belly hurt. So I found a brand of snack puffs that are made with rice flour only and they seem to be just fine on her belly. So far the purees we have tried are apple and prunes, banana and mixed berry, and peas. She has loved all of them, and I was super surprised when she kept wanting more and more of the peas. She is so interested in the spoon and loves to take bites off of it. She loves mum-mum rice rusks and makes big messes with them. I love that she loves food and am so excited for her to keep trying new flavors and textures. 

Eating mum-mums and listening to Les Mis!

She got a little too excited to be eating and kept sticking her nose in the spoon!

• Bella is that baby at church that won't hold still and is loud, loud, loud. She is always rolling around on our laps and trying to get everyone's hair. She is obsessed with hair and has discovered her own hair and pulls it all the time. She has started saying more word sounds, and loves to say them loud. My favorite sound of hers is "pffff" she gets these little toothless old man smiles on her face then blows out saying "pffff" "pffff." It's pretty darn adorable! The other week I went in to get her from a nap and I swear she said "poop." Sure enough she had a poo in her diap. I wouldn't be surprised is she did say "poop" because with each poopy diap I wave my hand in front of my nose and tell her "poop, stinky" several times. 
• Bella's hair is getting long, but only on the very top of her head. everywhere else seems to be the same length from when she was born. Her head has rounded back out and I am so glad that we never had to do a helmet with her. I have really enjoyed the longer hair and am always putting it up in piggies or a single pony. Bella loves to have her hair played with and last night she just sat in my lap as I whipped a very small braid in her hair. I really hope she continues to like having her hair done, because this momma absolutely adores doing little girl hair. 

Love those messy piggies and her cute little tongue!

Crazy hair!

• Lately Bella and I have been taking showers together. It started out as a Sunday thing because it saved time before church. Then we were sick for a week so it was just easier to clean us both at the same time. Now, I do it because there is nothing better than naked baby cuddles. I loved snuggling Bella skin to skin when she was a newborn. In fact, we were pretty much skin to skin her entire first three weeks of life. Bella loves the shower and especially likes to rub the plastic shower liner. I like to just hold her close and kiss her little nose as the warm water runs over us. 
• One of Bella and Daddy's favorite activities is to turn music up loud and dance together. Bella gets big grins on her face, and she is even starting to wiggle to the beat on her own now. She loves it when mommy sings along to the music. She will just stop and stare at me and get a big smile on her face. 
• Bella loves us so much she tries to hug our faces off. She will wrap her arms around our heads and get fist fulls of hair. Then she curls up and tries to wrap her entire body around our faces. She also likes to grab at our eyes, which I don't love so much. In the mornings I will lay her in bed with us and she will just roll back and forth and touch our faces, and pat our arms. She has started patting us a lot actually. When I burp her she will sit and burp me back haha. 
• When laying down or sitting in her exersaucer, Bella has started reaching up for us when she wants to be picked up. It melts me every time. It is so sweet to see those little arms and hands reaching and waving just for us. 
• Bella loves playing. She loves her exersaucer, she loves her random toys, and she loves to play with Mom and Dad's hands. She is really good at entertaining herself. She has a bouncer with elephants that hang down. The elephants are attached with Velcro and Bella loves to pull really hard and get the elephants off. She then likes to bang the elephants together and smiles while she does it.

Enjoying playing and laughing at mom working out!

Tummy time with Teddy

• Bella loves going out on adventures. She loves gong on walks and enjoys being at the store. I got her one of those shopping cart covers and she thinks she is so big when she sits up in the cart. We try to go on walks with our friends every day, but lately we have all been sick or the weather has been cold and rainy. We are itching to get back out and walk!

She was mad I put gloves on her.

such a tiny big girl.

 We Just love Bella so much! I am so glad this fiery girl is a part of our family. I really am enjoying watching her grow up. She is so special and brings us so much joy. I wish I could write down and record every minute with this girl because I don't want to forget anything. That is why I take so many pictures. I love to look at them and remember everything she does. So..... with that said, here are some more photos!

Halloween chicken!

She loves the Christmas tree, just like Mommy!

I just love this dress!

I love all of her sweet faces.

Love those smiles!