IT'S HARD WORK BEIN' A BABY!

BELLA'S LATEST TRICKS

As our Bella approaches 11 months old, she's getting rather smart in her old age!

• She "gives five!" I have to give credit to her Uncle Del for this one.
• She makes a bwa bwa sound by hitting her open mouth with her open hand.
• She has shouting matches with us. Don't worry - it's a good thing. She's definitely finding her vocal chords!
• She helps me with the dishes! Whatever silverware I put IN the dishwasher, she takes OUT. Granted, she puts it on the floor, but I love it!
• One of her all-time favorite things to do is take EVERYTHING out of her diaper bag, and I do mean everything. She flings the items behind her in a very determined, intense manner.
• She loves to take things out of "her" cupboard. She knows which cupboard is hers and we've put some safe things in there. She goes to it and flings that stuff out too!
• She stood on her own for about a second and a half yesterday! We could tell by the look on her face that she was surprised.
• Her tongue is out more often than not and she loves to lick our legs! Hey! As long as she's not biting, I'm okay with it.
• She loves to play with our shoes.
• We THINK she can say "up."
• She CAN hold her own bottle, but she still prefers to put both hands on the back of her head while WE feed her.

What a joy!

THEY REALLY ARE TWINS

This is what I woke up to this morning. I can't believe they even SLEEP the same! Too sweet for words.

YOU MUST ALLOW YOUR HEART TO BREAK

Haiti. There was a time when I heard "Haiti" and no images were conjured up. Literally. If I heard that word, I would think, oh I think that's somewhere down by Florida.

Since the devastation of the earthquake in Haiti, I have avoided news reports, stories on the web, basically all information about it. I mean, why do I need to see that? I know it's awful. Give me the Conan vs. Jay scandal over Haiti ANY day. Keep it light. Don't allow your heart to break. It's depressing. It's sad. You don't need that.

Today, I made a conscious choice to click on the slide show on Rosie O'Donnell's web site www.rosie.com. It was only a few minutes long. I'm sure she set music to it, but I don't have speakers so I thought it MAY be okay to just watch it. I knew it was a risk. I might cry. I might FEEL something. As I watched the images, some quite disturbing, some hopeful, I DID cry and I DID feel. As the tears streamed down my face and I fought to control my breathing while sitting at my desk in my very public office, I realized something. I needed to FEEL this. I needed to open my heart. As I saw the pictures of the dead, including babies (harsh, but true), I realized what if that were MY baby? My precious, precious 10-month-old baby who brings so much joy to so many. What if this had happened to us? What if I could not hold her in my arms even one more time? I would have no choice but for my heart to break.

So, for today, I choose to let my heart break for Haiti.

MY NEW HAIR & A COUPLE RANDOM SHOTS

FEEDING ESCAPADES

We are trying to "let" Bella feed herself more often. Daddy is better at this than I am. I know I'm a messy person, but it really bothers me to see food around her mouth, let alone EVERYWHERE!! But I know it's good for her skills building and for her to grow in her independence. Yikes! (I took these "pictures" using the snap feature on our Flip video camera - not too shabby. And yes, I will post the video - I just don't know when.)

OH YES, THIS IS!

Aaron's spastic and sweet reaction to getting a Wii from Santa.

CHRISTMAS VIDEO COURTESY OF PHIL