Jackson Michael

I haven't updated this in a while so we have some big news to share.  We now have 2 kids.  Jackson Michael was born on 22 November.  Tracy was induced and we went in the night before and we spent the night in the hospital.  He was was 7 lbs, 1 oz and 21" long.

Jackson is growing quickly.  He eats all the time and is quickly gaining on his sister.  He'll be bigger than her in no time.  Bella is really good with him.  She loves her little brother and calls him her "best buddy'.  She'll even help give baths.

Bella's First Day of Preschool

Here are some pictures of Bella before her first day of preschool. Normally she wouldn't start until June when she turns 3, but her teachers told us that she was ready. She'll start part time in the mornings and they'll let her go back to the toddler room in the afternoons, if she wants. But we really think she'll like itand that she'll want to stay in preschool. The kids that she talks about have all recently moved on the preschool and she'll want to spend the day with them.

Bella Sings Songs

Bella sings "Hush Little Baby" and "Miss Mary Mack"

Bella's animals get a bath

Bella's stuffed animals had to be washed yesterday, which fascinated her.

Bella does her puzzle

Potty Training Update

Good news: Lamby is potty trained.  Bad news: Bella still isn't ready to start learning.

Bella goes to Young's Dairy

We went to Young's Dairy yesterday to visit some of the farm animals. They scared Bella last year so we were hoping that she wouldn't be as scared this year. She enjoyed watching and yelling at them but was still a little scared of touching them.

Bella got in the laundry and insisted on wearing Daddy's Packers hat.  He's so proud of his little football fan.

Some rare cuddle time with Mommy.

New pictures

Here are some new pictures from this morning.

Bella plays soccer

Bella played soccer this weekend in the backyard and made her daddy really proud. He can't wait to sign her up for a youth league in a year or two.

Bella puts away the dishes

Bella is a big help when it comes to putting away utentsils.

Potty training has begun

We never in our lives thought we'd buy a toilet that cheers for you, but we did this weekend.  Bella loves it and immediately insisted on taking off her clothes (except for socks and her new shoes) and sitting on it, but she hasn't used it yet.

New pictures

Here are some pictures from Mike's birthday and from the recent snow storm that we had.  Bella picked out that balloon for Mike.  She thought he'd like it.

Look how happy she is before going outside.  This will soon change.

Ready to go back inside

Bella visits Santa

We took Bella to visit Santa today at the mall.  The guy playing Santa was really good and I think his beard was real.  Maybe it really was Santa...

Bella was fine waiting in line and standing in front of him but when we put her on his lap she started to cry and the pictures didn't turn out like we hoped.

Thanksgiving at South Bend

We had a great time at Thanksgiving in South Bend.  Bella immediately remembered her Grandma and Grandpa and she had a great time playing with her cousin Oliver and his dog, Sophie.  She enjoyed both of her Thanksgiving dinners and especially the chocolate chip cookie that Grandma gave her for dessert, which she ate all by herself.

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Bella crashed on the way home after a long weekend.

Bella does her chores

We're not sure why, but lately Bella has been scrubbing floors.

Video

Bella does some yardwork

The leaves really piled up in our back yard while we were on vacation so Bella and Mike went outside last weekend to pick them up. Bella had a great time outside and helped Daddy by holding the cord for his leaf blower. After we worked, we went to swings and played for a while.

 

Halloween photos