A renewed effort

So I am trying to blog again. I realize it has been more than a year since I've been on here last. Bella started walking last Sunday. I think all of the practicing she did with her dad in Disney World and on the beach really helped her. She just keeps gaining more and more confidence.
We slept out at the 24th of July parade. I am now convinced I don't want to do it again. My body hurt all night-a sleeping bag does not offer much cushion to the cold hard ground. The noise kept waking me up and I was worried one of my babies would slide down off the grass and hit their heads on the concrete. In the morning we found out that we were sitting on the 'sunny side' of the great spot. When we got home, I was just exhausted and wanted to sleep. Then we ate lunch and I came back and slept. Miguel woke me up at nine to tell me he was going to the fireworks and I realized my stomach hurt. A little while later I heard Curt throwing up in his room. I don't think there is anything worse than someone who is feeling queasy having to clean up puke. But we made it though. We both threw up a few times and then I couldn't make it to church because I still felt so sick. When Miguel and the kids got home, Curt crawled in bed for a few hours. Then I called Missy and she was sick too. Miguel thought maybe we had heat stroke, but I think we may have gotten sick from Bella who was sick 2 nights ago.
The parade was good, but since we saw the floats at the Expo Center, we really wouldn't have missed much by skipping the parade. Or maybe if I go next year I will show up at 8:30-just in time for the parade to start.
At least I learned my lesson.

Bella's Blessing Day

Bella's blessing day was perfect! We got some pictures of her bracelets-from her Grandma Carolyn, her adorable shoes her dad bought for her, and of course the gorgeous dress and headband her Aunt Kirsten had made for her. She looked like the little angel she is. She is really an amazing baby. She sleeps a lot, and through a lot of noise, she eats well, and just has a very happy and contented personality. Miguel and I don't know how we are so lucky, but we know we are really blessed to have her as part of our family.

Her dad even bought her little socks with big ruffles. After the blessing, Miguel sat down and told me they almost dropped her. I was pretty surprised. It's a good thing I didn't know about it until after the fact. The blessing was wonderful and as I was listening, I was impressed with the fact that so many men loved her and were there just because they knew how important and special she was. Then I realized that there were more women there for Bella than men and then I thought about all of the people who loved her but didn't make it to the blessing.
She has so many people in Chile who love her and then I started thinking about how many people in heaven love Bella and I was just astounded. We all have so many people who love and support us and I know it was Heavenly Father's wisdom to bless us with families who love us and support us. I know life would be so much harder without families.





Here's a picture of Bella so you can see her beautiful dress. It was like a miniature wedding dress. She moves her hands in the cutest poses. I know I take a lot of pictures, but I think she is always adorable. Even when I change her diapers, I think about how cute her little body is.









This is the picture of Bella with her aunts and her grandma. Such pretty women! She is so lucky to have so many people who love her so much!




Here's her Aunt Debbi, Uncle Bill, Cody, and Taylor who came to support and love her on her big day!








Her Grandma Carolyn made her this gorgeous pink blanket that we used for her blessing day. She is so sweet and Grandpa Lynn carried Bella around during our Owen family reunion. She is so loved.





Grandma Pat and Grandpa Roger were so excited to be there! She looks so cute with them.






Arvid and Ginny are my adopted grandparents and they have been so sweet and supportive. They were dancing all night at our wedding! We were so happy that they could make it to Bella's blessing. They gave Bella this beautiful blanket.






My cousin Brandon came to the blessing too! It was so fun to have him there. He is so sweet to come and support us!







Here's my roommate from Utah State, Heidi, and her cute family. She is the amazing one who takes the great pictures of my kids! I just love her and her family.







This is our bishop. He is really a great man. We love Bishop Silva. It was really sweet of him to stop by on his busy Sunday afternoon!






These are our friends, the Williams. Curt had a great time playing with the kids and they just loved Bella. They both kept touching her and kissing her. It was really cute.






This is our amazing friend Helena. She is always doing nice things for us. Curt absolutely loves her son Eli. He even includes Eli in our prayers at night.







Our family picture. Curt had to put his vest on because earlier that day he did a Superman move and ripped all of the buttons off the front of his shirt. Again, when you look at him he looks so cute and innocent....




Here's Bella with Grandma and Grandpa Folkersen. She really loves them a lot. I guess it's because they love her so much too. She is awfully spoiled at Grandma's house. I don't think she ever gets put down. There is usually an aunt or two waiting for a turn to hold her.

Boys are crazy!!

I know that looking at these adorable pictures of Curt, you probably think, crazy, no...never, not him!
My cute friend Helena and her son Eli came over to blow bubbles with Curt one day when I was very pregnant and she got these great shots of him.
I am still very emotional from his disappearing act yesterday morning. We were all ready for church and so Miguel left and I was putting Bella in her car seat and putting snacks in the bag for Curt when I heard him open the front door and let Jackie out. I was just going to throw everything in the bag and then follow him out, but when I got outside he and Jackie were no where in sight. I grabbed Bella in her car seat and went for pre-church run in all directions looking for Curt and Jackie and calling out for them.
I called Miguel and let him know that Curt had walked out the door, which had been left unlocked, and now was missing. He left church and came back home to help find him. My neighbor saw me running around frantically and asked what was wrong, so she parked her car and helped look for him. I had run through our condos three times and couldn't see or hear them anywhere, as I was coming back toward the front of the condos, I saw some people crossing the street-busy 7th west where people drive about 50mph, with my son in their arms. I was so relieved.
They told me how he had come with them but when they started walking away from a little white dog he got upset. So what I think happened was that Jackie decided to make a run for it and Curt chased her all the way across the street and through the neighborhood on the other side. I'm sure he was calling out to her the whole time, A-ee, A-ee. She has since been banished to the deck-again, because it is harder for Curt to let her outside since the sliding glass door is one he has not Houdini'ed out of yet. We are thinking that it is time to buy different doorknobs and then buy the child proof handles.
I've talked to him several times since the incident telling him how we don't go outside without mommy or daddy and if Jackie gets out do we chase her? Every time he tells me, yes, he should go get Jackie, so I know he has not learned anything from the experience.

I love this picture of him with his friend Eli. They both love to swing a lot and they thought it was great when they were facing each other.
Again, don't let the adorable face fool you, lurking underneath is a trouble maker just itching to sneak outside without his parents and chase the dog across the busy street.
I do love him more than I ever thought I could, especially now that he is talking and has so much personality. He is so sweet and he loves to clean up. He does things that he thinks will help me and generally they do.
Yesterday he sang Happy Birthday to all of his plastic animals he was taking a nap with. We had to sing happy birthday twice to the elephant because that is his favorite. When he says elephant it sounds like he's saying animal.
Another favorite thing of his is 'going beep-beep' in the car which means before or after we go somewhere he gets to climb into my seat and honk the horn.
I know he won't be doing all of these adorable things too much longer. The other day I asked him to bring me some wipes for Bella and he did- he got them out of his changing table drawer which is as tall as his head. I couldn't believe he really did it. He is so amazing. My own little superhero.
This picture is from the library when we went to see a puppet show. He is so adorable-when he isn't causing trouble.....

One Month Later....

I can't believe Bella is already a month old. Time seems to be flying by. Life is definately busier with two kids.
I have made sure to take a picture of Bella each Sunday. This photo is also our first family photo taken on Bella's first Sunday when she was just 1 day old.





In this photo Bella is one week old and she is wearing a sweater because she has a crazy mom who thinks babies are eternally cold. Much to my surprise sometimes Bella has little beads of sweat on her forehead.
Curt is such a ham, but I have to say that I totally enjoy most of his silliness. He definitely keeps me entertained and it seems like whenever he sees that he's made me smile or laugh, he keeps going. Thank heaven for two year olds. He also likes to help me. He'll bring me Bella's binkie, but sometimes in his mouth. One time he sucked on a binkie until we got to the swings and then he finally gave it up- Luckily we have 3, so Bella had a binkie too.


Here's Bella at 2 weeks old. She grew so much that week. This dress is newborn size and now it barely covers her backside.




This is Bella's 4 week picture. The 3 week old pictures are the ones my friend Heidi took of Bella with Miguel. The hat is still a little too big, but it looked really cute on her. She has recently been making eye contact. It's cute when Curt will talk and then Isabella will look around until she finds him.
She holds her head up really well and she has been doing it for a few weeks now. She seems to be growing up faster than Curt did.

This is Bella's 5 week old picture. It is the same dress that she wore in the 1 week photo, but it fits a little better now.
Isabella's eyes are still dark and Miguel and I keep going back and forth on what color they will be. They are dark blue on the edge but inside they look like they will be brown.
She is so funny because she doesn't like to go to sleep. When I finally get her to sleep she usually wakes up when I try to lay her in her bed, but if I hold her or sleep next to her, she sleeps for a long time. I guess she knows that princesses deserve special treatment.
Bella's first month has been pretty eventful. We've been to the pool, the zoo, a movie, a puppet show at the library and to Wheeler Farm several times. I don't think we took Curt out in public when he was just one month old.

My awesome friend, old roommate Heidi Barrow took these adorable pictures of Bella when she was 3 weeks old. I wanted pictures of her in her dad's arm to show how small she is. Heidi is also going to take pictures of Bella when she is about 2 months old like she did for Curt. They are still my favorite pictures of him. I will be sure to put them up. Heidi is a professional, and what I really love is that she gives me the images on a disk so I can make as many prints as I want, so if any of you are interested, let me know and I will get you her phone number.

Welcome Baby Isabella!

Isabella arrived on Saturday, May 2nd at 8:02pm. She weighed 8 lbs 4 oz and she was 21 inches long. When she was first born I thought she looked just like Curt. As I kept looking at her, I think she looks more like my family than like Miguel's. Miguel even agrees that Bella looks like me. I think it is only fair since Curt looked just like his dad. She is already the sweetest little princess we've ever met. She is currently sleeping on her daddy's shoulder. I think she has him wrapped around her little finger, just like she should.



Curt just loves her. He walks around and tells us when she cries and lets us know that she is "My baby" He will always give her kisses and touch her cheek. Last night he read her some stories. I think she is lucky to have such a sweet big brother. He was really excited because she gave him a new pack of animals as a gift.








Isabella got this cute headband and we just had to put it on. It is about as big as her head, but it looked really adorable on her. She is just so tiny. I forgot how little babies are. It is so fun just to watch her sleep. She is so peaceful.












Isabella has such soft hair. I just loved watching her sleep in her tiny hospital bed. She is so much fun.











Here's Bella with her Aunt Missy. This is a rare photo of Bella with her eyes open. She just loved watching Missy. I think she looks a lot like her Aunt.












Here's the proud parents and our little angel. We tried to get a family photo, but Curt was not wanting to cooperate. So we settled for happy parents and beautiful baby.