Week 14

Hola everyone! Well, these weeks are flying by (week 14 already!!) and Bella is growing like a weed. We weighed her last week and she was about 12 pounds w/o clothes. She's so vocal these days too and has been trying to turn onto her belly. She actually did turn on her belly back at the end of week 11/beginning of week 12. She turned on her side, then onto her belly and then back onto her back. It was really quick. She didn't pull her arm from underneath her when she turned onto her belly, which I think caused her to fall back onto her back. She hasn't done it since, but I'm keeping an eye out.

She's also grabbing things now since the beginning of this week and has a really good grasp now. It's getting stronger by the day. We dangled her pacifier in front of her and she grabbed it and tried to put it into her mouth. Amazing!

Also, on Monday, I eliminated her late evening feeding (10p.m.) and now her latest feeding is around 8-8:30pm. I try to have her in bed by 9:30 and she's been sleeping until 6:30-7:30am!!!
Yep, 10 hours of sleep and I'm lovingggggg it!!!!

Bella also took her first airplane ride over Thanksgiving break when we went back east to visit family. She did extremely well and slept most of the flight. I kept her in her front carrier as she likes being close to mommy. Our break was nice and needed. Everyone got to meet Bella for the first time and her and her cousins, Mia and Keegan, were able to bond and play together. However, since she's been back from vacation, she's been cranky and more vocal. I think she's just off track in terms of sleeping and feeding and hopefully she'll get back on soon.

While we were back east, we were able to visit my friends at Central Dauphin High School in Harrisburg. It was great to see everyone!!!! Bella finally got to meet my friends that have known her since we got pregnant. I even saw a lot of my students and they just loved Bella.

In addition, Bella and my nephew, Keegan, were baptized last Saturday back near my house (in the church we were married in) and everything went well. Bella didn't cry when the priest poured the holy water over her head. I think she actually enjoyed it and the priest was impressed. Poor cousin Keegan didn't really like it. He has the cutest cry!

This week we've been really tired from our travels. I spent a week out east and Kieran spent 5 days. I flew out Nov. 18 with just Bella and Kieran met us at Cathy and Josh's house in DE the morning of Thanksgiving. Luckily, Cathy and Mia were able to pick me up from BWI and drive me to their gorgeous house. We had Turkey Day there with Josh's parents and aunt and uncle. My parents, brother and sister also joined us. It was a lot of fun to hang out with everyone, especially trying to play Twister! Josh made an awesome Turkey and my parents brought down a delicious chocolate cake. Mr. Carroll made a scrumptious apple pie. It was to die for!!!

Well, that's about it. We were happy to see Titan when we returned on Sunday. We had to put him in doggy daycare/boarding until we got back and boy was he happy to see us. Luckily, he'll be coming with us for Christmas break in Tucson, AZ. This year we'll be spending Christmas with his family (have to take turns) at his sister's (Keyne) house. We're having a Lasater family reunion and we can't wait to see everyone, especially Zara's baby and Keyne's baby. Should be fun!

We hope everyone is doing well as we are. We LOVE Colorado and feel blessed that we were able to make our move out here a reality. The weather has been beautiful and unseasonably warm up until this week, when the cold weather decided to finally pop in for a visit. However, even though it's cold, the sun is shining bright. The southern mountains are supposed to get bombarded with snow this weekend! Some spots will see 5 FEET of snow! Denver, unfortunately, will see maybe a dusting. Kieran and I can't wait to go boarding though!!! We're looking forward to when Paulie, the 2 Mikes and Cathy, Josh and Keegan visit us....oh, Mrs. and Mr. C too!!

Have a nice day and keep an eye out for new pictures and videos. You can go to www.shutterfly.com to see all of our recent pics. Just look for the albums Isabella Claire and Bella's Baptism.

Love,
P, K, I and T