Bella's First Friend

There are approximately 80 million reasons why we are happy that we moved back to San Diego.  However, there are still a very important handful of things we miss about Phoenix.

Phoenix was good to us overall.  Sean and I met, fell in love and married there.  I, at the young age of 27, helped build a now thriving company.  We started our family there (well kinda).  We made good friends in Phoenix too, but more importantly that's where Bella made her first friend, Stella.  Yep, you read correctly; I said Stella.  Can you stand it?  Stella and Bella.  Eeek!  Too cute for words and they are only 4 days apart in age; Stella being younger.

We were super excited that we met Stella and the bonus was that she was a neighbor and lived about a block down the street.  BONUS!  The "Ellas" as we started to refer to the girls as couldn't have been more opposite except for the fact that they are both the sweetest little loves your heart could possibly imagine.  EXTRA BONUS ... Stella's family is amazing too!  We miss the Hinskis.  Stella's Mom, Sandra, and I had lots in common; she even understood what I do for work!  That's saying a lot since most people don't understand what I do. I miss our morning coffee dates with our beautiful daughters.

We loved watching them together.  Bella was always reaching out to hold Stella's hand or to touch her.  Stella even came and took Baby Splash classes with us.

My Mom even made them matching outfits.

We love you Stella Rose!  We miss your sweet face and your mommy, daddy, and brother too!

Our first pumpkin patch!

So for those of you that know our story, Sean and I have spent as much of our marriage geographically apart as we have together. So it is very special that in this third Halloween together, this is the first time we have got to go pumpkin patching together. The bonus is that it is Bella's first pumpkin patch ever.

We love October ... Sean loves Halloween, I love the start of Fall. Either way, we love this time of year and this October will be one that will never leave my memory.

Since we are back in San Diego, we rook her to the one and only, Bate's Nut Farm. Amazing! Acres of pumpkins and family fun! I will be super excited when Bella is old enough to run around in the pumpkin patch on her own two feet and pick out her own pumpkin.

In the meantime, Sean took the initiative to pick out a family size pumpkin!

Making the Most of Sunshiney Days

We had a beautiful sunny warm day last week, so Sean decided to let Bella play outside in her baby splash pool sinxe she was finally decided she was OK with sitting in one place ...kinda.  Which led to a little naked baby sunbathing as she dried off before her nap.  Such a perfect stolen moment in the middle of the work week.



She loves being outdoors and was obsessed with the sage plant that afternoon.  It worked out well because although the air was warm, the water was not and she needed a little extra time in the sun to warm her buns.

Bella's Balance: bows for mommy, skulls for daddy

So Bella's hair is growing fast, but it is still in a very awkward phase, so how do we address this? Bows!!!! Bows to upstage the craziness ... bows with skulls to keep daddy happy! We love our custom made hair bows for Bella!

Sweet Home San Diego

We are officially back in San Diego! Sean loves me and I was homesick and didn't want to raise our daughter away from my family, friends, the beach and Balboa Park ... so we packed up and moved everything back to my gorgeous hometown, San Diego! Yay!!!!!!!!

Now all we need is for Sean to find an amazing job where he is surrounded by opportunity! Fingers crossed and prayers said.

Bella loves to swim!

Since we live in Phoenix (land of swimming pools) and when she was a newborn, bathtime was the only thing that could calm her down during the nightly meltdowns, we decided that we wanted to take Bella to Baby Splash class so that we could start teaching her to swim at an early age. And well, she loves it!

Catching up ... in the middle of a whirlwind

So Sean asked me today if I had been keeping up on our blog ... and well, the truth is that I haven't and I haven't been completely sure how I feel about trying to keep up with this digital archive of our lives now that I have a child who one day may end up wanting to run for office or have some high position in a large corporation.

So Sean and I discussed it and we've decided that I will keep blogging since I love writing so much and so many of the people we love don't get to be a part of our everyday. I will just be very careful about the items I chose to post here.

So where to begin. Our little Bella is such a gem! She is a very happy baby which you never would have been able to convince me of in her first six weeks when she had her nightly epic meltdowns. However, now we constantly have strangers commenting on how happy our baby girl is. She is already 6 1/2 months old. almost 29 inches long and weights about 18 lbs. She is almost crawling and she can sit on her own (although she prefers to be on her stomach inching around like a little squirmy wormy). She is getting so animated and she has the most amazing giggle!

So all is well with our Bella bug. In other news, Sean lost his job about 2 weeks ago. It is such a crappy situation, but it is what it is. So when we got the news, Sean and I sat down to decide what our plan of attack was going to be. We had been talking about trying to move back to San Diego in the next two years, so given the current situation and since he was going to have to be looking for a job anyway, we decided to focus his job search on both Phoenix and San Diego. Well wouldn't you know it, that within a few days he had two prospective jobs in Southern California. So we have spent the last two weekends here in San Diego for Sean could interview and we have just made the most of it by visiting friends and family. So we may know as soon as this upcoming Wednesday as to whether or not we will be moving back to San Diego ... soooo say some prayers, think positive thoughts and cross your fingers because we would love nothing more than to be back in San Diego near our family and our family of friends.

She's 12 weeks old already!

She is almost 3 months old and she is brimming with personality. Her hair is hilarious these days - a mix of the long hair she was born with, the bald sections where some of it has fallen out, and all the new lighter hairs that are growing in. It's constantly a mess. I pretty much decided this is the only hair style where every strand cooperates. hehe! Daddy loved it!
In honor of the fact that she has blessed me for five nights straight now of eight straight hours of sleep or more. this is my new favorite picture of my sleeping beauty.

... and this is what happens when Daddy and Bella spent the morning together. Sooooooo cute!

Her major development of this week is that she now giggles! ...and each time she does, my heart melts. I look forward to hearing that laugh every day I am lucky enough to share this Earth with her!

Our life with Bella

Bella has been part of our world for a little more than six weeks now. Wow! Mindblowing how quick the last six weeks has flown by even though in certain moments it felt like nightfall and the sweet silence of my baby sleeping would never come. Motherhood is amazing, but by far the most challenging thing I have ever embarked upon. The first two weeks brought me to the darkest place my mind has ever gone. I have never been so scared. I knew I loved her, but wasn't sure how to show her that and bring her comfort. We've found our way now. Both Sean and I have now figured out our own ways of communicating with her and soothing her and the darkness has faded away and every day grows brighter and brighter. Everyday I love her more and more. Sean has been amazing with her since Day 1; he seems fearless and goes with his gut and loves her strong and steady. He is amazing with her and has been fantastically helpful and supportive to me as well. He is the kind of Dad that helps and loves to do it. Bella has made me love him more and in ways I hadn't before. The second night home from the hospital, I woke up at 3:30am to feed Bella ad he got up and made us pancakes. So we had a pancake date and watched one of our DVRed shows in the dark hours of the early morning and once we had our full bellies and our show was over, we went back to sleep for an hour or so before Bella woke again. That will be a moment I remember for the rest of our lives. She is now beginning to coo and play on her own. She blesses Sean and I with great nighttime sleeping habits and is started to smile at us when we speak to her. Awwwww, I now can exhale and enjoy the sweetness of a baby's love. I still don't have a ton of free time and her daytime naps are unpredictable, but I do want to try and make it a point to document more of our journey together. And here I will be honest with everyone and share my fears and my triumphs.

Bella's first 6 weeks: In photos

Free time is a rare commodity these days. So here are some pictures of Bella's first few weeks ... words will come later.

Bella is here!

Bella has arrived! She was born on February 12th at 3:49pm. She weighed in at 8 lbs. even and measured 20 1/2 inches long. We are thrilled she is here! ...and very thankful that my 60-hour labor is over. What a sweet reward!

Baby Brookshire - Pregnancy at 39 weeks

So here we are. I have my little girl wiggling, stretching, and kicking me in the belly. She is due to arrive this Saturday, but at my last doctor visit, it appears that my body was not showing any signs of being ready to let her go.

Everyone is starting to get excited and anxious for this little girl to arrive.

In the meantime, I wanted to take a moment to recount where we are at today. I am 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant. I have been very fortunate to have had a very easy pregnancy. People ask frequently if I had morning sickness; although, I was nauseous and felt like I was on a boat for about 5 weeks (mostly dependent on what i was trying to eat), I never once actually got sick. I had no scent sensitivity to speak of, no cravings, no stretch marks, very little swelling and I have only gained 29 pounds. I know, I know ... most mothers out there are cursing me right now.

I'll be honest though with the negatives. I had some serious breast sensitivity and fatigue unlike anything I had ever experienced during the first trimester. I had some strange issues with raising heart rate and some minor heart palpitations during the second trimester. These events did not disturb the doctors and they said these events are not uncommon. These last 12 weeks have been a easy as pie other than the natural discomforts that come with a little baby working their way down and onto all sorts of nerves that I didn't even realize were there. I had had a bit of the fatigue return and blurred vision both of which I have been assured are completely normal for the last stretch of pregnancy. I also didn't find out until about 4 weeks ago, that I have been borderline anemic this entire pregnancy. Although I was ticked that my doctor hadn't shared this with me sooner, I am now on some iron supplements and am feeling less fatigued and much less dizzy.

Sean has been amazing! He has been reading to Bella at night before bed ever since he learned that her hearing had developed enough to hear sounds from the outside world. Dr. Seuss had had a huge presence in our house over these past few moths and has taken up some major real estate on our baby girl's bookshelf. He is so excited and has created an absolutely gorgeous nursery for our little girl to dream and grow in.

He painted the tree himself, built the side table for next to my rocker, and dreamed up a way for a flurry of butterflies to flutter about.

I feel so blessed to have married someone with such an artist's soul. Our little girl is blessed as well to have a daddy that already loves her so much and wants to be so involved that he worked so hard to create a wonder-filled tree for her to discover.

Now we just need her to arrive and start dreaming and growing and exploring!

Baby Brookshire - Pregnancy at 38 weeks

My sister-in-law and others requested an updated belly pic. It's a horrible cell phone pic, but here is my baby bump at 38 weeks.

We had maternity photos taken at 36 weeks, but do not yet have them back to share with you. I will share as soon as I have them in my possession.