I need a Nanny!!

Well thanks to daycare and all it's germs, Bella has pink eye again!! I never knew you could get pink eye so often, she just had it in February. I went and picked her up from daycare about 4:30 yesterday after they called me. I immediately went home and started the eyedrops we used last time (per MD orders). I talked with the daycare manager and she said I could bring her today if we started the drops once home on Tuesday evening. Well her eyes were pretty puffy and red this morning, but I took her to daycare anyways. Well about 9:00 they called me and said I had to come get her. When I got there, another kid in her classroom had just been picked up b/c he had it too. So I'm guessing that Mom complained about Bella being there so they made me come get her. Her eyes actually looked pretty good when I picked her up, so I know it had to be the other Mom complaining. Thank God my work is so understanding! If I had a nanny none of this would be an issue, but the good ones don't come cheap!! Bella is doing better with her walking, last night despite puffy red eyes she started walking spontaneously across the living room, no encouragement needed. Then today I was watching TV and all of a sudden I see her walk by. I was so good and didn't make a big deal about it, b/c that's when she decides to sit down. We went to the park again today, perfect weather. She had a blast!! Go to my 2nd sewing lesson tomorrow and we are actually going to sew a dress!!! Yeah!! Can't wait for next week, getting to go home to LA!! Ready for Tate's birthday! Bella's custom made Easter dress came in today, absolutely adorable!! (check out the pic above, the little girl is cute too!) Can't wait to let her wear it! I hope she's walking by Easter so she can participate easier in the egg hunt, if not I will just hold her hand. Until next time.....................................

Bella's a chatter box!

I don't know if the grandmother's and aunts have noticed when they call or not, but Bella has turned in to quite a talker. She is saying "that" and pointing as if to say "what's that?". She also says dog "da", daddy, momma, uh-oh (very well), and tries to say car. She is not gonna let me and Brett get a word in soon. Still working on the walking, some days are better than others. I had a moment tonight when I was rocking Bella to sleep. The computer screen saver is a slideshow of all Bella's pics that are on the computer from day 1 to 1yr. The slideshow was playing while Bella was sleeping in my arms and I just got kind of emotional, Mom's do that I guess. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful daughter and so thankful she is healthy and developing normally. I need to quit pushing so hard for her to walk b/c first of all she's not delayed and once she does, she's not gonna want to be held as much:( She truly will be a big girl and not my baby! I thank God for Bella and what's she's done to me and brought to my life. I truly feel I have a meaning! She needs me!! It feels good to be needed! I don't know how mothers divide their love when they have more than one child. It's hard to imagine loving another child as much as I do Bella, but I'm sure it will be easy when that time comes! Until next time................

Bella's day at the park!

When I got home from work Brett, Bella, and I went to the park, first time Brett came. I was determined to make Bella walk so I put her down and we walked all over the playground her holding my hand. Well I finally started letting go and b/c the mulch didn't appeal to her she couldn't crawl, so she had no choice but to walk! So she started walking and initially she was freaking out but I started being her personal cheerleader and she started to get real proud of herself!! She just kept walking and walking, she even walked backwards a couple of steps!! She actually didn't want me to put her in her stroller when it was time to go. I was so proud of her!!! To celebrate we ate at Shogun's and Bella had applesauce, rice, pirate's booty, and chicken, YUMMY! I think Bella ate more than me. Once we got home, Bella was ready for bed and so she didn't walk any at home, so I'm hoping if I keep making her walk outside she will eventually just take off! I'm so sick of worrying about what she's wearing and if her knees are going to get dry if I don't put her in pants or leggin's. Plus, it's time for her to walk, she showed me today she is fully capable, she is just STUBBORN!! So that's my big news for today, gotta go to bed, have to work tomorrow. Until next time...........................

Catching up......

Well since last post Bella has been sick again, this time with 103 and above temps, not eating/drinking, bad ear infection, and cough. Thank the Lord, she is all better now and spoiled rotten. Bella was moved to the Toddler room today b/c last Friday she bit another child not once but twice. The director said that was an obvious sign she was getting frustrated with the little ones and was ready to move up. Well today she was in the toddler room almost the entire day and even slept on a mat for an hour and a half. Why is it that your children do things for others that they would never do for you? Bella also started saying a new word today, Uh Oh! and at the appropriate times. She is getting so big. Now that she is in the toddler room I hope she will finally start to walk!!! I start my sewing lessons on Thursday, I'm really excited. I plan to learn how to sew a few outfits and then sale them online and at Killgore's Pharmacy, if Bev says o.k. Whitney's baby wore one of the pillowcase dresses I made her today and got several compliments, or so Whitney said. Also, Bella wore a dress I made her to daycare and everyone loved it! So I'm starting to feel better about my abilities. If they look good now, watch out once I learn a little more!! My Nanny is back in the hospital and needs prayer badly!! Megan's local volcano erupted, but she said everything was o.k. Brett and I are stuffy, but I blame allergies. That's about it. I will let everyone know when I post some things online to sell, just look for ThreeBsinapod label!
Until next time.............

New Bella Pics, in her birthday suit!

Bella's first steps!!!

Bella finally walked 2-3 steps last night on her own, without holding on. She did it a few times and then got tired of Brett and I trying to get her to walk when all she wanted was her play money we had bribing her. She did when she was distracted playing with her money. Brett and I almost didn't believe it at first. She's been so timid and fearful of falling she hasn't let go of our hands and taken off on her own. Hopefully this means she'll be walking soon. It's so hard when we go out, she always wants to crawl on the floor and I have to hold her the entire time b/c I'm a germaphobe and don't want her crawling on nasty floors. Once she starts walking though, it will be a little easier (I say that now).

Happy Valentine's Day!

Well tomorrow is Bella's first Valentine's day. I remember a year ago I was begging my Dr. to induce me on V-day. I'm glad he didn't though, it wouldn't be the same if it was both V-day and Bella's birthday. Speaking of her birthday, Stephanie (my PT friend from LA) asked me if she could make Bella's cake. She is wanting to try and start decorating cakes. So of course I said yes, and she and I are gonna make it the Friday before her party. It will have Mickey Mouse on it, Bella's boyfriend. Well, I have lost 10.2lbs since starting weight watchers 1/5/09. I'm pretty satisfied with that number, but my goal is 30lbs. My reward for 10lbs is to dye my hair. My sister Megan asked that I stay away from orange tones, which I will try hard to do! I am working tomorrow on V-day b/c I have been out most of the week with Bella and need to work so I don't use all my vacation time. Sarah had laprascopic exploratory surgery to see why she keeps getting sick and vomitting when she eats. They found nothing abnormal and did a test on her gallbladder and that was fine too. They are d/c'ing her home tomorrow morning and will do an endoscopy (opposite of a colonoscopy) next to see if they see anything. Please pray that they find something so they can get to the bottom of her problems. Well this post was all over the place, but that's just how my life seems to be lately. Well hope you all have a Hot Dog Valentine's Day (Mickey's words, I need to get out more!)! See ya real soon................(again, Mickey Mouse's farewell)

Bella's first day back at daycare, no phone calls!!

Well Bella went back to daycare today after having been out since 2/6 (Friday). I breathed a sigh of relief when I didn't get any calls before 3pm. Bella has had a rough, I mean ROUGH week. My last post was about an hour before we took her to the ER. We took Bella in b/c she started having trouble breathing. We found out Wednesday night she had croup, that's why she had such a funny cough. Croup is when your vocal cords swell up over your wind pipe and prevent air from getting to the lungs easily. The Dr. put her on steroids once a day for 3 days. Well Bella went back to daycare on Friday and due to the lowered immunity from the steroids she got sick from another child (the same one that gave her RSV). Over the weekend she was very clingy and cranky and started running fever on Monday morning when I woke her up. So no work for me, just another Dr's appt. The Dr thought her fever was due to lingering affects of her croup/cold so she gave her antibiotics. Well that afternoon after leaving the Dr's office, both of Bella's eyes started producing this white goopy stuff that we would have to get out of her eyes. Tuesday morning we woke up and were gonna go to daycare but Bella's eyes were matted shut and really pink and swollen. Took her to the daycare and told them I thought it was just a cold and they didn't buy it. Two other kids had pink eye the previous week, so she had to be checked out before coming back to daycare, so off the Dr's we go. Well, guess what Bella had pink eye in both eyes! Great! So as of today, Bella is much better and today was able to stay at daycare all day. Her eyes look much better, practically normal and her cold symptoms are lessening. Bella is becoming more and more independent everyday and I don't like that at all! My little girl is growing up before my eyes! Bella started whole milk today, no more baby formula, I'm sure Bev is glad! So far she likes it pretty well, but did have quite a nasty diaper at daycare! Well thanks for the prayers for Bella. Please continue to pray for her and us, as well as Sarah who is having laprascopic surgery tomorrow to see why she keeps getting sick and vomitting. Please also pray for our friends and new parents Whitney and Jamey and baby Caroline. She had a rough first couple of days, but was able to go home with her mom and dad yesterday and is doing much better. Praise God!

I'm addicted to sewing!

Beverlee came down over the weekend and taught me how to sew some. We sewed a dress and shirt for Bella! It was very fun and now I'm hooked! Check out my projects below, I'm so proud! Please pray for Bella, she went to the Dr. on Tuesday (2/3) and was told her ear infections were gone and her lungs sounded good, well on 2/4 Wednesday I had to go pick her up from daycare due to a low grade fever and she vomitted. Once home the fever went away with Motrin and no more vomitting, but she was crankier than normal. Now she is asleep and has a horrible cough, not wet gurgly like before, more like a hoarse, dry, rough cough. I think Brett's going to take her back to the Dr. tomorrow to make sure she doesn't have Strep or anything else going on. She probably got sick from the Dr's office:(. Also please pray for my friend Whitney, she was put on bedrest today until she has her baby, due on 2/10, her BP was a little high so they stripped her membranes and put her on bedrest.

Happy Birthday Brin!

Well January is gone, getting closer to Bella's big day (check out her birthday suit below). My birthday just passed, I was 28 on the 29th. When I got to work on Thursday, my desk was all decorated and balloons and banners all over and hanging from the ceiling. I felt loved when I saw all the hard work they put into the decorations. I guess my co-workers really do like me! I'm starting to plan for Bella's 1st Birthday, I can't believe she is going to go from an infant to a toddler, scary. She is so sweet and so good, I'm scared to have another baby b/c I'll probably end up with just the opposite!
Beverlee is down this weekend, she misses Bella so much so she has to come see us since we barely make it to LA. Brett and I have finished demolishing the bathroom, now time to put it back together. Brett hurt his finger, but will live! Going out to Shogun's for a birthday dinner, I get to splurge and each something that's not on my diet! YEAH! I am super excited though, I have lost 6 lbs and counting. My clothes are fitting better and my face isn't so fat and round! I have to hurry and lose weight, or Bella may be an only child (no more insulin needles for me hopefully)!

I'm SICK of my family being SICK!

Well the Hammonds have all been sick since 2009 began. I got sick on New Year's Eve and stayed sick until the 3rd of January. Then Bella got sick from a kid at daycare on the 8th with RSV. I'm so mad at that mom for bringing her child to daycare after going to the MD and finding out he had RSV (which is highly contagious!). Bella started breathing treatments on the 11th and was on her way to recovery when she woke up on the 15th with fever again and then found out on the 16th she has double ear infections. So now she is on antibiotics for the ear infections and breathing treatments for the RSV, oh boy! Then on the 15th Brett started feeling bad and actually sounded like death on the 16th when he had to keep Bella while I could finally go back to work. When Brett took Bella into the MD, she said he probably had RSV too, are you kidding me? Well I started Brett on a Z-pack that I had left over from my pregnancy and Mucinex-D and Tylenol and whatever else I thought would help (echinacea). He thankfully is much better today (18th)! I'm so ready to get back to normal. I never thought I would miss work! Hopefully in the morning, we all wake up well (well enough that is) and Bella can go to daycare and Brett and I can go to work! Prayers are needed that Bella's lungs clear up, her snotty nose is getting better, but her cough is still pretty bad at times. Also, prayers that Brett is also on the road to recovery. And finally prayers that I don't lose my mind! Bella is not her happy, cheerful self when she doesn't feel good and Brett is not a lot of help with her when he feels bad, so I've been going solo. Besides all that I am trying to think about Bella's first birthday party, I can not believe I just wrote that, she's gonna be 1 already!!!!! This has truly been the best year of my life, I love that little girl so much and am truly blessed that she has grown and developed normally and is very smart! She is walking very well with hand-held assist, she'll be doing it all by herself soon, I think. I can't imagine my life without her and I hope she knows how much she is loved. Until next time..........

Well the Holidays are over, back to the daily grind....

Hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year. The holidays go by too fast! We had a blast with Bella on her first Christmas. She got stuck on her first toy and I had to be the mean Momma and take it away so she could open all the rest of her toys. She had fun, but didn't quite know what to do as far as opening the presents. She mostly wanted to climb on all the boxes, imagine that! Santa brought Bella lots of new toys that are more age appropriate than the stash she had before, we didn't want to buy her too many and then Santa not be able to bring any. She is starting to walk really well behind one of her new toys, no time now before she'll be taking off on her own. We really enjoyed my family being here for Christmas. Dad, Mom, Sarah, and Megan were all here with us at our home on Christmas day. We then travelled to Haynesville for Christmas at Bev and Keith's house which is always fun as well. I got a sewing machine and Bev has promised to teach me all she knows, which I hope is a lot, b/c I know nothing. I plan to sew Bella lots of new spring clothes and maybe I'll get so good I can quit my job and just sell clothes for babies. We came home on Monday the 29th, thankfully over our entire trip, we did not get a ticket, but we did get stopped once (we got a warning). Megan and Dad and Sarah all came back on 12/31. Brett popped some fireworks, but unfortunately I didn't get to see them b/c I was very sick, something I caught while in LA. I was sick all day New Years day too and then didn't go to work on Friday either. Finally feeling better today! Sadly, Megan is leaving for Alaska tomorrow, I wasn't able to convince her to stay with us here in Houston. I am really going to miss her! Well I guess that's a wrap on our 2008 Holiday season! Hope you and yours had as good of one as me and my family did!

5 teeth and counting!

Bella got another new tooth. She has the Left upper canine tooth in now. She is really starting to get the hang of table food. She ate sloppy joe meat and green beans on Friday at daycare. She is eating gerber graduate finger food and chewing or gumming them pretty good. She is not a fan of 3rd food b/c she expects them to be soft and just swallow them, but then she finds a chunk and chokes. Bella had her picture with Santa on Friday as well. She did not smile just looked at him like he was crazy. I'll post the picture if I can. Bella also drank from her sippy cup for the first time today. We decided to get her a different one, b/c she wasn't sucking on her other ones she was just biting the spout. The softer spout made her suck on it like a bottle and then boom, she had the hang of it. She does sometimes drink too fast and get a little choked. Well just one week to go until Megan is here!!!!! Very excited can you tell?

Finally, I'm writing something!

Well I've been busy lately so I haven't had a lot of time to post anything. We are getting ready for the holidays, so that means our decorations have been put up. We had an exciting time so far with our tree. We got it on a Monday night (12/1) and then we hosted small group at our house on Tuesday, so I got up early to decorate Tuesday morning. Well the tree was a hit, but then about 12:30am I woke to a huge crash and the tree had fallen over and everything I worked so hard to put up fell off. So the picture below is of the second attempt to decorate. Well Bella is the only one I have bought for so far, she's easy to buy for, plus I can shop with her and she not realize it's her present:) I'm thinking it won't be like that next year. Brett is driving me crazy lately, he's on Santa's bad list and probably won't get anything for Christmas. All he has asked for is $1500 gun and no way am I buying it for him. He won't tell me anything else he wants, so he doesn't get anything. Well looking forward to seeing Megan in 2 wks exactly from today. I have missed her so much! Please pray for my brother-in-law H.A. as he is in Iraq and pray Megan can cope with his abscence. Well if I don't check in again, I want to wish everyone Happy Holidays.

Another new tooth!

Bella got her fourth tooth yesterday (11/14). She now has both the middle top and bottom teeth. She's ready for table food soon! I went to the Nutcracker Market today with Stephanie. We had a good time, but man was it crowded. We both were so excited to be able to shop at Paul Michaels. We both got some great decorative items for the home and for the holidays. I also found Bella a great dress, so cute (check out the pic below)! I've decided I have to learn to sew, I could be making a killing. Brett and Bella spent some quality time together while I was gone, she gave him a good poopy diaper:). The whole family made a trip to Lowes tonight to pick out our bathroom remodel items. We found almost everything in stock and so far the total cost is well within our budget. We will probably be able to do the kitchen countertops too! Yeah!!! We have a new roof, was started yesterday and then finished today. One problem, we can't cash our insurance check yet. Found out we have to have it endorsed by our mortgage company, so that means we have to send it to CA and then wait for them to send it back. I hope our roofer understands our dilemma and doesn't get mad. Please pray he understands when Brett tells him. Well until next time..............

3 TEETH AND COUNTING

Well Bella got another tooth. One of her top middle teeth came in over the weekend (11/9 to be exact). She feels much better, poor baby her mouth was hurting. We also made a visit to the pediatrician's office on Friday, 11/7, b/c she had had 3 poopy diapers that were a little loose. The Dr seemed to think she was o.k. could be teething or a little virus. Bella also has red cheeks, rash caused by something, I'm working on figuring out what it is. Besides all these things, she is acting perfectly normal and she weighed in at a whopping 21lbs 5 ozs. She now eats 3 meals a day, and enjoys them!!!! She is getting so big and mischievious! She knows what the word "No" means, but she doesn't listen! So far so good at daycare, they haven't made me mad yet! Please pray that Bella's little cheeks will turn back to their original snow white color. Poor baby looks like she has a sunburn. Side Note: Megan I love the new picture!!!!

Bella's first Halloween

Well Bella went trick or treating to one house, our closest neighbor. However she did give away some candy to other kiddos. She loved her dress, bright colors I guess. She even kept her ears on the whole time. We didn't have as many trick or treaters as we did last year so we have tons of candy left over, which does nothing for my figure. I think I'll take it to work! Hope y'all love the new pics of Bella BOO!

Bella's New Daycare

Well Bella started her new daycare today. It was like it was the first time I left her, I was on the verge of tears. Bella on the other hand made herself at home quickly playing with all the cool toys and other girls. Bella slept more today than she has in a long time at her old daycare. She took two naps both about an hr and 15 minutes. She was worn out when I picked her up, b/c she tried to go to sleep again, so she must have played really hard. Her new teacher said she only cried once today and of course that was when she was hungry. I pray this place works out better than the last one. I have a good feeling about it. Well I was supposed to get my first allergy shot on Wednesday, but b/c I have been wheezing pretty bad at night the Dr. won't let me start them until I see him, I think they just want my $35 copay. I'm going in the morning at 7:45 to see him and hopefully get my first shot. I'm ready to be off these steroid inhalers. Brett is working hard at his job trying to get these buildings turned over so he will get a Bonus! before Christmas so maybe we can buy everyone else, besides Bella, a gift. Well that's pretty much all that's going on with the Hammonds. TGIF (tomorrow)!

Our trip home and Brett's run in with the LA state troopers!

Well we drove home last night to Haynesville, LA, got in about 1:30am. This will be our final trip home, from now on everyone will have to come see us! Just Joking, just still a little perturbed! Between Minden and Homer (about 30 miles from our destination), Brett got not 1 but 2 tickets. The first was for following behind another car too closely, WHAT you can get a ticket for that? Then about 2 miles down the road another trooper felt the need to pull us over for speeding, which we were not. The trooper claimed we were doing 67 in a 55 zone, but who in their right mind would speed with the possiblity of a cop being just behind you after being stopped for a ticket? The officer said that it might be due to the big tires and his speedometer might not be calibrated, but did he let us off, Heck NO! So when we finally got to Haynesville, Bella was wide awake due to the pretty Blue lights she got to see twice. She finally went to sleep about 3am, Mom is exhausted! Well, I've decided Brett will fight both tickets, b/c the first one is subjective (we didn't think we were following too close and there is no objective measurement of how close we were following, so it's a stupid reason to give someone a ticket) and the second one is definitely argueable in court. I would love to act as a defense attorney for Brett, but I don't think they do that for traffic citations, too bad. I'll just give Brett all the right things to say! So our trip has turned out to be quite expensive already, despite the falling diesel prices. Brett's birthday is tomorrow and he will not get a present b/c his birthday money is going to the department of public safety and transportation of LA. We talked to our home owner's insurance company and they are giving us pennies compared to the amount we need to fix the roof and interior walls. We now have to get a quote for the repairs and send it in to see if they will compensate us more for the damage. I've been hearing this is pretty normal for everybody, no one seems to get what is due them. Well till next time......................

Bella's new toy and my new gym membership!

Well I finally got in touch with the lady from Craig's List who was selling the cool walker. Megan found the walker for me and sent me the info and then I called her but could never get anything but her voicemail after talking to her on Sunday. The phone tag finally stopped and Bella now has a cool new walker. She was really starting to get bored with her other exercisers b/c they are stationery. Now she'll be able to boogy around the house, which I think will be much more fun for her. Joined a gym today! There is a contest that is about to start up and I'm thinking about entering, it's like the Biggest Loser. It's free and is a good incentive for me to get in shape. I told Brett I had a certain amount of weight I wanted to lose before we even thought about having another baby, so I better get on the weight loss train or Bella could be an only child:)! Until next time.......