we have a gabster on our hands!

HAPPY PAPA'S DAY (ok, it's a lil late)

It seems as if each week gets more and more fun...and her personality is GROWING AND GROWING! we think we heard her giggle for the first time this week. we kinda looked at each other like, "was that really what i think it was???" she also gets "sensitive" when she gets sleepy or hungry. i'll be holding her either right before i put her down for her nap or right before i feed her and este will talk to her or kiss her and she starts whining...lol...i have to remind him and others ...she's feelin a bit sensitive right now:)
we also got out all her 3-6 month clothes and washed them. she is still in some 0-3 month stuff but she is also fitting into some 3-6 months. my baby girl is growin up!
for father's day, we hung out at the pool and had an amazing time! i've been trying to post this for about 5 days now so ill just share some pics :)
it's usually really hard to wake belle for her 10:00pm feeding

yay for trying on new and bigger clothes


ooooh, this is pretty!

so pretty i need to dance!

happy papa's day!


my darling bambina!


shes getting so strong! (somehow all of my dad's grandkids have inherited his lips!ha!)


mumsy, that's enough!

look at my pretty girl!

2 month checkup

so, baby girl got her first round of shots on tuesday. i, of course, was so nervous to take her...she was so content and i was thinking, "you have no clue what is coming!" poor thing. well, este came with me to help me while she got her shots...i'm not so good when it comes to stuff like that, and for some reason, I had in my head that she would be screaming and crying. we got to the doctors office and they measured and weighed her...i COULDNT believe it. she is a little over 24 inches and over 13 pounds. WHAT? she was 20 inches and 7.12lbs when she was born. so the doc charted her out and she is like 95% in weight and 97% in height. i asked the doc if this means she is going to be tall and she said no, that her growth could slow down. man, no wonder her growth spurt lasted 2 weeks...she had so much growing to do! she also said that we might not do rice cereal until 6 months since she is doing so well with my milk. yay for God's provision!
isabelle did so well while the doc was checking her all over! she just laid there so content and looked around...not even a peep out of her. the doctor said, "wow, she is really content! we'll keep her!" of course, i'm smiling ear to ear...i know i have a great child, but i love it when other people see too. she then asked what all she was doing and told me that she is doing some things that 3 months old do...once again i felt so proud...but i think every mother probably thinks their child is above average:)
so then the shots came. i was by her head talking to her and esteban was in the chair. she got her shots and she cried...but so not like i thought she would and she didnt cry for long at all. when the nurse was done and i picked her up, i turned to este and he was all red eyed with tears in his eyes...and here he was supposed to be the strong one:) he told me to shut the door and he cuddled his baby and cried....hehee, what a sweetie.
one last update, we were hangin out yesterday with a friend of mine and she said, 'look, she found her arm!' she had it sticking straight up and she was almost going cross eyed trying to focus on it. and she just kept it up, and kept it up. it was like she realized that she had power of this crazy thing. heehee! she's amazing...

chitter chatter

belle and i went to get her some prof. photos today. she did wonderful for the two hours that we had her posing. i cant wait to see the proofs. i felt so proud of her, she was a champ! she has been talking up a STORM the past few days...so i thought i would share...

laughing

sooo...last night i was feeding belle for her last feeding of the night, and we were sitting in bed. all of a sudden she coughed one and then like gag coughed. after making sure she was okay and not freaked out i started giggling b/c we are beginning to realize that she might just be a bit of a drama queen already. well, she thought it was funny, the whole thing. so she started making all kinds of noises (as she was nursing) like she never has before. i was in tears laughing at her and she kept her eye on me the whole time as she would continued to make her noises. we could not believe it! we were thinking, "can she REALLY understand what is going on??? and that she is making her momma crack up?!" esteban told me to chill from laughing so she would finish nursing....lol...so i had to keep turning my head so she wouldnt see me...and i would not provoke her more. este said it wont be long till she realizes it will take NOTHING to make her momma laugh. oh boy...what a fun life this is gonna be!
she also has started this "fake cough"...like "i only have half a lung" cough..and a drama queen cry that is really no cry at all...but it sure gets daddy's attention:) she did this during dinner last night. what a personality! i love it!

just pictures

Carry You

Well, pep and i just got done dancing to CARRY YOU by amy grant. here are the lyrics.
Lay down your burden, I will carry you
I will carry you, my child, my child
Lay down your burden, I will carry you
I will carry you, my child, my child

If I can walk on water
And calm a restless sea
I've done a thousand things you've never done

And I'm weary watchin'
While you struggle on your own
Call my name, I'll come

Lay down your burden, I will carry you
I will carry you, my child, my child
Lay down your burden, I will carry you
I will carry you, my child, my child

I give vision to the blind
And I can raise the dead
I've seen the darker side of Hell
And I returned
And I see those sleepless nights
And I count every tear you cry
I know some lessons hurt to learn


I've never really listened to the lyrics before but as we were dancing, i started listening and it was amazing! here I am carrying my child as we dance. she can do nothing (except lick my shoulder) as we dance and i carry her...yet as the parent...i love carrying my daughter...it was such a special, intimate time together! and I just have to wonder if that's where God wants us...where we cant do anything on our own...we have to have Him carry us...and that's right where He desires us to be...in that place where we can be close and intimate. Thankyou Lord for lessons learned from my child! and then andy williams comes on with a christmas song...darn shuffle...talk about ruining a moment!
anyways, talking about lessons...we taught belle a lesson today....how to go from a happy baby girl to a sad one within 1/2 a second...
happy baby

sad baby

ok, and baby doing the sprinkler

One other thing, we have prayed since day 1 that the Lord will use our daughter in such a mighty way throughout her life. Well, we have some friends that lost their 20 year old son 2 weeks ago. We went by to be with them a little bit last night and Gloria, the mother, was holding isabelle. isabelle was just staring at her and being 'oh so good!' well, I heard Gloria tell belle, "you are just blessing me right now!" yay for God starting early! woohoo. Praise you Jesus!
look how big my baby is getting!

NAME OF THE WEEK

BELLE PEPPER. that's right, she's our lil pep pep! just thought i would share an interesting "proverb" that i realized today. when i get up to feed belle at 4 in the morning, i'm usually really tired and wanna say "lets hurry this thing up so we can get back to sleep." but here recently, she has this affect on me that makes me not want to go back to bed! the last two nights, while i am changing her diaper, i look at her and she just opens her mouth soooo big and starts smiling! i'm like, "good grief child, youre amazing!" which made me realize sometime this afternoon...with sacrifice comes great reward. even though i sacrifice sleep at 4am to feed my lil baby girl, the reward of her health, her love, her smiles, her looks and her cuddles sooo outweighs and covers any "sacrifice" of sleep and comfort that i have. i think this is true spiritually as well....the sacrificing might hurt big time but in light of the reward, it's so small. i also have realized that our lil belle pepper is gonna be a hard one to get out of bed when she's a teenager...maybe something like my mom experienced with me!

Also, the last few days we have experienced the 45 minute intruder. we have been following the book, "baby wise" on getting our lil pep on a schedule. it has been a life saver for me. it enables me to plan (as much as you can with a baby) and it enables her to get the sleep she needs! Her schedule is pretty right on..within half an hour...but usually right on. well, she had been waking up real early in her naps and crying...like a hunger cry. at first i was wondering if maybe she was getting sick...but after this happening twice today, i remembered the 45 minute intruder and got the book out. surprisingly, it talked about this certain growth spurt where the exact thing happens AND it usually happens between 7 and 8 weeks...which is exactly where she is. it's just so nice to know what is going on and that i dont have to freak out. one thing i'm learning as a mother....nothing lasts forever...and it will probably only last a few days...so chill out! another great thing about baby wise is that when she cries, most the time i know why. it takes a lot of the guessing out. i know that if she already ate ( a full meal)...i tell her i'm no snack machine, and she is dry...she must be tired...or she needs her alone time...which usually happens when she is tired. sometimes she gets tired of being around pple and being held and she enjoys just herself (and the Lord) in her crib. today b/c her schedule is off cause of the "intruder," i laid her in her crib thinking she has got to be completely wiped out...and she was in there for at least 1 hour and 15 mins totally awake and completely content!
so anyway, that's enough with the updates:)
(mom and dad, do you remember how small she was in her bumbo when you were here? look at her now!)