Splashing with Cousins

Scott & Robin and the kids came up for a swim day and bbq! They were bringing the kids up for a stay with Nani and Papa and hadn't seen our new house yet, so we killed two birds with one stone!

My niece and nephew, Monkey & Wiggles






Katelyn is a total water bug! She LOVES the water!


Wiggles was so good to McKenna! She's a great big cousin. She floated McKenna around and made sure she was having fun!


Bella got her first dip in the water! She loved it too!

Visitors!

Brian's brother, Sean, is a flight mechanic in the Coast Guard. He and his wife, Sarah, are stationed in Hawaii right now. (We feel oh so bad for them!) We miss them very much! Unfortunately we can't really afford to go visit them right now, so it was really wonderful that they were able to come back to the mainland last summer to visit us and Sarah's family.

We had a fun day swimming at our pool. Austin showed his Coasty uncle how well he swims!












And we had some yummy lunch one day at Lazy Dog!

Happy 4th!

4th of July last year was our first holiday in our new house, so we decided to christen the place with its first bbq. My parents and Brian's mom joined us for some yummy guac and hamburgers.

The kids sporting their cutest patriotic outfits.








McKenna discovered she likes guacamole!


And then the kids "napped". This has been a favorite game ever since.



Bella's really really good at this game!

Torrance (inexplicably) still didn't have a fireworks show, so we went on a search for a new good show. Fireworks are kinda my favorite! We ended up finding a last second parking spot (it may have been in the red) near El Segundo's main park, plopped ourselves on someone's lawn. I didn't get to take any pics though because both my big kids were fairly terrified of the fireworks and I had to give good snuggles to make it through the show. Someday they'll love them as much as me!

Meeting Great Grandparents

When she was a few weeks old, Bella got to meet her Great Grandma and Grandpa Wiley. She is the 11th great grandchild! They kinda liked her!









Grandma, always the baby whisperer, helped Bella get a good nap!

Bella Bella

The hospital has a wonderful service where a company called (coincidentally!) Bella Baby Photography, comes and does a free photoshoot with your new baby. The pics aren't free to buy, but it was so great to have newborn pics of Bella! (The hospital didn't have this service when Austin was born. In fact, the pics they did take were so pitiful, we didn't bother with McKenna, not realizing they had switched to Bella Baby Photography by then. Still very sad I don't have professional pics of that first day with her!)

Aren't these beautiful?!

Welcome to the Family, Bella!

Other than monthly updates, this blog is sadly and pitifully missing a ton of Bella cuteness! I'm so excited to finally be on June so I can flood it with all her pics! Seriously, you've been missing out!

Gosh, looking back, I didn't realize I didn't even post pics from her birth! Bad mommy! Sheesh!

Brand new baby!


She was smiley from day one!


After they cleared out her lungs, we got to have our first snuggle!


And then she got to meet the Grandmas




And Grandpas




It wasn't until Papa came in that Brian realized he hadn't even had the chance to hold her yet.




Auntie Suz


Auntie Robin


Uncle Scott


One more of me and my sweetness!


After meeting most of the family, she got her first bath. I didn't get to be there for that, but I hear she enjoyed the hair washing part.


She just didn't like the body washing part.


And she enjoyed the heat lamp part. Look at what a chunk she is!




The next morning, cousins got to come see! I love my niece and nephew so much! They are so sweet and are so good to my kids!






And finally the big brother and sister got to come meet their little sister! We were worried that McKenna would be jealous of Bella. She had been having a hard time adjusting to being two and the move. Turns out we were way off! McKenna was immediately smitten with her. She walked into the hospital room with arms up, saying, "Hold it?! Have it?!" Absolutely melted my heart!






Austin, on the other hand, was instantly distracted by all the buttons and switches and levers of the hospital room and actually had to be cajoled to come meet Bella! And then he went right back to trying to maneuver my bed into odd positions!


And one last pic of my peanut in her "Going Home" outfit. She's my little Bella Butterfly so I had to get something with butterflies and it had to be pink!