23 months old

Bella is 23 months old today. Next month will be the TWO! The last month she has gotten even more independent and grown up, if that’s even possible.

She is talking all the time and gaining so many new words. She will also name things for us.

Ground, Sky, Brownie, Gus, bowl, fork, spoon, pony, mine, tracey, drew, nana, granna, sara, elly, greg, daddy, mommy, monkey, jump, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, ten, cup, plate, banana, cookie, cake, potty, stinky, diaper, shirt, dress, tink, go-go, wiggles, hand, pray, water, milk, juice, baby, nuk, blanket, shoes, flipflop, outside(side), peas, corn, grass, no, yes, bug,hand, foot, toe, finger, head, hair, eye, mouth, ear, nose, back, button, butt, leg, knee, shoulder, flower, tractor, truck, necklace, bracelet, pretty(headband), hat,

Ok that’s all i can think of at the moment. THose are most of the words too that a stranger would be able to understand.

One molar of the 4 two year molars is in, i think. Hard to really tell, but I think it’s in there. Either way there is still three more to go.

She is on the go all the  time, the only time she still still is to watch Tink, Go Go(go diego go) and wiggles. She also like Dinoasaur Train and Elmo.  She will go off with kids these days instead of being afraid. She loves to play with new toys and climb up everything! The amount of things she can climb amazes me and she has little fear in doing so. But still has a slight fear when coming down steps. She has walked up them like an adult, but prefers to go down very slowly.

She eats what Bella wants to eat. We give her new food to try but in the end it all comes down to if she wants to or not. Corn, Peas(fresh from the garden) bananas, apples, strawberries, chicken and noodles are always hits. Pb&J, watermelon, hamburger, and hot dogs are toss ups, some days yes, some no. She loves juice, but gets it only now and then. She had her first taste of OJ and loved it! Not sure why I didn’t think of that one before. She isn’t in to eating much, and prefers a snack here and there. Not sure if it’s toddler related or teething related.

As I type this is she screaming, she has entered the Terrible two’s already. If it’s not Bella’s way, she throws a fit. Normally you can distract her quickly if needed, but at home she has to tough it out.

The last 23 months of taking her picture now means she won’t look at the camera. she will say cheese and do whatever she wants to do. IT’s kind of funny when i do get the “cheese” face.

We have started working on potty training and will be going full swing next week. So far she had pooped on the potty twice and pee’d once. One of those times was this morning where she had a not so wet diaper and two sippy cups of milk. we were so proud and gives me a little hope to maybe be daytime trained by age 2.

There are so many other things that she does now, she can jump, she counts (one, two, three, and then somehow she gets to ten, but skips 8 and 9), she knows Green, Blue and brown for colors, but can pick out pink shoes when asked. She loves to draw and color. she loves bubbles and blows them with her nose and mouth.  She is loving the kiddie pool and sand box, as well as the sand and water table. She still loves her babies, and the cats. She learned to stomp on bugs and point them out. She loves to watch the cows, count them and tell us what they are doing.

Bella 23 months in her rocking chair… Nuk, Blanket, wonder pets PJ’s and tink underwear. This is her life. LOL

Peas and pool

Over the weekend we were able to have a lot of fun outside. The house is cleaned and I don’t want it to messed up, so we have been spending more time outside.  We have been walking around the farm, playing with outside toys, chasing the cats and dog, playin in the pool or just water, hanging out with the cows and calves.

One of the cool things for Bella was going up to the garden and picking peas and getting them I love being organic and knowing what is on my plants and them being safe to eat the produce from them.  Bella was able to pick and eat all on her own and was so proud of herself.

IT’s been warm enough to use the pool every day. She got a new monkey ring and loves to play with it. She also love the freedom to play in the pool then play with toys then back to the pool again.

Here’s some pictures of our fun time outside

 

She loves to lay on her tummy in the pool now. If i would get more water in it, she could kick her legs too.

 

sitting in the monkey ring

  

trying on my flip flops

 

“ta da” practicing for when she does gymnastics some day <---this is for you Aunt Diane :)

 

 

Look what I picked mom

She  prefered to eat the peas out of the pods,even though they are editable pods

Enjoying the last of the peas, that I had picked for her to eat later in the day.

The Ordination of Greg Ihm

Friday night was a first for Josh and me. We attended the Ordination of Josh’s Best friend and Bella’s Godfather, Greg.  IT was head in Madison at St. Maria Goretti Church. It was pretty easy to find which was really nice and on the west side of madison too. We got there a little after 7 and had to park three blocks away!  IT started at 7:30pm and got over around 10 pm.

There were so many parts, so many Clergy and way too much incense

 

The Bishop of Madison, Most Reverend Robert Morlino

 

During the promise of the Elect, Greg on the right. He was ordained with friend.

You can also see the haze from all the  incense that lingered.

  

we were on the right side of church. There was priest on the left side of the picture and also in front of us. There was also the Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulchre sitting right in front of us with the black hats. IT was a very full church!

 

The bishop with Greg

Greg laid on the floor during the Litany of the Supplications..i still have to ask him why he had to lay down and the rest of us kneeled.

Laying on of hands. After the Bishop then ALL of the priest that were there took a turn.

Officially Father Greg Ihm

 

At the end of Mass during the Blessing

After it was over there was a small reception with desserts, punch and coffee. We ended up visiting and seeing everyone but Greg himself. we just couldn’t wait for him to finish up after the Ordination since we needed to get home so Josh could milk in the morning.

On Sunday we will be attending Father Greg’s first Mass at St. Clement’s church. There will be a reception after that, too. Looking forward too it and praying Bella behaves!

Weekly Round up June 21-25

Monday: We spent most of the day in town. Totally should have been working on the house in town for months now instead we wait til the week before it is about to be rented.  We also had to take my car to town to be checked out. Guess what some thing else was wrong on it. Some sensor thing to tell the heat when to turn on. Glad we found it in the summer but yeah my car has spent way to much time in the shop these days.  We also went to A&W for lunch which Bella did really great at. Then also got our fair passes for the Grant County Fair. Can’t wait for the fair.

 

Tuesday: Playgroup was mostly younger kids so Bella enjoyed that along with it was music time. Apparently it really tired Bella out since we left there and then Bella slept from 11:45 til 3:30 when I had to wake up her. I didn’t want to wake her, but I needed to go to Platteville for Zumba and Walmart (shutter) and Josh had to run a wagon back to another farm. But she did really well for Josh. I got my stuff at Walmart in the fast 20 mins I've ever been in the store and then headed to Zumba. It was HOT, but a very nice workout. I got home by the time Josh and Bella were getting done with chores, so it was good timing. Josh went out to cut hay and Bella and I enjoy watching Toy Story.

Wednesday: we went to storytime where we got to read about Dinos. Bella loved that.  Then we went out with some friends for lunch at McDonald’s. Bella Was able to get around pretty good on the playland. She also loved being with the kids. They were all slightly older than her but still made her feel included. let’s just hope 10 years from now it’s the same way. ;) After that we stopped by the Lancaster house to hang out with daddy for a bit. IT was too warm so we left to go give Bella a nap. She napped and then hung outside until supper. We had a quick supper before going to see Toy Story 3. That went ok. She didn’t like the short movie before the actual movie. It was too loud.  Also the beginning of the movie was very loud too. Josh and i had to trade off through the first 45 mins. then she watch a good portion of it on our laps until the big climatic scene right before the end. I had already been told about it so i took her out before it happened. then came back in to watch the end. Not sure if it’s just our theater or what but it was way to loud!

Thursday I spend the morning helping a good friend out and cleaning, while Bella hung out with daddy. Then when i got home i was in cleaning mode and cleaned up a bunch of my house. IT was nice to get started on that since I had been slacking. Bella seemed to enjoy it too.

 

Friday was a crazy busy day. We went to our Co-op’s spring meeting. It was warm and they waited like an hour to start for more people to show up, so by the time they started Bella was done hanging around us. She did run around a bit, but we got a handful of good comments from those who sat around us , how she entertained them, was so cute and they wish they had her energy.  Highlight was getting a ton of yummy organic food! Once we left there bella started her nap while we headed home. Got home and it was a mad race to get ready to go to Madison.  My mom came to watch Bella while we were gone, Josh got his sister and brother in law to help finsih up milking so he could leave. We were off to Greg’s Ordination. A full post on that to come.

 

   

Rainbows

Here’s some pictures of the Rainbow we had last week. It was a double rainbow and both ends happened to end somewhere on our farm. No gold was found though :(

 

Funny color is due to the funny color in the sky that night.

Pool Fun

Bella and I finally made it up to the Lancaster Pool. We met up with our friends and had a great time. there was one scary moment where Bella got her face in the water and couldn't’ stand back up. But I got her out of the water and calmed down and she was good to go in a few minutes.  It was a bummer we had to get kicked out only an hour after we got there. But then after nap time i got our the kiddie pool at home and Bella got to play to her little hearts content. 

I know it looks like she has no legs, but still it looks cool.

 

In the kiddie pool you can have toys

KIDS KIDS KIDS

All in blue!

 

Cheese

 

Fun in the pool and freezing.

June is Dairy month

So June is Dairy Month and as farmers we sure enjoy it. Ok so it’s not too much different then a normal month for us, but the rest of the area celebrates it with food!!

The best part of June is the annual Dairy Breakfast. We go to the Grant Country one. This year it was held at the Youth and Ag building in Lancaster.  My Mom and Aunt Dar came down to join us too. It was misting while we ate, but the food was yummy. As normal Bella wouldn’t eat much of anything. Last year i thought it was because she didn’t eat much yet, but this year she just wasn’t in the mood for it.  After we ate we walked around and saw the cows. Bella enjoyed that a lot. THen we found her a balloon and a cow that she could hold. She was in heaven!

 

 

Also this month A&W had free root beer floats. Josh really enjoys them so we decided to go get one. We had a coupon for free cone for Bella so she got that.

we are very much a dairy family!

  A distraction while waiting for food.

  When i say “bella look at mommy” I get this

Daddy’s float and stealing my whipped cream

  Bella loves her ice cream cone!!

Josh’s Father’s day

Father’s day this year kind of turned into a whole father’s day weekend for Josh. Due to the weather during the week, Josh thought Saturday would be the better day to celebrate and take the day off of work. So we made Saturday father’s day. The morning started off a little rough as Bella nor I were moving quickly. I did get breakfast made so Josh didn’t have to worry about that. It’s rare for me to make breakfast as I'm just not good with cooking breakfast foods.

After we got done eating, Bella gave Daddy his present. We got him a grill cover for the grill so the cats don’t walk all over it and hopefully protect it a bit from the weather too, and he got a t-shirt too. The t-shirt says “best daddy hands down” and there is a place to put a child’s hand prints.  So it has Bella’s hand prints on it. He thought it was cute, so that makes me happy.

 

Then it was time to load up the truck and boat and we headed off to Blackhawk Campgrounds and lake. We got there and it was quite busy. it was a nice sunny day with some windy so that kept you a bit cool. Bella did pretty good in the boat. She even tried fishing until she thought it would be ok to put her pole in the lake, that was the end of her fishing. I got one bite on my line and then gave up fishing since it was hard to watch my line and Bella.  Josh caught on little fish and that was it.

 

Around lunch time we decided to head over to the beach to dock. We ate lunch together. naturally i only remember food and nothing else, no silverware, plates or napkins, oops! But we had fun “roughing” it. Bella seemed to enjoy it. after we got done eating Bella and I headed for the beach and Josh went back out on the boat.

 

The beach was short lived as there were too many rude people. I kind of understand the kids not paying attention to little kids around them, but when it’s adults I give up. so after about 10 mins by the water we headed to the swing set. Bella had fun on the swings. THen she found the playset. Where she mastered climbing up the ladder like the big kids, only problem was she couldn’t do the slide down or come back down the ladder.  She did the slide once and came down on her head.  So after a bit of that and a little tantrum, we decided to go relax and dry off on the towels. Bella got to watch Go Diego go on my phone until apparently I didn’t have service.

Josh came and picked us back up and we went to load the boat back on to the trailer. Once that was done we headed to the nice non busy bathrooms in the campground for me to change. Josh worked on getting everything out of the boat and getting the boat ready to travel on the road.

We decided to stop for ice cream in Montfort at the Grab A Cone. We love that place!  Bella got her cone and then jsut shared ice cream with us.

Once we got home, Bella went down for a nap and josh went to start on chores right away so we could have an early night. Well that all changed about an hour into milking. Tony stop over and told us that Ben and Olivia were in town. Then he also told us Greg was home. So after all these phone calls, We ended up making plans for Kara, Tony, Ben and Olivia to come over to our place for a bonfire.  Josh got behind on milking so we had a quick meal, but got things going outside just as the family arrived.  Jeremy arrived a bit after the others. IT was a really great time. The bugs weren’t bad, Bella was happy to be free to hang out outside. it was good conversation. we had smores, watermelon and beer for the guys.  Bella went to bed nicely for us and then the rest of hung out by the fire until 10.  It was definatly something we need to repeat again soon!

So due to the fact that it was a late night Saturday night, Sunday was a laid back day for Josh. Not what he was planning, as he wanted to get at the corn, but he got to take a nap, and just move at it own pace. I’m going to make BBQ ribs and sweet corn for supper with a cake for dessert. That’s his father’s day meal. He’s told me a few times that he’s very happy about how his father’s day as went. So that makes me happy!