March Madness

Hey all!

Here we are in March already, can you believe it? Bella is going on 6 months old already. I don't know where the time has gone. She is beautiful and growing and has 2 teeth to show for it. She is also eating lots of Mommy's homemade baby foods already, including sweet potatoes, green beans, butternut squash, bananas, applesauce, peaches and oatmeal. So far she pretty much loves everything... although her favorites are definitely sweet potatoes and bananas so far :)

My best friend Megan is quickly approaching her due date of her baby girl Anastasia Kensington... we can't wait to meet her! If you are reading this, please keep Megan and Max in your prayers for a safe and easy delivery! They are going to make wonderful parents!

My mom also turned 50 this past weekend. She is the cutest 50 year old you ever did see :) Seriously though she doesn't look a day over 40, and I'll stand by that statement, thank you very much!! We had a wonderful party for her where we all had a great time. 

Other news.... I'm going to begin posting lots of my fitness and nutrition updates on my blog as well. Its a big part of my life, so I figure I can share it with all of you! Things at PUSH are growing well and my first Camp Wellness of 2009 ended with fabulous results!

The new things at PUSH that I'm a part of these days are Camp Wellness (a 6 week weight loss and lifestyle program), Bridal Bootcamp (a 6 week bootcamp package to help you get buff for your special day), Push It! group training classes ($12/class...personal trianing in a group setting limited to 6 per class so you still get personal attention at a cheaper rate)... and Push It! Baby Bootcamp ... which is MY baby..a stroller based fitness class priced at $10/class. Let me know if you are interested in any of the above!

Mommy played photographer

Just thought I'd share some new pics of my beauty :)

First solid Food

I gave Bella her first bite of solid food this morning with her breakfast. She got 1 tbsp of rice cereal mixed with 4tbsp of her formula and then I gave her a bottle, and she took about 6oz. So apparently she was still hungry, HA! She did great though. At first she looked at me, like, "What the HECK is this, MOM?!" but then she played with it in her mouth a few minutes and then smiled and wanted more. I'm excited about starting solids but its kinda sad too! I just hope I know what I'm doing with it!

Isabella turns 4 months

We took Bella to her 4 month well visit today. She did great! She weights 15 pounds, 8 ounces (82%) and is 25 inches long (75%) and has a head circumference of 16.5 inches. Yeah, she got healthy chubby thighs and we love them!!! :) Dr. Julie says she looks GREAT and is healthy and strong! Ahead of all of her milestones so far. We have been advised to start solids before her 6 month appt and also babyproof our home before that visit as well. Oh, boy.. guess we are going to have to go back to Babies R Us! Ha! 

I am also looking forward to making my own baby food. I have gotten some tips from my friend Amy and will be checking out www.wholesomebabyfood.com for ideas. I'm excited!! I'm going to start with cereal first, then move on to oatmeal and veggies. Not sure which veggies I want to start with yet. I'm thinking maybe peas and sweet potatoes since those are two of my favorites!! I am so excited! I've got my Magic Bullet and just need to get some ice cube trays and get practicing. Jerry also has to get her high chair put together soon and I need to get a plastic spoon. I have a feeling we have great times ahead of us :)

She also continues to be a great sleeper at night! She slept through the night again last night, all 11 hours. We feel so much more rested! I hope it continues! 

This weekend I am hosting Megan's baby shower. Anastasia is due April 1st, and Megan and Max are getting very excited! We are very excited as well since Megan is like a sister to me. I can't wait to be Aunt Mandy!! I really hope her shower this weekend ends up as nice for her as mine was for me. She deserves the best! 

She sat unsupported!!

I can't believe it! Today Bella is 4 months old and I plopped her down prepared to do some supported sitting practice. I decided to give it a shot and let go, fully expecting her to fall over right away like she has been doing. Nope. She sat there, looked up at me, smiled and Buffy tried to lick her, HAHA! She sat like that about 2 minutes before she swayed to the side, then we did it again and again! 

Snow Day!

So we ended up with about 13 inches of snow here in Indy over the past 24 hours and so it was Bella's first big snow! Jerrys' work even got closed, so we bundled Bella up in her snow gear to go outside. We layed her down in the snow for a snow angel picture, but she wasn't pleased.... she lasted about 10 seconds before Angel kicked the freezing cold snow in her face and she yelled at us. So it was a short visit outdoors nonetheless! ;)

New to this blog thing!

I've decided to create this blog after following a few of my friends' blogs to help keep everyone up to date on our little growing family. During my pregnancy, I kept a page about how things were going as well as how Bella was doing and stuff... so this is the graduated version and will hopefully stick as our family continues to grow! You can check out the pregnancy journey at www.totsites.com/tot/babyleonards ... but I decided this was more appropriate now that Bella is with us and things are changing everyday.

Those that are new to my blog... Isabella Rose was born on September 29, 2008 at 9:45am. She weighed 6 pounds, 10 oz and was 19.5in long at birth. She was born at Clarian North Hospital in Carmel, Indiana. Those that helped were Jerry and my Mom and Steve. It was a long labor of about 20 hours and although I had prepared for a natural, med-free delivery, I did end up getting an epidural at 6cm (and boy now

 I am very glad that I did, haha!). To make a long story short, breastfeeding was rough for us. Bella had a poor latch from the get-go and also has reflux

 and a milk protein allergy. So I was exclusively pumping for 3 months and then decided it was time to make the switch for all of our sanity. So she is now on soy formula and is growing like a weed! 

Its hard to believe she'll be 4 months old officially tomorrow!! We were supposed to have her 4 month appt today at our pediatrician, but we are in the middle of a snow storm, so no doc appt today! I am guessing she is atleast 15 pounds an

d 25 inches at this point. She is also sleeping through the night now. She slept 7:30pm to 7am last night! YAHOO!! This is *much* improvement from the never sleeping at all thing we were going through for quite some time...

Jerry is working at Hurco Electronics as an electrical engineer and he LOVES his job. Its so nice to actually have him enjoying what he's doing! I am working part-time now at PUSH Fitness for Women doing lifestyle coaching (using my MSW), personal training and teaching group fitness classes. I'll keep you guys posted on things there but I'm really loving my job. I am also doing online fitness plans at www.body

lifeworks.com 

I'll finish off this first entry with a picture of Bella...hopefully I'll figure out how to work this thing...haha!

Here she is with Angel. This was taken just a few days ago.