Mark's Graduation Trip: Part One

Sorry for the delay in blog posts lately. Between being out of town, being sick, and getting back in the swing of things, blogging has fallen pretty low on the list.

Belle before boarding the plane to London.

The flight to London was....interesting. I think I can sum it up in this statement: when we took off no molar was present, when we landed the right molar had broken through the skin. Get the picture? It was not. pretty. She screamed and screamed. She finally fell asleep towards the end of the flight, and about 45 minutes after she fell asleep they turned on the lights for breakfast. NICE. I think I might have asked Mark at some point if we could take a boat back!

We arrived in London on Monday morning, and after a short rest we headed out for a picnic in Green Park. The weather was gorgeous and Belle soaked it all in. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the park and over to Buckingham palace. We ate dinner that evening at a French restaurant in the Shepherd's Market area.

On Tuesday, we took the Underground to the British Museum and spent the day enjoying the different exhibits. I recommend this for people travelling with children. It is stroller friendly and free! We ate lunch there at the museum and then brought Belle back to the hotel for a nap. We ate dinner that night with my parents at a tapas restaurant that we had been to before. It was very interesting eating out in London because you rarely see anyone out to eat with their children; however, we found all of the places and people to be very accommodating and receptive of tired Americans with a wild 14 month old.

Wednesday, Mark's parents took a day trip, so we met up with my parents to tour Kensington Palace. We got to see some of Diana's dresses and the state rooms in the palace. The views of Hyde Park from the palace were absolutely gorgeous. We ate lunch at The Orangery where we discovered Belle's love for three bean salad (I mean the girl was turning up her nose at her chicken for the bean salad). Mark and I then split from my parents and walked the entire length of Hyde Park only stopping in at Harrods along the way. We ate dinner that night at a wonderful Italian restaurant named Prezzo. It was so exciting because it was incredibly kid friendly, and the staff doted on Belle all night.

Thursday morning, Belle and I went on a bus tour with my parents while Mark relaxed before graduation. It was the perfect way to spend the morning since the rest of the day was bound to be pretty hectic.

Belle listening intently to Pops' headphone on the bus. It was so cute because when they stopped talking she would hand it back to us.

Mark and I before the ceremony.


The procession and seating of Princess Anne.

Mark bowing before Princess Anne.

It was so neat to see a gradation ceremony in a different country. There were a total of 700 graduates that walked that day representing 70 countries. Lets just say there were some "interesting" names called. I was so proud of Mark for this HUGE accomplishment. After the ceremony we went to a reception that Mark's specific program put together. We met this cute couple from Switzerland, and the wife actually did foreign exchange in Lithia Springs, GA. It is definitely a small world. We went to dinner that night to celebrate. We met back up with my parents who had been watching Belle (adventuring in Notting Hill), as well as, a girl that Mark's family knew in Louisiana whose boyfriend she was visiting lives in London. After dinner we hurried back to the hotel to pack to.... leave for Paris in the morning.

Long Time No Post

Time has flown by, and here I sit the night before we leave for London. I think the two best words to describe how I am feeling are: excited and nervous. I am so excited to spend the next week in London, one of my favorite cities. I am also thrilled to adventure in Paris (France that is for all you TX folk :) ). I am nervous beyond words for flying 8 hours and multiple time changes with a 14-month old. I think the key thing is not letting her realize I am nervous. I really wanted to pack some new "surprise" toys to keep her entertained on the flight. Unfortunately she is at such a hard age where the majority of age appropriate toys light up and sing delightful silly songs.

Oh well, since my last post I have had so many things to share with my blog friends, but the looming need to pack/organize has taken the majority of my time.

Some things that are recently going on with Miss B....

*She loves to point out all her facial features... nose, ears, hair, teeth, mouth.... we are still working on eyes as she confuses them with ears. She also loves to show you how she "smells" with her nose and "blinks" with her eyes.

*She daily imitates many phrases and words. They sound like nothing but you can tell that she is trying to say some of the same things we do. She has a HUGE stuffed ladybug we have named "Big Red". We tell her to say "Hi" to Big Red, and she says "Iiiiiiiii Bid Ded". She is trying and it is fun to see her verbal skills expand beyond the 1,000s of "What's Thats?" she asks daily.

*In public she is so shy and quiet, and at home she is silly and into everything. She can also throw a pretty good tantrum.

*She got accepted to a Mother's Day Out at a church near our house. I think this will be wonderful for her to have more social interaction and come out of her shell a little bit. We don't have many young kids in the neighborhood, and our church is far away so we often don't even chance it with the lovely 400 traffic on Wednesdays. I really think being around children more than just Sundays will be so beneficial for her.

*She is officially a walker, or at least walking more than crawling. It is still a mummy walk but she is SO proud of herself. We are so proud of her too!

There is so much I could say about this sweet little toddler, but I know you all might get bored. Once I get back and blog about our trip I plan on sharing with you all some awesome home organization helpers I have been using lately.

If you are on facebook I will try to put up some pics while on our travels and maybe sneak a few into blogger too!

Stomach Virus, 2009

We have been sick at our house... real sick. After Mark and I were fully ready for church on Sunday we went to wake Belle up to get her ready. Unfortunately we discovered she had thrown up in her sleep. We then dealt with the stomach yuckies with Miss Belle all Sunday night, Monday night and into Tuesday. I came down with the virus on Tuesday. My doctor called in some Phenergan for me. Unfortunately it knocked me out and Belle was up yet again sick that night -- poor Mark. He kept asking me to come help and I tried but I could barely walk a straight line. I had completely forgotten that Phenergan has a really strong effect on me.

Since Belle was still up sick as can be Tuesday night (and we had been on the phone with our doctor's office and the on-call nurse at the hospital Monday night) we took her into the doctor. Her weight was already down to 17 lbs. 15 oz. from 18lbs 8 oz at 12 months. They put her on some Zofran and basically gave us a few hours to get a wet diaper out of her before they admitted her to Children's. At this point, Mark and I were so sick that we didn't know if we had the fight left in us to get Belle to take fluids. Luckily she had her wet diaper and the Zofran allowed her to keep fluids down. We definitely spent the whole day feeding her liquids out of a syringe.

As of today we are all on the mend (knock on wood). Belle is still pretty reluctant to take liquids but we are working very hard on it. She is eating a little bit of solid foods like toast and applesauce to get her tummy back to normal. I have loved having a cuddly little girl, but I miss her sweet, funny disposition.

If all else fails, I guess the stomach virus is one way to lose that last 5 pounds of pregnancy weight I have been keeping around. Thank you for all your prayers this week. They were definitely appreciated.

And then there were four!

I am excited to announce that Belle's fourth cousin has arrived!

Hudson James Reiboldt

made his debut at 3:23 am on February 18

he weighs 7 pounds even and is 21 inches long.

He is absolutely precious and a mini version of my father in law. We are so thankful for a safe arrival and that mom and baby are doing well.

Our Valentine's Weekend

What a great weekend! It started with getting to come home early from work on Friday (thanks Bonnelle)! It was so sweet coming up the stares and see Belle so surprised to see me. She was absolutely ecstatic, and that was worth taking four hours off of my shift. Normally I get home around midnight when Belle has already been asleep for a good while. It was nice to be able to be home with the family and get her all ready for bed.

On Saturday, we woke up and Mark got us Chick-Fil-A chicken biscuits for breakfast. I gave Belle part of my biscuit and as a true Southern girl it was love a first...bite. We then played for a good bit and got ready for the day.

Belle looked precious in her Valentine's sweater and red patent mary janes.

Belle and her daddy.

Mark watched Belle that afternoon so that my mom and I could go see Confessions of a Shopaholic. We had read each of the four books and were anticipating this movie. Usually movies based on a book aren't nearly as good as the book, but this movie did not disappoint. We laughed and laughed. After the movie, we took in a little shopping at the Avenue Forsyth. I discovered a favorite store: Francesca's Collection. I have always looked at their website and loved there clothes and affordable prices. The store was even better, and I picked up a cute outfit for this spring (just need some shoes to match)!

Belle got a new talking tea set for her Valentine's present.

The picture says it all.... she LOVED it!

We usually play it low key on Valentine's Day. We ordered pizza and I made salads with homemade Caesar dressing. We kicked back and watched a movie after Belle went to sleep, and just enjoyed a nice relaxing evening. Last night, Mark and I went to a nice dinner at Killer Creek. We like to celebrate Valentine's Day a few days before or after because all the restaurant hustle bustle is not my style. It was nice to dress up and eat a nice filet with Bearnaise sauce. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend with my two loves!

I just had to share this picture of Belle and Mark a few weeks ago before church. I loved her outfit that day, and she truly looked like a toddler.

Say Hello to My Little Friend

I would like to introduce you all to a wonderful discovery. A blog that I love to read told me all about Relish!. It is a menu-planning service that is inexpensive and incredibly helpful. Every week you get to pick 5 out of 10 meals and one dessert. You also choose how many servings you need, and then it prints out the recipes and grocery list. I am in love with it and plan on doing a weekly/monthly review of the foods I have made.

There are even freezer menus for foods you can make ahead of time and have on hand for meals on hectic nights. Please go check out www.relishrelish.com .

Look Who's Walking Now

Belle has been taking a few steps here and there since right before her birthday. The other night we were hanging out in the kitchen, and while I was waiting on dinner to cook we practiced walking. She did AWESOME! She took ten steps in a row about 8-10 times. She was so proud of herself. We grabbed the camera and taped little bits. Sorry for the quality, I was much more excited about her walking than film quality!

Please don't worry. She did not hit the camera at the end of that video. She loves to dive into our laps.

On a side note, Belle is a bit under the weather. I won't get into details but her poor bottom is in bad shape. It is sort of a viscous circle around here as the runs cause the diaper rash and the runs make the diaper rash hurt worse. She sobs for diaper changes because her bottom hurts so bad. At one point I was sobbing too. I just feel so bad for her. We are on a diet of all bland foods and pedialyte. We slathered that sweet bottom up before bed, and I am praying for her to not be hurting so bad tomorrow.