White Christmas

Bella attempted to open her present.....but in reality....Colby opened all of them for her. I think it might turn into a fight when Bella actually learns to open presents herself, as it's one of Colby favorite activities.

We headed up to Nebraska for Christmas this year. We left earlier than planned to miss the Christmas blizzard that was headed our way. We made it with no problems and even got to enjoy an extra night out with old friends from Plattsmouth. Then the snow hit, and the winds hit, and they kept coming. Christmas Eve was cancelled as most of our extended family was traveling from another town. And then on Saturday when we were supposed to make our way towards Columbus to spend time with the Kuhlen side, some of the roads/highways were closed because of the still blizzard conditions. So we waited it out until Sunday and then decided to head back to KC. We will celebrate with the Kuhlens once we can enjoy more time spent with them, and a lot less snow!!

And no we did not take any pictures of the snow. It's hard to tell how much there is from pictures anyways. But Jesse can account for how much we even got in Kansas City just by how long it took him to scoop our very long driveway, needless to say all the snow blowers were sold out by the time we got back into town. Let's just hope we have one before the next snow storm hits, oh wait that's supposed to be in two days. Let's just hope it's a small storm.

Santa - Take Two

Or maybe this one should be called, Mrs. Claus Take One. We had a big day planned to head to Crown Center and Union Station. Bella did great and enjoyed being out, although I'm not sure how much she was actually able to take in. But we have lots of pictures to share of the morning. Of course the big moment with Mrs. Claus didn't turn out so well, only because Bella didn't raise her head, but that's what Christmas pictures are all about....screaming children frightened of Santa.....or in our case.....a little girl who can't always pick her head up. Enjoy.The Christmas Train was located outside Union Station. We waited probably close to an hour to board, but luckily the line was indoors, and you only had to go outside right as you were boarding the train.Union Station has a very large set up of model trains. It's quite a sight to see.This was at the Westin where they had a beautiful tree decorated. Many people were having professional photographs taken in front of this tree. We got in for a quick snap shot.And lastly we saw frosty the snowman and Garfield at Crown Center.....I can't explain Garfield either. Frosty walked away from us when we were going to take a picture with him, so we caught Garfield instead.

Santa - Take One

Santa came to the preschool on Thursday. Bella did not sleep well on Wednesday night. In fact she was up from 2am until 5am, and then I had to wake her at 7am, so we could head off to preschool. So what little reaction we might have gotten from her in seeing Santa was completely replaced by a child who wanted to do nothing but fall asleep, granted she did at least keep her eyes open for the pictures. And of course in normal Bella fashion, did not actually nap that day, even though she desperately needed to.

But have no fear, we are heading out tomorrow morning to see the Christmas displays and activities in Crown Center and Union Station, where I'm sure we might see another Santa or two. Let's just hope tonight goes better, and we have better luck tomorrow.

The Snowman Song

Bella had her Christmas program last night at her preschool. We were a little worried how it would go since it started at 6:30pm and was all the way downtown. Bella's bedtime is 7pm, and you don't mess with that unless you want trouble. Bella fell asleep while eating dinner at 5:15pm. Luckily I was able to get her to finish before she was fully sleeping. We packed her in the car...still sleeping and off we headed to the preschool. She woke up once we got there at 6:15pm and we handed her off to her teachers to get her dressed for their song. I have pictures attached, but you can tell I don't know how to run our camera very well, as the zoomed in ones didn't turn out very well, so I had to enhance them in our software. Which now makes them seem grainy, but at least you can see everyone.

Bella was very quite during her song and just sat in her teachers lap. All the way home she was very talkative...where was that during the song?? And we didn't make it home until 7:30pm, and she wasn't in bed till after 8pm. Needless to say she didn't go to sleep, and finally at 10pm, she came into bed with me, and Jesse had to move to the guest bed. Well at some point she finally did go to sleep, and is still sleeping peacefully in our bed. I guess she knows how to get what she wants :-)

Enjoy the pictures........I also did an update to our home improvement blog with the Christmas party pictures from our house.

Rolly Polly

An exciting update for Bella. She has now begun to roll all the way across rooms. She started out on her blanket in this picture, and is almost out of the room. She even switches the direction of the rolls, although she hasn't mastered switching which way she rolls. Meaning if she is rolling from her right side, she continues to roll from her right side. But she can pivot her body, so that she is rolling in different directions. Some day we will take a video, but for now she isn't very fast, we would have to figure out how to speed it up :-)

A nice warm bath after a full days work of rolling!!

The Power of a Tree

This past weekend we got our Christmas decorations up, which included 1 big tree, 1 medium tree, and 3 little trees. Bella still loves all the lights, and I figured we might as well use that towards our advantage. Last night we worked on rolling towards an object that we want...i.e. the brightly light tree. And we continue to work on sitting and head control while gazing at the trees. We will have to continue to work on our two goals while the newness of the Christmas lights is still in affect.

I took this picture tonight, as Jesse was working with Bella. She had just taken a bath, notice how long and curly her hair is getting. Normally she lays on it, so it gets all tangled and frizzy, I wish I knew how to keep that from happening. We try pig tails, but again since she lays on them, she normally can work them out pretty easily. I hate to have to cut her hair, but the 30 minute de-tangling sessions twice a day, aren't fun either.

The Circus Comes to Town

And Bella says the best part of the circus was her new light-up toy. Although I think she really did enjoy the atmosphere of the circus, with all the music and lights, she was completely content. I don't know how much of the actual shows she watched, but I would say the circus was a hit for Bella.

Playing in the leaves

At our new house we have plenty of leaves, we did a little raking, and the dogs had a good time running through them, and laying in them. We also posed with Bella in the leaves, but at that point she was more interested in eating her lunch and taking a nap, so she looks a little tired.

Now the leaves have all been mulched, so I guess we will have to wait until next year to accumulate so many leaves again.

Colby did not want to pose for this picture.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from the Kennedy's and Miss Piggy!!

Hope everyone has a good time trick-or-treating tonight!!

Preschool Halloween Party

Bella had her preschool Halloween party today. I was lucky enough to be able to stay and enjoy some of it. They had a parade in the morning, where all the kids from all the different classrooms went around to trick-or-treat. Then the KCPT employees came into the gym all dressed up and handed out candy. They normally do a trunk-or-treat, but the weather was cold and rainy so it was moved inside. Bella did a great job and kept her costume on the whole time. I unfortunately forgot my camera, so I'm hoping some of the teachers can send me some pictures. We will be sure to take more this weekend so we can show off her costume.

I did realize that I forgot to post pictures of our birthday present to Bella this year. We got her an outdoor swing which she loves. We can sit outside and now she has a place to sit and look at all the trees in our backyard.

Pumpkin Patch - Bella Style

Bella has now been to two different pumpkin patches, although neither one was a true experience.

The first was held at daycare, where they brought in animals and pumpkins, and took the children around. Bella brought home a mini pumpkin from her first experience.

The second trip was to the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead. This is a great place to see lots of different animals, and for the fall season they have a pumpkin patch. Granted we didn't actually travel to the patch, as that was at the cost of $7 a person. And we didn't think it was worth $21 to take the three of us over there just to pick out pumpkins. So instead after we left the farmstead, we headed to a local church that sells pumpkins to help support their mission trips. We hope to carve at least one of the pumpkins this weekend, but we'll have to see if there is time.Bella and the cow.

The goat checking out Bella, and really wishing she had food to feed him.

Bella in the tepee.

Mr. Buffalo

Bella actually seemed to be paying attention to the animals, but from her vantage point it was a little hard for her to see all of them. There is always next time.

Just a little sore

Bella had ear surgery on Tuesday. She was born with little pits at the top of her ears, and for the past year they have been infected. So we elected to have them removed. We also did a hearing test while she was under anesthesia. So we were at the hospital bright and early Tuesday morning, 6 am.

The hearing test came back with results showing slight hearing loss in the right ear, and moderate hearing loss in the left ear. Although at this point, we still can't tell if that is because she actually has hearing loss, or because she constantly gets ear infections. The audiologist explained to us that hearing for Bella would be similar to being under water. So we are going to have to be more aggressive in treating the ear infections, and then at some point do a repeat hearing test.

The surgery went alright, although it took longer than expected, being that the pits and canals that were being removed were infected, and therefore inflamed. In fact a mother in the waiting room was telling other people they had waited in the pre-surgery room for quite awhile as their doctor was behind due to complications with a current patient. I had a feeling that she was talking about Bella being the complication. And of course she was. Pretty typical for us, anytime it has to do with Bella, Bella is always the exception, and things always take longer for her.

But one day after surgery things seem to pretty much be back to normal. We are just hoping she is able to sleep through the night tonight.

The Apple Orchard

On our way to Plattsmouth last weekend, we stopped in Nebraska city to visit the apple orchard. We didn't have much time, so we did a quick tour of the inside, bought some caramel apples and some apple butter, and then did some photo ops outside. Maybe someday when we have more time we can actually take a hay rack ride.

Erin's Wedding

Here are a couple of pictures of Bella hanging out right before Erin and David's ceremony.


This post is hard to write, but I vowed to be honest.

This past weekend we were up in Nebraska attending my sister Erin's wedding (and David's too). It was a beautiful wedding and we all had a good time. But it also was very difficult and depressing. Everyone kept asking me why I was so serious as I walked up the aisle, I was the Matron of Honor. I didn't realize I was being so serious, but I have a feeling I know why.

Bella.

Bella was having a hard time that weekend. She was fussy and crabby pretty much the whole time. She wasn't content to do anything. And of course she woke up early and wouldn't nap, which just adds insult to injury. We tried to take her to the rehearsal dinner on Friday night, so people could see her. But she fussed and cried the whole time. Luckily we had arranged for Jesse's parents to watch her if needed the night of the wedding. And it was pretty apparent that it was going to be needed. She barely made it through the wedding, and afterwards was fussing and crying again. So we didn't even bother taking her to the reception and had Jesse's parents come right over. We thank them for that, as we were able to enjoy the dinner and dance.

But why was the weekend so depressing. Well because it was Bella's aunts wedding and she should have been able to participate more in the wedding. Erin made her an honorary flower girl. But it was still sad that she couldn't walk down the aisle and be the cute little girl dropping the flowers. Or maybe being the shy little girl who didn't want to walk down the aisle alone. Or maybe she wouldn't drop the flowers and would keep them all too herself. We will never know.

And she couldn't be one of the little girls dancing and enjoying the music. Taking over the dance floor during the important dances, because they are having a great time and can't be persuaded to get off the dance floor. No not Bella, she couldn't even be in a good enough mood to see family that doesn't ever get to see her, not for a little bit, let alone all night long.

So that is why is was depressing and sad for me. For all the opportunities that Bella will miss out on. Luckily on most, she won't even be aware that she is missing them. But rest assured Jesse and I are painfully aware.