Alanna Brooke Bell

Alanna (pronounced A-lawn-nah) was born 11/13/11 @ 5:39pm. She weighed 7 lbs 13 oz and was 21 inches long. She is such a wonderful addition to our family and we are all so excited she is here.

Help us name our baby

Our baby girl will be arriving in just 2 months and Eric and I have not even come close to deciding on a name for our little girl. I always struggle trying to pick out the "right name."
When we were expecting Kaylee I put up a poll and found it very helpful to see what our friends and family liked and that helped us decide on Kaylee.
So we are going to try that again. Last night Eric and I went through a list of the top 200 names and their were 8 names that we picked from that list to consider. Now we need the help of our friends and family to help us decide which name would be the best fit for our little girl.
Thanks for helping us!

Playing Catch up: March - May 2011

I know that I have been so horrible about updating my blog lately so I guess it is time to play catch up. We have been busy the last six months. I guess it all started when we found out I was pregnant with baby #3 in March.

The day after I found out I was pregnant, Eric's dad was in California for a business trip and drove down from San Francisco to spend a day with us. He took us to Disneyland. :) We had such a great day with Grandpa Bell. The kids had a wonderful time!
April 2011:
April was a great month as we spent a lot of time together as a family. Playing outside in the great weather.

Meanwhile I was getting sick from being pregnant. I started noticing that I would get these little red dots all over my eyes and partly on my cheeks. I figured out it is called Pitiki eye or something. It is my blood vessels popping or something from throwing up all the time. It kind of freaked me out at first.
Eric and I decided it was time to take the kids to the zoo. So we took a Saturday and drove up to the Fresno zoo. It was a small zoo and it only took us a couple of hours to go through the whole zoo but the kids loved it. They loved getting up close and personal with some of the animals. Their favorite animal to watch was the Elephants.
The end of the month was Easter. The kids loved going to the community Egg Hunt.
We colored eggs for the Easter Bunny to hide.
And they loved all the candy and treats the Easter Bunny left them on Easter Morning.
May 2011:
For the most part may was a quiet month while Eric studied for his CPA exam and I was tutoring a lot more since the end of the school year was coming to a close. We did take some time to celebrate our little girl's 2nd birthday. I can't believe how fast my baby is growing up.
Since Kaylee was turning 2 we decided it was time for the crib to come down and Kaylee to get her own bed. She was so excited to see that the bed we were setting up was for her. She adjusted to the bed pretty easily. She loves her Tinker Bell bed!
Although her first nap time with a big bed was a little crazy and I found her sleeping in her hamper.

Stay tuned to see what we have been up to June - August 2011...

Our Announcement

Our little family would like to announce the upcoming arrival of a new member to our family. I am pregnant with baby #3. We are so excited to welcome a new baby around November 18th. I am currently about 17 1/2 weeks pregnant.
The first trimester was a difficult one for me. It is hard to take care of two dependant little kids while your body is completely exhausted and sick. I was sick from about 8 weeks til 15 or 16 weeks. I occasionally still feel a little sick but I am doing much better now that I am in the second trimester. I am having a more emotional pregnancy this time around. I have had many times when I would start crying due to stress, depression, or no reason at all. Once the tears start coming it is hard to stop. One time I cried for 3 days.

We made it to the doctor today and everything looks really good. We found out that Aaron and Kaylee are going to have:

a new baby sister!

Originally, we wanted to wait to find out what we were having but I guess our curiosity got the best of us. I am excited because now I can start thinking of names and plan for another little girl. I can't believe that I will soon be the mother of 3 kids.

Here are some pictures of our beautiful little girl:

This is her face and chest

This is a picture of her little foot with all her toes in place.

This is the proof we have that it is a girl. There is her cute bum and legs. This is the first shot we saw when we started the ultrasound. I guess she was ready to announce that she is a girl.

Aaron and Kaylee are both so excited for a new baby sister. They loved coming to the doctor with me to see the baby in my tummy. They keep asking if the baby is coming and I have to remind them that it is going to take more time before this little girl is ready to join our family.

2 down and 2 to go!

Last month Eric took his 2nd of 4 CPA tests. He was so sure he didn't do well at all. Even though he studied hard for this test he felt that he went about it the wrong way and didn't do well at all.
Well last night he looked up his test scores expecting a very low score. To his surprise he passed! He has had this huge smile on last night and this morning. He was in complete shock because he was not expecting to pass at all. I am so proud of him! We are celebrating over here.
This morning he signed up for test number 3 the end of May, right before our trip to Texas.
That is right. We are finally going to Texas. It has been over 2 and 1/2 years and we miss our family back there. We are so excited to see everyone. We will be there from May 28th - June 12th. I am excited that we will be there over my birthday so we can party. We hope to see everyone so you better clear your schedules because we are coming!

Playing on the porch

When we first moved to Bakersfield we first lived in a house with a big backyard. I loved it because Aaron loved going outside to play and I could keep a close watch on him without having to go out myself. We have since moved to an apartment that does have a good patch of grass behind our unit but it is not completely fenced in so I need to watch the kids more closely.
We do however have a closed in porch. It is not that big but the kids love play on the porch when they want to go outside. The kids love to play outside all the time. Here are some pictures of their fun today.

Pics of the kids

My kids keep growing so fast. Especially Kaylee. I can't believe my baby will be 2 in just 2 more months. This girl seems so much older than she really is. She is talking a lot and learning all sorts of new phrases and words everyday. She is starting to learn how to sing her favorite songs. She is still super obsessed with Barney. Most of all she loves to play with her big brother.

I can't help but think how cute Kaylee is when she gets upset. Her way of pouting when she doesn't get her way is to lay face down on the floor.

Her hair is finally getting long enough that I can start doing stuff with it. Now if only she would stop taking her hair out every time I do it. I am surprised if she leaves her hair up for more than 5 minutes.

The kids also love to see their daddy. Sometimes they don't get to see him much so whenever they do they have so much fun with daddy.

Aaron still loves his new trains and train tracks he got from Christmas. He gets upset anytime we mess up his train tracks. Because they are on the floor they constantly get stepped on or kicked. Aaron will tell everyone, "Step over my train tracks. Don't step on my train tracks." He usually doesn't like Kaylee playing with his trains or tracks but sometimes he will share. Just a minute after I took this beautiful picture Kaylee ruined his train tracks and he freaked out.

I wish I had more fun pictures of us out on adventures but things have just been busy here that we haven't had a chance to get out. Eric is working so hard lately that he has had to work the last few weekends. A couple of weeks ago, Eric took his 2nd of 4 CPA tests. He didn't feel like he did that well so hopefully he will do better next time. Whenever he has a test coming up he has to take every opportunity he can to study. I feel so bad for him sometimes when he works and studies so hard that he hardly has anytime to relax or just be with his family.

As for me, I have been keeping busy these last few months with tutoring. I had such a hard time finding students in the fall but January hit and I quickly picked up a few more students. I believe I am up to 5-7 students depending on the week. I usually only tutor one or two students a day. I just get one of the young women in my ward to come babysit so I can go tutor. It is kind of refreshing to have an hour or two a day when I can actually use my brain again. Most moms know that when you become a full time mom your brain is full of ABC's and 1,2,3's and lots of Barney songs that you feel like your brain is turning to mush. Plus the extra money from tutoring is a huge help. :)
I do love spending all my time with my kids. It is so fun to play with them and take them out on a walk or to the park. I think we have a lot of fun together.

"Barney again?"

Kaylee, 22 month old, is addicted to Barney. It was cute at first but now it is just annoying. That girl could watch barney all day every day. She almost does. First thing she says when she gets up in the morning is "Barney again, Barney again, Barney again?" She will lead me to the tv for me to turn it on for her. In the mornings I usually give in because that is when I am eating breakfast and getting ready for the day. The second the show is over she is running around the house yelling, "Barney again, Barney again, Barney again,...?" When she finds me she leads me back to the tv to start it over.
All day long she is asking to watch Barney. That purple dinasour has brainwashed my little girl. I try hard not to give into her request so much but whenever she asks to watch "barney, again?' and I say "no." She immediately starts to cry and throws herself on the floor like she always does when she is upset.
The fun part is that Kaylee loves the songs and loves to dance to the songs. I need to stop enabling my daughter and get her out of the Barney phase because those songs are so catchy that I find them stuck in my head all day.

Aaron is addicted to Christmas. He loved Christmas this year and doesn't want to let it go. He has to watch Polar Express everyday. He is constantly asking me to draw a Christmas tree with presents for him. He is always talking about how Santa brought him train tracks and trains for Christmas and how Santa needs to bring him some more. Right now we are watching a Christmas Thomas the Train show. :) Wow, it is February and this kid is still stuck on Christmas.

February Resolutions

First of all, I want to apologize for not updating my blog much lately. I used to have the goal to update it once a week. Now that I am so behind I get overwhelmed with how much I was going to do but never did. I also feel like there is nothing to blog about. So I am going to try to be better blogging about the little things that matter to me. Here's to hoping I do better.

Most people start their new years resolutions on Jan. 1st. I have to start mine on Feb. 1st. On Jan. 1st I am usually out of town for the holidays and not back to my normal routine to switch it up to make changes. So when Feb. 1st rolls around I realize that January is over and I did not stick to any of my resolutions at all. Now that I have been home from our travels for a month I feel more prepared to make changes. Last February I started going to the gym to lose a few pounds. I was going about 5 times a week and I think I did fairly well through out the year. I did end up losing about 17lbs. Unfortunately, my frequency to the gym was decreasing. By the summer I was going 3-4 times a week and by fall I was down to 1-2 times a week and by winter I was down to 1time every week or two. Sadly, all the weight that I worked so hard to lose is all back. :( Here I am a year later and I back where I started. I am ready to work again. I have worked out the last three days and I am so sore.
The hardest thing about going to the gym is that I can only go in the mornings before Eric goes to work because there is no childcare at the gym I go to. I want to switch gyms to one that does have childcare but I signed a contract til August with my current gym so I guess I need to stick it out and go to the gym at 6:30am.
Along with working out I need to start eating healthier. This is a tough one for me. I need to practice better self control and portion control. I give into temptations to easily when it comes to food. It is a battle I fail more than I succeed. I am working on it though. :)
There are many more resolutions I need to work on but I am starting with the gym and will try to work in new ones every week or two (like blogging more). I want to be a better and healthier person. Sometimes as a mom I try to take care of everyone else before myself. I want to make sure that I am taking care of myself and my needs so that I can be the best wife and mom for my family.