Girls Gone Wild: Spring Break 06

Bella and her good friend Caroline from Athens got together during Spring Break. Many girls go to the Gulf to get crazy, but these two don't need the beach and sun to have fun (and I am sure both Daddies won't allow the beach, boys, and even swimsuits--EVER)! When these two get together it is CRAZY times! It was such a great day!

I Have a Dream

Mark and Bella became big fans of watching Olympic Curling this February. After much consideration, Bella informed us of her decision to aspire to become the youngest Olympic Curler for the USA.


She began strength training immediately. She uses the Jump and Go that her Cousin Grace gave her for Christmas to build strong leg muscles. Her body has taken a toll as it adjusts to the training schedule so she finds herself exhausted.


So exhausted, that she falls asleep during play times. Notice her hands in mid-swat at the lion.




Her dedication to this project is admirable. In fact, some nights we find Bella lying in bed using Pouncer as a curling stone. We will see what the Winter Olympics 2010 in Vancouver brings. . . maybe the first four-year-old professional curler.

What's this white stuff?!?!?

What is this white stuff?!?!?

Are you serious? The whole city shuts down for this?!?!?



Can I go make some snow balls?

Oh, well.
I guess I will just stay inside and be "sick."
Hmmm. . .Maybe I will practice rolling over.

Bella awakened early Saturday morning to see her first "big" snow. She was so excited. She donned her snowflake outfit in honor of the "big" moment and begged us to let her go outside and peg Ike with a few snowballs. Unfortunately, we insisted that she stay inside since she was a bit under the weather. Being sick did not dampen her spirits or her work ethic. By Sunday, she had mastered the art of rolling from tummy to back.

The Semi-irregular Update

Bella Bear says, "ROAR!"

Bella continues to grow...and grow...and grow...


Today we found out that she'd outgrown one of the favorite outfits that Bella wears regularly (for those that have seen it, it's the green & pink striped one with the flamingo on the front). It's just another sign that the little girl is getting bigger.

She's learned a new "trick". Occasionally, she'll cooperate & actually do the trick. If you move your finger rapidly across lips, she'll make noise so that it sounds funny. She gets a kick out of it whenever she's in the mood to do this.

We've also determined her favorite word..."poopoo". She will stop, smile & laugh at you if you say it. Sometimes, it'll even improve a bad mood.

She also has a favorite tv show already. It's called "Zoboomafoo". She'll sit and watch a full episode of the show. Here's a picture of her favorite celebrity.

Cha...cha...cha...Changes...

What a week it's been. We've seen Bella apparently shake her first cold, only for it to prove that it's not quite over with yet. And, big news...she's dropped her feeding in the middle of the night. Now, we feed her at 10 & don't see her again until time to get up for the morning. It seems like we watch her grow up more & more every hour.

We're back...

A few weeks and quite a few dollars later, we finally have a new computer. We traveled to Memphis the weekend before Christmas, there's pictures here from doing the Christmas thing there. Bella has come to love her new koala "Kip" that her cousin Rachel brought back from Australia.

After the return from Memphis, she got her first cold. She's still getting over it, but she's being a trooper about all of it. We have had fun chasing boogers with the booger bulb and administering saline drops. Isabella really doesn't mind it all too much. She realizes that it helps. Hopefully, the sneezing and the coughing will end soon.

She got to visit with Uncle Mikey for the first time at Christmas. The whole crew (Mikey, Rachel, Grace, Dave, Beth, and Kenzie) got to be together and even made time for a family portrait. Christmas was spent in a whirlwind of family and family and more family. Isabella did wonderfully, sleeping through much of it and eating through the rest of it.

After Christmas, Bella got her favorite gift of all--SHOTS! Karen sat (since she is prone to fainting) while Mark held Bella. =She is growing well--already doubling her birth weight at two months of age. She ran a fever later that night, but her happy disposition made it difficult to tell that she was feverish. I guess we should count our blessings.

For the eve of New Year's Eve, Isabella got to spend time with her Grandpa and Gandma Bacigalupo. Unfortunately, both of them had a touch of something and opted to not hold Bella this time to keep her from getting what they had. I know it took a lot of restraint, and so we plan on getting her to their arms just as soon as possible.

Houston, we have a problem...

It may be a while before we can get more pictures on here. The computer died this weekend, but I'm seeing if Garrison can resuscitate the thing. Hopefully, we'll have the computer back next week & can put pictures of Bella's first trip to Memphis! We have been trying to get a picture or video of her smiling. She smiles alot these days & giggles, and then clams up as soon as she sees a recording device. She's crafty that little one, but we'll trick her into posing with a smile eventually.

Since there are no pictures, you get more of what's going on in my mind:

Most prevalent right now, the World Cup draw. For both of you that read this & actually care about soccer...the United States is in a group with Italy, Czech Republic, and Ghana. This is one of the two hardest groups in the tournament. Hopefully, they can advance and prove that they belong with the big-boys of the world. I'm sure there will be more about this in June. If anyone's looking for last minute shopping ideas for me...I'd like airfare, hotel stay, tickets to the World Cup (not asking for much, just the games America plays in), and enough money to pay the bills since I'd have to take off work without pay due to the length of the absence. Just an idea for those last minute shoppers.

Merry CHRISTmas!!

That's right, I said it! Merry Christmas, not "Happy Holidays" or some other term. In light of current events, I'm even more pro-CHRISTmas and more anti-everything-that-takes-away-the-focus-from-Jesus this year. As some of you may know, I'm not a fan of Santa Claus. You won't see any Santa decorations in our house. Don't get me wrong, we'll still let Santa visit Bella, but we won't be focusing on Santa. Our society has done everything possible to take Christ out of this time of year. Santa has become the emphasis of the season, not our Savior. The "Holiday" has become more focused on Santa than Jesus...I refuse to be part of that trend, and may even be leaning further the other direction than necesary. Nona can still read "The Night Before Christmas" but we'll also be supplementing that with reading the Nativity story starting this year.

Now what all of you are really here for...more pictures.

Long Time No Blog

So, everyone told us that life goes hectic after having a baby. We thought, how can that be, all they do is sleep, eat and poop. By the frequency of our blogging, it looks like everyone was right.

Here's what's happened since the last update:

- My family came in for the day a couple of Saturdays ago. Bella's great grandparents, Great Aunt Joyce, Great Aunt Amy, and Nonna made the trip.
-That same day, Bella watched some of her first Memphis game, unfortunately, they couldn't beat Tennessee.

- She's started cooing more & turning her head quite a bit.

- She got to visit with her Aunt Rachel & cousin Grace who were in town this weekend.


- We all went to church together for the first time on Sunday. Bella slept the whole time, looks like next time we can't get her to sleep, we'll just call Phil and get him to practice his next sermon on her! :)

Doing Great

Bella & Karen are both doing great. Bella had a doctor's appointment at one week & she'd already gained an ounce over her birth weight. Typically, pediatricians like for babies to be back to their birthweight by week two...needless to say, the kid has an appetite. For those wondering, Ike has been great through all of this, he kisses her every time he can get close enough.

She sleeps really well some nights, and so-so on other nights. We really haven't had a night that's been too bad...yet.

Here are new pictures, a couple are from her first bath (which wasn't a fun experience for her).

At Home

Alright, here's the breakdown of last Tuesday:

10:30- Karen calls me after a visit to the doctor. Bella's heartrate was at a normal range, but wasn't fluctuating when they'd stimulate her, and Karen's blood pressure was up, but not insane...so...the doctor told us to be at the hospital at 2:00 to induce.

2:00- Go to the hospital where they start Karen on Potosin.

6:00- Doctor tells us that Bella should be here around breakfast time on Wednesday.

8:00- Doctor somehow convinces Karen to get an epidural to see if it will help with her bloodpressure. Somehow Mark stays in the room and doesn't pass out while Karen gets the epidural.

9:45- Doctor tells us that a c-section is the best bet to insure there's no trauma for Bella or Karen. Bella's heartrate was fine, just not jumping when Karen would have a contraction.

10:00- They wheel Karen into the Operating Room.

10:15- I join her in the Operating Room.

10:21- Isabella Grace Bacigalupo is born at 5 lbs 2 oz.

11:30 Tuesday night through 11:30 Saturday morning- Absolute blur of nurses caring for Karen, nurses caring for Bella, friends visiting, family visiting, phone calls, etc.

Well, we all came home on Saturday (which happened to be the one year anniversary of moving into the house). Bella is doing great! Right now, she enjoys sleeping, eating, pooping, and hearing Mommy & Daddy's voices.

She's slept through the night the first two nights she's been home. Right now, she's the most easy-going baby that I've ever seen. Hopefuly she'll continue to be that way.