Uh oh… mommy caught me. I like to take Jessie’s puppy food chunks and put them in her water – they get all mushy and make a MESS.
Okay, my *daddy* was the one being naughty here, ha ha! He took me grocery shopping and he bought us bulk peanut butter cups… and then he let me eat them not only in the store but also in my (once) beautiful golden yellow carseat… Mommy snapped a picture on my return but my fingers were mostly cleaned already (on aforementioned carseat!).
Peekaboo! My daddy is not used to holding us both at once, ha ha. Mommy does it many, many times a day, though. In fact, she can hold us BOTH, carry the diaper bag and one other bag, *and* close the car door all at the same time 
My friend Tommy will be getting a new baby brother/sister at Christmas time – he will be a very wonderful big brother.
We have a dog door going into our backyard… it was very expensive because it has extra safety features and is made so that cats cannot use it (ahem). With that said, here is the order by which various Smith pets are able to use it (by order of speed, the top being “lightning quick” and the bottom being just “pretty fast”):
Jessie (canine)
Pumpkin (feline)
Ava (human)
Buttercup (feline)
‘Nuff said.
Ava saw this package at grandma’s house and happily proclaimed “da-deee!”. Daddy is happy about the muscles resemblance, but not so much about the shiny head part
I had my 2-month old checkup with my pediatrician Dr. Hertz, and and here are my stats:
weight: 12 lbs 12 ounces – 90%
height: 23.25 in – 75% (only 7 inches shorter than my big sis!)
head circ.: 16 in – 90%
(isn’t it wonderful?!)
I had my 18-month old checkup with my pediatrician Dr. Hertz, and look at these stats:
weight: 22 lbs 7 ounces – 24% (I was below 1% when I was born!)
height: 30.75 in – 25% (I was below 1% when I was born!)
head circ.: 19.25 in – 97% (wow, wonderful!!!)
Ta da, big news… I have a new sister across the country! Her name is Isabella and she was born on October 8th, and she weighed 3 pounds 5 ounces. For being born almost 3 months early (like I was), at 30 weeks and 2 days gestation, she is doing *phenomenally*! She is doing about as PERFECT as a micro preemie can do. She has a lot to learn (regular breathing, steady heartrate, nippling, and temperature regulation) and so she will spend quite a few weeks in the NICU. Mommy Jenelle is proud as can be, congrats to her, what a very special event! (ps: I cannot wait to teach her all that big sister stuff… especially how to be naughty and cute and so get away with a LOT, ha ha!)
Jenelle got to “kangaroo” Bella for the first time, and look at how Bella loves it – look at that little arm coming up to her mama’s face. I used to do the *exact* same thing with my mommy when I was in the NICU! Kangarooing is such an ~awesome~ thing, and it will really help Bella grow faster, regulate her breathing/heart rate, and make a deep, deep bond with her mommy
*** edited to answer the questions emailed to mommy overnight: my birthmommy Jenelle is parenting Isabella herself, we are not adopting her. (sorry mommy did not make that clear before!) ***
Doesn’t Izzy (that is what my mommy calls her, with Jenelle’s permission of course) look great here? She just had her first bath and gets a short reprieve from some of her tubes. She dropped a little weight the first few days (here the scale shows 2 lbs 15 ounces) but she is back up and gaining *fast* now. She is getting the best of care and her mommy is taking such loving/devoted care of her, she will be out of the NICU in a few short weeks!
My auntie and I wore matching outfits when she came to visit me My mommy just eats up corny stuff like that.
My daddy chats with me. He says I am better conversation than my mommy sometimes, ha ha.
Here are many of the people in my life that love me. I was very, very important on the day this photo was taken – it was my baptism!
My birthmommy Val (with Paul smiling at me) was the guest of honor at my baptism. She carried me to the front, presented me for the baptism, and stood up for me at the front during the ceremony.
My gammy Brenda teared up so many times at my baptism, it was so cute! My mommy teases her about it, but really is touched that gammy loves me that much…
This is one of my mommy’s favorite pictures… she thinks there is something very special about daddy’s and their daughters.
Mommy with her two girls at my sister’s baptism; mommy is happy as a clam.
(A quick note, however, about the “as a clam” thing… here is mommy’s schedule last night – she was not quite *so* happy then:
*10 pm put Mia to bed and mommy goes to bed
*11 pm Ava has a night terror, her molars hurt, and she needs mommy, and then Mia needs an extra bottle because she is in a growth spurt
*1:30 am to 3 am mommy cannot sleep and watches tv and the clock, and listens for babies because they are both having a not-so-good night and she senses she will be called again very soon
*4 am Mia needs another bottle
*5 am Ava is up for good….
And that means that mommy slept a WHOPPING ***45 minutes*** last night. Ahem, do you notice anything amiss with this picture? Needless to say, today was a “grandma’s house” kind of day – thank goodness for grandma’s!!!!!!)
My beloved auntie helped me to do “baby rock climbing”… she was so amazed at how much I can do at 18 months! The only thing I really do not like all that much is the balance beam… I am not afraid to do it, I just really cannot see the point in it
Here I am on the big trampoline, I am such a big girl. My gymnastics coach (okay, not a *real* coach!) is nearby spotting me. I do “bouncy bouncy” on the trampoline, like my grandpa Dave taught me at Thanksgiving.
I am yelling at a cow at Perrydell Farm (we went with my little friends Ricky and Tommy) because it kept licking the side of my face!
~~~~~ Mommy wants everyone to know that she is so sorry that she has not updated in 2 weeks! We have had a very busy 2 weeks (and we thought things would *slow down* when summer was over – not so!) and we have lots of photos to sort through and then post for you. We had Mia’s baptism, a birthday party for Val, lots of playgroups and outings and family things, and a special surprise by Jenelle (more to come!). Mommy promises to update very soon… ~~~~~
~~~~~ Mommy wants everyone to know that she is so sorry that she has not updated in 2 weeks! We have had a very busy 2 weeks (and we thought things would *slow down* when summer was over – not so!) and we have lots of photos to sort through and then post for you. We had Mia’s baptism, a birthday party for Val, lots of playgroups and outings and family things, and a special surprise by Jenelle (more to come!). Mommy promises to update very soon… ~~~~~
