Bright and early Monday morning, we headed off to the airport and were on our way to Texas (with a quick layover in Atlanta)! Checking in and getting through security were a breeze. While we were waiting at our gate, I saw the tallest man ever. My immediate reaction was that this man was an Olympic athlete who had returned to the states before the end of the games. As two security guards walked by, Andy overheard them say the name Mutombo. As we boarded our plane (he was on our plane!) we heard people in the airport yelling "Hey Mutombo!" "We love you Mutombo!" We didn't know who he was (as we are comletely sports illiterate) but by peoples' reactions, we knew he was someone famous. Later we learned that he is basketball player for the Houston Rockets. He is a native of the Democrative Republic of the Congo and speaks English, French, Spanish, Portugese, and five African languages. Wow! We also discovered that he has started the
Dikembe Mutombo Foundation whose mission is to improve the health, education, and quality of life for the people in the DR of the Congo. He seems like a pretty neat individual and is probably the most famous person I have ever come in contact with.
We had a couple of problems with our flight and ended up sitting on the runway for almost two hours before taking off. We missed our connecting flight but finally arrived in Austin, TX a little after 3pm. As soon as we walked in the door to my brother's house, we got to see Sydney! I got to hold her and feed her and soon it was Bella's turn.
Sydney is so precious! Such a happy, easy-going baby. . .
. . . who gave us lots of sweet smiles!
Auntie Jodi and her two nieces! Bella is apparently distracted by something.
Sydney hanging out in her swing.
Tuesday: We went kayaking and paddle boating. I only got this one photo of Andy and Aaron because I didn't want to take my camera in the water.
The light was making Jodi's eyes glow. . . so I had to take a picture. One of the things I have really been trying to get better at is capturing light in people's eyes. Adults are definitely more cooperative than two-year-old little girls!
Here is Scott out on the patio enjoying his tasty beverage.
Wednesday: We spent a few hours at the botanical gardens. Here's Jeff feeding Sydney. It's so fun to see him as a dad and how much delight he takes in his daughter!
Bella showing off one of the many rocks that she ended up throwing into the little stream.
The light on Lori's eyes also looked really pretty. . . so I took another picture!
Bella playing in the bamboo hut.
Lori and Ryan on the butterfly bench.
Good thing for water fountains. It was a very hot day!
Later in the evening, Bella helped give Sydney her bottle.
A few more photos of Sydney. I've also discovered that babies are more cooperative photo subjects than two-year-old little girls!
Thursday: My Birthday!!! Jeff reserved a boat for us on Lake Austin. We had it for four hours! We also rented a jet ski and everyone took turns on it. I think that Andy is talking in this picture.
Bella jumped in the lake with Kristen. She was a little scared at first and clung pretty tightly to Kristen, but soon really started to enjoy herself!
My mom enjoying herself on the boat.
Bella and Auntie Mary sharing a snack.
Jeff taking a break from driving the boat to relax a little.
Scott pretty exhausted after lots of swimming (it didn't help that as soon as he swam up to the boat, Jeff drove it further away)!
Sydney taking her nap. She loves the same paci that Bella did.
Jodi and Lori cooling off in the lake.
Sydney wide awake after a good nap. She has the most beautiful blue eyes.
I had so much fun on my birthday! Having the whole family together was so wonderful - the best birthday present I could have asked for. It's a rare event to get this large family together in one place at one time. . . so to have this happen on my birthday was a real treat. Later that evening, we went out to a mexican restaurant for dinner.
Bella being a goofball!
Later that evening, we had cake and I opened up lots of presents. Everyone gave such nice gifts. I have such a great family!
Friday: We did tie-dying at Jeff & Steph's house. Their friend, Mel, has a
tie-dye business and she came over to do a party with us. It was so much fun! She brought over a bunch of samples to give us ideas of what we could do.
Bella trying to decide which design she likes best.
Lori at work creating her shirt.
Aaron's turn!
If you're curious how our shirts turned out, check out the
Mellow Tie Dye blog to see the slideshow preview!
Bella getting in some more feeding time with Sydney.
The grandparents with their two grandchildren! We also had a big family photo taken, but I don't have that photo yet as we didn't use my camera. I think this picture is funny as my parents are looking at one camera while the girls are looking at a different one.
Saturday: The family who drove to Texas from Wisconsin left after breakfast that morning. Later in the afternoon, the ladies went to a few boutiques while Jeff and Andy stayed behind with Bella and Sydney. Jeff made dinner that night and it was good! No pictures from this day. :(
Sunday: Travel back home. Both flights were right on time. We landed in Philadelphia around 12:30pm. I developed a cold on Saturday that made the flight pretty miserable for me. I couldn't relieve the pressure in my ears and ended up with a really bad earache that lasted the rest of the day. I slept like a rock last night and am feeling a little better today.
Bella's sleep schedule is a little messed up from traveling and waking up/going to sleep at different times. She slept in until 9:45am and this is how I found her late this afternoon. I can't believe she fell asleep while feeding her baby!
As vacations do, this week went by way too fast. I miss everyone already and can't wait to get together again!
Yes, nesting. The instinct in a mom-to-be that gets her organizing and preparing her house for the addition of another little one. I have been nesting a lot this week - almost obsessively. I need to remember that I still have three months and that everything doesn't have to get done tomorrow. Still, I'm feeling a very strong need to get rid of things we aren't using and to clear up cluttered areas. Due to this nesting, I haven't been too focused on much picture-taking this week. Bella, on the other hand, had her try at the camera. She took this photo of Daddy earlier in the week.
And this one of me while we were playing in her room one day. We also have many close-ups of her fingers. . . but she's getting the hang of it. 
I had another doctor appt. Friday morning. Here I am drinking my yummy (not quite) fruit punch for my glucose test. I don't know when I should hear the results, but I feel pretty confident that I don't have gestational diabetes; so I'm not too concerned. I start going in every two weeks now. Next appt. is October 6th. 
Our 6th anniversary is tomorrow!!! We have some friends lined up to watch Bella; so that means date night for me and Andy! This is quite a rare event for us, so it should be a nice treat!
This photo above pretty much sums up Bella's first reaction to school. She was pretty unsure of things and stayed pretty close to my side at first. As the morning progressed, she branched off a little. 
We played with the paracute during gym time. Bella had more fun with this than this photo lets on.
And slides. . . well, I'm pretty sure they are her favorite thing. 
Here she is decorating a place mat that she'll use for snack time each week.
I didn't manage to catch any photos of her smiling, but she did have fun and already can't wait to go back again on Tuesday. 
The weather has been absolutely beautiful this week, which meant that I could take Bella to the park without getting all hot and exhausted after ten minutes. Just as we were headed out the door, she frantically told me that she needed her pink hat and glasses. 
This kid has a style that is truly all her own. 
One afternoon, she brought her stroller into the kitchen, sat down, and covered herself with the blanket. If that wasn't a hint that she wanted to go for a walk, I don't know what is. 
Today was Sunday School kick-off at church. To celebrate, we had a lunch after the service this morning and rented a Moon Bounce for the kids to play in. Bella had a blast and stayed in until the people came to take it down. 
I put some of our fall decorations out today. Bella's job was to put up the window stickies. She decorated the laundry room very nicely.
For those of you who wanted to see my belly. . . here it is. I'm currently 26 weeks. My belly button popped out around 20 weeks - which is 8 weeks before it happened with Bella. I go to the doctor again on Friday for my one hour glucose test.
Bella wasn't feeling too good yesterday. She kept saying that she was hot (and our house was the coolest that it's been all summer). I took her temp. and it was 100 even. Later on she said that her tummy hurt. I put her in the tub and gave her some tums. Shortly before bedtime, she started to perk up and feel better.
Bella has more bikes than any kid I know. She has a Big Wheel, a tricycle, a motorized bike, a scooter, and a few other random bike variations. We have not purchased any of these for her - they are all hand-me-downs from people at church. Some days I will go outside to find another 'new' bike out there. Up until recently, riding bikes meant lots of work for us by pushing her around the parking lot. Over the past couple of weeks, Bella has finally figured out how to work the pedals! She is so proud of this accomplishment (and so are we)!
The big tree in our yard prematurely loses its leaves. It was time to clean up the yard a little and we knew that Bella would have fun playing in the leaves (she did).
In all her fun, she managed to get a few down her shirt.
Rainy days can be great when you have the right outfit to wear!
We took some friends to the zoo today. All week, the weather was comfortable (70s-80s). Today we were back in the 90s. Not the best zoo weather, but we still had a good time (especially in the air-conditioned exhibits). 
Bella and her friend Katelyn. They were so cute holding hands together. It's so funny for me to see Bella next to a younger child - makes me realize how big she has gotten!
Bella was in the picture-taking mood today! Gotta take advantage of those rare moments!
Daddy had to hold Bella up to see some of the animals. She loved it!
Shortly after visiting the penguins, Bella was asleep. That was pretty much the end of her zoo activities. 
We've had a sleepy girl on our hands. A few times this week, she has fallen asleep on the couch before bedtime. Her favorite evening snack has been Cheerios lately. Unfortunately, she was too tired to finish them on this particular evening.
