Isabella's baptism - November 29, 2009

Bella was baptized at the 11:00 am service yesterday at Whaley United Methodist Church, the same church where Jen and Tim got married. She has the distinction of being the first infant baptism in that church in 7 years (it is an older congregation). The church members are so excited to have little Bella in their midst! This is one of many pictures taken yesterday and was taken at the lunch that followed the service. Church members, family and friends enjoyed the spaghetti lunch that the 2 families prepared on Saturday and served on Sunday. Much thanks to 2 of Patti's (Tim's mom) church friends that made sure that the spaghetti was warmed and laid out in a lovely buffet which included salad, rolls and yummy desserts - ready for us all when the service ended. Stay tuned as many family and friends snapped pictures of the festivities. I am still waiting to see many of the pictures myself.

With the girls' blessing, I dismantled their bouquets from Jennifer and Tim's wedding to make 2 flower arrangements. These served as the altar flowers for Isabella's baptism.

Try as we might, we could not get another laugh out of her as a video.

Dinner was delayed due to a technical error on my part (a long story for another day). In the meantime, Bella snuggled with her grandpa in the kitchen. What you can't see is that she has one of her hands behind Ray's head holding on to the hair at the nape of his neck. Right after this picture was snapped, she burst into the cutest little giggle - the first time that we had heard her laugh! Needless to say, grandpa nearly melted into a puddle on the floor!

One big happy family!

The weekend before Thanksgiving, we were able to capture this sweet moment. While Jen nursed little Bella, Precious crawled up in right next to Jenny and rested her head against Isabella's butt and Jen's leg. That is a testament to how gentle our babies are with her baby. Jennifer has always allowed the dogs (hers and ours) to "investigate" the baby (calmly, of course), so that they have never been envious of the baby, but rather are comfortable around her.

November 21, 2009 - Isabella is 3 months old!

It is hard to believe, but Isabella is 3 months old already. It is so much fun to see the developmental strides that she makes week by week. She just smiles up a storm, she has found her hands, and talks and talks to you. She is also trying to sit up and loves to stand on your lap. How do you like the Scottie dress? It is amazing how many outfits either have a Scottie, Weinie dog or elephant on it! Bella has some of each, I think. Oh, and we found the ever elusive "I love Grandpa" shirt this weekend while out shopping at Kohls. (Actually, it is more difficult to find the Grandpa shirts than the Grandma shirts.) Ray and I have been babsitting on Saturdays while Jen works, so we having lots of quality time on the weekends with Bella.

Cute smile, but Grandpa cut off the top of her head and the 3 month sign. That's OK - we got lots of others!

November 17,2009 Little USC Cheerleader

Today, I found out through one of my collegues that Isabella came out to visit her daddy at the Carolina-Clemson Blood Drive yesterday dressed as a University of South Carolina cheerleader (grandpa and I, in a weak moment bought the outfit). Later yesterday, she visited Ang at work in the same outfit. In the second picture, she is emulating her Aunitie Angie, as a good little social worker! Thanks, Angie, for the cute pictures!

Baby Jenny ( 4 and 13 months). Especially the one from 4 months - look like anyone we know? Except for the nose, Bella looks just like Jen as a baby. (Isabella gets her nose from her daddy!) Too cute!

November 13, 2009

Twice now, Precious has jumped up into the cradle. Tonight was the first time that I was quick enough to snap a picture!

The girls are set to head to Wisconsin in December!

On 11/3, I made our reservations to fly to Wisconsin so that Isabella can meet her family there. The girls, Isabella and I will be flying out of Columbia on 12/12, heading for Green Bay and will fly back home on 12/15. We are so excited to see every one!

November 1, 2009 - Isabella sleeps in her cradle

The fair has come and gone, and the cradle now resides at our house. Sunday evening, while all of the kids were over for Sunday dinner, Isabella fell asleep. She took a short cat nap in the cradle. Here, Gracie and Lovey stand guard while she sleeps. The rest of us were snapping pictures with cameras and phones like paparazzi. You would have thought we'd never seen a baby sleeping before. So silly...