Thursday, January 22, 2009

Christmas catch up

So I am way behind but I just wanted to thank everyone for a great Christmas. We had a fun time and we got lots of wonderful presents from our family and friends. I am so grateful for all the help and support I have been getting from you all too. We love you all so much. Here are just a few of the great presents from Christmas



Chair and cool block thing is from Aaron. She loves them! Hali loves to watch movies in her new chair everyday.



I got lots of cute baby clothes for Colby. This one was from Eva. He wore it to church last Sunday. He looks so cute in it.



The Tinker Bell Bed and dog are from Mom. I had been wanting a bed for Hali and my mom got the perfect one. Hali sleeps in it for nap time and bed time, when we put her in it. She loves the dog too. Hali pulls it around and asks the dog if he wants to eat or sleep. Today she said "okay, trouble...trouble," and took it to the play room and said "time out... love you... bye bye!" and walked out then shut the door. Wow I wonder where she got that from.



This is a 50's diner that the girls got from My grandmother Blondie. It has been a life saver for me because Hali is able to entertain herself with it for moments at a time during the day.
These are pants sara gave to Hali and again she loves them. When she sees them in her drawer she always says "Sara's!" and she will choose to wear them over any other pants.


Aaron's family was able to come by the day I delivered, see the baby and give us some Christmas presents. This is the apron and hat that Grandma Bell gave Hali. They are very cute, she uses them any time we make cookies.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Colby Aaron Bell




Colby was born December 27th at 1:15 pm. He weighed 9 lbs 2 0z and was 20.5 inches long.




I was going to be induced that morning at 5am but started having good contracting on my own around 3am. My doctor still gave me a little pitocin to hurry along the process around 7:30. They broke my water around 11:45 and suggested an interthecal, which I took but it did not work for me. My contractions were painful and I had a reaction to the morphine which caused my body to itch horribly. They practically took me off the pitocin because my contractions were strong enough on their own. Around 1:05 is when they said I should try and push and so two contractions later Colby was born. It all went really fast and was way different than Hali's birth because I was in labor for 12 hours, had an epidural, could not feel a thing and pushed for and hour until she was born.



He is an extremely strong little boy. The pediatrician said he was like a bull and got out of the straps twice while trying to perform the circumcision. He is a big boy but there is no chubbiness about him he is just solid, which I am very great full for because he is much easier to handle. I don't know how I could handle a floppy baby after my surgery.



He has been a good baby so far, during the day he eats fast and sleeps 3-4 hours between feedings. He has rough nights though but hopefully he will get through it.
He didn't start opening his eyes for long periods of time until New Years Eve. Hali loves her baby brother. She wants to hold, rock and sing him songs when ever she gets the chance. She is going to be a great big sister. I can't wait to see them play and talk with one another.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Merry Christmas




I had Dave take a few pictures before the baby came. He should come anytime now, so we just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope you all enjoy the holiday. We love you all!


I decided to try something different and get some pregnacy photos done. Dave did a great job! Thanks Dave.




Sunday, November 30, 2008

Hali's new words

None of my video's of Hali will up load, they were really good. = ( I will try to re-shoot some and put them in later.

Things she always says through out the day
"watch a movie guys!
"eek-a-boo, I see you!"
"Where'd your phone go?"
"Come on"
" 1, 2, 3, 5 , 9, 10"
"A, b, c, d, g, l, mn, p, t, u, y, Z" the letters she says when singing the Abc song to music or on her own.

Last week Hali wanted to "color" so we got out some coloring books and then she said,"I want to draw a picture!" I really could not believe she had said that but she said it again.

The other day I said "Hali, where are you?" and she yelled back, "Room!"
She tells people to go to the "room" or to get "out," or to "move," out of of the way. When Mike was here she told him to get out of his room and "hurry!"


When Mike was here he asked her if she wanted to go and play and she said "no, I want to eat." When I ask her what she wants to eat she either says "I don't know," or "Chip, dip, chicken, cheese, cereal or hot dog." When ever she gets into her highchair or car seat or stroller she always has to, "Buckle it" she says.
She always wants to go some where she says, "want to go, want to go!" over and over until we get her ready to go. I will tell her she needs to get dressed before going outside and she will go to her her drawer pull it open and say "Clothes! Shirt, socks, shoes, where's coat?" then tries to put her clothes on. Then when she is done she repeats, "ready to go?" until we go.When I ask her to go find her shoes she walks around the house saying, "shoes, where are you," and, "Find it!" for help me find it.
She says "um, um" a lot when she wants to say something but things are going to fast for her to think.
She hid her tooth brush the other morning and after lunch she wanted to brush her teeth so I asked her where it was and she said, "I don't know!" like usual but i asked her to think about it and she thought about it and said, "over there!" and pointed to where it was hidden. She also does not like to be dirty so when she is she says "messy, messy," and looks all disappointed and wants a napkin to "washy-wash." When she makes a mess or someone drops something she will yell "mess, mess!" too. Once I had cookie on my face so she cleaned my face for me and then said, "all better!"

The other day we were sitting on Papa's bed and I told Dad that Hali kept saying, "no monkey's butt." She then started saying it over and over and bouncing up and down. Dad figured it out and stated singing "no more monkey's jumping on the bed." She said "yea, no more monkey's jumpin' on the bed!" She goes around saing it all the time now just that part really well.

Hali is so good with papa. She loves to go see him all the time. If I can't find her I know she has barged open the door and is siting on papa's lap. Typically she runs down the hall "Papa, Papa where are you?" and if she can't get in she lays on the ground and wiggles her fingers under the door and keeps repeating "Papa, where are you?" or "I see you!" It is really cute, sometimes. All by herself she will pick out a book from her room walk down the hall to him, hand him the book, then climb all the way up his chair on to his lap. Dad does a great job at reading her books and she does very well at sitting on his lap. She does not climb all over him or try to reach for things I think she tries to be careful around him. She points to some things and asks "what's that?" or excitedly tells papa what it is. She also loves looking on his phone because it has pictures on it and she points out who everyone is. She especially likes the pictures of Lizzy. She just scoots on down when she is done. He sings songs to her and she dances and sings for him. She picks up things he has dropped and asks "garbage?" which it sometimes is and she throws it away for him. She likes to play on papa's scooter that is in his room. Hali will sit on the seat and honk the horn then point to the keys, that she can't reach and says, "keys, get it." He also has a rocking chair that she can climb on and she will rock and sing, "rock a baby, rock a baby," for the song "Rock a bye Baby." He can keep her more entertained than I can, she gets bored of me. They are really great for each other. The other day I got her a puzzle she she enjoys doing that with Papa as well.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

He has left = (



Mike left this morning at 4 am for the MTC. I did not like seeing him go but I know that he will be okay and be a great missionary. Last night Mike and I had a great time together preparing his last dinner. He made layered meatloaf and I made potato wedges, corn and spinach dip. Our cousin Jen came out from Virgina with her friend Jane on business. They were able to eat dinner with us and sit in on Mike being set apart as a missionary. It was a great experience for all of us. Aaron and Dad were able to be in the prayer circle, so the was neat too. The Stake President reminded us to write every week and tell him our experiences and the blessings that come from him being out on a mission and serving the Lord. I either forgot or never knew that I would be receiving blessings from my brother serving a mission, he is the one doing all the work, but I guess that is what the Lord has promised. So I will have a look out for those blessings in our lives so that I can share them with Mike.



Monday, November 17, 2008

Mission Call!

Sorry I made this post Monday and forgot to post it.

Well mike will be leaving soon to go on his mission to Macon Georgia. He gave a great talk in church on Sunday on the atonement, if you want to hear it it is on our family web site easysite.com/rankinfamily. After church we had a farewell get together with who ever wanted to show up from church and family. We had a good turn out and I enjoyed seeing people I had not seen for a while. It was great to have them all say good bye to Mike.
I think the one who will miss mike the most is Hali. Mike is so good with her and she loves him so much, it will be sad to see them part. Just weeks ago Hali had to part from Lizzy her best friend, and now Mike. It is so sad just thinking about it. She loves dong stuff with Mike. Hali will go wake him up some mornings, she runs down the hall pounds on his door and says, "Get up Mika!" he eventually gets up and brings her in the room and they just sit and chat, she takes his phone and they play. She likes watching movies and being thrown in the air by Mike too. He gets her to do the craziest things some times. It is so cute to hear her say, "I love you Mika!" She gives him hugs, kisses, high fives and the "Rock." She still teases with him and says "Mika...Dabie, dabie, dabie!" The other day Mike made her a play house out of a box big enough for her to walk in and she loves it. He made a little window to play peek a boo and put pillows in it for her to sit on. When she got in she sat down and patted the floor and said "sit, Mika," then "come Moma, sit." We all sat in there together and she squeezed her self between us and just smiled very satisfied with the out come, then she said,"out!" So I go out and she got out then she said "Mika, out!" He eventually got out, with a few more demands. It was so cute, we had a lot of fun.

I cut the pineapple Hawaiian style!

These are the appetizers I made, one fruit and one veggie.