So we have made it through one amazing and eventful year with a baby girl and it has taught us so many things about each other and ourselves. It has been difficult at times but also very fun.
We have never laughed so much. All of it has just stepped up a notch. I always say I love this stage the best but it just gets better and better. Though I am finding that my energy level is dropping and my senses are heightened. Bella is a mess.
It all started when she started trying to take a few steps at a youth beach retreat we were on and from 10 1/2 months on she walked.
3 steps one day. 6 steps the next. 18 on the third day and BAM. It really felt that fast. Into everything! EVERYTHING! I thought I baby proofed but apparently not good enough and it will never be good enough.

Now our baby girl is one and had her first big girl party which was a bit overstimulating for her I don't think she knew why so many people were gathered around her staring at her and taking pictures laughing. I can't say I blame her.
But she loved her new toys and I got the problem of reorganizing and donating. Since then Bella has taken off and I swear she moves so fast I can barely catch her at 14 months. And she learns about a word a day. Maybe more if I could recognize it.


Here is the extension of her vocabulary up to date: mommy, mama, dada, num, kitty, poopie, peepee, Ba (bottle), Bible, puppy, potty, shoe, juice, baby, kissy, Bella (more like Beyya) cracker (my personal favorite) and many many more variations. Enjoy the pics!

The many old faces of Bella and new beginnings

We have finally moved to Cypress, Texas and our enjoying our first new home. Still we have yet to unpack everything as summer has already been exceptionally busy. But we love it. I am up waiting for my husband to get home from a week of camp. Bella tried to stay up as long as she could but couldn't in fact last any longer.

She is now 10 months can you believe it!


All kinds of things are happening all at once. She loves to stand and has already taken at most three steps.

Besides her advanced vocal performances with mamama, da daa, daddyyyy, baba. baaabbyy, na na, puh puh, she also is loving playing her many creative games. She loves to stand at her piano or stand anywhere in fact and start clapping at herself or someone. She also likes to shake her head "no"..

I say "no" while she is doing it so she will know what that cue means. I have also been slowly integrating some sign language so we will see how that goes :/. Otherwise she is into everything and crawls faster than you can catch her and then laughs at you when you do it. I guess we can call that chase.

She is quite the affectionate and clingy one and becoming more dependent on "mommy" and won't let me out of her sight. Otherwise she was fairly good with strangers. Better from her mommy or daddy's arms.


Bella wants everything on your plate and wants to have everything you do. Her other favorite games include "patty cake", singing "itsy bitsy spider" where she puts her hands up for you and likes to scoot off the couch into your arms properly.

She already knows hot to turn around and slide off of the couch backwards thanks to Josh. Are 10 month olds able to do that? She only has 3 toothies right now but we're working on much more. I think all of her top 4 teeth may becoming in at once which would explain the constant knawing of my knee and shoulder.

She still loves to be "little" at night and wants to have a bath, read a book, and rock in the rocking chair with mommy and be sung to sleep with a nice warm bottle and a paci nearby.

My favorite moments in which I know someday I will soon miss but I will keep it going as long as I can :).




In other news, Josh will be leading worship next week for the Foundry's Student Ministry camp in Freeport. Somehow we got hooked in a beach house so it will be a nice little getaway for the little Smith family to enjoy together and I get some
time off of work. This will lead into a soon once a week night of worship on sunday evenings in the fall with the Foundry youth ministry. For some reasons they want Josh and I to be a part of it and we are so excited and privileged. Josh also has a current project he is working on. A well-known mega church here in Houston has contracted Josh to compose a soundtrack to a big chunk of their VBS live performance which is REAL over the top and thats an understatement.


But Josh is really enjoying putting music to film and is in fact incredibly good at it. Unsure of himself at first, but while I was painting in another room I could hear him working through it and I could tell this guy knows what he is doing and the creative juices are pouring like a flood all over that screen. I am very proud of him but already the gentlemen loves what Josh is composing and thinks its right on! Very difficult work I cannot emphasis more.

So with this I know Josh is really looking forward to the coming months as am I as long as I can get this house together :/. We will post some pics of the house soon though soon may not really happen because of circumstances.

Here are some old and new favorite photos and also an old bath video I stumbled upon and a tickle time video which is one of my personal favs. Its Bella's first bath when she was a weeny weeny. We have so many videos to post on here its not even funny.


Bella will probably be 2 by the time I post all of the 1st year. I had to post a few via youtube so you can go see them anytime. Love you all! Thats our life right now and will keep you posted!




Look how tiny she was ahhhhh and she is so big and gorgeous now not that she wasn't already before geeez! I just love it! Please stop growing Bella please please!

The Smith household is holding up ok. Anabella is now 7 months old and now of this week has begun to crawl. She is into everything! We have already had many bumps and bruises and the saga goes on. Josh and I are going to have a baby free evening. This week our church is attending the Marriage Conference at the Woodlands United Methodist Church and we will be having dinner with other couples new and old and staying one night in a hotel by ourselves. Nearby in Conroe our little on will be slumbering at her grandparents house for the first time really. But it will be no problem for them she is in fact a good baby. Only thing I am worried about is her getting into all of their stuff. She takes breaks when she crawls and isn't very fast but still manages to go after remotes, wires, dvd, computers you name it. Though we will be on call, Josh and I will have some time to ourselves just the two of us. I have only been away from her one night on our anniversary it was tough but I think I will be ok this time.

Also more news. Josh and I were approved for a home loan and are in the home buying process. Turns our we have a realtor at our church and she will be meeting us this monday at the church to discuss our wants and plans. I really hope this process is simple and easy. I know wishful thinking. Hopefully we can go ahead and start moving in beginning of July or early. That way if we need to paint or fix up anything we can do it slowly and gradually before we have to move out of our rent house. It will be sad to leave seeing that we will probably never have this much space again but it is exhausting to clean. This will be our first home together that will be ours so its kinda surreal. At the moment we are looking around Cypress Fairbanks and North Katy all the way up to Tomball/Spring Willowbrook area. So its an extensive search but we are finding plenty of good finds. Perfect for home buyers. Market is a steal. So keep us in your prayers that we are wise and I know God already has us in mind with all of this. Even down to knowing a home inspector at our church who can help us out as well.

So that is what is going on with us. Here are a few more videos and pics. Bella just had a family gathering come stay with us for her dedication and bible presentation at Second Baptist church. It was a blast seeing everyone. Thank you all so much! We loved every minute of it.

I am on my day off and am trying to rest. I just put Bella down for a nap and Josh is running errands. Baby days certainly go fast just as life does. Just yesterday I was getting married. Wow. So I have decided to do my best to live in slow motion the best way I know how by taking in and breathing in every moment. The flesh in me wants to dwell on the past or be anxious about the future. Satan's biggest trick is to send lifeless nonsense into our thoughts. 

Just last night Josh and I were making dinner together while my father was in town staying with us. He was playing with Bella on the floor. There is a moment you might want to pay attention to. As we were bathing all the sweet potatoes I made for her off of her extremities I looked over at Josh and said, "you know your gonna miss this someday.." he responded, "i know."




So let life slow down and savor every bit of it. 

People often ask me, how did you get such perfect baby...what is your secret...what did you do? I just laugh because I remember how naive I felt about having a baby and raising a daughter. I read no books but I did get some good advice from mothers who I look up to. To sum it up they all told me that no matter what some people tell you about all the do's and don'ts and many rules your just gonna end up throwing them out and spend every moment with them even if it means you have to just let the laundry and dishes be messy. What really matters is spending time with the girl you love most. And I did just that. Sure I paid attention to her demands and schedule and just went from there. I kept her clean and relaxed. I calmed her when she cried and just held and kissed her.




Touch and close contact was and is key. I try to sing to her everyday and every night and talk up a storm even though she only here's blah blah blah blah Bella.  I love to tickle and make her giggle and walk her around everywhere I go to show her the world and whats in it. I love to hold her at night to put her to bed up in her room reading a book or singing her to sleep. She just holds on to me, shuts her eyes and smiles like she knows..."ok mom its bedtime i love you." I hope I get many years of these moments. And I even love to watch Josh play with Bella by kissing and tickling her. She just laughs and glows when she sees him walk in to steal her away from me. I can't believe I am looking at my own family. Sigh

Here are a few videos I will be posting of all of our shared moments both old and new.

It has been 6 months now. Can't hardly believe it. Josh and I are settled in to our very lovely slightly spacious rent house. We are loving it.

  Bella these days is rolling, creeping and sitting up like a big girl. Each week she has a new vocal thing she discovers and repeats. One week it w

as babble this babble that. The week after she just started spitting raspberries and bubbles out of her mouth to make us laugh. The following week it was humming and high pitched squeals. Nowadays its a mixture of all kinds of things. One thing I found out about her is that is very inquisitive and focused. She pays attention to every little thing.  In the midst of so many changes our little one has moved on from oatmeal and rice cereal which she hates ( I don't blame her) to exciting first foods. She loves sweet potatoes and bananas the best. What a mess! We sit her in her BeBePod and she goes to town. Then we keep her in it, strip her down and stick it in the tub so everything and everyone gets washed. So easy!

She just sits in the tub and plays with all her tub toys. 

We had the whole family on my side over this past week for spring break. It was fun. Lots of babysitters. I had to fight to even get to hold my daughter. It was so cute watching the little cousins play together. We went for walks in the park and even tried going to the zoo. It was way crowded so we rode the train instead. Fine by me! She loved it. Sadly Josh had to record that day so he wasn't there. He wanted to be there for her first zoo visit anyways. 

I am in the process of making some invitations for a certain little girl's upcoming baby dedication. I can't wait. What a special time. We are acutally having 2 dates. One is mainly for family who all work on sundays and are coming from out of town. Its at our other church we have alot of friends at Second Baptist. Since I was pregnant the whole time at that church its only fitting. So Dr. Ed Young will be presenting a bible to her and a "welcome to the world" baby.

They only do this special ceremony up to 6 months so we had to hurry. Second only does baby dedications on sunday mornings but we wanted to do it at our church anyways since they are raising her. Our pastor Ray Hughes who is one of many pastors at the Foundry United Methodist Church will be introducing her to the church family.  We decided to dedicate her instead of baptism. I am not opposed to baptism and I am sure I will have some questions asked to me but I believe wholeheartedly in baptism by immersion after one come's to Christ by their own decision.



If she asks me one day I can respond appropriately. Baby dedication is really for the parents, family and church family who are responsible for the discipleship and instruction given to her. It is our job to raise her in the truth of God's word. I came to Christ at an early age of 7. And my parents, sunday school teachers and family were my main witness to Christ.

They did a pretty good job and a whole lot of prayer. Grace and wisdom came over me and the Holy Spirit worked in me from birth. 

There were questions I had that blew my parents away. I pray this same blessing and wisdom on my Anabella seeing that her name means favor and beauty.

May God display his favor and beauty on her. He sustained her life at birth during complications and lots of intercession and even more so I pray that His spirit comes to sustain and redeem new life into her.  I will be there for every question and guide her all the way. I know other family members will lead by this same example. In this world these days we have to influence while they are young in the knowledge of this world.  They often know more than we do. 

We have some spring pictures and pics in bluebonnets for all the family to see. It was a blast for us. We had to go out a couple of times so that we could change and feed Bella. She just played in those flowers and it was a beautiful day. Enjoy!

hanging with my family and parents, resting, then off to take my love to the hairstylist to get more cute even though he already is!

Babies washed and in bed, cleaning up after supper, hanging out with my family, watching LOST!!! Then some sleep for work tomorrow hopefully.