Our dancing Bella-rina

Check out Bella's dance moves:



I love how she stops dancing when the dog starts barking, just so she can start barking too! I think she misses Coby a lot. Every time we ask her about Coby, she starts barking :( Hopefully, we'll get to see him and Brian on the webcam this week once Brian gets back from his trip in Africa.

Finally made it to VA!

Greetings from Virginia! Bella and i finally made it here last Thursday evening after an almost 20 hour flight! Yup, you read correctly - almost 20 hours! The flight from Rome to Dulles was delayed for an additional 4 hours (on top of our 3 hour layover there), which means that we were at the Rome airport for over 7 hours! Needless to say, it was a very long flight, but i could not be more proud of our little princess. She did so good on the flight. Thank goodness i brought plenty of toys and snacks to keep her entertained :)

So as most of you who are parents already know, babies around Bella's age go through some sort of stranger anxiety. It seems that Bella has a MAJOR case of stranger anxiety, so if anybody even just looks at her, she starts screaming her head off. This was so bad when we got to my parents house that she even made my dad cry because she didn't want him around her at all. My poor dad, all he wanted to do was to hold her and hug her and here's Bella crying and screaming. I felt so bad but she finally warmed up to him and now they're like best buddies. She loves to be chased around by him! She also enjoys being outside, which hasn't been good, since it has been over 100 since we got here! Basically, as my husband likes to put it, it's been Africa hot :) Today it wasn't too bad, so i went over to my sister-in-law Michelle's house and we took Bella and our godson Justin to the playground for a little bit. Maybe later on this week, we'll take them to the pool.

Anyway, we just wanted to let everyone know that we made it safely to VA and we'll be hanging out here all summer. These are a few pictures from our trip so far (i love the suitcase one and the one of her kissing her stuffed doggie) I think she really misses Coby, as do I, and of course we are both also missing Brian (daddy) like crazy, but hopefully we'll see him next month!

Brotherly/Sisterly love

As most of you know, Bella was not our first baby. We "had" Coby almost 3 years ago and he's been a great dog from the day we got him. When we found out we were pregnant with Bella, i was a little nervous about how he would react to her. We have been so lucky- he has been great with her! She absolutely adores Coby and it's so cute to see them together. She loves to give him besos and hugs :) Sometimes, he even licks her and she'll start laughing hysterically. There are times when she does get a little rough with him and pulls his ears or his tail, but he doesn't mind that at all. I have to say, and i'm being a little biased on this, he is the greatest dog in the world! There will never be another dog like Coby! Here are a few pictures to show their brotherly/sisterly love:

In other news, Brian found out last Thursday that he had to go on his trip to Africa a week earlier than planned. Needless to say, this put a damper on our plans of spending one last week together as a family before Bella and I head back to the States for the summer. It was such short notice, that we were both pretty irritated and upset! That's the Navy for you- they always know how to ruin your plans. So, Bella, Coby and I have been hanging out by ourselves since Sunday, waiting for Thursday to get here so we can get back home to see all of our friends and family, who we miss so much! Of course we're going to miss Coby and Brian even more and we'll be counting down the days until he can join us in July :) I can't tell you how nervous i am to be flying with Bella all by myself. I realize people do it all the time but i don't want to be that mom that everyone just stares at when her baby is crying or throwing a tantrum. I will make sure to have plenty of toys and snacks to keep her entertained :) In the meantime, please say a prayer for us and keep your fingers crossed for a somewhat smooth flight back to Virginia!