Handmade Minnie Mouse Bow

I'm am so excited! My friend

Denise

, makes these incredible hair bows for little girls!!!

She made my little Bella one for her birthday party! Take a look...

Look at how clever this bow is. Its a two in one!

She does an amazing job at designing new styles and will even do custom work! The one here was a custom bow! Her prices are crazy reasonable!!

designsbydeniseb.com

Follow her on Facebook!

My little Minnie

This is my favorite time of year with all the holiday's back to back, starting with Halloween and finishing with New Year's.


I missed Halloween this year. I missed pumpkin farms, pumpkin carving, trick or treating and all the cute costume ideas. There was even a few projects I wanted to accomplish that never got started. I was really looking forward to it this year, but I am still in the hospital. No signs of labor. We (the baby and I ) are still on bed rest. I made it to 31 weeks! My water broke three weeks ago.

I just hope I am out of here by Thanksgiving.
Here is what I missed.....

Bella's First Hair Cut



Halloween

Isn't she cute!



Bella's aDORAble 2nd Birthday!

It's been very busy this past month and this is a little delayed. When I went to download the pictures, I realized I didn't have very many and the ones I did have came out blurry. Bummer, but the children had a wonderful time, and that was my goal.

The theme was Princess Dora!

I got her cake from Target. They were the only one's I could find that had Dora Princess.

I also made Dora the Explorer cupcakes! I found the 

idea and dora template

 at Nickjr.com. They are not as easy as the tutorial make it out to be.

I got the 

Dora Picture here

. 

The royal invitation I got 

here

! I used photoshop to resize and insert party information.

Bella awaiting the opening of her presents! I made her birthday dress!

E

ach child got to bring home their own 

Dora Backpack

 filled with a crayon roll up, princess wand, and a maraca. I printed some Dora 

coloring pages

 and rolled them up like the map!

For the party snacks a served a 

Taco Bread Casserole

 with all the toppings, as well as some queso and a taco dip. The theme was fiesta in honor of Dora!

She was so excited for all her gifts!

She enjoyed eating her cake and ice cream while playing tea party in the "Explorer Room". The Explorer Room was suppose to be an obstacle course set up for the little ones. We started with

 Puzzle Bridge

. I used her bridge slide and decorated it with cut out felt puzzle pieces. They really enjoyed that. Next was 

Butterfly Forest

. I used a inflatable ball pit and covered it with a green felt sheet. I attached butterflies to the sheet. Finally, there was the 

Castle

, which I used her doll house. The enjoyed the Puzzle Bridge the most!

It was so much fun!

Kidney Stones are like being in labor!

My daughters birthday was on Saturday! It was so great and everyone had such a good time and when I get around to it I will post all about it with pictures. On Saturday evening, around 7:30, I started getting these sharp burning pains in my right lower back. It was excruciating!! One of the worst pains I ever felt. We decided to let Bella stay with her Grandparents that evening because I wasn't feeling so well. The pains continued and I'm not sure why I did wait so long but finally at 10:45 we went to the hospital. I hate going to the ER. I always feel like its filled with people who were just to lazy to pick up the phone and make an appointment. The pain had slowly gotten worse through out this time. I could barely give the triage nurse my information without moaning and grinding my teeth! As they put an IV in me and I laid down on the bed the pain went away. I felt real silly because I hadn't even seen the doc yet.

"This is why I didn't want to come, I knew the pain would go away." I whispered to my husband. (Looking back at how much pain I was in and for how long, I no longer think it was silly.)

The doc came in and said they think its kidney stones and they were going to do a CT of my belly.

I went to give them a urine sample and sure enough there was the stone at the bottom of the cup. I had passed it. It was a huge sucker! The CT was clear of any more stones and I was able to go home. I was hoping that would be the end of it, right? NOPE!

Monday, I woke up feeling awful with aches and pains, chills and a fever of 102.7. I took some mortin and laid in bed all day. Yesterday, I got a call from the hospital saying I have an infection. Not good.

Today, the aches, pains and fever are still here! Ugh even after 24 hours of antibiotics. If this doesn't get better by tomorrow I am going back to the ER.

The worst part of all this is not the excruciating pain, although it was like being in labor or worse, I miss my Bella. She has been at her grandparents all week!

I really hope I feel better soon and this is not something more serious!

On the bright side, at least I made it through Bella's Second Birthday Party.

Just when you feel like you got this mommy thing down

I'm waiting for the ball to drop. Do you ever have those moments when you think "I'm a good Mom, I've got this down!"? Many of us have felt that proud moment when you don't feel like you are doing everything wrong for once. Just as you start to feel amazing something happens, an accident, a massive tantrum that can't be controlled, a mommy monster moment...

Well, lately I feel on top of it. My Bella and I have been getting along very nicely. Although, she doesn't always listen we seem to have a better understanding of one another. My patience really hasn't been tested in a couple of days. Usually she is doing everything in her power to destroy the house. Rarely does she listen at all, and finds joy in doing the exact opposite of what I ask, typical toddler.
.
I'm waiting for it. That moment that is going to break this great winning streak...

She has been such a sweatheart!

My little Rock Star!

I found these picture taken not that long ago. They make me laugh!

Party favors!

I started planning

Bella's second birthday party

early this year... real really, like

4

months. I had a lot of ideas and didn't want to be overwhelmed at the last minute.

In preparation for the party, I created these a

DORAble explorer backpacks

! They fit on my daughter perfectly! I created one for every child attending as a party favor goody bag.

I created the whole thing with felt. I used the 

Backpack and Map Template

 to create the facial details. I designed the shape and straps myself on a piece of paper.

I hope the kids get a kick out of them!

Scary craft poms..

My daughter is petrified of the little craft pom poms. She screams if they come near her. I have to admit I had a little fun with it the other night, probably not a great idea for a child who has a heart condition.
I've also found they are a magnificent way of keeping her out of places and things where she doesn't belong. Like turning the tv on and off, or banging on the computer keyboard and opening and closing the dvd player.

I wonder how long this will last, probably by the time I actually post this she will no longer be afraid.

Dora gets a time out

The other day while Bella was pretend having a conversation with her Dora doll, Bella began crying and she comes running up to me with her doll. I ask whats wrong and she throws the doll down and points to it out of disgust.
Me: "Is Dora not playing nice?"
She shakes her head up and down
Bella: "Blang ooy anov" she said in her own language.
Me: "What happens when someone doesn't play nice?"
Bella: "tipmo oooy" She picked Dora up and puts her in the time out spot (the stairs)


On another note...
This morning, Bella went to sit on her potty and fell off. I couldn't help but laugh... it was funny. She got so mad that I was laughing that she slammed the bathroom door in my face.

These are a few of HER favorite things....

These a few of Bella's Favorite things

Disney's Electrical Parade

Sprinkle Parks!

Popcicles

Pooh Bear

The slide at the park

Her baby "Tony"

(cabbage patch adoption papers named him baby Tony Ramon)