One Year!

It's been one year since we welcomed our sweet little Angel to this world. The year has come and gone in a flash, and it absolutely amazes me to see how our baby girl is growing up. 

A few of my favorite moments from this year:

1. Holding her for the very first time- I've never felt so many emotions at one time; shock, awe, excitement, exhaustion, pure love and joy!

2. One of the first times I fed her during the night in the hospital- Whitcomb was asleep, the nurses had all left the room and it was just her and I; makes me sad to know she'll never be that small again.

3. Seeing her meet her extended family and friends- I'm so grateful for everyone who has been a part of her first year. We have got to travel to meet more family and while she may not remember, I do and it's so special to me.

4. Watching her smile and hearing her laugh- Her laugh has really evolved from a throaty chuckle to a sweet baby giggle; it gets me every time!

5. Watching Whitcomb and Bellamy nap on the couch- during the first few months Whitcomb needed just as much sleep as she did, made my heart melt watching him hold her while they slept.

6. All of the holidays- you can never go back and re-do a "first holiday" I'm so glad we enjoyed all of them and made each one special.

7. Watching Bellamy grow-literally, there would be days I would go in room her the morning and see a visible change in how she looked. It happens so fast.

8. Seeing the excitement in her face to see her Daddy coming home from work or hearing his voice on the phone. Nothing like the morning "hello" from Daddy while he's at work.

9. All of the firsts; bath time, eating, rolling over, scooting, crawling, words. To see the look on her face when she has realized she has accomplished something new is amazing!

10. Morning dance parties in her room- Bellamy loves to dance (as do I) so each morning while we are getting her ready for the day we listen to her music and dance around.

11. Traveling with her and watching her see new people, places and things for the first time-this will never get old to me.

12. Each and every time she grabs my face with both hands to give me a big kiss, or wrap her arms around me to give me a big hug.

I'm so very proud to be Bellamy's Mom and hope that her future is filled with as much love and happiness as her life has today!

~Courtney

I hate Juniper bushes

The start of summer kicked off Whitcomb's 'get the yard done' season. Having worked for Davey Tree for so many years, he definitely knows what he is doing.

This is a picture of our yard 2 years ago when we moved in.

YIKES! We could barely get out of our cars with the monster junipers on each side. What in the world made junipers such a huge trend? They are AWFUL! The nice tree in the front died the next year- well half of it. A half of a live tree doesn't quite look right, so away it went.



I'd like to say I helped with the beautification of our yard-who am I kidding, I hate yard work. I'm so thankful my husband is not only good at it, but actually enjoys it. A win all around, if you ask me. Bellamy and I will play outside, and sometimes Bellamy will even nap outside (in her hammock chair) while her Daddy is hard at work.


This has been the progression of our yard:

This is what our yard looks like today:

I'm so proud of my husbands hard work! What a huge improvement!

Courtney

The Start of Spring

Spring started off gorgeous in Colorado, then a few days later it snowed. Not surprising at all. I for one am just happy that warmer days are the majority and the days are getting longer!

We celebrated Easter at my Mom's house with all of my siblings, Bellamy's cousins, and sisters fiancee's families. Quite a large group! I spent half the afternoon trying to capture the best picture of Bellamy in her first Easter dress, I at least got a few. The cousins all enjoyed the Easter Egg Hunt, Bellamy found her first egg...and inside was her first toy car!

Just a few weeks after Easter I celebrated my 29th birthday! Whitcomb truly spoiled me this year; we celebrated for a night out to dinner at Vesta Dipping grill, then spent the weekend in Steamboat Springs with my sister, Cayla and her fiancee Todd.


Steamboat was projected to get 18" of snow while we were there, we maybe saw 3" total for the whole weekend, but nothing that even accumulated on the ground. We had a nice relaxing weekend and spent most of it swimming. It was Bellamy's first time in an actual swimming pool and she did AWESOME!!! After doing so awesome in the pool, the next day we went to Strawberry Springs hot Springs. We all had such a good time!

We were getting back into routine and had many things on the calendar, one of which included a BBQ at Wash park in Denver. The evening before the bbq, Whitcomb and I had gotten into a fight because I was mad that he kept inviting so many people to a bbq we were invited to. Well....little did I know that the bbq was a surprise party for me!! Whitcomb coordinated a whole surprise party for me with the help of our friends, I was shocked and confused...But it was a great afternoon! I don't know if I was more surprised by the party, or the fact that Whitcomb was able to keep the secret from me for soooo long.

29 is off to a great start for me! I'm so thankful for my wonderful husband and daughter each and every day!

-Courtney

The first 6 months

6 months old!

I can't believe our little angel face is 6 months old today! She has changed so much from the day she was born, and so have Whitcomb and I.

I'll never forget our first night home after leaving the hospital. Everything was going fine until we tried laying her down for bed; she wouldn't stop crying. I've never felt as helpless or clueless as I did in that moment. I sat there rocking her in her chair with tears rolling down my face. We had tried everything a newborn needs, nothing seemed to work. I looked up at Whitcomb and he simply said, 'We can do this.'

He was right, I knew he was right. At that moment we were no longer just husband and wife, but also parents to our sweet little Bellamy.

Now to say we have it all figured out would be lying. But we have gotten past the fights caused by lack of sleep and tears cried over spilt milk- seriously...breast milk is like gold. We have looked at each other in amazement over the things she has done and felt the pain in her cries when she is hurting. We have gotten through major growth spurts with Bellamy and adapted her schedule accordingly. She is an amazing sleeper and for that we will be forever grateful.

Bellamy has changed from a newborn to an infant in an instant and is truly one of the happiest babies around. When she cries I no longer feel helpless, I know we can help her to the best of our ability. And if we can't, she'll teach us how. She is going to continue to grow and learn and while she's doing that she'll be teaching us how to be parents.

While I know it's only been 6 months, it's been a big 6 months for her and for Whitcomb and I. I know we are in for a lifetime of joy, learning, and struggle, but as her parents I know we can do this!

-Courtney

  

North Carolina

I really wish I would have taken a picture of ALL of the stuff we packed for our first weekend away with Bellamy to Estes Park. It was obscene. Since we were flying to North Carolina I knew that we would have to streamline our packing, and that I did. We made it with 3 checked items; 1 suitcase (clothes for the entire family) Bellamy's pack & play, and her car seat. We only had 2 carryon items; a small suitcase and my purse. I am still amazed. We brought more luggage for our trip out there over the summer; and there were only 2 of us!

Since it was our first time ever flying with our baby girl we were a little worried. Whitcomb told Bellamy she 'better behave or there will be no more vacations.' Well, little miss B must love to travel- she understood what her Daddy said and did AMAZING! She fussed for maybe a total of a minute the entire flight out to North Carolina. She slept most of the way then played and looked around the rest. We were so happy we celebrated with an in flight cocktail!

Our flight landed at about 10pm EST and we had to get our rental car, and drive about 45 minutes to Whitcomb's Grandparents house. We made it to their neighborhood just fine, then spent about 15 minutes driving around in a circle looking at the same houses over and over again saying- I know this is the neighborhood, but these don't look like the right houses. Whit called his Grandfather, DeDe and he came to the rescue. We had a quick visit then were off to bed.


The next day MeMe cooked a delicious breakfast while Whitcomb & DeDe took Prince Albert (their dog) for a walk. Bellamy had just begun eating rice cereal right before our trip, so I was still making it like soup. She was doing ok, but eating it more like a cat. MeMe suggested thickening up the cereal and fed Bellamy, she did sooo much better with a thicker cereal. It was a very 'duh' moment for myself. MeMe and DeDe very generously put us up in a model home in their neighborhood. After breakfast we left to go get settled in. Bellamy stayed with her Great Grandparents, and was a little fussy when we left. We returned to their home and Bellamy was having the time of her life playing with MeMe.

Later that morning Bradford & Beth arrived, it was a surprise to see Bradford. He originally had other plans for the weekend, that unfortunately (but lucky for us) fell threw. We had a great afternoon talking and visiting with MeMe & DeDe's friends Patsy & Park. Then had a nice family dinner and relaxed the rest of the evening. After dinner, MeMe was telling Bellamy all about her future wedding; how she was going to meet a very nice man, and wear a beautiful white dress. Bellamy ate it up, she was laughing and loving every second of it.

DeDe & Bellamy

Bellamy laughing with MeMe

MeMe reading to Bellamy

Bellamy loves reading!

Saturday morning all of the girls went off shopping and the boys went to visit a log cabin ( I think?). MeMe took us all to a baby boutique for Bellamy. My oh my, they had the cutest clothes. We left with a few adorable outfits for Bellamy, I cannot wait to see her in them! After lunch we went to visit Bellamy's other set of Great Grandparent, Mama & Papa Wade. We drove to Greensboro and spent time catching up and watching some college basketball.

Mama & Papa with us

Bradford, Beth, Mama, Papa and Us

We then set off to meet up with one of Whitcomb's closest friends and his girlfriend to have some afternoon drinks. Aaron suggested we pick up some cheesecake at one of 'the best' cheesecake places in town. We did, and all enjoyed it for dessert after some Southern bbq for dinner. At dinner Bradford & Whitcomb were sharing stories of their childhood. I just don't know how Cindy dealt with 4 boys, especially the 2 oldest. My hat is off to her!

Beth & I

Bellamy's Godparents

Aaron & Monica

On Sunday, Mary Mack, Whitcomb's cousin came over to meet Bellamy. Mary Mack and Bellamy share the same birthday, and everyone in the room reminded Mary Mack that about 100 times. I'm sure I said it myself about 5 times. She will never forget they are birthday twins! We had a great time hanging out and catching up with her. We took a few pictures, then Mary Mack, Bradford & Beth had to leave. =( Whit and Aaron hung out for the afternoon and I did a little bit more shopping. MeMe, DeDe, Whitcomb, Bellamy and I all watched the Superbowl together and enjoyed the last night of our trip.

Birthday Twins-Mary Mack & Bellamy

Bradford & Bellamy

Beth, Bradford & Bellamy

We had such a wonderful trip and are so thankful that we were able to go out there and see Bellamy meet both sets of her Great Grandparents. Such wonderful memories! We hope to make it out there again in the fall!

Aaron & Bellamy

DeDe giving Bellamy kisses

MeMe, Bellamy & I

DeDe, Bellamy, & I

DeDe, Whitcomb, & Bellamy

DeDe & Whitcomb

Courtney