Princess Belle and Baby Belle

This Halloween marked the end of me being able to pick out a costume for Emilia without asking her opinion.  It was a good run of 3 Halloweens that I got to choose what cute little get up she would wear.  Her first Halloween, she was a kitty and a puppy; her second Halloween, she was the cutest elephant on the block; and last year, she was a beautiful little Dorothy. 

Well this year, I thought it would be fun to put to use her endless wardrobe of fancy things and dress her up as Fancy Nancy.  I gathered everything we would need to make her "fancy"...a tutu, a feather boa, glitter shoes, a tiara, jewels...  I got her to put it all on and no sooner was it on and she wanted it off.  When that was a bust, I thought we could dress her up as Cinderella, but that wasn't "special" for Halloween because she's had that dress since her birthday.  So, I had to dig deep...  What should she be? 

I for SURE wanted the girls costumes to compliment each other.  So, after a girl in my office offered to lend me her daughters former Halloween costume - a strawberry - for Olivia, I looked for a Strawberry Shortcake costume for Emilia.  But the more I thought of it, the more I worried that she wouldn't be excited about that costume either considering I don't even think she watches that cartoon.  So, I decided to look for the costume I KNEW would be a hit...  The beautiful Belle. 

Emilia wakes up in the morning begging to watch Beauty and the Beast.  She acts out Belle's dramatic faces throughout dinner.  She asks Jeff to play the beast turned prince and dance with her.  She sees women with dark hair and tells me she likes them because "she looks like Belle."  She LOVES Belle.  So, there it was.  The perfect Halloween costume.  I found a cute Belle costume online and picked up some new gold glitter shoes to complete the look.  She was going to look beautiful and most importantly, FEEL beautiful.  Mission accomplished!  And for Olivia...the Disney Store had a SUPER sweet little ruffly Belle dress for babies - I couldn't resist.  AND she also got to put the super cute strawberry costume to use for the party at daycare.  If her big sis got to wear 2 costumes on her first Halloween...so did she :)



The sweetest strawberry on the block.



Daycare

Despite how Emilia looks in the pics to follow, she was not feeling good at all.  At.  All.  Let's just say, her pumpkin pail held more than candy after a Halloween party on Friday night.  She was a trooper though.  Despite how yucky she felt all weekend, she still wanted to get dressed up, get her hair curled (her FAVORITE part) and go collect some candy!  Here are my beautiful Belles...all dolled up!

My two beautiful Belle's



All bundled up for Trick or Treating



Bundled up for a chilly Halloween.

 

Trick or Treat!



Enjoying a treat while handing out candy at home.

 

Grandma and Grandpa were part of the fun this year!

 

Me and my girls :)



Baby Belle

First Foods

Olivia got to taste her very first food today!  I have to admit, this time around, each milestone is bittersweet as it's just a reminder that my baby is growing up.  With that first bite of food, I said good-bye to my baby who was solely dependant on me for her nourishment.  I'm excited for her to experience new things and new tastes, but I'm also going to miss the simplicity of her just needing me. 

Olivia's first food was a rice cereal mixed with breastmlik to be very runny.  I was expecting her to just gobble it up like her big sister did, but she was not too excited about it.  Maybe she prefers the simple life too?  We'll see :)

Rolly Polly

9/1/10...so close to rolling over.

For the past month, Olivia has been SOOOO close to rolling over.  She would swing her leg over and get on her side, but her little arm would stay pinned under her, keeping her from completely flipping to her belly.  We kept thinking we were going to miss it if we left her with Grandma and Grandpa for a night or even went out to dinner.  But tonight, we were ALL in the living room to witness her first, complete ROLL :)  Now, she may have been doing this for weeks at daycare...but if that's the case, no one told me and I actually prefer to think I really did witness the first time she accomplished this milestone. 

Here's the video I took of her 3rd roll.  The first two, before the camera was on her, were almost effortless.  This one took a little more encouragement.  Next up...sitting on her own :)