The Bell Family

Time flies when you’re having fun!!! We were all lucky enough to enjoy a couple of weeks off at Christmas this year, which gave us plenty of time for parties, bike riding, swimming, playing at the park, playing with Roxy, playing the Wii (especially bowling and tennis), as well as a bit of camping and just generally taking it easy! It was great! Here are some piccies for you to enjoy…

Hope you all had a good one too!

Cheers,
Chrissy, Jason, Laura and Katie

Early Christmas Morning

Laura painted up like a Princess at the daycare Christmas party

Katie the Butterfly at the daycare Christmas party

Katie on Christmas morning

Laura on Christmas morning

Sisters...

Family photo - from our New Year's Eve party

Explorers...

Chrissy and Katie at the beach

Girls at the rockpool

Laura on the ropes!

Ropes time for Katie!

Katie and Ma at camping

Laura and Chrissy going for a ride...

Great fishing... if you can catch anything!

Katie Koala

Laura loves hats!

Can anyone see the girls?

Laura on the swivel karts

Rocky 'Rocket'!

Doctor Laura

Oops, sorry everyone… how time flies! Sorry it’s been a while since our last post… life has been pretty hectic and ‘blogging’ kind of slipped our minds for a while there.

Jason has had a few visits to hospital since we last wrote and he finally managed to get his tonsils out – hooray… it’s made a huge difference. Katie too has had a visit, but for asthma/pneumonia related issues. Both are doing really well now though.

Jason’s had a few work trips, Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne predominantly and I’ve also had a few trips to the Bay with work. In between all that, we even managed to go somewhere together and attended a beautiful wedding in Brisbane for our friends Drew and Lucy… thanks guys, it was great!

Jobs around the house are going slowly – we’ve started on the backyard again (gardens, lawn and retaining wall), however I think summer is going to beat us to the finish line. The weather’s soooo hot already, plus it’s way more fun to head down to the beach with the kids on a fine weekend like this one (hehehehehe)!

Laura has just turned four – got lots of fabulous presents and had an awesome time! She even has her ears pierced now (after about 6 months trying to convince Mummy she was ready for it and I must admit, she was very brave and loves them now, so no regrets)!!!

Katie will be two in the New Year and is quite the little talker now – loves joining in with the conversation, copying her big sister and just being a crazy little larrikin!

Anyway, onto the good stuff… here are a couple of the latest pics.

Hope you are all doing well and we’ll try and catch up again soon!

Cheers,
Chrissy, Jason, Laura and Katelyn

The girls and I decided to do a little project together on the weekend…. we made a new flower garden and strawberry patch! It was good fun and the girls were just too cute decked out in their gardening gear. They are especially happy that the ‘fairies’ have now come to live in the garden! I’ll try anything to get them to take some responsibility for looking after it, and it seems to be working (so far, hehehehehe)!!!

This is just the start of the gardening…. the courtyard was the easy bit, still yet to tackle the big backyard!!!

… Laura in the new flower garden

… Katie helping out

… Laura planting strawberry plants

Hope you like the piccies,
Chrissy

More theme corner stuff…. this time, Laura played Doctor whilst Katie was her Nurse Assistant. Mummy of course became the unwitting patient on her return from Singapore and didn’t have enough energy to escape before this photo was able to be taken!!! Nurse Katie clearly had more energy, she got out of view, just in time!!!

… Doctor Laura works on Patient Mummy

Cheers,
Chrissy

Mother’s Day can be such a special treat… who needs all that fancy stuff? What counts most is the simple essence of what the day should be about – for us, that’s Mummy, Daddy and little Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, just hanging out having fun together!!! A family breakfast, some time at home, a little drive and some icecream for afternoon tea and of course lots of kisses, cuddles and giggles!

The girls had both done some handywork of their own at daycare for me – Katie a little album of her artwork and some gorgeous photo’s and Laura a lovely piccie in a handpainted paddle-pop frame with its own magnet to stick it to the fridge – both treasured little masterpieces!

Here’s a pic of us girls enjoying the day (with Daddy behind the camera of course trying desperately to get us all to look in the same direction at the same time)!

Hope yours was a special day too!

Cheers,
Chrissy

Hi Everyone!

Just a few facts and funnies for you all…
• Laura – After an allergy to some sunscreen… “I’ve got a nose like Rudolph the red nose reindeer”!!!

• Laura on Caterpillars – “It’s hairy, it’s got lots of legs and it crawls like Katie” (hehehe)!

• Laura on Christmas Night – Laura: “Let’s see some more lights”! Dad: “Look Laura, there’s some”. Laura: “Sorry… I must have missed it, but that’s
ok, we can drive to see some more”!!!

• Girls at Brekkie – Laura sharing Cheerio cereal on the tray of Katie’s highchair, as a favourite daily past-time.

• Laura – “Oh man!” “You’re kidding!”

• Laura’s Favourites – Animals, fairies, princesses, pirates, hanging out with Nanna, cooking, food, movies and computer games (oh oh, hehehehe)!

• Katie’s Favourites – Playing outside and playing with bags, shoes, hats and Ma and Pa.

• Katie’s Playtime Antics – When Katie decides that she wants to play outside, she finds the hat bag and selects hats for everyone to wear. She then takes it to them and urges them to put it on and go outside to play!

• Katie’s Vocab – Mum, Dad, Ma, Pa, Nah-Nah, Laura, bath, backpack, hat plus lots of sounds like ‘ooo-oo-ooo’ and ‘trilling’!

• Katie’s Walking – She started at about 11 months and is now almost running (got to keep up with that sister of hers somehow)!

We hope you’ve shared a giggle with us… have a good one!

Cheers,
Jason, Chrissy and the Girls

We can’t believe it… Katie has just turned 1! Our baby is growing up sooo quickly! On the big day, we had a nice little celebration at home with family, Katie opened lots of presents (with Laura’s help of course) and we all ate lots of cake!

Here are some piccies of the Bell 4 and the birthday girl!

Cheers,
Chrissy and Jason

For the past few weeks, there have been some strange going’s on in the Bell Household after the lights go out…

Chief Inspector Mum was woken by giggling at around 3am. Further inspection revealed that:
• The loungeroom and kitchen lights were on;
• Both potential suspects were awake (however one was still restricted to her cot, the other was at large);
• Picnic table (aka blanket box/coffee table) was found neatly draped with a table cloth (blanket);
• Food items had been mustered from the kitchen cupboards;
• Plates and cutlery had come from the playset; and
• Guests (also known as teddies and dollies) had assembled at the late night invitation-only function.

Examine evidence at Exhibit A and B.

…Exhibit A

…Exhibit B

Upon full investigation of the crime scene, the repeat offender was handed an on-the spot fine (cleanup duty) and was sentenced to go back to bed.

Appeals were heard by Judge Dad the following morning and are still ongoing.

Cheeky but too cute, hehehehehehe,
Chief Inspector Mum

The Girls have been soooo much fun lately! They’re both such happy little people and just love playing.

Some of Laura’s latest funnies are…
* when Jason told her she was a real ‘character’, Laura responded “I’m not a character, I’m a person!”
* ‘o-oh, spaghetti-o!’
* ‘oopsy daisy’
* whilst in the car, Laura saw a cattle train and commented “Where are those cows going? What happens if they have to go to the toilet?” hmmm, I haven’t taken the creative responses to ‘nearly 3-year-old’s’ course yet….
* whilst playing late one evening, Laura needed to go to the toilet, so she jumped up and bolted into the bathroom, as she got to the closed door, we hear ding, ‘owwww’ as she bumps straight into the door in the dark and then fumbles with the doorknob
* when watching planes go over, Laura often asks “is that Annie or Daddy’s plane”? I think some people travel too much!
* when told that Ma and Pa are going away, Laura asked “Are they going on another big boat?!?! Can we go too?” – lucky cruise-ship fanatics!
* when trying to avoid sleep-time, “can we read another book” and “can we read it again”
* when talking to Annie on the phone late one night, Laura says “is that Annie, can I talk to her – hi Annie, how you going, yeah, good”… and as if once wasn’t enough “I want to talk to Annie again… hi Annie, how’s it going?’
* whilst looking at her new room, Laura asked “am I going to have lights… and what about a fan…. and do I get carpet too?”

Katelyn is really mobile now and just loves crawling after her big sister. She’s into absolutely everything now, but especially loves tipping over the box of blocks and hearing them all spill onto the floor! She has 6 teeth now and there’s a few more on the way.

Laura and Katelyn appear to play together really well at this stage, occasionally there’s a little tiff when Laura decides she wants whatever Katelyn has just picked up, but generally they have fun occupying themselves. They love dressing up and when preparing dinner, I often hear giggles coming from the loungeroom… when I walk in, they’re generally both up to mischief with toys all over the place and a couple of hats and scarves on!

Here are some pictures of our gorgeous little darlings…

… sisters

… cuddle time

… dress-ups, hehehehe, no Mummy, we’re not up to mischief!

… swing-time

…Laura at the park

… Daddy’s Little Princess

… brrm, brrm, look ‘no hands’!

Have a great day,
Chrissy and Jason

Well, it’s time for another blog about our precious little girls.

Katelyn has just turned 6 months. Her latest stats are:

Length: 67.5cm (longer than your average bear)

Weight: 6.95kg (lighter than your average bear)

Latest milestones: 2 bottom teeth (which she got at just 4 months of age) and about 6 more teeth which are on the way! Sits up supported. Rolls around to get what she wants. Trying solid food.

…Katelyn (Katie Koala) at 6 Months

Katelyn has just started baby rice cereal and her first vegetables. She doesn’t seem to mind it too much, kicking her legs and beaming with excitement when the little bowl comes her way and then opening her mouth wide for the spoon. She’s beginning to sleep a little better at night too (well sometimes), so that’s a bonus too!

Laura hasn’t taken long to get in on the action… Whilst Jason was away on a work trip last week, I was busy preparing dinner when my ‘little helper’ sprung into action. Katelyn was hungry and having a little whinge, so I put her into the high chair and prepared her little bowl of cereal. I then went back into the kitchen to finish preparing Laura and my meals. Everything had suddenly gone quiet though, so I turned around to check on the girls… Laura had picked up the cereal bowl and spoon and had started feeding Katelyn!!! There was a snowy white smear of food all over Katelyn’s face and both girls were starting to get the giggles… Laura doted on her sister, encouraging her with mimicked phrases like “there you go Katelyn, is that good?”… “mmm, good girl”. I guess Laura has been listening… pity she doesn’t like listening when she’s being spoken to though!!!

We’ve nicknamed Laura ‘Laura the Explorer’ because she loves to get around ‘looking for animals’ whilst on pretend safari at home, going on ‘bear hunts’ and exploring in the garden. She also loves to visit the zoo so she can ‘run with the ducks’ and see the turtles… “not just their heads Mum, I want to see their eyes and their bodies too”, asking “can we make them come out of the water”!!!

…Laura the Explorer

We’ve nicknamed Katelyn ‘Katie Koala’ because with this unusually cold winter, she can often be found hanging on and cuddling in to me just like a little koala! We’ve been encouraging Katelyn to get mobile by placing toys around her at about 1 metre distance. She lines up and rolls until she gets them. Laura found this difficult to begin with, constantly wanting to help Katelyn and saying “but Katelyn wants it”. One evening I went into the lounge room to find Laura rolling Katelyn along the floor to reach her toys which she had positioned about 5 metres away, “look Mum I’m helping Katelyn roll”!!!

I’m going back to work in a few weeks time (just part-time to begin with), which means Katelyn will be starting daycare soon… I’ve got mixed emotions on that one of course… I love my job, but I also love being at home with my girls!!! I know they’ll both cope really well though and just a few days a week should mean the best of both worlds for us all I hope.

Until next time,
Chrissy, Jason, Laura and Katelyn

Hi Everyone!

It’s about time we give you an update on our precious little girls!

Katelyn has turned 4 months! We’ve just visited the Dr for the latest round of immunisations, a quick checkup and a weigh and measure. She now weighs 6.33kg and is 66cm long (a little longer and a little heavier than Laura for those who like to compare). I’ve nicknamed her ‘smiley’, as she always seems to be beeming with a broad, cheeky little grin. Laura is a constant source of amusement to her and she’s always giggling at her big sister who she is just crazy about.

Laura adores her too and the two of them are just so cute together – always smiling, giggling and giving eachother lots of little kisses and cuddles. Laura is remarkably concerned for her little sister’s welfare – often interpreting her cries for me, giving her cuddle and saying “it’s okay Katelyn, I’ve got you” and often running into her room if she hears a noise saying “I’ll check on her”!

They love playing together and their favourite things are reading stories together and dancing to Laura’s ‘special’ music (an assortment of nursery rhymes and kids songs), but really any music will do. Even when we’re listening to the radio in the car, Laura will often sprout ‘I like this song, can you make it louder please?’

Katelyn has just cut her first tooth (very young and even earlier than Laura)! She figured it would be a special Mother’s Day present for me I think! Laura’s pretty impressed about it, because she was always asking why Katelyn didn’t have teeth like her! So now they’re just the same and Katelyn can go to the Dentist too!

We visited a friends ‘farm’ the other day and Laura had a great time playing with the dogs and the chickens and feeding the baby goats. She was very impressed by the whole setup!

Laura’s favourite sayings at the moment are “Mummy, I gotta tell you a secret” and “I’ve gotta ask you a question”. She can have a full chat with you now when she’s in the mood and loves providing a running commentary on everything she’s been doing. We’re noticing a real difference with her vocab and comprehension now, she just seems to be taking so much in, asking questions and putting things together for herself which is great. She’s very observant and will often stop us to clarify things. The other day, she was telling me “When the sun goes down… it’s night time, time for sleeping. When the sun comes up… it’s day time, time for playing!” She then followed this up with “It’s not night time now!” Do you think she wanted more play time???

Anyway, talking about playtime, I’m a woman in demand and there are two needy little girls here waiting for my attention! Hope you all have a great day and we’ll blog again soon!

Cheers,

Chrissy, Jason, Laura and Katelyn

Apologies that we haven’t written many blogs lately (well not as many as we had with Laura) – I don’t think that it’s ‘second child syndrome’, moreover that there’s simply not enough time in the day now there’s two kids to keep us busy!!!

We can’t believe how quickly our little girls are growing up!!! Laura is now 2 ½ and Katelyn is already 6 weeks old! At her 6 week checkup, Katelyn’s latest stats were…

Weight – 4.6kg and Length – 57.5cm

… Katelyn at 6 weeks

Laura and Katelyn have their similarities but they are also their own little people, but for those interested in comparing, Katelyn’s a little lighter and a little longer than Laura was at this age!

… girls visit the zoo

Katelyn has started smiling and is working on some cheeky little grins.

..cheeky Katelyn poses for some piccies

She’s also started vocalising a little and will mimic our oohs and ahhs now which is really cute. I wasn’t sure whether the little things would be quite as exciting the second time around, but I can assure you they still are and every little smile and ‘coo’is just as special!

Katelyn’s really enjoying her baths and tummy time and enjoys sitting in on story time with her big sister as well as getting out in the pram for some fresh air and a visit to the park.

… bath time for Katelyn

She’s just starting to make more deliberate movements now, swiping at the dangling toys on her mobile to see what happens or pushing at her dummy to flick it out! Her sleep patterns are becoming a little more regular now too… she is wide awake in the evening (often until 11 or 12) but then sleeps well between about midnight and 5 or 6am (which is just heaven for Mummy). She then naps for around 2 hours between feeds during the day. She is feeding well and as you can see from the stats, growing steadily.

… Chrissy and Katelyn

Laura’s learning how to hold Katelyn now she’s getting a little bigger (with Mummy and Daddy’s help and permission of course) and loves giving Katelyn cuddles and kisses!

Some of Laura’s favourite sayings at the moment are “I lubbb it” (usually directed at some sort of animal) and “I don’t liiike it” (usually some sort of new food which she then proceeds to demolish once she’s given it a few prods)! Laura can be a bit of a tom-boy at times, but she’s now got a fetish for all things pink and generally demands a ‘pretty dress or pretty skirt’ to wear for the day. She’s developing a good imagination and often grabs a blanket or a towel, lays it carefully on the floor then jumps on shouting “I’m going to the beach on my flying carpet”… and when she’s finished at the beach, it’s generally an imaginary trip to the zoo or the farm to “see the animals”. Her other favourites at the moment are making lines out of anything (from toys and books, to a congo line of teddy bears) and on one occasion collected upto 100 different things for her line (whilst she was meant to be having a nap). When I went to investigate a few noises, Laura simply looked up and said “Look Mummy, I made a train ride. Want to come on my train?”

… Laura and Mumbles (from Happy Feet, Laura’s favourite movie)

… garden girl hangs out amongst the flowers

Anyway, never a dull moment around here… kids sure are great! We wouldn’t swap them for the world!!! Hope you all have a great day and until next we ‘blog’, best wishes and take care.

Cheers,

Jason, Chrissy, Laura and Katelyn

Well, we can’t believe it, but Katelyn has just turned one month old!!! Time does fly when you’re having fun! The latest update on Katelyn’s stats are:

Weight: 4.360 kg and Length: 56cm

That means, she’s put on 700 grams and grown 5cm in a month! Wow, no wonder she’s hungry all the time!!!

We’re all doing really well and have adjusted quickly to being a family of four! Laura dotes on her little sister and is always eager to help out – getting new nappies, bringing towels and blankets as required and even interpreting Katelyn’s cries for us… “Mummy, Katelyn needs more milk”!!!

She’s happy to share story time with Katelyn (well for now, so we’ll all enjoy that whilst the going’s good), but she’s a little too keen to play… often piling teddy bears on top of Katelyn’s rocker, adding Katelyn to her snaking ‘train ride’ of toys in the loungeroom and even climbing under her musical mobile to join in with Katelyn! At this stage, Katelyn doesn’t seem to mind the sloppy kisses and squeezy cuddles too much, so she should grow up to be a tough kid!

With a new baby in the house and a two year old undergoing toilet training, Mummy’s getting a little sick of all the feeding and cleaning at the moment and sleep deprivation has definitely kicked in! I’m looking forward to that wonderful new dawn when Katelyn ‘sleeps through’, but for now I’m just enjoying my two beautiful girls!!!

Daddy’s doing well and back at work now – kind of like a holiday for him after a very hectic couple of weeks at home, but I think he’s missing us!!! We did lots of fun stuff together like picnics and drive’s to the beach, and even had fun at home cooking and building blocks and cubby houses with Laura He’s been a great help around the house and just adores his little Princesses!!!

Well, what blog would be complete without a few piccies… so here goes!!!

Hope this finds you all well and don’t forget to tune in for another update next month!!!

Cheers,

Jason, Chrissy, Laura and Katelyn

G’day all. Thought I would give a quick update. After 48 hours of having Katelyn, Chrissy and Katelyn are now back home. They are doing extremely well and we all feel extremely lucky. Chrissy is happy to be back home in a familiar environment.

We will now try to get into some sort of routine, and therefore we would like to ask that from the times 12 – 3pm, that we have no visitors or phone calls, as we will try and make this rest time. Though of course you are welcome to visit or call outside these times.

We would like to thank all of those who have posted well wishes and feel free to post any more if you wish. Also I would like to thank all of those who have given generously, visited and wished us well.

Of course I cannot have a blog entry without posting any pictures, so here is a picture of Laura with Katelyn.

Until next time, time it easy,
Jason.

It is my great pleasure to announce the Arrival of Katelyn Lee Bell.

Katelyn Arrived 10:15am on Thursday the 18th of January, 2007.

Some initial details are:

* 50cm (19.5 inches)
* 3.670kg (8.1 pounds)
* Born on her actual due date!!!