Holiday Plans Finalized - MARK YOUR CALENDARS

For those of you who will be in the Alice, Austin, or New England regions over the next couple of months, here is the schedule for The Family Needham.

Thanksgiving:
* Weekend before Thanksgiving: Tiffany and Bella fly to Alice, TX
* Tuesday of Thanksgiving Week: Tiffany, Bella, Welly, and Uncle Bobby Ray drive to Austin, TX
* Tuesday of Thanksgiving Week (LATE): Paul drives to Austin, TX
* Thanksgiving: Attend the Owens' World-Famous tailgate and (hopefully) the UT/A&M game.
* Weekend after Thanksgiving: Tiffany, Paul, and Bella drive to Tulsa, OK

Christmas:
* December 22: Tiffany, Paul, and Bella fly to Connecticut
* December 26: Attend the Fedors' World-Famous Christmas Party
* December 30: Tiffany, Paul, and Bella fly to Tulsa, OK
~ You'll notice this trip has much less solidified but there is a long list of people we want to see and introduce to the Tiny One. We might do a day in NYC and/or a day in Boston to accomplish this. If you'd like to schedule something, post a message here or give one of us a call. Here's a little motivation to do so:

Thanks for visiting! (See you soon?)

Aunt Jen's Visit!

Two great things happened recently.
1) Aunt Jen came to visit Isabella on Halloween weekend!
2) We figured out how to attach more than just 5 pictures in a single post!

Jen came in late Friday night so she didn't get to see Bella until Saturday morning. While Mommy slept in, Daddy and Aunt Jen played in Bella's room until nap time. One of the highlights was Bella's first ride on her elephant! The elephant was exactly a year old that day because we got it when Aunt Sara visited last Halloween weekend. The thing can hold 120 lbs so the Tiny One will be riding it for some time!


That afternoon was Bella's first experience playing dress up!!! Welly got her this amazing jack-0-lantern costume and Mommy matched it with some tights, a turtleneck and some really cute shoes. We went to a neighborhood in Tulsa where storefronts were giving away candy and there was going to be a Halloween Parade. It was one of the few things that started before Bella's bedtime and it was a lot of fun!


Bella is holding the top to our real jack-0-lantern in this picture! This was taken before we left.


This is from outside a coffee shop at the end of the street and is Bella's first treat ever! It's kind of anti-climactic that it was just a strawberry short-cake Dum-Dum, but we let her suck on it for a minute before we took it away.


This is our Punkin Princess waiting for the parade to start. This was well after her regular nap time and we were at the very end of the parade route so we actually didn't even get to see it because we ducked out early. We think she enjoyed herself though - we certainly did!

Sunday morning Bella was put in her OTHER Halloween outfit and she went to the zoo with Aunt Jen and Mom while Dad did some work at home with one of his teachers. Before Dad drove Aunt Jen to the airport later that afternoon, Bella granted her one final kiss (and as far as we know, the first one where she actually closed her eyes). As you can see, Bella is still figuring out what a kiss actually is - currently she's just opening her mouth and pressing it against your face. Either way, it's cute as all get out and you can have one too if you visit us here in Tulsa!


Cuddles and kisses!
Thanks for visiting!

More Baptism Photos

Dad realized that he did not put up enough pictures of Bella's godparents during the previous posts so he has taken this opportunity to rectify that situation! Both Uncle Dave and Aunt Emma did a wonderful job during the ceremony and Bella obviously loves the two of them to death!

The Tiny One can't wait to see both of them again (Aunt Emma at Thanksgiving and Uncle Dave over the Holidays hopefully). Thanks for visiting!

1 More Reason to Visit

In addition to being incredibly cute, she can kiss now!


Thanks for visiting!

Bella's Baptism VIDEO Part I

Uncle Joe did a great job as our videographer. The entire ceremony is about 15 minutes but to load it onto the blog I needed to cut it into two pieces. This is part 1.




Make sure you check out part 2 as well...

Bella's Baptism VIDEO II

Watch the OTHER video first - this is the second half of the ceremony.

Bella's Baptism (Part 3)

Here are the last five - hopefully the video will be coming soon as well!
Also, in addition to a savings bond, Uncle Dave got Bella a couple of books. One is a puffy book and this one is a hand puppet with a book attached. The book is Old MacDonald and each of the fingers is a different animal (duck, cat, dog, pig, cow). Bella LOVES it!!! She'll play with it herself for a while but if someone is wearing it and she can flip through the pages and play with the animals, she'll sit there all day.
This is the book that Mommy and Daddy got her. The first book we ever read her was a small copy of "On the Night You Were Born." Bella really likes and and has chewed up the book a bit so we found her a full-sized copy of it for her bookcase.
This is the cake that Welly brought up from Alice, TX. The Tiny One kept putting her hand in the icing while we tried to take this picture, and you can see Mom doing her best to keep her clean and sugar-free.
Daddy's beautiful girls!
Saturday night, everyone hit the town! Here are the ladies of our party (the guys weren't really as easy to look at). Everyone left at some point the next day and everyone has gotten home safely. We'd like to thank everyone who came and gave us a tremendous time as well as everyone who sent Bella their thoughts throughout the weekend!

Thanks for visiting!

Bella's Baptism (Part 2)

We're only allowed to put up 5 pictures per post so here's some more!
This is Bella and her Welly in the post-baptism photo-shoot.
Here are "Uncle" Joe and "Aunt" Tarah.
We just really like this one...
After the baptism, we went home to open presents. Bella received her first Tiffany's blue box from her Aunt Tarah - clearly she's a fan. Daddy knows he's in trouble because she likes boys and jewelry!
In addition to a savings bond for her college fund, Uncle Joe did Daddy a solid by getting Bella a 3-pack of New York Giants onesies! Mom and Dad have agreed on every sport but the NFL and Uncle Joe put in his two-cents on Daddy's side. For those of you who are curious:
Baseball:
1) Whatever team Abuelo works for (currently the Twins)
2) New York Yankees

College Football:
1) Texas Longhorns
2) UConn Huskies

College Basketball:
1) UConn Huskies
2) Texas Longhorns

Bella's Baptism (Part 1)

Bella was baptized this weekend and it was really a great time. Bella's "Uncles" Joe and Dave came to visit as did her Welly, her Aunt Emma and her "Aunt" Tarah. As requested, we took lots of pictures so I'll just post them here and write a bit about each one.
The church we had Bella baptized at is right around the corner from our house and has a great congregation. Because we had her baptized on a Saturday morning though, it was just us. This baptismal font is in the area outside of the church itself in a the waiting area. The ceremony was about 15 minutes long and was videotaped by Joe - we'll try to get that posted as well!I'm crediting her swim lessons with how well she took the water during the ceremony. She was a little surprised that we went from talking to her to dousing her but she took it in stride.
I'm not sure if they call them "Baptismal Parties" like they do at weddings but from left to right you have Aunt Emma (Bella's Godmother), Mommy, Father Jack, The Girl of the Hour, Daddy, and "Uncle" Dave (Bella's Godfather). Father Jack is a funny dude - when he first saw Bella, he said to her, "Don't you look beautiful, are you tired of being a little pagan?"
Isabella Kristine - child of Tiffany, Paul, and now God!

Just to hold you over...

Tiffany and I are going to St. Louis for the week for a conference. Isabella is coming with us and her Welly is meeting us there to babysit for a couple days. Unfortunately, we'll be too busy to update anything so here's a picture that's about 3 weeks old to keep you entertained for the time being. This is from when Tiffany was in Chicago and I was having a couple days of Daddy-daughter time before we flew to Austin. I took this picture mid-tubby to send to Tiffany and make her jealous: hope it does the same for you all!

~Thanks for visiting!

First Anniversary!!

Mom and Dad spent their first anniversary in Austin, TX (the scene of the crime). It's really crazy how fast this year went by! Isabella's Welly and Abuelo came up from Alice to babysit while they enjoyed each others' company which was very appreciated. Dad and Bella flew to Austin together Friday morning and met the rest of the family there. That night, everyone [Mom, Dad, Isabella, Welly, Abuelo, Aunt Emma, Aunt Tarah, Ryan, Christine, Dan, and Tish] went to the Salt Lick which is Dad's favorite restaurant in the world.

Saturday morning we all woke up and went to a wonderful tailgate hosted by some of Mom's friends from college. Again, Bella was a huge hit. Unfortunately, the Longhorns got crushed by UCLA and the afternoon was a downer for a while until Mom and Dad hit the town that evening.

Sunday, the parents got to sleep in and spend some time by the pool before heading out for their romantic anniversary dinner at Austin Land & Cattle. Overall, it was an absolutely perfect weekend, facilitated by the love, support, and wonderful thoughts of all of you. Thank you for being a part of our first year together as a family and we look forward to many more together.

Thanks for Visiting!

She's Moving!

There's a new show coming out this fall called "Raising Hope." The premise appears to be about a regular guy who is raising his daughter while living with his very dysfunctional family. In one commercial for the show, Hope - the baby - is crawling along the floor and her father is very excited. The main character's mother walks behind him, rolls her eyes, and says, "Good Lord, you taught it to MOVE?!?"
Bella is right about there. She is not truly crawling but she is scooting along the floor and can get across a room if you give her enough time and a reason to want to do it. She's also able to support her weight while standing now and can even pull herself up to a standing position in her crib and in her playpen. Video evidence:

Bella's Sound Effect

Just a short video to show off a new talent that Isabella taught herself a few days ago:



Thanks for visiting!

Brunch is Served

As promised, here is an updated video of Bella eating. This video was taken today (8/22) and is Bella's first experience with pears. Our doctor told us to go from vegetables to fruits, and within each category, from least to most flavorful. We spend 3 days on each food to isolate it and make sure she's not allergic. So far, she's gone through peas, green beans, squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, apples, and we've just started pears. Next is prunes, then bananas, then peaches. She also had a saltine yesterday at dinner and apparently liked it very much (because it virtually disappeared). Enjoy and thanks for visiting!

Some Relative Firsts

These videos aren't Bella's first times doing anything really, but they're close. We started feeding Bella solid food (rice cereal) a week or so before this video was taken (8/1) so as you can see, she's still getting used to it.
Likewise, on Bella's first vacation to Phoenix, Daddy tried to take her into a pool, but she was having none of it. She's gotten much better at both of these things since then. The videos below were taken just today (8/19) at the YMCA as Daddy tried to help Bella acquire her sea-legs. We were all very proud of her as she took to the water like.... a fish to water.

We'll have to video-tape Bella eating again too because she's gotten much better at that as well - enjoy!
Thanks for visiting!

Bella's 6 Month Photo Shoot - Tutus, Monkeys, and More!

Bella was a doll for her 6 month photo shoot today - check it out!

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Sampling of Summer Photos

Dad's friend from Houston who taught at his school (Jessie Forman) took the Needhams out to their first real Chicago Dog at Poochies in Skokie, IL. About halfway through their lunch, the owner brought out a t-shirt for the Tiny One. Clearly, she was helping him drum up business.


This picture was taken by Dad's friend Missy from UConn. She and her boyfriend, Ethan visited Chicago over the 4th of July and we all went for a walk down to Grant Park. This picture was taken at the observatory facing the city.





We're pretty sure Aunt Emma took this one and Dad thinks it's super cute!





Aunt Sara took this one while she was babysitting over the summer. She, along with all of our care-givers, did a wonderful job!






Grandpa took some pictures too but we haven't gotten those yet - once we do, we'll be sure to share them! Thanks for visiting!

6 Month Doctor Appointment

Bella had her six-month doctor's appointment on Monday, which was actually her half-birthday. She is predictably perfect. Her weight and head circumference are both in the 50th percentile. Her length, however, at 28 inches, is in the 97th percentile for her age. Mom thinks she's going to be a supermodel, Dad thinks she's going to be swimmer. She started rice cereal over the summer and just this week has added baby food to it. She is not an especially large fan of peas, though she does seem to like carrots (that's all we've tried so far).
She's going tomorrow for her 6-month photo shoot so we'll add some then. Thanks for visiting!

Bella's First Video Ever

We've got three videos here. The first one is from when Bella is about 45 minutes old. The only words I say are that she's camera shy... she's over that now. The second one is her sitting in her seat around 3 months old. This is from her phase of having a tongue bigger than her mouth so she was always sticking it out. The last video is from just the other day. She's bouncing in her new favorite toy which is the only thing that Mom let me put on the registry (thank you to Mom's old team at work for getting it for us!!). ENJOY, thanks for visiting!

Summer Pictures

No time for a long post but I doubt that's what people want anyway. Here are some pics that various folks have taken around Chicago with the Tiny One.

Father's Day

So Daddy was getting ready to run his Institute school on Father's Day so the Tiny One didn't get to spend much time with him, unfortunately. This summer, Dad will be managing a staff of 12 people who will be managing 96 corps members who will be teaching at 4 schools and affecting over 700 students in South Chicago. Tomorrow (really just a couple hours from now but I need a break), is his first day and he's putting finishing touches on sessions and structures that will allow his new teachers to be successful. Mom and Bella are planning to celebrate Father's Day with him next Saturday after things have calmed down a bit. Bella did give her Daddy his present already though - A USA Clint Dempsey #8 Jersey!!! The Tiny One has great taste! Here's a present for the rest of you. This picture was taken today outside the dorms that the Family Needham is staying in this summer by Welly.

She's been having a great summer and has been in a great mood ever since she got to the Windy City. Her Aunt Sara is right: the summer's here are amazing!
Thanks for visiting!

You're WELCOME!

Three Months and Counting!

Check out Bella's latest photo shoot!

http://www.picturepeople.com/sso/publishconfirm.sso?data=fxMVEDD3T4dxn5hILXhx6pzTxuFr1haugd9iRi%2bvipYrJKDbQ2LrRupJs%2b0pfVs3ng6AxR92URZiDRkwA8iVzQ%3d%3d

Lizette and Bret Visit

Here is the post that is slightly out of order. Last weekend Mom's good friend Lizette and her fiance Bret visited. Lizette and Mom grew up together and Dad and Bret grew very close when they helped each other survive a wedding party full of Alice-girls (which anyone will tell you is no small feat!). They flew into Tulsa as a stop-over as they were getting out of California for the weekend. While the stay was short, we were very happy to have them. They were naturals with the Tiny One too: Bella was crying when they came and she was calmed and sitting on Brett's lap within 5 minutes (Bret is the tall guy in the mirror). Lizette read Isabella her bedtime story (The Pout-Pout Fish) and even included a southern drawl for the Pout-Pout Fish and a stuck-up voice for the clam!! It was great to have them and we hope to see them again very soon!
Thanks for visiting!

Bella is Three Months Old

This is a little out of order because we still need to post pictures of Lizette and Bret's trip to Tulsa. However, yesterday was Bella's three month anniversary with the planet Earth. She celebrated by having a relatively peaceful day and relatively difficult evening. Putting her on a schedule hasn't been impossible but with all the traveling we do, it's not the easiest thing in the world. Here are some pictures of the Tiny One to celebrate with:
*The tennis skirt part of her outfit in her 3-month photo above is courtesy of the label Grandma&Kathryn.

Trip To Florida Part II

Mom wanted to have a photo shoot before we left on Monday afternoon. We took the patio furniture out to the backyard and took these (as well as about 100 other) photos. After that, we headed to the beach for some hot dogs!




Where, obviously, Bella maxed and relaxed. Papa bought everyone Hot-dogs for lunch and Bella had a bottle. Dad walked around like he was 12 years old looking for shells (he found a couple of good ones) and a wonderful weekend wound down to a close. Later this afternoon, Bella said a very quiet goodbye to the DeMartinos and hit the road for the airport - anxious to return.
Thanks for visiting,
Mom and Dad