the Novakz

Hello there! So it’s been a while since we’ve send out an update and a lot has changed with Bella in that time. As I write this Bella is 15 weeks old. She is 13.9 lbs and 26 inches long. Bella’s been great with sleeping, she crashes at about 9 and sleeps through to 6 or so which has been great for us. Bella has also learned to master the art of smiling and does all the time. She also is learning how to laugh and she thinks Phia is probably the funniest person on Earth. Phia can make her laugh just by asking her repeatedly “whacha doing?”. It cracks her up.

Bella has taken to watching Playhouse Disney most mornings and absolutely loves The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny and Special Agent: OSO (those of you with kids, probably know what I am talking about). There is a song at the end of the Mickey Mouse Club House called the Hot Dog song that she loves. We also bought the MP3 and anytime she hears it she smiles.

Bella seems to have a genuine interest in music. I play my guitar for her all the time and she suffers through my terrible singing voice. She will sit and watch me and smile for 20-30 minutes. She stares intensely at at my hands as I play. It seems to really intrigue her. My friend Gene recently came over and he played for her. He was shocked to find he had an absolute captive audience. She stared and smiled as he played. I could tell he really enjoyed it. Bella will grow up surrounded by music so it wouldn’t surprise either of us if she decided to participate once she’s old enough.

Let’s see what else I can tell you. She is really strong and great at sitting upright. She has a little chair courtesy of Brad and Tracey that she does great it. She kind of hates “Tummy Time” which is where you make them lay on their stomach so they can work the neck muscles which is the first step to crawling. Although she hates it, she’s progressing nicely. She’s very wiggly so she should be rolling over and starting to craw pretty soon.

Bella’s hair continues to get longer and thicker and people are always amazed at how much she has. Have a look at her most recent pics and you’ll see what we mean. Her eye’s unsurprisingly seem to be turning brown, but they’ll be a pretty brown like mommy’s so they’ll suit her nicely.

As for mommy and daddy, nothing too exciting . Phia is back to work and doing great with the transition. I know how hard that was and I’m very proud of her at how well she’s handled it. It helps that we have great daycare and Bella seems really happy there. I have been learning Piano in my spare time and that’s pretty fun but other than that I just spend my time making Phia’s life more difficult and snapping pictures.

Speaking of photos check out these new pics of Bella. I took them just the other day so they are very recent. You should be able to use the slide show below but it’s been buggy so if it gives you trouble, click here to link to the flickr set.

Phia and I took Bella to Balboa Park and walked around a bit. It was a lovely night. Bella slept through the whole thing but it was nice to get out of the house.

the Holiidays have come and gone and they were wonderful. Bella enjoyed her first Xmas and New Year. We got to show her off to all of Phia’s family on Xmas day and they were oohing and aaahhhing over here all night long. The attention kept her up and excited so she was a bit hyper but it was all worth it. It was wonderful to finally be able to share Bella with the family, they’ve all been waiting patiently to meet her. We hope everyone had a great holiday season. Here are some pics of Bella in the Holiday spirit. Pretty cute!

Finally!! I was finally able to get a bunch of pics of Bella smiling! She smiles all the time, but the second you put a camera in front of her, she would focus on that. So Phia and I worked together, she entertained her and I snapped pics. Then finally she looked into the camera and it was all smiles from there!

She’s got a really cute smile so I’m pleased to share the pics with you.

the first set is all Black and White and only has a few pics. the second is a color set and has a lot more pics. Enjoy!

It has come to my attention that girls love baby baths. I know Phia loves giving Bella a bath, so this post is for you girls out there. Here are a couple of pics from Belly getting nice and clean. Splish Splash!

So Bella is 6.5 weeks old now. She’s been sleeping great and only waking up 1-2 times a night. She’s growing steadily and adding new things to her repertoire every day. She’s getting pretty good at holding her neck up so she’s really close to having full control. She has learned the fine art of smiling and does a lot of it every morning at about 6 am. It’s really cute. I wish I could show you, but everytime she does it and I put a camera in her face, she fixates on the camera… and the smile goes away. I’ve tried to snap them quick but they are way out of focus. I’ll get a pic sooner or later. She’s also kind of learning to laugh, it’s sort of like a rapid breathing, but we can tell she’s trying. Soon enough on that too.

Let’s see what else, Bella is starting to “coo” and so in the morning when she’s smiling she’ll also sort of talk a little. I don’t think it’s what most people would call completely cooing. it’s mostly little noises, but she’s trying to say something. It was funny, today I was holding her in my left arm and playing chords with my right on the piano. I was singing her a song and she was kind of singing with me. She was just making long sounds kind of soft and drawn out and lets just say it was mega cute.

So that’s about it, things are going great. We’re really looking forward to the holidays and a great new year. We hope all is well with everyone and hope to talk to and see you all soon.

Here are some new pics of Bella, mostly of her playing on the bed and on her fun mat. Enjoy!

Here is a little short video of Bella. Many of you haven’t seen her in motion yet, so here’s a little clip of the little bear looking super cute, with momma. She is about 5 weeks old in the video.

Click here if you cannot see the video below

Recently Bill and Jen asked if Phia and I would snap a couple of photos of the whole family for their xmas card. It actually turned out to be a great opportunity to get some pics of them all together. It’s pretty rare to get them all sitting still for more than a few seconds. Here are the results, I think they came out pretty decent! Have a look.

As always click on any image to see it larger.

So we hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, ours was wonderful. Bella enjoyed her first thanksgiving with a few bottles o’ milk and a long nap. Of course she loves to sleep when we are around other people. You have to catch her at 5:30 am if you want to see her partying. It’s pretty fun to wake up early!

I feel like this year was the best Thanksgiving ever, my parents are moved back, we are home owners now and of course we’ve got beautiful Bella. I’ve been wanting to thank Phia for a while now because she really has been amazing through the pregnancy and as a mother. She’s taken care of Bella better then I could have ever wished for and she still manages to take great care of me too. She’s an amazing wife, mother and my best friend to boot. So as a small thank you for all the things she does for me and Bella, I gave her a pair of diamond earrings. Continue reading “Happy Thanksgiving!”

Yes we have a baby bjorn and Phia rocked it the other day. I thought it looked good! We’ve been struggling to get stuff done around the house with Bella either sleeping or in our arms, so the bjorn might just be the answer. We’ll see! Here are some pics of Phia modeling the bjorn as well as some new pics of Bella showing off her hair clips and headband.

As always click on the thumbnail to view a larger version, click left or right to see the previous or next pic in the set!