Happy New Year!

Ok, so I realize New Year was almost two months ago, but our year started off a little, well, not so great. Seemed like just one thing after another ya know? Migraines, stomach bugs, burst pipes, dog bites. Seemed like we would get past one thing just to have something else pop up. So I decided that February 1 would be our New Year. I do also realize that was almost a month ago, but I just have been really really busy so this is going to be a LONG post. So tuck in and hopefully you will stayed tuned to the end. =)

I won't chronicle every step of January - just the good stuff. First I got season tickets to the new Dallas Center of Performance Arts downtown and so I got to see South Pacific early in the year. Then a couple weeks ago I got to go see August:Osage County. Both were awesome and I still have two more shows to go! If you haven't been to the new theater, I highly recommend it. SO much better than Music Hall at Fair Park.

So the last weekend in January my mom kept Isabella for the weekend. Jason and I did WHATEVER we wanted all weekend. It was such a nice break. We saw like 3 movies and ate out every meal. So great. Here is a picture my mom sent me of Bella trying to give my sister's dog a kiss at my mom's house. Looks like she is trying to eat her though haha.

The week before Bella had a stomach bug and I worried she wouldn't be able to go stay with Nana. She felt so bad that she would just fall asleep at any given moment. I caught some cute pics of her falling asleep on our bed, which she has NEVER done. Made me just want to cuddle up with her...



She has gotten so big lately. She just loves to play with all her toys and she pulls up on everything. Case in point...

Here she is giving me her scrunchy nose smile. That is also what she looks like sometimes when she is mad so I am not always sure. I just love this picture where her hair is all crazy after a nap. So adorable...

A few weeks ago Dallas had the biggest snow ever on record. It was so gorgeous. Even though I am so so sick of the cold weather - 85 and sunny is the perfect weather to me - if it has to be cold, I guess snow is a nice touch.

Bella liked the snow too...

Here is another recent picture of Isabella with her horse that her Aunt Amanda and Uncle Jared gave her for Christmas. She likes riding on it, though she can't really balance yet. Is she the cutest thing you have EVER seen or what?


So those are just a few things we have been up to. Jason had his 31st birthday - happy late birthday honey! - and Bella has started going to Mother's Day Out one day a week, which is keeping me sane. Now that she is so mobile I feel like I get nothing done! I am getting more and more busy with my job so that is fun! Other than that, we are just loving being parents to the cutest 10 month old baby in the world. What's that? YOUR baby is the cutest? Not possible, sorry. =)

I thought about listing all my New Year's Resolutions so that I might actually stick to them, but in January I had like 20 and now I can't remember them all. Ha. Some resolution right? I do remember a couple that I still have a chance of keeping. I got the Rosetta Stone for Italian for Christmas so I want to work through that and then continue taking Italian lessons. I also have a couple of scrapbooks that I want to start working on. I am really NOT an artsy/craftsy or creative person at all, so it is hard to motivate myself to do it, but I know I will be glad I did. Hmmm, yep those are the only two I remember.

Well, I hope everyone else's year has been great. Our February has been great so far so let's hope the rest of 2010 is great as well!

Sweet Dog Needs Good Home

So 2010 didn't start out great. The first four days of it I had a migraine headache that I could not get rid of. The fifth day, I was feeling so much better and then the worst thing happened. Our sweet dog Boomer bit Isabella. She was crawling around in the kitchen while I fed the dogs and once Boomer started eating, she just went straight for him. I turned my back for two seconds and didn't see her or even think about the fact that she shouldn't be on the ground while they were eating. Anyway, she got too close and Boomer just turned and snapped at her and got her in the face. I, of course, freaked out. She is totally fine, her wounds are almost totally healed already, but obviously it could have been a lot worse.

The reason I am writing this bummer of a blog is that Boomer needs to find a new home. He is really a sweet dog. He isn't a big fan of kids so the ideal home would be an older person(s) who has no kids around. He loves adults and we are absolutely heartbroken to have to get rid of him, but we just can't risk it happening again. So basically if you are reading this and know anyone looking to rescue a dog, please let me know. They or you can email me at kellitrent@gmail.com with any questions. We are just praying we can find him someone who will love him as much as we do!

Second Annual Top 10 Song List

So last year I made a list of top 10 songs for the year. When I thought about doing it this year, my first thought was 'when did I have time to listen to music? There is now way I could come up with 10 good ones!' But I just started thinking about it and suddenly I had a ton to choose from! So I put together my list for 2010. Just like last year, this list is not necessarily songs that came out this year, they are just the ones that were on my personal radar for the year. So here we go!

10. The Resolution - Jack's Mannequin
I am pretty sure I heard this song last year, but I really listened to it, over and over, this year. Nothing profound to say about this one, I just like it.

9. The Climb - Miley Cyrus
Yes, I know. Miley made my top 10, but I LOVE this song. When Isabella was first born and I was up many times during the night feeding her and feeding her took a LONG time at first, I would have the Christian radio station playing. And they played this song all the time. So whenever I hear it I always think back to those wee hours of morning when it was quiet and dark and Bella was so tiny. Sounds so sweet right now, but I am pretty sure at the time I was tired and wishing I could sleep. =)

8. Geraldine - Glasvegas
I can't understand 90% of the words in this song without looking them up because this band is Scottish. But this song has a great beat and tune and I love the way he says Geraldine.

7. Til Summer Comes Around - Keith Urban
This song FEELS like what he is singing about. When I listen to it I feel like I am standing on this pier as the sun goes down on another summer. I need a jacket and am just feeling so sad and hopeless. Ha, not sure why that means it makes my top ten but it does.

6. Lights Out - Santigold
No idea what it is about, but I used to sing the 'darlinnnn' part to Bella all the time and she would always smile, so maybe that is why I like it.

5. Ramalama (Bang Bang) - Roisin Murphy
I first heard this song on So You Think You Can Dance this summer. They were showing some routines from past seasons and this was a group Wade Robson routine that I had never seen. It was awesome and so is this song.

4. Very Busy People - The Limousines
So I have always been kind of a goody two shoes, but there is this tiny little rebel in me that secretly likes vulgar songs that are full of swear words. That little rebel picked this song to be on my list. If you decide to go give it a listen, please don't judge me. =)

3. You Don't Know Me - Ben Folds
A great song that has great insight about way too many people's relationships. When I was pregnant I would get things stuck in my head all the time - songs, phrases, names whatever - and I would literally wake up all the time with this song already going. At least it was a song I loved!

2. Should You Return - Copeland
This is a band that I heard about on the ACL message boards and after giving them a listen on My Space (does anyone use that anymore?), I got their CD 'You Are My Sunshine'. The whole thing is great, including another haunting song Strange and Unprepared, but this one is my fave.

1. Hey Now - Augustana
2009 was the year of Augustana for me. I bought their last CD when Sweet and Low came out, but only listened to that song for the longest time since I didn't love their first CD, even though Boston is a great song. This year I started listening to it and played it over and over and over while I got Bella's nursery all painted and put together and then it became my CD of choice for those late nights when I wasn't listening to Miley on 94.9. =) 20 Years almost made the list, but I decided to stick with just this one song. SO good. I was lucky enough to get to hear them sing it live this summer on their tour with Counting Crows.

So that is my list. Like last year I will add a few honorable mentions that didn't make the list, but also were some faves of 2009. First is Use Somebody - Kings of Leon. I really liked it when it first came out, but now I am honestly kind of sick of it. Bad Romance by Lady Gaga is another one that I heard first on SYTYCD and loved. I have to admit, I am a LG fan. Jai Ho, the theme song to Slumdog Millionaire, is another great song - put it on your workout playlist. Last I am going to add Cath... by Death Cab. It was actually on my HM list last year, but only because I had really just heard it, but I kept loving it all this year, so I am giving it another mention.

Last year I asked for comments on what your favorite songs were for the year. I don't think anyone replied, but I will ask again because I always like to hear new music. So let me know! Happy listening in 2010!

All Bella wanted for Christmas...

...was her two front teeth, and she got 'em! The weeks leading up to Christmas were trying for me and Bells because she was not sleeping well. She would take forever to go down for naps and would wake up several times at night. That is VERY unlike her so I was starting to get very frustrated. However, when we were at my parents, she got her first tooth! The bottom left one and then within a couple of days she got the matching one to the right. You could barely see them at first, but now they are much more pronounced and when she chews on my fingers now I have to be careful to get them out of the way of the teeth. And now she is sleeping MUCH better. I can't believe she has teeth!! She seems too little. It just reminds me how I need to really enjoy every second. She is getting so big and I know I will turn around and she will be a grown person.

She is also crawling and pulling up on everything so I am having to be super careful about watching her. We have started baby proofing, but still have a lot to do. I know every stage is cuter than the last, but she is at the cutest stage! She smiles so much and gets so tickled about things. Her newest thing is to shake her head when she gets really excited. She will smile and just shake it real quick back and forth. No idea why, but it is cute. Here she is with her horse that Aunt Amanda and Uncle Jared got her for Christmas...


Isn't she the cutest?

Christmas 2009

We kicked off our Christmas celebration this year with our annual Texmas party that we have every year with some of our friends. This year it was at Lacey's house. We had a delicious meal and played Catch Phrase, per usual. We brought Isabella with us and put her to bed in her pack n play so we could stay up late! Here is a family pic...

The next day we drove to Tyler and back to have Christmas with my mom's side of the family. My Uncle Ronnie hadn't seen Isabella yet and we haven't gotten to see them in forever so it was a nice treat!

The next weekend Jason's parents came down for our Christmas celebration with them. I got to use my pretty new chargers and table runner and we busted out the china for the occasion. =)


We opened our last, and best, bottle of wine we got in Italy and Jason and his dad grilled out awesome steaks, and we of course opened presents and had a great time. I got some much needed Northpark gold so I spent the next day at the mall!

We headed to Tyler on Wednesday before Christmas and had the gathering with my dad's side of the family that night. So many of my cousins have kids now so it is fun to watch all the kiddos and one of them is exactly a year older than Isabella, so it was fun to see how she reacted to everything, thinking that is how Bella will be next year.

Christmas Eve we braved it and took Bella to church with us. It is a short Lord's supper service so I just came prepared with every trick I could think of to keep her quiet and she actually did REALLY well. Jason took her out at the very end, but for the most part she was good. We changed our normal tradition of going to Outback to eat afterward and tried a new Chinese place. Then we went home and watched Home Alone before hitting it.

Christmas morning Bella was up early and Amanda and Jared got there around 8 so we spent the morning opening gifts. Here is my sister's outfit. =) Sorry Manda!


I truly love Christmas morning opening gifts with my family. I realize that is probably a 'duh' statement, but not just because we get gifts, but just because we are all so cozy in our pjs and we just sit and talk and enjoy each other for two or three hours. I mean when else do you do that? Anyway, I got season tickets to the new Dallas Performing Arts Center for their Broadway series so I was SO excited about that and am going to see South Pacific this Sunday! Bella got the cutest little slippers...doesn't she look adorable?


Every year we bundle up and go out to my dad's land and make a bonfire and roast hot dogs and make s'mores, so this year we took Bella out. I was worried she would get cold and fussy, but she did great!


It was a great Christmas this year, as always, and I really can't wait until next year when Bella will be a little more aware of what is going on.

Christmas at Disney Trip Report

I fully realize how far behind I am on my blogging so I am going to just have to kind of scan over my trip to Disney so I can get to all my Christmas, end of year lists and updates on Bella blogging!

Day 1 - It was snowing as I left DFW and then I flew in to MCO where it was a lovely 80 degrees. I hopped on Magical Express and was at Pop Century in no time. I had never stayed here, but had heard good things so I was excited. The theme was pretty cool. Each section is a different decade so there were giant homages to the 70's, 80s and so on. I was in the 80s and so there were over sized computer type things and it said like 'Radical' and had people wearing leg warmers all over the place.

I headed out to MK first. It is all decorated for Christmas as you can see...

They just redid Space Mountain so I rode it first. They now have these games you can play while waiting in line. The ride itself didn't seem much different, but maybe a little smoother. After riding a couple other things I toured Wilderness Lodge, Contemporary, Poly and Grand Floridian to see all the cool decorations. Here are a few pics...

WL (my personal fave)...


Contemporary (that tree is made of real ginger bread)


Grand Floridian and the mother of all Gingerbread Houses. Made totally of edible ingredients!

I then headed back to MK for a reservation at Liberty Tree Tavern - which was my FAVORITE meal the whole trip. Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes. Yum. I also got to see the lighting of the castle. They do this whole show where Cinderella has a Christmas wish that her castle would sparkle like her glass slippers and the fairy godmother grants her wish by lighting up the castle. It is so pretty. Sort of makes you tear up. Ok, well it makes me tear up. =)


Then I watched Wishes and headed back to my hotel.

Day 2 - Slept in until almost 8 o clock! Then I headed to Epcot. I rode Soarin' first. I always go back and forth on which ride is my fave. Soarin' or Tower of Terror. I still think ToT wins, but I heart Soarin'. I had a lunch reservation at Rose and Crown, but I went by to see the Canada movie first. I hadn't seen it since they redid it with Martin Short and I really liked it! R&C was delicious. Had some Bangers and Mash and then headed off to try to see all the holiday storytellers. Each country has their 'mascot' of the holidays tell the Christmas, or whatever holiday they celebrate, story and it was SO much fun. Norway had a funny gnome that helps tell the story and in Italy there is a witch. I didn't get to hit every country, though, because I had tickets for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party!

MVMCP Review portion of the blog - I definitely had fun. You get 'free' hot chocolate and cookies and they had a cute show in Tomorrowland and in front of the castle. There is also a special parade, which I didn't love. It was VERY slow, with sometimes minutes between floats. Not sure if it was just an off night, but just wasn't great. However, the Christmas Wishes fireworks were just as good if not better than normal Wishes. LOVED it. They also had snow on main street which was fun. But I would say I like Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party better for sure. Also, really only like Main Street and the hub are decorated. If you are anywhere else in the park you might not even know it was any other time of year. Kind of disappointing.

Day 3 - Today it rained. All. Day. Long. Lots and lots of rain. And it turned cold. I braved it and went to Hollywood Studios. Luckily all the rides there are inside so I rode ToT, Rock N Roller Coaster, Great Movie Ride and Toy Story Mania. Then I headed over to the Boardwalk because I had lunch plans at Captain's Grille. I so wish it hadn't been raining so hard. I had never been to the Boardwalk area and it looked really neat! I would really like to go back on a nice night. I bet there are lots of cool things going on. Captain's Grille was good. Didn't have as much seafood on the menu as I had hoped, but still tasty. I really didn't want to get back in the rain at this point, so I went ahead and headed to my room and took a nap and watched TV for a while. It was honestly really nice to just be able to relax and do nothing. You moms all know what I am talking about. =)

That night was the only day I had to see the Osborne Lights so I made myself go back out in the rain back to DHS to see them. I had been told they had them no matter of rain or what. So I go back out there, head to the Streets of America annnnnd...no lights. I asked a cast member what the deal was and he said he didn't know. That they always have the lights even when it rains so there must be a malfunction. I convinced myself it would be just minutes before they came on so I walked around for a bit and then on the loud speakers you hear 'Ladies and Gentlemen. Due to adverse weather the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights has been CANCELLED'. =( Talk about disappointed. This was like THE thing I wanted to see on my trip and I had to leave the next day. I was pretty bummed, so I just went back to the hotel, got a pizza and some wine from the food court and went back to my room to gorge and watch TV.

Day 4 - I had gotten breakfast ressies at Boma, so I headed to Animal Kingdom Lodge. I was almost 40 minutes late due to no busses coming to pick us up on time, but they still let me in! =) It was really good, but I don't know if I would have gone there if I had to pay for it. (I had free dining this trip) Kind of pricey. AKL was awesome though. Reminded me a lot of WL. Here is a pic...


I then headed to Animal Kingdom and rode Expedition Everest. It wasn't raining as much this day, just sprinkling, but going on a roller coaster in the rain is not the best idea I learned! Kind of stings. I decided to spend the rest of my trip at Magic Kingdom. They were supposed to be filming the Christmas parade that day at MK, but they had canceled it due to the weather. This worked out to my advantage when I was boarding Pirates of the Caribbean only to see Kelly Ripa (she hosts the parade) and her family boarding right behind me! Pretty cool. I just rode all the things I hadn't gotten to yet. Saw the new Hall of Presidents with the new Obama animatronic. But alas, my trip had to end sometime. I hopped a plane back to DFW around 7 and was home around 9. I missed my baby girl SO much. I think it was even worse since I was alone and had all the time in the world to think about her. Not sure how I will do if Jason and I go for a week's vacation sometime later this year!!

Bella - Almost 8 months!

Sorry I have been so bad about updating lately. I was gone for almost two weeks straight - first for Thanksgiving to Norman and then I went to Walt Disney World for a few days (trip report coming soon I promise/hope!) and so I have been playing catch up all week.

While in Norman, we visited Bella's great-grandmother. Here is a pic of four generations of Trents!


Bella is growing so much! She stayed with my mom while I was at Disney and while she was there she started sitting up on her own. Meaning she could be laying down on her back, would turn over and then push up in to a sitting position! She is also starting to pull herself up to her knees. She likes to grab on to the handles of her dresser and pull up and play with them.


And I mean look at just how gosh darn cute she is!


Another new thing is she likes to say 'dadadada' allll the time. No mama yet, but I am trying! She has also learned to whisper so she says dada real quiet. It is so cute!

She has also started something new that is not so cute. We have always had a real good routine with nap times and bed times. I have a routine that I do before every nap and bed time. She knows it and usually cries when I start, because she knows it is time for a nap. But she has always been fine once I put her in her crib and falls asleep within like two minutes of being put down. All the sudden this whole week she takes FOREVER to go to sleep for her nap. Like right now. I put her down at 9:20. She was yawning and rubbing her eyes, acting super tired. It is almost 10 and she still isn't asleep. I don't know what to do!! If anyone has any wisdom to impart on this subject please help!!