Waterboarding!

Do they even understand that this is sooooooo not fun. Do you think they can hear me?!? Maybe I need to scream louder, because I don't think they're getting the message. Dunking me underwater is akin to waterboarding. There's a reason why George Bush is so unpopular . . . it's because it sucks to be dunked underwater. Grrrrrrrrrrr . . . not enjoying my swimming lessons at all!

p.s. yes, i know it's been a long time since i posted, but it's been busy around here learning to walk and all.

my first birthday

wow, how fun. so many of my munchkin friends over to help me celebrate my big bday. i'm officially 1 year old now! whoo hoo. and the best part of turning one: i got to eat a cupcake. yum! after all that healthy, nutritious, organic mumbo jumbo mom and dad feed me, this was the good stuff that they've been holding out. dad says it was this thing called "sugar" that i must have liked, but who knows what the heck that is! in any case, i still feel a little ripped off because everyone else was eating the gooey stuff on the top of the cupcake, but i only got to eat the middle part. wonder what that gooey stuff is all about.

anyways, here's a few pix from the party.

i'm a star!

hey, i'm famous. check it out . . . http://www.paperculture.com/cards/baby-announcements/photo/stacked-penguins/p-377.html. OK, they screwed my name up, but hey, that's me. really! by the way, who do i speak to about the whole name thing?!?

tea collection contest

mom said that since i was dressed in all tea collection clothes i should enter their contest, but dad's too lazy to submit me. boo hoo. which photo should i have submitted?

my first series: elmo encounter

my first encounter with elmo. my what big eyes you have! and so tasty too!

my first series: swing ride and slide

check out the air i'm getting on my very first swing ride.

and then there's the slide. can you feel the g-forces?

my friends

this post is dedicated to my peeps!
braden, aka steeler, nguyen
danica, i'm better than the race car driver, chew
ethan, skunker, shen
milana, mila, kim ellis

i can crawl!!!

whooo hooo! check out my first official crawl frame by frame . . . ok, dad should have put it on continuous frame, so really you'll have to settle for just 4 frames. and yes, maybe video might have been a better medium for this, but that's grandpa's job. dad refuses to take video.


the preparation: really, i'm going to do this

the first arm reach is always the toughest!

man, this is hard work. see the sheer determination on my face

at last . . . success!

and to think mom and dad still harbored hopes of me not being mobile for my plane ride to hong kong. fools!

my friends

check out my boyfriends . . .

it's ethan (aka skunker . . . no relation to the previous skunk post) and steeler (who is very thrilled that his team won the superbowl).

Skunk

we got 'em. after a full month of our house smelling like skunk, we finally broke down and called in the skunk guy. speaking of which, how would you like to be known as the skunk guy? i can't imagine that lends itself very well to pickin up the little ladies . . . i mean, i surely aspire to give my hand to someone other than the skunk guy. but alas, i digress.

so the skunk guy comes over the first time and tells us the skunks are living under our deck. lays some traps, catches the first skunk after 2 days. (see picture one . . . note that this is mom's attempt at photography . . . i've only included it to show how lame mom is with the camera) but as you can CLEARLY see from this picture, that skunk is actually pregnant! thank goodness no skunk babies. then the next day we got a second skunk, that's also pictured here. let's just say someone else took this picture!

and thus, my skunk adventures are hopefully over

9 month checkup - vital stats

for all of you out there that called me a piglet . . . i am here to report that am a svelte little lady as evidence by my stats as reported by dr lady i can't remember her name

weight: 17lbs 14 oz (25th percentile)
height: 27 inches (50th percentile)
head dimensions: can't remember - which means i probably need more brain matter, but the end result was 50th percentile

so . . . the conclusion is that while we all know i'm far from average (in humility and otherwise), i am LIGHT for my height and for all those people that made fun of my head, it's amazingly normal i'll have you know. so there!

Bella's Christmas Videa

my first holiday season

dad says i'm really going to dig this time of year. so far, i can tell that "the holidays" means that we get this big prickly green tree sitting in the middle of our hallway. at night something happens and it lights up real pretty (see picture of my aunt florence and i - that's our tree behind her). actually, i have to agree with dad that our tree seems sort of wimpy. there's the nice tall 13 foot ceilings in the hallway and we have this little wimpy 7 foot tree. dad says that when i get bigger we can get a bigger tree. i can't wait.

as for the other pics, that's my grandma and grandpa wu in the colorful picture. that's a cool jumpetdy jump from my cousin's kate's bday party. they wouldn't let me go in the jumpetdy cause they said i was too small. what a jippo! (yes, see my earlier rant on smallism).

and finally there's a picture of my great grandma. she turned 90 last month. how crazy is that! that's like 154 times as long as i've been alive (well, that was quick mental math on my part, so i might have missed a few decimal points, but you get my drift, right). but she's a darn impressive 90. she still refuses to have help around the house, she plays with us kids, she cooks and bakes . . . very impressive. congrats to great grandma!

that's about it for now . . . stay tuned and happy holidays everyone.

my first turkey day

whoo hoo. i think i'm going to like this time of year. i love having visitors, and i got to see almost the whole clan - see pic - (i missed my uncle todd, auntie jenn and my cousies kate and trent as they are on the every other year rotation). but this was a special treat because i got to see my auntie joyce, susan and lynne . . . so i was VERY happy.

the big people had quite a feast and mom slaved away for the entire week. but check it out. doesn't it look yummy. that's a pic of cousin krissie carving the turkey. that used to be grandpa wus job, but i think krissie has taken over.

uncle jj

yippee . . . at long last my uncle jonathan came to visit me! He complains that he never gets his picture on the blog, but i pointed out to him the fundamental flaw in his protest . . . i mean i know there's modern technology and all and that in theory i could use my vast adobe cs3 (no, i haven't learned cs4 yet . . . i know, you're very disappointed, but my schedule is chaulk full between my milk sessions which are now supplemented by 2-3 real people food sessions, let alone my appointments with my play mat, my walks and my beckham-like soccer playing) to edit him into a picture . . . but come on . . . that's basically lying. and i've decided i want to grow up in a better world . . . one where people tell the truth, are honest to themselves and to others.

and so it starts here. if you don't come to visit me, you don't get no pictures on my blog. i suppose i could come visit you, but that's a bit hard for me because the dmv won't give me my driver's license yet, and if you've ever seen ai-yeee (my nanny) squint at objects across the room, we should all be thankful she doesn't drive. and so, except for when grandma and grandpa come over on thursdays, the weekdays are out for me. but i do get out all weekend, but i'm on a rotation because apparently (though i can't really understand why), mom and dad feel a need to see some of their friends, so I don't always get to fit in all of my social plans.

but in any case, i digress. so, uncle jonathan finally came over. in fact, i saw him multiple times in the week. he even fed me my favorite yummy mushed up fruit (mom thinks i like it better when she puts everything in that vitamix thing), but seriously, did you see my two teeth? i can handle the real stuff! try me!

so . . . here he is! for some reason i got no pix of auntie abby, but next time. she did come visit too, though not the three times i saw uncle jonathan.

my first solid food!

ok, i'm thinking it's a brand new month . . . and since it's my blog . . . i'm posting pix of me. i mean, i'm the star and all! so that's all you get for today's post!

note the second picture . . . that's me eating my FIRST SOLID FOOD. Yippee!

then there's the picture of me getting a baby massage . . . how cool is that. that's a real masseuse (spelling?!?) . . . i haven't gotten that far in my dictionary study. i got the massage oil and everything. check out that grin on my face!

mommy and me

i luv my mum!

halloween fun

hey, check me out in my penguin outfit with my peeps danica and steeler.

6 month doc visit

ouchie! i know, it's been a long time since i blessed you all with me scintillating recounting of my early months . . . but alas, one must wait for the best things in life. so i just got back from the doctor. 4 big a** needles . . . and let me tell you, just because we can't say anything, doesn't mean it don't hurt. that piercing scream and my face turning red . . . that means, CUT IT OUT! i really don't appreciate being somebody else's lab experiment. i'm convinced that nurse woman didn't know what she was doing . . . it really shouldn't hurt that much. mom says that supposedly, i don't have to go through that again for awhile. thanks goodness.

anyways, in other news, the doc reported that i am a whopping 25th percentile in size (can't remember whether that was weight or height). in any case, rumor has it i'm asian . . . so i'd like to say that there's hope that i'm merely setting the bar low and providing myself upside to overachieve, but alas, i think i am cursed with the genes commonly associated with "short person syndrome." on the one hand, i feel i should be satisfied with the 25th percentile . . . but have you ever thought about the implications? i mean, as i think about my future ivy league education admissions process, i'm supposed to be in the 99th percentile on my SATs . . . and that just puts me in the game. can you imagine what the 25th percentile is?!? geeeesh . . . i know, ugliness! i can't start settling at such a young age with such mediocrity. so . . . the only way is . . . i'm going to have to invent the antitode to cure my "short person syndrome." in any case, i'll get back to you on that one.

oh well, anyways, that's it for now. c ya!

my peeps

so i've decided that i need to take my social life into my own hands. i'm going to set myself up with a facebook page (i hear that's how it's done these days), but in the meantime, check out some of my peeps. if you're not on here . . . well, then maybe you better be a little nicer to me next time you see me . . . share some of that warmed up formula with me, or that special red rattle or maybe even slip me a little high five as we pass by . . . all such things are known to be able to get you on the ol' bellawu.com website. so check out my peeps:

danica chew

steeler nguyen

cameron lin