All About Belli and Me!

I had such a great response from you guys I am actually going to have to answer everyone's questions in two or three posts.  So here goes round one.

1.  My sister asked, "Where did Belli get her good looks from?"
Well, as you can see from this picture of me at 18 months the answer is quite obvious.  Me of course!  She actually is way cuter than I was but still =-)

2.  Mama M asked, "If you marry my brother will you move to MN?  I would love to have Belli for a niece." 
This is actually a little joke we have between us.  Since Mama M doesn't have any sisters (and she just loves me and Belli so much) she quite often insists that I marry her brother.  He is really cute even though I don't generally go for blond headed blue eyed people, see (just scroll down to the picture with the guy holding that precious little girl!). And from what I hear he is a real stand up guy.  But to answer the question I would have to say no.  MN is too far away from from home for me =-(  I am all for him moving here though!

3.  Renee asked, "What is your favorite sweet to eat?"
I don't really like sweets all that much.  I prefer salt.  But, if I had to pick it would probably M&M's.

4.  Anonymous wanted to know if Belli still called people on her thermometer.
Yes!  She actually calls it her phone, not thermometer.  I try to tell her it's called a thermometer and she says, "No, how bout phone."  She still calls Mrs. Heather a lot but really she calls just about anyone.

5.  Keely asked, "If you could travel any where in the world where would you go?"
That's really tough.  If we are talking about places I would really like to trace my roots back to Italy.  I know my mom's grandparents came to America from there and I would really like to go back to the city the lived and see if I have any relatives over there.  If we are talking about events I would love to go to the summer Olympics.  I would go any where to see them but I would really like to go to the ones in Rio.

6.  Geerts asked, "How do you manage it all?  I am a single mom in school and I like to see how other single mamas do it."
I am able to manage it for two reasons.  First, Belli is an unbelievably good child.  She listens to me for the most part (especially if I threaten time out), she sleeps well, and she is very rarely sick.  She makes it pretty easy.  Second, my parents help out more than I should ever ask them to.  They watch her while I work and go to school and even if I need to go to the library to study.  I try to get that done at night or while she is napping though.  So, while it is extremely hard sometimes I am able to manage it because of those two things.

7. Cop Mama wanted to know what was the best way my friends and family can help me as a single mom (aside from babysitting).
I don't think there is really anything that my friends and family can do to help me that they aren't already doing.  What I do think that strangers or just people in general can do for me and all single moms is to not look down on us.  Some people have the assumption that singles mothers can't be as good of a mom as a married mom can or that we are single because we have made "mistakes."  So frustrating and so not true!

Kate had a few questions.
8.  How do you envision your life in 5 years?  10 years?
In 5 years I would like to be finished with school, gotten a job, be living on my own, and maybe be going out on some dates here and there.  In 10 years I would like for one of those dates to have turned in to something special and I will have been married for at least a few years and maybe even have another little kiddo by then.  Belli will hopefully be a great big sister one day!

9.  If you were given $100,000 to donate to any three charities what would they be?
Without a doubt the first one would be The Bell Center.  This is where Belli receives the majority of her therapy and they are in desperate need of funds.  If any of YOU would like to donate please visit this site.  These people are running in Isabelle's name to raise money for The Bell Center.

The second would be to the Red Cross.  I know that's kind of general but they do so many great things for people all over the world.

Lastly, St. Jude's.  Since I have started blogging I have read so many heartbreaking stories of families who have lost their children to cancer or who currently have children fighting the disease.  I would love to see some of these families suffer less.

10.  What movie can you watch over and over?
I don't watch movies a whole lot but I really enjoy watching the movies I watched as a kid like The Mighty Ducks series and both the Homeward Bound movies.  My all time favorite though is The Sound of Music.  I usually only watch it once a year with my mom and sister at Christmas but I could watch it all the time.

11.  Does Belli sleep with a special bear/blanket?  How did she get it?
She uses the Gerber thermal blankets.  It doesn't have to be a specific kind just that brand.  She sucks on the tag when she sleeps.  Well, pretty much whenever she can for that matter.  As far as how she got them I just registered for them and when she was about 6 months or so she started sucking on the tag and she never stopped.  She actually used to sleep with those blankets wrapped around her head.  It scared the crap out of me but she wouldn't sleep any other way.  I would sneak in her room after she went to sleep and move it but she would just put it right back up there.

12.  What is Belli's favorite thing to do?
She is easily entertained so there are a lot of things she enjoys doing but her favorite thing to do is playing with the dishwasher.  She really likes to rub her hand on the door when it is opened and there's a lot of water on it.  It's actually kind gross but she likes it.  She loves to get her spoons and bang them on the inside of the door too.  Her favorite thing to do though is roll the bottom basket back into the dishwasher when someone is trying to put dishes in it.