Fun Sunday at Grandpa's

Stella made her first visit to Grandpa's out on Long Island yesterday and we had a really nice time. I was definitely concerned about how she would hold up after a long car ride, especially after she only napped for about 40 minutes of it. Being in a new place with lots of mostly unfamiliar faces was going to be a challenge, I thought, especially since she has been so fussy lately after being sick. But she was such a champ and I don't think she cried or fussed once the whole time we were there! Actually, I'm wondering if our daughter has a future in politics, because she really seemed to be working the room. When my dad would tickle her under her chin she would smile and gaze up at him with her big eyes. And when my sister held her she just leaned back and hung out on her lap for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, if either Jen or I try that she's usually not having it. Anyway, it was a great weekend and it is such a relief to have her feeling better. Her nose finally stopped running after 2 weeks! And she isn't snoring at night anymore since she is no longer congested (but I kind of miss that!). She just turned 15 months on Friday and she's becoming such a big girl!

Even CUTER!!!!

Easter weekend

This was a really great weekend in spite of the fact Stella was still very sick and really rather unpleasant at times. A huge thanks to my parents for all the great Easter treats and gifts and for coming to visit and being patient with our crabby girl. I know they watched a lot more Backyardigans than they ever thought they could! TeeHee. Here are a few shots of Stella at the Easter egg hunt in our community and the hunt my mom put on for her Sunday afternoon inbetween crying fits. The top left shot is Stella getting as close to her little TV buddies as she can. Happy Easter!

Make that a rough, rough, rough, rough week....

Poor Stella B and I have been fighting the fight this week with our noses! We are still struggling but I think we are on the other side of it. I hope so anyway.

Almost everyday this week one or both of us ended up in a whining, runny nose filled, heap at some point of the day. We managed to fit in a few errunds and activities inbetween naps, coughing fits and nose blowing so the week wasn't a total loss. A huge thanks to Patti for letting us come to play yesterday! I think it is safe to say we are thrilled the week is almost over and hopeful that our colds are over with it. Brian was a total trooper with his girls and thankfully though he had a close call seems to have missed out on getting sick himself. Thanks Lovey!

I am so happy that Spring is officially here and this weekend my parents are coming to visit for Easter. Tomorrow there is an Easter egg hunt in our community that I hope to bring Stella to and get some cute pictures. It should be a fun weekend and it will be nice to have them here to see how fun Stella is right now. Hopefully she will keep the whining heap incidents to a minimum....and I will too.

Rough, rough, rough weekend

Wow, this was a tough weekend. Both my girls are sick! Jen's been sick for a few days and it really hit hard this weekend. We noticed that Stella was a bit sneezy/coughy when we were putting her down last night so we were concerned she had caught the bug too. Sure enough, starting at about 3:00 AM she woke up very upset because she was so congested. We were able to get her to calm down but within an hour she started up again. Jen wasn't getting much sleep anyway because she was so congested herself. Anyway, it was off and on like that until just about 7 AM when I decided to get her up and take her downstairs for breakfast and let Jen sleep a bit more. Today was a struggle but all things considered she did pretty well. She was mostly in decent spirits despite being totally blocked up. At least until about 4:00 PM or so, when her afternoon nap lasted about 15 minutes. From then on she was just miserable, although it was really sort of off and on. She would be inconsolable for some stretches and then simley and happy for others. We're listening to her breathe very heavily now through the monitor as she is down and hopefully out for the night.

We really can't complain as we can probably count on one hand the number of weekends we've had like this since she got past the 3 month mark. And as challenging as last night was at times, there was something really sweet about going into her room and calming her down. Jen suggested just stroking her face and tummy (I probably would have foolishly picked her up and walked her around the room), which I did, and it was so nice. Usually if you put your hand near her face she'll push it away, but last night she just lay in her crib as I rubbed her cheek, looking up at me with a sad look on her face. It was a bit heartbreaking but sweet too. Anyway, let's hope that we have a somewhat peaceful night so both my girls can get the rest they need and get better!

St. Paddy's playdate at Patti's!

Stella and I have had the good fortune to find a wonderful group of moms who let us play with them a couple days a week. One of the moms had us all over on Friday for a playdate to celebrate St. Paddy's day kid style...meaning pizza and puffs but no booze. It was fun and the kids were all worn out and had great afternoon naps. The post-playdate nap is just one of the many perks of this group. Here they all are ready for St Paddy fun.

Like daddy, like daughter...

In my younger years, I was known to spend quite a bit of time on the couch, staring at the tv and stuffing my face. I am so proud to see my daughter shares this interest! What's that they say about apples falling from trees?

One small step for babykind...

So, not to step on mom's entry below, but I thought I'd make a quick note about Stella's adventures (and misadventures) with walking. She's approaching 15 months and up until tonight hasn't really taken her first official step. It's odd, because she nearly runs when she is pushing her lion toy down in the basement. But she won't do anything close to that if she's not holding on to something. Jen & I have recently tried sitting a few feet apart from each other and passing Stella back and forth. The goal is for her to stand up as one of us holds her and then help her start walking towards the other. She's done pretty well with it but once we let go she basically crumbles to the ground. Tonight we had a breakthrough which was really exciting! We did the usual and after a few minutes of struggling to get her to stand up I sensed that she was really standing upright well. We had her toddle between us but as has happened in the past she was collapsing to the ground as soon as we let go. But after a few more times she was managing to go a step or two before falling into our arms. It was really cute because she would fall into us and we'd give her a big hug and she'd have a big smile on her face. Anyway, this seemed to be just the incentive she needed (which is so odd because she is not cuddly), because after a few more tries she was doing 3-4 steps on her own no problem--and then collapsing into our arms. It was really sweet and she had the biggest smile on her face when we were hugging her. It's amazing how she seemed to know that she had just done something really cool. Anyway, I think this is the start of her walking independently...!

Sigh

So today was a day of errunds and none of them were terribly Stella friendly.

So as I trekked from Target to Wegmans I thought I would take a quick detour to Chuck E. Cheese and have a little 'Stella time.' As you enter a Chuck E Hostess or Chuckstess gives both you and your child a stamp on your hand that matches. It is a stamp that can only be seen under the blacklight which is at the entrance.

Within minutes Stella made it clear this wasn't really how she wanted to spend her 'Stella time". I plopped her on one thing and then another and she squirmed and seemed to be scared and reached for me...her mother...to take her off. We wacked a mole, sat on a tractor with Bob the Builder, threw basketballs in a net, knocked over duckies in a row, rode a train with Barney and finally sat in a car with Chuck E. All the while trying to get Stella to enjoy the fun that is Chuck.

Finally after 15-20 mins I gave up. She was clinging to the side of an air hockey machine and pointing at the window. It was time to go.

As you leave a Chuckstess has to check your hand and the hand of your child to be sure you are leaving with what you came with. She peeked at my hand and saw a 47 in the disco light but when she looked at Stella's there was nothing but a smear of glow and the hint of part of a 7. She looked again and from different angles trying to verify that Stella was mine. A nice little line was forming both coming and going as we waited. Finally the gal looked at me and asked if I might have a picture to confirm that little blessing smear-7 was mine. Can you even believe I didn't!? I had left my cell phone in the car to charge and that would have been the only pics in my purse. The woman looks from Stella to me and back and I am sheepishly looking at the little crowd of anxious onlookers. "Does she talk" asks the Chuckstess. I shake my head, no. "Will she point" Again, I shake a no. "Will she look at you" YES! She should be able to do that.

With that she gets right in Stella's face and says "Where is your mommy?" No response from Stella AT ALL....she repeats this like 5 times and I am just standing there...right next to Stella turning red. Finally Stella makes her trademark GA!!! and turns to look at an indian woman standing about 3 feet away. GREAT!

The Chuckstess tries to laugh but she is torn between feeling bad for me and knowing she shouldn't leave without knowing for sure that Stella is mine. I then remember that I have this in my purse and after showing it to her she lets me leave. Sigh.

What a fun day we had yesterday!

We started with a trip to PetSmart to look at the various cute, fuzzy, feathered, scaley and slimey things they had to offer. Stella likes dogs...more in pictures than in real life.....doesn't even seem to notice cats......finds fish amusing for a little while....guinea pigs, mice, and reptile type things didn't do much for her. Although she liked the birds the pile of dog doo left in front of the cages prevented us from watching them for too long. It was adorable to see her looking at everything and reaching out with fervor to show us what she liked.

After that she was ready for a nap while Mommy met with Ryan's Mommy, Lauren, for lunch. We went to this crazy cute tea restaurant in Allentown and enjoyed being baby free for a spell.

Then we met the Daddy's and babies at Market Fair to see the Easter Bunny. This is the second time we have taken Stella and Ryan to see the Easter Bunny together and we plan to subject them to this until they are 18 or stronger than us. TeeHee. This time it didn't go quite as well as last year but I still love the pics! Poor Ryan really HATED the whole experience and Stella wasn't too thrilled either. But, gosh aren't these pics cute!?

This is the shot from last year! Look how little they are!!!

After scaring them to death with the bunny visit we went to Friday's for dinner and watched them throw food off the table, point at each others food as if they didn't have the same thing in front of them and pretty much sat in awe at how cute they are and how much has changed in a year.

The whole day made me grateful for little things like pet stores, hot tea, bunnies and cups with straws. As I drove home I thought about my friend Lauren and how lucky I am to have found her and how much I have missed our weekly playdates. Just one more reason why I can't wait for the summer.

In other news this week I had over 12 inches cut off of my hair. I love my new doo but wow......I am still in shock.

Stella's new favorite toy

So last weekend we bought Stella a potty. Ok, maybe we were being a bit ambitious being that she is only 14 months old but we thought we'd give it a try. At least maybe create an association in her mind and get her used to it. Well, she's gotten used to it alright...in fact, it appears to be her new favorite toy! Her she is playing with it tonight. Sigh...

Bear-y

Stella has a bear that she sleeps with...well, she has two actually. Brannen sits in the corner of her crib and doesn't get much attention from Stella. Except when we get her up in the morning and ask her "Where's Brannen?" and she crawls over and swats him on the nose (cutest thing ever?). The other bear doesn't really have a name other than "Bear-y". Ok, we got lazy on the name. But he's been around for a long time. He hasn't been with Stella for every night since she's been born but close to it. It's one of those things that you buy a 2nd one of, just in case (and fortunately Jen did just that because the night Stella hurled her guts out, Bear-y needed a trip to the washer and the back up filled in admirably for the night). Anyway, to say Stella is attached to Bear-y is an understatement. It's the first thing she reaches for when we put her down for the night. She's got it down to a science and her right hand will be groping for him before she even hits the mattress. Tonight before bed, when we were playing in her room, she crawled over to her crib and stood up and reached through the slats. I wasn't sure what she was doing but next thing I knew, Bear-y was coming through the slats and out of the crib. It was so adorable to see how she interacts with it, since we don't usually get to experience that. She rubbed her nose against Bear-y and sniffed him repeatedly. Ok, a little weird but nice. Then she put Bear-y down on the floor and laid her head on him. So cute! Anyway, I have a feeling that Bear-y is going to be around for a while, and maybe someday we'll give him a proper name. But for now he's just Bear-y, and we don't know what we would do without him!