First Christmas Present

Our friends Don and Jacci came over last night because they had a gift for Stella. I made a simple dinner and we visited while the guys played PS3. It was nice to have them over, we have not done anything together since before Stella was born.

We weren't sure if Stella would be into gifts this year or not, but she ripped the paper like a pro. John helped her in the end but she got a good start to it. They got her the Little Tykes Go and Grow Rolling Giraffe. It's really cute. She's only 8 months, so she's too small now, but this summer she'll be chasing Lucy with it for sure. She sits on it like a pro already though. I can't wait until she can actually push herself on it. John pushed her a bit in the living room and although she was already exhausted and ready for bed, she got a burst of energy for a minute to enjoy it. Then she was out for the night.

Just a few pictures

I thought I'd share a few pictures of Stella bundled for winter. The snowsuit is from David, it fits her perfectly. I'm glad I had it yesterday when I had to take her out so I could grocery shop. She was warm.

The one with her in the Santa hat is from Friday night when we got home from John's cousins house. She does an annual family get together before Christmas. We left at 9 so Stella could go to bed. She was tired and I keep her on her schedule no matter what. Otherwise it's days of getting her back on track. Now that she sleeps all night I don't want to jeopardize that. The baby doll was a gift from John's aunt Sandy. It looks like Stella too.

On Friday she fell asleep in her bouncer chair while I was getting ready. She was awake as I dried my hair and in the time it took for me to put the dryer away in the other room she fell asleep. I didn't want to wake her so I just left the light and the fan on and she slept there for over half an hour. When she woke up I was standing there and she just looked at me like, Where am I?

Strong Stander

Stella is now standing on her own next to the couch and other things. She will stand for well over a minute. She loves to stand on the couch cushions looking over the back of the couch outside. She just looks at the cars going by and the snow, how intriguing. She's still not the biggest fan of being on her tummy. If there is a toy in front of her, or she's facing the Christmas Tree she's a little bit better. I think she'll still crawl, but she might be walking sooner than we'd thought too. Although she hasn't tried to step or anything, I'm sure it's just a matter of time and she'll try it.

It's just crazy how fast they grow. In the last month or so she has developed so much and has a great personality. She's a wonderful sleeper too. She now sleeps from 8:30 or 9 to 8:30 or 9, a full 11 1/2-12 hours at night. She doesn't even wake up for her pacifier, or of she does, she finds it herself and goes back to sleep. In the morning when I am getting ready for work I peek in there to see her before I leave if John's home so that I don't have to wait until I get home after work. She's like a little angel sleeping and doesn't even notice I'm there. I have to wake her up to take her to my mom's if John's working.

I have 12 days off coming up starting on Christmas Eve. While I'm off we're going to work on a few finger foods and more tummy time to see if she'll start to scoot and crawl. I think that will be coming very soon.

I stayed home from work today since the weather was bad and was supposed to get worse throughout the day. So far Stella and I have completed the weeks laundry, baked a pan of brownies, played in the basement on the floor, played on the couch, and spent 2 hours on the phone with Time Warner to update our anti-virus since they changed software and ours expired. Thankfully Stella took a little nap while I was on the hone with the guy, who was clearly overseas, but insisted his name was Roger. It took 2 hours because they treat you like you've never seen a computer before when you call and take you through things step by step. The tell you how to open your web browser and where to find the address bar on your screen and how to double click on things. It's really ridiculous if you ask me. All I needed was the key code to the new software and I could have done it myself. They should have an option when you call for technical support to press 1,2,3 for beginners, intermediate and advanced computer users. Had he just given me the key code, I'd have been done in 20 minutes. Instead I had to hang up and call back in the middle so that I could feed Stella.

Now the virus scan is running, and has been for well over an hour, since it is a new program to our computer. It hasn't found anything yet, so far so good. I think it's fine, but I'm glad that's done so I don't have to waste my weekend doing that later. John would never have the patience to call them and set that up, so I just got it over with. Hopefully the virus scan is done soon so I can reboot the computer and call it a day.

For now I am going to go back upstairs and play with Stella some more. The snow seems to have tapered off now, we got mostly rain until about 9 am, so everything is ice underneath the inch or two of snow. That's why I stayed home, better safe and warm than to risk the 40 mile drive and with Stella in the car at least part of the way there.

Precious Moments...

There are many things in life that are precious, but I think that being a parent makes you realize that nearly everything is precious and you just have to take it all in as much as possible.

When we first found out I was pregnant admittedly we were a bit nervous about how Lucy would react to having a new baby in the house since she had been our "baby" for the last 4 years. We did everything you are supposed to do in introducing her to Stella. As I set up the nursery we let Lucy investigate and sniff everything but were sure to tell her that the things were not hers. After Stella was born John brought home the hat the hospital gave her and put it in Lucy's crate for her to sniff and sleep with before the baby came home. The day we brought Stella home we introduced her and Lucy outside and then Stella and I went into the house, followed by John and Lucy so that Lucy would know that Stella comes before her on the pecking order. I'm not sure if that all had something to do with the fact that Lucy is so good with Stella or not, but she absolutely loves Stella, and Stella loves Lucy.

The first time Stella ever laughed out loud was at Lucy and she continues to laugh at her every day. They play together and give each other kisses, Stella is now starting to pull Lucy's collar and ears and Lucy just sits there and lets Stella do whatever she wants. We couldn't ask for a better reaction to Stella than Lucy has given us.

And just when we thought they couldn't love each other any more than they already did, the other day when John was home with Stella, Lucy and Stella fell asleep on the couch and Stella was using Lucy as a pillow. Lucy just laid there and slept with not a care at all that Stella was resting on her. It was truly a precious moment and I am glad that the camera was nearby and John was able to get a shot of it to capture the moment. I'm sure Lucy and Stella have quite a few naps ahead of them. I'm even sure that once Stella sleeps in a big girl bed in a few years, Lucy will abandon John and me and sleep with her instead.

Pearly Whites

Lucy got her teeth cleaned yesterday. For those of you who aren't pet owners or who have never had a pet's teeth cleaned, they have to put them under anesthesia to do it. I had to drop her off at the vet office by 7:30 in the morning so that they could prep her for the procedure. Dogs are so smart. When I woke her from her slumber to take her she was sleeping in bed with John, her head on my pillow that was probably still warm from me sleeping all night. She poked her head up when I called her name and then when I asked if she wanted to go for a ride, her head popped up and her ears were standing on edge as she clumsily made her way out of the bed.

The ride to the vet was interesting though. I had the seat warmers on so she actually sat on the passenger seat instead of my lap as copilot since it was warm. As we made our way half way across town she was laying on the seat, half asleep, smiling at me as a way to thank me for the opportunity to come along. Then we turned onto the road the vets office is on and her tone changed very quickly. She suddenly became very anxious and started whining. She knew where we were going. I pulled into the lot, got Stella out of the car, grabbed Lucy's leash and practically dragged her through the door. As I signed the waivers for the procedure the vet tech whisked her away before I even got a chance to say farewell.

Around noon I called to check on her and I was informed by the vet tech that they had literally just finished the procedure, she was waking up and that she would be ready to pick up by 2. I thought that seemed early since she was only going to be out of anesthesia for 2 hours, but called John and he went and got her at 2:30. He said she was walking into the walls as they brought her out and severely dog-tracking all the way. He carried her to the car because the parking lot was still slippery from Monday's snow. When they got home she laid on the back of the couch and just quietly whined for hours. First thing she did when she got home though was check to see if Stella was in her room, they love each other so much.

When I got home from work she still looked all glassy eyed like she had a rough night out and perhaps was still drunk, but she was happy to see me and Stella. She gave Stella kisses and then immediately sat by the pantry so I would give her a treat. The rest of the night she played a bit here and there and then passed out on the couch while John and I watched some TV. She got me up twice last night to go outside, as usual, and was still sleeping on the pillows when I left this morning.

Her teeth do look nice though, and her breath is way fresher. I guess it was worth it.

It's the time...Christmas time is here!

Yesterday I took advantage of the snow and stayed home so that I could put up our Christmas Tree and other decorations. I got a late start to it, but by 3:30 or so the tree was done and I just had to put out my other stuff. Stella was playing on the floor or in her bouncer the whole time aside from a few breaks for feedings and for me to play with her and take a break. She was such a good girl. When I turned on the lights she just stared at them with a big smile on her face. Now that it's done I hold her up close to the tree so she can look at everything. She tries to reach for the ornaments, I'm sure thinking that they are all toys that she could put in her mouth.





There is nothing like the way the house feels after the Christmas decorations are up. It feels so much warmer to me. I can't wait until Stella is old enough to help me decorate and we can bake cookies together and dance to Christmas music in the living room like I did with my mom when I was a kid. To me those memories are what Christmas is all about and now I can create new ones with my daughter.

I have pictures of Stella with the Christmas Tree but haven't had a chance to upload them yet. They'll be added tonight hopefully.

Nothing Worth Buying...

Ok, is it just me, or are the stores filled with crap this year? I went shopping today with my sister in law and Stella and we walked the entire mall and also went to Old Navy and Best Buy and I bought 2 Christmas presents. I was hoping to get more of it done, but I just didn't see anything that I thought anyone would like. I don't get it. I realize that the economy is awful and that people are not spending as much as they usually do, but maybe if there were better choices, we'd spend more and the stores would make some money. My sister in law had every intention of buying a pair of boots today and we went to probably 8-10 stores and she didn't find any that she liked. The assortments just are not that great this year.

I did find another toy for Stella, but those are not hard to find at all. I could spend thousands of dollars on her if I bought her everything that I saw that I think she'd have fun playing with. I'm sure that will get to be more and more fun every year. This year I think she'll be able to open the presents on her own and she'll even get excited over some stuff, but it'll be next year and especially the year after that when she'll really understand and get crazy over Christmas. This year will also be the last year that I won't have to worry about her getting into the presents and trying to grab ornaments off of the tree.

Anyway, I guess I can trying looking around some more for things that people might like and want over the next couple of weeks, but if there not anything new from what I saw today every body might be getting gift cards this year. I honestly don't mind them. Then I can go shopping and pick out stuff for myself. But I know a lot of people think they are impersonal. We'll see, maybe I'll find some good stuff soon.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We just got home from John's mom's house for Thanksgiving dinner. We had a nice ham and all the trimmings. It was kind of nice to have ham instead of turkey since we already had turkey at my parents house on Sunday. Stella slept through dinner today, she took a cat nap and then played with everyone for a while, took another cat nap, played some more and then we came home. She's now tried mashed potatoes (not that impressed), pumpkin pie (not so much either), whipped cream (now we're getting close) and cranberry sauce (that's yummy!).

It sucks that I have to work tomorrow, but at least I have the weekend. I think that the corporate office should be closed on Black Friday so all of us that work there can support the company and shop. Although, to be honest, most of us will be shopping anyway. I haven't even looked at our ad yet to see what all the door busters are. Shows how ready I am for Christmas Shopping!! I do have a few gifts for Stella already though, of course.

I want to take Stella to see Santa Claus at the mall and get her picture taken but I think I am going to wait until next week to avoid the After Thanksgiving crowds. Plus I want to go to Hawthorn instead of Regency because the Santa set up there is much nicer. Let's face it, everything about Hawthorn Mall is much nicer than Regency Mall.

John and Stella are playing on the floor behind me right now and I am going to get her ready for a bath shortly here. We've had a fun first Thanksgiving today and last Sunday. I can't wait to see what she thinks of the Christmas Tree.

Stella's First Snow

We had our first measurable snow on Monday and I actually thought to grab the camera on the way out the door to work to get a picture of Stella all bundled up in her car seat. I knew it would be dark once we got home and they said it might get warm enough to melt all of the snow throughout the day. My how motherhood changes you, I used to be in a hurry to get to SBUX for a mocha. But this day it was more important for me to capture Stella and her first snow.

A Thankful Time of Year...A Thankful Time of Life

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I decided today that I was going to take the time to get this blog set up so that I can start posting updates on Stella and everyday life. I've been planning to do this for some time now, but just haven't had a spare minute to get it going. Today is really no exception, but I figure I've worked hard for the last few weeks and I can take a few brief moments and just get the ball rolling. Once the start is up, I can keep it going much more easily I'm sure. I'm looking forward to the day off tomorrow to spend with Stella and John. I cherish every moment we have together as a family. Stella is growing so fast and now she's at the stage where she's really entertaining to watch. We love playing with her and making her laugh.

I hope everyone enjoys their holiday tomorrow and takes a minute to remember what they are thankful for this year, for me it is certainly my beautiful daughter and the family that I now have. I feel that having her has made me a whole woman and that I have changed in so many ways since she has come into my life. Being a mother is more than I ever could have imagined it would be. I am also thankful for John and that we continue to love each other so much everyday. He is a wonderful husband and an awesome father and I am amazed how much my love for him has grown since we've been married. Marriage is something that I think a lot of people think is not that big of a deal, but to me it is, and I am grateful that I have a husband that I can't wait to come home to every night and that I miss when he's working nights and I don't see him except for a few minutes in the morning as he goes off to bed and I get ready for the day. I'm thankful for my family and the happiness that I have in my life.