Stella My Star

Stella: Derived from the Old French form of the Latin 'stella' meaning star.

Anyone who knows Jim knows that he doesn't make big decisions without first researching.

Choosing Stella's name was no different.

We had to know the meaning of the name, popularity, historical uses, and we had to make sure that it wasn't tied to anything inherently negative or bad, (think Adolf).

Check, check, check, Stella made the cut- and so it was.

We love her name.

From the first person we told in the hospital, it seems that everyone has an old aunt or neighbor named Stella, and they all seem to be described as spunky or spirited.

That's cool.

But her name actually means 'Star'.

That isn't why we chose it, but we like what it means.

We like that it suggests that she's going to do big things, and the hippie in me also likes that it's got a nature-y connection.

We like that it's not super common, but that it's not a made up name either.

So she's our little star.

So I've been noticing a bit of a trend:

Here she is watching TV with Daddy.

Looks here like Daddy might be choking her, but I think he's just working on a burp.

Here she is this morning- ready to go to daycare.

She's got a lot of clothing with stars on it.

This is not by design. They just seem to find her.

I don't know if there are a lot of baby clothes with stars on them, or if I am just drawn to them.

Either way.

I know these are not all of her star outfits. They just seem to pop up.

And so she is- Stella- My Star.

Big Girl School

I realized this morning that it takes a lot of gear to get out of the house for a first day of daycare.

This is what the front seat of my car looked like this morning.

If you can tell, there are 6 bags here, plus a gallon sized ziploc bag of milk.

There is also a backpack in the back seat that didn't make it into the picture.

There was so much gear in my front seat, in fact, that the seat detected the weight, but it was not enough to turn on the airbag- thankfully.

Oh yeah, and there was also a baby with me.

It was a tough day for this Mom. 

I had a tough time leaving my little lady at the daycare, but they were prepared for that.

Miss Melanie reminded me many times that I was welcome to call and/or stop by at any point during the day if I needed a little peace of mind.

I did both.

I called about an hour after I dropped her off- just to check.

Miss Melanie reassured me that Stella was fine.

She was swinging and napping.

Later in the morning when I was out and about, I swung by- just to check.

This is what our girl was doing.

She's laying in her crib, happily enjoying the activity gym.

I even saw her batting her arms at the toys hanging down.

I've never seen her do that at home before.

When I picked her up, Miss Jen said that Stella had a good day. 

She said that Stella was an easy baby, and that normally they expect babies first days to be rough.

But our girl handled herself like a trooper.

Everyone said that she was sweet.

I already knew that.

Looks like big girl school is working out well for Stella.

Crashed

My computer crashed.

I don't know what happened to it, but on Thursday all I could get was a black screen with a white cursor.

I am hoping to have it back before the end of next week.

Stay tuned...

The Daycare Countdown

We went to visit Stella's daycare yesterday.

This girl was excited to meet her teachers.

This mommy was not as excited.

Actually, that's not true, I was excited to meet Miss Melanie and Miss Jen - the ladies who will be taking care of my girl while I'm working.

I was just not looking forward to thinking about it.

It was a very good experience, and I'm really glad we went for the visit. It gave me some peace of mind that Stella will be well cared for while we're working.

The teachers were super sweet and asked lots of questions about Stella.

Questions that I couldn't necessarily answer.

They wanted to know things about her likes and dislikes.

Um, I don't know.

Sometimes she likes stuff, and then sometimes she cries when we do the same stuff.

Kind of made me feel like where have I been for the last 12 weeks?

Have I not learned anything about my daughter?

They already had her stuff all labeled in the room.

Her crib was labeled, her cubby, her storage boxes.

They're ready for her.

And they're super excited for a dark-haired baby.

Apparently they have a lot of blondies in the room.

So, 120 hours until my girl goes to daycare.

I think I can handle it

With a lot of help from Miss Melanie and Miss Jen.

Back to Work

I knew this day would come.

I have to go back to work.

I have exactly 164 hours of maternity leave left.

I have been off work since mid-September. I went on bedrest for about a week before Stella was born, so I've gotten pretty spoiled being at home

And getting to spend my days with this girl.

I'm dreading going back to work.

I really do love my job, and everyone there has been so understanding and wonderful about me taking such a long break to spend with my girl. I'm very ready to be back at work- I've missed my job.

I'm dreading it because I don't want to take Stella to daycare.

I can't imagine leaving her every day.

I'm not ready. I already know that.

I'm pretty sure there will be lots of tears next Monday morning as I take Stella to her daycare for the first time.

Don't get me wrong- the daycare we chose is exceptional.

We knew as soon as we toured it that we had found the right one for our baby.

I feel very good about how awesome Stella's days will be there.

I just can't imagine not getting to do this on a daily basis.

I'm not sure who enjoys it more, Stella or I.

I'm geting the impression that everyone in my house is already tired of hearing me whine about how much I'm dreading it.

For now I'm doing everything I can to enjoy the next 164 hours.

Stella's New Sounds

Stella has really started to coo and make other cool sounds.

Last night when she was up for her middle of the night feeding she was doing this.

I recorded this on my phone and didn't realize until after I recorded it that I should have turned on the back light, so it's kind of a strange orange-y color. Also, for some reason she appears to be a little upside down.

She wasn't upside down when I recorded it, but I can't figure out how to rotate it.

Boo for bad videography, but yay for catching something new on video the very first time she did it.

And I think I'll give myself a break since it was about 3:30 AM.

Anyway- Enjoy!

Cole's Food Challenges

Whenever we get together with my brothers, Cole humors my brothers by doing food challenges- he also earns himself a little cash.

Food challenges he has attempted:

licking a plate of syrup

eating a bunch of saltine crackers

eating a ridiculous amount of Peeps

You see the pattern....

So at Thanksgiving, a buffet of football snacks was irresistable.

They spent quite a while thinking of the perfect challenge.

They finally decided on 50 cents per spoonful of items off of the buffet.

There was:

Spinach Artichoke dip

Nacho cheese dip

Hot sauce from the wings

Hummus

Mayonnaise

Cream cheese out of a jalapeno

and then there was....

An ounce of Calyn's soy formula

He earned his $5, but he's not looking too good.

He slept with a trash can next to his bed that night.

He didn't use it.

I'm sure they are all scheming for the next family get together.

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!

I announced this last night and Cole thought I was nuts. I think Thanksgiving becomes more attractive as a person ages. I love the opportunity to get together with family and enjoy great food without the pressures of Christmas.

I also like to spend some time reflecting on the previous year and the things I have in my life that I should be thankful for. Too often I think we get so busy with the day to day tasks that we don't look at the bigger picture.

Some of the things that I am thankful for this year:

This silly, awesome man who has entered into parenthood with me again this year.

It was a long journey to get to this point, but I honestly couldn't be happier.

I have a great partner and wonderful support system.

And of course I'm so thankful to have the privilege to spend all of my days with these two amazing people.

It has been an awesome experience to watch Cole become a big brother to Stella.

I don't think a day goes by that he doesn't ask how she's doing.

Even when he's gone for the weeeknd, he always texts to check in on his sister.

I feel so blessed to be a part of the lives of these children.

I know that as a parent, it is my job to teach and guide them to be good people, but I don't think that is one-sided. As much as I am guiding them, they are guiding me.

So during this holiday season- I am giving thanks, and reflecting.

We are looking forward to spending time on Thursday with Jim's family. Stella will get the opportunity to meet her Aunt, Uncles and Cousins that she hasn't met yet. It will be fun for us to share our special little girl with her extended family.

On Friday we will be at my Mom's with 2 of my brothers and thier families. Stella & Cole will get to hang out with cousins, and Cole gets some quality time with 2 of his favorite guys, who incessantly pick on him, and he loves every minute of it! We are also hoping to sneak in some time over the weeeknd with other sisters and cousins.

What a wonderfully exciting time to spend with those that we love.

I hope that everyone takes a few moments to reflect on the things that you are thankful for.

Mixed Emotions

The smiles continue with this little girl.

She hands them out much more readily these days.

But she still seems to be a little overwhelmed with the flood of emotions.

Very frequently after the smile we get this....

It seems that she can't distinguish the emotion that makes her smile from the one that makes her pout.

Usually the bottom lip also comes out and we get a full-blown pout.

She has also been doing a bit more cooing and may be close to giggling. Jim does a game with her where his hand is attacking her tummy. He got a half giggle this morning, of course followed by the pout.

My Name is Rosie and I'm an Addict

My dog has a pathetic quality about her.

I would like it if she was regal and confident.

She is not.

Instead she is needy, nervous, and bumps into things when she walks around the house in which she has lived for 3 years.

She is addicted to socks. Anyone's socks, but particularly Cole's socks.

Actually, I don't think she really has a preference, but Cole is not as diligent about making sure his socks are put away as Jim and I.

She is a sock caper.

No one ever sees her take them, but they end up either in her bed, or under our bed.

I think she would bury them in the yard if we would let her.

She doesn't chew them or damage them.

She just loves them.

She knows that she shouldn't take them.

When caught, she is always repentant.

But she is an addict, she can't help herself.

I think the socks help her feel a connection to the family.

Owning the socks boosts her confidence in some way.

Today, I found these socks in Rosie's bed.

The bigger sock is Cole's. The smaller is Stella's.

Stella has arrived in the family. Rosie has accepted her, and is willing to love her socks.

Now I need to pay attention to where I'm leaving her socks.

It's Cole's Birthday!!!!!

He's 14!

I'm not sure how this happened. I don't feel like he should be 14. I'm having a hard time focusing on the present.

I keep thinking about what this means for the future.

Soon he will be driving, and dating, and moving out.

I'm not ready for any of that!

Here's our boy trying to guess his presents.

Yeah! A guitar book. Now he can play just like Jack White.

Here's the stack of gifts.

Wait- there's one more. Close your eyes....

Oh my gosh! What is it?

It's a new bike. Well, it's a newly refurbished bike.

Jim has been working for weeks on getting this bike ready for Cole.

From the looks of it, Jim's efforts were not in vain.

Cole loves it!

Cole's new ride.

For the record, as I type this Cole is outside riding around the neighborhood.

I think he likes it :)

It's a perfect fit.

She's Crafty

In preparation for the switch to cloth diapers, I've been thinking about buying Stella some of these Babylegs. They are basically legwarmers to replace pants. The reason why they are valuable when first making the swich to cloth diapers is that I'm planning on using one size fits all diapers, so you can imagine that on a smaller baby like Stella, there will be some bulk that might be a little tough to navigate with pants.

So, I have shopped around for Babylegs and they usually run about $12-$15 which seemed like a lot to pay for legwarmers. The other night on Baby Steals they had Babylegs for $9.99 a pair- still too much, I thought, for a simple legwarmer, so I started googling.

And then I decided to get crafty.

I found this tutorial for making your own Babylegs, and I figured I could give it a shot. I bought a pack of 3 pair of women's socks from Wal Mart for $5.

So far so good.

I don't have a sewing machine, so I had to hand stitch.

I did two rows of stitching to add a little extra strength.

Here is the finished product.

I managed to make 2 pair in about an hour from start to finish (including the time it took me to find my sewing box and thread the needle).

What do you think?

Stella loves them!

So, basically I got 3 pair of Babylegs for $5.

I think they would be really fun with some of the holiday print socks that are out right now.

I realized after I made them that they would serve really nicely to wear under dresses in place of tights. I did buy Stella a couple of pair of tights, but they sell tights sizes 0-6 months, and the ones that she has are WAY too long for her. Now I'll just buy a couple of pair of socks and make my own. Plus these make diaper changing much easier.

Stella and Her Daddy

Jim is a little bit of a Nervous Nelly.

He doesn't like it when Stella cries (who does?) but it makes him nervous and he would rather pass her off to me than try to figure out how to soothe her. It does make sense since I'm home with her every day and can read her cues much quicker than he can.

He is very helpful in many other ways, however.

He is Stella's chief napping partner.

We call this the snuggle nap.

He likes to tell her stories.

And is happy to help out with a bottle feed when he gets home from work.

I actually always like to make sure that we have at least one bottle on hand just for this purpose. I think the bonding time is just as important for Dads as it is for Moms.

He likes to share some Husker moments with Stella.

And of course they share some TV time.

Stella has been delighting us for a week now with her gorgeous smile and she always makes sure to save a few of those special smiles for her Daddy.

Shots Stink!

Stella had her 2 month check-up today.

She got 2 shots in this leg

And one shot in this leg

She didn't like it!

She actually did pretty well. The worst part for her was the oral vaccination that the nurse tried to give her. Notice that I say "tried" to give her. Stella really wasn't having it and spit most of it out. What she didn't spit out, she vomited onto the nurse. I don't think the nurse was impressed.

Lucy and I made time for a snuggle nap with Stella when we got home. She was a little fussy, but mostly she was just sleepy.

She weighed in at 10 lbs 6 oz and she was 21 3/4 inches long.

She has gained almost 5 lbs since she was born, and has grown 3 inches!

2 Months Old!

Guess who is 2 months old today!



This chick!

We can't believe that 2 months have already passed since this little lady has come into the world. We feel so lucky every day (even on the cranky pants days) to have her in our lives!

Being a preemie is a funny thing. There is actual age, and then there is adjusted age. Obvioulsy her actual age is 2 months. However, her adjusted age is only 3 weeks. Doctors advise that we should only expect milestones of a 3 week old baby, and in some cases that is true, but in other cases Stella is right on track for a 2 month old. She should catch up by the time she's 18 months. I'm not sure I buy into the whole adjusted age thing. I mean- does that mean that the first 5 weeks didn't really happen? I don't think that's fair to parents, because we were definitely here for every stinky diaper and sleepless night! Actually, she was pretty easy for the first 5 weeks. She's a good eater and a great sleeper, so we really don't have any complaints.

We have noticed a lot more personality from Stella just in the last week. She is definitely tracking with her eyes and is looking at people when we talk to her. Of course the smiles are always nice, but we're noticing that they're only readily available first thing in the morning. It's a rare occasion at this point if we can get a smile out of her in the afternoon or evenings.

Tomorrow is Stella's 2 month check-up so I'll post an update on her stats- that is if Stella and Mommy survive the trauma of shots!

Family Dinner

This is what dinner looks like at our house when Stella is having a bad day.

Stella kind of woke up today with her cranky pants on.

She was really sweet in the morning, but then as the day wore on, she was having a hard time giving in to sleep and so continued to become crabbier and crabbier. By the time we got home from Cole's guitar lesson she was in full meltdown mode.

Jim tried to take care of things while I worked on dinner, but at one point I looked at the area where I was preparing dinner to find this menagerie of items, and an empty cooktop. A lesser (or smarter) person would have given in at this point and ordered pizza, but I kept moving forward and managed to make these Mushroom and Swiss Sliders from the The Pioneer Woman. I love her. She helped me get through the Stella crabby-pants evening.

First Smiles!

Stella smiled this weekend!

I mean she really smiled- on purpose! She did it more than once and has done it several times already today! The first time she smiled it was immediately followed by a pout and a little bit of crying. I think we startled her because we got so excited. Despite that, she still was willing to hand out more smiles as the weekend went on. She even gave her brother a big old toothless smile when he came home after being gone all weekend.

We are beginning to get glimpses of her developing personality and it is so exciting for us. It is just so fun to see her respond to us. The smiles are just in time for the holidays and Stella getting the opportunity to meet some of her aunts and uncles who she hasn't met yet.

Today I am finding myself having a lot of conversations with Stella that are basically me begging her to smile again. So- come on friends, give us a smile- we know you can do it!

8 Weeks Baby!

Stella is 8 weeks old already!

It is so hard for us to belive that she has already been in our lives for 8 weeks. It seems like we're still trying to figure it all out. She has already changed so much- and every day has been a blessing!

For this post, I decided to give you a day in the life of Miss Stella...

A little snuggle time with Mom to start the day.

Toes sneaking out of the blanket.

Deep in thought. I'm very serious.

Let's take a moment to enjoy the chunk rolls on my arms & tummy.

Bath time is my favorite time of the day.

More snuggle time with Mom.

Nap time on the floor.

Time to go get my brother from school. It was chilly outside, but Mom might have gone a little overboard making sure that I stayed warm.

I look forward to spending time with my brother when he comes home from school.

He likes spending time with me too.

Time for a little nap in my swing.

Quality time with my Dad before bed.

And tomorrow we'll do it all over again :)