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.