Goodbye, Boston

We're not saying goodbye to our friends - only goodbye to dear Boston, home to Rob and me for 10 and 9 years, respectively. We'll miss you, Beantown.

Since we won't see some of our dear friends again for some time, however, Seth organized a little send-off for us at a restaurant in the South End. Food and location were fantastic, but nothing beats a room full of unselfish folks wishing you the best as you're about to fly off 1,000 miles away. I don't know if we'll ever be able to replicate what we had in Boston in terms of the quality of our friends and neighbors but...that's what Delta is for. Love and miss you all already. Here are some photos of our send-off.

Photos: Stella meets Aunt Jess

Here's Jessica's photo album of the week she spent packing all of our belongings. We love you, Jess, and we owe you BIG TIME!!

Photos: 10 days old and a budding supermodel

Stella had her pictures taken by a professional photographer at Day 10 - there were SO many good ones; I've tried to pick the best ones here for a broad representation. She was such a ham for the camera - see for yourself!

Back from vaca

We're back from vacation in Western Mass and Auntie Jess has now joined us! It was an amazing, relaxing week with Erica/Thor & Melissa/Ben/Dash, and we've decided to do it again next year. Thinking Austin, Texas, but we've got a while to nail it down!

Stella was very adaptable - she went to the beach, played croquet, and went on two hikes. Busy gal!Jess and Stella are busy getting acquainted - hopefully Stella will be in a little better mood tomorrow. She's a little tired from her adventures last week, we think!

Stella in her resort wear:

Stella meets Aunt Kylle (and wants to be just like her!)

Think we're related?

Sometimes I think she looks just like Rob, and then other times...

Photos: bath time

Will you just look at how much she's grown in 4 short weeks? I can't believe it!

Lazy Sunday

Big girl!

Well, I thought that she just went through a growth spurt and I was right! Little Stella weighed in today at 9lbs 8oz - a weight gain well above average for her age, according to the lactation consultant. And, that was hungry. We weighed her again after a feed and she was ~3oz heavier. :)

The consultant tells us we're doing everything just right. The not-so-good news is that my pain issues could have been prevented with a simple outpatient procedure during the pregnancy, which probably can't happen now until I'm through b-feeding Stella. And the discomfort is not likely to subside. This is a real bummer, but at least she's gaining well and I can fix this for future babies.

Oh, and she was very surprised to see Stella smiling at me. She said she's never seen a baby that young, even a late one, smile at 3 weeks.

Enough of the bragging already!!

Week 1 of Mel and Stella

Well, week one of Project Home Alone with Stella has gone marvelously! She's ridiculously easy to care for and has let her momma get a walk and a shower in every day, eat regularly, and even do a load of laundry here and there. Plus, she's gone out for dinner twice and had friends over another night. Such a social butterfly.

The only problem area is that we're still having a few lingering feeding issues, so I'm having a lactation consultant come over this morning to check us out and make sure everything is working as it should. Better safe than sorry, I figure.

Happy Labor Day weekend!

daddy, don't go to work!!

aaawwwwwwwww