Photos: Baby's First Christmas!

It was a great Christmas! Not only did I get to open presents for two people (:)) but Stella provided pretty much constant entertainment for the family in Tennessee, only to break for the occasional nap. Here are some photos of the week - these are Mom's and mine combined.

Thank you to everyone for their generosity this year - we really racked up!

Stella sits up...for a second.

Stella's new 'thing'

Another pedi visit and some photos

I can't believe it...Stella had her second round of shots yesterday (polio and DTaP) and would you know she didn't even flinch! No tears, no crankiness later - even when the bandaids came off. What a champ!

She weighed in at a whooping 17 pounds, which puts her in the 95th %ile for weight, 95th %ile for head circumference, and 50th %ile for height. I attribute her high weight-to-height ratio to her large brain. ;)

I took a few photos of her in front of our Christmas tree. Check out the shoes she's wearing. Those were once mine and now fit her perfectly. I love them.

Jumparoo

Stella's Christmas present from Mimi arrived yesterday. This afternoon I put Stella in it for the first time and videotaped her response. I think it's fair to say that it's a hit! Thanks Mimi!!

Here is the video and some stills from today. After the jumparoo we wound down with some 'books' Aunt Kylle got her.

Photos and video: Bathtime giggles

Safe Christmas shopping for Stella

I think it's safe to assume that the most frequent readers of our little blog here are Stella's grandmothers and aunts (both biological and honorary). ;) Since this audience is also the most likely to buy Stella toys for Christmas, I thought I'd share some news on dangerous toys still on shelves. Scary, but I'm not at all surprised. I know it's hard to do, but if you guys could avoid buying toys that are made in China and anything that does not say BPA and phthalates-free, that would go a long way towards keeping Stella safe. Since I don't have time to research every toy, helping me out on that front would be great. Just in writing this post, I looked at the latest most unsafe toy list and guess what I found...Stella's favorite book - the cloth one! It contains dangerous levels of lead according to the U.S.PIRG’s 2009 Toy Safety Report, Trouble In Toyland.

http://www.babycenter.com/204_dangerous-toys-still-on-store-shelves-report-finds_10325127.bc?scid=momsbaby_20091201:2&pe=2UwpAwD

Here's an article on the environmental safety of toys:
http://www.babycenter.com/0_going-green-the-environmental-safety-of-toys_3651139.bc

And here are some websites that I check before buying myself or her body products. My pediatrician even gave me a handout from them:
http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/browse.php?maincat=babycare

Another resource (with toy ratings): http://www.goodguide.com/

Unsafe toy list - this one is specifically designed for mobile phone use: http://toysafety.mobi/unsafetoylist.html