NMC Birthday Party

Whew! We survived 60-something toddlers and parents in our home Saturday morning for a mom's group August babies birthday party- and amazingly enough nothing major was broken! It was a great party. Here are some photos from the event.

Photos: 1st birthday party

Happy Birthday, Baby!

The best of your first year in photos.

Just seconds before....

her first steps! Here are the pics I was taking of her for Mimi right after I put on the magic shoes. You can see her getting ready to walk on over to me. (Mimi: click to enlarge and you'll see how tiny her feet are!)

More walking

Walking!

Goodbye, babyhood. Hello, toddler!

I have to share the story behind her first steps yesterday, caught on film by Daddy later that night (below). My nice UPS guy had just dropped off a package from Shoes.com, which I knew by the size of the box were Mimi's birthday present for Stella. Just to check for size, I put the shoes on her and started taking a few photos for Mimi, since she just happened to be in an outfit she bought her as well. Stella has had these shoes on for all of 1 minute when she decides she wants to check out the camera and she WALKS over to me! I could have handled it better, I think. I screamed and grabbed her and started laughing hysterically over the magic shoes. Was worried for a second there I'd scare her away from ever walking again but she thankfully she kept on trying it out all day yesterday and this morning - with and without the magic shoes.

In the first walking video she's making a fish face, which app. Rob taught her how to do yesterday afternoon. Also uploading a video of her eating a sandwich on Tuesday, just b/c it's cute.

Walker

Walkin' and talkin'

Some recent photos

11 month update

Just thought my readers were due a Stella update. Here are a few things going on with our little munchkin:

• She's on the move! Her highchair, play table, and walker are all used to help her 'walk around', as are Mommy & Daddy, of course. She can stand on her own for 5 seconds or so, just as long as it takes for her to remember she's not holding on to something and... down she sits.
• She's quite the mimic. Her verbal repertoire of mama, dada, bye bye, uh oh, and ladle ladle (we're not sure what this means but it's a very popular word) are supplemented with the noises she makes to match the coffee grinder (hummmmm), Rob's Indian warrior noise (she can even do the hand to the mouth effect), and 'singing'.
• She dances. Play the Mozart Music Box or the CD's Nana gave her and she twists side to side holding her hands together to the songs she likes best. I've been trying to get this on camera but she thinks the video camera is HER toy!
• Her favorite toys right now are puzzle-type things that have blocks or balls she can put inside of something else. She's really into putting something into a container, taking it out, and doing it again about 50 times. Great with me!
• She's growing. We're *finally* about to size out of the 9 month clothes and transition to 12 month. We'll be there just in time for her birthday, I think.

Here's a pic of her conked out on the flight to Austin.

Austin

Hi folks,

We're back from a long weekend in Austin, where we had a great time with our dear friends in a VERY sweet house in the Texas hills. I just took a few photos (below) but Melissa took more. The flight both ways went great - Stella was fine as long as she was allowed to socialize. She walked the aisle of the plane and climbed up to chat with our neighbors over the seat. We turned the corner this weekend on a few things - she can now climb stairs, she eats meat (salami and turkey are favorites), and loves lemonade. What a little toddler she's turning into!

Photos from magazine photo shoot

As most of you know, Stella was selected (thanks to her agent, Aunt Cassie) to be in Pregnancy & Newborn magazine. We went to a studio downtown today for the photo shoot and found out it was for a Halloween article. Stella was paired with 14-month old Brody and was dressed as a 'ballerina princess'. Doesn't get much girlier than that! The headband probably won't be in the final shot - they took it off for most of the shoot. I hope to get some of the photographer's photos in the coming weeks but we'll have to wait until October to see which one they use. Photos from today:

Video: 6/16 playing

Cruisin'

OK I've been busy! Stella went from crawling on one Sunday to full fledged cruising the next. She's pulling on up literally everything and walking around rooms. It's a full-time job just keeping up with her. Those foam floor tiles I ordered could not come soon enough!! Video coming soon...

Peanut Butter

On her 10-month 'birthday' today, Rob gave Stella some peanut butter. He's been counting down the days to this one, peanut butter being his favorite food and all. Sure enough, Stella loved it, complete with big smiles and happy noises.

HOWEVER, 10 minutes later we both noticed a rash on her cheek and chest. It went away in about an hour but needless to say, she will not be getting any more PB for a while! Hopefully it's just her age and not a sign of a serious nut/legume allergy, although from a bit of web research it could be either one. Hmmm.

Video: Crawling!!

Yep, I go see a movie on a Sunday afternoon and what does Stella do in my absence? Crawls for the first time! Rob took this video on his phone. Atta girl!

Photos: Memorial Day Weekend

Video: donkey laugh

Shot some video this morning while Nana was here. First you'll see Stella's new donkey laugh and then a little of her practicing 'talking'.

Early Christmas presents

Stella got her Christmas wish early this year: Two Front Teeth! One made its appearance in Florida and the other one is just poking through now. Poor thing is having lots of trouble sleeping and keeps making biting sounds as she practices hitting top and bottom teeth together for the first time. Oh, and yes...she bit me tonight. Fun times.

In other news, I hired a part-time nanny to watch her 4 days a week, 2:30-5. Today was Egan's first day and she and Stella have really hit it off already. S loves her and I love having some time to focus on the job search. Egan loves Stella - everyone wins!

First words: bye bye