Stella Meets Jolly Old St. Nick!

Stella got to meet Santa a few weeks ago.  

Let me just say...this photo shoot was HILARIOUS!  Josh got to dress up as Santa - they even stuffed his belly so he would look more like the real deal!  Stella thought it was so great!  

(Photos taken by Fotofly at Scheel's)

Then she sat on the "real" Santa's lap...and she wasn't too fond of him!

We are so glad we decided to have these photos done.  I hope they keep doing them in the future, because I'm thinking this is going to make a great tradition for years to come!

Nursery

This post is obviously long overdue, but I couldn't let any more time go by without posting pictures of this precious room.

We are so very lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives who contributed to this room.  Josh's parents purchased our crib, and my parents purchased our dresser.  The recliner is my dad's favorite chair that he is so kindly letting us borrow while we live here.  We just added the slipcover to make it match.  The nightstand was a $10 DI item that we refinished, and the shelves were from a craft store that we just spray painted.  I also painted the different frames throughout the room.  The owls were a fun project I did while I was pregnant.  They are covered with the same fabrics that are in all of the bedding pieces.  I made the rug - it turned out cute, but if I would have known it would take about 15 hours total to make, I probably would have just bought one.  However, it did keep me busy during downtime when we were waiting for miss Stella to get here.  Mostly though, we owe a lot of thanks to my mom.  She made all of the bedding, the pillow, the two quilts, and the runner on the dresser.  She put countless hours of work into this room, and even went through the pain and torture of creating her own pattern based on a pottery barn quilt (since we didn't want to spend that much money, and ours turned out much cuter.)

Before Stella was born and once this room was complete, Josh and I would often go sit in this room and imagine our new baby girl and the way our lives would change.  We didn't know it then, but we would soon be given this sweet angel who we love more than we ever could have dreamed.  

I love this room.  

But even more, I love the baby who sleeps in it.

Stella - 10 months!

I am very sad to say that I haven't taken nearly enough pictures during this past month.  But I can assure you that Stella is growing quickly, and is learning so much every day!  Here are a few things we have been up to lately...

Stella absolutely LOVES kids.  Especially her cousin Sadie.  We were able to have Sadie over at our house for a "late-over" one night for her birthday.  The second she walked through the door, Stella was cracking up - to the point where her face was red, her eyes were watering, and she could barely catch her breath. She thinks everything Sadie does is hilarious and it is the cutest thing!  

Lately Stella has become very animated.  She is learning all sorts of new facial expressions.  I wish I could catch them all on camera!  She has her shy face (where she hides in my shoulder and looks away from people when she first sees them), her sweet face (where she tilts to head to one side and smiles), and Josh's personal favorite, the snorting face shown below (she makes this face and huffs and puffs in and out...I love it because she knows she is being funny when she does it, so she just goes on and on).

Stella is LOUD...and I mean really loud.  She just yells and jabbers at the top of her lungs for no reason.  At times she will even scream as high pitched and as loudly as she possibly can, just because she thinks it is fun!  It is adorable, but kind of deafening when you are holding her and she screams right in your ear :)

She went through a funny phase this past month or so where she would sit and shake her head side to side and then laugh.  (I have it on video but of course it wouldn't upload!)

She loves to wave.

She is getting very good at mimicking your sounds and actions.  She now says "mama" when she is sad.  It melts my heart every time!  Not sure she knows exactly what it means, but still...sweetest thing ever.  

She loves to snuggle with mom.  Often times when she is getting ready to go down for a nap, I will sit with her on my bed and just hold her in my lap.  Occasionally we both fall asleep that way and I absolutely love it.  

She still loves the TV - especially the baby channel, although it really doesn't matter what is on, she will sit and watch it.  She would probably sit in front of the TV all day every day if I would let her!  

This girl is still not crawling, but she is becoming very quick!  Just the other day, I took my eye off her for a split second, and I found her at least ten feet away from where she was originally, sitting at our bottom drawer, pulling out swimsuits and throwing them.  I guess its time to baby proof this place!

She is still the happiest baby I have ever seen.  It is rare that Stella will cry.  Even when she is tired or hungry, it is just more of a whine than an actual cry.  Josh and I joke that our next baby is going to be a grouch since she is so happy 24/7.  But that's okay, I wouldn't trade anything to see those smiles and hear those giggles every day! 

I feel like Stella learns something new every day.  She is very smart and growing like crazy, and I really cannot believe that she will be a year old in just two months!  I am trying to enjoy this last little bit of babyhood, before she turns into a toddler and takes over the place ;)  I could not be more proud of this cute little thing!  She is so very special, and always makes me happy every day.  Love her with all my heart!!

(Our one and only photo taken on Stella's first Thanksgiving - I know, terrible right?  I WILL take more pictures this month!)

Stella's First Halloween!

Whooooo's the cutest owl you've ever seen! This girl!!

 Stella had a great first Halloween!  And had the cutest costume EVER, if I do say so myself!  (Although she got pretty sick of that costume after being in it all day! So sad...)

We spent the day visiting friends and family, and doing a little bit of trick-or-treating.  

 Stella with scary aunt Brittany.  I really thought she would be scared of this zombie, but I think she actually like her better this way!  haha just kidding!  She did think it was pretty great though!

And with her two cute "cat"erina cousins...

Stella's pumpkin...she carved it herself! ;)

Josh's pumpkin...very impressive!

And my pumpkin. It looked better when it was darker...okay, okay it just wasn't that great to begin with!  So in case you can't tell what it was, it was a witch running into a tree!  Look hard enough and maybe you can figure it out! :)

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!  

Stella - 9 month photos

A friend of ours from high school was so generous and kind enough to take Stella's 9 month photos a few weeks ago, and we just got them back!  He is just starting out in photography - but I would say he is already a pro!  :)  Thanks so much Ian!

Oh, how I love that little girl!!!

Plus, a sneak peek of what's to come in our Halloween post...

8 - 9 months

Stella is growing up right before our very eyes!  She LOVES kids...anytime she sees kids, she just lights up and laughs!  And we don't have too many kids around very often, so anytime she gets to hang out with some, it makes her entire day!

Stella with adorable little Corbin

Cute cousins in their matching Halloween PJ's

This picture might fool you into thinking she is crawling....

 but she's definitely not!  She doesn't want to I guess, so instead she just rolls around like crazy to get where she wants to go!

  

 This girl loves to eat.  You might not think so since she is pretty small, but she devours her food at every meal!  And sometimes gets a bit messy in the process...

She is still a wonderful sleeper and loves her crib.

And when she gets tired, she sucks on her binkie and finds a corner of her blanket and rubs it on her nose... (Sounds like a couple of cousins I know!!)

She takes after her mama....

(Just kidding...I'm not a horrible mother I swear.  She does like to play with the bottles though!)

And she is still just the happiest baby I have ever seen!

 Stella went to the doctor this week for her 9-month checkup.  She is at 70% for her height, and about 30% for her weight - still tall and skinny!  Let's face it...she doesn't really stand a chance to be anything but that!

We can't believe how fast time is flying by...she is going to have a  birthday in just a few months and it makes us sad to think that my baby is growing up so fast!  But we are loving watching her learn and discover new things every day.