After celebrating Memorial Day and the end of June, we all knew that we were getting closer to the best holiday of the year... SUMMER BREAK! Yes, I said holiday because I consider this an extended holiday for those of us who are lucky enough to be in the teaching profession. I was very much so looking forward to this because it also meant that I would have some serious time to spend with Stella and Steve. It also meant that we would start kicking everything into high gear with the new house. We had a lot of changes we wanted to make to the house, and more importantly, we just wanted to be in there!
I celebrated my last day of school and the successful completion of my first year teaching in Reno. It's amazing to think that I took the job at my school on a whim, moved back up here to Reno pregnant, had our first child, and survived the remainder of the school while Steve was still living in Albuquerque. With my job on break, I was ready to get us into our house! But, we had one pretty important event that would be happening just before we could get in- Stella's baptism.
We had been trying to plan this baptism for what seemed like months (probably since the poor child was born) because we had a lot of coordinating to do with the most important people involved. To start, we had to make sure that Steve would be in town. Next, we had to find a time that worked for Stella's godparents that would also be when Steve was in town. We were lucky enough to have two of our incredible friends from Vegas say yes to being godparents. We actually asked Dana and Marco while we were staying with them on my drive to move to Reno last summer, so they've been very much a part of Stella's life even before she was born.
Graciously, our Las Vegans took the short flight to Reno to be here for the ceremony. It was also pretty special for me because Dana is actually pregnant with a little girl! This would be my first peek at the baby bump, and we would get a chance to talk babies now that we will both be mommies :). It's amazing to think how much has changed since we met and became friends back in our college days at UNLV, and I can only hope that our girls can become great friends like their mommies.
I would say that the baptism was probably the fastest and easiest ceremony that I have ever seen in a church, and boy was I grateful because Stella was done with the entire thing right about when we finished. It was actually pretty funny to see a seven-month baby being baptized because it's rare that you see a mobile baby in a baptism dress. She wanted to walk and stand, she wanted to talk, and she even stuck her tongue out at the deacon! It gave the audience a few laughs and made for some funny pictures. Overall, the day was a huge success and Stella was welcomed into the church. Having our guests in town also seemed a success because it gave them a chance to see Reno in a different light; you know how we UNLV people feel about Reno. I think that we mainly owe their slight change in opinion to Lake Tahoe though :). I am so glad that Stella has Dana and Marco in her life, and I look forward to seeing them as parents and getting to know their little girl.
Literally, the day after Dana and Marco flew back down to Vegas, it was moving day! We were really hoping that they would be the first guests in our new house, but a few flooring changes and the delivery of our appliances put us all back to the day after they left. It was a whirlwind of a weekend with the baptism and our visitors, so I have to admit that we were a little less than ready for the big day. By the grace of God (and with a lot of help from my parents) we were into the house for our first night. After all the delays, all the planning, and all the waiting; it was an amazing feeling for the three of us to finally have our first night together in our first home.
Admittedly, the rest of this month ended up being all about the house! We had appointment after appointment, contractor after contractor; I think that just about every craftsman in the greater Reno/Tahoe area visited our house during the month. I kept holding my breath because I was worried that Stella wouldn't be able to get settled and stay on her routine with all the oddities going on around her. Luckily, our little girl acclimated to her new surroundings better than anyone! She moved seamlessly into this house; it was as if she never knew she moved. There was so much change going on around her that Steve and I really had to take time to recognize the changes going on with her.
To begin, Stella started to feed herself. She had moved beyond Mom's milk and Mom's Baby Bullet treats, and Stella began to eat everything we could give her with her own hands. She loved everything we gave her; from cantaloupe to mozzarella cheese, and loved to pick them up off her tray. She also would be quite the little chatterbox while she ate; you could tell when she really liked something because she would give "Ma, Ma, Mammas" and "Da, Da, Daddas" in between bites. Oh yes, Stella learned to say "Da, Da" right after Steve got here. I'm so glad that he got to hear her say it for the first time in person!
I think that having everyone clap for her when she picked up food and put it in her mouth probably helped her along. She even took to giving everyone "the dictator" as a response to their clapping! We call it that because it looked like the backwards wave that dictators give. My mom loved it because it reminded her of her favorite Italian gesture. By the end of the month, "the dictator" remained on occasion, but it turned into Stella actually waving! She now will wave hello and goodbye to people. It's the cutest thing to see her wave to you!
Stella started to feed herself all kinds of finger foods right before a very big official holiday- Steve's 1st Father's Day! We took Dad and Grandpa out for breakfast to start the day, and then we all headed down to meet Stella's great-grandmother on the river to watch River Fest. It was a beautiful day with beautiful weather, and I think what made it so special is that we were all together. Even from thousands of miles away, Steve has been an incredible father. So, it was nice to get a day to be reminded of how lucky we are to have Steve in our lives. He already has been an unbelievable husband and partner for me, but I truly feel blessed that Stella gets to have him as a father. I think a fall in love with him a little more each day that I get to see him and Stella together. 
The day after Father's Day, Stella decided that she had one more present to give her father. As I had mentioned in a previous blog, Stella has been all about the business of walking. She will use just about anything to help her stand, and she will get pretty fussy if you don't walk her around the house multiple times throughout the day. We even had to drop her crib (again) to the lowest level after we kept catching her standing and trying to scale the rails! When we saw her stand on her own (which was HUGE) we were one hundred percent sure that she would bypass crawling all together because all she wanted to do was walk and stand, but apparently we were wrong. The day after Father's Day Stella decided that she would in fact crawl, but crawl probably isn't the right word for what she does; Stella is lightening quick! If we take our eyes off of her she is already in the next room. For example, Steve put her down to change the diaper genie, and Stella crawled down the hall, through our room, and into our bathroom to find me! We have one mobile baby on our hands! As if we don't have enough going on with our house, but now we have really had to baby-proof everything because Stella is everywhere.With so many exciting changes happening with our new home, I was sure that the month of June would be all about the house, but Stella made sure to make some big changes of her own to definitely ensure she was still the center of attention. To say the least, she definitely keeps us on our toes! It absolutely blows my mind just how inquisitive and smart she is, and I love seeing the world through her eyes as she discovers new things and discovers what she can do. Here's our little mobile momma, Stella Mia, at eight months:
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| June 28, 2012 |
