Stella's 10th Month

WALKING!!!  That's really all I can say about this last month.  Stella has become quite the mobile little lady, and she is so over crawling.  Nothing is safe in the house any longer because she is already there before you can turn around.  The little devil will even run!  I think she thinks that we're chasing or racing her, but more than half the time we're just trying to beat her to trouble.

To start out this month, we actually had Stella's nine-month checkup with her pediatrician.  This was by far the most fun visit to her doctor because there were no shots!!!  All we had to do was have her weighed, measured, and give our general report on her well being.  Uh, if only all visits could be this fun!  Well, we were sure that our "little" girl was not so little anymore, but we were surprised by the results.  We were both convinced that she was at least twenty pounds, so we were shocked to hear that she only weighs sixteen pounds, four ounces.  I don't know how that came up on the scale, but it put her in the tenth percentile for weight!  This kid puts away food; it's actually quite impressive.  I honestly thought that we were going to be told to scale back on how much she eats.  The doctor said that because she was crawling and practicing walking all the time that she was using all of her calories.  He said it was nothing to worry about, but we could introduce fats and oils into her diet.  Hearing the idea of feeding her things like bacon and adding whipped cream to her fruit made me nauseous.  To say the least, we decided to stick to her healthy diet and let her continue to eat her massive meals.  She may not have come out big in the weight department, but she did in height!  Finally, Steve's height has kicked in with Stells!  She's like a little tree, and her twenty-eight and one-quarter size put her in the seventy-fifth percentile for height.  I can only hope that she continues to get Daddy's tall genes- can you say volleyball star?

This month also brought a chance to take Stella to her second baseball game.  It was another local Ace's game, but this time she was actually able to enjoy it!  Stella was five months old for her last game and slept through most of it, so this was a huge change.  The biggest obstacle with Stells was keeping her seated; she wanted to walk and see things.  This meant that I spent the bulk of the game walking her around the stadium to let her see everything.  She still could care less about the ball game, but she did love all the people and their food.  Case in point- she made friends with a few parents of players for the Ace's sitting behind us.  It started mainly because she was so interested in what they were always yelling about, but then she really moved in when they kept bringing back snacks.  I think she's a ways off from actually watching the game itself, but I'm glad she enjoys the venue!

Stella's summer activities also continued as usual.  We really kept to bringing her to the pool once a week, and each week made her love the pool even more.  She loves to kick and splash around (mainly kick) and she has become really interested in the other kids there.  I finally got the courage to take her underwater this month, and let's just say that it wasn't the most fun experience for either of us.  You're supposed to blow in their face so they hold their breath before you go under, but Stella took a huge gulp!  When we came up, she gave me this horrible look as if saying, "How could you!"  We've only tried this a few more times since, but she still is not entirely in love with the idea.

She does however still love lakes!  We decided to change the location this month and take Stella to Donner instead of Tahoe.  The main reason we wanted to go to Donner is because this lake is full of public docks and is dog friendly.  This meant that we could bring Gwen and Trigger up to Donner a couple of times with Stella.  It turned into more of a family event than anything, but we all enjoyed the warm weather and beautiful views. 

As I said at the beginning of this post, this month was all about walking!  Just before the I had to go back to work for professional development (August 8th to be exact) Stella moved beyond taking a few steps and started to actually walk.  After a morning of putting my classroom together, I came home to make lunch for Stella and myself.  I set her down on the floor to play with Gwen, and I turned around to put Stella's lunch together.  When I looked back to check on her, she was no longer there; Stella was walking through the living room and kitchen after Gwen!  This simple little stroll across the kitchen was the turning point when Stella no longer feared falling down.  She needed help to stand up, which was usually a very patient Gwen, but once she was standing she was off and walking. 

Sadly, it was back to school for Mommy right after that.  I had my professional development for a few days, then we would be back to school.  In this short time, Stella figured out how to stand up by herself.  This meant that she no longer needed to be next to a table, chair, or Gwen to get mobile.  Stella's sole motivation life became to follow Gwen.  God bless Gwen for being a patient dog because Stella is now even more of a nuisance that she is walking.  Gwen can no longer escape her, but boy does she try!  Stella is even working on saying Gwenna; it sounds kind of like "Danna," but she's still pretty impressed with herself. 

Now that Mom and Dad are both back to school (Steve has gone back to college at UNR) we are all adjusting to our schedule away from each other during the day.  I think that Steve and I are both so glad that Stella decided to start walking over the summer!  There's nothing worse than hearing about some new and exciting thing that your baby has done that you missed.  Walking is such a huge milestone in a baby's life, so we were thrilled that we saw Stella do this first hand.






The summer is over and so are ten months.  We have a tall, talkative, mobile, little lady on our hands that is almost a year old!  She's always walking somewhere now, usually caring objects with her as she goes.  We really do have a little clown on our hands, and she makes our nights after school and weekends so worthwhile.  Even my parents are reaping the benefits of having this little girl in their lives, and they have to be the two cutest grandparents you ever did see!  I think we're all feeling pretty lucky to have her in our lives.  Here is Miss Stells "sitting" for her monthly picture:

August 28, 2012

Stella's 9th Month

This last month has really been all about Stella learning more about what she can do.  It's amazing to see and hear her test herself to see what happens when she tries something new.  We've been busily trying to complete final projects in the new house and enjoy the summer, and she's also been very much part of everything we do.  It's hard to find ourselves free to work on our projects because Stella wants to see what we are doing and try to help.  But, we ended June feeling one step closer to finally having our big projects out of the way.


 

 





As we started July, we were all very excited for Stella to have her first 4th of July!  The 4th of the July is one of our favorite holidays, and it is also the anniversary of when Steve and I started dating.  We didn't have big plans per say, but we were definitely looking forward to barbeque, sunshine, and fireworks.  Unfortunately, Stella started to act a bit odd a few days prior to the holiday.  Our little happy lady was moody and not quite herself; she didn't even want to play!  We checked her temperature and it was clear that someone had a bit of a fever.  She has only ever had a cold, but this was definitely something new.  The night before the 4th her temperature spiked at 102, and she didn't sleep more than a few hours.  With all of us running on little sleep and Stells still maintaining a fever, we decided to spend the holiday in a pillow fort on Mom and Dad's bed.  It was so sad to see our happy little baby so upset and uncomfortable, but thankfully her fever broke and she was as good as new the next morning.  We still aren't sure exactly what she had, but her pediatrician said is was some kind of virus that she obviously overcame.  As long as he wasn't worried, we weren't going to dwell on it either.  

With Stella recovering from her fever, her appetite also recovered!  She went from small meals to putting food down like a bottomless pit!  She was eating with gusto and always wanting more.  The cutest new thing that she started doing was with her bottles.  She no longer wanted to be held while drinking; she wanted to stand and drink.  It was like watching Napoleon Dynamite chug Gatorade!  On the other hand, she also started a new thing with her eating that we are not huge fans of- yelling.  She does not want to wait and be patient for her food, so she will yell at you to put more food on her tray.  We've been trying to teach her that we won't react to being yelled at, but trying to teach an infant is interesting.  Imagine telling a puppy not to bark and you'd understand where we're at.  She's starting to understand that yelling doesn't get her attention, so our meals are going back to happy eating sounds instead of the sound of Stella testing the range of her vocals. 

 Stella had been feeling well for weeks and the weather was lovely, so we decided that it was time to finally get her into a pool!  I had been reading that you could teach a baby to swim as early as six months, so I thought we should get her into a pool to see what she thought.  It was such a fun day (probably most fun for Mommy and Nonna) and I was so proud of how Stella did in the water!  She would turn into a little motor when you told her to kick, and she would splash around and laugh at the water.  We now go to the pool every week, and she gets a little bit braver every visit.  Our latest visit had her going under water!  

We also had the pleasure of having another photo session with Kendall this month.  We didn't really have too many ideas for this shoot, but we thought it would be a great idea to get her first time on a swing in photos.  We did a few shots here at the house, a few outside in the flowers, and then we walked over to the park for the big event.  To say the least, Stella LOVED swinging!  She was laughing and smiling, and we were lucky enough to have Kendall there to capture the whole thing.  With so many parks in our neighborhood, I have a feeling that visits to the swings may become a regular thing.

Right after the photo shoot, we had a rather significant event looming.  I had not left Stella since the day she was born; in fact, I had not left the Reno/Tahoe area since I moved here last summer!  In addition to this, Steve had never been alone with Stella.  After much planning and preparing, I would be taking my first trip and leaving Stella with Steve.  The plan was to go visit my sister in LA for her birthday for an overnight visit.  I was extremely nervous, but I knew that Steve could handle it.  Even when my flight was cancelled and I stayed an extra night, Steve had everything covered.  It was nice to have a weekend to enjoy my sister and help her celebrate her birthday.

Steve did very well with Stella, but I think that he might have had a little help.  Gwen has always been interested and protective with Stella, but now the two of them have become best buddies.  Gwen comes into Stella's room every morning and gives her kisses through her crib.  Stella gets up after every nap and crawls over to Gwen's bed to pet her.  But, I think that Gwen really loves Stella because she knows that Stella is her meal ticket.  Gwen will prop herself under Stella's highchair and wait patiently.  Of course, an infant will drop food on the floor by accident, but Stella will now bend over and share her food with Gwen.  She thinks it's hilarious and laughs when she watches Gwen eat.  So now, when we eat, we ALL eat! 

After months of doing it once in a while, Stella finally started to clap regularly.  She always liked it when we clapped for her, but she started to want to clap for herself.  Every time we would clap for her, she would start clapping too!  She now claps all the time at just about anything.  I'll find her sitting at the back door or in the kitchen just clapping at nothing.  She even put it together with standing, and she will stand and clap!  She loves to stand up and dance to music; well, dance is a strong word.  But, she will stand and bop out to music, then clap for herself.  I think she's proud of her mad dancing skills :).   

We had been seeing Stella stand for months now, and we have anxiously been waiting for her to walk.  She continued to crawl at a lightening quick pace, and she even climbed the stairs!  We have two levels of steps, and she will go up both without pausing.  But, in the last few days, she finally took her first few steps!!!  Steve and I will sit a few feet apart and clap and cheer for her, and she will walk to us!  It started with a few short steps, but now she has taken almost ten steps to get to us.  She still won't walk on her own without encouragement, but we're still pretty amazed to see her walk towards us with a big smile on her face.





Nine months- where does the time go?  Stella continues to change and learn things that blow us away.  She is so curious and wants to do things for herself, so we are trying to stand back and let her discover.  It's incredible to hear her sweet little voice and watch her walk; two things that I think all parents look forward to.  The summer is getting closer to ending for us, but we are relishing every day that we get to spend watching Stella grow.  So, here's the little peanut who is not so little anymore:

July 28, 2012

Stella's 8th Month

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:

June 28, 2012

Stella's 7th Month

Stella's horse, Trigger

Stella and I ended the month of April happy to finally be in May because May was a very important month for us; May meant that Steve would be here for good!!!  Steve was days away from his final day as an active duty member of the Air Force, and then all he had was the two-part drive to Reno.  Let's just say that our calendar had the 19th of May very clearly marked!

Shots? What shots?

Since Stella was born at the end of a month, we always end up having her check-ups scheduled at the beginning of the next month.  My dad and I met after work, and we prepared ourselves for a long afternoon.  Stella does well with shots... after they have been in her system.  The initial shots themselves are always a bit of an emotional roller coaster for both baby and Mommy.  Our poor nurse, Julie, is now known by Stella as the source of the pain, so she always gets mixed reactions from Stella whenever they meet.  The first exchanges between the girls was excellent, and the check-up by Stella's doctor went very well.  As of this six-month visit, Stella now weighs fourteen pounds, ten ounces; she is twenty-six and a half inches tall; putting her in the seventy-fifth percentile for height and head, and the twenty-fifth percentile for weight.  All I could think was, "Just like Daddy; tall and skinny!"  Following the stats, it was time for the real fun!  When poor Julie came back in the room, Stella immediately began to cry.  She knew what Julie was there for, and she did not want her shots!  She handled them like a champ this time; she actually stopped crying once she got the shots.  I guess we'll have to see if Julie continues to be the source of Stella's tears instead of the actual shots from here on out!

Giraffe jumper and party hat :)

It just so happened that the same week as this appointment was a rather big weekend for Stella.  Stella had her first birthday party to attend on Saturday, and Sunday was Mother's Day.  A co-worker of mine had his daughter Emma's first birthday on Saturday, and we were pretty excited to see that it was giraffe themed!  I told his wife that they were speaking my language because Stella's theme in life was giraffes, so we would be happy to attend.  Stella had on her best giraffe outfit, we had giraffe gifts for Emma, and we were ready to party!  Stella was a bit overwhelmed by all the people, the noises, and the other babies, but she did very well for her first time as a party-goer.  We spent most of the afternoon on the lawn in the backyard, but Stella seemed to enjoy all the attention and new faces.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day was the next morning, and luckily Stella had recovered from her day of stimulation.  We started the day off right with breakfast at my favorite, The Squeeze In!  They had a pretty amazing special that morning- free mimosas for mothers!!!  Let's just say that my favorite breakfast spot made my first official Mother's Day start perfectly.  Stella was great in the very loud and crowded restaurant, and she gave her momma and Nonna a morning of feeling very spoiled.  Mother's Day for me was more about celebrating my little girl and being thankful that I am a mother, so it was nice to have an entire to day to play in gorgeous weather with Stella.  Her grandparents had even spoiled Stella with a few gifts for the holiday; Stella's first balls and bubbles!  This meant that Stella and I spent the rest of the day outside practicing rolling the balls (and keeping them away from the dogs) and watching the bubbles blow across the lawn. It was an all-together perfect day, and it gave me yet another reminder of how lucky I am.

Auntie Manthie's hilarious!

Mother's Day also held a surprise for Nonna- my dad had arranged a surprise visit from my sister Sam.  We had been orchestrating the visit for weeks, and we shocked my mom when Samantha pulled into the driveway.  We were all very excited to see her, but it would also mean a test for Stella.  She had been having a small case of "stranger danger," so we weren't too sure how she would handle seeing her Auntie Mantha after such a long time.  Thank God, my sister is brilliant with kids!  She used to be a nanny, so she knows exactly what to do to make a child instantly trust her.  Stella was immediately taken with her; in fact, she was more than taken with Sam.  For the rest of her visit, my sister had a HUGE fan keeping her eyes on her every move. 

Ah... grass!

As far as Stella's activities for the month, she was continuing on with her daily practices in walking and talking.  Our little girl was still not caring much about crawling, mainly because she was still all about walking.  She would get very frustrated if you held her too long because she wanted to walk.  Around the house, one the porch, on the lawn; she was going to walk around every inch of this property.  It was not the best for our backs, but we all took turns holding her hands and walking around behind her.  Thankfully, the weather was beautiful this month because we spent A LOT of time outside on the lawn.  Stella loved to be outside walking, looking at trees, watching the dogs, and playing in the grass.  Yes, I said playing in the grass!  Most babies (myself included as a baby) hate the feeling of touching grass, but Stella is the exact opposite.  She will actually move the towels and blankets we put down so that she can feel the lawn.  I only hope this weather continues because our time outside has become a big part of our daily routine. 

See you soon, Daddy!

With the month about at its half-way point, that meant only one thing- Daddy was coming!!!  I got the call early on a Friday morning that Steve had finished his out-processing and was on the road to Reno!  It really took me aback when I began to process what that actually meant.  Steve had completed ten years of active duty in the Air Force; we would never be separated by a deployment again; ten long months of separation were going to be over; Steve would be here for good!  Steve had a short stop for the night in Vegas, but then we would be seeing him on Saturday afternoon.  It was so incredible to see his big, black truck pull into the driveway.  We had made it!!! 

Daddy's here!!!

Steve and I are definitely still getting used to the idea that he is here, and not just for a visit.  It's SO nice having Steve here, especially for Stella!  We no longer have our nightly FaceTime conversations for him to see the baby, and I no longer have to worry about getting video of everything that Stella does so Steve doesn't miss anything.  Steve was lucky enough to only have to see a few "firsts" via video, but we still have many more that he will get to watch first hand.  More than anything, I think he had to adjust to the hours that we keep with Stella.  Other than that, like he always does, Steve fell right back into being a dad without missing a step.  To her credit, Stella also fell back into her routine with Daddy without skipping a beat.  I think that talking to him every night helped because she knew his voice.  They really are cute together, and it makes me feel so blessed to have them together for good.

We celebrated Steve's end in the Air Force and change of residency by taking Stella on her first trip up to Tahoe.  She had been there in the winter with her grandma, but we had yet to take her there to actually go to the water.  With the perfect weather I had mentioned, it was definitely time to spend a little time up at the lake!  I've said it before, but Lake Tahoe is by far the biggest perk to living in Reno!

Peek-a-boo!

Once Steve was here it also meant another big piece of closure- closing on our first house!  We ended the month by going down as a family and signing the paperwork to move into our house.  With the documents signed and keys in hand, we were ready to finally be on our own!  We won't actually move in for another week or so (mainly due to a few changes we are making) but our furniture will be here from Albuquerque by Friday.  We spent Memorial Day weekend picking out things for the house and preparing for the move.







May has been a big month for The Adkins!  Stella continues to grow like a weed (mainly in height) and amazes us every day with how much she continues to change.  She really does have her own little personality, and it's fun to see how much of both of us we see in our little girl.  I think the best part of this month has been the coming together of our family.  Distance may have kept us apart, but we always did our best to be as connected as we could be.  I almost feel spoiled now that Steve is here, and I have to keep reminding myself that he is not leaving us again.  Now that our biggest obstacle is behind us, we have the joy of moving into our first house in our very near future!  So, here she is, Little Miss Stells, celebrating Memorial Day as she turns seven months old:

May 28, 2012

Stella's 6th Month: Half-Way Through Her 1st Year!

March ended quickly, and we were ready to head into April.  The main thing that I was looking forward to in April was Spring Break!  I still wonder if students realize how much teachers LOVE this "holiday."  I was looking forward to it because it meant a whole week to be with Stella.  It also meant that Steve's monthly visit was upon us!  There were many things that made this visit special: the visit would be for a whole week, my parents would be in LA, and this would be Steve's last visit before he moved to Reno for good!  To say the least, I was very much so looking forward to Spring Break.






Steve flew in on Friday; the perfect was to kick-off our break!  We started the trip with a visit out to show Steve the house.  It's difficult for a lot of people to fathom that Steve and I would choose a house without the other person seeing it, but we have had to do this before; Steve picked our last house in Albuquerque while I was still up here in Reno.  Granted, we were only renting that house, so the idea of me buying a house with Steve only seeing pictures made everyone a little nervous.  Thankfully, the visit out to the house only made him love it more!  Pictures and a short video can only show so much, so I was thrilled that when he got the tour he was okay with this being our first home.




To add to Steve's visit we also had another actual holiday to celebrate- Easter!  We opted out of having any egg hunt or activities for Stella, mainly because it would be enough of an event to be in a house full of people.  My parents typically have all of the family over at their house for Easter, so we knew that there would be more than enough activity to occupy Stella.  The day was gorgeous, and it gave Stella the first opportunity to show off her legs!  Seriously, the cold Reno weather has kept this little girl in two long-sleeved onesies and pants since she was born, so it was odd for her to be showing some skin :).  She was the perfect little lady in her first Easter dress.

  Right after Easter, my parents headed off to LA to visit my sister for the week.  This left Steve, Stella, and me alone together!  We had never had this opportunity since Stella was born, so it felt like a week to play house before we would be doing the real thing next month.  It was so nice for us all to have time to just be "us."  More than anything, we were looking forward to time together.  Steve had been watching Stella via iPhone, so he was excited to see the real thing.  We were lucky because Stella decided to save a few firsts for her daddy to see! Steve and I filled the week with many things that we had been putting off or didn't have time to do, but we also tried to schedule a few activities specifically for Stella.  To start, Stella's 1st baseball game!





 Back in March, I was blessed to hear that one of my favorite sorority sisters would be headed back up to Northern Nevada!  I was thrilled at the idea of having one of my Vegas people here in Reno, let alone two people that Steve and I both love.  Gretchen and Zac were coming up to Reno for an Ace's game, so we decided to join and have Stella's 1st baseball game!  In true Reno fashion, the weather was not optimal for a ball game, but I bundled Stella up as much as I could, and I loaded her into the Bjorn covered in blankets.  I cannot say that she thought much of the baseball game because she was very quiet.  I think she was a bit overwhelmed by all the noise and people.  I gave her the best play-by-play I could and explained how pitchers choose their pitches, all right behind home plate.  In the middle of my analysis, I looked down to find my little girl had fallen asleep.  I'll have to try again when she's a little older!  We ended the night early for a night game, but someone had a bed time.

On the same day as our baseball venture came another first, Stella's 1st word!  Now, as I mentioned before, Stella had been rattling off things that sounded like words, but this day brought something new.  Out of nowhere, she said "Momma" clear as a bell!  She seemed pretty proud of herself that she had actually said a word, so this word became her whole vocabulary.  She no longer tried to mimic "I love you" or "hello," her sole focus was "Momma."  For the rest of the day (and Steve's visit) we were all Momma: Steve, Gwen, Trigger, objects in the room.  If she wanted something, she would reach for it and say, "Momma."  All other words were on hold (and frankly still are) but we were all pretty excited to hear the first official one! 




In addition to talking, Stella continued to be little miss active!  She continued to be a huge fan of rolling over, mainly when she was in her bed.  She would roll over from side-to-side, back to front, etc.  It became a bit of an issue when she started clocking herself in her crib and getting her legs tangled in the railing.  Now, everything and every doctor will tell you not to buy bumpers for your baby's crib, but I was having trouble watching my poor little girl injury herself due to her nighttime activities.  I finally caved and bought bumpers for her crib.  Her injuries subsided, and the only issue I had was listening to her pet the bumpers as she falls asleep.  It seemed a fair trade off for me!

 She was sitting by herself and enjoying playing with her toys.  But, this month brought a big change that none of us saw coming.  Typically, you have babies that like to be on their backs, then they transition to their stomachs, and learn to crawl from there.  Our little lady decided that the back and stomach were okay, but she wanted to stand!  While Steve was here, he taught her to use her arms to pull up on our fingers to sit up.  We were pretty pleased with this because we would help her sit up, and then she would sit all by herself.  The day after Steve left, she decided to change the game a bit.  While I talked to my dad, I helped her to sit up from a nap.  I wasn't really paying attention, but the look on my dad's face told me that she was doing something.  When I turned back, she had used my fingers to stand up!

And thus started the new game for Stella- standing up!  She now could care less about playing sitting down or lying down; she always wants to be standing.  I even bought her a sit and stand toy that she could stand behind and push.  Our games now consist of practicing standing, standing and playing with her toys, and her favorite- dancing.  She has not taken any official steps on her own, but the girl is always standing up now!  I honestly think that she might just bypass crawling and start walking. 

The last big piece of news that came in the month of April were the appearance of Stella's 1st teeth... yes, teeth, not tooth!  After becoming even more of a chatterbox with her new word, Stella all of the sudden became very quiet.  We could tell that she was struggling and playing with her gums, but little did we know that her teeth were what were keeping her from talking.  It was almost overnight, but I woke up one morning to see two little tops of teeth staring back at me from her bottom gum.  Those two teeth came together, and they came with a purpose!  She has become even more invested in her mouth, and seems to enjoy the sound her teeth make on everything.  We shall see the direction the rest of her teeth take, but it is pretty cute to now see two little teeth when she gives us a big grin.




This was a big month of new things for Stella.  The craziest for me to believe is that she is now six months old!  Can it really have been six months since we met our sweet little baby for the first time?  It is amazing to me just how much she has grown and changed, even month-to-month!  Well, here we are at the half-way point of Miss Stella's 1st year with us.  She continues to surprise and entertain us every day, and I can't imagine life without her.  The best part is that Stella hitting the six-month mark means that we are extremely close to our little family all being together!!!  As soon as we hit May, we have nineteen days until Steve officially moves to Reno!  It's incredible to think that we have made it this far, and how close we are to being together again.  Here she is, Miss Stells at six months:

April 28, 2012