Not just one... TWO TOOFERS!

Yesterday, when Stephen came home work via Wally-world with Stella he brought her in the TV room. Not to my surprise she was holding on to something and chewing... something she has been doing for two months now. It took me a minute to figure out what she was chewing on as Stephen continued to say to me "Momma, what am I chewing on?" - it was toothbrushes. It still did not dawn on me because he had told me that morning the next time one of us went to Wally-world to grab him a specific type of toothbrush. He then replied with "how many toothbrushes momma?" Well it was a pack of two toothbrushes, still no surprise. I replied with "two" as if it really didn't mean much.

I still wasn't catching on.

He asked "why would I need TWO tooffbrushes momma?." At this point I looked at him and said "I'm sorry, but i'm not understanding you."

And then the light bulb went off.

I snatched her out of his arms, desperately looking for TWO toofers. Couldn't find them.

About two months ago, daycare pointed out that a top tooth had popped through. Low and behold, it was a top tooth. Her top gum swelled up literally the next day and we have not been able to see it again.

Stephen finally felt bad for me.. and our almost 10 month old who did NOT want someone to mess with her mouth.. and hinted for me to look at the bottom.

After some unique positions of her head - there they were, her TWO bottom front teeth.
No more chewing on momma's chin, that's for sure!

Yay for Stella!

Happy Halloween

Our first Halloween was a busy day for Miss Stella the Peacock. It started out with Breakfest with Pop as he blew through town.

We were then off to spend some much needed time with Mimi C & Papa. She did not go down for her MORNING nap until 12:00, so needless to say we were way off schedule.

She did not go down for her afternoon nap until 4:30! Needless to say, she slept until dark, waking up around 6:30. So, we gobbled down dinner and headed to the drive way to join the neighbors in welcoming trick-or-treaters. They came by the bus loads. I can say I have never seen that many kids.

Next year is going to be an entirely different story and we just can't wait!

9 months... in denial again

Ok! I have completely and utterly avoided updating my blog because I seem to be struggling with the fact that Stella was 7 months, then that turned to 8 months, and now.... whopping 9 months old!!!!!

We had her 9-month well-baby visit. She is "growing beautifully" according to her doctor.

Length - 27.5" - 25%

Weight - 16.5lbs - 5%

I don't even know where to start with developmental stuff.

- She just started wearing 9 month clothes, although most of it is still a little big. She fits best in 6-9 months.

- Size 2-3 diapers

- She started army crawling around 8 months & this past Sunday (Oct 18) she raised up on her hands and knees and took off across the floor.

- She is pulling up.

- She loves to open drawers and pull things of them or try to use them to pull up.

- She will eat solid food for daycare, but no so much for Stephen or I

- At home she is one #2 foods and we have ventured in to some #3's although she does not care for things that have tomato base (i.e. - #3 food of spaghetti with meatballs)

- Size 2 shoes, but we are right at the point that I need to start buying 3's if I want her to be able to wear them for more than a few weeks.

- She talks when she feels like it. By talking I mean gabbing. Still no "mama" or "dada."

- TEETH! Okay, well not yet. Her top two peeked through a few weeks ago, her gums swelled up and they have been hiding ever since. You can tell when they are bothering her- but she handles it SO WELL. She doesn't get crabby or whiney, she just doesn't like to eat when they are giving her fits.

We went to the pumpkin patch with Courtney & Boston. So here is the most recent picture I have readily available to post (aka - besides the ones that just seem to hang out on my camera)

She is going to kill me forever this probably. For Halloween she is going to be a peacock! I promise it is the cutest thing you have seen in a long time.

With the holidays coming up and family visits increase we are sure to have more fun to talk about. September was a super busy month for me because of all of the ovarian cancer activities. Hopefully, I will be able to jump on here more.

Because I do not get off of work until 5:30, I am not walking in the door until after 6 and someone has to be fed around 6:30, we eat at 7-7;15 and bed time routine starts at 7:30, with lights out by 8. By then, Stephen & I are exhausted.

Can't wait to share Halloween pictures with everyone!!

6 Month Well-Baby Check up results

Watching Daddy Work!
He was working in her rocker before her doctor's appointment and happened to look up & this is what he saw.

Playing with momma! Her smile just warms my soul.

So... I guess our kiddo is just going to be small.

Weight: 14 lbs, 1 ounce (7%)

Height: 24" (50%)

Everything looks great. Here are a few pictures I promised - these were taken either from my phone or Stephen's. Sorry, more to come.

6 Months.... Really??

I have been dreading this post for quite some time now. Stella being six months has been a little difficult for me to swallow. (I know…, I’m sure I will feel the same way when she turns one, two, three, etc.) For me, six months is a milestone – one I was not ready for. It is like six months is no longer infant stage – we now have a baby. I think most of it comes from the fact that I did not see us out of our house for this long. I just knew that we would have our own place again by now.

Enough about me – let’s talk about what our sweet angel is up to these days.
- She is still growling… but only at people she likes/admires.

- My bouncing baby girl! She loves her jumper… so much so, she will rub blisters on her little pinky toes if she doesn’t have socks on. When she is in a good mood, she likes to jump around on your legs, too.

- You can tell she is excited to see you if she pumps her legs (like she is jumping) – doesn’t matter if she is sitting, being held or in her crib – that is her communication of excitement.

- You know when she is awake because she will lift up her legs and then THROW her heels on the mattress, making a big “thump” noise.

- Where did my sweet girl go….? The teething monster has grabbed her. We are often dispensing Tylenol and oragel…. Mimi S found a great teether that when pressed on the tips, it vibrates. Stella loves it, you can tell it makes her feel better.

- She is still a pretty scooter when sleeping. (Thank God for bumpers) You never know where she will be in her crib when go to grab her in the morning.

- We are weighing in around the 14lb mark. We go for our 6-motnh well baby tomorrow. So I will post more stats tomorrow.

- We are on solid foods!!! She loves vegetables, not much of a fruit eater. She will eat bananas and pears & she takes them better if they are mixed with rice cereal. We think it is a consistency/texture thing (just like her mother ;) ). Hopefully she will keep up the vegetable eating for a long time, but I think every kid goes through a “no-vegetables” phase around 1-2.

- She got sick the weekend we up to Fayetteville to see my brother (weekend after 4th of july) and she has been sick ever since (not to mention getting us sick in the process). I took her to the doctor when it turned green, they told me to just let it run its course… it is still green. She has been sleeping with a humidifier for 2 weeks now and we have not noticed any significant difference in the amount of congestion she has when she wakes up.

- She will often cough in the middle of the night – of course, I hear it – bolt out of bed to check on her. She is always fine, but I tend to have this fear that she is going to choke for some reason.

- She sits up and is pulling her self up in to the sitting position like a champ.

- Crawling is a challenge. If you give her legs something to push off with, she could go to town.

- She enjoys rolling over, but often times she gets her arm in a funny position and doesn’t quite know what to do with it. But she either figures it out or moves on to something else.

- She knows her name now. We can’t quite figure out if she understands the words “momma” and “da-da” and that they indicate an actual person.
I know this post has been very long. Thanks for bearing with me. I just feel like I have so much to tell.

5 months!

Sidenote: since I have THE hardest time posting freakin’ pictures on here… the pictures are below this post. Sorry.
Well, my baby no longer seems to be an infant. I am sad to report we have moved over to the baby stage. It is so bittersweet. Stephen & I find ourselves trying to teach her things the other one isn’t ready for to do (i.e. hold her bottle (I don’t like that one) or eat rice cereal (Stephen isn’t ready for that one))

• She growls, sometimes on demand, but usually just because she feels like it. Everyone just thinks it is the funniest thing. She has done it in public and I have received a few strange looks, but most people just laugh.
• Her favorite time to talk is in the morning after her bottle, while she is kicked back in her swing watching the news. She will just sit in there by herself and just talk up a storm.
• We do not get many laughs out of her. She is happy all the time, but the hear her laugh out loud does not happen a lot.
• We are finally starting to fit in to 3-6 month clothes… at the ripe ole age of 5 months.
• We survived our 4-month shots. I just had to give her one dose of Tylenol afterwards (more of a preventative) and we were good to go.
• She is fascinated with her toes… even if they are covered with pj’s or socks – doesn’t matter. We have caught her multiple times in the morning laying in her crib with her foot in her mouth.
• Her bedtime is usually right around 8 pm. If you don’t get her down for a good nap in the morning then she tends to cat nap a lot or is fussy until her late afternoon nap.
• She has mastered pulling her paci out and putting it back in her mouth… even while sleeping. (now that’s talent!) :)
• Tummy time is becoming more enjoyable. She will even scoot on her belly if you give her feet something to press up against (like your arm or hands)
• She will roll from her back to her side and sometimes she gets enough momentum to rock back and forth and make it to her belly, but it is not a consistent thing.
• She is a busy sleeper. Note to self: you do not want to have to share a bed with this child. She is a wigglier. You never know which way she is going to be facing when go to her crib to get her after she wakes up.
• She has discovered her jumpy seat (see pics below). Has only really figured out she can jump in it maybe twice. She just looked over at me with this “is this what I’m supposed to do expression” and I would clap and praise her and she would just grim and laugh.
• We have tried rice cereal about 4 times now. This past Sunday was the last time and she was actually reaching out for it this time wanting more. We couldn’t shovel it in fast enough.
• She tried to hold her bottle. Sometimes it’s a success, but usually she just swats at it.
  

I am sure there are things I am missing. Things have been so crazy for us at work that I forget to update everyone. Speaking of, Stephen just got back from his first trip away from home since Stella has been born. He was in NYC for 4 days. We really missed him (I think he missed Stella more).
Oh! We have discovered the pool – but that will have to be a whole other post.

Her schedule is (these times are not exact, but give you an idea):
- 5am – half way awake, daddy changes diaper then in to bed

with mommy for a/b 30 min.
- 6am – breakfast
- 7-8:30 play, if she is real sleepy she will go back down after her
morning bottle until 9-ish
- 8:30-10 – morning nap
- 10 – lunch
- 10:30-11:30 play
- 11:30-1:30 afternoon nap
- 2 – afternoon lunch
- 2:30 – 4 play
- 4:30-5 – nap… if at day care, daddy pick her up at 5, if at home, she will sleep until 5:30
- 5-6 – play
- 6 – dinner
- 6:30-7:30 play/watch everyone else eat..
- 7:30 bath
- 8:00 bedtime

4-5 months! (pictures)

Waiting on Daddy to get back from NYC!

Headed to down the stairs to go to school with dad!

"What are THESE?... I don't know guys...."

I feel a little lost in here...

3rd time to try rice cereal...

Hanging with my cousin Henry!

Tell me....

That is the main word coming out of our mouth lately. Last week we had Stella's 4 month well baby check up. She is growing normally for her pace.

She weighs 10lbs 5ounces and is 23.5” long. She is in the 3% for her weight and the 25% in her height. Apparently she is on her way to be 5’2”…. That is so weird how they can calculate that stuff.
Side note: I was in a/b three weeks before then b/c she was sick, I noticed that she had only gained 2 ounces in 2 weeks! The doc told me to start supplementing her with every breast feed. So we have stopped breastfeeding and are now on formula. I gave it my best shot and was able to make it to four months. Needless to say she gained over a pound in 2-3 weeks.

- She is becoming more conscious of her movements. She knows she can pull out her pacifier, and she is getting to where she can consistently put it back in her mouth.
- She can deliberately grab her feet.
- She is going to be right handed b/c that seems to be the dominating side.
- She has created her own bedtime – usually asleep by 8pm
- Is now taking 6 oz bottles like a champ!!
- Will sleep about 8 hours straight! A few nights ago she ate at 7:30pm, asleep by 8 and didn’t wake up until 5am. Stephen & I didn’t know what to do with ourselves.
- Talk, talk, talk. She has really started to become more vocal over the past few days. On Tuesday I was in the kitchen, Stella was in her Bumbo. As I was stepping out of the kitchen she made a noise, I mimicked her back, we did this a/b 6 times as I was out of her sight. It was so funny. She was having a little conversation with me. I loved it.
- She will follow you across the room.
- She definitely knows mommy and daddy.
- She gets excited by flailing her arms and legs and sometimes cooing.
- She has just started to laugh out loud a make little squeals, but those have not caught on like the talking.
- You can get her tickle box...she will laugh and put on a huge grin – then with a hopefully-curious expression, she will look at you like “you going to do that again?”

We get this expression a lot!

Stella, you are the center of our lives and we love you beyond measure!

So... the house situation....

So what’s going on with the house situation?... Several people have been asking. Here is the scoop. I can not say much b/c of legal reasons and the fact that this blog is subject to public view – so everything I do say is essentially public knowledge.
However, I can share pictures with you.

It is evident that the crack, excuse me, fissure near the house (aka upper crack) is spreading open even more - it is now a/b 9ft. deep and a/b 1 ft. from our foundation. There is now a “sink hole,” if you will, in the front flower bed – which leads the geo-techinical engineer to believe that the whole house may be moving with the hill… instead of the hill moving away from the house. Also, the paved brick walkway in front of the flower bed has cracks and is beginning to become unlevel. The other day I ran by there and noticed that the telephone line had finally snapped from the power pole at the bottom of the yard. (which means that the cracks have spread open enough to cause the power pole to move to then finally cause the line to fail. The next line to fail will be the cable line. Both the cable and telephone lines have been tight from the beginning. The electrical lines still have a good bit of slack in them. You see rocks continuing to pile at the bottom of the hill but you can not really grasp the severity until you see the cracks in the yards at the top of the hill.

The upper crack - looking from the patio.

At the beginning of all of this, they cut everyone's sewage lines to create a temp. line (which is what the plastic and sandbags is covering up where they cut). The upper crack has opened so much that the sewage line coming from house is exposed.

View from alley/bottom of hill.

Crack in CMU (concrete masonry unit/cinder block) wall in basement.

About 5/8" wide. You can shine a flashlight through the crack and see orange brick on the other side.

We are still living with my parents. It is nice to have the extra set of hands, as far as Stella is concerned- but man, we would really enjoy our own space right now. Much less a vacation!
Please keep this whole situation in your prayers! We truly need them. I never ever imagined we would have to be displaced from our home- not to mention still have to pay mortgage in house we can not live in.

3 month pictures

It has always been very important to Stephen & I to be able to have professional pictures of Stella's first year. We have had several friends do this and we always thought how cool it was to see the progression of change from 3 months to 6, 9 and 12 months.

This was also my first Mother's Day present from Stephen!! (Guess what his Father's Day present is? HA!) Thank you honey!

We had her pictures taken last Wed. (22nd) night at my parents house. Stella did absolutely wonderful! Here is one of the photographer's (Sarah Bussey) favorites.

Sarah & I have mutual friends and she has done some professional work for me. I could not wait to get her out to photograph my angel. She does such a great job - a true artist in my opinion. Her website is www.sarahbusseyphotography.com

To see more, click here.

Our first sick doctor appointment...

I regret to say that my baby girl has her first sinus infection... at only 14 weeks! She sounds awful. I just want to wave a wand and make it all go away!

I finally went against Stephen's advice and took her to the doctor. Sure enough, this awful pollen has gotten to her and she was well on her way to a sinus infection, so Dr. C went ahead and treated her with antibiotics. You can tell she has allergies because the outlines of her eyes will just get bright red, she sneezes and her nose is runny. When it turned green is when I had enough.

I did learn a new trick from the nurses. When I have to use the sucker to suck her nose - to hold one nostril shut while you are sucking from the opposite side- it gets a better suction... and it works really well (especially if you combine it with saline drops). I was sucking stuff out of her nose that was probably all the way to China. She absolutely hates it, but I know she feels better afterwards.

Visitors & New Introductions

Last week her Uncle TJ came down and had an opportunity to spend some time with her. Sharing your children with family members – especially a brother, it is so sweet and tender. There is a lot of pride there, on both sides.

Easter weekend, we went over to Stephen’s parents house to celebrate Easter with his family and to celebrate his mom’s birthday. How cool is it to have your birthday on Easter? Here is a picture of Carolyn with all of her grandchildren.

We also were able to go to the Walker Family Farm and introduce Stella to my best friend Alice for the first time. Even though the stay was very short, it was fun to introduce our babies to each other.
At the top of this post is a picture of Alice introducing Simone to Stella. I can’t wait to see them grow up together.

Oh! Look I have hands….

I am amazed daily at this little wonder I call my child. She just crested the 3 month mark and I am still speechless at how fast time has flown. She is starting to develop a tiny personality – a few things we’ve noticed are the following.
1- You can tell the difference between a “I’m-really-mad-at-you” cry or a “Hey-lady-I’m-really-hungry” cry.
2 – Discovery of hands. If you can remember we introduced the pacifier early on, well she mainly prefers to have it at night or right after a feeding – otherwise, she is all about her hands. I don’t really care for the fact that she is constantly sticking her hands in her mouth, but apparently that is what they do when they discover their hands.
3 – awareness. If you are talking across the room, she can find you. She will also follow things with her eyes a lot.
4- jibber, jabber – she is starting to talk some, mainly in the morning. If you make the same noises she makes back at her she will “engage” you in conversation. so sweet!!
5 – Laughing – occasionally you will hear her laugh out loud. It weird how a laugh is different than a “coo”

Miss Petite

Stella had her well-baby check up this past Wednesday, right at 11 weeks. She passed with flying colors. She is now up to 9lbs 2.5oz. and 22.25” long. Dr. C just ooed and awed over her and feels that she will be petite little one. We have moved to at least 2 formula bottles a day and the rest she either gets milk from me or breast milk in a bottle.

The pacifier has not been as big of an issue as I thought it would be. There are more times than not that she will spit it out. She prefers to have it in when she is trying to go to sleep, other than that she seem to feel as if she doesn’t need it .

This week has been my first full week back to work and man has it been a busy one – which I think has really helped me not think about not being able to be with her. But man, do I miss her tremendously. Stella is such the light of our eyes. I know Stephen can’t wait to see her at the end of the day as much as I do. Stephen is usually the one that takes & picks her up from daycare because of my work schedule.

Stella's first day of school!

Last night we were daydreaming about our new backyard (whenever that will ever happen) and Stephen was just going on and on about what Stella would need and what he could build for her. Needless to say he rattled off a big list - he better get started.

We love you baby girl more than anything!!

8 weeks, oh my....

Stella is doing wonderful! She is holding her head up like a champ, beginning to coo/communicate and has started to show us her beautiful smile. Man, when she grins at you, I swear all is right with the world for that very moment - well, and when she falls asleep on your chest. The other day she fell asleep on my shoulder for the first time and it felt great. She has started to take a bottle from her Stephen and I know he just soaks up that time her, it is so sweet to watch.

I wish I had a picture to share with you of how much she is growing but our life has been BEYOND crazy and rather hard to fathom. On Feb. 26th we were "strongly advised" by the city to evacuate our home due to the failure of the rock bluff behind our house. On Feb. 29th we temporarily moved in with my parents and put everything in storage until the next step reveals itself or the wall fails - as its expected to... taking our backyard with it. The structural soundness of our home has been compromised and with a newborn, having the house cave in on itself was not something we were willing to risk. Please pray for God's favor and wisdom throughout this ordeal. The wall will fail, it is not a matter of IF but WHEN. Here is a link to a news story about it.
http://arkansasmatters.com/content/fulltext/?cid=196121
It would take me a lot longer to explain.

I go back to work on March 23rd and have pretty mixed emotions about it - naturally. I am sure Stella will be just fine. The new mommy in me worries that they will not take as much care of her as I would. I am going to miss her terribly. Also, the thought of getting in to a morning routine kind of stresses me out but I am sure everything will fall in to place. Stella has done a great job at helping teach us how to be good parents.
We love you angel!!!

5 weeks!! Where on earth did they go?

<---- Stella is about 4 weeks old in this pic.

Stephen & I can not believe how fast time has flown by with her and how fast Stella is growing.

I guess I have a lot of updating to do since I have just gotten around to updating this blog.

Stella is doing wonderful. My recovery from the c-section has been a lot easier than I had anticipated. I often found myself doing things I probably should not have been doing and then paying the price later. But i viewed that as a blessing.

She has big blue eyes that make your heart melt. If you compare mine & Stephen's baby pictures she looks a lot like me right now. She is gaining weight like she should, which is good because my appetite has not stayed up like I thought it would when I was pregnant, so I have been a little anxious about it. I had her weighed on the Feb 17th and she was 6lbs 11 oz. I am sure she is up to 7 lbs by now, the girl is getting heavy to carry around! lol! (I often wonder what life would be like with a 7 or 8 lb baby from the start, HA)

When we brought her home from the hospital we had to supplement her with formula, every two hours, which was pretty rough. Something did not feel right about having to wake a baby to feed her, but doctors orders. However, everything has been going pretty good since my milk came in a day after we arrived home.

We have only had one really bad night and a few bad days. I have just now gotten the hang of her different cries... maybe. She usually only fusses when she is hungry or needs to burp. I have to say, the girl is a tooter and it is quite amusing. (atleast we think so).

Because she is so small, we have had a hard time finding clothes that fit her. She is just starting to look like she actually fits in to her outfits. Anything 0-3 months is still too big right now, but I have a feeling it won't be too long before she can fit in them.

We have ventured out several times and have been out to eat with her at least 4 times, she is a champ and usually sleeps through the whole thing. She also likes to go to Sam's in her stroller, that place just sacks her out. I took her up to Stephen's office for a shower they hosted for us and he was such a proud daddy. It was too cute. We also finally made it to church last week, I don't like going a long time without going to church.

Here are more pictures of our angel...

STELLA SUZANNE LASSEIGNE has arrived!

Our angel arrived on January 14th at 7:42 a.m. by c-section

5lbs 15 ozs

19.25"

You can view more photos here. Sorry for the delay and updates, we have been enjoying our new bundle of joy and recovering!

More to come.

Last update.... only 2 more days to go!

Our last OB appointment was this past Friday, the 9th. We are in the countdown. According to the quick ultrasound Dr. Deed conducted she is weighing 6.1 lbs and is going to have long legs... that is the second time we have heard that and we don't have a clue where that might come from in our families.

I have started to dilate and go through the process of very early labor. It threw me off a little because i had this crazy notion that I wouldn't feel any of this because of the scheduled c-section.

Well, low and behold on Friday Stephen & I got to experience a tiny bit of the labor & delivery process. Dr. Deed sent me over to monitor the baby, for everyone's piece of mind, for a bit b/c she had not moved much that day and Deed just had a hunch. Everything was normal and her heart rate was great. It was fun to be able to be admitted and released within 30 min... and get to "stay" in a labor & delivery room.



We spent most of the weekend cleaning the house and spending time together. It was weird to think this was our last weekend as just the two of us... life will never be the same... even when she is married with kids of her own - home will always be home and she will always be welcome... even if her daddy insists on "the warning" phone call. Ha!



In case you are wondering she finally has a first name!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



STELLA ............. it is!



Yeah!



A good friend of mine, Courtney, made this awesome wreath for us to hang on our hospital door for visitors. It is so cute, i love it!!

The next time I will be posting, Stephen & I will officially be parents and we will have wonderful pictures to show of our beautiful Stella. We are getting very excited and can't wait for everyone to meet her!

And the doctor says...........

Still no flip at 36 weeks. Baby L had up until yesterday's doctors appointment to flip and her big fat head is still right under my right rib. So, we ended up scheduling the c-section for January 14th.
I am apprehensive about it just for the fact that it is ANOTHER surgery in my book of surgeries and the whole unexpected. My focus has to be on the fact that this the most positive and happy surgery I've ever had.

I have started to feel a few random contractions. They aren't too bad... yet. The doctor feels everything is moving on schedule and still expects her to be a small baby.

Mom asks me a lot how I am feeling these days and I thought I would share a few of things I tell her b/c apparently she thinks it is funny. I try to cherish these feelings b/c in all truth pregnancy is really a fleeting moment in life.
- The waddle has started... especially if I have a full bladder. That's pretty funny - it feels funny and I'm sure it looks funny.
- I can only fit my feet in my tennis shoes now, which is a little frustrating. Never in my life did I think I would be wearing compression knee-highs. Can you see it? yeah... no.
- Bending over, getting off the floor, or tying my shoe should be classified as an Olympic event in my life right now due to difficulty.
- I can not get enough food. I feel like I am always hungry or eating. Stephen even commented that he can't wait until this is over sometimes because he feels like he has to keep up with me. It is pretty funny to see him watch me eat dinner, he will just look at me like "are you ever going to stop?"

The doctor will check ONE last time next week to see if she has flipped (mainly because she really didn't want to have to do a c-sec to begin with), but at this point chances are not great and I am sure she will induce on the same if she has flipped. Baby L seems to have found a comfy spot or her bottom has fallen in to my pelvis and its too difficult for her to flip. I have been able to feel or tell that she is dropping.

Either way.... Baby L will be making her arrival on January 14, 2009!