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!!