Stella is 10 months old

Yesterday Stella turned 10 months old. She spends a lot of her days pulling to stand at furniture, then getting cuddles for the corresponding boo-boos when she falls. Her head is taking a lot of knocks lately! She's started to clap and wave bye bye, but we've been unsuccessful in catching it on video as of yet. When you ask her for a kiss, she'll make a kiss sound or mouth you. She's eating a lot of table food now...yesterday, her favorite thing was my discarded black olives. Mind you, she chokes & gets offended if we offer her cut up banana, but for some reason, the olives were a big hit! She loves to take things out of containers and disassembles her bucket of bath toys on a daily basis (pictured below). We're working on a sippy cup...slowly. She doesn't like it. At all. She's started to help push her arms through when we get her dressed. She's just great at picking up tiny things with her fingers. She's also beginning to walk with two hands held. She weighs a little over 21 lbs. and wears 12-18 month clothes. Big girl! One of the funniest thing she does right now is to sing in a falsetto voice. It cracks us up! Stella is a great kid. We love her a lot!

jordan's abstract photography

Jordan loves to take pictures. We don't really let her use our camera, but sometimes she finds it and snaps a bunch of shots before we bust her. Most of them are really blurry close up shots of Stella or the rug or sometimes the pictures on the walls. However, in her last batch, there were a few that we thought were kind of interesting. Perhaps she's been reading Aunt Rachel's blog, picking up tips. ;)

^(this one is taken through an old toilet paper roll)

seriously delinquent

So, I have been neglecting the blog lately...sorry, fans! :) Here are some fun pics of the girls from the last few weeks. Maybe after the move, I'll be updating more often.

^ Jordan dressed her Pooh Bear up as a ballerina. Note the hairbow clipped to his head. Pretty cute.

^ Stella is learning to finger feed. She loves this task. She usually ends up with as much food on her as in her.

^ This was on St. Patrick's Day. The shirt reads "the leprechauns made me do it." Fairly appropriate for this stage of Jordan's development. ;)

^ We dyed Easter eggs for the first time this year. Jordan was very proud of them.

^ Stella is really into peek-a-boo. She likes to crouch behind the coffee table and pop up until you say, "Peek-a-Boo!" Very sweet.

Grandma & Grandpa's visit

The girls' Henderson grandparents were in town for the annual Easter visit. We had a bunch of fun!

Happy Easter

One would think that getting a simple cute shot of two cutie-pie girls in their Easter dresses would be no large task.

Think again. ;)

Here are some of the best of the 30 or so shots Jamie took today.






We hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Stella's 9 month update

Stella has had a big month! She turned 9 months old last Friday...she's getting big so fast! Here are some of her latest accomplishments: crawling, getting into sitting by herself, pulling to stand at furniture, cruising, picking up all kinds of tiny things with her fingers and thumb, removing all the toys from her toy box, eating sweet potato puffs by the handful, enjoying peek-a-boo a lot, sleeping through the night occasionally. She loves Jordan's baby dolls and continues to be a sweet & happy baby. She talks a lot (mama, dada, baba, wawa). Her favorite beings in the house are the dogs, who she watches non-stop, chases, and crawls on as much as possible. They are both good sports with her. When she sees a dog, she makes a sound like "wuh-wuh"...I think it is just her being excited, but it kind of sounds like "woof!" Sadly, she spent a lot of the last month sick, but we think she is getting better now! Stella's personality is very intense; people often comment on how she "stares" at them. She really likes to study people and figure out what they are all about. We are so lucky that she is part of our family!

(If you are interested in a comparison with Jordan at the same age, click here).

Carolina Raptor Center

Last Thursday, after being stuck inside for about two weeks with all kinds of sickness, I took the girls to the Carolina Raptor Center. We had a great time.

Jordan with an eagle statue at the entrance.

She really enjoyed being in the woods.

Her favorite part was the bald eagles. At first she was a little disappointed that we weren't seeing any seagulls, but rather eagles. But after a few minutes, she decided the eagles were pretty cool themselves.

Look carefully in this photo on the right side (you might want to click on it) & you'll see an eagle sitting on a nest of eggs...very cool.

Crawling & Getting into Sitting

Stella has gained a few new skills, shown here in this video. You will see that she is highly motivated to get to the book, perhaps because it is written by an NPR contributor? ;)

We are more than a little sad that she has discovered crawling right when we are trying to pack up our house. Now would be the perfect time to have that lovely little phase where a baby can sit but not yet crawl. No such luck for us. :)

high chair

Stella has made the transition to the high chair, where she is learning to feed herself tiny bits of food. So far, bagels are her favorite!

p.s. Stella has her first ear infection... so sad! :(

If you give a pig a party

Friday night, Jordan, Mommy & Daddy went to a special play,at the Children's Theatre, based on the book If You Give a Pig a Party. Jordan loved it so much, she cried when it was over! We got to have dinner uptown at one of her favorite restaurants, Brixx, and she got to get a special ride from Daddy!

Stella's newest trick

Mullet Removal

Stella had a pretty serious mullet going on. We've been talking for a while about the need to do something about it.

(before)

(after)

Now she is much more bebe-chic.

New Preschool

Last Monday, Jordan began attending a new preschool called Memorial United Methodist Preschool. Here she is at the door on her first day. She really adjusted well and has made some new friends. She also really likes her new teacher, Mrs. Case, but misses her friends & teachers at Briar Creek. Her favorite things about her new school are "playing with toys, playing with friends, and sitting in Mrs. Case's lap."

Stella's 8 month update

Stella was 8 months old yesterday. Below is a video of a minute of her world. Her skills now include army crawling, getting up on hands and knees, doing down-dog yoga poses, sitting really well, picking up tiny things with her fingers, eating post-it notes (oops!). She likes to steal her sister's toys, especially puzzle pieces to chew on. One sneaky thing she did yesterday was to crawl out of her co-sleeper into mommy's bed, where she STILL prefers to sleep. She is big enough now to be in a real car seat, not the carrier. She is pretty well outgrowing her 9-12 month clothes--big girl! She has two teeth. She knows what the camera is and likes to strike a pose. As you will see, she likes to chatter a lot. So much fun, this little one is! :)

Morgan's Tea Party

Jordan's sweet friend Morgan had a Mommy & Me Tea Party today. Jordan got all dressed up in her fancy dress and we had lots of fun playing with different hats, necklaces, and tiaras. Morgan's mom served lots of neat treats. Jordan tried the raspberry tea, but said very politely to me, "I don't care for tea too much!" It was a very special afternoon.