A TIME AND PLACE FOR BLANKETS

This morning I had Stella all snuggled up taking a nap on the couch, when suddenly I started to see some movement under the blanket....

"FREE AT LAST!"















"AH, MUCH BETTER!"

STELLA THE BIRTHDAY FAIRY

Yesterday was Brent's 30th birthday. While Daddy was taking a birthday nap, Stella couldn't help it and she gave her dad a huge birthday hug. Despite his complaints that I was putting our daughter's safety at risk (she was not too stable here), he loved it!

It is was also my Grandma Evans' 75th birthday. And Stella was also able to wish her Great-Gram a Happy Birthday. This is the first time my grandma has held Stella because her arms are really weak, but she wanted to give it a try yesterday. This is a very special picture for me.

"Oh Grandma, what a day I have had! I have been so busy giving out birthday wishes. I'm just pooped!" -Stella, The Birthday Fairy

THE TALE OF ONE UNCLE

This week I finally met my Uncle Dave. At first I thought he was a little strange.

But then he read me my new favorite book "Binky" about a baby who loves their binky as much as me, but they can't seem to find their binky. It is a great suspenseful tale, and I am usually very interested in the pictures. However, Dave read the book with such presence that I was more interested in looking at him.

Then he let me try on his hat.

After that I decided he was an ok fellow, and we hit it off the rest of the night.

MOM ATTACKS!

"Stay away from my fingers Mom!"

It is common knowledge that cutting infant finger nails is a tricky skill to master. I've gotten pretty good at it, and try to take a "no fear" approach so I can get the job done ASAP. I also avoid the task until little cuts begin to show up on my baby's face. When they do appear I grab the clippers and go to work, not wanting her to be scarred for life. Unfortunately, last night I was too confident, and I cut Stella's thumb. The bleeding was tremendous, and band aids served no comfort. We finally had to attach a cotton ball like they do at the doctor's office. Since Stella is really into putting her hand in her mouth I covered her hand up with a newborn mitten, and it just happened to go with her outfit. I decided to take some pictures, and she was so agreeable that it turned into a real photo shoot. I thought I would post "The many faces of Stella" here for you to enjoy.

Note: Since I am a Silver Card Gap member I get free shipping, which has only fed my shopping addiction more. I got this whole outfit (top and shorts) for only 7 dollars. Can't beat that!

MY AUNTIES!

Stella is very lucky to have MANY people that love her in her life. Especially her Aunt Ashley and her Aunt Heidi.

She is totally adored by them both, and I don't know what we would do without them!

STELLA'S BLESSING DAY

Our little Miss Stella Marie was blessed on Sunday. It was a lovely day to celebrate the fact that we are now a family.
We feel very lucky to have such a sweet baby in our house. She really is a winner. She is truly a precious daughter, and we can't wait to get to know more about her, and discover her personality.

Brent's blessing was very sweet. I mostly remember how much I could tell he loved her as he blessed her. We were lucky to have many family and friends with us that day, and we were grateful for their support of Stella.

As usual, Stella modeled her clothing in style....she looked so freaking cute in her sweet blessing dress. I couldn't help it, and I took at least 100 pictures of her so it was very hard to choose which ones to post. However I think I picked some winners. Enjoy the beauty that is my child.

HELLO WORLD

Look how pretty I look in blue!

AVA'S BLESSING

Yesterday was my niece Ava's blessing. Her dad Riley did a really beautiful job. The blessing was full of love for his little baby. My favorite thing that he said was that he blessed her that she would always remember her self worth. Ashley and I both think that is such an important thing that is lacking for girls growing up. We both never had problems thinking we weren't good enough and I credit my parents for instilling that in the both of us. So we both want to be sure that Stella and Ava think they are wonderful no matter what.

Ava's blessing dress was a little on the extravagant side and has been the subject of much controversy in the family. However, it has never once phased Ashley. It didn't matter the cost of the dress, because it was THE dress of her dreams (Ashley's not Ava's). This picture shows how big and beautiful the dress was. She looked like a pioneer's daughter.... a rich pioneer. Ashley insisted that Ava wear the bonnet even though Ava was not fond of it. Worth it I think for these adorable pictures. Mom always knows best.

Here is a four generation picture with my Grandma Mabe. We are fortunate enough to have all our grandparents still with us, and they were all there at the blessing.

My mom is over the moon about her granddaughters. I could take a million pictures of her holding and adoring Stella.

Another try at a family shot. This one is not too bad. Stella looks like she has red hair these days because the dark brown is starting to lighten to blond. She is wearing a very puffy flower dress from the Gap that I bought on sale, of course.

Next week we are blessing Stella, I am a little sad because I think she is still too young and I don't want her to grow up. Brent tried to put her in her crib Friday night and I started to cry real tears. "She is still too little!" I protested...even though she is not and would have been fine. I NEVER thought I was going to be THAT mom, oh well I am.

BABY SWEARS

Today Stella starting refusing her bink, which only means one thing....she wanted that bink to be a bottle. Unfortunately for the both of us, there were zero clean bottles in the house. So while I was sterilizing the precious plastic in the microwave for the longest seven minutes in Stella's life she
got....well...pretty darn mad.


Since I couldn't get her to stop crying in her furious manner without a bottle in my possession I decided to document her fury.

I love the second picture because the blurry arm gives you an idea of the lighting speed an infant can move their arm when they have really had it.

FYI: Stella is 6 weeks old today.

YOU CAN ALWAYS GO, DOWNTOWN.

Last night we took Stella with us to our friend Tacy's wedding reception at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was great to get down there since I have yet to be downtown since I had Stella. Old Michelle was downtown everyday for work, and at JSMB about once a week to hostess a wedding.

One thing that I have learned very quickly is that I LOVE to show off my little Stella. I was able to show old friends at work and everyone at the reception the new little addition to our lives. Also, I can tell that it is just not me that thinks Miss Muffin is a winner....everyone at temple square was checking her out. And even though I just had my hair colored and cut and I looked normal again, I knew it wasn't me they thought was looking spry on the temple grounds.


We Already know that I love to dress up Stella and this night was no exception. This yellow Polo tennis dress was one of the first things I bought when I found out we were having a girl, and I have been imagining it on my baby for months. She was finally able to wear it (even though it was a tad big) and demonstrate how fantastic she looks in yellow.

I love this pic of Daddy and Baby. Check out how Stella is giving her daddy the eye. I wonder if she is saying: "Daddy, isn't mommy crazy how she wants to take a million pictures?" I actually wish we had taken more, but Brent wanted to get back to the reception and have another piece of pie.

Of course this last photo is a winner. This is Stella's "so serious" face. It is all in the furrowed brow.