POOL PARTY FOR THREE

Today my mom and I took Stella up to our condo at Solitude to give her some pool time. It was a little chilly when we first got there, but then it warmed up so we put on Stella's swimsuit which was a gift from my friend Carmen. (I would never have bought one since this will probably be the only time she wears it.) We took a moment to dip her toes in, and I was expecting her to scrunch up her legs to avoid touching the water. However she seemed to sort of like it.

After some relaxing by the pool, she was plum tuckered out and she snuggled up, and fell right asleep. So cute! Babies make just ordinary events so fun! This is actually one thing I looked forward to when I knew I was going to me a mom.

Note: This is Stella's first time wearing her denim jacket which I paid $3.00 for. Also she was spotted sucking her thumb for the first time for about 4 seconds. Is that a good or bad thing? Either way, it was pretty adorable.

OH HAPPY DAY!

Stella loves to lay flat on the floor and play. Up until now she has just kicked her feet and moved her hands about and that has been thrilling enough. However, things have changed. Last night I put her on the floor and I noticed her eyeing her overhead toys that were sitting accross the room. I picked it up and put it over her and she looked at me with this "awe mom, that was just what I wanted grin" and went to town on her toys.

I know that these can sort of act as a babysitter for your baby, but all I want to do is sit
and watch her play with it. It is like she is my colorful fancy toy!

Also I don't want to jinx it, but Stella spent her first night in her crib last night and she slept straight until 7:45 AM. Yea! It was a good night for us both, and we were both feeling chipper in the morning. Go us!

CRIB NOTES

These days Stella is still sleeping in my room in her bassinet, but things are about to change. After two nights in a row where Stella wakes me up with her fussing at 4 am, and when ignored continues to fuss until I finally give in and make her a bottle....ONLY to return to a completely ASLEEP baby, I have decided that tonight is the night we are putting her down in her crib.

When it was time for her nap today my mom and I decided to put her down in her crib for practice. We left the room with her totally out. When I returned 5 minutes later to check on her I found her completely awake and not even close to a napping state.

So here they are: Stella's first pictures of her NOT sleeping in her crib!

ISN'T SHE

PRETTY IN PINK?

I know every mom thinks that their baby is the cutest, but I mean...come on! Look at this kid! She really is the cutest!

SHOT THROUGH THE HEART

I suppose I assumed that I would be the kind of mom who could handle "tough love". However I am finding quite the opposite. Stella has made me such a softy. Yesterday I had to take her to the doctor to get her dreaded first shots. I was very concerned about it, but I tried to look calm as I placed my first born on the table to get three very painful pricks. I was impressed with the speed in which the nurse injected them, and I was thankful for that. I was equally impressed with the volume of my daughter's screams from them. I almost started to cry, and then I reminded myself: "You are the Mom, no crying for you."

Thankfully she calmed down and we were on our way, but she was visibly shaken by the doses. That evening, after sleeping the whole day away she sat mildly awake, glaring at me.

It just about broke my heart. I hate shots too Stella!

TWO MONTHS AGO

Stella is two months old today. I thought in honor of this day I would post some pictures of Stella that we took before the blog was born in her honor...

"Hello Mom and Dad, I am wondering just what happened!"
-Stella just minutes old.

"Happy from the start."
Stella on her second day of life looking spry. (And like her Daddy.)

"A love affair begins."
Stella holding her bink her first day home from the hospital.
.

"So snuggled."
Mom and Stella bonding time.

"Put me back in the bath!"
Stella used to get so mad after her bath. It was pretty cute.

"Waking up is hard to do."
I will always love Stella's waking up faces, they are priceless.

"Showing a little tongue."
Stella is two weeks old here on the 4th of July.

"Hey mom, I am just loving those bottles!"
Stella after a "bah". This was one of the first times she made eye contact with me.

Happy two months Stella! We can't imagine what life would be without you! You are the cutest baby we've ever met, and we can't believe you are all ours!
Love, Mom and Dad

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.