The BUZZ around here...

Just a little sneak peak of the Halloween festivities.  I'll post more later - when I'm not as busy as a bee!

Professional pictures

Whenever I say I want to get professional pictures of Stella taken, people always say... "You don't need to because you have so many cute pictures you take yourself", etc. etc.  I finally decided, however, that if I didn't have some taken, I would end up regretting it.  So, on Monday, we headed off to the mall for a little "photo shoot".  It was my hope that Stella would sleep on the way to our appointment, instead, she mostly whined and cried.  Then, when we got there, my fears came true.  Stella turned into a shy, mommy hold me - who is that freak making funny faces at me - version of herself.  She did not smile once.  I was getting very disappointed.  After about 50 minutes of this poor man trying hard to make Stella smile, we left for lunch so they could get our proofs ready.  On our way to the food court, Stella ran, and laughed, and giggled at all of the people staring at the barefoot baby in a tutu.  I kept thinking... of course she is happy now.  She was being so charming at this point, that one lady even stopped us and asked if she could take a picture with Stella.  Kinda weirded me out a little, but hey, I'd probably want a picture with her too, so we tried, but Stella ran away from her.  ( Hey hey, thats my girl... don't ever let a stranger grab you!)  While at lunch I told my mom that at least I wouldn't have a hard time making a decision, because their probably wouldn't be enough good ones to choose from.  She told me I'd probably see them and want them, and think they were great.  Well, she was right.  I love them.  They are so sweet to me, even though she was not interested in standing in the center of the backdrop, or wearing her pearls, or her tutu, or smiling, or facing the camera.  I still love the little Stella that was captured by the camera, so precious to a mother.   

Some things about Stella at 15 months.  

She has entered the "no" stage.  About 90 percent of what she says is no.

She can read the words eyes and clap, and loves watching her "your baby can read videos" still.  

She gives kisses and hugs quite a bit now - and we love it.  

She loves to pick heavy things up and try to move them.  She also loves to climb over things, or simply onto them, depending on how high they are.  

She says bye bye to everyone and everything when we leave.  

She still holds her hands behind her head in moments of fear, excitement, relaxation.  She also has started to pull on her hair that is on the sides of her head when she does this.  

She walks on her tip toes most of the time.

She asks for clips in her hair - but then ends up taking them out within a few hours.

She loves brushing her teeth.  

Still obsessed with stairs.

Loves ice these days.

Survives off of fruit and milk alone. 

Loves to wear and try on shoes.  She asks for shoes most days, and steps into anyones shoes that have been left out. 

Height :  32 inches.   91%

Weight : 21 Lbs.        24%

Head :     46 cm.        55%

It's a...

Woo Hoo!!!  Today we finally had our ultrasound, and... we will be the proud parents of a beautiful baby boy in January!  Either way, we knew we would be excited.  If it was a girl - we would have been so excited for Stella, to have a sister so close in age to share clothes with and crushes with.  However, being that it is a boy, now we know we have one of each, and we can shop in the boy clothes section...which I have decided is really just as cute as the girl section, and have been browsing in lately very tempted to buy some of the adorable things.  We can't wait to see what it is like with a little boy around.  Andy says it is very hard to picture a boy because he can only picture another little Stella, and I can't wait to have a little man who will hopefully love me and think he will one day grow up to marry me  (I don't know... do boys go through that stage like girls do with their dads?).  I am so excited to finally know, because I really had no clue this time.  With Stella, I knew she was a girl... this time, I was back and forth almost every day.  His ultrasound pics (thank goodness my dr.s office has the 4d stuff) look like Andy already.  Seriously, it is amazing how recessive my genes must be, but he looks so cute.  Last ultrasound, 4 weeks ago, he weighed 10 ounces.  Today he weighed 1 pound 7 ounces.  Can't believe how fast he is growing.  He was Breech... which I know can change and most likely will being that I am only almost 6 months along, but I am still gonna put some of the tricks to work for me to make sure he does rotate.  Can't wait to meet HIM!

Down and Dirty

Today Andy participated in the USMC mud run. He was nervous being that he isn't the biggest on distance running, but he ended up kicking some major booty. His team was made up of two guys from our ward, Andy, and one of the guys sisters. They ended up coming in so early, that I wasn't even prepared to take their picture, because I thought it would be at least another ten minutes or so, so unfortunately all of the pictures with the sweet obstacles are of the girls team from our ward. The course was 4.5 miles long and included 40 different obstacles including a ten foot wall (which everyone said was the most challenging), water/mud obstacles up to 6 feet deep, over and under logs, 45 degree incline mud hills, etc. Andy had a blast and said he would do it again next weekend if he could. We look forward to participating next year, so after the baby comes, I will have some toughening up to do.

The girls from our ward about to start.       

Ready, set...

GO!

Here is where I realized they were already passing me, as I was staring at the obstacle behind them.  Brother Nininger yelled out to his son who was sitting with me, and so I quickly grabbed the camera and ran down to get some shots of them and the last obstacle including the finish line.

They completed the race in 50-55 minutes.  Woo Hoo!

Here are the girls, and some of the "better for pictures" obstacles.  

Boy or Girl?

A couple of people have asked what we are having. Well, we really really wish we could tell you. Only problem is, early last week at our 20 week ultrasound, I was actually only 19 weeks 5 days, and the baby was on the small side, only measuring in at 19 weeks 2 days. Didn't think that would matter all that much, after all, they scheduled me then, so it should have been fine. Well, the sonographer was unsure what the baby was. She said if she had to guess, she would say boy, but she wasn't sure. Then again after Stella's first ultrasound they thought she was a boy too. So because the baby was small, and not everything was able to be checked out as thoroughly as they would have liked, we have to go back. Thank goodness, because I have to know what this baby is. I can't take a guess and run with it. I really have to know. So, in three more long weeks, we will hopefully have seen something to tell us one way or the other. When we do figure out the answer to boy or girl, have no fear, it will be posted here!

Stella has a special trick that she does all the time. People get the biggest kick out of it. People have even asked her to do it for their friends after they have seen it. So funny. She loves to "fly" like a cheerleader with her dad, and usually does it in the pool, but we never have the camera at the pool, so I am glad we could catch her in action in our messy apartment. Please excuse the mess part, packing has sort of taken over all 800 square feet of our tiny little abode. Enjoy this little glimpse into what Andy and Stella love to do all the time, no wonder she is such a Daddy's girl, he does so much fun stuff with her!

Pack it all up

We are starting to pack now for our move at the end of this month.  We are very lucky, and a wonderful family in our ward has offered us part of their home.  We are looking forward to living in a nice safe neighborhood, having good company around all the time, and leaving the noise of apartment life behind... for now at least.  Living with the Gilbert's will be a blast, and we cannot thank them enough for their generosity.  We are excited.  Packing up is the problem.  I can only make little amounts of progress every day because Stella is impossible to pack with.  But she does love having boxes around.    

Stella cannot seem to stay still for more than a second.  She is constantly on the go now,  as you can tell from these pictures.  I love that she is so mobile, because now when I walk out of a room, she doesn't cry, she just follows me.  Very handy.  

Silly!

Stella loves to smash her face up against the glass door of our entertainment center.  I was finally able to snap some pictures of her while she was doing it.  So silly! 

Let the "OH SO FLATTERING" pictures begin

One thing I was not good at while pregnant with Stella was documenting "the belly".  I am trying to be better about that this time, being that I feel so much bigger this time around, and wish I had more pictures to reference from last time.  Sorry I look grumpy in this picture, I took the picture myself using the timer, and it is apparently a lot harder to smile when no one is there to yell, "say cheese".   Anyway - so here I am at 19 weeks.  I have been feeling the baby now consistently for three weeks, which is always reassuring, and it appears this child will be just as active as Stella.  The first time we heard the heartbeat, the doctor even mentioned how the baby was kicking of course, and then flipped in the middle of while we were monitoring.  At least this time around I can picture a baby inside of me.  With Stella, I could only picture a big blob, even up until I delivered, it was very hard to imagine that it was actually a baby inside of me.  This time though, I feel a kick and picture a little foot, rather than some sort of round monster, so that is nice.