Eight Months...

This past month was a special one for us, as you know. We were able to be sealed to Stella in the Mesa, Arizona Temple and bless her in our ward. The sealing went really well. The weather was beautiful and the day went really smoothly. We had never been to a sealing of a child to parents before (we had only been to marriages), so it was a neat and new experience. Our friends and family were there and my mom got to be Stella's escort in the temple. It was so amazing when my mom brought her into the sealing room and we were already there. She just looked like a little angel. She was very well behaved the whole time and was just smiling at everyone around the room. It was so cute. The spirit in the room there was so strong and it was a real manifestation to us what a blessing it is to have her in our lives, as our baby.

The next day was the blessing and it went well also. Cameron gave Stella a really beautiful blessing that she would be, among other things, a strong, virtuous woman and that she would always know how many lives she has touched and how many people love her.
It was a great weekend and one we had been anxiously awaiting.

Some of her other recent accomplishments - she now crawls like crazy. She is really fast! She never stops moving and getting into mischief! LOL! She now has not only the two bottom teeth, but also one of her top teeth and the other is coming in as we speak...making her very cranky! She waves 'bye-bye' and claps (sometimes - we're still working on the clapping thing). She can say 'mama', 'dada', 'ba-ba' (bottle), and 'bye-bye' (but bottle and bye-bye sound pretty much the same!). She's finally wearing her 6-12 month clothes!..so she is growing, but is still a petite little thing.
Here are a few pictures that I have taken recently - some of which are from that weekend. I took some cute pictures of her in her 'Steelers' jersey that Spencer gave her. But, they are on my small camera and for the life of me I can not find the cord that allows me to download pictures from that camera to my computer. So, I'm going to have to go buy a new cord in order to get those pictures downloaded! Sorry! Hopefully I'll get that done soon! :)

Do you think they were copying each other on purpose?? :)

With her cousins at the temple on her sealing day.

With my family on the day of the sealing.

With some of Cameron's family on the day of the sealing.

Just after the sealing on the stairs of the temple.

Seven Months...

Happy New Year!

We hope that you all had a nice Christmas and New Years. We sure did...mostly we just relaxed and spent time with family. We had a lot of fun doing the first Christmas stuff with Stella. Thank you to the Simons and the Rodebacks for the Christmas gifts. You are too generous. We consider ourselves very fortunate to have such great birth parents and families.

She had fun opening the presents - mostly she loved the 'paper' that we ripped off the presents - but she'll catch on soon enough! :)

A few updates on the baby. The adoption was finalized there in Utah on December 15th. The hearing was conducted by proxy meaning that we did not have to appear there in court in-person. Our attorney and Sandy from LDS Family Services appeared for us. It was a happy day for us...Now we can bless her and be sealed to her. The dates for that are January 31st for the sealing (in the Mesa, Arizona Temple) and February 1st for the blessing.

Another update, Stella now has two teeth! They are so cute! She was teething for a while and then all the sudden one morning, they were just there! She's so good-natured, she wasn't even that fussy or anything. She is also sitting by herself now and is just on the verge of crawling. She gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth - I'd say she'll be crawling within a week or so.

I took her to the doctor this morning (the poor thing had to get four shots!). We found out that she is now 27.5 inches long (75 percentile), her head is in the 33 percentile (I can't remember the exact number of inches), and she is now 15.1 pounds (12 percentile). So, apparently she's kind of tall and thin! Let's hope for her sake that ratio sticks with her when she's an adult! :)

Here are a few pictures of her. Some are from Christmas time, Christmas morning and others are just some we had taken recently.

Taken just last week...

I thought you might like this one because you can see her cute little teeth and her big blue eyes!

This is her blessing dress - I wore this dress when I was her age...my mom saved it for me in case I had a daughter. So, it is very special to me that she will be able to wear it for her blessing.

Christmas morning!

Six Months Old...

As you know, Stella is now (as of almost two weeks ago) officially six months old. She is definitely a 'baby' now, rather than an infant. I love watching her develop but at the same time it pains me to see her grow so fast! I just want to capture every stage she goes through and never forget what it was like.

She has such a little personality. She's a really sweet baby; always smiling and laughing. She is really starting to love being around all her little cousins - she just sits there and watches them - she is so entertained by the things they do. You can tell she can't wait until she can join in the fun!

We are having fun getting ready for her 'first Christmas'. I found in a local boutique a cute little soft baby doll that is actually named 'Baby Stella' (which is what everyone calls our Stella). I thought that was so cute...so, I bought her that doll for Christmas and the little baby stroller and cradle that go with it. There is also a line of books called 'Stella'. They are really cute books where this little girl goes on all these adventures - like 'Stella - Princess of the Sky' and 'Stella - Princess of the Sea', etc. So, I couldn't resist getting her those as well. The funny part about it is that I was actually hiding these gifts in Cameron's office. He came in and started laughing at me for hiding presents from a six month old baby...but I thought we better get into the practice of it! :)

This week the adoption becomes final. We are waiting impatiently (LOL) to receive the official word that everything has been signed off in the courts. After that we will wait for them to send us all the official paperwork and then we can schedule to bless and be sealed to her. We are very excited.

Here are a few recent pictures of her. Georgeous as always!

Halloween and Other Things...

19 - 23 Weeks...

Hello! Well, I finally have some good pictures to post for you to see...These range from about October 20th until just yesterday. Thank you to Spencer and Angie for the cute little outfits you sent. She has worn them both and the boots will be so cute this winter!

It seems amazing that Stella is now five months old. In some ways it seems like she's been here forever - and in others ways it seems like yesterday she was born. It is so much fun watching her grow and change every day. She is rolling over both ways now and is on the verge of sitting up. It looks like she is going to get her two bottom teeth here pretty soon. She reaches for things she wants now including if she wants someone to pick her up, which is so cute! She loves her 'exer-saucer' which is the toy she sits in and plays with all the little toys around the edge. She will jump and laugh and play in that thing for quite a long time! She continues to be a happy baby who loves to laugh and smile. She is such a joy in our lives.

Stella's Halloween Costume - She was a bumble bee! She was even in the 'Gilbert Republic' newspaper in her costume - on the front page!

Happy little Bumble Bee at our Trunk-Or-Treat party in our ward.

Stella with Mom and Dad passing out candy at our Trunk or Treat.

Stella in one of her 'scary' Halloween outfits! :)

Wearing her Babies Gone Batty Onesie! So cute.

Again - On Halloween Day.

On Halloween.



This one makes me laugh - her little belly is so cute.

Stella at a family reunion

She loves her baths! (She's wearing a washcloth!)

Jenny and Stella at a wedding. Stella was the Belle of the Ball!





Growing Cuter Everyday! - That's for sure! :)

Again...




Stella in her Exer-saucer - Funny Girl.

Weeks 15 - 17...

Hello! Well - it's been a few weeks since I have updated only because we haven't been doing much! So, I haven't had many pictures to share! Hopefully in the next few weeks I should have some good pictures since Halloween is coming up!

Stella is growing every day and looking so much older now suddenly! She is using her hands a lot more now and can easily grab toys and fingers, etc, that are placed in front of her. She is rolling over - but only now and again...She has become attached to this one little silky blanket and she likes to hold that and feel it with her fingers when she goes to sleep. She started eating rice cereal last week. She loved it right from the very first bite! It creates quite a disaster when she eats it, but she loves it! She can only eat all organic, soy-free rice...the first kind we gave her had soy in it and she had a little bit of an allergic reaction (some hives on her cheeks and neck).

She's so funny - she is very particular lately about who she will let hold her! She mostly likes to be with me, then Cameron...and after that, she'll pretty much cry if anyone else takes her...I think it's just a phase - but it sure does make her cousins and aunts / grandmas crazy! I guess she and I need to get out more often, around other people! :)

Here are some recent pictures of her!

In her guitar pajamas - still no hair to speak of! :)

She has the cutest gummy smile!

Here is Stella and Dad watching football last Sunday after church. Neither one could take their eyes off the TV!

Sitting in her Bumbo chair. She thinks she is such a big girl when she sits up in it!