Nine and Ten Months...

Hi, There! I haven't blogged in a while because my old computer was literally getting so slow that it would hardly even allow me to upload pictures, etc. Poor old thing - it's been a good friend! We've spent many hours together. :)

Anyway - I finally broke down and bought a new computer. I bought a Mac Book which so far has caused me nothing but confusion and frustration! But, hopefully I'll get it all figured out soon. In fact, as we speak, right now it's not allowing me to get rid of the underlining here and the formatting on this post is all crazy...I hope it is okay once it actually posts!

I'm pasting a bunch of pics below...just some that we've taken over the past couple months of the baby, etc. She's such an adorable little girl! Every day is a new adventure with her in our lives and in our home. We sure do love her.

Here are a few updates about her:

She has six teeth! Four on top and two on bottom. She can say several words - although not always on command - mama, dada, bye-bye and no-no. It's so cute. She has been crawling everywhere for a while and now she is standing up to furniture, etc. She is eating more and more real food and many days now can eat tiny bits of our regular meals. She likes to feed herself. She had the stomach flu so bad two weeks ago that I took her to the ER in the middle of the night. I was afraid that she was dehydrated. As it turned out she was fine - they gave her some fluids and nausea medication and she started doing a lot better. (I probably over-reacted!...first-time mom and all...but better safe-than-sorry, right?!). She waves and claps and her new favorite thing to do is point. She points at everyone and everything!



All the baldies in our family. Sorry Stella - you're the only girl in the bunch - you're also the 'bald-est' of any of them! :)


Cameron and Stella in our Hotel room in Newport. We drove over for a weekend in March just to get away. It was so cute - those two in their matching hoodies!

Silly girl! Pulling dad's hood down over his eyes and laughing like crazy!


Stella and Me outside the Crab Cooker in Newport. The waitresses in there thought Stella was so cute they were literally standing in a circle around her and all screaming and laughing. The whole restaurant was looking...it was pretty funny. I have to admit - she did look pretty cute that day! :)
I turned 29 this month...Stella got to go over and play with her cousins while Cameron and I went out that evening. This is Stella and me on my Bday before we left.

Stella zonked out in her stroller as we walked up and down the beach in Newport.

Stella in her favorite spot - in front of the DVDs. She would work all day to get those doors open and pull out all the DVD's if I would let her! Yes - every once in a while I open up the doors and let her yank them all out!...and believe me, she does not rest until all 100+ DVDs are strewn around the room.


Stella got sick two weeks ago with the stomach flu. This was right after - so she was looking even more lean than usual...I seriously think she lost weight with her flu if that's possible. In the ER, they weighed her in at 15.6 pounds, which is pretty tiny for a 10 month old! Poor little thing! She's feeling much better now and is back to loving food!


Stella and Cameron on Easter Sunday...My mom made this dress and flowers for her. It was so adorable.


Stella splashing around in our hottub. She LOVES it in there.

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.