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Monday, January 25, 2010

One Month!

Well, my sweet Stella Ross is a month old today. Wow, so much has happened in the last month, and I have hardly left the house!! What a great month it has been. Stella Ross has changed so much, but she is still the sweet little baby girl we brought home on Christmas Day. She is SO laid back and usually sleeps through anything. This is a definite plus when you have a WILD big brother like Rafe. Some things I want to remember about this past month are:
  • she eats every 3 hours, but will go around 4 1/2 - 5 hours at night!!
  • she went from 7 lbs. 13 oz at birth to 10 lbs. at her month check-up!
  • her favorite thing to look at is the ceiling fan in the den. It is the funniest thing. She can be crying hysterically and get one look at that fan and instantly start "talking" to it. I hope this continues to work
  • she started smiling at 3 weeks and each day seems to smile more and more. It is the CUTEST thing.
  • she LOVES her big brother. She watches EVERYTHING Rafe is doing and smiles at him a lot
  • loves to get on her play mat and "talk" to the mirror or her animals
  • still has all of her hair!! We are wondering when that "Stella spike" is going to calm down! We love it though, and cannot imagine what she would look like without it.


such a sweet picture



"O.K., Mommy, NO more pictures!"

tummy time

watching football with Daddy

she never loses sight of that FAN!

Sunday, January 17, 2010

A Day at the Salon

After Rafe got himself ready for church this morning, he decided to give Stella Ross a much needed haircut and facial. She seemed to really enjoy the pampering!! They were both pleased with the end result!

Didn't know women needed to shave their faces!


Looking at the finished product!

Oops! Missed some hair!

Now we are happy!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

3 Weeks!

Rafe at 3 weeks

Stella Ross's first "big girl" bath
Rafe was in there with him, just didn't have a
great picture. He was SO excited!

So sweet

Meeting Hot Dog for the first time

Where has the time gone? I cannot believe my sweet Stella Ross is 3 weeks old. We have had a week filled with mixed emotions. Stella Ross continues to be a wonderful baby. I think she has officially hit her first big growth spurt because those BIG stretches we were getting at night have become shorter and shorter!! She continues to eat about every 3 hours during the day and now every three hours at night. She went back to the doctor for a weight check on Thursday and is now up to 9 lbs. 4 oz. She gained 10 ounces in 6 days!! She started smiling a few days ago. It is THE CUTEST thing ever. Hopefully I will be able to get a picture of it soon.

We also had a major event happen this week. My oldest "baby" is officially registered for kindergarten. This absolutely makes me sick. The thought of him going to "big boy" school next year every day makes me want to cry. I can't imagine not having our special times in the mornings to stay in our pajamas and be lazy if we want to or stay up late and play the Wii with Daddy because we just want to. I am in for a LONG summer getting ready for this. You would think I would have already prepared myself for it since I used to be a teacher. It is totally different when it is your own child.

A Scary Situation!

What else can happen to our family with our animals that we love so much? Three weeks ago we lost our beloved dog, Buck and this week we almost lost Garfield. Gram and Rafe were finally getting to play outside Wednesday afternoon and if Rafe is outside playing, Garfield is right by his side. Rafe was riding his scooter when our neighbors dog got out of his fence and started running towards Garfield. Luckily Garfield was fast enough to get up a tree and the dog continued to run away. Garfield finally calmed down and came out of the tree and rejoined Rafe on his playground. Unfortunately that situation only sparked a VERY bad one to occur. The BIG dog behind us heard all of the commotion and started barking at Rafe and Garfield as they were playing. (he barks at us EVERY TIME we are out). The next thing they knew the dog jumped his fence and chased Garfield up another tree in our yard. However this dog did not forget about our cat and continued to climb the tree after him. Unfortunately this tree had no branches for Garfield to get secure on and Garfield let go. He fell a LONG way, hit the ground, and was then immediately scooped up by this ferocious dog. He started attacking Garfield and Gram started screaming for someone to help. The owner of the dog heard the commotion and was able to get the dog off of our poor cat just in time. By now Rafe is COMPLETELY traumatized and screaming because he has just seen all of this happen. I will NEVER get over the look on his face when I got to him.

To make a long story short, Garfield spent two nights in the hospital and had to have surgery to clean and close up the wounds. He has a VERY sore leg and a bruised lung but luckily it looks like he is going to make it. We brought him home yesterday and needless to say he will NOT be going outside for a LONG time. Rafe is not sure about playing with him yet because of all of the stitches, staples and loss of hair. You can imagine all of the questions we have been getting.

It is going to take a long time for both Garfield and Rafe to recover from this very traumatic event. Rafe is now extremely afraid of dogs (this kills me since I am such a dog lover) and does not feel comfortable even going outside to play in our backyard. Only time can heal this. In the mean time I am going to love on and encourage Rafe as Rafe loves on and encourages his cat, Garfield. We are SO lucky to have him home.

Garfield's new favorite spot to rest. It doesn't look too
comfortable to me, but he loves it.


Poor Garfield. Now do you understand
why Rafe is a little scared to play with him?

Saturday, January 9, 2010

2 weeks!

Where have the last two weeks gone? I don't' even mind the extremely cold weather. Stella Ross and I have been staying put in the warm house (let's just hope we can pay our power bill!!) Stella Ross continues to be a WONDERFUL baby. We are hoping this "honeymoon" phase does not end. She eats every 3 hours during the day and we are only getting up one time at night. It doesn't get much better than that. I took her to the doctor yesterday for a weight check and she is now up to 8 lbs. 10 oz. from 7 lbs. 13 oz. in just two weeks! We were pretty excited about that.

Rafe continues to be the BEST big brother. He loves to hold Stella Ross and love on her. His favorite time of the day is when we are reading books to him. He holds his sister and lets her listen to the stories as well. It is so sweet!

I have been spoiled the last two weeks with a lot of help from Cory and Gram. What would I do without them? Cory was off of work the first week and spent most of that time taking down Christmas decorations, putting up Christmas presents, and spending a lot of time with Rafe. He did not think of it as a vacation. I think he was more tired than he would have been at work! My mom was off of work this week and I don't know what I would have done without her. She has cooked us supper most every night, done laundry, cleaned around the house, loved on my babies and mostly just been a BIG encouragement to me. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful mom and my children are so lucky to have such a fantastic Gram. Thanks, Mom, for everything. We ALL appreciate everything you do for our family!

Gram and Stella Ross

The stork arrived in our yard!

Sweet girl

Tummy time didn't last long!



Saturday, January 2, 2010

It's Game Time!!

I may have a thumb sucker following in her mommy's footsteps!



We are ready for some football at our house!

Friday, January 1, 2010

A week already!!

Wow! It is SO hard to believe Stella Ross is already a week old. What a precious little baby she is. We are all doing great. Rafe has enjoyed his daddy being home with us all week (I did, too!). We have learned what it is like being a family of four and we are loving every minute of it. Stella Ross is absolutely no trouble and her big brother loves her to death. He loves to sit and hold her and maybe even kiss her (although he thinks it is gross to kiss girls!!). We cannot imagine life without this sweet little girl. What a miracle she is!


Stella Ross's first birthday cake! Thank you, Pam!

Rafe helping me give Stella Ross her first bath

The best gift ever

Stella Ross with her rocking chair
from Hot Dog and Lu Lu

Playtime


First doctor visit

Sweet girl

Full belly!




Nothing sweeter