A Normal Week

This week was pretty routine.  Mommy started graduate classes for the semester, Daddy kept busy with basketball, and Miss Stell Belle has been her sweet self!  We are pretty content with having what you might call a normal week.

Stella is doing well learning how to walk.  We have discovered that she loves to practically run behind her toy Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Train walker if we let her loose in our big living room.  All the open space is perfect for her to get several practice steps in all at once!  She also loves to 'read', especially her little Mickey Mouse books from Aunt Jeanie and Uncle Doug.

We had a fun Friday night with sleepover guests Grammie and Pa and Stella's cousins Logan and Neil.  Going to Daddy's basketball game was the highlight of their visit and Stella was such a good girl despite being up well past her bedtime.

This week, we look forward to baby Esme's arrival - Auntie Caroline should have news to share with us about meeting her little sweet pea very soon!

We're Back

Apologies go out to all of our loyal blog followers - we missed last Sunday because a few of us were under the weather.  Stell Belle is happily moving along, working on taking a few supported steps here and there.  She is most comfortable on all fours still but it doesn't slow her down any!  Her third tooth is working on coming through and she is becoming more and more vocal.  We love to watch her grow and change as time passes.  This week Stella and Mommy had a sleepover at Grammie and Pa's so Mom could work an Indoor Track Meet on Friday night and another all day Saturday.  Stella and Grammie had some really good snuggle time and are already looking forward to their next sleepover!

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to go see Trey's monument which has finally arrived.  We are so happy with how it turned out and feel it was worth the wait!  If all goes well it should be placed at the cemetery sometime this coming April.

Our Birthday Girl

This weekend Stell Belle was a busy little girl.  On Saturday she played and played with her Grammie while mommy did some things around the house and finished a few preparations for her birthday celebration.  That evening we watched daddy coach and Stella was able to stay awake for the entire game - even through overtime!  It was a really exciting game and the gym was very loud but Stella enjoyed every minute of it!  On Sunday we celebrated Stella's first birthday with some family and good friends.  We had a full house and Stella was given lots and lots of nice things.  Stella had some special visitors too - both Nurse Heidi and Nurse Julie made the long trip from the Champlain Valley to celebrate with her.  When she tried her yummy birthday cake Auntie Mary Jane made special just for her we video-conferenced in her other Aunties in Ohio and Hawaii.  It was nice having them be part of Stella's birthday celebration in this special way.  Stella was a happy girl today and we think she had fun at her party!  We ended her day with a birthday story book from Nurse Barb 'Goodnight Vermont'.

Happy Birthday Stella

We can hardly believe that Stella's first birthday has arrived!  She is becoming such a big girl and we are enjoying nearly every moment of our time with her.  While we saved the celebrating for her party this coming Sunday there was no basketball practice today so we had some nice family time together which can't be beat!

An unforgettable year

As one year comes to an end, and a new one begins, it is only natural for all of us to remember the year gone bye.  The past year is full of memories that will stay with us forever.  Because of the memories we would like to forget, we hope we never have a year like that again.  On the other hand, we have had tons of memories that we want to cherish forever.  This is life I guess, we take the good with the awful; all we can do is move forward.


We look forward to watching Stella continue to develop into a big girl.  On that note, it is worth mentioning that she had a neonatal follow-up appointment this past week.  Everything is wonderful, so wonderful that they no longer need to see her at the follow up clinic!  She weighs over 18 pounds as she approaches her first birthday.  It is so exciting to see how much she learns each and everyday.

Through the rough times, and the good times, we were/are so lucky to have our friends and family who always are there for us.  Without this support system, who knows how things would have been.  We look forward to continuing to spend time with old friends and family, but also make time for new friends.  Speaking of our new family, Stella and Beth visited some of our new Burlington family after Stella's appointment.  They enjoyed a nice lunch with auntie Caroline, and then surprised nurse Heidi at her second job at Essex Rescue.  On top of this they got to see some people in the NICU.  We are so thankful that we got to meet and continue to relate to such great people. 

We wish everyone a great 2011, and plan on continuing this blog to share our experiences with our beautiful daughter!!