Stella is on the Move

It seems like yesterday Stella learned to crawl, okay maybe it wasn't yesterday but it wasn't more than a couple of weeks ago.  Ever since this new learned discovery she has been on the move.  She crawls all over the house and gets herself into all kinds of trouble.  I didn't think I would be that mom, but if she didn't say da da all of the time I would bet anything her first word would be no.

No, we don't play with the bills.

No, don't play with the dog food. 

No, don't play in the toilet.

No, don't pull stuff off the refrigerator. 

And today... no, don't climb in cabinets. 

But with all this new found independence and exploring it hasn't been all that bad.  Let me tell you there is nothing more heart-warming then hearing the garage door go up at night, telling her that Da Da is home and seeing her race to the door, with a great big smile, to greet him.

Stella's First Halloween

Vacation isn't what it used to be!!

This past week, we were fortunate enough to take a take a trip to Kauai with our friends Josh, Kim and their 18-month old daughter, Ella.  Before we left many people told us how beautiful and relaxing the island Kauai is.  I optimistically took two different books to read while at the pool sipping my drink of the day.  However, for parents of a small children, the island of Kauai is indeed beautiful but relaxing may not be the best descriptor.  In saying this, we had an excellent vacation playing in kiddie pool, going down the waterslide, learning how to crawl (yes, she can crawl :)) and playing as a family.  It's a different kind of vacation.

We left early Friday morning for a six-hour flight.  This was the only part of the trip that I was not looking forward to.  The girls were excellent considering on the flight over considering they only slept for forty-five minutes.

View of pool from our balcony

View of ocean from our balcony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 On Saturday morning, our first outing was to the local farmers market where we bought plenty of fresh local fruit and Stella even enjoyed coconut milk.

We then spent the rest of the day and the next few days hanging by the pool and playing on the waterslide.

On Monday, we went to Hanalei Bay Beach.  For anyone who knows me, you know my true love for the beach... I hate it.  I truly can not think of anything worse.  But I sucked it up and off we went.

 

Stella had so much fun that she even took a nap.

On Tuesday, we wanted to explore the island a bit more so Stella, Brian and took took a helicopter tour.  It was awesome.

And again, Stella took a nap.

On Wednesday, Josh and Kim kept Stella so Brian and I could go scuba diving.  We saw a lot of really awesome fish, as well as a few sharks, a lobster, some turtles and a couple of eels.  I even was able to feed the fish... and not in a good way.  The boat just kept going up and down and up and down.

On Thursday, we kept Ella so Josh and Kim could go Kayaking.  We had an awesome time but two kids is a lot of work.

We had a wonderful morning until nap time... It took us over an hour and a half to get both of them to sleep.  I thought it happened earlier but when I went to check on Ella this is what I found...

Yeah, she wasn't sleeping.  But after a good rest we went out to the pool and had a wonderful afternoon.

Overall, we had a wonderful trip with some great friends.  It is so nice to have friends that you can travel well with as well as kids that are close in the same age.  I hope this is the first of many family vacations!!

Stella Moves to the Big Girl Tub

Stella is just over nine months old now and this entire time we have been giving Stella her bath in a baby tub in the kitchen sink.  I am sure most people would have moved to the big girl bath a long time before nine months, but out of pure convenience we continued to use the baby bath.

However a few nights ago, I made the decision to make the move.  Stella loves splashing and playing in the water and she was simply running out of room.  As bath time was drawing near, I blew up her new ducky bath, filled it with water and put her in.  At first she didn't know how to react, but after a few seconds she loved it.

Stella Goes to Kinnick

I am going to start this post by mentioning that I do indeed love my husband.  He is an excellent father, great husband and overall wonderful man.  HOWEVER, when the man steps foot on Iowa soil, I don't know what happens to him.

In saying this, we went back to Iowa this weekend for the Iowa vs Iowa State Football game.  We were so excited to see the game and visit my parents, as they drove over from Illinois.  We left Friday evening and flew from Phoenix to Denver and Denver to Cedar Rapids.  Stella was an excellent flyer.

In Denver, we tried to get Stella to fall asleep and we thought we had succeeded until Brian happened to look at the side of the stoller.

 Yeah not so much, but she did fall asleep on the plane.  We arrived late Friday night and went straight to the hotel to catch some zzzz's.

Saturday morning we woke up, went to The Hawk Shop to get our game day apperal, and headed out for the pregame festivities.  But before we left Stella needed to make sure she had plenty of energy.

 We had a great time at our friend's tailgate visiting while the boys played beer-pong.

It was such a wonderful morning, we were having a great time... and then we headed to the game.  As with any college stadium, Iowa does not serve alcohol during the game so Brian thought it would be a good idea to make a drink to go... one for him and one for my father.  Anyone who has ever had a drink poured by Brian really only makes that mistake once.  And my guess is, that it was the last time my dad will ever have Brian pour him a drink also.  Once thier drinks were poured, we headed to the game.  This was just the beginning...

Brian and I head into the stadium, as my parents take Stella back for a nap.  This is where I begin reminding myself how much I love my husband.  You know when you go to a game and there is that jack*** is your section who is so into the game, way more than they should be?  That's Brian.  He was fist pumping, jumping up and down and overall being a obnoxious fan.

We made it to half-time.  At this point, Brian and I went up to the concession stand where I proceeded to get sodas while Brian went to the restroom.  The plan was to meet back at our seats.  After waiting in line for fifteen minutes I headed back to our seats where I thought my husband would be waiting for me.  To my surprise he was not there, okay he was still in the restroom.  I enjoyed the peace and quiet of the third quarter until the I started to begin to get concerend that Brian had not returned from the restroom.  To make a very long, but extremely funny story short, Brian had not returned to our seats, he had gone to the same seats in a different section.  He spent the entire sencond-half of the game looking for me and calling my parents to see if they had heard from me, as if I had disappeared.  When I finally realized that he was in the next section over, I went over to Brian and was told over and over how he had walked up and down the stairs for the entire quarter looking for me.  As if it was my fault that he went to the wrong section.  I have never laughed so hard in my life.  I love my husband, I love my husband.  On a side note, I am extremely impressed that he was so concerned about me that he would look for me instead of watching the game... I guess he loves me to.

That was the end of the game and one would think that the drama would be over.  We headed back to the hotel to find my father laying on the bed watching the ceiling spin.  Again, he hadn't experienced Brian's bartending skills.  Thank goodness we had two babysitters to take care of Stella... poor dad.  Needless to say dad did not go to dinner with us that night.

Sunday presented its own set of drama... we spent the morning looking for the car keys and attached wallet that we later discoverd was left at the hotel restraunt the prior afternoon by my parents.

Wow... what a weekend.  This post totally does it no justice.  But as Brian just informed me, "It's just a typical Iowa weekend."

Family Pictures

A couple of weeks ago Brian's mom came to visit.  One of her first requests, when she arrived, was that we go get some pictures taken.  I, of course, love any reason to take Stella's picture, so I was all for it.  I also thought this would be a great opportunity for us to get family pictures done, as well.

So here is our final product...  Stella's 8 month pictures.

Stella Passed Her Swim Test

Living in Arizona most people have a pool and unfortunately each year there are reports of child drownings.  Because we are one of those who have a pool, I knew for  sure that we were going to put Stella into swim lessons as soon as we could  I ntalking to people, there was particular type of swim lessons that people talked so highly about, ISR.  This particular type of lessons teaches children to float and swim at a very young age.  As our friends described it, I thought this was awesome until the described the last part.  At the end of the lessons, they take the child, fully clothed, and toss them in the pool to see if they can float.  Crazy, right?  I agreed to do the swim lessons under the condition that I wouldn't have to watch the test at the end.  Well, we've come to the end.

For the last five weeks, everyday, the swim instructor has come to our house to teach Stella how to float.  At the first lesson, Stella's teacher warned me that for the most part the kids usually cried through the lessons, so I prepared myself.  But not Stella, she enjoyed every minute... of the first week.

 But then the second week came and Stella hated swim lessons.  She screamed a fought it.  But thankfully that only lasted about a week.  For the next two weeks, she learned to float and then to roll. This week was testing week, the week I originally couldn't bear to watch.  However, as we got to this week, I was no longer scared to watch her test, rather I was excited to see what she could do.   We started on Monday with light summer clothes, yesterday was pajamas, and today was full winter clothes.

 I can not believe how well she did.  I can honestly say, that the money and time that we have spent doing swim lesson have hands down been best that we have ever spent.  Obviously, I would never leave Stella alone by the pool but I now have a better peace of mind with her around water.  For now, my nine month old can roll into a float all on her own.  In April, we will begin the process all over again as she learns to swim.