Who Me?

If Picasso had a blue period, so can Stella.

Love, Love and More Love

Happy Belated Love Day, Y'all!

We enjoyed a beautifully chilly but clear long weekend at home, celebrating Valentine's with Stella's closest buds.

On Valentine's Day, Stella and I spent the morning with our good friends Kami and Michael and their little one, Scarlet. The girls had a blast taking turns with toys (okay, they didn't really like that part) and enjoyed a few snuggles here and there (they initiated this whole rocking chair thing on their own).

This morning, the three of us headed to Lake Padden with Lena and Isaac for a fun romp at the park. The kids were total troopers, braving the chill for two hours of running around and feeding the ducks.

Stella was overjoyed to spend the day with her Papa. Swings and Papa? Life is good indeed.

Oh, sweet boy. We love you so!

Thanks, Grandmas and Grandpas and Auntie Alex for the fabulous Valentine's stickers. Stella is in sticker heaven!

Another Post About Walking

It may be chilly here in the Northwest, but it's been remarkably dry. So we've perfected the art of bundling up and head outside as much as possible. Stella, as usual, loves our daily walks and appears more and more comfortable hanging out in our hood. She loves studying the birds, stopping by our neighbors to see their new cat, Frank, lounging in the window, and she is fascinated with picking out moss from the sidewalk cracks. It's amazing how much there is to explore on one city block.

Here Stella expresses an interest in walking toward the dangerously busy street at the end of our block.

Here Stella mimics Mama's words, "No, no, no. Too busy, busy, busy."

(I'm really hoping I don't make this face as I say "No, no, no." Worth pondering. It's so funny to me how emphatically toddlers mirror your guidance. I'll calmly and quietly tell her to not go into the street, and she'll then mimic my "orders" with an overly dramatic reenactment.)

Sunday Mornings

Stella and I enjoy lovely quiet Sunday mornings together while Brian goes mountain biking for a few hours. While I get to spend every morning with the wee peanut, Sundays feel different. There's something delightfully mellow about the day, and it's so much more exciting than an average weekday because we know Papa will be home before lunch.

Since I've all but totally forgotten where the camera is during our crazed construction, I decided to grab some shots this morning as the babe and I hung out. It reminded me of how I love just observing Stella and watching her do her thing. It was also interesting to see her suddenly interested in the camera. She wanted to take some shots (to be debuted, with much fanfare, at a later date) and seemed conscious of posing. Glamour girl.

Or should I say ham bone?

Isn't she starting to look like a little kid?

(Of course, the Chuck Taylors help with the cool factor.)



I can't decide if this looks like a future first day of school shot or her first mug shot.

Eighteen

Stella turned eighteen months this weekend, and we're downright flabbergasted by how quickly time has flown in the last year and a half. I look back just a year, and Stella was just starting to eat solids and crawl. She's now an eating machine (when she wants to be) and is a running, climbing, tumbling monkey. Oh yeah, and she's talking now. Simply put, life with Stella is amazing.

We've been posting a bit less lately because we're swamped with a pretty big construction project. Every room of our house looks like a bomb went off, and we've been busy tyring to keep Stella's routines as normal and chaos-free as possible. (If Brian or I ever try to tell you that it's no big deal to massively remodel your home with an eighteen month old, know this - we're lying.)

Stella Scout - Happy half birthday, buddy. We adore you endlessly and say thank you thank you thank you for all that you bring to our lives. We love you, buddy.