It's a Wonderful Life

Merry Christmas! Stella Scout enjoyed a fabulous first Christmas. It was incredible fun for us to watch Stella marvel at all the lights and festivities and even more fun to see her grandparents, aunties and uncles and cousins soak up our little sprite.

Stella now vigorously puts everything, and we do mean everything, in her mouth.

Check out Stella's stylie new duds. She's becoming quite the fashionista.

Here Stella prepares for the Santa's Elves Convention 2007.

It was a year ago this Christmas that we shared the news with our families that we were expecting. It blows our minds that Stella is now here and such an amazing part of all our lives.

Right before Christmas, Stella was lucky enough to meet her Great Uncle Ed.

Hangin' with the big girls.

Stella and the Big Guy

Stella got all dolled up yesterday to visit Santa. She coped quite well with all the hullabaloo and asked for world peace, a new ozone layer and a teething ring.

Tiny Bubbles

Toes Rock!

Stella has suddenly discovered her toes and is completely enthralled. She grew particularly ambitious in the picture above, trying to fit both her foot and hand in her mouth simultaneously. Ah, that's our delicate little flower.

She's also training for competitive raspberry blowing. What a total goofball.

The Apple Don't Fall Far

Stella Scout loves reading already. She spent thirty minutes looking at this book this morning and became quite sassy when I tried to move her! (Check out the drool in the third picture. Such focus!)

Taste Buds

Stella was lucky enough to see her best bud Ava Jane over Thanksgiving weekend as Ava and her parents, Alex and Erik, were visiting from Berkeley. As you can see, they get along famously. I mean really, who let's someone suck on their forehead but their closest of friends?

Gobble Gobble

Talk about a year of thanks! In honor of Thanksgiving and our new life with Stella Scout, Brian and I would like to thank all our beloveds for all their love and support this past year. It's been an amazing adventure already, and we are grateful for everyone's generosity of spirit. Thank you! Stella spent her first Thanksgiving in Seattle with the Burns clan (after spending a lovely morning with Grandma Jannie in Bellingham), and especially enjoyed hanging out with her charming and hilarious cousins. At four months, she's starting to giggle, and the droolies have hit with a vengeance. Life is good. For more pictures, click here.

Babies Babies Babies !!!

All of Stella's Bradley Birthing Class buddies visited this afternoon for a lovely reunion. Stella, Isaac, Cheyanne, Eden, Finn, Mikayla and Amelia had a great time smiling, eating and napping like total pros. At any given time, at least one babe was snoozing, so we didn't get a whole group shot. But the picture above gives a feeling for what it was like to have six babies and a toddler hanging out. Click here for more pictures.

The Chickpea and The Peanut

Stella took her parents to Berkeley last weekend to meet her beloved and honorary cousin, Ava Jane. (Ava's mom, Alex, has been Katherine's best friend for twenty years!) Stella was a total trooper on both flights, snoozing for the most part and flirting whenever she could. Stella and Ava had a blast playing. The wee Scout was in awe of Ava Jane's big girl-ness. At six months, she taught Stella a few tricks. Stella was also fortunate to meet Luke, Nancy's darling son, and she got to visit with Chi-hui again. It was a great trip, and we're beyond excited to watch these girls grow!

Click here for more pictures from the trip.

(Synchronized swimming, anyone?)

Stella takes flying very seriously. Here she is carefully explaining to Mama that the aerodynamics of her hat, in fact, help the plane fly more smoothly.

Boo!

Stella celebrated her first Halloween in style as a cute kitty cat. Check out her friends and their costumes. That's Isaac as a dragon, Ansen as a pumpkin and Scarlet as an elephant. Too funny.

Pallin' Around

Stella Scout enjoyed a fabulously fun afternoon with her good buddy, Isaac. They had a blast batting at one another, hanging out under the activity mat and reading Pat-a-Cake (upside down, of course!).