9 months old, 9 years together

Stella was 9 months old 11/28. At her appt, she weighed 17 lbs. 14 oz. and was 27" tall - 25th percentile for both. She is much more communicative these days and loves playing games. She is starting to take her hands off of objects more and stand for a few seconds. She still hasn't said da, da. My mom babysat her for a week while Cathy was on a mission trip to Costa Rica. Stella got sick during the week with croup. I stayed home with her the Monday after my mom left just to make sure she was okay. It was nice to hold her during her naps and play. We had to reschedule her 9 month pics to 12/10 b/c we didn't want her crying, snotty, and red-eyed for those.

Wed. was Joel and my 9-year dating anniversary. Most of you know, but Joel and I met in our first grade class. We didn't really hang out until the summer before our senior year of high school. We called ourselves officially dating 12/5/98 in the Normal West parking lot. The funny, yet awesome thing about this is that we've been together for more than 1/3 of our lives. We became adults together. This sounds corny, but I don't think we really know where one of us ends and one of us begins or who we are apart from each other, and I don't ever want to know that. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I am a better person having known Joel. His influence has made me less sinful and evil, because his character is amazing without even trying. I think God made him with more goodness than most. (Please don't have a theology debate on this) This is not to say that he doesn't get on my nerves at times, but he is my best friend and life partner. I praise God for that.

So, how did we celebrate you ask? Well, we went to Destihl, which we've been hearing SO much about from Joel's family. Let me declare with utmost honesty and no slant that it was one of the most unpleasant evenings I've had in a long, long time. Joel got there at 5:20pm, Stell and me at 5:30pm. We were not seated until 7pm, and I kid you not. We didn't leave til 8pm. Joel and I aren't rude, obnoxious, demanding people, but I kind of wish we were that night - I think they would've catered to that sooner. Once one of the owners, Trey, found out how long we had been waiting, he was apologizing, took us to our table, and told us that he was really sorry and would take care of everything. I had already decided that I hated Destihl, would be pissed off at them for at least 3 months, and potentially never come back. Too bad I stopped being really mad when I sat down. I wish I held a grudge! I told Joel that this better be the most amazing food I've ever had for it be to worth it. Stella was hungry and tired, and I was STARVING and tired from just sitting that I could've gone to sleep. I ordered a pizza, and let me tell you honestly that it was the worst, most boring, unexciting pizza I've ever had. It had no sauce, random blobs of goat cheese, a bunch of raw arugula, burnt portabellos, and random chicken apple sausage pieces. I am absolutely not a hard person to at least satisfy. Monical's Pizza even blows that pizza out of the water. The appetizer was good. The dessert was good. Joel's pizza was tasty. However, I would have been 1000 times happier having gone to pretty much any other establishment in BN (except complete nastiness such as Long John Silver's, Fazoli's, Boo Boo's Dawghouse, etc...) What a freaking let-down. Trey asked how our food was, and I told him politely. I thought he was great - we should hang out - but I'm still mad at Destihl for an undetermined amount of time and prefer Biaggi's to it any day of the week. Joel did get me Season 1 of The Office, and we had Champagne after I ran around town getting ingredients for French drinks for my 7th graders. Happy Anniversary to us.

Joshua

I FINALLY got to visit Carolyn, Jason, and Joshua. I had to pick up Stell, wait for Joel to get home, eat dinner, feed her, and then I went and spent some QT with the Sunkel's. What a precious boy. He slept soundly and happily with all of his newborn expressions. He has some cute brown hair and a defined nose, which I always appreciate in a newborn. They seemed to be doing great. Although for Joel and me, it was a little scary at first, it's such a magical time, and I am thrilled for them to start the journey. Cool beans. Side note - Joshua was born on Joel and my 9 year official dating anniversary (12/5).

Joshua Wesley Sunkel

CONGRATULATIONS to Carolyn and Jason Sunkel on their son, Joshua. He was born at 8:55pm today at 8 lbs. 1 0z. and 20" long. I've never carried my phone on my person for so many weeks and checked it so many times for anyone. Apparently I was invested in this pregnancy, probably because she got pregnant right after I had Stella, so I saw her experience everything right after I had, and I love her tons. She was induced today at 1oam. I talked to her at 12:30pm, 3;30pm, and then 9:30pm, and she sure sounded alert and perky for just having given birth and having done so NATURALLY. Props to Carolyn for that. I'll have to try that again next time:) I've had my present to take to Joshua in the hospital for over a month now, and I'll be making a visit to see them tomorrow after school. I'll post some pics tomorrow night. Praise God that everyone is healthy, and that her labor and delivery went so well. Yeah!

De plus...(more)

This weekend, Stella signed "milk" and waved "bye-bye." She is all about the clapping now. When in doubt, she claps. She also had some light cheddar cheese this morning with an egg yolk and some smashed banana. She made some interesting faces. I'm going to the store after church today to get her some new things she hasn't had, but I've wanted her to try. Those are the breaks when Joel's in charge of getting the baby food. Here's my list of things I want her to try off the top of my head:

tomatoes

avocado

beets

more cheeses

cottage cheese

yogurt

tofu

broccoli

cauliflower

melons

kiwi

lentils

beans

cheerios/crackers

whole grain bread/bagels

mixed cereal

I also included some pics of when Renee was here for your viewing pleasure.

Teensy Updates

I have a lot of grades to enter, so I'll add pics later of Auntie Nay's visit this weekend. It was a fun, whirlwind time as usual when Renee comes. We got to see the following loved ones during those 4 days: Grandma Marcia, Great Grandma Lane, Son-juh, The Hart's, The Mallehan's, The Schreck's, Sarah and Craig, The Baker's, Elena, and Grandma and Grandpa Phelps. We went out to eat and got Starbucks many times, had A LOT of good conversations, and laughed beaucoup. Stella seems to like her Auntie Nay.

Some cool updates:

1. Stella signed "more" for the first time at 8.5 months Thursday night in reference to milk. She's done this a few more times since then.

2. She is now cruising, which means she moves from one piece of furniture to the next standing up.

3. She now cries when favorite people leave her or the room.

4. She has added ka-ka to her repertoire, but STILL no da-da, much to Joel's chagrin.

5. Last night, we were eating tv whilst watching tv. Joel looks over and we see that Stella had grabbed a chunk of chicken off of Joel's plate and was eating it. It was HILARIOUS. What wasn't hilarious was that there was also a knife on the plate. So, Joel chopped up some of the chicken and fed it to her.

Motherhood is AMAZING! It definitely makes you love like you've never loved before and become a better person. God really blessed us with such a precious baby.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA SHEILA! 11/16
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GGMA MARCIA! 11/19

Sayings I Hate

Renee and I had a discussion about sayings I hate this weekend, and I just saw the French equivalent of one of them, so I felt it necessary to vent about them via blog. Don't be offended if you use them, I even do at times, but of course preface it with the fact that I hate that particular saying.

1. To each his own - People tend to say this when they can't understand someone else's strange behavior or stupid decisions - I'm someone who needs to make sense of my world, so that "we'll just have to agree to disagree" philosophy doesn't work well with me.

2. The right hand doesn't know what the left hand's doing - People tend to use this incorrectly, and it's just annoying. Otherwise, they use it to vent about management, government, or authority, and I'm not into the dam* the man mentality.

3. Talking out of both sides of their mouth - gives me a nappy feeling...

4. Think outside of the box - can we get a new way of saying this? Why's it gotta be a box? I put more things in a bag personally.

That's all for now, but I'll add more once more are compiled:)

Movin' Right Along and being cute doing it.

Stella keeps rapidly progressing in her development. She started crawling on all fours for a significant distance any time she needs to get to something that's off the ground. She is now easily pulling up to a standing position in a matter of seconds on anything she can grab, which obviously makes most things dangerous - i.e. the coffee table, Hurley's cage, her high chair - because she could fall and smack her face at any moment. She often scoots her pants off, which is why she doesn't have any on in these pics. She moves fast and is so small, her pants fall off a lot. She is starting to get friendly with the ga, ga's, but still no da da's. She had egg yolk, whole brown rice, and pureed guava and chicken for the first time this weekend. She liked all of it, especially grabbing the yolk and rice with her whole fist and trying to get it in her mouth. Her Gma Lena and Joel got her some super fun toys and cute clothes this weekend, too, so she's REAL excited about that.

Maxwell Edward Heineman

Carrie's wedding pic Congratulations to Erin and Nick Heineman on their super cute baby boy, Max. He was born Friday morning (11/2) at 8 lbs. 13 oz. and 21 in. long via c-section. I was very fortunate to get to see him, Mommy Erin, Daddy Nick, my good friend Shannon, Gma Erica, and Gpa Tom. They seem to be doing really well considering a lack of sleep, major surgery, incredible life change, etc...Nick was so cute and perky:) Shannon pointed out that we're all mothers now, including our friend Alicia. We've all been friends since elementary school (Shannon, Erin, and Alicia years before I came into the picture), then met Megan and Carrie, and we were cheerleaders together, got into trouble together, experienced the death of family and friends together, etc...It's really precious actually. I left the hospital just feeling joyful and at peace. I'm excited for the Heineman's and how they're going to completely fall in love with Max. I'm excited for Shannon and her new life change. Carrie just got back from her honeymoon. I'm just joyful to see all of the blessings in my friends' lives. I love you guys!

Sa première Halloween (Her First Halloween)

Stella's first Halloween was mildly crazy, but a great time. Thanks again to Gma Lena for making her star costume. Stella liked chewing on the ribbon the most. Stella and I rushed home from the sitter's, I put the meatloaf in the oven, and we went to the garden to pick our last 2 pumpkins to put on the front porch, along with the cute doggy pumpkin Cathy and her boys did for Stella. Aunt Sonya came over and got Tell in her costume. We had MOBS of kids come to the door. We first visited 3 month old Aleena next door. Then, Gma Lena came over and we visited Aunt Heather and Uncle John, and then Elena's co-worker who lives 1 street over. At that point, our meal was ready, and Stella needed to eat supper. We ran out of candy last year and this year by 7pm, which is fine, because then Sonya, Joel, and I enjoyed meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, and wine, and Stella enjoyed her food as Gma Lena fed her. Lamest Costume Award goes to "Old Navy Customer" who was wearing an Old Navy sweatshirt. Most Original Costume goes to "Outhouse" and "Toilet Paper." They were amazing. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

8 Months Old

Stella's 8 months old today, or as Joel says, 2/3 of a year old. At 2 months, 4 months, and 6 months, it did seem like it had been that long. Now time does seem like it's moving quickly. I guess 8 months is typically the time when "the novelty of having a baby has worn off," meaning that most couples are very accustomed to having a baby, and it's like she's always been there. Now that Stella's 8 months, we can start giving her dairy (soft, pasteurized cheeses, cottage cheese, yogurt), finger foods (cut up bagels, pieces of banana, spiral pasta, teething crackers, cheerios), small amounts of protein (egg yolk, pureed meats and poultry, tofu, beans). Knowing Joel, I doubt we'll give her tofu, and in my opinion, there's no point to juice. She had talapia for the first time tonight. Joel gave her little flakes, and she really liked it and was taking it out of his hand. I still need to nail down the schedule for all of these new additions. She has been REALLY experimenting with her voice this past week. She covers more than 1 octave in her squeals and noises and gets pretty high. She still is stuck on ba, ba and ma, ma, with a little ga, ga thrown in. She's being stubborn with the da, da's. As you can see in the video below, she is pulling up and standing on anything she can access. She takes off 1 hand at a time a lot, and sometimes takes off both hands to fully grasp her toy and then falls. She is progressing quickly!

It's amazing how soft God can make your heart toward your baby. Almost EVERY time I pray, I start crying thinking of what a blessing Stella is, and because I am that much more cognisant of what a truly evil person I am. Only by the grace of God am I at all a good person who has made it a habit to be positive and optimistic. I'm thankful that God has made my family generational Christians, which in my lifetime started with my Great Grandma Lane. She is 99 years old and probably the most steadfast Christian I know. Joel, Stella, and I went to visit her yesterday. She slept most of the time, but was awake for maybe 10 minutes. She just stared at Stella the whole time and tried to say something a few times, but no sound came out. It was amazing to think there are 99 years between the 2. I just pray that Stella will follow in her footsteps in loving God.

I could write a novel trying to explain all of the things that have been flooding my heart and mind as of late, but I won't. I will say that Joel and I haven't been consistently going to church. We didn't feel like our former church was where we were really supposed to be. We didn't feel comfortable there since we've had Stella, but of the tons of churches in town, we didn't know exactly where we should go. I felt like I didn't want a young church since we were part of Cornerstone's church plant, and our last church was only in its 3rd year when we started going there. I'm always drawn to new and modern, but at this season in our lives, we don't have the time or motivation to be a part of that. We wanted something grounded and stable, with an incredibly diverse congregation. I hope no one takes offense to this, but I was actually yearning to be around some lifelong Christians - people who have pretty much been Christians their whole lives. I won't go into a detailed explanation of this, but if you are a lifelong Christian, you'll probably understand where I'm coming from. Newer and older Christians tend to have different expectations of other Christians. If you want me to explain more, just ask. We went to Eastview, where my family went for at least 10 years? We were running late, so we didn't put Stella in the nursery, so Joel was in the hall watching the monitor most of the time while I was in the sanctuary. It was amazing. It wasn't the sermon, the aesthetics, or the worship. I just needed to commune with God, surrounded by believers, with no worries and just enough anonymity/privacy. I felt so great afterward. We talked with the nursery peeps and got all the info, so we're going to continue going there. It's kind of funny that I wind up back at the place where my faith really began, and with Mike Baker, who was my youth pastor and is now the senior pastor. I just felt safe and at home...

Stay tuned for some Halloween pics:)

C'est fini

Elena finished Tell's star costume for Halloween! Thanks Gma Lena! You'll have to wait for pics until Halloween. She brought it over tonight, and we tried it on Stella, and it's super cute. It's pretty much a cape of yellow taffeta. The hood is the star, and then it covers her shoulders and chest. I think we'll just put a solid-colored sleeper (for warmth) or white or yellow onesie and pants underneath. Our little Stellina...can't wait.

Mignonnette (sweet)

Here are some pics that are just dang cute - snot, slobbers, food, and all. It's remarkable how she's starting to look more and more like Joel, if that were possible. Her ears and lips especially. One day I woke up and looked at her and said, "You have your dad's ears." I have a lot of deeper things that have been running through my mind for a long time, but I'm still articulating them and will likely post about them later. I'm going to enjoy the rest of my evening knowing that I won't have students again until Monday, because tomorrow is an Institute and Friday is parent-teacher conferences - yah! Also - since people have asked - Elena is making Stella a star costume for Halloween. She's our little star, so there really wasn't a more suitable option.

Videos Galore

Tell's Updates

Stella's teeth (can you find her twin in the background?) Mommy and Tell

Cousin Taylor

It's late, so I'll keep this some kind of brief.

Stella's favorite consonant-vowel combos are ba, ba and ma, ma. She says them both all of the time. I think she does associate ma, ma with me because since birth, Joel and I have said, ma ma milk, and then we started signing "milk" at 6 months saying that. She has seen me from her crib and said quietly ma, ma, ma, ma and crawled toward me, grabbed onto my pants, and tried to start climbing me saying ma, ma, ma, ma. Usually though, the sounds are indiscriminate. We think she may have signed "more" a few times, or she was clapping, but associating that with getting more of things she has wanted. I know signing doesn't typically occur this early.

She can scoot far and fast. She loves to stand holding onto your fingers and bounce like crazy. She can easily go from her belly to a sitting position, get to her knees, stand on her knees, and stand up bending over and holding onto something. She pulls herself to a standing position on people, but can't pull up to a standing position on furniture yet. However, she can very easily stay standing holding on to furniture if you put her in that position. She can stay for at least 5 seconds at a time but seems to enjoy the falling part, so she doesn't try to balance much anymore. She is really into problem-solving. She easily figured out that if she pulls down her bumper pads, she can see us anywhere in the room we may be hiding. She discovered this on her own. She figures out quickly if something opens and closes. It's really cool to see. Good thing we have a dog, because she will chase Hurley back and forth across a room endlessly - what good exercise for the pumpkin.

She is such a beautiful princess and such a blessing.

Carolyn's "little star" shower

So, I have never put so many hours into a shower before, and I've hosted and co-hosted a lot. Good thing I dropped my class or I never could have put as much time, thought, and effort into the shower as was necessary. Everything turned out great. As I get older, my standards for myself get higher and higher, and my perfectionism gets worse when it comes to anything that is a reflection of me. It's good I have Joel to try to keep some sort of rational boundary there. I think Carolyn and our guests had a good time, and she got a lot of useful, fun, and cute stuff, so it was a success. I was kind of relieved, tired, and yes, sick when it was all said and done. Carolyn is such a cute pregnant lady. She's already petite and then she has barely gained any weight, which obviously keeps you looking better. It's such an exciting time for her - going to birthing classes, getting the nursery ready, showers...How fun.

I've been asked when my next shower is, and I guess it may be my sister-in-law, Rachel's bridal shower, though this is still TBD. Technically, immediate family (Heather and Elena) isn't supposed to throw the shower. Heather is the Matron of Honor I think, Melanie (cousin) is a bridesmaid who's in med school and doing research in St. Louis, and then there's me here. So, at least I have some recoop time:)

Agua ist bonne

Here's a short video (Joel should have kept filming) of Stella's bath tonight. She did this for 10 minutes until I finally had to get down to cleaning business.

On a side note, I'm incredibly jealous of my parents who are currently flying to Rome for a Mediterranean cruise aboard a luxury cruiseline (Silversea Cruises' Silver Cloud) from Rome to the following places in Italy: Civitavecchia, Capri, Sorrento, Livorno, Portovenere (in Cinque Terre where Joel, Renee, Sonya, and I went), and Portofino. Lastly, they go to Monte Carlo, Monaco and fly home from Nice, France. Meanwhile, I'll be enjoying the Normal West Homecoming Parade with Stella tomorrow afternoon. Wow:)

Le mullet, c'est fini.

BEFORE - mullet galore

AFTER - mullet no more

So, Stella got her hairs cut. Shout out to WI. It wasn't sad for me at all. I just held her while Tonya cut it. She has a lot of new growth underneath, so Tonya left it just a little longer than that so it would blend in more. To me, it looks so much lighter because a lot of the black was cut off. Tonya put it in a little keepsake envelope for me:( Joel really likes it.