Getting ready to say goodbye to 2008

It's official

Stella is obsessed with her feet! This afternoon she found her feet way more interesting than her avocado.

Oops

One more photo I forgot to upload....and yes, Stefano did notice :)

Back from the sunshine

We hope everyone had a very happy holiday! We are back from spending the past week in Palm Springs with lots of family. We were lucky to escape Seattle last Saturday morning before most of the Alaska Airlines flights were cancelled. We had a wonderful week relaxing with family and relishing in the warm weather. We (I really should say Stefano) came back tonight and had to shovel the driveway in order to pull into the garage. As usual, Stella was a fabulous traveler and had a great time with everyone. She had a couple of firsts in the past week--she had her first peas and we're pretty sure she hates them. She is learning to sit up on her own and she has really discovered her own feet. Here are a couple of our favorite shots.

Stella's first snowstorm (in Seattle that is)

They say it never snows in Seattle but we beg to differ. Stella wasn't super into being bundled up and out in the cold. The kids in our court were going crazy this morning sledding and snowboarding down driveways. Looking forward to warmer weather in California next week!

Family photo

Stella was much more interested in playing with her balloon rather than looking at the camera. Nonetheless, finally a picture of the 3 of us.

Happy Birthday Auntie Mimi!

We love you Auntie Mimi and hope you have the most amazing birthday this year! Wish we could be there to celebrate but we can't wait to see you in California in February.

Our intention was to snap the first photo.....Stella's intention was purely to eat the sign as seen in the second photo.

Stella is 7 months old today!

We can hardly believe how fast the time is flying by. Stella was born 7 months ago today and we have thoroughly loved every single minute with her. We feel so blessed to have her in our lives.

Thanks all around

We were a little nervous last week when we realized that Stella was growing out of her signature star pajamas--thank goodness her Auntie Mimi had sent them to her in every size!

Here's a shot of Stella in her mom's old rocking chair from when she was a little girl--thanks to Grandco for refinishing and painting it!

Thank you Aunt Jo

Thanks to Aunt Jo for the great toys she brought for Stella in Colorado!

One more cute photo from Colorado

There are too many to choose from!

More Colorado photos

Here are a bunch of shots from our week in Colorado. Stella had a wonderful time with her grandparents, great aunts and uncles, cousins, Uncle and of course her parents. She tried both avocado and banana for the first time. She saw snow for the first time. Lots of firsts on this trip. She was a great traveler and hopefully will be again when we head to Palm Springs for the holidays.

Back from Colorado

We are back from spending the past week in Vail with our family for Thanksgiving. This photo pretty much sums up Stella's attitude during the entire vacation--she was amazing! More photos to come soon...once we sift through them all.

Colorado here we come!

A big thanks to Grandpa Randy for the great snowsuit that we will wear (hoping there is lots of snow!) in Colorado next week. Stella is excited to spend her first Thanksgiving in Colorado and we're hoping she likes the snow. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

And believe it or not, this snowsuit is size 3 months! Good thing we have snow trips planned in the New Year and Stella can grow into it.

Yummy sweet potatoes

Stella is doing pretty well getting used to real food. This week we introduced her to sweet potatoes and so far so good...as you can see from the photo, more of it might end up on her face rather than in her mouth.

Easy like Sunday morning

Sunday mornings are always fun since Dad usually gets up with Stella and mom can sleep a little longer. No, just kidding. They are fun because we are both home with Stella and can just hang out and have fun. Here was our attempt at a mohawk in the bathtub--it's hard to see. But Stella has so much more hair on the top of her head than on the sides, it's kind of funny.

Stella's first meal

Stella has officially eaten some rice cereal! It took a bit for her to figure out what is was and what to do with it, but she opened her mouth and ate a couple of spoonfuls. She talked the entire time....she never cried or stopped eating, so we assumed she was telling us she was so happy to finally eat some food. You can see in the photos that she wasn't very sure what she was eating or doing at first.

A belated Halloween-PEPS style

Although belated,here's a shot of my PEPS group kiddos in costume. Of course we couldn't get everyone to smile and look at the camera, but they are all precious nonetheless.

6 month check-up

Not only is Stella rocking the 25% percentile, but her pediatrican said that she is catching up in every way possible really fast! Despite the tears from the shots, Stella had a great visit with her doctor and is very healthy and doing wonderful. The doctor even recommended we start her on rice cereal. I think our world is about to change.

Here's a photo at home after the shots.

Happy 6 months Stella!

Today Stella is officially 6 months old and we're happy to say she is one of the easiest and mellow 6 month olds we know. Her 6 month pediatrician appointment is Monday and bets are now being accepted on her weight--hopefully we are going to be on the percentile charts :)

Happy 1/2 year birthday Stellina!

The happiest baby

After sleeping through the night Stella wakes up "talking" in her crib and is very smiley and happy--it really is the best time of day! This morning has been an active and fun one with new toys which she seems to really like.

Change is in the air

Stella is so ecstatic that Obama will be her president for the first 4, hopefully 8 years of her life, that she decided to master sleeping on her stomach in one day. The anxiety over yesterday's election wore her out.

Election day anxiety

Stella is so anxious about today's election that all she can do is suck that thumb and sleep. Oh and she's also rolled over about 5 times today....she even woke up this morning on her stomach! Only issue she is having is figuring out how to get back onto her back...oh the frustration!

2nd generation UPS'ers...maybe

Yesterday my college freshman roommate, Aimee, and her youngest son Aaron came up to visit. It was great to catch up and see the 2nd generation of Anderson/Langdon hanging together! As usual, the minute the camera came out, Stella got very serious. One of these days she will become photogenic, right?

A wild 1st Halloween

Stella had a very wild 1st Halloween last night. She lasted for about 1/2 of the trick-or-treaters and then was down for the count!

Happy Halloween!

The discovery of toys

In the last couple of days Stella has really started to grab at toys and notice their shapes and colors. As you can see from these 2 photos she had a busy day today playing with new things.

A hard decision

Stella was having a hard time deciding between the toy on her seat and her fist. The fist won hands down.

Fred and Peter vist

Although she appears to want to kill someone in this picture, Stella was very happy to meet Fred and Peter who were up visiting from San Francisco this past weekend. Every time we pull the camera out to take a picture Stella stares into it and get very serious, as seen in this photo. The minute the camera goes away she is all smiles.

Day with Dad

While Mom was hosting a baby shower for a friend, Stella spent the day in Seattle with Dad and his buddies. We're not sure what she's thinking about her new winter jacket in this photo. Regardless, it's warm and perfect for these cool Fall days.

Thank you Auntie Mimi!

A big thanks to Auntie Mimi for our new signature star pj's! They are super cozy and Stella even slept 11 hours in them last night.

Stella's favorite Aunt

This past weekend Stella had the pleasure of a visit from her favorite Auntie Mimi! Stella was very happy to finally have met her and can't wait to see her again soon. We miss you already Mimi.