Quoting Stella #3

Stella has created a whole new color scheme for our family.  The colors in this group are the "day time" and "night time" colors.  Any time we ask Stella about a color that she has to imagine, for example, what color she wants her new room to be, she tells us "Uuuummm day time blue."

At first she was just saying day time and night time about blue, so I thought she was talking about sky blue.  Now we have realized that she has correlated darkness (as in night time) and light (as in day time) to colors.  What a smart little bean!

What a day...

This whirlwind started bright and early because its Tuesday School Day / Mommy's Easy One Baby Day at our house.

7:15 - Got brother up to feed him

- Got me up to get dressed

-Got Bean up to get ready for school... there's about a 99% chance that she will scream and cry about not wanting to get her clothes on, socks on, shoes on, hair fixed, and/or go to school. Fun!

--Michael got up and did Bean's lunch and breakfast... total lifesaver.  He ended up dressing her too and it was surprisingly tame. 

-Loaded the babies up to go to school... lots of crying

-Drop off... more crying

-We're free (this is where it starts) so we run grab a starbucks.  Thank goodness.

-Sweet friend Emily calls and has a sick newborn and needs me to watch Hannah (19 mos) so she can run to the doctor.  Of course I say yes and am more than happy to help.

-Get home feed and dress Yates.

-Check email quickly...can't reply, just read.

-Hannah comes over.

-Call my mom to ask her if I need prozac b/c I am unbelievable grumpy, pissed, mean, mad, annoyed for no reason.  

-Play with Hannah and Yates

-M leaves to go have lunch with work people.

-Yates gets sleepy, feed him, run put him down for a nap.

-Play with Hannah.

-Fix Hannah a snack.

-Unload the dishwasher.

-Emily returns to get Hannah.

-Y wakes up while she's here, they go home.

-Pick up toys.

-Gigi (M's mom) calls.  I ask her if I should get some prozac and chat for a sec.

-Feed Yates

-Neighbor across the street, Emily, calls.  Has a job interview and needs me to babysit Violet (2) while she runs to do that.  Of course, again I say yes and am happy to help.

-M returns with a little news.  His business unit has been sold and he is uncertain about his job.  Oh really?  Aren't we building a house?  Fantastic!  He is freaking out a little bit.  Where's that PROZAC??

-Run Y outside to swing for a second before Bean comes home and sucks all of the attention out of the galaxy.

-Realize I've got some sort of itchy rash on my back.  I think I'm getting hives or something b/c the stress level over here is not healthy.

-Run inside to make a sick, fast sandwich to eat so I don't just die.

-Eat sick sandwich while I reload the dishwasher.

-Load up Y to go pick up Stella.

-M informs me that he might just quit and start his own company and asks how little we can survive on while he does this.  Ok... I'm ok...

- Home appraiser calls to come come appraise the house at 5.  Fabulous!

- Builder calls with lots of questions.

-Get home.

-Feed Yates

-Violet comes over.

-The girls play really well, no incidents.

-M leaves to run some errands but says he will be back to help me get ready for the appraiser.

-Emily comes back to get Violet

-Open the front door to let Emily and family out and the dogs run out.  The neighbor's son, who comes over every single day with his 3 dogs drives up with his windows down and Sasha runs to attack his dog who is hanging 1/2 way out of the front passenger seat.  I run and practically have to tackle her to get her off of this car and dog.  Cool.  

-Get babies and dogs back inside.

-I start frantically trying to clean up our 1/2 moved out 1/2 disaster zone home that has been full of kids all day while I carry Yates around and Stella is begging me for pickles of all things.  

-I am sweating, running, making beds, wiping things, sweeping, sweating, running... 

-4:58 Michael comes home.  Great.  I am mad, but don't say anything.  What do you say?  He helps finish picking up.

-Appraiser arrives and does his deal.

-We go outside to play in the nice weather.  Kids gotta play even when the mommy and daddy are about to lose it, right?

-Try to take a family picture b/c Bean is supposed to have one for school. (Mind you that you can only take her picture these days if you lie and tell her that you are actually taking a picture of something near her, not her... no paparazzi for Bean.)  

-Gabby (M's dad, still evacuated from Houston) comes by.

-Feed Yates

-Pack toys, diaper, snacks.

-Load up to go to dinner.

-Have a good talk with Gabby and good dinner.  Feed Yates.  Everyone behaves thankfully.

-Come home

-Get everyone's pjs on.

-Play

-Read Stella's books and put her to bed.

-Feed Yates and get him to bed.

So I know no one really cares about the minutia of my day, but I was already thinking I needed prozac before it even really started.  Also we have been staying up until 1 and 2 working on decisions for the house and have frazzled nerves as it is... and yes I still have an itchy rash on my back.   

Things to be thankful for:

1.  Stella and Yates have been angels lately.  

2.  We are building a new house.

3.  At least I didn't have to go the grocery store again, right?

Night, night...

Mowing, Crusing and Venting

Yates and Daddy on their 1st mower ride together.  Yes, Yates is mowing in his dinosaur pjs.  Doesn't everyone???  He looooved mowing by the way and made his little growl noise (he growls at things he likes) the whole time.  

Yates seems to be in a big hurry to walk.  Now that he figured out crawling, he seems to be on to the next thing.  His #1 mission all day every day is to get over to any and everything that he can pull up on.  He pulls up on the couch, the hearth, the ottoman, the dog, dressers, tables, a leg (if one is still for too long).  I also caught him going from the ottoman to a toy and from the ottoman to the couch.  I can't figure out if he's really trying to learn to walk or if he is just fearless.  Call me crazy, but a 7 month old baby cruising between pieces of furniture just seems odd.  He is so precious either way.  

Today we went to the new house to check on some electrical stuff (fun!) and I packed a big bowl of snacks for Stella and Yates.  Stella did a great job keeping Yates entertained and handed him cheerios and stars one by one the whole time we were there.  Yates thought it was the coolest thing to have Stella handing him snacks.  He thinks Stella is the coolest thing most of the time which is also really cute.  

A little vent for mommy:  I am coming to the realization that I am severely self deprecating.  I stress myself out over the things that I'm not doing or not doing well and obsess over how to be better.  For example, I am terrrrrrible about going to the grocery store.  I hate it.  I hate everything about it.  I don't like planning meals b/c nothing ever sounds good to eat.  I don't like wagging the kids to the store.  I never know what to buy for snacks.  I hate buying food that goes bad really fast. (Little ticking rot bombs, eww!)  I don't like how much groceries cost when you check out.  I don't like buying food that is unhealthy (but we all know thats the good stuff).  I don't like the way the grocery store smells.  I don't like the people at the grocery store.  I don't like having to run around at 3000mph to cook a meal with kids crying at my feet and hanging on my legs after I do make it to the store.  Whew.  I went to the grocery today... can you tell?

Whatever.  Today was a really good day.  Everyone was sweet.  Stella didn't have a single fit, which is amazing after her terrible last couple of weeks.  We got lots of errands run, mommy cooked dinner and everyone is bathed and in bed.  You can't ask for much more : )

 

I didn't have any good pictures to post so here are 3 from a year ago today : )

Our Favorite Song

Michael and I have chosen this as our favorite song because its so cute!

Yates just loves it because the ABCs really are his favorite song.  Lucky for Stella : )

"Ay, B, C, D, E, oF, G, Aych, I, Jy, Ky, Amenapee, Coo, Ah, As, Coo, Ah, V, Dabajoo, Ahx, zYei, N, Z.

Know Beana Ay, B, C, zit time sing zit me. Clap for me?"

First Grover just wanted to sit in the highchair with Stella.  Then he wanted to help her eat her dinner.  That Grover!!  Yes that is cheese in his mouth.

"Shool and The Crawler"

Stella had her first day of school this week, on Tuesday.  She was so excited to go the day before school, but oh no.  She woke up the morning of school and was not wanting to go at all!  She cried from the moment she got out of her bed and was still crying as I walked away from her class room.  I felt like a terrible mommy b/c we had the wrong shoes.  The kids are required to wear tennis shoes and socks.  Not only is this UGLY, we didn't have any tennis shoes that fit.  I went to the mall and seriously scoured every single store.  No suitable shoes in the entire mall in her size.  You know that kid that gets in trouble for breaking the rules when its really their bad mommy's fault?  I was paranoid all day that she was going to have a note pinned to her chest or something when I picked her up that made her feel bad all because of the stupid shoes.  Guess what.  Nothing happened.  Found some shoes and we'll be ready for next week.  More importantly, when I picked her up from school it was "So much fun!"  She's been telling me that her "shool" was so much fun ever since.  Hopefully we'll have fewer tears next week.

It is always fun to have days with Yates.  To let him be first and only for a change.  I wish that he had more undivided time with us, but I guess this is just the way it is for number 2.  Luckily he is a sweet boy.  He is a sweet boy who is officially crawling, by the way.  He is also trying to pull up on things.  I think he is way too little to be doing that, but I guess he can't help himself with all of that super strength he has.  He also has these 2 little bottom teeth that keep getting bigger and they are sooo cute!  I wish I could get a good picture of them.

Today Dara and I (and our 4 kids of course) attempted to recover 6 dining room chairs for a friend/client.  What makes us think we can do these things, I do not know!  We're already outnumbered by babies.  Anyway, we were in the midst of the usual chaos, nothing out of the crazy, loud ordinary and Stella had a little melt down.  She has recently started telling me when she is sleepy and ready for a nap, so we had that little conversation and whisked her away for her nap.  She got up and we thought everything was going to be ok, but oh no!  She completely flipped out.  Sweet Michael had offered to take Shelby, Stella and Yates to the "outside park" in the wagon and had little ice creams and spoons for them to eat on the ride.  Fun, big, big fun right?  No way.  Stella screamed and cried and wouldn't let anyone go to the park at all.  She wouldn't even eat the ice cream!  What?  Craziness.  I mean she has never flipped out so bad.  I didn't even know what to do.  She was doing that wild hyperventilating cry thing (that I might have done once or twice.) I didn't even know what to do.  Any suggestions?  

Anatomy of a flip out, stage 1, 2 and 3:

After she pushed the wagon back up the driveway with Shelby and Yates calmly along for the ride, she insisted that everyone go back inside.  I got her, sat her down and tried to get her to calm down.  Eventually she calmed down enough for me to have her "help me" use the sewing machine to make the cording for the chairs.  After that she was fine, but I really thought we were going to need a straight jacket or something.  She seems too little to be having such wild freak outs and I don't know if I should spank her or hold her.  Ahhhh, the joys of motherhood : )

Speaking of motherhood... what about that Sarah Palin?  I'm a fan!  5 kids, breastfeeding working mother, son in the armed forces, pregnant teenage daughter and a down syndrome baby????  #1 How can she do all of that?  #2  Could she be a better picture of every American woman?  Brilliant choice John McCain.

Harvest 08 and Too Many Babies in the Car

Its been a long time... We have been so busy lately.  Last weekend was harvest at St. Jane Vineyard.  It was hooooot so the babies and I weren't out there long, but everyone else was.  Dad had a huge harvest and we're all glad that we survived another one.  

My cousin Brooke and her daughter Evie came.  We had fun with them and the girls got to play together.  Stella calls Evie "FeeVee."

We had a not so fun trip home.  We decided at the last minute that we would try to leave my parents Saturday night instead of Sunday so we were in a frenzy trying to pack and load everything.  Brooke and Evie had left about 20 minutes before.  We had the car cooling off and were just about to head off and the phone rang.  Brooke was on the edge of town getting gas and her car wouldn't start.  Its like 200 degrees outside and she has a baby with her.  Trauma.  So dad and Michael rushed to get them.  

Brooke was pretty upset so sweet Michael offered to drive her car back to Dallas and we (me, Brooke, 3 babies) would follow him to make sure the car would make it.  Sounds great right.  OMG!  Remember Yates doesn't dig the car.  We get "FeeVee's" carseat in the back, back, back as Stella calls it, babies are all in and we're off.  Brooke has a Xanex or two and we're all ok.  We think.  Yates is a little fussy, but I figured he would kind of fuss himself to sleep.  Good lord was I wrong.  He went from fussy, to upset, to mad, to irate, to full blown - call 911 - crying so hard he was gagging himself.  I'm trying to drive and as mommies know, I can hardly even focus on the road with him screaming.  This natural mommy reaction was probably great to have before vehicles were invented, but screaming baby and panicking mommy and 65mph is a bad combo if you ask me.  So we stop.  Change drivers, I get in the back to calm Y down.  We're fine.  He falls asleep.  We stop again to switch drivers.  We're all ok.  Back on the highway.  Then we hear a little voice in the back saying, "Mommy, poo poo's coming, uh yep "heee" it is, poo poo's coming." Great.  Rush to the nearest stop in the middle of NOWHERE, get back off the highway, run into McNastyDonalds of all places, make a toilet paper seat in record time, get S all situated and nothing.  Not even a little tinkle.  Fabulous.  Now of course this stop woke up Y who had just gone to sleep.  He is again, hysterical in the car which upsets Evie.  So now Brooke is in the back trying to help them both.  At this rate we'll never get home.  So we offer the girls french fries to keep them happy.  Y is fussy, but again I think he'll make it.  We all get back in our seats and we're off again.  Of course Y freaks out big time again.  We pull off the highway again.  Change drivers again. I get back in the back with Y again.  Get him back to sleep again and I'm about to freak out.  Evie is crying for a blanket and I'm worried she's going to wake Y back up but there are no blankets to give her.  It just went on and on and on and on and on.  We see the skyline and I think we're going to survive b/c Brooke's house is just "by Richardson."  Holy Moly!  Ever been to Wylie?  Its closer to Canada than Richardson.  The last 30 miles really weren't too bad.  We made it, Brooke's car made it and poor Michael and Sasha made it.  The whole time I was wishing I was Michael.  Just him and the dog and peace and quiet.  What I didn't know what that he couldn't turn on the a/c!!!!  UGH!  I might prefer screaming babies to a 3 hour car sauna.  These are the things we'll look back and laugh about, but at the time I can actually feel the gray hairs growing and the wrinkles deepening.

Quoting Stella #2

Discussions with a two year old are... something else!

On a trip to the potty, I am holding Yates, kneeling down, trying to get Stella's panties off, her dress up and out of the way and her up onto the potty:

Stella: Mommy "hizzy!" Go potty!

Mommy:  Ok lets go.  Can you take off your panties by yourself?

Stella:  No mommy "doooze" it.

Mommy:  You're going to have to do it by yourself soon.  Mommy does it by herself.

Stella:  No, daddy "doooze" it.

Oh, really?

Poor Yates has a little cold.  I let him play on that stupid snake at the "mall park"  one time and this is what happens : (  Poor little baby!

funny stella

scene:  new big pink ball is on the floor and Sasha is playing with it (which she is not supoosed to do b/c she always pops the toy balls).

Mommy:  Sasha no.  Sasha no.  Sasha no.

Stella:  Naaaaw, Sasha!

Mommy:  Sasha needs a spanking b/c she isn't obeying.

Stella:  Oh, need foom (spoon).

she runs to the kitchen digs in a drawer and comes back with a big whisk.

Stella:  Heeeya (here) mommy.  Fank (spank) Sasha.

Stella Code Archived

Stella Code is so outdated... It has to go : (

Ca = Cow or Car, Context is key

Pur-po = Purple and Stella's blanket's name

Mamma = Pacifier

Yiddle Diddle = Yellow

Curco = Turtle

Sessy = Sesame Street

Ha Ho = Hot Dog

Ha Ha = Ice Cream

Puh = Pink

Sy = Ice

Ka Boom-Mama = what you say when you pour out lots of little things on the floor

Cocka moong = ?

Wu-Fa-Fa = Waffle

Bubba = Brother

Da = Milk

Mla-Mla = Water

Yates' 1/2 Birthday and (drumroll) Big Girl Panties

Yates turned 6 months old yesterday.  He has started to try solids and has had a little banana, mashed potato, and carrot.  The carrots were not his favorite.  He also got to play on the big snake at the "mall-park" yesterday (the indoor playground at the Galleria).  He loved doing that and just hit that poor snake over and over and over.  Yates has also gotten a little bit better at riding in the car.  For the past few months he has just been terrible in the car.  He would cry and scream and just get hysterical.  It was not fun at all!  Just in last couple of weeks he has gotten so much better.  

Overall he is so sweet and easy.  He is sooo strong and is trying to crawl and sit up.  He is also my biggest fan.  He stares at me all the time and acts like I am the best thing ever.  Pretty sweet.  Tonight we are going to try to make the big move.  Yes, I keep my babies in our room forever, but tonight is the night.  I may have to sit outside and drink some wine while he screams in his room.  Wish us luck.

Big sister has reached a major milestone.  We are wearing big girl panties!  Yay!  On July 16th I undressed Stella for bathtime and told her that if she needed to go potty she had to come tell me and that she could not tee tee or poo poo on the floor.  (She really likes specifics and details.)  She said, "Awww- kaaay Mommy" and the next thing you know she was tee teeing on the big potty.  Up to this point she had absolutely zero interest in any potty, big or little. We were so excited about the tee tee in the potty and she got a few jelly beans for a treat.  After the first success, I decided I would leave her diaperless while we were home so she would be more aware and it has been the easiest thing!  We have only had one accident at home (someone put a little poop on the rug).  And we have been out of the house a few times with no accidents.  We went to dinner at Nick and Sam's with Pink and Bop and made about 6 mad dashes to the potty, but that was ok.  At least we were trying.  Yesterday we went to the mall, ate dinner and played at the "mallpark" in big girl panties.  Amazing!  I am so excited about all of the diapers I am not having to change.  What a huge relief!  

Today we went to Target in big girl panties with no accident!  I can't even believe it.

Happy 4th of July!

My men swimming at Pink and Bop's house on the 4th.  Yates looooves to swim and he loves his swimsuit from Aunt Lane.

The 4th weekend was fun.  We went to Palestine and stayed a few days, played in the pool lots and did fireworks at the farm.  This was the first year Stella really even realized there were fireworks.  She couldn't stay awake long enough to see them last year or the year before.  But she made up for missing the last 2 years this year.  She loved the fireworks and even did 3 biiig sparklers all by herself.  She's getting so big : (

Yates on the other hand, did not enjoy the fireworks at all.  Well thats not entirely true.  He liked the Palestine fireworks display we could see over the treeline, but he did not like the up close fireworks at all!!!  He cried and cried and cried.  He startles easily anyway, so big bangs, pops, whistles, explosions and little kids squealing was not his bag.  Not to mention the fact that it was way past his bed time.  Poor thing.
I guess Yates was thirsty and Stella was being a good big sister and getting him a drink of pool water.  Yum.

Quoting Stella #1

When the pizza man brought our Sunday night pizza this evening, Stella fondly looked at Michael and then sweetly said to me,

"Daddy, pizza, so happy." 

For those of you who don't know, pizza is one of Michael's favorite things in the whole world.

Naptime Bliss and Grocery Store Issues

Ok, I am so confused! I haven't wanted to say anything b/c as soon as I do it will all get messed up, but... Yates and Stella have been taking naps at the same time (without being held the entire time) for 3 days now! I don't know what to do with myself. As usuall, I have so many things that I want to do, that I can't think. I don't know what to do. Yesterday I got to write all of my super tardy thank you notes - uninterupted! Amazing. I hope this isn't a temporary situation. I could really use some time to do all of my 2 handed jobs.

Not the most flattering picture or outfit, but man he was having fun!

Stella hugging Sasha.  We're currently experiencing some pacifier regression...

Two clean babies and one big pink "mamma."

So the latest... Yates got his first tooth last Saturday. He has been teething for a while and it is much harder for him than it was for Stella. She never had any teething symptoms, but Yates has them all. Poor little dude. I was kind of hoping that him hating to ride in the car and teething were related, but I think he just hates the car. Each time I try to put him in his infant seat, he arches his back and cries and cries. Once we make it to the car, he screams and cries the entire time we drive until he just gives up and passes out. That is usually when we are turning into our driveway or something. If you see me driving, you should stay as far away as possible b/c I probably have my left arm twisted behind my seat trying to console Yates with a toy or by letting him chew my finger. And yeah, my whole arm falls asleep. Maybe he'll get moved into a big boy carseat really soon, like Stella did.

Here's a quick story. Its kind of insensitive, but here I go. So yesterday was exhausting! My car said it was 111 outside at one point and here I am wagging two babies. Sweaty!! So we go to the grocery store, which I HATE doing and it really wasn't too bad until the end. Stella ran beside the cart the whole time and was very good and I carried Yates b/c of the hating the infant seat situation. Anyway no drama until we are putting the groceries in the car. Let me just add here that one of the things I don't deal with well at the grocery store is the special needs people. No offense, but I generally don't have the time to chit chat about your cat or Vietnam or whatever. Thats mean, but I am on a serious mission at the grocery store and the faster we are in and out the better it is for everyone! So I never ever ever want help taking the groceries to the car b/c when I have done that in the past, the special needs people wont go away. They put the groceries in the car all messy and then just hang out when I'm needing to get these babies in their car seats and get the air conditioner going for Pete's sake! So (whew), I declined help to the car, as usual and one guy followed me out anyway. I was holding Y still and S was standing in the big part of the cart, completely safe. I had all of the bags in but one and this guy came and put the last bag in. Great, thanks, bye-bye. Nope! He then proceeds to pick up my daughter, take her out of the buggy and put her down in the parking lot! No big deal you say? Oh yes it is. #1 No strange men need to be touching my daughter anywhere for any reason. #2 Now I have a 2 year old loose in the parking lot and a buggy and a 5 month old on my hip and a special needs dude arguing with me. ugh! He says to me. "She was going to fall out, she was kind of wobbly in there." Forgive me, but I was not nice and said. She was completely fine and I did not want you picking her up and taking her out of the cart. "Well, she was going to fall," he says, "and Tom Thumb doesn't like to take any chances." Oh really Tom Thumb? I didn't say that, but did try to calmly say, "Thats fine, but I did not want my 2 year old out of the cart and free to run around in the parking lot." "Well have a good day anyway," he says. ugh...ok.

You know, the more I think about it, I think I should really keep an eye on that guy. He bothers me every time we go there and I thought it was just me being mean and annoyed, but he absolutely had no reason to follow us to the car.

not bragging...

Every few days I kind of quiz Stella to see what all she knows.  I really never know what all she has picked up from day to day.  That 95th percentile head must have a lot of brains in it.  I really don't mean to brag, I just want to be able to remember this.  I just finished "quizzing" her on the alphabet.  She knows all of her letters even the "big ones and little ones."  She knows all of her colors: primaries, pastels and even metallics.  She knows her numbers 1-10 and can count to ten.  She knows more animals than anyone really needs to know, the sounds they make and what letters many of them start with. She is very close to being able to spell her name.  Right now we are stuck at S-T-E-L.  I am just trying to keep up and don't want to waste any of this super absorbent time.  

Not knowing what to do next, Michael bought her a US map/puzzle for ages 8 and up.  We thought it would just be a toy for now... oh no.  She can identify 10 states and tell you who is from each one.  In her terms: Texas (Pink, Bop, Mommy, Brother, Stella) Louisiana (Daddy (he was born there)), Oklahoma (Grandma Q), Indiana (Gigi), Kansas (Gabby), Utah (Aunt Annie and Uncle "Teve"), Colorado (Uncle Tim), Florida (Mickey Mouse), Georgia (Tiffany) and California (its just big and purple thus easy to remember).  

I am very proud of her of course, but am completely floored at the things she knows.  Maybe this is normal.  I have no idea.  Oh! AND last night while I was composing this post, Stella was eating a biscuit.  She bit it into the shape of a dog and was trying to tell us that it was a puppy.  We were like, no that's a biscuit.  She kept saying, "No, puppy!"  We looked and sure enough it looked exactly like a dog!  What?!  So weird.  I freaked out and tried to take a picture, but she bit its head off before I could get the camera.  Who knows what she'll do next.

This and that...

"Mommy! car wash blue boong (balloon)..."  Is what Stella told me while this picture was being taken.  She officially turned 2 over the weekend and is so hilarious.  She tries to make sentences and the things she thinks! So funny!  One of her favorite things to say, "Mommy hair mess. Fix hair."  Where did she learn that I wonder?  

Little Yates : )  is such a sweet boy!  He has started rolling over and has also started going to Little Gym.  I was a little skeptical about a 4 month old doing the exercises at Little Gym, but Yates loves it.  They do lots of front flips and he has even hung on to the overhead bar.  What a strong little dude!  Yates loves to put his feet up on his bouncy chair!  
Daddy went out of town and we had a slumber party in the "big bed."
Yates after one of his new roll over maneuvers.

Big Day 2

Before I get into our super big day, I want to share Stella's current mantra.  It goes like this, "No nyap, no bass.  No nyap, no bass.  No nyap, no bass.  No nyap, no bass..."  You get the picture.  Translation: no nap, no bath.  I mean, seriously.  She wakes up saying this, just comes up to me throughout the day saying it, says it in the car, in her high chair, outside, when we're changing her diaper... all the time.  What is the deal?  I really don't get it.  Ok maybe naps aren't fun, but a bath is no big deal.  You would think we were doing something terrible to her the way she goes on and on.  I'm sure this will pass just like everything else, but goodness!Ok, so the first event on big day 2 was a trip to the Ft. Worth Zoo, which was fabulous.  We saw all of the major animals and the favorites were the "min-tees" and the "gear-affs." I wasn't expecting so many animals and so many of each species.  They had 6 elephants... that seems like a lot.  Stella insisted on walking almost the whole time, but remember she isn't even 2 and she's pretty nosey.  So walking was very laborious with lots of stopping and staring at other people.  Now these other people were quite a sight all on their own.  Michael and I weren't sure what the deal was, but we've never seen such an abundance of unusual, how can a say this nicely... weirdos!  Gah-lee!  No wonder Bean was staring, right?  So, we made it about 75% of the way through the zoo then decided we better run home for naps. 

Nap time was successful so on to phase 2 of our big day... Our 1st Family Baseball Game!  We had gotten awesome seats from a friend, right behind home plate and really close.  

We were excited, but someone got up on the wrong side of her nap - big time!  Everything was a no and she seriously screamed and cried hysterically in her car seat the entire way to The Ballpark.  Michael kept saying, "Do we need to turn around?  I'm turning around.  Do we need to turn around?  We can just go back home."  I took a chance and said no, lets just keep going.  Anyway, we made it in one piece.  One of us was shoeless, but we were all there and no one was crying.  We got all situated in our seats and Stella loved it!  Her Gabby will be so proud.  She loves baseball.  Brother is going to need another trip before he makes up his mind.  

He was not a big fan of the noise level and got pretty upset every time the crowd got loud.  I spent the entire game fetching concessions and only saw about 30 seconds of the actual game.  Stella had her 1st cotton candy and baseball game hotdog.  She loved them both, however they precipitated a trip to the ladies room... just another adventure.  The best part being that on our way to powder Stella's nose we ran into "A BIG FUFF!!"  (The Rangers "big horse" mascot).  He touched her on the head and she hasn't stopped talking about it yet.

I don't know where we got the courage to try to do so much in one day, but it turned out pretty well.  (FYI, That is not Yates in the picture with the BIG FUFF.)

  

Big Day 1

Stella's Baptism October 2006

Here are a few pictures from Yates' baptism.  He was a very good boy and looked very handsome in his christening gown that Michael and I bought in Venice when we were 7 weeks pregnant with Stella.  Pink, Bop, Gigi and Gabby were all here for Yates' big day, which also happened to be Mother's Day.  Everyone enjoyed the sermon at church and Stella almost made it through the entire service... on the front row.  She was fine until she started saying, "Bop, Home!"  We took a few pictures and went to lunch at Capital Grille to celebrate.  Lunch ended up being a marathon.  It took forever!  We had fun though and now have both babies safely dedicated to being raised correctly ; )

Happy Early 2nd Birthday with a Little Bonus Feature

Lucky Little Stella scores again with a pretty nice birthday party for a "nearly two year old."  Her real birthday isn't until June 7th, but we were able to share a really fun party with "Shemmy"... one of Stella's very best friends.  Her real name is Shelby, but Stella calls her Shemmy.    Dara (Shelby's mommy) hired a petting zoo and a PINK haired, purple glitter hooved pony and it was a blast.  "Blue slide" was a hit with all of the little ones, the weather was perfect and we all had a great day.  Michael joked that at this rate we're going to end up on MTV's My Super Sweet 16 show... not that we watch MTV...   

Pictures: Stella riding the pony with Bop, Stella and Daddy with the cakes, Holding a little chicken (against the rules, sorry chicken), the birthday girls and some bunnies, Gabby getting kisses, the pony 'Zipadee Do Da' in all his splendor.

*BONUS*

Everyone loves a laughing baby, so here is Yates.  The funny thing is that he really doesn't usually laugh like this but apparently thinks its hilarious when Sasha tries to eat Michael... just like Stella did when she was his age.  Sorry about the cloudiness, it was just like that outside yesterday.  (No puppies, daddies or babies were harmed during the filming of this video.)