Toes in the sand

This one is from when we got back from a walk last week. She's figured out the Ipod. Uh oh.

We woke up to torrential downpours and black skies this morning. By 11 it was gone and blue skies and 65 degrees came out. We took Stella down to the beach for a bit to run around. She LOVED it! We are going to have so much fun this summer. She ran around in the sand and even loved walking up to the water and letting the waves hit her feet. She watched the birds and drew in the sand with sticks. It was so fun and I can't wait til Spring!

Doin' the butt dance

Elmo's world

This one is for my mom. She got Stella this Elmo CD that sings Stellas name through the whole CD in with the songs. It's so cute. Stella LOVES Elmo. We put it on in the computer last night when it arrived. She had just finished eating dinner so she didn't really get to get her groove on but she sure enjoyed it!

A few from last week...

Yum...my fave! Sweet potato puree pasta. Mmmm
I love my Elmo
It's really cool of mom and dad to bring in my own personal sandbox! This is actually a avocado plant that was brought in during the freezing weather. Stella just thinks it's her sandbox!

She also thinks under the bakers rack is her reading corner.

Friday!

She figured this out last week. Just when you think everything is childproofed, she finds something new. She thinks it's funny!
This is one of her favorites! If she doesn't want to nap she will purposefully get her leg stuck in her crib slats. I'll watch her on the video monitor and she will stick both her legs through back and forth til one gets stuck. She knows Mommy will come rescue her. I was talking with my friend Heidi about this and she suggested a sleepsack so the little mermaid doesn't have a free leg! :)

These are a few cell phone pics that I just uploaded to our computer...

So, since the last post things are going nice and smooth! Mario and I had a 2 hour meeting with an objective party on one issue the other day, and I am feeling better regarding that aspect at the moment. More on the "same team".

It has warmed up some and is going to be almost 70 degrees today so we are going to take a nice long walk later!

We are going to have a nice family weekend. We are taking Stella out to dinner Sat. then coming home, putting her down and watching a movie. We've been hibernating lately because of the cold so it will be nice to get out.

On another note, we have been watching some of the coverage of Haiti. It is so sad and makes you think back to 5 years ago when the tsunami hit Phucket, Thailand. It's such a helpless feeling. You just think...what if this tragedy happened where I live. It doesn't help that Haiti was not exactly "earthquake ready" to begin with. It just reminds you to not dwell on the small negative things in your life. We are extremely lucky and I have been trying to focus on that. My cousin has been in the process for the last year of adopting a baby from Haiti. Her name is Ava and the orphanage she is coming from was right in the epicenter. They got news yesterday that she is ok! So that is great news for them!

I periodically peek in on this blog.

http://www.mycharmingkids.net/2010/01/im-gonna-miss-this.html

The other day she wrote a post that reminds you how fast your children grow up and to cherish ever minute...this also put things back in to perspective for me. If you are a parent take a second to read it. I am SO grateful for my sweet little baby Stella! :)

Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday Aunt Tiffany!!!

Uhhh...ok so you get the idea!!!

We hope you have a great birthday Aunt Tiffany! Say Hi to Chelsea and Chloe! We love you!

P.S. My mom is NOT an artist.

Is it spring yet?

Auntie Carrie sent me a Christmas present!

What do you mean I'm making a mess? For the 20th time...today.

Ok so I know I have been REALLY bad about updating. Seriously though, I haven't really been taking many pictures. I am glad it is 2010. I love starting a New Year but I am SO ready to move on to February already. The last couple weeks has left me in a FUNK! Ok, 1 it is freezing. No really, freezing. We are talking 14 degrees the other night. It will warm up to between 30-50 during the day but 14 degrees in Florida, c'mon. We're going to need to go to Seattle to warm up!!! Haha. Since we rarely have cold fronts when we do it's like Seattle when it snows. This has been going on for about 10 days now. We have been sticking around the house...a lot.

2nd, Mario's dad and step mom went on 2 vacations back to back. Anyone that really knows us knows Aubrey spends part time with them also. They have been gone 14 days now, but who's counting, right? Most of this time was Christmas Break. Ok, I'm going to stop right here, but I'll just say it's been quite stressful. I can even tell you it is quite cheap to fly to Seattle right now if you were thinking of getting away for a bit stressful.

Well, then Stella ran through a pile of fire ants in our grass. I can't tell you how many posts I have actually written out in my head about the joys of bugs in our area. Fire ants are one of them. They bite. Leave little pimply looking things that itch. I was opening up the stroller to go on a walk and Stella ran across the grass. No biggie, right? Well, that was until I saw the ant pile. Ran and picked her up. She was wearing a tutu. Ants walking all up the tutu. So I am furiously pulling her shoes and all her clothes off to see bright red welts all over her feet. She's fine and they aren't "dangerous" unless your allergic, which we figured out she's not. Although, the Dr recommended 24 hours of Benedryl and calamine. She ended up with 7 on one foot, 3 on the other and 2 on her lower back. She's fine now though and you can still see where they were but are slowly dissipating.

So, all in all just between New Years and now has felt like a month in it's own.

Stella had a Dr appt last week.

She's 30 1/4 inches which is 60% in height

20 Lbs 13 Ozs which is 25% in weight

Ok, so I am going to end this lame downer of a update and go for a walk. Happy happy joy joy.

ABC