Stella, 4 months and counting...

4 Month check up stats:
Weight: 15 lbs, 9 oz (88th percentile)
Height: 24.4 inches (57th percentile)

She also got 2 shots and one oral vaccination. She was such a good girl and didn't even cry for the first shot, it was the second shot that made her start screaming in pain. It was so sad, I hate it! And, the doctor gave us the go ahead to start feeding Stella solids! So, as soon as we get into our new place (next weekend), we'll start the fun and exciting world of solid foods. She is getting so old, we can't believe how quickly time flies...

This month we had our friend from Utah, Nicole visit us in Philly, we traveled to DC for a weekend and flew to Minneapolis to visit Aunt Audrey and Uncle Dave. Stella had a blast hanging with her aunt and uncle - she got to go to an apple orchard and pick apples, shop at the Mall of America (the biggest mall in the U.S.) and she had her first dip in the pool!

Other than that, Stella's been working hard on growing up. She now loves to suck her thumb, she talks all of the time, she smiles and giggles, she's rolled over 3 times (we think by accident and definitely to her surprise). She grabs at everything now too, so we have to be careful when holding her, she'll knock anything over.

She definitely knows her mom and dad and recognizes their voices. When daddy comes home from work she gets a huge grin on her face and flails her arms up and down in glee! It's Mike's favorite thing :)



Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Fall Fun

The final days of beautiful fall weather are upon us and we're trying to soak it up! Here are some pictures from the past week. We spent a lot of time running outside and of course hunting for a rental to live in. We also had a fun pumpkin carving party...

Stella and mommy relaxing after a long Sunday run.

Stella is ready to run!
Daddy and Stella post run.
Pumpkin carving party pumpkins. We had our second annual pumpkin carving party with our friends, Wick and Caroline and Rachel and Steve. It was so fun and again, award winning pumpkins. (Mike did Shrek on the right and I did the witch with brew on the left.)

Stella with her pumpkin - not quite ready for carving yet :)

Stella hanging out on the couch.
Stella and Mo enjoying tummy time.

Minneapolis Trip and Big News!!

This past week we went to Minneapolis to visit Audrey and Dave. We had such an amazing time. It's always so fun to see family and now that we have a baby, it makes it that much more exciting to see them...

Audrey greeting Stella at the airport.

Stella ready to go on a run around one of the lakes in Minneapolis - it was cold!

Just hangin' around the house...

On Friday we went to an apple orchard and picked a peck of apples. It was beautiful, although it's definitely already getting cold there!

On Saturday, Stella saw her first snow. It was very light and gone by the time we went outside, but still it snowed! Brrrr... We also went to the Mall of America, which is always a must see. We only made it around the mall once (on one of the 4 levels) in a 2.5 hour period- yikes! That mall is huge.

On Sunday, Stella went for her first swim with daddy, Aunt Audrey and Uncle Dave. She loved it, it looks like we're going to have a little water baby on our hands :)

Thanks Aud and Dave for having us, we love you guys and miss you already!

OH AND FOR THE BIG NEWS...
While we were out, we received an offer on our house and accepted! We were pleasantly surprised since we were planning on it taking 6 mos to sell. Now we have to find a place to rent somewhere near Mike's work. He's sick of the 1 hour + commute each way, and I don't blame him. It will be nice though, it's in a beautiful area referred to here as the "Main Line" and it's in the suburbs. We're excited to move on and have a place where we can let Morris out so he can play without having to leash him up and take him down 3 flights of stairs. We're also looking forward to the extras you get when out of the city (a fireplace, a deck with a grill, a driveway or garage - not a block away...etc). We are supposed to close on November 13, which means we have a lot to do and very little time to do it :) Very exciting!

Nicole's surprise visit!

On Friday morning, my dear friend Nicole texted me and told me that she was going to wing it and hop on a flight to visit us in Philly that night and she really did! We were so excited, we had a blast with her.

On Saturday we went down to DC and hung out in Georgetown and then on Sunday and Monday we hung out around Philly. We went out to restaurants, did some shopping and of course experienced some history.

After a day of shopping on Sunday, we decided to go take some photos. The light was getting dark and we came across an awesome orange Vespa - it was called the Stella. So, we had to take some photos, it was also in a really great alley, so Nicole had us do an impromptu family photo shoot there. She'll be doing retouching and posting some on her website, but I love them just as they are without any editing, they turned out great - thanks Nici!

DC - Nicole really knows how to capture a moment.







Old City - Philadelphia.










Sunday Brunch - Jones in Philly

Impromptu Shoot.