Stella is 3/4 of a year

Now that Stella is 9 months old, she is able to clap, wave, stand holding on to furniture (even 1 handed).  Her crawl speed has increased exponentially.  She also likes to babble "Mamamama" and "Dadadada", we like to pretend she knows that she's identifying us.

This month, she got a taste of the zoo for the first time and of course, her first trip to Disney.  She really loves Mickey Mouse.  It's the only TV show that we turn on and she immediately starts watching.  She loves the music too.  We bought her a Minnie Mouse stuffed animal at Disney World and she sleeps with it every night - so cute!

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The National Zoo for Haydin's Birthday

This weekend we again made the trek down to DC.  This time it was for our other niece's birthday, Haydin, turning the big 2.  She had a monkey themed party with delicious monkey cupcakes (made by her amazing baker mom, Kari) and we got to go to the zoo to see the real monkeys.  The weather was gorgeous and the animals were fun to see.  Although, the giraffes and hippos are no longer there, we got to see pandas, elephants, chimps, gorillas, lions, tigers and much more.  Hannah and Haydin didn't get too into the animals, all they cared about were treats (you'll see in the pics).  Especially Haydin, there is nothing she loves more than M&M's and how can you deny her on her birthday?

Stella's first time entering a zoo.

The girls already found ice cream machines at the entrance...

Panda

Stella and Mike watching the elephants, those seemed to be her favorite.  I guess they were the easiest to focus on:)

 

Birthday Girl. She seriously loves M&M's.

Stella and mommy with the Orangutan.

 

Tiger!

 

Snuggling after a long day.

It's Spring here in Philly!

Since our return from Florida, Stella and I have been enjoying the park behind our house every single day.  It's been so nice, and we are loving the time change.  When Mike gets home, we can hang out outside, take the dog for a walk...etc.  And given that we live so close to Mike's work, on Friday he came and met us at the park for lunch.  Now that the weather is warming up, I'm loving the location we chose for our home.  5 min walk to Mike's office, 2 min walk to the park and 1 min walk to the grocery store.

Walt Disney World and the National Cheerleading Championships

My adorable niece, Lexi and her cheer team qualified for the Nationals this year in Orlando.  We thought it would be great to go and support her, see my mom, my sister and of course Lexi and get some nice, sunny weather.  Unfortunately, Mike had to stay home and work so Stella and I flew solo.

We had a great time.  The first two days it was rainy and of course, those were our days "off".  So, we just lounged around, saw Alice in Wonderland...etc.  On Saturday, we went to the cheer competition... and it really is just like Bring it On.  It's awesome!  But seriously, Lexi and her team were amazing.  I was so impressed at how good they were, she's only 9 years old and she was doing back tucks and being thrown all over the place.  I was so proud of her.  If you want to see it, the Cheerleading is on ESPN2 this weekend and Lexi's division will be on air too (she's the youngest group I think.)

Anyways, we got to enjoy the weather and Disney World for the weekend and we were very sad to leave.  I miss my mom, sis and Lex already and can't wait to see them again.

Cheer Competition

Disney World

Stella is 8 Months Young

It's been a cold month here in Philly with lots of snow, it almost feels like we're back in Utah, well... not quite. We had lots of snow days and time at home to watch Stella grow and learn to crawl.

At first she had a gimp leg crawl (she kept her left leg completely straight and pushed off the foot while her right knee would bend like a normal crawl.) After a few days though, she mastered it and now she literally flies around the house and tries to keep up with Morris. Consequently, she has now also learned the word "no" as Mike and I run around the house trying to save her.  We're all baby proofed now with the gate, the outlet covers...etc.  I guess we're officially parents.

Stella can also pull herself up to standing now and has 5 teeth or 3 teeth and 2 teeth buds. 

She's eating more and more solid foods and as you'll see in the video she loves to spit her water out all over the place. 

She is ticklish now too, which is so fun.  We love that we can make her laugh any time we want to.

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