Monthday

 

A very happy 3 months to Miss Stella!

 

We went a punkin pickin'

One of our favorite things about Fall is visiting our favorite pumpkin patch. This is our third year to take Harper.....

 

First Visit

 

Second Visit

 

And obviously, it was Stella's first visit. Being just over a month old, Stella chose to stay snuggled up in the stroller this year. But Harper went to town looking for her pumpkin!

 

We expected that she would want to find a big pumpkin this year. We were wrong. She wanted the smallest pumpkins she could find. And as many of them as she could carry.

 

 

She brought all of her finds over to the stroller to show Stella.

 

 

It was pumpkin after pumpkin after pumpkin going into the stroller. {Don't tell her, but we emptied it when she wasn't looking. About 5 times. }

 

 

I always love getting a picture of her with the cross in the background. Luckily she sat down somewhat in front of it. This little kiddo poses for NO ONE!

The way that she walks with her hands behind her back; usually when she is thinking: Melts. My. Heart.

My cheesy grin girl. I am reaping what I sowed with that character trait. I totally made that same face! 

She just wanted to look through those holes at us. She didn't care about the camera.

 

That's what they are for right? Just for peeking?

 

 

 

We love our little local pumpkin patch. And once again, our third year, we took home a handful of tiny pumpkins. Maybe that will just be our tradition, the tiniest pumpkins money can buy!

the fair = food & furry friends

 The fair came to town a while back. We couldn't get there fast enough. I can't explain it, but this year I COULD NOT WAIT for the fair to arrive. It was some sort of weird obsession. Maybe it was the fact that nursing makes me mega-hungry {ALL. THE. TIME} & the fair is stocked with a ton of terrible-for-you-food.

 

Or maybe it was that I just knew how much Harper would love it. And she did!

(No but really, it was the food thing)

 

My folks and my niece Hannah were in on our plan to eat as much food as possible. The {some ridiculous amount} pound sundae was a vital part of that plan.

 

 

Petting Zoo: the greatest idea ever. Our family is so grateful to whomever invented the petting zoo.

 

Every time an animal ate out of Harper's hand she became SO excited.

 

Llama Llama, from her favorite books, was there too!

 

Weird, he also lives at the Zoo AND at Woolaroc. Busy Guy!

Harper & the goat both think Kevin is pretty special.

One day, she will HATE all of her awkward smiles.

But for now, I LOVE them.

 

 

 

It was a FAIRly great day!

 

{it's unFAIR how easy that pun was}

 

;)

 

~

makes sense to her

 

This looks terribly uncomfortable to me, but then again, I am not two. And, as I am learning, 2 year olds have a different mindset than the rest of the world.

 

When you want to play on the Kindle, well by golly, just sit down right there and play on the Kindle!

 

I think what actually happened was, we told her to 'come along now' as we were trying to get out the door. She was bringing Kevin's Kindle with her and her game got really interesting all of the sudden. So, of course mom and dad will just wait while you play it in the hallway.

 

And reflecting back now, I see that it actually does make total sense. Because mom and dad did, in fact, wait for her to play it....or at least long enough to take pictures of her.

 

~

{extra belated} month day

So, seeing as how Stella will be turning 3 months old in another week, I decided to go ahead and post her 2 month picture.

{This would be what we call a 'mom-fail'}

 

She is just trucking right along into her 3rd month!

 

 

 

~

Dad Stuff

 A few days ago, I needed to get dinner ready so Kevin took Harper outside to play. After a couple minutes, I heard the pounding of a hammer. I didn't think much about it; just assumed that Kevin has fixing something. 

About 20 minutes later, Harper comes running in yelling "Mama, come look! It's a T-thing!"

He had build {in 20 minutes} her a teepee out of posts, fire department house, and a tarp (he thought the hose would cover the whole thing, so the tarp was plan B). She was SO excited! 

She said "Mama, you go inside it and it's so so so much fun!"

It's still out there, probably for the rest of the winter. I don't think she can part with it. 

(Even if it is a tarp covered contraption in our yard)

Dad of the Year! 

Homecoming

Kevin & I took the girls to OSU this past week to celebrate homecoming. We wanted to get there early enough for the Spirit Walk, so that Harper could see the team, the band, the cheerleaders & {most importantly} Pistol Pete.

The walk started much earlier than we thought, so we caught the tail end of it. We did see Pete, and that was really all that mattered. 

But just for the record, I want you to know we left our house at 7:30am....with 2 children, one of which must be nursed prior to departure, both parents having showered, on a morning in which Kevin came home from the fire station. This is a miracle!

See Pete?

This is her 'I just saw Pistol Pete' face

I had been telling Harper about homecoming all week, and so after the Spirit Walk, she wanted to see 'dat orange what-uh'.

Dad does 'pistols firing', Harper attempts

Harper does 'thumbs up' instead, dad watches

What the heck, thumbs up it is! 

I like to think that in this picture Harper is imagining her future self here at Oklahoma State: attending classes, making friends,  it becoming her favorite place in the whole world. 

{it's not like we're going to push OSU on her or anything}

Harper, I'm pretty sure we have a photo somewhere of your father wading through that water, after dark, probably illegally. 

Kevin's family joined us in Stillwater for the day. But of course, Harper remained the center of attention. 

No, I didn't stage this picture.

Okay, yes i did.

Or did I?

This little bitty got plenty of attention too. Although she spent most of the day snuggled into her stroller. 

We took a picnic lunch and ate at Theta pond, while Harper watched the ducks. 

It was her naptime by the time we sat down to eat lunch. Therefore, she was loopy, goofy & silly. 

{Gramma didn't help}

See that emergency light? You can push a button on that post and it contacts the campus police department for you. It's for emergencies: you know injuries, stalkers, car accidents, heart attacks. Emergencies.

Yeah, Harper pushed it. 

Family photo time. 

If I'm not mistaken, other than the photos taken by a photographer, this is our first family picture with all four of us since Stella has been born. 

That should NOT have taken me 7 weeks to accomplish. I am ashamed. 

It was a great day! Made both Kevin and I proud to call Oklahoma State our Alma Mater. Almost 7 years later and there is just something about that place. It just sticks with you. 

Go Pokes!

ps: these two are really cute

Stella's Nursery

"You mean, you are going to change the nursery? For another girl?"

-Kevin, upon discovering I intended to re-decorate the nursery for Stella

I think most moms get it. You can't NOT-re-decorate. Even if it is another daughter. And there are a few reasons for this:

1. Pregnancy is all about nesting

2. Pinterest wasn't around for the first daughter. Pinterest is very much around now. 

3. Most rooms in our house get re-arranged, re-decorated, re-done every few years {sometimes months}. It was time.

So, obviously, I decorated the nursery for Stella. A few things I did differently this time:

1. I didn't buy decorations from the store.

2. It is much 'calmer', less fuss

3. I realize that toys and pictures and trinkets will be added over time and it's { and I am } adaptable this time around. 

4. This color scheme can be described in one sentence {pink & orange}. I realized that people don't really want to sit down and have a heart to heart conversation about your ideas for a nursery theme. Say it and move on.

So without further {heart to heart} conversation, here is Stella's bedroom.....

I painted the walls a light grey {they were yellow}. The room is very bright but also very small. I didn't want to paint it a dark color to make it less bright because it would then feel smaller. So I chose a more subtle color that was still light. Here I go again, blabbering about the nursery.

It is grey. Done.

The furniture stayed the same, apart from a shelf I painted white. Hopefully the crib and changing table last through all of our kiddos. The only wear and tear visible now are the teeth marks on the crib. 

Yes, teeth marks. I'm not sure what Harper was up to, but I don't think I want to know. 

Harper, reluctantly, shared some of her books with Stella. Stella was given a few books and toys of her own and we added Harper's old baby toys to the mix. 

Like I said, toys will be added. With the first kid, you think everything needs to be purchased BEFORE they are born. With the second kid, if you don't already have it, you know that a grandparent will most likely buy it. And if not then, there are always garage sales. 

Pink & Orange. Told you it was simple. 

All the frames were ones that I have gathered from here and there. Painted them all the same white and filled them with fabric. 

I learned with Harper that the Mama needs a place in the nursery for those late-night nursing sessions. This little table can be my book/water bottle/cell phone/kindle/snack holder for a while. Then after breastfeeding is over, it can go somewhere else.

As of now, I haven't used it yet. Stella is still sleeping in her bassinet in our room, but she will be making the transition pretty soon. 

She is a very loud sleeper! 

 The crib skirt is my favorite part of the room. It was a result of not wanting to purchase more fabric after I had made the fabric frames. I used the scraps and cut them into strips and sewed them together. Voila! 

Not too sure about these little guys. I needed something on this tiny wall and I used what I had around the house. They may just be too random. 

 

{However, in all honesty. I will probably never think of something better and they will stay right there until baby #3 arrives.}

Here is another of my favorite, the windows:

At first, I covered the blinds totally in fabric: FAIL. They were just funky and wobbly and not right. So I pealed all that fabric off and tried the simple ruffle: WIN. I love it.

The valances are a result of a brainstorm session with my mom. I wanted something rustic, but simple and especially easy. Turns out, free pallet wood was just what I was hoping for. I love free! 

I have to credit Kevin for hanging them. Oh, and he loves free too. 

Shelves above the changing table, as I have learned, are best for necessities. In the middle of the night, when two or more people are covered in poo, decorations are not has important as diapers. 

So for now, these little shelves are mostly for necessary items. 

Oh, and Harper has a stool beside the changing table so that she doesn't miss out on a minute of the action. 

There ya have it, the tour is complete. 

Grey. Pink. Orange. Done. 

This was a great heart to heart. 

Happy Monthday Stella

Stella is now 5 (almost 6) weeks, so therefore this post is a little late, but I hope you'll forgive me. 

Stella is one month old!

When Harper was a baby, we had these adorable little month stickers that we put on her shirt and took pictures each month. I loved them! Check them out!

Until she got older, and started moving, and drooling, and those stickers became a nightmare to keep on and it was a miracle if they were visible in a picture. Check it out again.

So, to make things more simple with Stella,

{and because my awesome co-worker didn't print us another set of stickers, no guilt though} 

I decided to add the monthly info after the picture was taken. So now, taking monthly pictures should be a breeze, right? 

Well they weren't too bad until big sister decided to "help".

Stella & I were doing pretty good on our own...

Although she sort of looks like she's passing gas here...

But then Harper shows up and as always, she was right in Stella's face. 

"Mama, you need me to fix her bow?"

{which did not need fixing, by the way}

She totally blocked my light & although you can't see it from here, she took my tripod too.

Bless her heart, although she can be overwhelming, Harper does love Stella. 

As I've said before, it is a smothering kind of love though. 

Could Stella's face explain it any better?!?

I think she was wondering if her sister will always be this 'Helpful'. 

Yes Stella, I am sorry to say, she will always be in your business. 

 Now you'll know what goes on 'behind the scenes' when you see Stella's monthly pictures: a overbearing sister & a frazzled mother. 

But in the end, we got some good shots. And apart from my spelling mistakes, I think Stella's version of a month-day picture turned out just fine.

~