41 Weeks Old

I've been slammed at work lately, so I apologize for the lack of updates.


First, some pictures from the past few days. Stasa had her friend, Nia, over Saturday night while Nia's older sisters and brother (and mom) went to the movies.


They ate goldfish...



...searched for more goldfish...


...and played in the tent.


And here's Stasa playing in her new fun playroom.

Letters taste like learning.

Yep, everything pretty much still goes in her mouth.

She loves sitting at her new table, as long as she gets to bang her duckies on it.

I told you letters taste like learning.

Cheese!


Playrooms are not just for children anymore.


Happy 41 weeks, Stasa!

She is regularly taking little steps (read: 1 or 2) and then falling. She's so curious and is soaking up everything like the little sponge that she is. She will now clap on demand (in English and Greek) and will point to the "ee-eey" when the cat walks by. Well, she points and then takes off after her. We're trying to teach her that we pet "nice," but she hasn't caught on yet.

Stasa's going to join me at work tomorrow and then we're heading to Aunt Kelly's house to play with her and her mama.

New playroom

Here's the quick tour:



The door next to the chalkboard wall is our office, so this will be perfect when I work from home!

STEPS!

Stasa took a couple of steps unassisted yesterday! I'm going to try to get it on video next time!

40 Weeks Old

"If you think I'm cute, you should see my Godmother."
Guess who got her this shirt?

Stasa is now "bilingual" - she will clap when we say "applause" in Greek. She's also quite the actress and can effortlessly turn on the baby teardroplets. She's become a pro at cruising and looks like she's going to take a step, but then she falls.

I'm working on her playroom right now and should have pictures of the finished project in about a week or so. Once that's complete, I'll be able to work from our actual home office and have her play in the room next to me.

In other news, Stasa now has 3, yes 3, costumes for Halloween. She'll be debuting them Friday, Saturday and Sunday in honor of her Halloweeny godmother, Jennifer.

Daddy dressed me

But the colors in the polka dots MATCH the colors in the stripes!

Video Monday

Playing with Mr. Rude


Clapping


It's a TUNNEL BABY!!!



Playing in her new "house"

I feel like chicken tonight!

Stasa's having stovetop chicken with a side of veggies for dinner tonight. I made the chicken with olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper. She's been chowing down on it, so I'm thinking she's a fan. I made enough for the week and put it in little tupperwares for daycare.

9 months old & 39 weeks old

Stasa is now three quarters of a year old. She went to her 9 month well baby check-up this morning. Here are her stats:

21 lbs, 9 oz: 90th percentile for weight
27.5": 50th percentile for height
I forgot the head measurements, but she's still in the 25th percentile there.

Dr. Hunter said we can decrease the amount we're putting in her bottles for daycare, but we don't need to drop any feedings yet. She also gave us the go ahead to start meat so I think we'll start with chicken. We're thinking of grinding it and making chicken meatballs - something easy for her to feed herself. She's almost on all table foods which makes meal times messier, but easier for us. She even had a few bites of my apple crisp at dinner tonight.

Oh and now that she's close to 22 lbs, we made retired the infant car seat and made the official switch to the convertible carseat.

On to the pictures!
The bad little girl trying to break into the cabinets.


"Uh, mom, cut it out with the camera!"


"I weigh how much?!"

"No way am I that heavy!"

Stasa got dressed up for our anniversary dinner tonight.

38 weeks, 6 days old

Today marks an important day. I gave birth to Stasa at 38 weeks, 6 days. Stasa has now been an "outside" baby for as long as she was an "inside" baby.

Prayers needed

An old colleague of ours, Desiree, contracted Dystonia after receiving a routine flu shot. Please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

Picking her pumpkin

We went to the pumpkin patch today to pick out Stasa's pumpkin. She decided on a baby pumpkin since she's a just a baby. I tried getting her to stand next to the hay bales, but she freaked out when she touched them, so we just took some pictures of her with the pumpkins.

At Uncle James' House

Stasa and Daddy in their Redskins finest - this is obviously before the game seeing as Tom's still smiling

Supervising Daddy as he puts together Uncle James' patio furniture before the soiree

Hanging out on mama's lap while Uncle James and Daddy set up the deck

Hanging out with Austin, one of Uncle James' coworker's sons

Austin LOVED Stasa. He called her "baby" and was keeping a close eye and sometimes hand on her. He really wanted to carry her, but was too little, so we let him hold her in his lap. Austin was sitting next to her on the deck saying "baby don't fall" over and over again. We had a great time at James' house - it's really nice, modern day log cabin. We played ladder ball (I lost) and a bean bag toss (I won) and had Polar Bears for the first time (ice cream, Kahula, Vodka and ice blended together).

Dear Daddy,

Happy birthday!

Love,

Stasa

The Renaissance Festival

We had a great time at the Maryland Renaissance Festival today. I can't even remember all of the things that we saw, but here's what I do remember seeing: Johnny Fox the Sword Swallower, knife tricks, people with realistic elf ears and nymph horns and LOTS of chain mail and costumes (though some were out of place, like the trio dressed as KISS, seriously). Here are a few pictures of what we saw:

Now, on to Stasa! She was great the whole day and even took 3 naps - I think all of the sights wore her out. Here she is with the King.

I got my hair braided when we first got there - this is the lace headband style.

Stasa got her face painted with a heart and a couple of stars. Isn't she a cutie? We were waiting for the joust to start and were keeping her entertained.

Fast asleep in her stroller despite all of the noise around her.

She took off one of her socks to use it as a chew toy.

Daddy making Stasa giggle before we left.

Look at me, mom!

38 Weeks Old

Happy 38 weeks old! In 6 days Stasa will have been an "outside" baby for as long as she was an "inside" baby. I'm amazed at how fast the time is going by and how much our little baby has grown. She's standing unassisted all of the time now and cruising like a maniac and I keep trying to bribe her into walking, but she's not buying it. Not yet. She's also become quite the chatterbox and seems to have so much to say on the way to daycare and on the way home. She keeps saying "ghee" a lot and we're wondering if she's trying to call the kitty because she says it a lot when the cat's around.

Stasa spent a good 10 minutes chasing the cat in circles tonight or maybe the cat was chasing her. Either way the cat was definitely the instigator in that game. Tomorrow we're headed to Annapolis for the Renaissance Festival for Tom's birthday. I was going to make Stasa a little outfit, but got too lazy so she'll just have to make due with one of her many many outfits in her closet.


Look at the little trouble maker - she's chewing on her diaper basket.


"Hey, where did all of my kitchen toys go???"

"Donkeys are so tasty."

Getting ready to play with her stuffed animals

And she's managed to pull out almost all of her downstairs toys.