Has it really been a year?

Last year at 1:02pm, Stella Grace blessed our world after 4 1/2 hours of labor.  She was delivered by Dr. Smetana and my best friend, Diane Labelle.  My husband and mom were in the room while my dad waited patiently outside in the lobby.  Stella weighed 7lbs 7oz, was 19" long and was perfect in every way.  She looked like her daddy's clone but had my feet.  She was truly my dream come true.  The nurses commented on how Matt and I acted like veteran parents upon discharging us from the hospital.

The first 6 months were tough.  She went from being a great sleeper, to being an awful sleeper, then back to great again.  At 3 weeks old, she had to have an EEG for seizure like twitching and, thankfully, she was totally fine.  Although her brain was fine, she was extremely gassy.  I had to adjust my diet drastically to avoid adding to her digestion issues.  We think this is what led to her fussiness during the first 6 months. 

When she turned 7 months old, it was like we had a whole new baby.  She is absolutely FULL of personality and only cries when she is hungry or tired.  At 9 months she lost 2 lbs from her 6 month visit so we began to supplement in formula and eventually, I weaned her from breastfeeding on her 10 month birthday.  She is so full of joy and one of her favorite things to do is bop to music.  Grammy has been teaching her so many fun songs and she catches on to them so quickly.  Her latest fun new thing is cuddling when you ask her to.  She'll come right over, put her head on your shoulder and pat your back with her hand.  Tooooo cute!

I'm so proud of who she is and I am so blessed that God chose me to look after her on Earth.  Here are some memories from the past year of Stella's life:

* First roll over - 5 weeks old when she was hysterically crying
* First flight - 7 weeks old to Seattle and then Kansas
* Baptism on July 3rd - 8 weeks old at Family of Grace Lutheran Church
* First tooth - 4 1/2 months old and hasn't stopped teething since.
* First night out (left with my parents) - 5/31 for Matt's birthday
* First night out (left with a sitter) - 7/29 for our 5 year anniversary
* First food - Carrots & sweet potatoes @ 5 months old (10/7)
* Rolled over from back to front @ 5 months old (10/1)
* Sat up by herself for the first time @ 5 months old (10/22)
* First time seeing snow - 11/12 - 6 months old
* First fruit - Apples - 11/14 - 6 months old
* Top teeth cut through on Christmas - 12/25
* First word - Mama - 8 months old - 1/9
* Cutting 5th tooth on bottom left - 1/17
* Second word - Dada - 1/18
* Stood by herself for the first time - 10 months - 3/23
* FINALLY started crawling - 3/31
* Walks by herself with toy walker - 4/13
* Birthday party at Grammy's house - 4/28
* 8 teeth total at 1 year

Words at 1 year:

* Mama
* Dada
* Puppy (pup pup)
* Papa
* Hi
* Bye Bye
* Num-num
* Baby
* Ball

Favorite Songs:
* Bringing Home a Baby Bumble Bee
* ABC song
* Itsy bitsy spider

Animal noises/actions:
* Fishy
* Snake
* Monkey
* Bumble Bee

Thank you all for being a part of Stella's first year.  It has been the ride of a life time with highs and lows and everything in between but I wouldn't change a thing. 

We love you!

On another note, I've turned in my final portfolio for my Master's program and will graduate next week!!! Woohoo! I'm officially done with school!