Parent's Day Out...

My wonderful mother-in-law keeps Stella Grace during the day for us, and we are so blessed to have her, but things are going to change just a little bit. SG is going to start Parents Day Out one day a week, Mondays. Stella Grace officially started PDO on Monday, and boy was it a day! I can truly say it was the most stressful day of my entire life. I racked my brain for other stressful days in my life... wedding day, taking my COMPS exam for grad school, taking my LSW licensure exam, etc., and I couldn't come up with another day when I felt like I did on Monday. Chris and I thoroughly checked the place out, toured the facilities, met with the director and asked her every crazy question I could think of, and observed the classrooms in action. The crazy paranoid social worker in me even called DCS, DHS, and the Dept. of Edu. to investigate any complaints that had ever been filed against the facility. I felt like I had done all I could do to make me feel comfortable with taking Stella to PDO, but apparently there was nothing I could do to prepare myself for dropping my child off on the first day. It was awful!!!
The day started with Stella being overly weepy- not whiny or throwing a fit- real tears, laying her head on my shoulder, wimpering. I swear she knew what was about to happen! We were late on the first day because I couldn't take her while shew as crying so we rocked and took a bottle before leaving. Once we arrived, I was the one who started with the tears. The PDO director had to hug me in the hallway and tell me all new Mom's have a hard time leaving their kids on the first day- thank God, because I wanted to run and hide! I spent the next 6 hours at work crying in my office and counting down the minutes until I could go pick her up. I kept trying to come up with excuses for why I should go get her, but I made myself stick it out until 2:30 before I left.
When I arrived Stella Grace was playing on the floor with a couple of other babies. We gathered her things and I think I must have hugged her harder than I ever had on the walk to the car. She was exhausted and fell asleep in the car and didn't wake up until 3 hours later! Her activity sheet said she only napped at PDO for 30 minutes- hopefully due to all the stimulation and excitement from being around other babies. I know she will really love being around other children as she isn't around any at home, and this is going to be a MUCH bigger adjustment for her Mom than it will be for her :) We (I!) survived day one of PDO... Lord help me through next Monday!

Crying before we left- she so knew :(




















after the bottle and rocking...

Happy Girl...

At Stella Grace's 2 month doctor check-up, her doctor asked me how we were doing. I told her all about SG and all the details about how her days and nights go. We discussed her weight, eating patterns, sleep patterns, development and a whole slew of other things. Her doctor tends to laugh when we walk into the office because she knows I'm coming with notebook in hand, ready to ask the millions of questions I have jotted down since our last visit. After we had discussed all things SG, and the doctor had assured me that we have a perfectly healthy baby girl, she asked how I was doing. I told her that I was doing well, except for the lack of sleep that makes me feel like an alien most days. I also told her that I was really yearning for some recognition from SG. I explained to her how after getting up 5 times throughout the night to feed/change/check on SG, struggling to make it through the work day without falling asleep, rushing home to spend a couple of hours with my husband and baby, before falling asleep and doing it all over again, I was really longing for a little bit of recognition from SG. Just something to show that she knows who I am. Now this is not to say that her snuggled up on my shoulder didn't mean the world to me- there has been no better feeling in the world than her asleep on my chest as a newborn. But just a little smile when she sees me, or maybe for her to reach out for me when I walk into the room, would make me get out of bed with a smile across my face at 4 a.m.! The doctor's response to me was that all of her parents tell her these same things, and that it's normal to feel this way. She also said, "Just wait until she reaches 4 months, that's the golden age of babyhood." Well, apparently she knew what she was talking about. SG is ending her 4th month and she is the happiest baby I know. We live for her smiles now, and she does it all the time. We're practically running over one another to be the one she first sees when she wakes up because of that smile of recognition. There's nothing like it in the world!

Look How Far We've Come...

I am going to visit my friend, Mali, tomorrow and her new baby boy, Rivers. I am so excited to finally meet him, and I can't wait to hold a tiny little baby in my arms again! Mali and I were pregnant together, so it's really exciting that her little one is finally here :) Thinking of holding Rivers tomorrow made me look at SG's pictures from when she first came home from the hospital. She was such a tiny little thing! Many of you probably remember that she was "finger fed" for a bit at the beginning, and this is a picture of what that actually looks like. It is amazing how quickly they grow, and how much she has changed in the past 4 months. She was so tiny and fragile in this picture, and she is such a big girl now- rolling over, smiling, holding her head up, playing with toys, and starting to laugh! And certainly no more 1/2 ounce finger feedings- sweet SG will suck down 8 ounces in four minutes flat if you let her!!!

Live at The Shell...

So we practically lived at the Shell for the past 6 weeks or so. The Levitt Shell is an outdoor ampitheater in the middle of Overton Park in Midtown, very close to our home, and it is a great place to see live music. When I first moved to Memphis 8 years ago, we used to go to the Shell all the time to concerts, and it was so much fun. Sometime in the past couple of years the city decided that the Shell was in too poor condition to continue having shows there, so they shut it down and made all of us live music junkies very sad. Well, a grassroots effort got underway, and with a grant from the Levitt foundation, the Shell is now The Levitt Shell, and is bigger and better than ever! They refurbished the ampitheater, bathrooms, lighting, sound, took out the bench seating and made a beautiful rolling lawn, and added big screens on both sides of the stage. It is so nice! The best part is the foundation's commitment to put on 50 free shows a year! The Shell now has 25 shows (5 shows a week for 5 weeks) in the Spring/Summer season, and 25 shows in the Fall. The shows start at 7:00 p.m. and last until around 9:00 or 9:30. They have kids shows on Saturday afternoons, with music lessons for kids and lots of other fun stuff :) Everyone throws a blanket down, and you can bring your own cooler and picnic- there is no better way to spend a FREE night with your family! We just finished the Spring/Summer season, and we're anxiously waiting for the Fall season to be announced.

Surely Stella Grace is going to be a music fan- I don't know how she could get around it living in our home! She has seen more concerts in her 4 months (plus all the ones she heard while she was growing in her mama for 9 months!) than most people have seen in the past couple of years! Now we're not irresponsible about it folks- we sit in the back far away from the speakers, and we're on the hunt for some baby sound reducing headphones. She absolutely loves seeing concerts in the park- she is mesmerized by the lights flashing from the stage, loves dancing with her mama and daddy, and not to mention that she loves nothing better than being outside under the trees. Stella's very first live concert was at 2 months at the Shell- we saw The Brown Sisters- a gospel group of 5 sisters and large band- they were a ton of fun and definitely had the crowd jumping and feeling the spirit! We also saw Big Sam's Funky Nation (one of our favorite New Orleans bands), Todd Snider, Juke Joint Duo (Lightin' Malcom and Cedric Burnside), and Freeworld. We can't wait for September to get here so we can go see more live music at The Shell!

Rock and Roll Baby!

Playing on the blanket with Daddy
















Yes, that really is a bug net & fan :)

The Shell was rocking for the Juke Joint Duo!

Our view at Freeworld

VOTE!!!

Hi everyone! Please click on the button below and vote for the Memphis Farmer's Market. Our favorite weekly activity is to wake up on Saturday morning, load Stella up in the car, and head downtown to the Farmer's Market. Every week we see our friend, Laura Carpenter, who volunteers there, plus lots of other friends who are strolling the market on a Saturday morning. We buy fresh produce, listen to the live music, visit with farmers/vendors, check out new vendors and products, get excited about trying a new type of lettuce/greens, jelly, or whatever else we find, and then stroll downtown and shop and eat. It is such a great way to spend a weekend morning, and we hope as Stella grows it will help to teach her about eating healthy, fresh foods. Plus we hope it will get her excited about cooking (and eating!) the food we buy there. Anyway, it is such a great thing and I know the prize money would help them alot- so help them out and VOTE! Thanks :)

Happy Father's Day!

So it's been a while since I last posted, but life's pretty busy these days! I have so much to post and hopefully I'll get around to it really soon. I couldn't let it get too far away from Father's Day without paying a little tribute to the greatest Dad of all time- my sweet husband, Chris. He is so amazing with Stella. From the moment she was born he just took control and didn't shy away from anything when it came to taking care of her. I remember realizing when Stella was about 1 week old that I hadn't changed any of her diapers yet- Chris had changed all of them! He is really great at entertaining Stella, and she literally lights up when she sees him. You should see the gigantic smile she gets on her face when she locks eyes with him- it's precious :)

Chris had a really great first Father's Day. We slept in and made breakfast, went to noon mass, then to lunch. Stella was an angel all day. Later that afternoon we drove to Clarksdale and met Bella and Pop to switch Stella over for a couple of days. It was a great day! Stella and I are so blessed to have Chris- he takes such good care of us :) Here are some pics of Stella and her Daddy...

At lunch on Father's Day (notice SG's big girl dress!)

Hanging on the porch with Daddy

Napping on Daddy!
Playing with Daddy

Fuzzy Father's Day family picture!

Stella's Baptism...

Stella Grace was baptized in Greenville on Mother's Day weekend. She was baptized at St. Joseph's Catholic Church during 10:30 a.m. mass and she was such a little angel. She didn't make a peep the entire time- not even when the water was poured over her head! She wore the Mauceli family baptism gown- she was the 3rd generation to wear the gown and it was beautiful. It was a really special day for us. There were so many people there to see her baptism and we were so greatful to everyone that came. I have heard my brother in law say so many times how much you appreciate family once you see how good they are to your children, and I can totally relate now. We have the most amazing family and friends, and to see how much love they shower on Stella Grace fills my heart with so much gratitude and joy. My mom had everyone out to the house for a celebration and lunch after the baptism. I was really proud of her for having it catered instead of her stressing out about all the details! I couldn't have asked for a more special 1st Mother's Day- it was so crazy to have people tell me Happy Mother's Day this year!

The entire weekend was so much fun. We were so happy to have Chris' family in Greenville again and to be able to take them for their first trip to eat at Doe's! We asked Beck and Lindsay to be Stella's Godparents and were so happy that they accepted. It was a wonderful weekend surrounded by family and friends. It's too bad we don't get to have weekends like that more often.

The Barnes Family

The Fitts Family

The Cook Family

Scarlett's Best Friends (-L) & their families

The Godfamily :)

Stella was amazed by her Uncle Blue!