Brunette Visit

My parents came to visit and brought my grandma and nephew along for the ride. It was a great visit and we even ventured out to Stone Mountain while they were here! I had never been, so it was quite an adventure-especially with a 2 year old and 2 month old in tow.

Josh and Sophia
Sweet Stella

My friend Angelecia(one of Stella's teachers this year) and her husband welcomed their new baby Jamal while my folks were here-which was great timing, because I got to visit them in the hospital!

Me and Baby J-he was such a doll!

Playing in the pool

Daddy on the slip and slide...and he didn't even spill his beverage

Pretty girl

Stella and Grandma Polly showing me their candy at Stone Mountain. I took Stella into this amazing candy store with lollipops the size of her head, chocolate covered nuts of every kind, caramels covered apples and what does she choose? A 42 cent roll of Smarties. I don't know where this kid came from.

Stella and Paw Paw Johnny

Brandon, Grandma Polly and Paw Paw Johnny

Sophia was not in the mood for a photo

Sophia and Paw Paw on top of Stone Mountain trying to find some shade

"Here's lookin' at you, kid"

Me and my girl on top of Stone Mountain

Paw Paw, Brandon and Granny (my grandma)

Chronicles of Insomnia

Stella finally got to give Sophia a bottle. After a couple minutes of forcibly trying to stick the entire bottle into Sophia's mouth or taking the nipple in and out and giggling when Sophia got upset, she lost interest.

She is a little lady




I can't remember why she isn't wearing a shirt, but thought she looked especially cute

Bugsy taking a bath

Daddy and the girls

Half hearted "Cheese"

Last day of school-Carnival day-they had face painting

"Monkey Face"-she makes this face when you say something upsetting. ie: "It's nap time" "No, you can't have your tenth slice of cheese today." "Let's try plain milk instead of chocolate." "I don't want to watch Blue's Clues again." "Not right now, Stella." "Do you want to use the big girl potty?" You get the point...we see it a lot. I had to capture it on film so I can use it against her someday.

Well, I have to say it is getting better. We are finally getting 4 hour stretches of sleep at night now. The problem is that the stretches start at midnight and mommy and daddy are really tired by this point. She loves to be awake and fussy from 8-12. Sleeps from 12-4 and wakes for a feeding, wakes again at 6:30-7, and eats every 2-3 hours during the day. This is crazy! I don't remember this with Stella, but I have tried to block out a lot of Stella's early baby days. She was colicky...I just shuddered thinking about it. I remember calling Josh one day and asking him to come home. When he arrived home-literally 15 minutes later(it was about a 20-25 minute drive), I greeted him at the door holding Stella out to him and said "I want to go back to work." Sophia is a different type of baby. She is a lover. She wants to be held 24 hours a day and is perfectly content if you do this for her. If not, then it is the end of the world. Stella cried no matter if you held her, put her in the swing, the bouncer, the bed, hired a band to perform, brought in a circus to entertain, etc. But as far as Sophia is concerned, thank the Lord Jesus for Baby Bjorn. I can only hope that she outgrows this phase because paired with her insatiable appetite/weight gain, I could develop some serious back issues. (I am imagining myself carrying a 40 pound 4 month old in a Baby Bjorn) Anyway, we are on the road to sleeping through the night. I just know it. It has to happen soon. When you are picking up your dry cleaning and the guy starts giving baby advice, you know there is an issue. "What is wrong? You look tired. You breastfeed? How old is baby? You need to top her off. Give her formula at night. Next time I see you, you look better." I thought I was having a pretty good day yesterday until I got that little tidbit of advice.

Stella is getting cuter and cuter every day. She did try to suffocate her sister this morning, but she is still cute. She is obsessed with Sophia. She wants to kiss her, feed her, hug her, read to her, sing to her, bathe her, change her diapers... She says she "Babysophia(it's one word) is my best friend." This morning, I heard Sophia screaming. I ran into the bedroom where I had left her and found Stella "keeping her warm" with her blanket. She was completely covered from head to toe and Stella was taking special care to make sure her head was "warm." I tried to explain to her that when Babysophia is crying, she is not enjoying herself. Stella asked forgiveness by hugging her until she screamed again. Her latest thing is talking gibberish-especially when she is in trouble. It's hard to keep a straight face because when you are scolding her, she starts talking like Steve Carrell in Anchor Man. She also loves to make up different words to songs. It's funny because Josh and I do this all the time. I think she has a future in showbiz. We'll see about that after she gets her Ph.D. from Harvard.

Stella smiling-Dec. '06

SMILE!

Getting acquainted with the new girl

Mother's Day at Murphy Candler Park
Stella makes no excuses for enjoying a fine bowl of chocolate pudding

Don't you wish you could sleep like that? Not a care in the world...
Stella working out with her exercise ball-how do you think she keeps that figure with the amount of chocolate pudding she ingests?

Daddy and Sophia

Stella has become nostalgic about her old baby toys

And also a little possessive-this is my nursing pillow that she is using as a seat

Sisters

Notice the stickers that Stella used to decorate Sophia

Feeding the ducks with Daddy



So....I know it has been awhile, but we have been a little busy around these parts.

You know you are the mom of a newborn (the second time around)when:

• You are getting ready to take a shower in the morning and find a breast pad stuck to your leg.
• You are driving your toddler to school and actually have to ponder whether or not you are wearing real pants or pajama pants.
• You let your toddler have Cheerios for lunch because you are too tired to make something else and you can't remember if she had breakfast anyway. And you have Cheerios, too, because it is fast and easy and you have about 10 minutes before the new kid wants to eat again.
• You can't remember when you slept for more than three hours at a time.
• You can't remember the new kid's name.
• You consider buying Depends because you can't seem to find the time to go to the bathroom.
• You spend most of your days washing sheets, soaking stained clothes, and changing diapers and outfits (including your own) due to bodily fluids that may or may not be yours.
• You wonder what was going through your head when you decided to do this again when you already had a great kid that sleeps through the night and feeds herself and can verbalize her needs.
• You think anyone that has more than two kids is a saint.
• You look at the new kid and realize that this newborn phase will pass and she will be as delightful as the first one was to watch growing up. In fact, it will be even more fun because you get to watch them grow up together and that is pretty cool to think about.
  
  
  
  
  

Stella at 2 weeks

Sophia