our little monkey

so Stella seems to have a thing for monkeys... maybe it's the monkey pajamas so graciously sent by her Auntie Liza and Uncle Chuckie...

or maybe it's the monkey onesie I couldn't help myself from picking up at the thrift store for 95 cents.

or the sock monkey from aforementioned Aunt and Uncle

or maybe she's just a little clingy, a little noisy, a little bundle of energy... maybe she's feeling the whole monkey vibe...
which to eat first... the arm ... or the leg... mmm...

An observation

So Stella's a little delayed in her gross motor skills... She might babble until the cows come home (or, as the case may be, until the Mommy drags her tired self out of bed at 6:15am) but she is a little, shall we say, LAZY when it comes to things like rolling over, tummy time, etc. We've actually been seeing a physical therapist at suggestion from her doctor at 4 months old because her head was FLAT. like really FLAT. and she HATED being on her tummy to get her off her head. I thought she was in pain. The lovely PT lady found out that Stella was just lazy. :) After three months, I'm happy to report that Stella's head is no longer flat (WOOHOO!) and she finally pushes herself up on her arms -something her little friend Izzie has been doing for months. Two weeks ago, she finally put it all together and now has learned that if she's put on her tummy, she can straighten her arm and voila! Back onto her back. However, because she likes being on her back so much, she never wanted to do the reverse roll that babies are supposed to learn (back to tummy).

Today, Miss S finally had enough motivation. I put her on a quilt on the floor to roll from side to side (which she happily does), eat some toys, babble stories, etc while I finished pureeing butternut squash for her dinner (which, I have discovered, gets REALLY pasty when pureed. I think I could have put up wallpaper with this stuff, seriously).

I glance through the room at Stella - and she's somehow scooted sideways across the quilt towards Scupper, who's sitting on his pillow happily ripping the head off "Baby Goofy" - another Thrift Store stuffed animal special. Stella rolls sideways to reach for it - and she can't quite make it. I turn back to my squash and then think, you know Aimee, maybe you should watch this. Stella throws her leg out to get momentum and WOOSH! From back to tummy and about two hairs shy of grabbing the dirtiest half-ripped, mostly-slimed stuffed animal from Scup. He just was staring in amazement too. She then pushes herself up into a pushup pose, looks at Scupper, and then flops back down and rolls back to her back.

Ta da! She looked at me, as I made my way to the quilt, ready to intervene and move her away from the half-brained Disney mutt and the real mutt who was now more interested in HER toys than Goofy. See Mom - I just didn't care enough to do for all those wonderful BABY toys that are clean! I wanted Scupper's stuffed animal, she smiled at me.

Oh dear.

And thus, another thing to add to the list about things that are similar between babies and dogs. They both love to put things directly into their mouths, and currently, stuffed animals are pretty awesome.

In other news, speaking of wanting each other's toys - another Stella toy bit the dust. We're up to 5 now. and the third teether. I actually think it's pretty funny that Scupper has a tendency to eat/destroy Stella's teether rattles. Technically, it's not irony, but definitely something like that... I have to do better about scanning the house up and down before we go to the grocery store when we really should be taking him for a walk. God help us when Stella is older and it happens to be her favorite toy or doll. Maybe he'll be out of that phase by then. But with our luck, yah right.

So I've had a request

to update the blog because the poo smoothie was grossing everyone out.

Sorry guys -

how about more hammy pictures of Stella eating? Seems to be the only ones I take lately, but she's just so darn funny when she eats. peas and prunes... yum.

Foodie...

So I have some random pictures...

one - i couldn't help but take a picture of this smoothie i made the other afternoon. In an effort to help my daughter's constipation (an attempt that does not work, i have now found out) I made myself a smoothie with bananas, fruit and the only juice i thought would work = prune juice. Combine all that with rice protein power with spirulina (which turns everything green) and VOILA!

the smoothie that looks like poo.
But sadly, does not help your daughter's poo because SHE is the one that has to eat the prunes. Oh well. I tried.

and now onto homemade hamburger buns - amazingly easy and satisfyingly good. I urge you to try to make them at least once in your life. You might not go back! (pre baked and postoven shots)

It's been a quiet week in...

There hasn't been a post this week... well... because nothing really of note happened. we're on night 8 for trying to get Stella to skip the 3 am feeding... yes, 8 nights and she still is pissy that she isn't getting fed. Usually babies change in 3 days - with the 3rd night where they sleep through the feeding and then you're set. Not us. Not Miss Stella, our fiesty girl. I think she's going for a pediatric record.

In other news, she seems to like peas and HAMing for the camera

her new high chair and bananas

and this ridiculous onesie that I couldn't pass up at the UCSD bookstore on the clearance rack for $4. (skunk sold separately! ;) thank you Auntie Liza...
actually, the skunk has come in quite handy because she now wants to touch anything and everything on her changing table - we recycled a set piece from a show at the Playhouse and it has a nice big table top and a bookshelf above. The shelves have been so handy for books, bibs, bottles, diaper cream, etc, but now Stella's arms are big enough that she reaches up to the shelf.

Enter Skunk - with a tail, 4 legs and a nose, there are MORE than enough spots to eat and it keeps her busy while we efficiently change her diaper. like the world's fasted diaper change in the west.

And I was so smitten with the beef bourginion a month ago that I made it again tonight. Only 3 more hours to go in the oven and delicious beefy goodness will be mine...

Happy "Owloween"

um yes, that's a Scupper tail in the last shot. ;)

Stella learns to mug for the camera

So considering Picasa told me I took 208 photos this October alone (yes, i know, it's pathetic) Stella definitely has learned to pose for the camera. I think the below evidence should suffice.

In other news, she has mastered the raspberry this week and now we're covered in spittle, she has learned to screech (or "extend her vocal range" if I'm being polite), and has now tasted apple, pear, pumpkin, sweet potato, carrot and zucchini. Today we're starting peas, and then kale. We'll see after all the sweet veggies whether kale will be a staple in her repertoire. You know, just like chocolate stout cake is in mine. ;)

We bought this onesie on Father's day this year - Steve thought it was the funniest thing ever. Yah, our babe is hard core.

She also seems to think that trying Dad's beer is fun too. Uncle Mike, this photo is for you!
Compliments of Great Aunt Melanie - this is a running joke in my mom's family. My uncle Peter was always "the favorite." Scupper would probably agree that Stella is the favorite, although when Steve came home from work last week, it went something like this: "Oh, who's my good boy?.... Hi baby girl!... oh, hi honey." Yup. At least I warranted a hello. ;)

Somehow she was perfectly happy laying like this yesterday. A little odd, but yep, she's definitely our daughter.