Welcome Home Party.

My other half (Jill) and Michael's other half (Mitchell or Jason - same person) threw a welcome home party for Stella this past weekend. It was at the park and we had TONS of fun!!! we had homemade ice cream, strawberries, brownie cookies and jones soda. the perfect day.

time for a party.

spending some aunt jess time.girl gabbing.

playing croquet.
enjoying the lovely weather.

getting some aunt jilli and big jer time.
lovin on bella. this is my friend angel's daughter. they were here visiting from south carolina. WE MISS THEM ALREADY!!!

uncle jason playing with the kids.
lovin on angel.

stella and bella. yes, she is crying because we put her on the ground.
daddy cheering stella up.

saying bye to marti. stella LOVES her marti visits.
spending quality time with nona.

we love ya'll for throwing stella a party! it was LOTS of fun!!!

stella swinging for the first time. i think she was too exhausted to enjoy it!

THANK YOU to everyone who joined us in body and for those of you who were there with us in spirit :) We love having you in our lives and hope those of you who haven't met stella get to very VERY soon!

yesterday was our official 1 month HOME anniversary. April 24 was our official 1 month GOTCHA anniversary. we can not believe it's been a month already! we really can't remember what our lives were like before we had stella. this girl has got some SPUNK and amazes us every single day. WE LOVE YOU STELLA LU!

quick catch up post.

WOW. tomorrow ended up being a LOOOOOOONG time :)

yes. it's true. i am the WORST blogger ever. i SWORE to myself that when we came home i would not stop posting :) yet here i am . . . i'm not even sure anyone is still checking this thing?!?!?! so if you are, please leave me a comment!

we are doing really REALLY well. stella is perfect. she has adjusted SO well & already knows who michael & i are. she is COMPLETELY laid back and handles every situation amazingly.

she LOVES her bath, LOVES to eat, LOVES to play. she is ADDICTED to her bottle. we have cut down the # of bottles per day and have just started mixing her formula with milk so that we can EVENTUALLY get her off the formula :) she is having NO PART of the milk alone :) she isn't walking yet or crawling. she is just starting to get a little mobile. we call her a crab because she will only move backwards. she LOVES her jumper (which is a good thing because we are putting her in there every day to get her legs stronger). she sleeps all night in her crib. occasionally she will wake around 5am for a bottle, and other times she will sleep until morning.

meeting nana and papaw for the first time
(michael's parents) : 3/28/08

meeting nona & popa d for the first time

(my parents) : 3/28/08

waking up at HOME for the first time

3/29/08 : momma and stella were SICK

my first birthday party

3/30/08 : my actual birthday was on 4/1/08 but we wanted to celebrate while everyone was here.

those are just a few photos to tide you over. blogger is being a PAIN and won't let me load any more photos . . . so i shall try again later . . . there are LOTS more . . .