My Stella Babe

Stelly is my little mama’s girl. She’s my little creamy ball of sunshine. She’s sweet and sassy and mighty silly. She’s rarely bothered by anything and is always up for doing whatever. She’ll be entertained for hours by her sister bossing her around and she’s always willing to hand out some lovins. She’s the stuff only heaven could create. Try as I might, I just can’t seem to let this baby grow up.

Stella is growing by the leaps and bounds. Her little legs seem to get longer and lengthier by the day, her hair continues to pile in and trickle longer down her back, her baby chub is melting away slowly but surely.

She is OFFICIALLY in a big girl bed. When we made the move to the new house, the crib never got set up. She has been totally fine from day one, sharing a bed with Harlo. In the mornings they’ll get up together and sometimes play in their room before coming in to get me. I love waking up to them snuggling up in my bed.

She continues to be my good little eater. She’s happiest when she’s got a snack… or two.

She is such a little ham. The girl’s got more character in her baby finger than most people do in their whole body. She has specifically found her audience at church. She thinks she’s the star of the show… and she is.

She definitely gets more sassy as she gets older, and those terrible toddler tantrums have settled right into place here with her 2nd birthday just passing. I know that she’s right on track developmentally though, and we continue to push through. It’s not too hard as she brings a whole lotta good with the bad.

She has quite the little vocabulary. She can pretty much sit and carry on a full conversation with no problems. I’m constantly getting compliments on how well she talks or how well she knows her manners. She’s the “thank you” police in this house.

I’ve noticed she says “Harlo” more rather than just “sissy”. Kinda sad, but so so cute. Harlo sounds more like “howl-lo”.

I’m noticing her over pronouncing words lately. Adding extra syllables here or there. She also switches off saying S sounds as Sh or Th. Her lisp switches around on different things. I love how she talks! I could listen to her all day… and I do.

While it’s hard to pin point a favorite grandparent because she’s so fond of all of them, she has taken a serious liking to Grammy (my mom) lately. The two are cut from the same cloth. She definitely has Grammy wrapped around her little finger.

While for the most part she plays nicely with her sister, she sure knows how to push her buttons and isn’t the least bit afraid to do so. Ugh! Little sisters can sure be a bother.

I can’t count the times I hear “mam. what you doeen?” throughout the day.

I still rock her to sleep each night before bed and naps. It continues to be one of the highlights of my life. I’m so glad I have the opportunity to do it. Sometimes at the end of a stressful day, it’s exactly what we need to reconnect and unwind together.

She is such a busy bee and always, always wants to “help”. It’s hard, because her helpful little hands aren’t exactly my idea of “help”. I’m always trying to find ways to keep her hands busy while my hands are busy. Handing her a basket of laundry to tear apart and put back together may seem like it’s a huge headache, but it buys us some time and as we all know, time is the most valuable thing to a mother. Any good tips on how to keep a two year old busy? I’d love to hear!

Oh potty woes! Stella successfully potty trained herself at about 21 months. She had zero problems… until we went out of town/moved into a new house. I just can’t quite seem to get her back in the groove. I am a pretty laid back mom when it comes to these types of things. I know strong arming her back to the potty is just simply not going to help us. She seems to be 50/50 potty to pull up status right now. Stressing me out to no end, but what can a mom do? (again, tips are greatly appreciated here!) For now, we’re just workin’ it out the best we know how. The fact that no kindergartners go to school in diapers seems to be calming my soul right now. The funny thing is, I STILL think she’s too young to be potty trained, but the fact that she has been for the last 3 months makes me stress to keep going forward. Oh, heaven help us! I still swear that potty training is the very hardest part of baby/toddlerhood.

She, like her sister, has taken a fondness to dressing up. The coveted item right now is tights. I tell you, I can’t think of one other thing I would rather wear less than tights while it’s 108 degrees out, but somehow my children power through. At least they’re learning endurance through fashion early in life, they’ll need it with all their fabulosity.

Boo remains a vital staple in this home. Boo comes with us everywhere, to the grocery store, to California, to playdate, to the bathroom. We took her to our church nursery a few weeks ago and had left it home. When I picked her up, the teacher said “now who is ‘Boo’?” haha, apparently she kept asking for it but never got really upset. Ha, poor lady. Someone asked me recently what she would do if we left it somewhere. I quickly replied with “that would never happen.” and I meant it.

She is my child who gets into anything and everything. Currently in our home, we have 3 completely unrolled and rolled-back-up toilet paper rolls, a recently emptied bottle of doterra oil (breathe.. couldn’t have been cheap lavender or anything!) a half eaten tube of chapstick, a lipgloss smeared kindle and ipad, and a basket of freshly folded laundry turned into freshly unfolded laundry and two made beds with a tiny body imprint in the middle of them… And that’s all just from today.

She is not a dessert girl. I can give her a sucker and she’ll never finish it. Rarely touches dessert, would much rather a second helping of supper. Totally my kid that way. Harlo on the other hand has my family’s blood and would eat or do pretty much anything with the promise of dessert.

She always says “whoa!” after I tell her anything. ie: “Did you see that picture Harlo drew for you?” S: “Whoa!” with her big brown eyes as round as ever.

She has the most beautiful, sweet little spirit. She fills our home with such an abundant light.

She is my baby for life. I hope she wants me to “hold jew” all day forever.