july

What a long week! Monday was all about hanging out with Luke and Naomi while they packed up and loaded the moving truck. Tuesday and Wednesday were filled with weepiness. Thursday was trying to get out and get my mind off things by going to the library with Stella for the first time. Today I plan on getting her out to another library since she had so much fun. Tomorrow we have a picnic-like get-together with our small group and all the kids.

Stella's molars popped through recently, and now she is not waking up at night and acting so fussy. I was changing her diaper the other day and suddenly noticed that she had a lot more teeth in her mouth! It's funny how the more teeth she gets, her appearance slightly alters. 

We took her to Childen's the other week for her one-year-later-followup appointment with the pediatric cardiologist to check on the murmur/hole in her heart. The specialist could not hear the murmur, so she's saying it's more than likely that the hole has closed up. This is a huge answer to prayers. A couple days later, however, we have a new little physical problem: Stella has to wear an eye patch one hour per day for a month to correct amblyopia. In case you're interested, you can read this for more information. I put the patch over her "good eye", thereby forcing the brain to work the left "bad" eye. She doesn't enjoy her patching sessions, so I try to think of new ways to distract her so that the hour goes by quickly for her. I blow bubbles for her, read her books, play with her, and today I put her in the big bathtub for the first time to splash in the water and play with her rubber ducky. 

She is not walking yet, but I think it will be any day now. She walks around furniture and has been standing up in the middle of the room for a few seconds without the help of furniture. She still enjoys cruising around crawling as her mode of transport. She is trying to mimic everything she hears; she has started saying "uh-oh" this week. She loves saying "hot" in a really dramatic whispery voice. Whenever I am drinking my coffee or pulling something out of the microwave, she repeatedly says, "Hot! Hot! Hhhoooooottt!" She also uses the word in reference to my wet hair after washing it...or cold things...or pretty much whatever. I guess it's her favorite word at the moment!

My dad with her at Famous Dave's after church last Sunday

Naomi with Christian and Juliana Tong; people were dropping in throughout Monday evening to say goodbye to Luke and Naomi at my parents' house. Stella was enthralled with C and J and was laughing and following them around wherever they went, and they were so sweet with her. C is wearing Luke's Rainforest Cafe server shirt - so cute.

She often busies herself with emptying my purse and wallet of their contents; hey, if it entertains her during patch time, that is definitely okay!

We finally got some rain!

She had so much fun watching the rain fall

Afterward, we went for a walk and stopped to observe every puddle we encountered

Playing in her own little world

For the longest time yesterday, she was playing with this little Famous Dave's kiddie cup, ball, and kid spoon

Up to mischief!

She likes pushing this chair around and putting things on it

Brookdale Library kids' section

More library fun; this was before a five-year-old came over and kept trying to pick up Stella, not to mention kiss her every few seconds!

There's so much fun to be had with a stadium cup!