a few more family photos

Family Photos from December - Stella 2 months

a friend took these photos ... i think they turned out alright considering i had just given birth two months earlier.  i don't want to not take these photos just because i am self-conscious ... because nate and stella look great!

california visit

over the last few weeks there was a lot of the above going on ... introducing baby stella to her cousins (and her aunts and uncles too)!  we are very blessed people and spent 24 days in California visiting friends and family.   its a 13+ hour drive (the plus is for the unplanned stops for baby care).  but baby stella did awesome on the drive down!  sleeping pretty much the entire time waking up to take a bottle (that i pumped in anticipation for her).  we didn't make any special baby stops!

this was the typical view on the way down and in between bakersfield and irvine

it seems that California agrees with baby girl because she has really bulked up between two and three months old.  she has chubby cheeks and arms that look like rubber bands are around her wrists ... i love love love to kiss those cheeks.  she also is a very smiley girl ... which we love!

happy girl in her car seat (we spent a lot of time in the car unfortunately)

this face did come out sometimes ... and the double chin stuck around

baby girl loved all the attention and all her fun christmas gifts!  unfortunately some of her cute outfits won't fit for too long since she has had a big growth spurt on vacation and has only been in 0-3 month clothes for a few weeks.  we decided she needed to wear all her cute outfits as much as possible before it was too late!

grandma soelberg bought this fun little velvet outfit with a super cute hoodie! 

baby girl is holding her head up so well now and is looking forward to sitting on her own!  she also loves to stand on our laps.  overall it was a super fun visit getting spoiled by our parents and spending time with our siblings ... can't wait to see them again!

wearing our duck outfit to represent our allegiance to the UofO ducks

blessing day

we blessed stella in nate's parents ward on january 1st ... perfect way to kick off the new year!  nate did a wonderful job and it was great to have family there.

doing adult things

as a friend of ours pointed out last night ... we are are just moving right along with this thing called life. 

we got married a little over two years ago, had a baby two months ago, and are in the process of BUYING A HOUSE!  well to be exact ... a duplex - which means we will live in one unit and have renters in the adjoining unit.  so we are not only buying a house for the first time ... but becoming landlords as well.  whew ... we have a lot going on.  buying a house is a complicated process and very time consuming but we are getting through it.  we should close just after the new year.

in the mean time i have been painting and decorating the house in my head ... gathering ideas on pintrest and making floorplans online to see how we will arrange the spaces.  we will move into the three bedroom unit and have renters in the two bedroom.  this will allow us to have the baby's room and an office/guest room!  yay! here are my visions ...

three bedroom whole house layout

kitchen and dining - finally space for our little square table and chairs! and there is a ceiling fan which is nice and a sliding glass door to the right (south) to the backyard ... and there are a lot of cupboards and storage space!

 

possible living room layout ... that's big blue up top ... there are a few silly little shelves on the left and i am trying to decide if we want to make it more of a built in ... and where to put the tv?  make a built in around it? put it on the right of the fireplace?

the master bedroom ... the closets are a little small ... and there is an alcove that i plan on making a little closet for myself

 

 

the office/guest room will allow us to have visitors and Nate can have an office to grade papers and prepare lessons at home ... and we can have a place for organizing our important documents, etc.  yay!

stella's room! super excited to paint the walls and hang the flowers i made for her before she was born!

i have been thinking about a color palette for the house ... i am so excited!  a super awesome feature about the duplex is the TWO CAR GARAGE! woot woot.  now we have covered parking for ruby our car, space to work on my projects even when its raining, tons of shelving and storage,  AND we have a washer and dryer!  i am beyond excited.  not to mention that we have a backyard where we plan on trying our hand at a GARDEN come spring time and we will try COMPOSTING once we get our act together! 

so many big plans!  the main goal for this house will be to get really organized.  we won't be doing many "upgrades" to the house since we plan on it being a rental in the future someday and so don't want to put too much money into it ... i keep saying "its our first house, not THE house."  i want to work on everything having its place. 

i am excited for the next phase of our lives and diving in to home ownership ... hopefully everything will go smoothly and the house will be ours!  wish us luck!

5 weeks happenings

this is how momma sees stella most of the time ...

 on momma's lap ... her favorite place to fall asleep

surprised face after a bath ... we are slowly starting to enjoy the bath ...

 this picture is the biggest reason i need a new smaller, lighter, faster camera ... 

to catch moments like this ... this is how i found baby girl napping on the couch just moments ago

 loving these cheeks and they are getting bigger and bigger! 

documentation of her natural faux-hawk ... i swear her hair is getting lighter ... 

and i hope her tendency towards being cross-eyed lessens

 and this is what she does each evening when daddy gets home ... she is getting stronger and stronger each day holding her head up!  when nate is holding her i can better see just how little she really is and it still makes me tear up because then i feel really acutely just how much i really love them both ... being a mom is so emotionally overwhelming!

 we love the little pursed lips ... we have yet to catch the "oooo" look she does once in a while ... we love this little girl!

obsession

i know lots of other people have been on the whole Pinterest band wagon already ... but i recently got on.  and. i. am. obsessed.

so if you are on and you happen to see my 266 pins and counting or if you notice that i have repinned your pin, picture me sitting (probably in my pajamas) on my sofa with stella nursing or more likely sleeping on my lap.  clicking "repin" is way easier than typing so its kind of where i am at on what to do while my sweet baby wants to sleep close to momma.  i kind of love it once i get over the guilt of not doing anything else.  i am so lucky.