Solo Stella

OK, so its true that I can't type. And, it's also true that my English skills are pretty much limited to the all inclusive "ghee" and the occasional "mama" and "dada." But, I still thought this would be a good time to make my first appearance as a contributor at Strange and Benevolent.

Because, while most of my adventures also involve my Mommy and Daddy (who can report them here), occasionally I have adventures that they aren't involved in. Most of the time, if I'm not hanging out with the Parental Units, I'm hanging out with my good friends Tirza and Natalie.

That's Natalie on the left, and her mommy, Tirza, holding me.

A couple of times a week, Tirza and Natalie come to visit while my mom is away at work, so that my dad can go sit in the basement. Rumour has it he's working too... but I often hear bad punk rock music coming from downstairs, so I'm suspect of this theory. Regardless, three or four times a week, I get to hang out with Tirza and Natalie. Sometimes, they come right after my morning nap, and other times they come right before my afternoon nap. Either way, it's always a good time!

Tirza is Natalie's mommy, and they are both fun! We are always listening to music about cows, chasing each other around the couch or playing games like "I see you!" Natalie calls me "Adi," which is Indonesian for "sister." And, its been fun having someone to look up to and learn Baby Skills™ from.

Usually, we just hang out around the house. But, sometimes I go with Tirza, Natalie and Tirza's husband, Allen, to run errands around town. When that happens, they usually take me out to breakfast too (pancakes!), and maybe to someplace fun like the pet store, a play area or the Rain Forest Cafe (to see the robot animals). The day these photos were taken, we went to the Aquarium.

By the way, scuba divers = scary!

I love Tirza and Natalie! I'm always excited to see their blue car pull up in front of their house. And, I'm always sad when it's time for them to leave. In fact, I might be giving daddy a complex by crying and clinging to Tirza whenever it comes time to leave.

New Year Do Over?

Like most people, Tyler and I started the new year with goals and good intentions. But nature has conspired against us. First Tyler was sick, then Stella, then me. Then Stella got more sick (high fever, urgent care and ER visit), got better, then I came down with some kind of tonsilitis. One of us has been out of sorts for about three weeks of this month. Spending more time with friends in '10? Uncheck. Family time? Not unless that includes one of us gamely trying to help out while feeling terrible. But things are looking up. Stella seems to be back to herself, to our vast pleasure and relief:



Enjoying some post-dinner applesauce in the kitchen. Some of those "mmms" are all Stella. What can I say? She comes by them honestly.


We have high hopes for February. Never a better time to start those new year's resolutions then the start of a new--healthier, we hope--month!

And the whole experience gave us an extra chance to be grateful to ordinarily be blessed with an sweet and healthy girl. When her fever was so bad and Stella was so miserable, it was like having a newborn all over again. All she wanted to do was sleep on my chest. No smiles, no laughter, no movement, not much eating to speak of. And it wasn't much fun putting her through the paces at all those doctor visits, even when we knew it was ultimately in her best interest. I'm much happier having our little busy-body back. It might mean putting the clothes back in her drawer, over, and over, and over again, but it also means getting to see her smile and hear her laughter a lot more, too.

Photographs for the Future

Sometimes I can be a neglectful photographer of Stella's day-to-day life. (Christmas could serve as a case in point.) I often remember to bring a camera to outings and get togethers, but then it's easy to get caught up in catching up, keeping up with Stella, and--before you know it--we're on our way home and I'm saying, "Shoot! I never even pulled out the camera!"

But yesterday Stella and I had a playdate at the aquarium with Lucy and Christine, Porter and Piper, and Roman and Charity, and I actually managed to take a few photos.


Playdate moms and babes: Christine & Lucy, me & Stella, Piper & Porter, and Charity & Roman


Having some lunch in the cafe


Stella checking out Lucy--so cute to finally see them interacting a bit!


Lunch continues with pureed food for Porter, and Roman relaxes in post-milk bliss

It's not so much this was a particularly momentous playdate (though it was a lot of fun) or that these are fantastic photographs. Rather, I love the idea that someday, when the age differences between these guys is negligable, and we parents have gotten older, that we will all be able to look back at these and remember this time of our life, that the kids (who, of course, will still be friends) can bemuse themselves with the images of their younger selves, and be amazed that they've known each other for their whole lives. Sort of like this photo of Tyler from his boyhood, on a hike with his dad and brother, and his dad's college friend, and his sons who are still friends to this day.

Action Stella

Stella's keeping herself (and us!) busy these days....



Emptying drawers....


Rearranging the dining room chairs...


Emptying out our closet.... (her drawers aren't enough, apparently)


Emptying her bookcase....


And, for good measure, pulling the books off of our bookcase, too.


Here you can see the whirlwind in action....



Stella's also getting closer to walking, standing on her own more and taking some independent steps. So far, she still seems to prefer leading us around by the hand rather than venturing off independently. I imagine that will seem like a blessing in retrospect!


We also had our friend Breanne take one-year photos of Stella. She got some fantastic shots. Here are a few favorites, but you can see them all here.











It's amazing how grown up Stella's starting to seem. It's clear she's starting to understand more words. Yesterday, I said, "Let's go get daddy!" and she grabbed my hand and went straight to where Tyler was. And tonight, she was playing with a pasta wrapper, was done playing, took it to the cabinet, opened the door, put it in the trash and closed the door. When she started to take it back out and I said not to, let's close the cabinet, she actually did! Of course, this also means she's getting a little more willful and frustrated when she doesn't get her way. She's not so easy to distract anymore, and she could give non-violent protesters some lessons on how to make your body go limp and try to make moving you a difficult proposition!

Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time

(The title is, of course, a reference to what is still probably the most awesome Christmas video ever.)

I'm not exactly sure what happened to this blog entry.

As 2009 wrapped up, both Sarah and I had fully intended to do entries talking about the various family Christmas festivities we attended and talk about our end-of-the-year trip down to the Dallas area to see Sarah's family. But, maybe, once we were actually home, we just needed a little mental break from the Holidays. Or, maybe it was the fact that January doesn't seem to be providing us the downtime we naively presumed it would. Or, possibly, it's because recently we've been planning Pass-the-Cold again.

But, most likely, it was because everything went so smoothly and presently that none of it makes good blog-fodder. It was, in the word of Paul, a simply wonderful Christmas time.

After opening presents at our place on Christmas morning, we made our way over to my parents house in Sammamish. Where we discovered that they had turned their enclosed deck into a quintessential Christmas scene, complete with (as my Aunt purportedly described it) a Martha Stewart worthy Christmas tree. Unfortunately, we forgot to take pictures ourselves. But, my dad was happy to forward along a couple...

Enjoying Christmas on the Holideck (I just made that up). Note my stylin' red socks.

Stella shows my brother and I how to climb the stairs.

A very tired Stella falls asleep with her mom and Grandma after a long Christmas day.

All in all, it was great to relax and visit with my parents, Grandma (Stella's great-Grandma), Aunt, cousin Nolan (more about him at the end of the entry), as well as my brother and sis-in-law who had flown up from LA to visit.

A couple days later, we boarded a plane to Dallas, on what would be Stella's fifth trip out of Washington. (Stella, in her first 13-months, has now flown more than I had by the time I reached college.)

Our first stop was to visit with Sarah's mom and step-dad in Rockwall, about 45 minutes northeast of Dallas. There we celebrated a second Christmas, relaxed around their house a bit and did a little post-Christmas clothes shopping at one of Dallas' Texas-sized shopping malls.

Stella seems pleased to take a ride on Grandpapa Don's shoulder.

Is there a saying about "the family that surfs the internet together stays together"? Sarah, Stella, Nana and Grandpapa gather around to see Cindy's Farmville farm.

Stella wears her Christmas dress while playing with her new animal blocks. Sarah is dressed a little more casual.

After that, it was another 45 minutes down the road to Commerce, TX to see Sarah's dad and step-mom, as well as her Grandparents and uncle. Even though we arrived at their place the day before New Years, that didn't stop us from celebrating Christmas one last time!

Stella opens presents with her great-grandpa Frank and great-grandma Jean.

Stella pets Skipper!

One last walk in the park with Grandpa Bob before we climb on the plane for our flight home.

As with all holiday seasons, things seemed to go too fast. With the addition of Stella's Birthday that holiday season now starts on the 25th, so its become a bit of a marathon too. It was great that this year everything went so well, and we look forward to seeing what 2010 will bring us!

Christmas 2009

This is not Stella's first Christmas, but it feels like it. Last year, we were snowed in, hadn't slept for more than a few hours in a row for a month, and were still figuring out life with an infant. Frankly, it's all a blur. This year has had lots more notable firsts: first trip to Santa, first stocking, first time being interested in opening presents and immediately playing with their contents and our first time really getting to be Santa--having the tree and stockings ready for Stella in the morning.



Getting ready for Christmas morning! You probably can't tell, but there aren't any ornaments on the bottom half of the tree.



Stella and her stocking. More pictures of my craftiness here



Christmas presents!


Dad and 13-month-old Stella. What a difference a year makes!

Happy holidays, S&B readers! More Christmases to come this week as we head to Texas to visit my parents....

Merry Christmas!

From our family, to yours: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and may you have a wonderful New Year!


Um... yeah.