Happy Thanksgiving from Stella and the rest of the Devereaux Clan!

Hi-fiving Uncle Michael at Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Beth's. We had a wonderful day in Crystal Springs with the Shulls (my Dad's side of the family) and got to see many cousins I hadn't seen in years, plus all the new babies that had joined the family! We really only get to see each other all together once a year and it's been a long-time joke that every year our family grows by at least one because someone is pregnant or just had a baby. This year we had new baby Tate, my still-cooking baby, Sis's still-cooking baby, and our cousins Jonathon and Gretchen (Tate's parents) new baby on the way-they just announced that Tate is going to be a big brother in June!

Cousin Katie took some great photos of each family, and then a great group shot. Be warned...I'm a red head now, so I may not be recognizable!

I didn't get any shots of it on my phone, but Stella has been a real walking machine. The past 2 weeks have been huge as far as her physical developments, which I owe to Early Steps physical therapy, Gym Rompers class, play time with her bestie, Charlotte, and her awesome Mommy Jenn. Stella started off taking 2-3 steps after gentle coaxing from me, and has since walked on her own unassisted for up to 10 steps AND gotten to a standing position from sitting in the middle of a room with no assistance from people or furniture, which is huge. She is making me so proud. I knew she would eventually walk when she was ready, even though I won't lie about being a nervous wreck that something was wrong -as in, way bigger picture wrong like some disease or syndrome that delayed or no walking was a symptom of...alas, my imagination and anxiety got the best of me and I over-reacted...everyone was right. Stella WILL, CAN, and DOES walk on her own! Like I said...we are so proud of our smart, strong little girl! She has many talents to teach her little sister.

We are currently on the way to Hattiesburg to spend Thanksgiving weekend with Matt's parents. Matt's dad missed Thanksgiving Thursday because he's been on a mission trip in Haiti since Monday - what an amazing sacrifice to give of your time during Thanksgiving! I know he will have wonderful stories for us when he get home tomorrow morning. We are looking forward to having a delayed Thanksgiving weekend with the Devereauxs!!

Caroline Devereaux
Sent from my iPhone

Stella in Words

While she naps, I'll try to notate all of Stella's "words". Though our little 17-and a 1/2-month-old isn't completely walking on her own yet, she IS saying a whole lotta stuff. (In her defense, she took 5-6 unassisted steps yesterday and today she walked all the way from the middle of our huge front yard to the front door merely holding on to one of my fingers. Progress.)

"Mamma"
"Dadda"
"Bo Bo" - our dog's nickname is Bo Bo/Joe...why, I'm not sure - his name is Gus. Ask my husband about that...he is weird with nicknames...thus, Stella now calls all dogs "Bo Bos"
"More" - means she's hungry...she used to same "Yum Yum" when she was hungry, but she's gotten proactive and just goes ahead with "More" when she's hungry.
"Nannie" - not only her fav food "banana", but its also her grandmother Jenny's name - when she sees a banana, whether in a store or on her high chair, she says (repeatedly) "nannienannienannienannienannienannie" until you give her some
"Wa Wa" - water
"Naa" - snack
"Nigh Nigh" - when we ask her if she wants to go night night, she says it back when we know she is ready to go down
"Lo" - shoe...I'm not sure how she got "lo" from "shoe", but every time she sees me putting on or taking off her shoes, she says "loooo" - she also says it when she sees mine or Matt's shoes. Hilarious.
"Walky" - says it when I'm helping her walk
"Noooo" - when she points to her nose
"Eye"
working on "Mou" - mouth
" 'air" - when she points to her hair
"Lawlette" - her best friend Charlotte:)
"Lella" - Stella
"Baby" - multiple meanings...sometimes she says it when she pats my belly (which I love), sometimes she pats her own self and says "baby" and other times she'll call her most fav stuffed bunny "baby"
"Bye Bye" or just "Bye!"
"Aaa-low" - hello - whenever she sees her play cell phone or our real ones, she says this...she also says this when she wants me to sing her the "hello" song from Gym Rompers
"Hiiii" - an alternate to "Aaa-low"
"Mae Mae" - her grandmother
"Maaa" - Matt...comes from hearing me yell it across the house:)
"Ring" - the infamous toy rings I bought her that stack on the white plastic cone, which she will have nothing to do with. The rings are her obsession. She goes everywhere with them. And I mean everywhere. If we are friends on FB, just look at the recent pics of her....almost every pic has at least one ring in it. She will carry one ring, but prefers to have two. She crawls with them, sits and plays with them, will walk for a longer period of time if she can hold them while simultaneously having physical contact withe my hands, rides in her car seat/shopping cart/stroller with them. She recently learned how to hold the sippy cup between her wrists and drink her milk or water while holding a ring in each hand. She wakes up saying "ringringringring" until you give them to her and at night she asks for them. Matt put her to bed with them one night when she was inconsolable. I came home from teaching Pilates and looked at the monitor and saw the rings in the crib with her...her sweet, fat hand clutching one and the other not far from her reach. I will say, sometimes you just gotta do whatever works. Exhibit A...

That's Stella trick-or-treating with a ring...don't fret, I think the other is simply at the bottom of the wagon. Here Stella practices walking while I bribe her with her ring...

Stella has many more words, and I'll add them to this list as I remember them. Also, just because this is precious, here's a pic or two of "Lawlette", Stella's bestie, with Stella (and ring is not far, I'm sure) looking on.

Then and Now - Stella and Her Pumpkin

I can't believe this picture was taken a year ago...look how much of a chunky monkey my Stella was! She was around 20 weeks old here.

 ...and here she is now, at one week shy of being 17 months old, picking out her pumpkin at a local pumpkin patch. My, how she's changed, but still looks the same!

And since we are comparing babies and pumpkins...here is baby girl #2 at 28 weeks. Matt and I used to CACKLE when some movie ad came on picturing a large, LARGE woman dressed head to toe in an orange sweatsuit. Man says to woman "Look at you, lookin' like da Great Pumpkin...Trick or Treat!"

Stella's Traveling Days - 12 More Weeks Until Sissy Arrives!

I've become one of those bloggers...the one who hasn't updated their blog in weeks/months. It feels like time passes so quickly these days that I don't realize I haven't been blogging, cleaning the house, keeping up with friends, etc...(really, fill-in-the-blank with any task/duty that you deem important). All of a sudden my Stella bug is 2 months shy of being a 1 1/2 year old and my big round belly tells me its almost time to meet little Sissy. We've had a busy month so far -

 Stella took her first plane ride to see Pops and Mia in Atlanta and stayed without Mommy and Daddy for more than one night. It was TOUGH to leave her at Dad's, but I know she had a fun time and I KNOW Pops and Mia loved having some grandparent time with Stella!

  She learned all sorts of new tricks while at their house, including how to say "coffee", "Lola", and climb backwards down the stairs, which we'd been working on. She had a nasty cold after the flight over which turned into an ear infection in one ear and fluid in the other, but we are fighting that with antibiotics

 Practicing walking without holding on to our hands! She went everywhere with those rings!

 She spent most of her weekend in this position.

 Dinner time in the big girl chair!

 Chatting it up with Lola, aka "Yoya"

 Morning playtime

 Getting dressed for night-night with Mia.

Goodbye hugs with Aunt Colleen!

While in Stella stayed in Atlanta I got to visit with one of my besties who just had a little girl, Ellie, at the beginning of September.

 Bathtime fun with Aunt Caro

 Of course, we spent most of our time dressing her up and staring at her.

 Aunt Caro and Ellie

 She didn't appreciate all the rattles we put on her...this is called "sensory overload"

Bye Bye hugs on Sunday - sad to leave this sweet girl! 

I had so much fun and I loved catching up with Megan and really getting to meet Dustin. Augusta is a beautiful town with wonderful shopping...I even got baby Sissy's baby bedding on consignment for $50! I only have a few touches to add to it and it will be completed! I feel another trip over there with my entire family is in order...soon and very soon!

In baby Sissy news, I'm 27 weeks on Friday and can't believe I've only got 12 weeks left before she's delivered via c-section. This picture is at 26 weeks, 2 days.

 Thank GOD I passed the 3 hour glucose test, which means I don't have gestational diabetes this time around! I thank a good diet and lots of exercise to combating GD - which my doctor suggested. You can't completely avoid having it by being more healthy, but it can lower your chances. So we are looking at the calendar and assume she will be delivered via scheduled c-section sometime during the later part of the week of January 2, around 38 or 39 weeks. MC and Dave hope to go a little later and deliver the week of January 9, so our parents can have some space between each baby, plus I'd like to try and make it across the lake for the delivery! I know that may be pushing it, but we shall see:)

We spent last weekend in Natchez with the whole family and LOVED visiting with everyone. We had a party for all the October birthdays in our family Friday night, spent Saturday shopping, eating and watching football, and Sunday was spent at Mae Mae's doing much of the same:)

 Pajama party

 Mommy and Stella before church

 Daddy and Stella before church

Here are some images of baby Sissy's new room - the crib is being painted by Matt's parent's and I'm still waiting to get the last set of drapes in, but its coming along nicely!

 The wall color is "Limelight" which Matt picked out - he had his heart set on a green room and this is green! We found the chandelier at a cute shop in downtown Covington and Matt wired it with the help of his Dad. He hung the blinds while we were in Augusta and we hung the drapes last night (Mom, they still have to be ironed/steamed...don't judge the wrinkles). That rug is going into the trash because the dogs tore it up, so we are on the hunt for a big pretty rug. The adult bed will stay up in Sissy's room until Stella is out of her crib, then we'll move the bed into her big girl room (I can't even begin to imagine when that day will come!)

Here's a shot of the bedding I got on consignment in Augusta for $50. The skirt is a shorter length and I prefer longer skirts, so I added to the bottom of the skirt in a cream/lime zebra print material to add some length and tie in some green. I got her plush crib fitted sheet on consignment, as well, which is Pottery Barn. I have a white one for Stella and it's so soft! So we are slowly making progress and hope to have everything done by the time she arrives!

Stella 15 Months

Stella is already 15 months old as of September 1. I really enjoy the changing of the seasons to go along with her growth. Yesterday was an amazing 60 degrees in the morning and we pulled out our first long sleeve/pants outfit of the season. While I know I'm a bit ahead of myself, seeing as how we'll probably go back to 90 degree weather until at least mid-November, it was fun to wear a cardigan and dress Stella in one of her big girl outfits. Up until now she's been in a 12-18 month and yesterday she wore an 18 month outfit. Grant it, the sleeves with the cute tri-ruffles near the cuff were almost cutting off the circulation to her fat little hands, she still looked cute. This outfit will last all winter, so maybe her arms and wrists will slim down so it's more comfortable. She's got plenty of room to grow into the length.

Here she is playing at Gym Rompers, a new weekly class she's enrolled in for the fall semester. That's her friend, Owen, who just turned 12 months. He's a tiny little fella...Stella's not that huge:) He was a preemie.

I really thing this weekly exercise (along with play dates with other babies her age) has helped develop her gross motor skills. After we stopped physical therapy and started doing the exercises at home, she began crawling like a champ, pulling up on furniture, squatting to get an object off the floor, getting down from standing, and cruising around furniture in a standing position...all things she should have been doing, but hadn't. Since she turned 15 months and still has not taken one or two unassisted steps, our pediatrician recommended Early Steps, which is an early intervention/pediatric physical therapy program funded by the state. We have an interview here at the house today at 9:30 to see if we qualify, so here's hoping that if we need it, they will provide it.

 Stella is doing great and luckily didn't get a repeat episode with the stomach bug that's been going around, which I got Friday morning...the day we were supposed to go to Ole Miss for the first game of the season. Oops. Unfortunately we missed a fun weekend in the Grove, which would have been Stella's first visit, but after feeling better we made a quick trip to Natchez for Labor Day and got to see Mae Mae and the rest of the family at the lake house, though with Tropical Storm Lee we didn't enjoy any water activities at the lake except for trudging to and from the car in the rain. I did get to visit with one of my old friends, Stephanie, and her husband, Andy, and their sweet little man John Preston, 2 months old.

 Stella getting some Mae Mae lovin'

 Stella with Mae Mae and Uncle Michael

 Hotty Toddy - we were there in spirit!

 Stella and Daddy

with Stephanie and John Preston

Friends with babies

Stella waving hi to JP

Stella rocking John Preston

Pregnancy #2 - 20 Weeks (plus Stella Updates)

It is beyond comprehension how we have reached 20 weeks along in this pregnancy. I honestly feel like we just found out we were expecting #2 last week! But, alas, this past Friday we reached the big half way marker - 20 weeks, which makes me 20 weeks, 3 days today. Here's a belly shot from one week ago:)

It's very true what they say...you start to show MUCH sooner the second time around. I was showing at 10 weeks and I couldn't suck it in. I've slowly grown day by day and week by week to this size. I have stayed much more active then my pregnancy with Stella, even though I was pretty active with her. This time, since becoming certified as a Pilates instructor, I've just been more conscious of needing to work out at least every other day and eat much "cleaner" than before. I've halfway ready "Skinny Bitch: Bun in the Oven" but must admit I don't follow their philosophy wholeheartedly, though I wish I did. I skipped the "why you'll never want to eat meat again" chapter, too:)

Also, we've already started on Baby Devereaux #2's nursery - Stella will keep her nursery and it will eventually turn into her big girl room, but once the baby comes, she'll more than likely still be in her crib, so we decided to set up a new room for the new baby. Here is our first purchase:

...and old chandelier that Matt (translation=Matt's dad) will wire for the ceiling. I am in love with this and got a great deal on it! We've also chosen the wall color - Limelight by Valspar. So where Stella's nursery was crisp grey blue with black furniture and cream/pink accents, baby #2's nursery will be a verdant green with cream/champagne and natural wood furniture with accents of pink and black...or at least that's where I am today:) I'm pregnant...let me change my mind if I want to:)

So baby #2 is growing like a weed - I've been feeling her wiggle inside me for a few weeks now and Matt recently felt her move from the outside, which is always exciting. Stella is so smart she pats my big belly and say "baby" clearly and concisely. Genius, I tell you. Here is a video of her developed language as a 14 (almost 15) month old:

...hot dog is her newest word and she's only said it a handful of times, but Matt and I roll on the floor laughing when she does. It's priceless. She may not walk for months, but at least she has a very accelerated vocabulary!

Stella's Baby Sissy

It's official...we are having another GIRL! Stella will become a big sister sometime around my due date of January 13. If my scanner/printer were cooperating, I would be able to upload an image of our ultrasound, but, alas...that is not the case.

Either way, with or without an image, our butter bean #2 is growing fast and strong week by week. When we got our gender-revealing ultrasound I was 17 weeks, 5 days (today I'm 19 weeks, 3 days) and the ultrasound tech said she was measuring almost a week ahead, which was good. She checked her out for any physical abnormalities and said she looked perfect - A+, big girl! She was also moving around ALOT and since the ultrasound I've been feeling her move a few times each day, which is one of my favorite things about pregnancy.

We've been practicing saying "Sissy" with Stella, and she's getting the hang of it. Genius that she is, Stella has learned to pat my belly when I ask "where's the baby?" and will even pat my belly on her own and say "baby". I think I almost tear up each time she does it. It never gets old. I'll have to get Matt to take a video. In other Stella news, she is a crawling machine and can pull up and squat back down like a pro - it may seem like not a huge issue, but to us, this is big. We've been practicing daily standing up on our own and squatting down to reach an item/toy so she can build up muscle tone in her legs and abdomen and she's come a long way. I'm very proud of her! She's climbing stairs left and right and soon we'll have to get permanent baby gates on the top and bottom of the stairs.

I'm already hard at work on Stella's sister's nursery and I think Matt and I have decided to paint her room a shade of green. Stella's is a pretty grey/blue so we thought we'd go a different route for her sister. We are on the lookout for a new old light fixture - hopefully a chandelier - and possibly a rug, but we've got the rocker and changing table already. The rocker is from Stella's nursery, because she won't need it once the baby gets here, and the changing table will be my old childhood dresser. And then, of course, there are the details...my favorite part:) I'll be sure to post pictures of our progress!

And just because she's cute, here is a pic of Stella playing with her good friend Charlotte, and Charlotte's pupy, Bailey.

 ...and this one shot of Stella at physical therapy is just precious, that's why.

Stella Says "Bye Bye" to Her First Stroller

Of course I didn't get a picture of Stella actually saying "bye bye" to it as we shipped the thing to the lucky Ebay winners in NY, but we did get it packaged and shipped for a whopping $86. Nice. Not to mention I forgot the bleeping car seat adapter, which had to be shipped separately. Double nice. So even after all the hassle of selling and shipping it, I felt a bit nostalgic riding away from the FedEx store as Stella screamed in the back seat due to being past her nap time and having an ear infection. Yes, even through that, I was sad and sentimental:) Here are some pictures of Stella in her stroller over the past year...insert sappy "Through the Years" by Kenny Rogers.

Matt getting the stroller set up pre-Stella, March 2010

Right after we bought the stroller - I was like 2 seconds pregnant:)

Stella, 6 weeks old in her car seat adapter on the stroller, 4th of July 2010, on the bluff in Natchez, MS

 Stella strolling to her first day of daycare, 3 months old, September 2010 - go Saints!

Stella loved strolling in her bassinet to daycare!

Little Stella strolling to daycare, September 2010

Daddy strolling Stella, Uncle Dave strolling Cuz Millie, downtown NOLA after a trip to the WWII Museum, Stella's Baptism Wknd August or September 2010

Our nanny, Dawn, took this picture before an afternoon stroll around the block, August 2010

Hanging out at St. John's Coffeehouse in downtown Covington, October 2010

Winter 2010, bundled up for a stroll on the lakefront

My future's so bright...

6 months, Christmas playtime in City Park, NOLA, December 2010

Christmas Play Time at Algiers Point with Pops, Uncle Dave and Aunt MCat

Hanging with Aunt MCat at City Park, Christmas 2010

At our friend McKenzie's baptism at Our Lady of the Lake, February 2011

Mardi Gras 2011, Thoth parade, Stella cut her first tooth at Thoth!

 Mardi Gras, downtown Covington, 2011

Mardi Gras 2011, Thoth parade, St. Charles Ave. Stella 8 months old 

With buddy Griffin on MS Gulf Coast, spring 2011 - Griffin and Stella are 2 months apart - both Daddies were room mates at Ole Miss

With Cousin Millie - 9 months, Easter 2011, Algiers Point, one of the last outings with "the stroller"

It was a great ride, Mutsy, but we are on to bigger and double strollers from here on out - making way for baby Devereaux #2! Baby Jogger City Select stroller, here we come!