Blowing kisses

Poor quality, and by the time we got our cell phone cameras out she had slowed down with this...

Stella's Taste Test

For some odd reason, I thought it was a good idea to present a new food to Stella -- grapefruit. Of course, only old men and people from Key West enjoy this sour though delectable treat. We might just be more unpopular than when Phil and Katherine fed Jack that wretched squash on camera.

A few more Stella videos

The shaking head one is from February, when that trick was in its prime. The drums are from last week and the dinner one is from tonight. Our girl is multi-talented...

Imitation

Stella often tries to talk on the phone. Here she is giving it a try. She can't seem to decide if she wants to eat it or talk to someone on it. She's conversating...or breaking up with her boyfriend. Oh, BTW, she just got a new Adirondack Chair (the red one behind her). It was $4.99 at Toys R Us. She loves it.

Our daughter's namesake

I found this mildly amusing... at least the first 36 seconds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1A0p0F_iH8&feature=related

Sportscasting

My sportscasting skills absolutely stink...more than Pepe Lepieux! Listen for my deft skills and verbal wizardry! "... like a, like uhhh (quick think of something that moves fast) ... supercharged girl." The next time you see a "supercharged girl" my guess is that you will have found yourself in the action figure aisle of Toys R Us, hearing a NASCAR driver descibe his engine, hearing a 4foot tall horse jockey at Belmont Racetrack describing his horse, or perhaps at a Wshington D.C. nightclub on "Femme Robot Costume Night."

"Do you have a kiss for daddy?"

If you can guess the movie from which the above quote was derived, you're an extra special person...with good taste in '80s movies.

She is learning to do new tricks each week by way of mimicking us. It’s so much fun!
Ahem…now you may have noticed she uses her tongue to give kisses. In fact, before her surgery (having tubes inserted into her ears) she tried to give her ENT doctor a sloppy, wet kiss. He declined (thankfully), but was absolutely charmed by her. Who wouldn’t be (I know, we’re soooooooooooo biased about how cute our own daughter is. At least we realize that we view her non-objectively.

Walking Practice

Stella is learning to walk. Three steps with no hands is her high score. In this video, she's got stagefright due to my videotaping it. But she cranks out two full steps. But CLEARLY it's the stride of a marathon runner. I think you'd all agree that superior athletes began with a stride not unlike hers...

New Swingset!

Stella got her first swingset and boy does she love it! She's still a little young to be a hardcore swingset kid, but she's learning. She absolutely loves the slide.

DIET

Stella is so funny! She has 3 teeth on the bottom and one on the top. She knows how to chew and does so when appropriate. However, she wants to eat EVERYTHING that we are eating. She has been outright refusing baby food and only accepting solid food. So her last meal consisted of linguini wth red sauce, cut string beans, and little pieces of a dinner roll. So cut to watch her chow down. She barely chews it because she gets so excited.

A few more pics from the beach weekend

This is the view from the front porch of our cabins. We were able to rent them at unbelievably discounted prices: $55/night due to it being a military resort.

First Beach Trip

Dad, Diana, Katherine and Jack came to visit us this week as a sort of a pre-deployment goodbye. We had a great time! One of the most memorable times was Stella's first trip to the beach. She was so curious about the sand. First she looked, then she felt with her hands, then she patted, hit, and slammed on it. Then Stella sniffed, and finally tried to eat it. IT was funny and gross all at the same time. Here are a few pics.

Birthday

Thanks for the phone calls and happy birthday wishes everyone! The big THREE OH is quite an anticlimactic milestone. But you all helped to make it a nice one for me. Stella helped make it a nice one by fluttering all the tissue paper form my gifts INCESSANTLY. She loves playing with tissue paper...

COWGIRL

...more like dog-girl.

Arizona fun

I learned alot in AZ. That is a sufficient enough description of my time there. I am really going to be up for an interesting challenge come April!