We're Back!

And there have been a couple of big changes in our house since the last post. For one, as of the beginning of April, I am now staying home full time - and loving it! It was very, very difficult to be away from Stella after maternity leave so thanks to a supportive husband and understanding employer, we are making it work! I am very grateful to be able to be the one who cuddles, feeds and rocks her every day. And I plan to spend a couple of hours a week working from home so that I can stay up speed until it's time to go back.

Elliot is enjoying the nice weather and being able to play out in the backyard. His imagination runs wild out there! Sometimes he is joined by Spiderman or Ironman in his battle against the birds and squirrels. He has found a branch that sticks out between the fence posts which he uses to open a 'magic door'. And once in a while he will find a worm, who will apparently ask Elliot to bring it inside to warm up. We've also been going on several walks so that Elliot can practice riding his Big Boy bike (with training wheels). He get's all geared up with a helmet, elbow pads, and knee pads - I have yet to catch it on camera, but he looks like he's ready for a full contact sport!

And in the last four weeks, Stella June has managed to sprout TWO teeth! This seems early to me since Elliot's came in around 8 months of age, but according to what I've read, 5 months is in the normal range. So... it seemed like a great time to start solid (mushy) foods:

Stella's also starting to learn the rules of Canasta. She has the Meents poker face.

There will be more to come as the weather gets nicer and the kids keep growing like weeds!

Daycare

Well, Stella's first week at daycare has had its ups and downs: she loves all the activity going on and is lucky to have such caring women watching her and tending to her every need. Unfortunately, she has also caught her first virus. She has a little touch of "bronchiolitis caused by RSV" which has given her some nasty congestion and a fever. Thankfully it is not at all as severe as it could be and the fever just broke last night. We are glad she is finally starting to feel better!

Elliot has been working on his letters and writing his name in preschool. E is now his favorite letter and he points it out enthusiastically whenever he sees it!

Here's a sample of his work...

Favorite New Pastime

She's getting pretty good at it!

Parting Ways

Today is a bitter-sweet day for Stella and me as it is the last day of my maternity leave. Tomorrow I go back to work and Stella discovers the world of daycare. I think it will be harder on me than on her! I realized that this marks our one year anniversary in a way... 40 weeks of pregnancy and 12 weeks of maternity leave = being attached to each other in one form or another every day for a whole year!

I'm sure this will just make our weekends, bedtimes and midnight and 4 a.m. feedings all that more special.

Back to the real world!

New Mexico Trip

A couple of weeks ago we decided it was high time to visit Grandma and Grandpa Meents out in Alamogordo, New Mexico. This was the first time flying for Stella and she did great as long as she got her beauty sleep and plenty to eat in between take off and landing. I have to say I'm very proud of myself for doing a one-handed dirty diaper change mid-flight - that deserves an olympic gold medal if you ask me.

Elliot is a pro when it comes to flying... Matt gets him set up with his own personal DVD player, noise cancelling headphones and a never ending supply of Spongebob Squarepants and milk. Do we spoil him a little just to avoid being the parents with the annoying kid on the flight? Maybe.

In addition to great hospitality, fresh coffee at the push of a button and home-cooked meals, Connie and Ed treated us to a tour of Alamogordo. We visited their new church which features a huge bar, commercial-size kitchen and a room for brewing their own beer - it is located in a renovated restaurant! We also got to see the Space Museum and meet some very interesting astronauts. And the highlight of the trip had to be the White Sands where the scenery reminded us of a Minnesota winter... so we decided to do a little sledding.

This was Elliot's idea, I promise...

Thanks for a great time, Grandma and Grandpa! We look forward to coming back again!

Pictures!

Apologies for the lack of posting - again... Time flies when you spend most of your days (and nights) cuddling with someone this cute:

I will again make up for my sparse entries with a bunch of pictures.

Elliot enjoying his made-to-order waffles (chef mom at your service) while borrowing Stella's sunglasses...

Stella catching a snooze with Grandma Linda...

We took a trip to Underwater Adventures last week - I was a little freaked out, but Elliot LOVED it!

And finally Miss Stella - growing bigger by the minute...

Stella June

As most of you have already heard, Stella June Meents arrived one week ago today on December 2nd at 9:30 a.m. She was very punctual and efficient about it, arriving right on her due date and only waiting 4 hours between the first contractions and delivery!

She was 21 inches and 8.1 lbs and recieved a rare perfect 10 for her apgar score. Personality-wise, Stella is easy-going, loves to sleep, won't go anywhere without her pacifier and loves the color pink. Dislikes include gas, hiccups, baths and cold diaper wipes.

Since I am a week late on updating the blog, I'm making up for it with lots of pictures... enjoy!

day 1 - just a couple hours old

day 2 - heading home



day 3 - hanging with big brother



day 4 - eating is hard work



day 5 - warming up by the fire



day 6 - it's going to be a pink christmas!

Waiting

Three days before her due date and we are still waiting for the latest addition to decide to show up. This is around the time that Elliot came (3 days early) and I am much larger, and more swollen, sore, and uncomfortable than I was at this time during my first pregnancy. It's hard to imagine making it to Tuesday - let alone going longer than that - but this little girl seems quite content to stay right where she is. And we are all ok with that as long as she's healthy!

Stay tuned!

Halloween



This year Elliot was Max from Where the Wild Things Are...

"I'll eat you up!"

And we were characters from Juno...

I'll admit Matt had to put a little more effort into his costume than I did :)

***

We have all fought our first, and hopefully our only, battle with the flu this year - Elliot definitely had it worse than we did, but he's a trooper and is back to his normal, hyper self again!

Baby continues to grow and do her stretching exercises, leaving me feeling like I'm about to burst :) I'm sure that is why I went through a phase of 'nesting' about a month ago. I just needed to have the nursery painted, diapers ready to go, furniture re-stained, pictures hung, baby clothes organized by size, and hospital bags packed... all within the first week of October. Well, now we're ready!

Fun at The Mall

We had a great time yesterday at the Mall of America... Grandma Linda took us mini golfing and then Elliot had his first ride on a ferris wheel and a merry-go-round!

Fall?


It felt more like winter this past week! I've been meaning to post this cute little list from Elliot's preschool class of ways to tell that it is Fall...

Horses, cows and alligators are a sure sign of fall, aren't they?

In other news, Elliot has been continuing to test out everything that we've gathered for the new baby, from bouncy seat to play mat to clean crib sheets! He is also very excited for Halloween and turning 3 in the next couple of weeks!

Baby is growing nicely and likes to show her strength by either practicing kung fu on my ribs or stretching her long Meents legs out so that her feet can be seen protruding from my side. This has me feeling a little larger than I was with Elliot - and skeptical that we will make it to the December 1st due date! We will just wait and see what Baby decides.

Fair Food

Tonight we ate our way through the MN State Fair...

Nachos on a stick...

Fried pickles...

And a trip to the cow barn, which made me feel not-so-huge...

However, the Miracle Birth Center started to bring back memories of Labor that I had suppressed... so we called it a night!

Getting Ready

Elliot has been helping prepare for his baby sister by testing out the infant tub...

... and helping me to hang clothes in the nursery closet.

What a good brother!

Second Ultrasound

I got lucky and was able to have a second ultrasound today! Luckily the baby was in just the right position for us to find out the gender... we now have a 90% chance of having a GIRL! That's close enough to 100% for me! And we are thankful that everything is still looking normal and healthy. Here is a 3D picture of her cute little face...

It's still difficult to decipher, but this is showing the left cheek, eye and side of her nose - you may also notice that she has her right hand up to her mouth!

For a little girl who is constantly kicking and turning, she has been very still for the ultrasounds and not in the best position for pictures... as if she know's we're trying to get a peek. I hope this is not a sign of a rebellious personality!

Why?
As in, we've entered the "Why Phase". Elliot is full of curiosity lately and asks "Why?" to almost everything we tell him. "Why can't I drive?", "Why do the police say I can't?", "Why don't my feet reach the pedals?", "Why am I too short?"... and so on. Matt and I have made a game out of it to see if we can actually answer all of his questions (i.e. if we can outlast Elliot) and it is definitely a challenge!

Pony Ride + Fishing


Elliot had a pony ride at 'school' last week. He said the horse's name was Blueberry :)

He also caught his first fish this past weekend...

Big Boy
And now for an update on the "big boy"...










Elliot has moved into a big boy room with a big boy bed (featuring Dad's original Dukes of Hazard sheets), and would now like to be referred to only as "big boy". For example:

Me: Thank you, honey.
E: I'm not honey, I'm big boy!
Me: Sorry, sweetie.
E: I'm not sweetie, I'm big boy!
Also not acceptable: buddy, sugar, cutie, little man, or dude.

Too Long
I know, it has been way too long since we've kept up with the blogoshpere. But we're back - better late than never, right?
And for my first post in two years I'd like to give everyone a sneak peek at our new addition...








Most of you know I'm a big fan of finding out the gender ahead of time, for planning purposes (and for lack of patience), so I would like to tell you with 100% certainty what we are having... but Baby did not want to share with us yesterday. After much searching and scrutinizing by the ultrasound technician we were told that we have a 70% chance of having a little girl! I guess that's better than a 50% chance. We will all have to wait until December 2nd to find out for sure.

More to come soon - I promise it won't take two years for the next update!

Walking
Over the last month, Elliot has moved on to speed-crawling, standing, and just recently, taking his first steps (with the help of the coffee table)!



He just needed a little incentive (making a loud noise with the toy at the end of the table). Once he figures out how to round those corners, we're in trouble!

In The News
The business section of the Star Tribune featured a great article today on Matt & the rockin' culture at Reside!

"Meents has found his groove ... as an entrepreneur with Reside, the Minneapolis-based Web services firm he co-founded in 2001. With Meents as CEO, Reside strives to bring harmony to online sales and marketing efforts of small- and medium-sized companies."
Full Article