First Christmas (montage)

I didn't do near as good of a job keeping up on all things Christmas and Stella related as I wanted to.  So, I give you the Christmas Montage.

As usual, Megan and I put up our Christmas tree in the front living room.  The tree turned out to be a really good way to calm Stella.  She really likes lights, especially those that change and twinkle such as those from our television and the tree.  So, if she ever got upset, which isn't very common so far, I'd just walk her over to the Christmas tree and she'd stare at the lights in awe and be comforted.

The week before Christmas, Megan and Stella headed down to Bowling Green, MO to celebrate Christmas with the Moss's and Sorrell's.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it because sister Megan had her graduation from Nursing school this same weekend (congrats Megan!).  Above and to the left, you can see Stella laying with Grandpa Marty who's just a bit bigger than her.  Uncle Tommy is seen holding her in the same "deer head" room and Megan holds Stella while she opens her Xmas loot.  Also, Stella had a great time meeting all of her Sorrell aunts, uncles, and cousins for the first time, but Megan didn't remember to take any pictures :(.

Santa came to our home a few days before actual Christmas day and our trek down to Wichita.  The night before, we put out Stella's wish list along with some Milk and truffles (we didn't have any cookies on hand) for Santa.  The next day, the family opened our gifts from Santa.  Stella did, in fact, get the Laugh & Learn Puppy that was on her wish list!

After having to purchase a rooftop cargo bag, we made it down to Wichita with all of our stuff and gifts for the family.  Above and to the left, Stella sleeps in her crib on Christmas Eve wearing the holiday outfit that Grandma got for her.  To the right you can see Stella at Grammy's on Christmas morning.  She got all kinds of neat stuff, including Stella Squeak's Cottage seen in the picture.

Uncle Ryan holds Stella on Christmas morning on the other side of town at Grandma's.  She's holding her baby's first doll that Ryan gave her.  Grandma and Grandpa are smiling in front of the tree with Stella as she sleeps through most of her Christmas morning.

I took off the entire week of work, so we got to spend a nice relaxing week at both our parents' while everyone got to better know Stella.  Above, you can seem Ember "guarding" the crib while everyone else enjoys the holiday.

There are many more Xmas related pics in Stella's picture gallery:

• 12-05-2011
• 12-16-2011
• 12-17-2011
• 12-18-2011
• 12-21-2011
• 12-24-2011
• 12-25-2011
• 12-27-2011

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

Today, we took a bunch of pictures of Stella for our Christmas card.  We thought we would just focus the card on her since she is "brand new" and that's what we want people to see.  All of the pictures from the photo shoot are in Stella's gallery in this album.  The following is the Christmas card we built using Shutterfly and the three pictures we really liked:

Much to be Thankful For

Megan, Stella, and I went down to Wichita for Thanksgiving.  It goes without saying that Megan and I couldn't be more thankful to have a healthy and beautiful baby daughter.

When I was born, my grandparents on my mom's side had a cradle custom made for me.  My parents still have it and Stella got to experience it for the first time.  Here's a pretty good shot showing the whole thing:

Neat closeup with her hand on a spindle:

The green toy in the upper right hand corner of the cradle, AKA Greenie, was also actually mine.  My Aunt Susanne made it for me.

Stella got to meet several great-grandparents for the first time on this trip.  Great-Grandma K.:

Great-Grandpa K.:

Great-Grandpa P.:

Cousin Braedon managed to work in a feeding session with Stella:

While at Megan's mom's, she dug up one of her baby pictures.  The resemblance is uncanny and there's no doubt that Stella is Megan's daughter:

Happy Halloween!

Megan's mom got Stella the above cat costume for Halloween.  We weren't sure if she was even going to be here on time to wear it, but she's here to pull it off!

Happy Due Date!

Stella came a little early on October 11th, but today is her actual due date.  Although I don't think it's common to celebrate or put much weight on the due date, I thought it was worth noting since we were blessed (and a bit stressed) to have her almost three weeks before we were expecting (according to her calculated due date via Naegele's rule and even then most babies are born after this date).  In celebration of her due date, here's a goofy looking picture of her with her eyes open:

Uncle Ryan

Today, Ryan came up so that Stella could meet her only uncle (currently).  We went out to dinner, and Stella was surprisingly calm.  In fact, she was so good, that one of the waiters didn't notice her and spilled a little bit of salsa on her.  Don't worry, he only got a bit on her clothes, but it could have been bad if it ended up in her mouth or eyes.

Stellar Pumpkin

Tonight, Megan and I carved pumpkins.  As I've previously mentioned, Stella's name means star in Latin, so I wanted to do some kind of star carving.  I was planning to do this before Stella was even born, so it was kinda cool to actually have her around to be in the picture since she came a bit early.  Megan carved the pumpkin on the right which turned out great but was unfortunately ruined by the neighborhood squirrels shortly there after.

Both of the Megan's (my wife and sister) teased me for it's simplicity when I was looking for a star pattern I liked, but I think it turned out pretty well.

Nursery Tree

Early on in the nursery design phase, Megan and I talked about how we wanted to do some kind of tree and bird mural.  Megan looked around a lot and found a company called Surface Inspired that creates a lot of really cool wall decals.  It took a while, but we finally narrowed it down to one we could agree upon.  They're really flexible with the colors of the different components.  We opted for standard brown for the tree limbs and lime green for the leaves and grass while choosing a light pink for the birds.

We got it in the mail a couple of days ago and I started working on putting it up.  Here it is with just the limbs up:

And then something like 75 individual leaves:

Finishing touches included grass around the base and various birds in and flying towards the tree:

We are very happy with it and it looks great in the nursery.

Bows in Her Hair

Ever since she was born, the first thing we hear from people when they see Stella is look at all that hair!  This was even the first thing that the doctors and nurses that delivered her said along with comments on her long eye lashes.  It's been a surprise to many that we didn't have any bows to put in all of that hair.  So, yesterday, while we were out running errands, we picked up a bunch.  Here is a peaceful shot of her with one of her new bows:

Eye Opening

We haven't seen much of Stella's eyes since she was born.  However, in the last couple of days, she has really started to open them up and take in her surroundings.  I'm pretty sure she's most impressed with my likeness ;).

Grandparent Visits

Although my mom and Megan's mom were up in Overland Park for Stella's birth, my dad nor Megan's step-dad (and Erin) had got to see her yet.  So, yesterday Megan's parents made a day trip and today my parents made a day trip up to the house to see their new granddaughter (and make us awesome dinners).

I somehow never get a picture of Megan's mom (on my camera), but here is one of Erin holding her new niece:

And my parents holding their new granddaughter:

First Gameday

Today, the University of Kansas football team plays #3 ranked Oklahoma.  Although we're not expecting a great outcome, Megan got Stella all dressed up with her Jayhawk onesie that I previously discussed, and a flowery Jayhawk headband that Molly got her.  We have lots more KU outfits for future games!

Stellar Space Box

Before we left the hospital, out pediatrician told us that Stella's bilirubin levels were kind of high which is an indication of jaundice.  They weren't too high, but because she is a slightly higher risk due to being a little early, having a different blood type than mom, and a few other factors, the doctor ordered here to be on a bilibed which gives her UV treatment to help with breaking down the bilirubin.  The picture on the right shows her in the bilibed that I rigged up in her crib.

Unfortunately, at her pediatricians's appointment the next day, her bilirubin levels had not gotten any better.  In fact, they had significantly increased, so they admitted us to Children's Mercy.  So, yes, after three nights at the hospital for her delivery, we are back at the hospital :(.  However, this is the best place to treat these issues, because she can stay in a special incubator where she gets UV treatment around the clock on all sides except for when Megan feeds her.  Here she is in her futuristic incubator and sweet goggles:

Different closeup perspective:

After about 24 hours, her bilirubin levels went back down to a manageable level and we were cleared to go home.  I definitely received some hardcore training in bottle feeding (to supplement Megan's feeding) and diaper changing inside of a little box.  Now, feeding and changing outside of the box seems like a breeze when compared.

Homecoming

Today, we brought Stella home.  Megan spent quite a bit of time finding just the right outfit to bring her home in.  Here she is in her leopard dress, cardigan, and tights before we left the hospital:

And here's the whole family after we got her home:

Can you tell that we only got 1 or 2 hours of sleep the past 2 nights??

Welcome Stella Sorrell!

6:15PM - 8 lb 0.5 oz - 20 in.  Too busy and tired right now to further document the arrival of our perfect daughter.  I've got some pictures now though in the mean time.  Here are a couple of my favorites:

Here's a quick gallery of all the photos off of my camera:



For non-flash folks (Megan's Mom's iPad):

Welcome Stella!

Hospital Bound

Due to unforeseen complications, the doctors decided to induce Megan early (her due date is 10/29/2011).  We are supposed to go to the hospital tonight so they can start the whole induction process.  Megan's mom and my mom came up, and we decided to snap some quick pictures before we went to the hospital.  Here's a good profile of the bump:

And here I am playing the congas:

Nursery is Ready!

I was not prepared for how difficult it was to put together baby furniture.  I guess I have always been spoiled by pre-assembled furniture from Nebraska Furniture Mart.  There were so many pieces to the furniture set, and  every bolt required an awkward angle and an Allen wrench.  I feel like the space they save to package it in such small pieces is not worth the time it takes to put it together.  Anyways, here's Megan taking a picture of me putting together the dresser:

After the furniture was put together, Megan got the sheets on the crib and all of her clothing washed and put up.  Her mom also helped with some of the finishing touches.  Below are some shots with all of the furniture up.  Here's the crib in the corner with the pink curtains Megan picked out:

Megan got some letters to spell Stella's name and added some flower stickers.  I hung them up above the changing table (the clock that matches the bedding is also up on the other wall):

We put the glider and ottoman in the corner next to the dresser:

Sneak Peek

Megan has been having some issues with shortness of breath, so the doctor wanted to do a level II sonogram on the baby to make sure everything was OK.  The amount of detail that we could see was pretty amazing.  We were really happy to hear the doctor indicate that Stella looked perfectly healthy.  The picture doesn't do the actual live sonogram justice, but here is one of the better stills of a profile of her perfect head:

Baby Shower in OP

Our good friends Molly and Tina threw a baby shower at our house in Overland Park for our local friends.  Sounds like they had a really good time.  Here is Megan opening one of my favorite toys when I was a kid (rock-a-stack):  

The hosts got us a cool ocean themed activity mat:

Brooke made Stella a stool with her name on it:

One of the games they played was to pass around a foam board and add different features based on what they think Stella will look like.  I really hope our daughter doesn't look like this:

To get out of the house, Marsh and I went to the Tour de BBQ and did the 15 mile ride.  It was a great experience, and we plan on going next year and taking it to the next level with the 35 mile ride.