Giving Ember some Encouragement

I often find Stella on all fours rocking back and forth when she is excited by just about anything.  Today, she seemed to be cheering on Ember until she was done eating her food.  I was able to snap some video of it about half way through.

Also, don't worry, I was very close by in case Ember decided to get aggressive.  She is pretty good about her food (not bones), but I was ready to spring into action if required.

Baby Proofing 2.0

Ever since Stella has been super mobile, I've had some anxiety about the old wrought iron railing that surrounds the stairway to the garage.  She can easily crawl underneath it as well as get her head or other limbs between the railing.  So, I mocked up a cardboard barrier and eventually replaced it with a more attractive clear plastic deployment.  I bought a big sheet of plastic, cut it based on my mock up, drilled holes in the plastic, and attached it to the railing with zip ties.  It was more work than I anticipated, but it was worth the piece of mind and looks a lot better than cardboard.  We also have a baby proofing strap that goes around the latch so she can't even lift up the latch (not pictured here).

Westport Food Truck Festival

Today, we decided to go to the Westport Food Truck Festival.  We met my sister and some other friends and sampled food from the various trucks there.  My favorite item was this burger from Indios Carbonsitos that had pineapple and jalapenos on it.  

Although it was really hot outside, Stella was a trooper.  She ended up in just her diaper and drinking out of a normal water bottle.  Megan (my sister) snapped the picture below while she still had her dress on.

Movie Night

To say that Megan is obsessed with the animated movie Sleeping Beauty would be an understatement.  She can basically recite every line from the movie.  For quite some time, she has been looking forward to watching it with Stella, and she decided tonight was the night.  Stella actually paid really close attention to it for at least 20 minutes which was surprising since she seems constantly unsatisfied and bounces from one activity or toy to another.

Crawling

Unfortunately, I don't have any good pics or video from today when Stella advanced from the commando crawl to a normal crawl where her legs and arms are coordinated in movement.  I just wanted to make sure I captured the date in this post.  From a baby proofing perspective, not much has changed, she can just get places much quicker now.  I'll try to get some video for a future post...

Happy 4th!

For the 4th of July, we decided to stay home, relax, and try to stay cool in our swimming pool that I've previously mentioned.  Here's Stella in the pool in her stunner shades and then later on in her patriotic themed dress that Grandma got for her (Megan was unimpressed with how I did her hair):