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!