1 Year Pictures

She wasn't quite as smiley or easy to pose compared to her 6 month pictures, but we were still pretty pleased with how Stella's 1 year pictures turned out.

Before I get to my favorites, I have to point out that one of her 1 year pictures was kind of disturbing.  We all know that Stella is super cute, so it's no big deal to poke fun at some of her less cute pictures.  I believe it was Morgan who first compared the following picture to Chucky holding a knife off camera:

Uncanny resemblance, right?  Now, my favorites (all of them are in my picture gallery):

Happy 1st Birthday!!

Stella turned 1 today.  Although cliche, time really has gone so fast, and I can't believe she's already existed for a complete revolution around the sun.  We've enjoyed every minute of it, and there's nothing I'd rather being doing than spending time with her.  I'm so proud of her that she's already managed to become such a cool little person in her short time on this earth.

To prep her for her actual birthday party and smash cake to take place on the 20th, we got her a cupcake.  Below is a video of her getting at it.  She seemed really shy and unsure of this new experience at first, but she became comfortable and messy in no time.

Assisted Walking

When we were in Wichita the last time, we picked up Braedon's old Gobble & Go Hippo to help with Stella learning to walking.  She picked up the concept pretty quickly.  Although kinda bow-legged, you can see her cruising along in the video below.  As a reward, at the end, we put her in the hippo and pushed her back and forth which she loves.

Talkative Climber

Previously, Stella would avoid the stairs as if they didn't exist.  However, she's recently started this new thing where she will try to climb them if Megan or I are at the top of the stairs.  I took a video of it below where you can see her pointing and yelling at us as if she's trying to command us to the bottom of the stairs so she can abandon her accent and get some attention.  I promise that her tumble at the end looks much worse than it actually was!

Mom's 30th Birthday

Today is Megan's 30th birthday.  Being the thoughtful child that she is, Stella got her mom new earrings from Swarovski Crystal and some massage and pedicure/manicure time at the local spa.  Above, Stella is getting a big hug of appreciation while holding the new earrings.

Standing Up

Megan has informed me that Stella has been pulling up to stand against various objects in the house.  I haven't really witnessed it on a major scale until today.  As I've previously mentioned, Stella is a big fan of her reflection in the oven, so I guess it's only proper that some of her first pulling up and standing experiences revolve around this beloved appliance:

Gameday

My parents came up today to visit.  It was KU's first football game of the season so we decided to dress Stella up in her KU cheerleader outfit.  We ended up having a showing at our house so we went to Oak Park Mall during the showing.  Stella and I rode the carousel at the mall (bottom left) and she later passed out in Dad's arms from the excitement (bottom right).  It was a pretty good day and we actually won the football game.