ski trip with the Jones'

Last weekend our friends the Jones' came out for a visit, and we all went up to Breck for a night and chance to take the boys skiing. Quentin has been 5-6 times, and has it down pretty well, so we weren't sure how Hudson would do. He started out ok...

Stella and I went out to watch him get started and see his first run...little did we know it would be his ONLY run...

Andy and Chris with Hudson and Quentin

All in all it was a fun visit - and Hudson was overly happy to be with his friend, who he has absolutely missed!

I took this picture of Stella, and need to find the one of Hudson I took in the same pose. Her face is a little blurred, but i'm betting they looked pretty similar! What a change to where he is now...our big boy who loves to imitate cookie monster, just like his shirt. He can also tell you most kinds of tractors we see - i think he told me this one is a back hoe?

LOVE

Our little princess, we can't believe she's already a year old. What a beautiful soul this little person has - she is so full of joy, so sweetly natured, and already a tough little cookie. She is a trooper, and continues to grow and develop beautilfully. She is teetering around on her sticks, furniture walking and almost ready to take her first few steps. She'll stand on her own for a few seconds now, but hasn't quite taken on the first steps on her own. Her crawl has become kind of a scooch/crawl these days too, but she can get herself from point A to B at light speed!
She's wearing size 3 diaper, size 12 month clothes, 6-9 month shoes (tiny little feet!), and has four teeth. She got the top two teeth in about a week before her birthday, so those teeth are taking their time coming in! It doesn't keep her from eating though - she loves her finger foods, and will eat anything she can gum and not choke on! She still drinks about 25-30 ounces of milk a day, and most of that is whole milk now, not formula. We are still giving her medicine once a day, and are hoping to be weening her off of that completely in the next month or so. She sleeps from about 7pm to 6am, and has just begun skipping her morning nap, so we'll see if she keeps that up! I think she just doesn't want to miss out on the action around her!
Her favorite things - Hudson (of course he's the ultimate), Lego (her firs real words were "hi doggie"), and mom and dad. She is favoring me a bit more, and wants me to hold her a lot more than before - again I think part of that is because she wants to be up in the mix of it all, the floor is too low down! She is very vocal, talks a lot, and has just started singing!! What a beautiful sound. She is also our little dancer, and will start moving and shaking the second i start singing or clapping. I think I could watch her dance all day long. It's the best.
She and Hudson are like oil and vinegar some days, and peanut butter and jelly others. Stella is getting more into his toys lately, and Hudson is having a hard time sharing things...even things that aren't his. He also wants to be close to her, and can be so sweet with her. They absolutely love each other in a way only siblings can, and it's so awesome to see them interact and grow up together. What an amazing thing.

ONE YEAR OLD!

Our little baby is ONE year old! Little baby Stella, is becoming more of a toddler and less of a baby every day. She is so much fun, so sweet, loving, happy, curious, and wonderful!

Stats for our baby girl:
Weight: 18 lbs 10 oz (15%)
Height: 29 3/4 inches (75%)

We went to the Wild animal sanctuary a couple weeks ago, and it was awesome! The man who started it was rescuing wild animals like tigers, lions, wolves, etc. from people who thought they could raise them as pets. His sanctuary has grown and grown, and now there are almost 500 animals there! It was cool to walk above their acres of land and just see them in their rescued, permanent home.

Stella has gotten more curious, and more adventurous with her exploring lately. I looked away for one minute and turned around to find her little hands in the cookie jar! we've started to tell her when she shouldn't be doing something, and all you have to say is "no, Stella" and she'll stop what she's doing, look at you, and giggle. Little stinker. She's lucky she's so cute...

For her birthday, Stella had a personalized fruit pizza, of which she ate a couple blueberries and that's it! Since it was a work day, and we will see family for Abbie's wedding next weekend, we didn't have a big party for her. BUT, there were presents and singing and sweets, on top of all the love she got from us (which is typically a lot, but we gave some extra kisses that day!). She wore her cute new tutu from Auntie Susie, and was just as adorable as usual!

Hudson loves his funny faces! And it's typical now to see Stella trying to grab whatever he Hudson is holding...usually followed by a push and cry, unless i can intervene first. :\ We're all learning to be a family of four still!

I love you

Strange as it may seem, today, I feel the need to write on this blog how much i love my babies, and my husband.

Every day is a miracle, a blessing, and an unknown. And so often the days go by without the appreciation they deserve. That's normal, but sometimes it's worth mixing things up. Especially when there's a great platform like this blog to do that.

So.

Hudson, Stella, Andy

I love you more than you can ever know. You are my heart, my soul, my favorite part of life. Not a day goes by where I don't think of you often, smile, and get excited about living life with you. Of course this rainbow may not always seem as bright, but it's always there. Like God's promise to us, I promise to love you to the best of my ability, with God's grace, as long as I live.

Thank you, for letting me love you, and for loving me back. I'm so lucky.

Love
Amy

11 months

 a little late, but I can't believe our baby Stella will be ONE this month!! a few updates on Stella:
She STILL only has TWO teeth! This little girl is not in a rush to get those chompers, but she has certainly had her share of pain, and disrupted sleep. Poor thing, she loves to eat food but still struggles a bit with the mashing part at times. Like her brother, though, she also loves her fruits! She'll eat a little chicken or whatever, but if you give her a blueberry or grape she'll be asking for more! she's using her sign language pretty well, though i understand her well enough that it's not a huge need most of the time. She still eats about 30-35 ounces of milk a day, along with her three meals and snacks. I would say her favorite thing to eat right now is blueberries, but she's a big fan of peas and broccoli as well, and likes her carbs! She still takes her meds twice a day, but we're hoping to taper that off and get her completely medicine free - though she has the occasional vomiting or difficulty breathing, she is doing SO much better than she was just a few months ago. So we are thankful, and she seems to be happier too - though she's always been very happy!
Her favorite activity is absolutely whatever Hudson is doing. They "chase" each other, which is so fun to watch - Hudson on his train and Stella crawling as fast as she can, loving the game. There have been plenty of bumps with Hudson not wanting her in his business, so we spend a fair amount of time talking through the sharing process, etc. It's not easy, but i'm sure it could be worse. And when they do get along it's the sweetest thing - there are days when i'll look over and catch Hudson helping her stand up, or giving her a hug just because. :)
Stella loves to crawl, stand on things, bounce, climb up stairs, and is getting more determined to stand up and start using those sticks for walking. She loves walking while you hold her hands, and we are guessing it won't be more than a couple months tops before she takes off. In the mean time though, we are enjoying the process - she is so adorable, and so happy, easy to laugh, and loving. She LOVES to hug any stuffed animal she sees, and her first word is definitely HI! She will say hi to the stuffed animal (and sometimes she says what sounds like "Hi Doggy") and grab it to give it a big hug and kiss. Adorable.
She still sleeps from about 7/7:30 − 6ish, and takes about 2 1/2-3 hours worth of naps, morning and afternoon. She loves drinking with a straw, dancing, music, and bath time. She is a mommy's girl, wanting me to be with her and has started getting upset when i leave, but no one lights up her face like her daddy. She will give Andy a hug and kiss anytime, and with the biggest smile ever. And of course her kisses are with a fully open mouth right now, so that's always fun to watch. 

Christmas with G & G Rosdil

Stella loved the new gifts she received this Christmas - but the stuffed dog in particular got the most kisses! She also loved pulling the ornaments and garland off the tree - so much so that we took the tree down this weekend, which is about 3 weeks earlier than usual! 

uh oh, looks like stella was paying attention when we watched the Christmas Story!! :) I TRIPLE DOG DARED HER…:)

Even though we were here just the four of us for Christmas, Kathy and Ted came out the week after to celebrate with us. We captured a rare moment of affection with hudson and stella, and got some fun group pictures where neither child is crying - which counts as a Christmas miracle i would say! 

Stella had lots of fun with Grandma Rosdil - it's been said she looks a lot like her Grandma, and judging by this picture i'd say there's certainly a similarity! Two beauties!

Three generations of Rosdil...

Smiles are hard to get on camera, so i'll take this as a pretty good family photo! Great pic to start the new year, and all the great new adventure we'll be having!