I'm Not So Sure About This!

As we have stated many times before, Stella loves her baby brother to pieces. Recently, Dada allowed Stella to hold Desmond in her lap and Stella thought that it was the best thing ever, but we don't think Desmond felt the same way! Take a look at these pictures and judge for yourselves...

"Wait a minute...if Dada is sitting across from me...

and Mama is taking these pictures...

then, who is holding me?!?!?"

Desmond's First Cereal!

Desmond had his first solid food today...rice cereal! Desmond showed himself to be a champion eater when it comes to solids and scarfed his cereal down without spilling one bite. He was a natural at eating from the spoon from the first bite. In fact, he liked this new food so much that he would complain in between spoons...Mama couldn't feed him fast enough!!!

Here he is buckled up in his high chair looking concerned not sure what was going to happen next.

Here he is enjoying his gruel.

"Bring on the steak people!"

Desmond's 4 Month Checkup

Desmond is 4 months old...wow, time flies! He had his 4 month checkup today and here are his relevant stats:

weight = 15 lbs, 8.5 oz (50-75th %)

height = 26 in (90th %)
head circumference = 17.25 cm (95th %)

He got a set of four shots on his thighs! Here he is showing off his battle wounds...poor baby!

The pediatrician gave us the go ahead to start rice cereal and so we will be trying that soon.

In addition, yesterday, Desmond got his 3rd haircut...3 haircuts in 4 months!! Unlike the last time, this haircut experience was tear and scream free because we let him watch TV (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse to be specific) while cutting his hair. It seems like Desmond can watch TV till the cows come home if we were to let him but we never do except for this instance. Here he is showing off his slicked back Cary Grant hairstyle after his haircut and bath.

Stella found Desmond's whole haircutting experience to be quite amusing.

A Visit from The Mathews

Appachen, Amamma, and Aunt Sil came to visit us this past weekend. Stella and Desmond enjoyed spending some time with their Grandparents and Aunt. Stella especially enjoyed cuddling up to Amamma and Appachen and reading books with them while the Gup listened to the stories from his exersaucer. He really likes his exersaucer these days and his getting good at spinning around in it, grabbing at all the different toys, and pushing the music buttons. Here are some pics from the weekend (Aunt Sil was camera shy).

Stella, the Puzzle Master, Strikes Again!

Stella completed a 36 piece jig saw puzzle all by herself today! She had received a set of 6 36-piece Disney princess puzzles for Christmas and would play with these puzzles on and off for the past 2 months. She would always put together the part of the puzzle that showed the image of the princess and would lose interest after that and walk away to play with something else. But this past week, she would try putting together the background pieces to complete the puzzle. And today, Mama witnessed her successfully putting together the Snow White puzzle all by herself. Needless to say that we are very proud of her! It's amazing how she never looks at the image of the puzzle to put it together...she just does it based on her understanding of how the pieces fit together and her memory of what the princess looks like. And most of those background pieces pretty much all look the same but she knows precisely where each piece goes in the puzzle!

President's Day Weekend 2008!

Long weekends are the best, especially when you get 6o degree weather in the middle of Feb! The weekend started off with Mama's birthday on which she was treated to a nice dinner out by Dada, Stella, and Desmond. Stella and Des were on their best behavior at the restaurant so that Mama could enjoy her dinner. Sat was fun day and all we did was fun stuff...no errands, no chores! We started off by going ice skating. Dada and Stella skated around the rink while Desmond and Mama watched from the sidelines. Des barely made a peep, fascinated by all of the people he saw and eventually went to sleep in Mama's arms without a fuss. Stella and Dada went around the rink 4 times (which took about an hour :)...hey, little legs can only skate so fast!) and by the end of it, Dada's back was ready to break. It is quite a height differential for a 6'2'' Dada to bent down to Stella's level to help her skate. The pics from ice skating aren't the best because it was pretty dim in there and the flash on the small camera has only so much range.

Ice skating was followed by lunch at the Olive Garden, one of our favorites. After that, we drove to the park and waited for Stella to wake up from her long, long nap in the car!

Ice skating can sure wear a little girl out!

C'mon, wake up Sis! I am ready to go play!

The whole family had a great time at the park and again, Desmond didn't say a peep just soaked it all in. The Gup even got a chance to go on the see saw.

Monday, we took advantage of the warm weather and went to the park again. Again, long weekends are the best!

What's New With Stella and Desmond?

Stella
Stella continues to be a sweet little girl who loves her baby brother to pieces. We are all happy that she has embraced Desmond without any jealousy. At this point, she probably doesn't remember life without him. She also loves to sing (especially in her crib at night before she falls asleep) and is very good at changing the lyrics to some of her favorite songs to reference Desmond. For example, the other day she was singing "You are my gupshine, my only gupshine..." to the tune of "You are my sunshine".

Stella is approaching another major milestone. She will be starting her first day of preschool tomorrow. She will be attending school 2 full days a week and we predict that she will love it once she gets over the adjustment period, but Mama is a little sad to see her go. She is growing up too fast!!!

Desmond
Desmond is growing like a fiend and so is hair. He is due for another haircut but we haven't given him his 3rd one yet since he didn't like his last one so much. His neck muscles are getting stronger each day and he will now lift up his head and look around when placed on his belly, although, he still doesn't like belly time very much. He also loves to talk/babble and will sometimes talk our ears off. He loves venturing outside the house to see new things, places, and people so that he can put them into his little computer.

Here are some recent pics of the Fish & the Gup!