18 Months Old!

My Ella Bella is now 18-months old and I have to admit, going over to the land of 2T makes me a bit nervous. 18 months, 24 months I can handle, but seeing "2T" on clothes hit me...she's a "T" now. Wild. I don't know what happens between 12- and 18-months but she's a completely different person. Running and talking...and talking, and more talking and more running...

She's up over 50+ words (it'll be 60+ tomorrow). She's coming up with stuff I haven't even taught her yet. She's yelling, "Kali!" all over the house trying to locate her favorite playmate. And, when she's not chasing after Kali, she's climbing on everything. The life of a toddler. 

I love the fact that her first long sentence was "Hi, I love you!" That little voice...nothing in the world beats that. 

Ella 1 week old

Ella 18-months old

Chatterbox

17 months is awesome. Let the real talking begin (and get more and more awesome each day).

Here are some words Ella can say so far...I'm sure this list will grow as I remember them...

In no particular order:

Mama
Dada
Nana
Papa
Gmy is Grammy
Ella
Up
Burp
Hop
Teeth
Open
More
Please
Yes
Flush
Ta Da!
Cheese
Dip
Chip
"M" is Elmo
"MmmmMmmm" is Mickey Mouse
Sid
Duck

Watching a child learn and develop blows my mind. So honored to be her mom.

17 Months

A few of our family members and friends have recently added new additions to their families and it's bringing back some major memories. My niece, Parker, is just about 6-weeks old and starting to smile. I held her last weekend and she was as light as a feather. I remember those days...they feel like ages ago.

I don't remember if I've mentioned it here before but someone asked me what age was my favorite time with Ella. I'll always answer, "The age she's at now" because it's so true. She's growing, changing, each day there's something new...how could "today" not be the best?

A short list of things she's done (recently) that amaze me:

-A somersault on her own (amazed and equally freaked me out)
-Skied (even if Dad was helping her)
-Said everything from Apple to Shark and "more, please."
-Started giving herself a bath (which I'm sure she would have done sooner had I started to do it sooner)
-Throw things with the speed of an MLB pitcher
-Never get sick of the Pixar classic "A Bug's Life" despite watching constantly and on a daily basis
-Handle getting a cold better than me
-Start holding her own with Kali
-Actually give kisses as opposed to hold her cheek out to receive kisses
-Realize she's going to Nana's house and point to her house when we pull up
-Vacuum better than I vacuum
-Pat my back when she hugs me
-Start to throw little tantrums that can (at this point) be easily stopped with a little diversion (Yes, I know this will end shortly, sadly).
-When I said, "don't be a bad girl" kinda jokingly after she threw her sippy on the floor. She then shook her finger at me and laughed hysterically...that was awesome. Defiance already. That didn't take very long.

17 months will soon be 17 years. I adore you, Ella :)

I Spell E-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g

I used to wonder why parents spell absolutely everything that may interest their child. Sometimes people even did this in front of their dogs and I didn't think it was at all possible for them to understand something. How little did I know.

Here are just a few things that I often s-p-e-l-l around you know who:

milk
nurse (well, we have since stopped, but this was a big one).
fish (goldfish...obsessed)
puffs (the cheddar cheese ones...another obsession)
walk (this one is for the dog, actually :)
bath (the mere mention of the word prompts signs of "bath" and an immediate run for the stairs).
toy
paci or binky (we're winding down with these, but still...safer spelled out).

I always have a fear as the words get longer that Aaron or my mom will spell something really long and I'll sit there thinking..."what the heck did they just spell?" and it'll confuse me as much as Ella.

A Look Back

Two years ago today we brought this little guy home during a blizzard all the way from Worcester, VT.

Kali, Dec. 2009

His given name was Boris but now we call him Kali, and sometimes Kali Ma if he's being bad. He choose us, or me I should say. Another pup came up to me to say "hi" and Kali pushed his bottom and drove him away. "Get away from my mom!" he was protective already. He then came over to me and gave me a kiss.  To this day, he's as loyal as day one. I never thought I'd love a pet as much as I love him...corny, I know, but all you pet moms out there know what I'm talking about.

Kali, Dec. 2011

This past year I've seen my little girl become a toddler, learn to talk, get into trouble -- "Ella, stop pulling Kali's tail" -- was said probably about once a day.and develop her own sweet personality.

I noticed that there are several different Ella's running around the house. Here are a few of the many.

Ella the Sweetheart 
She's a little doll. And, she looks like a little one in this dress, too. I know, really puffy but I had to. Soon she'll be picking out her own clothes and I won't get to stuff her into puffy adorable dresses. She really is such a sweet little girl. She'll flash you an adorable smile and you see her huge blue eyes and just fall in love with her all over again. I'm sure this will be her secret weapon when she gets older and she'll use it on more than just her parents. Note to Ella in the future...I'm onto you! :)

Ella the Silly
This girl cracks me up. She has such a sense of humor and will do everything from dancing as funny as her mom and go around talking to herself and babbling to Kali. She'll pick up a book, go to where Kali is laying down and read to him. Needless to say, he usually cooperates. She makes me laugh if I have a bad day, I just hold her and all the other nonsense melts away. She even gives my scrunchy nose smiles and laughs, it's so wonderful to see some of my expressions on her adorable face.

Ella the Wild
This girl gets her wild side from her daddy. Aaron has what I'd call an "adventurous" personality and my little monkey is showing signs of it already. Climbing, yes please. The sit and spin is a climb, and spin, and balance on a 6" round piece of plastic over 18" in the air. I swear if we had a balance beam in the house she'd already be doing back handsprings on it. If she turns out to be a gymnast or anything that requires a dare-devil personality, I will not be surprised one bit.




I can't wait to see her grow up even more in 2012. She'll be talking up a storm, running around the house, climbing (even more) and if her daddy has his way, skiing black diamonds. I can't wait :)

Happy 1st Birthday, Ella!

Cake by Me
Photo by Stephanie O'Neill

My little girl is one year-old today. This has been the fastest year of my life.

She is so smart, gorgeous -- breathtakingly so -- loveable, and FUN. A joy, an absolute joy.

I wondered how I would meet this day...would I have tears in my eyes? Would I be just too stressed out about her party (which is also the same day as her birthday) to really savor the moment?

Birthday are huge in my house. I still love my birthday and I'm into my 30s and I will still love it 20 years from now. You better believe my daughter's birthday is going to be huge...not so much in the party sense, but the overall depth of the day.

This morning, I set my alarm for 1:19am, the moment she was born and read my pregnancy journal. In the hours following her birth I wrote down all the details I could remember. The names of her nurses, how many hours I was in labor for (15...I won't forget that number) and the joys as well as the complications that arose from it.

Ella was a NICU baby, and I guess I could say is a NICU baby because it's not something you grow out of. What I mean by that is it's not an experience that you grow out of. The parents of NICU babies can recall the smallest details of what it's like to be there for hours, days, weeks, etc. The sounds of the monitors on all of the babies, the tubes, the incubators and small cribs lined up one after another -- you just don't forget.

Ella was lucky enough to be there for just seven days and it was a long seven days. Luckily she doesn't have any existing health issues that have carried over from her first week of life. Each night when we say our little prayer for our family and friends we always say at the end "we wish everyone health and happiness." You quickly learn as a NICU mom, or just mom in general that all the other stuff doesn't matter at all.

Each year on her birthday we donate to the Brigham and Women. I don't think people think of donating to NICUs as much as they think of donating to other causes. Just a reminder, NICUs need support as well.

So, now that my daughter is one I'm taking these moments to relive the past year -- even the sleepless nights. And, I'm taking the time to take the ones who helped make her first year absolutely wonderful. Her grandparents, aunts and uncles, family and friends -- thank you for showering her with love and being part of her first year of life. Thank you to my mom who is with her practically every day and helps our life in so many ways. And, Aaron, the loving, caring, fun, and protective dad who provides so much for Ella and for us. And, Kali, the ever loyal, energetic, and playful pup who is unlike any playmate Ella will ever have.

Thank you, Ella, for so very much and for changing me and everyone around you in so many ways. I love you with all of my heart, soul and mind.

Love,
Mom

My Amazon.com Wish List has a Potty on it

Yes, that's correct. My Wish List that used to have things like digital cameras and books, and gifts that I was going to buy my husband or other family members, but now, it has a potty on it.

Actually, more than one potty. I have to figure out which one I like best. The one that sings a song when you do something in it, or the plain ole reliable bjorn.

Mom, you're embarrassing me!
Photo: Stephanie O'Neill Photography

Ella signed the word "bath" yesterday morning, and this morning. She typically takes her baths at night but we figured ok, she signed "bath" so let's give her a bath. Big mistake. For the first (and second) time ever, she dropped a bomb in the bath. We thought it was a one time thing yesterday morning, but nope, it happened again.

My husband has the idea that she may be ready for potty training. And maybe her sign for bath really means I have to go potty. And maybe she thinks the bath is just one really big toilet. I keep telling him that it's still about a year or more away, but maybe we'll run into some sort of dumb luck and have a baby who wants to go potty on the toilet. Who knows.

But, thank you, Ella, for changing my life and my Amazon.com wish list in ways I never thought it could be changed. Potty, here I come.

11 Months Old

Ella turned 11 months on the 27th of July...and I'm freaking out. Not only do I have to plan her first birthday party which stresses me out a bit (it has to be awesome despite the fact that she won't remember any of it), but my baby girl is turning ONE YEAR OLD.

Just this past weekend I held my newest niece who was only six days old. She was teeny, adorable, doing that whole...I don't know how to use my hands yet...and it reminded me of Ella. Was it even possible that she was that little ever in her life? Impossible, she's been 20lbs forever.

The countdown has begun to one. Until then, I will spend all of my spare time baking practice cakes for the big day and watching the RSVPs come in.

Mommy's College Reunion

Her shirt says "I Love Holy Cross"

Today I went back to Holy Cross. I had been back just three times in the past 10 years since I graduated in 2001. The first time was for homecoming in the Fall after my graduation. The second time was in 2007 when some former roommates were visiting from around the country and we made the trek to the hill to visit the campus (it had been 10 years since we met each other -- I think almost to the weekend). The third time was for my bridal shower in 2008 (a central location for family and friends).

Holy Cross holds some very special memories for me. I met some of my best friends there, the education shaped my life (and even what I do for work now) and the college experience was something that I knew I was fortunate to have while I was living it. I kept saying to myself, "Everyone says college is the best time of your life, enjoy each day of it." When I was back home during the summer all I wanted to do would be go back to school, and when I was at school all I wanted to do was take-in each class, enjoy the weekends with my friends, and spend time making relationships that would matter to me even ten years later.

Facebook really did make the reunion a bit different than I expected. I knew what everyone would look like (and I have to say, everyone looked amazing...we aged well :) I knew their spouses and children and I saw them grow over the few years that I've had my Facebook account. But, it was great to finally see them in person, and it was great to introduce them to Ella, the 9-month old they've seen grow up through my posts.

When I was showing Ella a bit of the campus I couldn't help but wonder if she'll be a Crusader one day. Regardless of where she goes, I hope she enjoys each moment of her college experience as much as I did whether she's in purple, or---maroon and gold.

9 months old

She's entering the last quarter of her first year and that scares me a bit. It scares me because I know how fast the first three went -- in a flash. And, she's 39 weeks old today and she was born at 39 weeks 5 days so essentially she's as old as I carried her. Time to take a deep breath because my baby is no longer an infant. nor a "baby," she's starting to become a little girl. Ok, well maybe she's still a baby, but you know what I mean.

In weeks 37 and 38 she checked some major items off the list including:
Saying Mama (amazing moment :)
Crawling
Pulling Up
Waving
Signing "more"
Using her sippy without any help
And other things that I can't remember right now but I'm sure I'll add as soon as I post this :)

Compared to what I did in those two weeks, she's got me beat by a long shot.

I feel like every three months Ella becomes a new person. She's reborn. She is an amazing human being with so much concentration and so much determination it's refreshing to witness. It's absolutely beautiful; I can't recall any other time in my life where I was witness to such transformation. I can't wait to see what the next quarter has in store for her, and what she has in store for me.

Here, There, and Everywhere. Babyproofing has Begun.

Ella is on the go. Rolling around, scooting about, pulling up, and touching everything. And yes, she started to open cabinet doors. Gone are the days of stillness -- she is a little lady on a misson. Touch this, move that, grab here, travel to there. Whether by roll or by Army crawl (yes, a capital A because her Uncle is a Major), Ella is a new baby.

We ordered over $100 worth of baby proofing supplies and I'm sure we're going to have to spend $100 more before we're completely done. Thank you, Amazon.com for having Amazon.com/mom because it is priceless. The amount of money I've saved on shipping is enormous. Even more enormous is the amount of money I'd spent on Amazon.

But, there are some things that Amazon cannot help with. What do I do with my dog's food? It's going to be in her little hands soon. One friend came to visit and her one-year old already ate some so I'm sure Ella is going to as well. What about the stools and bar-height chairs I have? Are they going to come crashing down on her? Is there anything I can do about it? She'll get bumps and bruises and eh, it happens, but I'm looking around my house and realizing there's a lot to do and very little time to get it done. I better get cracking.

I Know, I Know, She Looks Like Him.

My daughter looks unmistakably like my husband. A pretty version of him. Don't you find it's always a bit weird to say that a baby girl looks like their dad or a baby boy like their mom? I find it a bit weird, but it's entirely true. The baby girl could look like a pretty version of her dad and the boy a handsome version of their mom.  Anyway, just thought I'd put that out there. More meaningful posts to come.

8 Freaking Months Old

That's what I have to say about Ella turning 8 months on the 27th. 8 Freaking MONTHS!!! I think you need to be a parent to understand how quickly they turn from 8 minutes to 8 months. Sorry, no offense to non-parents, but it's a million times quicker than anything you've ever experienced. Quicker than an engagement, quicker than a countdown to a vacation, quicker than that vacation, and quicker than a pregnancy (but some might think that pregnancy goes by very slowly...and those someones might be moms).

Feeling the Grass for the First Time

Today she played with her cousins Ava and Billy who are visiting from Kentucky. She was playing with the big kids -- 3 1/2 years old, twins, and full of energy. They love Ella and Ella loves them. You can tell. They asked me questions like, "Auntie can baby Ella eat potato chips?" and, "Can I give baby Ella a kiss?"  "No hunny, she can't eat potato chips just yet." And, "yes, of course you can give her a kiss (on the cheeky please)."

Ella likes to make funny noises and Ava and Billy would make noises to her and she would mimic them back. It went back and forth for quiet some time and Ava and Billy were laughing hysterically. Ella would smile and laugh too -- a child language just for them.

She just looks at them and you can see wonder in her eyes. Billy asked me if Ella was going to dream about him tonight, and I'm pretty sure the answer is a yes...and Ava too.

She's getting ready to crawl, scooting all about, she's pulling herself up, she's finding toys herself, when I say, "where's Sophie?" she finds her and smiles and then picks her up (even if Sophie is nowhere in site...she'll find her). She's feeding herself, exploring her sippy cup. She felt grass for the first time today and was tentative about it, then kept running her hands through it laughing. She laughs all of the time, and smiles, and just lights up when she see us. She uses her walker and comes to us when we say, "Ella come to mommy (or daddy)!" She'll go around obstacles (none that would hurt her, of course) to get to us.

She's going to be crawling soon, walking soon, talking soon and getting so much older so very soon. I'm afraid I won't remember these moments as much as I want to. I wish I could freeze time but I can't. Instead I try to write her and write notes of what she's doing each week, I take photos and videos and hope that it will be good enough to remember how quickly the time is passing. 8 Freaking Months Old...I cannot believe it.

Hello, I'm Stephanie

I don't even know why I'm doing a post about who I am, because pretty much all of you know who I am already. But, here I go.

Hi. I'm Stephanie. Sorry I didn't say so in the first post, but better late than never. This actually reminds me of when I "met" my husband. Yes, we met on www.match.com. We e-mailed each other constantly one day and I realized I didn't even know his first name, so by the end of the day I asked him and he said, "Oh, I'm Aaron. My mother would be so ashamed that I didn't tell you that by now." Or...something like that. I immediately thought to myself, "Nice name...I could totally get used to saying that every day for the rest of my life." Sigh...I know. We knew 2-weeks into dating that we wanted to marry each other. I won't even tell you what he texted me the day after we went out on our first date (it wasn't anything inappropriate, it was actually a very sweet foreshadowing of the little girl we call Ella).

Ella is our 3-month old baby girl who is one of the most beautiful babies I have ever seen in my life. I know, I'm completely biased, but other people have told me the same thing so I'm going with it. It's a year ago right now that I found out I was pregnant (I have a pet peeve when people say "we're pregnant"). I remember testing and thinking I saw two lines but thought I was crazy because I tested early. But sure enough, the next day yielded a darker line and the blood test from the doctor's proved I was indeed pregnant. Now I had a secret that I had to wait to share with my husband until he got home from work. Did I also mention that I had a meeting at my husband's company that day with Embryo? Yeah, that made for an interesting meeting. All I could think about the whole time was, "I'm pregnant! You're sitting across the table from me and you're going to be a dad but you don't know it yet!" So, I had to hold my breath at the meeting as well as the entire ride home from the commuter rail where I picked-up Aaron at the end of the work day.

We walked into the house and I picked up a present under the Christmas tree and said, "Here, Santa left this for you." I said, "I know it's too small for you, but I know someone who can wear this in 9 months." It was a baby hat from his favorite band Phish that I had purchased a month before. Needless to say, we hugged and I told him about how I knew yesterday and it nearly killed me keeping this secret from him but I wanted to be 100% sure. I admit, it was quite thrilling knowing something so huge and keeping it a secret.

Since it was Christmastime we shared the news with our parents who were overjoyed. After the 10-week mark when we heard the heartbeat, we shared the news with our siblings who probably weren't too surprised, but were very excited for both of us. Aaron and I have seven (and counting) nieces and nephews so we were very excited to add to the family. Being an Aunt and Uncle to so many wonderful kiddos gave us some great practice for parenthood...or so we thought.

Next time...more about my nearly trouble-free pregnancy.

Starting A Blog

OK, so this is my first time writing a blog. No, I lied. It's my second. I just posted something about mommyhood on my company's website www.EmbryoCreative.com literally about an hour ago. I posted on Twitter an asked whether or not I should start a blog and two of my friend said yes...so I took that as the official approval to start one. Yes, I felt like I needed approval.

I picked the title, "Just five more minutes" because my husband and my mother always laugh about how much I like to sleep and always asked for "just five more minutes." I don't do that anymore because it's impossible for me to get five more minutes. And, if I could get more minutes I'd certainly ask for more than five. Why? Because I'm now a mom. Holy crap. Plus, I ask for five more minutes all the time now, but it comes in different forms. "Ella, nurse for just five more minutes," "Aaron, I'll take her in just five more minutes." See?

Just Five More Minutes might be a blog that's solely about my daughter and her milestones (she's 3 months old...or 13.5 weeks if you want to be very specific and talk in mommy language). Or, it might also include a bit about my life as an entrepreneur/work-from-home mom/wife/online educator. Who knows. You're welcome to join me for the ride.