Happy Half-Birthday!

Christmas morning 2011.  Discovering the new car.  She LOVES it.

Today our sweet Stella is 18 months old - and to celebrate, we will be meeting her baby brother later today!  I would be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little anxious about how she will react.  I have been praying over her for months now though for this transition, and trust the Lord's timing and His ability to prepare her in ways that I never could!  I haven't updated the blog in foooorevveeeerrrrr, and so I thought I would spend a few minutes giving an update on our Stella...kind of a highlight reel of what she's up to and into these days.  I'll start with her likes for now, with hopes of expanding onto another subject in a future blog. :)

It blows our minds at the way her personality and individuality have just exploded in the last couple of months.  She is becoming more and more independent and opinionated, and we are really starting to see how bright and creative she is.  She is FUN and beautiful and happy, and we are so blessed to have her in our lives!

She loves Sesame Street, particularly Elmo...who can do no wrong.  I never really understood the Elmo craze, but she is wild about that red monster!  She will spot him across the store - literally - and start calling out "momo!  momo!" and waving like crazy.  She picked out Elmo PJ's at Target for her daddy, and we wrapped them up and gave them to him for Christmas.  He wore them on Christmas morning for her, because he is pure awesomeness, and when she saw in the flesh the living combination of Elmo and daddy I thought she would faint from excitement.  Her favorite parts of Sesame Street are the musical numbers and the vignettes with the Muppets.  She is not so into the animation or claymation parts.  She loves to dance to the music, and any music with a good beat is likely to get her bobbing and spinning (her signature move).
She also loves babies and all baby care activities.  (I am hoping this applies to baby Charlie!) She cuddles them and hugs and kisses them and feeds them and changes their diapers.  She also rocks them and takes them for rides in the stroller and the swings.  Her longstanding favorite is a beat up old newborn Cabbage Patch doll ("Bebe") that was mine as a child.  My mom brought over some of my old toys that she had saved when Stella was newborn, and this summer she found that doll in the box and it was love at first sight.  She has a couple other small dolls that are also dear friends, but they are all lower case babies.  I have a special new doll for her when she comes to meet Charlie at the hospital, so we will see where she fits in the mix! 
I think nothing would please Stella more than to be able to just live outside.  She is so happy just being outdoors.  Whether she is riding in the bike trailer with dad or just wandering around collecting acorns she loves it.  My parent's house with it's 2+acre backyard and creek and cows might as well be Disneyland.  She is always excited to go explore with Papa Bob, and they spend lots of time goofing off, as he says, outside.  We have to keep the deadbolts locked now at all times.  She knows how to open the doors, and is always trying the handles to see if she can escape! 
She also has a very special bond with our older dog, Farai.  She is fascinated by both dogs and thoroughly enjoys them both, but Farai has that kind of legendary Labrador patience with children that Stella senses and relishes.  She hugs and kisses her and lays on her and rides her like a horse and chases her and tries to put various articles of clothing on her, and Farai has only and ever responded with stillness and gentleness.  It absolutely melts my heart to see them together.  She basically thinks Saul is the class clown - which he is - and she gets a good laugh out of his antics, but she doesn't follow him around and try to hang out with/on him.  She really enjoys throwing the ball for him, and squeals with delight as he runs to get it.  He is an outstanding retriever, and she seems to appreciate that about him.  She also has figured out that she can get a great game of chase started by trying to grab his tail, and so they do that a couple of times a day.  It's highly entertaining. 

Thanks for reading!  We'll post some pics of baby boy soon!