Sweet Baby

I heard this song on a fellow bloggers page a while back and fell in love with it. It's so sweet and peaceful. For the past few days I've captured precious pics of our sweet Stella sleeping and this song is perfect for this post.

Sweet Baby By Michelle Featherstone

Sweet, sweet Baby

I said maybe

Maybe you should stay with me

Sweet, sweet Baby

I think maybe

Maybe you shouldn't leave

Sweet, sweet Baby

I go crazy

Crazy when I think of you

Sweet, sweet Baby

I go crazy

If I come cuddle up to you

So Baby, oh Baby, please don't go

Yeah Baby, oh sweet Baby, please don't go

You're the only one (for me)

You're the only one

You're the only one for me

You're the only one (for me)

You're the only one

You're the only one for me

Sweet, sweet Baby

Can you save me

Save me from a night without you

Sweet, sweet Baby

Can you save me

The way that I am going to save you

So Baby, oh Baby, please don't go

Yeah Baby, oh sweet Baby

You're the only one (for me)

You're the only one

You're the only one for me

You're the only one (for me)

You're the only one

You're the only one for me

**I finally got the playlist to work at the bottom of our blog so you can listen to the song while you read all about the D's!**

JuRaSsiC PaRk!!

My FAV and my BF {her son, Christopher} came to stay w/ us this past weekend {and I'm a slacker and am just now blogging about it!} and oh boy, did we have fun!! I had heard about a place called Lazy 5 Ranch and I thought it would be a perfect outing for us to do while they were here.

The front gate said "Enter at Your Own Risk"!! Uh oh - what were we about to get into?!

Of course, Kelly and I had to wear our cutest outfits for the animals!! LOL

We thought since Stella loved the ostriches so much at the zoo that she'd love seeing the ostriches at the Lazy 5 Ranch up close and personal. And she did! She loved all of the animals!

They had over 750 animals at the ranch and you can purchase a bucket of "feed" and actually feed the animlas. It was wild but so neat! They came right up to our car and ate from the bucket - so cool!! However, when you see an animal like this - you don't necessarily want to stick your arm out and offer "feed" to it because your arm might actually be what he wants to eat instead!

Hence these signs they had throughout our journey!

Even though it was a little scary at times, we had the best time feeding the animals, laughing, screaming and giggling all the way around the 3.5 mile safari ride through the Lazy 5 Ranch!

After we got home, we went to Christopher's favorite restaurant, CHILI'S, and then headed home for some relaxation!

What a great weekend w/ my FAV and BF! Can't wait for them to visit again soon! Love ya'll!

Terrific 10 Months

Can you believe our lil peanut is 10 months old!? Time is flying by but we're enjoying every second of our amazing journey with our princess Stella. She truly is amazing and growing and discovering new things every day.

She crawls and tries to stand up on anything that will stand still. We've had a few falls, bumps and bruises but I guess that's to be expected. She's a tough lil cookie though and gets right back up and keeps on going.

She loves waving "bye-bye" now and it's the only way I can walk out of the door to go to work on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Seeing her do that on those mornings seriously makes my heart melt and I smile the entire way to work...simply adorable!

We think she's finally said "ma ma" but she doesn't say it often - her fave words are still "da da". However, when I say "Say ma ma" she says "da da da da" so I'm wondering if in her mind da da = ma ma! LOL That's what I'm going to claim anyway! :)

She LOVES puffs and yogurt melts and can feed herself like a big girl. We have to watch now to make sure she doesn't shovel more than a couple in her mouth at a time. She gets so excited when she sees the container of puffs - it's too funny! We're starting to give her more "real" food and she seems to really like it. I guess 'cause she sees mommy and daddy devouring their food, she must think "I must be missin' out on something!" LOL

We've tried a sippy cup but she's not ready for it just yet. She is still in a love/hate relationship with her bottle. One day she drinks every bottle (5/day) and totals about 25 ounces/day and then the next day she'll skip one or two bottles and only have about 17 ounces/day. It's been super frustrating but she's growing and has more rolls than the Pillsbury Dough-boy so I'm not too concerned.

I'm just simply amazed and in awe of our precious lil peanut. What a true joy she is in our lives. Every day we smile and think about all that she's accomplished in her 10 months and it's so awesome. She's such a smart, happy and sweet little girl and we are truly blessed! Happy 10 Month Birthday Stella Lou!

Lions, and Tigers, and Ostriches...OH MY!

Yesterday Kyle, Stella and I headed to Columbia for Stella's first trip to Riverbanks Zoo. Kyle and I were so excited and couldn't wait to see the expression on her face when she saw real animals moving around, eating and making noises.

Our first stop were the flamingos. She was definitely loving them but I could tell they weren't her favorite.

She loved looking at the big elephants stomp around!

I had my pic taken on this tortoise several years ago when I was a teenager so I thought it would be cute to have some pics of our family on it now.

Our next stop - the giraffes!

Stella has a stuffed animal giraffe {Jeffery, the giraffe} that she LOVES so we thought for sure the giraffes would be her favorite.

Nope, these weren't her favorite either.

"Daddy, what's that?! That animal is AWESOME!"

Yep, she loved the ostrich! She squealed with delight and laughed as she watched this crazy bird peck at the sticks and eat leaves. She giggled every time this big bird even MOVED!!

It was so funny to watch, but anything that makes my sweet girl smile and giggle, makes me happy!

Kyle loved these guys - YUCK!! Stella and I were NOT interested in viewing any of the reptiles. We loved the cute, furry creatures like these sweet monkeys! They were snuggling!

We had the BEST day at the zoo!

But of course, we had to stop by the gift shop on our way out. I wanted to see if they had any stuffed animal ostriches, since that was Stella's FAVE animal. And whatta ya know they had one....and she giggled and squealed with delight when she saw it!

Perfect ending to a perfect day at the zoo!

Winna Winna Chicken Dinna

Stella and I had an awesome day together today. We did a lil shopping and ate at the most delicious restaurant ever. I have a new fave - bye, bye Charanda's - HELLO DON PEDRO'S!!! Seriously it was so delicious I almost licked my plate but I saw the look in Stella's eyes saying "Mom, DON'T embarrass me!!" So I refrained...however, I will be back...SOON!!!

Stella is taking a MUCH needed nap {since she missed her afternoon nap} and dinner is in the oven. A very delicious dinner, I might add, that we haven't had in a while but is always a favorite. So, I thought I'd share this awesome recipe with my blogging friends and family. Ours looks prettier than this, but this is something similar.

CHICKEN & SPINACH PASTA BAKE

Ingredients

• 8 ounces uncooked rigatoni
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup finely chopped onion (about 1 medium)
• 1 (10-oz.) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 3 cups cubed cooked chicken breasts
• 1 (14.5-oz.) can Italian-style diced tomatoes
• 1 (8-oz.) container chive-and-onion cream cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 1/2 cups (6 oz.) shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation

1. Prepare rigatoni according to package directions.

2. Meanwhile, spread oil on bottom of an 11- x 7-inch baking dish; add onion in a single layer.

3. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes or just until tender. Transfer onion to a large bowl, and set aside.

4. Drain chopped spinach well, pressing between layers of paper towels.

5. Stir rigatoni, spinach, chicken, and next 4 ingredients into onion in bowl. Spoon mixture into baking dish, and sprinkle evenly with shredded mozzarella cheese.

6. Bake, covered, at 375° for 30 minutes; uncover and bake 15 more minutes or until bubbly.

Sausage 'n' Spinach Pasta Bake: Substitute 3 cups cooked, crumbled hot Italian sausage for 3 cups cubed cooked chicken breasts. Reduce salt to 1/4 tsp., and omit 1/2 tsp. pepper. Proceed with recipe as directed.

My hubby just said "It's a little time-consuming to make, but I LOVE it!" So that sums it up!

Tomorrow we're heading to Riverbanks Zoo in Colatown. Stella's first trip to the zoo - so exciting! I'll be sure to post pics! Have a great weekend!

Movin' and Groovin'

The day has come....Stella is crawling!!! I seriously can't believe our baby girl is finally crawling. I thought this day would never come, but then at the same time I feel like she is still a tiny baby and we should be holding her 24/7. However, our doc told us it was time for her to start exploring on her own so we've been leaving her on the floor and letting her play all the time. Sure enough, she started crawling (well, kinda "inching") on Thursday, July 1st and then Saturday, July 3rd - this happened....

We are so proud of our big girl!