Buy Me Some Peanuts and Crackerjacks

On Friday, May 28th, Kyle coached his last game of college baseball.

What an amazing journey this has been...and a wild and crazy (but fun) ride to say the least! ;) When Kyle and I met in 2003, he had just moved to Rock Hill to begin coaching at Winthrop University. Baseball season begins in February and goes until the end of May (unless you're lucky enough to make it to the College World Series), then recruiting begins immediately after the season and usually goes until October/November. But don't think that's when they'd have "down time" because then "fall practice" starts. We're lucky to have the Christmas Holidays together. It's a constant job and you definitely have to love doing it...and Kyle certainly did! He quickly moved up the "coaching ladder" at WU and went from "Volunteer Assistant Coach" to "Assistant Coach" to "Pitching Coach". He really is a determined and hard worker and his hard work paid off. They sure will miss him after he's gone. Don't know if they'll know what to do w/out him to be honest. ;)

Baseball has been a part of our life since the day we met. We even had baseball accents in our wedding for goodness sakes. ;) I thought our whole lives would revolve around baseball and it has until something else came into our lives...

...our precious Stella Lou! She certainly has her daddy (and everyone else!!) wrapped around her little finger.

Kyle has decided to switch career paths and become a financial advisor with Edward Jones. This is an awesome opportunity for him and will allow him to use his talents and love for finances, stocks, etc. on a daily basis and make a living out of it. AND this will allow him to be home on the weekends and not have to travel! YAY! We're SO excited about this opportunity and I just know that Kyle will be very successful! He is so driven and so dedicated that I know nothing but success is in his future!

Excellent Eight Months!

This weekend was super exciting and busy for us. Sandra came in town to watch a Winthrop Baseball game - and to see her favorite niece and great niece of course too! ;) Saturday my mom came up to join us at the game. This was Kyle's last regular season baseball game and we wanted to show our support and cheer on the Eagles. After battling for 9 innings the Eagles pulled out a WIN!!! Go Eagles!

Saturday was also Stella's 8 month birthday! Can you believe our sweet Stella is already 8 months old!?! Where does the time go?! I don't know but it really needs to s..l..o..w d..o..w..n!! She is such an amazing little girl and absolutely the apple of our eye! Watching her grow and learn new things every day is truly rewarding and incredibly awesome.

I've always said our lil princess is "Tiny but mighty" and her "motto" still applies to this day. She weighs 15 lbs. 10 oz. and is in the 10th percentile for girls her age. But don't let that fool you because she is sitting on her own now like such a big girl. She reaches for her toys while playing on the floor but she has yet to crawl. I have a feeling that might be coming soon - or either she'll completely skip that step and go straight to walking because she LOVES to stand in your lap. She's definitely fearless when she's in the comfort of your arms! She has two bottom teeth that are coming in at the same time - what a rock star!!!

Some of my favorite things about my 8 month old princess:

• She is learning how to turn the light switch on and off - thanks to Mimi teaching her on Tuesdays
• She is learning to wave "hey" and "bye" - thanks to Grandpa "D" teaching her on Mondays
• She still rubs her head over and over and over while she's eating her bottle. Sometimes it looks like it hurts but I guess it must soothe her.
• She still sucks both thumbs. Not at the same time but she switches to whichever one tastes good at the moment. Grandpa "D" named them "chocolate" and "vanilla".
• Any time I sing "Hey Peanut" she lights up with the biggest grin. In fact, I could sing any song and do a silly dance and she always laughs at her silly mommy! It makes my day and makes my heart melt every time! :)
• She reaches for her mommy and daddy {to hold her} now! I never thought I'd be so lucky and blessed to be the one a child reached for. This is truly amazing to me and shows me that Stella knows how much we love her. Our love overflows for her and we are blessed beyond words to have such a sweet, beautiful, smart daughter.

Here are a few pics from Saturday of our precious Stella...

Stella loves her sister, Bella. They're really starting to notice each other a lot more now and I have a feeling they're really going to love each other once Stella gets moving around the house on her own.

Before we headed to the ballpark, Stella took a quick lil nap. Is she not the most precious thing you've ever seen?! My goodness I could just kiss those lil cheeks right off. And see, sucking that thumb - simply precious!

Mimi and Stella were playing in Kyle's office while the Eagles were scorin' runs!

The D's after Kyle's last regular season Winthrop baseball game.

What a great weekend!!!

The Past 8 Months

WOW - where do I begin?? SO much has happened in the last 8 months since our sweet Stella has joined our family. We have been super busy so I have not had time to blog but I've decided I want to start blogging again and if that means I have to stay up late to do it, then that's what I'll do. We'll see how long this lasts! ;) LOL

Anywho, this post will be just an update so no pics but lots to catch everyone up on...

STELLA ~

Stella has been growing and enriching our lives every single day. She's seriously the happiest baby in the whole wide world and we are truly blessed to be her parents.

When Stella was 4 weeks old, she stopped breathing for what felt like an eternity, while I was feeding her. I had to give her "a breath" and then immediately called 911. After a long day in the ER, we headed to the Levine Children's Hospital in Charlotte. The nurses and docs there were amazing and took such good care of us. After two days and no more "incidents" we were sent home. Prayer does work and God is truly amazing. I think him every day for wrapping our sweet Stella in his arms that day and for her being a healthy and happy baby.

We were asked to light the advent candle at our church in December. What a special moment to share as a family. Christmas is such a special time of year and to be able to participate in lighting the advent candle is definitely an honor.

On February 14th, Stella was baptized at our church, Westminster Presbyterian. What a very special day for many reasons...we were so excited to baptize our daughter in the church we were married in and symbolize our love for her and for God and that we will raise her in a Christian home and teach her all about God's amazing love for her and our family. This date is also special as my Grandma and Granddaddy McMichael were married on this day many years ago. Since Stella was named after my grandmother I thought it was super neat that her baptism fell on this date.

Stella has had MANY milestones already...she has rolled over from front to back and back to front, she's sitting up on her own now AND she has two bottom teeth! I still have yet to capture her pearly whites in a pic but I hope to do that soon. What a big, beautiful girl she's growing up to be. We are SO excited about watching her learn, grow and explore.

Baseball started in February causing Kyle to travel. Not sure Stella liked having her daddy gone these past few months but I think she'll be excited to know what lies ahead....

KYLE ~

Kyle has officially resigned from coaching baseball...forever! Well, for now! He was recently hired by Edward Jones and will be a Financial Advisor beginning July 6th. How exciting! Stella and I are so proud and excited that Kyle will be home more. It will definitely be an awesome adjustment for our family and we'll finally be able to do things on the weekends with our friends and family, plan summer vacas and not live at the baseball field 24/7. While we have enjoyed being a part of the Winthrop Baseball family for the past 8 years, we're excited to watch the 2011 season from the stands. We will always be a part of the WU athletic family and baseball will ALWAYS be a part of our lives.

MICHELLE ~

Since Stella's arrival, I have gone back to work part time and I LOVE IT!!! Of course I would love to be able to stay home with my sweet Stella Lou every day but at least I'm able to do it part time. It also allows me a chance to interact with adults and use my brain {or what little brain I have left :/}! LOL

Again, I'm going to do my best to update the blog as often as possible. If you haven't seen a post from me in a while, give me a lil nudge. ;)

She's Here!

Okay, okay - so it's taken me almost a month to post the exciting, wonderful news of the birth of our daughter but boy, I sure have been one busy mommy! I promise I will try and do a better job on updating the blog. Sorry for the delay but here's the details on her arrival.

YAY! Stella finally arrived!! On Monday, September 21st, I began to have contractions so Kyle and I started to time them. They were pretty consistent all day so we went for a few walks around the neighborhood hoping they would increase. After a long day and a long afternoon, I finally reached contractions that were 5 minutes apart so we decided to call the doctor. They called us back and told us to head to the hospital! How exciting to think our sweet lil girl was almost here! Little did we know we had a long way to go.

After we arrived at the hospital they checked me to see how far I had dilated and we got a very disappointing answer...only 2 cm! :( So after walking the halls for about an hour they checked me again...this time, another disappointing answer...only 3 cm! :( The midwife told us that we could probably head home and come back tomorrow b/c I "wasn't in labor!!" Um, are you kidding me?! If this wasn't labor then I was NOT looking forward at what was yet to come. But, after talking with the midwife and nurse we convinced them to let us stay. Thank goodness we did because I couldn't imagine having to go through labor (or according to the midwife - not really labor - whatever lady!!) on my own at home. The pain quickly progressed but I had the best coach ever!! Kyle was so patient, calming, encouraging and everything I could have ever wanted. Around 4:30 a.m. on September 22nd, they checked me again and I had progressed to 6 cm - all on my own w/ no epidural, mind you - and then finally I got the BEST thing ever invented - the epidural!! All of this was SO worth it in the end because at 4:18 p.m. on Tuesday, September 22nd, God blessed us with the most beautiful, precious, angel ever. Our little Stella Louise had finally arrived.

Now, I'm probably a little biased but when I say that I think she's the prettiest, most beautiful baby ever - I really believe it. Whether she's my child or not. She has the cutest nose, most precious lips and a head full of hair. Kyle and I are truly blessed!!

Thank you all for you wonderful support during this exciting time in our lives. It has been an amazing journey and we only look forward to what the future has in store for The DiEduardo's.

STILL waiting

Today is September 19th and there is still no SLD! :( We thought for sure she would have made her big debut by now but I guess she has other plans. I've tried eating spicy foods, walking, eggplant parmesan, just to name a few and NOTHING has worked. But, I guess she and God have a day in mind that she will arrive and we just have to sit and wait. If she's not here by Wednesday, September 23rd, we will head to the hospital to be induced.

On an exciting note, I got my diaper bag in the mail today and OMG, I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!! It's exactly what I have been looking for and it's perfect!! It's a pink Dooney & Bourke diaper bag - SO me and I love it! That definitely made my day considering all I can do these days is sit and wait on my sweet, spoiled, little girl to arrive.

Speaking of spoiled, I HAD to take a picture of her closet so you can see how spoiled and loved this lil girl really is already. This is just a portion of her clothes, toys, books, etc.

Can you tell she's the first grandchild on both sides of our family?! Can you tell how loved she's going to be by everyone?! This is one lucky little girl. Now if we can just get her to come we can shower her with love and kisses. Hopefully not too much longer!!

Waiting on SLD to arrive

I'm 38 weeks and we're still awaiting the arrival of our sweet little girl. A few of our "favorite" dates have come and gone. We had hoped she might be born on my grandmother's birthday, September 3rd, since that's who one of her names is named after. However, that date has come and gone. We also thought today, 09/09/09, would be an awesome day to be born on. However, this day is coming to an end and no SLD so we've come to the conclusion that she will make her debut when she's ready.

The last time we went to the doctor I was dialated 1 cm and was 50% effaced. My body has definitely been changing so maybe I'm progressing. We go back on Friday, September 11th so hopefully he'll have some good news for us then...unless she comes before then. :)

Here's the latest and greatest "bump" pic at 38 weeks. We'll keep you posted when the princess arrives!!

Girls & Guys Weekend

The weekend of my last shower, August 21-23, I surprised Kyle with a guys weekend for his 30th birthday. Todd, Adam and Ryan all flew from Boca Raton, FL, to Myrtle Beach to meet Kyle and play golf, go on a gambling cruise and just have some guy time! Here's a few pics from his weekend. Such a handsome group of guys!!

Every time I talked to Kyle that weekend he said, "Thank you SO much, babe, for doing this for me!" He had the best time and I'm so glad he was able to get away before our sweet lil girl arrives. Happy Early 30th Birthday, babe!

While Kyle was away, my mom, aunt, cousin and her little girl came to stay with me. We had the BEST time! Friday night it was just me, my mom and my aunt Sandra. We enjoyed a yummy meal together and chilled at the house. Saturday morning we got ready and headed to Columbia for my last shower. We took Bella to Columbia with us because my dad was going to watch her while we were at the shower. Bella loves to go for rides!

After the shower we all headed back to Rock Hill and enjoyed our time together. It was so nice to have a girls weekend and to see my cousin's little girl, Jaida, as we haven't seen her since Christmas. She was a ball of energy and we all had so much fun watching her play, talk and talk and talk!

She's SUCH a cutie!! I love this pic of her and my mom! Too cute! She had a GREAT time playing with Bella and if she said "Bella" once she said it a MILLION times!! LOL So precious!

Jaida also loved seeing the baby in my belly. Hope I don't scare you w/ the bare belly but it was too sweet not to post.

Next time we have a "Girls Weekend" our sweet lil SLD will be a part of the clan!! Can't wait!