Stella's 3 Weeks!!

How is our little miss Stella three weeks old already? Time has flown by {well, minus a few nights}. It's amazing to see how much more she is discovering each and every day. Eric and I joke that she is our little mozart because she is always flailing her arms like she is conducting music and moving her legs. She never sits still - the sign for sure of a very athletic lady {lien genes}. On top of her ever moving legs and arms, she is always, ALWAYS making funny faces. I think I have successfully discovered which one is her poop face as well!

A few highlights from the first three weeks::

1. BATH TIME::

It seems like we always have an "incident" to trigger Stella's bath. The first one is seen here where both sides of the family were over and we were all laughing at Stella's toots... not laughing so much when we opened up our little surprise on the changing table to learn it had made its way all the way up to her neck almost. First bath time! This picture is hilarious and absolutely captures the moment!

This next round of pictures happened for Daddy's birthday gift from Stella... another blowout + a naked little Stella crying = Daddy cuddling and Stella reciprocating with a nice warm pee on his dress shirt!

Happy 31st birthday Eric!

2. Her amazing faces + discoveries. Eric and I still just stare at her in awe, she is perfect in every way. Seeing her look into our eyes, recognize our voices, make her million faces when she is sleeping, fills our hearts with such love that we didn't even think was possible {sorry for the sappy comment}. She's got quite the grasp on those little fingers. She's already successfully grabbed and tugged at my hair, loves to hold on to your pinkies and march on my stomach with her strong legs. Here are a few good "Stella face pictures" from my iPhone:

3. Lastly, our amazing weather = lots of walks for Stella. She loves getting outside and taking a walk with Jack. I've found its MUCH easier to do when I have more than just myself. Getting her situated plus paying attention to Jack is harder than I thought. Thankfully Grandma and Grandpa Jolly were here for the week of amazing weather and were able to help out! Here are a few pictures of our walks. The first picture is the only one I attempted solo!

80 degrees in March = Grandpa Jolly's shirt off during Lake Calhoun walk!

We've got so many more pictures of all the people that have visited and of course of Stella that I will upload as a part of her Month 1 montage... let's hope I can figure that out!

Lots of love,

Eric, Katie, Stella + Jack

Stella's Newborn Pictures - 7 Days Old

Miss Stella had her first experience with a professional photographer when she was just 7 days old. Mom and Dad had their first experience with a temper tantrum when she was just 7 days old. Needless to say, this was quite the stressful experience as she did NOT like the camera for her shoot, but our photographer was amazingly able to capture some beautiful photographs.

Here is the link to her newborn photos:

http://www.brandisalvesphotography.com/2012/03/minneapolis-newborn-photographer-stella/

Stella Susan Lien - 2/27/12

Our beautiful little Stella decided to grace us with her presence on February 27th at 10:18 AM. My water broke at close to 4AM and 6 hours later we were blessed with the most amazing thing and indescribable love with Stella. She weighed 8 lbs 9 oz and was 21 inches long and stole our hearts.

We can't decide who she looks like yet - sometimes we think its a spitting image of Eric when he was an infant, and other times we feel she looks like me. We do know she has one major feature of the Jolly's - our incredibly long toes!

Here are a few pictures of her first two days in the hospital.

Nursery Fun!

These are some pictures from her nursery progress taken from my iPhone. Good pictures to come from our camera!

Amy made the picture on the left which is a family tree of Eric and my grandparents, Lady Lien's Great Grandparents!

The two empty frames will be pictures of here and the lovely space between two nursery quotes is for her initial which we still haven't finalized!

Little Lady Lien Nursery Progress

Hi Fam and Friends,

Since we have family and friends in multiple places and now countries {Chad!}, I thought it would be easiest to start a blog to record the happenings once our little lady lien arrives...hopefully I can keep it up!

Three weeks to go and my nesting is in full swing. All her clothes are washed, Eric has the lovely task of the following over the next few weekends {some of which he doesn't know about yet}::

- Deep cleaning carpets

- Painting our upstairs great room

- Assembling her stroller

- Installing her car seat

- Assemble her art collage above her crib

I, on the other hand, will watch and offer encouragement while little lady lien kicks me and constantly tells me she is ready to meet us!

So, for the nursery.... pictures to come but I really wanted the nursery to be as homemade as possible as she is surrounded by so many people that love her already - lots near Minneapolis, and lots far away. I'll send final pictures when complete but here is the rundown::

My beautiful mom is making her blanket {or as us Jolly's call it - afghan} for her rocking chair. This is such a special memento to have as it is almost tradition in our families brought down by both of my late grandmothers. All of us kids have some sort of afghan by Grandma Jolly and since neither one of them are here with us physically anymore, it is something that I will cherish deeply for our little lady. I can't wait to tell her stories!! Thanks Mom- love you :) and love that we can carry the Jolly tradition on.

My lovely mother-in-law Mary Kay is making all of her bedding. We had such a fun day of picking out the fabrics and I am so grateful that she offered to make these! This is incredibly special to us as the Lien side also has many women from many generations that simply amaze me in their sewing/knitting abilities. Eric's great aunt Laddie is 106 and handmade a beautiful bib and blanket for the little lady.All of these are really special memories that we are so excited to tell lady lien about. Over the course of the almost 8 years I've lived in Minneapolis Esther and Mary Kay have fixed countless pillows {thanks Jack!}, shortened curtains, tailored bridesmaids dresses, the list goes on and on!

Amy and Emily made two different pieces of art to hang in her room {owl pictures from Emily} and Amy's is coming next weekend but has a rightful spot picked out and patiently waiting. Thanks Sisters!!

Jon and Heidi {well from Heidi, but Jon you get the add in here} made her a frame that we get to put a picture in as soon as she arrives! Ahh I wonder what she will look like?

Chadly has given our little lady many mementos of himself that we are excited to share with her until they get to meet... he's given us our favorite book already, and very telling of himself, and her first present ever back this summer, a custom-made onesie that she can sport!

Lastly for the nursery, I've decided to make a collage above her crib of memories of our favorite quotes from books when we are growing up... something to keep it personal, simple and a little taste of way back in the day when her mom and dad were growing up. Funny that nursery books have stood the test of time but so much of our childhood hasn't {do people still play kick the can?}.

Pictures to come later this weekend!