Christmas and New Year's

So, I haven't posted in awhile! I just got caught up in the holiday season.. We had a great time for Stella's first Christmas & she got tons of new clothes, books, feeding accessories, toys, and the list goes on! Christmas day we had lots of family over- Marco's grandmother Ruby came by, as well as his dad & two half sisters. Also, his mom & other half-sister came by, his Aunt Dee Dee & Tartra stopped by, his cousin Justin, and my Mom & Stepdad came by as well. What a great time! I cooked a nice ham, crockpot mac and cheese, yams, rolls, and green beans, and pecan pie. We had so much food, and so much fun! Here are a few pics:

Stella at 4 Months! Some crazy lady at CVS poked her in the eye.. Ugh, why do people touch other people's children!?

My favorite Christmas photo- her Christmas PJ's!

Best photo of her & daddy opening presents!

Stella & Aunt Chicki!

Stella's other aunts, Jessica & Jasmine! Sorry girls, I wish I had a better pic, you are both so beautiful, even when caught off guard!

Marco, Chicki, Phileshia (Mi-Ma), and Stella!

Playing with her new playmat from Mi-Ma by the Christmas tree!

I have eleven bajillion other pictures, but it wouldn't be fair to post so many, haha! This play mat absolutely rocks, I am fairly sure it is her favorite present she got! When you pull on the little bird, it sings. She also has learned more about her stationary walker that was her big gift from us. Here is a video:

 

If you can hear me in the audio, pardon me, I am totally cheesy!Hahah! 

We're in the midst of moving as well, so I packed up alot of her new things for us to play with when we're in our new apartment. It's a long story, but the short version is that the creepy guy downstairs finally got arrested for his multiple outstanding warrants when we called the police for him being on our porch. They can only keep him there for so long, so we'd like to not be here when he gets back. I am kind of looking forward to the new place, but I guess it's a bit bittersweet, because we really put our heart into what details we could with Stella's nursery, and she really didn't get to enjoy it- she never slept in there, not one night, and very rarely played in there either. She will still have a room in our new place, but it will be smaller. To be honest, her current room was pretty big for a little baby like herself! Anyways, I am going to get off for now, and possibly come back & post more later. Ta-ta!

So- as I said in my first post I will elaborate on some things.

I am bald. Well, not completely- my head has about 1/4-1/2 inch of hair on it. My mom has cancer. She's bald too- in all honesty, she has more hair than me. I buzzed her head, and then the day after we had our Christmas pics done I buzzed mine too. I figure it's a way of showing support to her, since we go grocery shopping together & now there's TWO people to stare at in the stores, lol! Well, we did go grocery shopping together. She's not doing too well this week- she's on isolation at home since her white blood counts were very low this week. She's on her second round of chemo, this time with additional medications that are making it harder for her. She's a tough cookie, though. I also have always colored my hair, and wanted a change. I wanted to see my natural hair again. I was unsure what color it really was. My dad's a reddish-blondish-brown, and my mom's is chestnut brown naturally, but mine's always been blonde. We'll see what it is in the next few months I suppose :)


So- more on Self Magazine- I signed up online to be a part of a beauty panel for their May 2012 issue. Imagine my SURPRISE! I was picked! I'm testing some products that are supposed to help with redness in the skin. I have just finished my first product and I liked it alright. I don't think I'm supposed to talk too much about it, so I guess we'll all just have to buy the magazine to see if they publish my opinions? I like to try new products and from time to time I may write about them- good or bad!

And more about my darling daughter- Well, her name is Stella and she's nothing short of perfect. She was born 8/15/11 and has grown so much since then. Nowadays she's trying to roll over, "talking" and laughing! I'm hoping to start cloth diapering her soon, I am just so confused about what's what. Seems like to me that I could just buy some inserts & a cover & slap it on her and go.. I'm thinking it seems more than that. I'll take a free (sweet!) class at The Milky Way store here in Charlotte and that should help greatly.

She's such a cool baby. Life as a new mom is crazy- I went from being a workaholic, busy body and queen of the city to being a stay at home mom, couch surfing, laundry doing queen. :) I'll come back with more soon, but I leave you with this fabulous photo:

The last photo of me with hair. And my handsome husband and beautiful daughter. I think I'm pretty blessed!

The Obligatory New Blog Post

So- this is the umpteenth blog I've started, and I'm hoping to stick with this one to chronicle the life & times us- Marco, Heather & Stella! Stella is our awesome new addition. She was born August 15, 2011 and has been an absolute treat every second!

She's 3 months, almost 4 months old. I planned to start this as soon as she was born, but, well- life has just gotten back to "normal" around here. As normal as it can be with a new baby, anyway! She's sleeping better at night, so I can finally have a few minutes to myself to write/ post here. Whew!

Today she laughed, and we finally caught it on video!
The audio is not great. More about my bald head later too!
I am so head over heels in love with her, and so is her Daddy. I will give a brief recap of her life so far pretty soon.. I am a photo queen & take a bajillion horrible amateur photos a week. Heh heh. For now, here's a birth photo to now photo:

The first photo we ever took of her. Daddy took this one.

Today- rocking a new hat from our online buddies! She's making a grumpy face because I was soooo excited when I got it, that I woke her up from a nap to take this picture. Bad mom? Maybe. Cute hat? DEFINITELY.

You can get your OWN cute hat over Here- Etsy- Craft Two Three This girl is AMAZING with a needle! Her shop is new/ up & coming, so check her out & shoot her a message if you have a specific request! This was a surprise gift & this hat is so, so soft & cuddly!

Also, I am probably going to post reviews and personal stuff here from time to time. I am part of Self Magazine's Beauty review panel for 2012 and I am SUPER thrilled to try some new products & let people know what I think! In fact, I have one of them on my face tonight- more on that later!