Stella Blue

Well many have asked us where'd you get the name Stella?

From the very first Grateful Dead album I ever heard...one of my favorite songs, Stella Blue. It's a special album for me because Tommy played it for me on our very first date. He had a portable CD player, which I had never seen before, and he had just bought the Grateful Dead's Wake of the Flood CD (produced in 1973...the year I was born). Despite the fact I grew up in California I had never heard of the Grateful Dead and I remember looking at that album cover and being super skeptical. I remember he put the headphones on me and I was amazed...I LOVED this music! AND I LOVED this album right away. The song Stella Blue has a very soulful melody that truly comforts me. Stella loves it too!

To see more Grateful Dead appreciation check out the second link to the right..."Best A/C Company in Florida." It's a blog by a good friend of ours AND there's several mentions of Stella. Reeve and Kyle saw Stella's pic on there the other day and they now think their little sister is famous! Thanks Tim :-).

Okay now get ready for LOTS of Stella pics...I had a hard time picking and choosing which ones to post. Believe it or not there are more than the ones on this blog, but I think these do a fairly good job of capturing most of her common facial expressions. The Organic Little Cutie Outfit that she's wearing in these pics is from her family in Georgia.










Kyle likes to call the next picture "Got Milk?" Sometimes she looks pretty funny after nursing. She looks very satisfied and quickly falls off to sleep.

The adorable comfy socks she's wearing were handmade by my good friend (since first grade!!! Dana). I must learn how to knit like that! Thank you Dana :-)


These rhubarb plants were given to us by my friend Brenda after Stella was born:

We also just received an organic pear tree from my folks for Stella's birth. We planted it yesterday with her placenta...sorry if I grossed anyone out!

Tom is very good with Stella and patient with her.

The other night while Tom was comforting Stella he had her on his chest...just trying to calm her down. Lately she kind of puts up a stink about going to sleep. Her only problem hours are between 7pm and 11pm when for the past week she likes to cry. Tom is very good about holding her and rocking her. We've read that skin to skin contact for newborns is best. Well he had her on his chest and she gave him a hickey!!!


She wasn't hungry because I had nursed her...it was just a comfort thing. When she was born she had two little marks on her wrist where she had been sucking on her hand in the womb.

Bella Stella...Our Beautiful Star

Warning: This blog will probably be pretty mushy with me gushing over Stella!! Please forgive me, but I can't help myself!!!

It's so hard to believe that little Stella May Joyce was one week old yesterday! Time is really zipping by.

Here are some of her one week old pictures.

We are so in love with her. Reeve and Kyle are very gentle and good with her. She really loves them and when she hears their voices she can't wait to see them.

Same with Tommy...she just lights up when he comes home from work. He melts when he sees her and can't get anything else done but hold her in the evening.

Reeve really loves to hold her.

It's a little harder for Kyle, but he holds her on his lap with me supporting her head...so I can't take a pic too easily.

She's very good with letting Tommy, Reeve, and Kyle hold her. I remember with Reeve and Kyle they pretty much put up a fuss when anyone else but me held them.

Every evening Stella gets a warm bath and then an olive oil body massage. She's in heaven when she's getting her massage.

It's rainbow weather here.

Whenever I try to take Stella outside she stiffens up and closes her eyes and won't open them until we get back inside...so she missed out on seeing her first rainbow.



The cutest thing that she does, in my opinion, is she likes to watch us sleep. In the middle of the night I notice her kind of moving her arms and I'll open my eyes and she's as calm as can be staring right at me. I've caught her doing the same thing with Tommy...she's just as calm as can be watching him sleep.
Okay enough gushing for now...more to come! You have been warned :-).

Stella May Joyce born April 30, 2009 at 1:40pm

We're in a blissed and blessed state just googling over Stella. She sleeps most of the time, and when she's awake we're in awe and forget to take pictures. She's a real lady...very sweet and dainty.
The pics speak for themselves:








Many Thanks to all who have wished us all well.

Feeding Frenzy & Patiently Waiting

Last week the kids and I went over to our friend's place down the road to help her feed her animals. We started out with the goats...I didn't get any pics...I've posted a lot of goat pics in the past.

Next we fed her calf Ricky his bottle. He is the sweetest bull calf and loves drinking his goat milk from the bottle.

Shortly after this pic was taken Ricky was transformed from bull to steer...I of course had no idea what that meant. My friend kindly laughed at me and told me how you turn a bull into a steer. She says you have to do it otherwise the meat is real gamey and does not taste good at all. I learn something new everyday!

Then we fed the piglets...they are getting sweeter by the day. Ironically enough they really love hot dog buns!!! Poor little piggies just have no idea what the future hold for them and some hot dog buns.

My friend says they are super friendly now and follow her on walks through the woods. She says they follow closer and easier to manage on walks than her dogs (who are really well behaved). Maybe if this baby doesn't come soon we'll go for a nice long walk in the woods with my friend and her pigs :-).

Last we fed and watered all the rabbits...way too many rabbits to count.

This is just one of like 10 cages. Most cages have one rabbit in them, but there are a couple of bunny cages like this one. Reeve's really good with the rabbits. They are so calm when he picks them up. Kyle and rabbits don't mix, even the calm ones go wild when Kyle tries to hold them. Me? I'm just not a rabbit person...I didn't even try to hold one.

No sign of baby, but I feel good and the midwife said on Monday that the baby had dropped.

Reeve's 9th and Laura's 38th Week

Reeve LOVES LEGOS... Before his birthday he built this huge lego tower. His cousin wanted to see pictures of it, so Reeve directed how many and what kind of pictures I should take to post on the blog.
Picture #1: View from top looking down

Picture #2: View from bottom looking up

Picture #3: View from top looking down center

Picture #4: View from top looking at man on observation deck

Picture #5: Proud Reeve with his tower


Reeve had a great 9th Birthday. The weather was beautiful and the kids had tons of fun playing outside with his juggling birthday presents (juggling pictures to come later...)I'm such a bum! The only picture I took was of him blowing out his birthday candles:

The sad sad story about the carrot cake...I was supposed to bake this cake in 3 spring form cake pans. I don't have 3 spring form cake pans, so I decided I'll bake it in a lasagna 9x13" pan. I baked it for 25min, just like the recipe stated. When I took the cake out of the oven it looked okay to me...I should have inserted a fork to check the center, but I didn't. Next I let the cake cook then I made the cream cheese frosting. The recipe called for 4 sticks of butter!!! I decided to not use any butter. It also called for some sugar which I substituted with honey when it dawned on me that I didn't put ANY sugar in the cake! I proceeded to frost the cake with the cream cheese,honey,lemon juice concocttion...it didn't exactly go on smooth. It was very lumpy and not at all pretty. I found 9 candles and I put them on the cake then we sang Happy Birthday to Reeve. He was soooo excited because carrot cake is his absolute favorite cake (he's had it in restaurants and never one made by me...that he can remember). Well the moment came to cut and serve the cake. When I made the first cut it was total goo...the inside had not baked at all! I told the kids I'd have to re-bake it...I baked it for another 25 minutes...still gooey inside. Reeve was in tears...not because he didn't get any cake, but because he said he felt like he pressured me into baking something I just wasn't capable of baking. He later told me that he was embarrassed for me.
All ends well...Tom came home and saved the day. Tom kindly explained to me that cooking in a lasagna glass pan is TOTALLY different than cooking in 3 separate cake form pans and that I needed to cook it for at LEAST twice as long. He baked the cake again and then we let it cool and put it in the fridge for the night...by this time it was almost 11pm. The next morning we tried it and it actually tasted okay for being baked 3 times with goopy cream cheese frosting and no sugar.
Reeve was impressed with Tom's baking skills and was very proud of his Papa for saving his birthday cake. Next year I'll know better.

I think I'll stick to cross-stitch vs. cake baking. I've done as much as I can do with my latest cross-stitch, now we wait for the baby to come so I know what name and date to stitch.


My feet are usually swollen by the end of the day, but in the morning I'm feeling pretty good for week 38...only 12 more days to go.
Reeve took this profile pic of me this morning.

We see the midwife again today and then next week she'll come here for a home visit. I've gathered all my diapers and baby clothes. We have the rear-facing infant car seat in the car and checked to make sure all three kids will fit. The kids have practiced putting diapers on their teddy bear and buckling the bear in the car seat...I think we're ready.