We Love Our Pup-Pup

Today Stella said goodbye to her furry friend, Dasha. This is a sad day for our family, but Dasha was having a hard time with mobility and hadn't been eating much. We wanted to make sure she had some dignity, and after 13 years of friendship, it seemed time.



Dasha has been very good with the baby, and kept vigil while Stella napped or was in another room. Stella loved her dog, and would crane her neck around us to watch Dasha do nothing. She would pull herself up to look over the side of the bed at the dog. She giggled and laughed every time the pup-pup would walk by. Dasha and Stella would bark together. Both parties seemed to get joy from the friendship.



We are going to miss her on our walks, but are so thankful that Dasha was able to bring our baby so much joy in the brief time they knew each other. Mommy and Daddy are glad to have Stella's distractions on this very hard day.

Bye-bye Pup-Pup, you were such a good dog, my first baby, and we love you very much. Our home is already lonely without you. I hope that you are having fun in Puppy Heaven and that there are a piles of chicken chips to eat. Thank you for being part of our family.

This Place is a Zoo!

We took a trip out to Brookfield Zoo with Sheri, Mikey, Frankie, and Mason. Stella had a great time, despite the heat. She loved watching the apes, and hooted and hollered so much that she had their full attention.



All went well until the barf incident. I imagine that this is the first of many. We were cooling off in an eating establishment, and Stella was enjoying her lunch of cheese and banana when she hacked and then projectiled. It was everywhere- all over the hot, sweaty baby and stroller. Naturally, I froze up. Luckily, Sheri's mommy instincts kicked in and she whisked us off the the bathroom where we cleaned the babe up. The stroller, however, was a wreck. We rinsed it off in the fountain, and I put the baby (all 23 lbs of her) in the baby bjorn for the rest of the day.





Despite the frightful showing suitable for The Exorcist, we had a fun day! The best part was a hilarious penguin that really wanted to eat Stella's hat. It made Stel cry a bit...

Fourth of July: "It's Bigger than Christmas!"

Stella had an awesome first Fourth of July. We were jam packed with activity, and I will do my best to sum it up.



On Friday the 2nd, Stella had her first visit to The Friendly Confines and attended the Cubs v. Reds game. She sat on Mommy's lap and watched the dudes behind us. They played with her the entire game, and kept reminding themselves that "there is a game going on down there." The Cubs gave up 9 runs in the 7th so we hit the pavement. Stella received a certificate from Wrigley to commemorate the momentous occasion. Truth be told, I am not so sure she even noticed that there was a baseball game going on, but she did like it when everyone cheered.



From the game, we headed out to see the Maine East fireworks, per our usual tradition. Grandma Lundgren was there, along with many of her chums. Uncles Jack and David attended, and Stella got to play with many of Mommy's friends. Some of Stella's friends were there as well.



Stella fell asleep before the fireworks, and had a minor meltdown as she was jolted awake by the pyrotechnics. We held her and she watched the whole show- never looking away. She LOVED it.





On the Fourth, we headed out to the Des Plaines parade and parked our tushies in our usual location across from the judges. It was a wickedly hot day, and Stella sat with Daddy on a blanket for most of the parade. She didn't appreciate the sirens and horns from the fire department.



Stella really likes music, and thought the steppers were awesome. As the cheerleaders passed, Mommy used the teachable moment to instill so of her ideals about proper extracurricular activities.



We left the parade to go to a BBQ at Jack and Colleen's and Stella met up with a few of her pals for a game of pool table sitting.





From there, Daddy hustled Stella over to the Itasca fireworks to play with Eric and Mari and the Stahlmanns. Mommy joined up before the fireworks began, and we oooed and aaahhed along with the crowd. Itasca puts on quite a show.