Stella Grace, Gratefulness, Christmas Pictures, and Fried Chicken

This blog post is written by Jeremy.

The past week has literally been a turning point in our lives with the addition of our wonderful little baby girl, Stella Grace. Only 8 days ago our little bundle of joy made her debut into this world and wow how time flies! Kristin keeps joking that those last few days of her pregnancy seemed like FOREVER, and now all of a sudden Stella is already a week old! Crazy, right?

With all blessings there are usually trials. We had a minor trial this week when Stella Grace was officially diagnosed with Jaundice, a yellowing of her skin and eyes.  It was quite scary having her get an IV in her tiny little hand and forcing her to lie still under those blue lights, but all in all, we are thankful she is healthy. But not just thankful, grateful. For Stella’s treatment we are at Cook Children’s Hospital here in Fort Worth. During our 24 hour stay I made my way up and down the halls looking for Chik-fil-a (yes there was a chick-fil-a and a Starbucks in this hospital). I couldn’t help but notice the scores of children that were not so “luck” as Stella to be there with only a mild condition. I saw an 8 year old boy with no hair being pushed in a wheelchair by his mom, obviously fighting cancer. Another 6 or 7 year old boy still wearing diapers running through the halls with autism. Watching these parents chase their children and struggle to be “strong” for their kids while their worlds are collapsing around them gave me a greater sense of thankfulness. Sure, Jaundice can be scary if not properly treated, but all things considered it is mild compared to what many kids face today. Watching Stella at the hospital not only made me thankful for her health, but also gratefulness.

On a lighter note, I have been cooking dinner recently! Scary, I know. Kristin is a superwoman and I know nothing about cooking! Needless to say, I saw this easy recipe on the Today show yesterday so I gave it a try. Simply put, it was a little bit spice and olive oil to make fried chicken on the stove. Yum. (btw, Kristin said it was good and would eat it again).

Enjoy these BEAUTIFUL pictures of our precious girl. We know we are biased, but she really is the cutest baby EVER!

Can you pick a favorite? I can’t…