Steven at 14 Months

"Baby" Steven, This is getting ridiculous. Please stop growing so quickly. Thank you -Mommy

No but seriously, my little baby is a little man now! He's such a big boy. This month you are walking around everywhere and talking like crazy. You are getting much more steady at walking this month and prefer to be let loose to run around like crazy. (You still say "up" a good amount and want to be carried by mommy, which is a-ok with me!) But you are getting more steady walking around and going up and down stairs. If something really peaks your interest you will even take off on a little run sometimes. Its pretty cute.

You have so many new words this month too! You come up with them all the time. It's so hard to try to name all the words you say now. For sure this month you are now saying, sock, walk, and snack. I'm sure there's a ton I'm forgetting. You also LOVE to say "hi" this month. You will say it to everyone we see, on our walks, at the store,  in the car next to us. Super cute!!

You also somehow managed to pick up signing at day care. Score!!

You are really into our dogs this month. You have always loved them but you are really, really into them more than ever. They are the first thing you want to see when you wake up in the morning or when we get home. We also had some new neighbors move in next door this month and they have dogs too. You love to walk up to the fence and "converse" with their dogs, just babbling along. Oh! Another new word you have is "stop" which you use to yell at the dogs. (like mommy ha ha).

You LOVE being outside lately. We have had a couple of weeks of awesome weather lately and you've loved playing in the yard, in the screened-in porch area, and in the back yard with the dogs. You will push your lawnmower around for a while and make the most determined faces while you are doing it. You also love your wagon. We keep that in the screened-in porch area and you will play with that for a good 30 mins straight.

Along with that you are getting better at playing independently for short periods of time. You will play in the screened-in porch area by yourself while mommy cooks dinner, or read books on the floor sometimes. Mostly you prefer to be the center of attention and have everyone laughing while you entertain them, though. Our little social butterfly!

You went swimming for the first time this month! We got to take you to Innsbrook for a few days at the lake and you loved swimming/floating in the lake. The water was very warm though and when we tried to put you in the cold pool water, you weren't having it!. You love to play outside with the garden hose and make a huge mess while we are "watering the flowers". You love to play with your water table too. So your dad and I thought it'd be a great idea to take you to a park with a splash pad...epic FAIL. You hated it! Cried the whole time. Silly boy!

So 14 months old already and you are growing right before our eyes everyday. You are walking all the time now and sometimes running. You are picking up new words everyday and even know some signs. You love to play with dogs, our dogs, neighbors dogs, any dogs you can find! You love to entertain everyone and love to flirt and say "hi" to people (especially the ladies) wherever we go. You are playing more independently now and love to play outside. You got your first taste of swimming this month and we hope you continue to like it. We love you so much!!

Grant's Farm

A few weekends ago we took our first family trip to Grant's Farm. Steve and I both had not been there since we were young and really didn't remember much. So we weren't sure what to expect but it was awesome!!! It was so neat to see the animals so close and get to interact with them. Steven loved the tram ride that you get on in the beginning. He loved the goats too. It was a hot day so the park wasn't too crowded. Mommy and daddy thought it was super neat and also loved the free beers at the end ;)

Here are some pictures of the day.



Waiting to cross the street into the park.

Some bison and other animals we saw on the tram ride.

Feeding the goats with daddy. At first it was a little scary...

But he ended up loving the goats! He went around petting them and saying "Zeus!" ha ha

We saw the elephants too. One of Steven's favorites!

Petting a pony...

Feeding the camel.

Fun in the beer garden.

So first trip to Grant's Farm was a great success! We will have to take Steven back again!

13 Months

I can't believe you are already one month into your second year (sniffle). I think this month I really had to admit that I don't have a "baby" anymore, you are truly a "toddler" now. It's pretty obvious though, our life has changed drastically in the past month due to our ever-growing and developing, little boy! You are walking and running all over the place now and getting into everything! You grab everything you can see, and reach for everything you can that might be up and out of your reach. You can really get to everything now. It's crazy and makes it difficult for me to try to keep you safe!

 

You have even reached up and started opening doors this month. Its crazy. You stand on your little tippy toes and reach up to our door handles (the long ones, not the regular turn knobs) then somehow you manage to open the door. Its nuts!

 

You are so curious and love to explore every nook and cranny you can find. We find you in  kinds of weird places around the house that we thought you couldn't get to...so we are truly in 
trouble this month.

 

Unfortunately you haven't quite figured out what safe boundaries are for you yet and get super frustrated when we won't let you touch or get something. Since you are asserting your independence now, a big fit usually ensues. We've seem some flat out tantrums from you this month (throwing your head back, crying, stomping feet, rolling around on the floor, etc). You are very much testing mommy's patience these days.

 

Along with you becoming more independent you love to help out mommy or daddy. When we load the dishwasher you like us to hand you spoons to put in the utensil drawer. You will help mommy get things out of the fridge for dinner. You try to be helpful doing the laundry but mostly you throw clothes and shut the dryer door on mommy. But its very cute to see you trying to be helpful!

 

 

You are so smart! All the time you amaze me with what you are able to learn and what you know. This month you are saying a lot of words still but a few new ones are ouch, brush, bubbles and up. You are able to follow 1 step instructions such as "Take this to daddy, close that door, etc". You are starting to be able to name body parts. You know eyes, nose and sometimes ears. You love to show off your belly button when we ask you too. Its super cute! You are also starting to be able to associate sounds with the correct animals. You picked up the elephant sound this month (putting your arm up and making the noise) and its soooooo cute! Your dad and I were so excited that we had to take you to the zoo that weekend to show you the elephants. When you saw them you did your elephant too! So smart!

 

Since the weather has been nicer we have been able to get outside more and you love it. You love being outside, just running around, playing in the water, blowing bubbles, it realy doesn't matter you love being outside. You like swinging at the park and going down the slides too. Another thing you love is dancing. You will start dancing when music plays and its so cute. You swing your arms, sometimes you "get low" and move your hips, so hilarious. We even catch you dancing in the car, bobbing your head to your favorite, Raffi.

 

So this month you are in full out toddler mode for sure, exploring and grabbing everything you can, enjoying playing outside, singing, dancing and learning about the world around you. I can't wait to show you more and more everyday! I love you so much, Steven and you'll always be my baby boy!!

 

 

Our 3 Year Anniversary

As I mentioned before our wedding anniversary was last week. Its hard to believe we've already been married for 3 years! So much has happened since then. Here is a pic from our wedding...ah memories!

Anyway to celebrate last weekend, Steve's parents took Steven for the whole day and overnight. (Thank you so much!) So we got to spend a whole day together...it was so weird! ha!

Steve got us all inclusive tickets to the Cardinals game. Wasn't that so sweet? The bad part was it was ridiculously hot that weekend! Highs were near 100 degrees that day! And our seats were in the direct sunlight...so sadly we didn't sit in them much.

We did take a few pictures of that day...

I was trying really hard to get a cute picture! Instead I got Steve stuffing his face...ha ha!

Steve brought this goofy had and I teased him about it the whole time. But actually when we were in our seats, it really helped keep you cool...so I stole it! ha!

After the game we came home and took a big nap! Whew we were tired!

We had talked about all kinds of places we could go for dinner and possibly going out dancing at night, but it was a Sunday night and most places were closed early. Boo!!

So we rocked it old school and went to OG. YUM! Boy it was good. Even though it wasn't particularly original it was still good.


Then we saw a movie. We saw What to Expect When You're Expecting (Steve's pick). It was OK... pretty funny.



So overall it was a good day! Pretty exhausting being out in the heat so a low key night was probably a good idea. And a NAP..ha ha! Been a long time since either of us had one of those!

Here's to many, many more years together!! Aww!