Halloween

Hayden wore his Halloween costume over on Wednesday.  He was superman.



I wanted to get a picture of the boys together in their costumes.  This is the best we could do:



We went over to Steve and Nancy's that afternoon.  It is always fun being at their house for Halloween!

In the car on the way over, Stephen kept saying dada over and over so I got it on video:





Steve was practicing trick or treating with Stephen.









Me and my football player:



Izabella was a cute cow:



We wanted to get some pictures of Stephen and Izzy together.









Izzy was attacking Stephen!  I think she should have been the football player!



After everyone got there and got dressed up, it was finally time for trick or treating!



The big kids took off, but Aunt Shelley was so sweet to stay back with us and take Stephen up to a few houses.





Brook and Izzy.



Daddy had to work late, but finally got there and took Stephen trick or treating to a few houses.















And then mommy got to take him to a few houses.





We went back and had pizza and just hung out for a while.  Stephen loved looking at himself in their big mirror.





I love this next picture.  He does this to Stephen and I all the time.  He is so sweet about it too.  He comes up slowly and gently puts his forehead on ours and will smile at us.  It is so sweet!





He was holding Daddy's coke bottle.  He does NOT get to drink coke at all!  I thought this picture was hilarious though!  Thank goodness the lid was on tight!





Mary spent the night passing out candy(aka creeping all of the kids out- haha!).  She was doing a creepy witch voice that was too funny!!



We had a great Halloween!

Playing outside

Despite not feeling well, Stephen still loves to be outside running around and I think it is good for him to get some fresh air.



My dad let him bring this beach ball home and he loves to play with it outside!









There is only one problem with playing with it outside.  As you can see in the above picture, it is rolling down the sidewalk.  After I took that picture I had to run after it as it was quickly blowing away!







Looking for some treasures in the grass.







When he finds something really special (in this instance a leaf), he says, OOOOOOOOOO.

15 months

I thought I would do an update on whats going on Stephen at 15 months.  After he turned one I stopped the monthly updates, but I will still do them every few months because there are so many little things I want to remember.

I am loving this age right now.  Everyday with him is just so much fun!  I used to think that I would be so sad when he got bigger and I couldn't hold him all the time and while I look back at those memories very fondly, I love every stage he is in.  Everyday I think, I love this age the best.  And then he gets another month older and I think, no this stage is the best.  So pretty much, everyday with my baby is the BEST!!

He wears size 4 diaper.   We are taking a break from cloth diapers.  He is a very heavy wetter and they started leaking.  He would literally go through 5-6 pairs of shorts in one day.  I was so frustrated with the whole situation that I just bought a pack of disposables and we have been using them ever since.  We do still use cloth at night.  He is such a heavy wetter that he will leak in disposables at night.  Sometimes he leaks in the cloth, but they are more reliable at night.

He wears either 12-18 or 18-24 month clothes.

He loves to be outside.  It makes me so happy that he loves to run and play outside.  When we are outside he loves to explore and check everything out.  He is very inquisitive.

He says ball, mama, dada.  He stopped saying book and diaper.  I heard somewhere that kids only have the capacity for so many words at certain ages so I wonder if he can only remember those works.  I don't think he will ever forget ball.  Everything that is round is a ball and he gets very excited whenever he sees a ball!  And I love that he constantly says mama and dada.  There is nothing sweeter than hearing him say mama.  He says it in such a sweet voice too, I just love it!  I also love when he will just say dada at random times and point.  It's like he is thinking of dada and wondering where he is.  It sometimes makes Stephen sad when I tell him that Stephen was saying dada and pointing to the door, but I think it just means that he is thinking about him and loves him!

He is always happy when we are out somewhere.  People constantly tell me how good he is and ask if he is always like this.  He is just always a joy to be with and makes everyones day brighter.

He is doing so good feeding himself.  He can now have larger chunks of food and he will just bite one bite off.  You do still have to monitor him though, because he will still stuff his mouth and then choke.

He loves to hide and play hide and seek.  He will hide behind anything and then slowly peek out.

He is SO smart.  I know every parent says that, but he really is.  The things he knows are amazing to me for such a young age.  He knows if he gets his shoes on we are going outside.  If he sees the diaper bag, he knows we are leaving.  I have my keys hanging on a hook in the kitchen and I will say go get mama's keys and he will run right to them.  After I make a meal, I say "ok lets eat, go get in your chair" and he runs over to his high chair and waits for me to get there and put him in it.  I'm sure these are probably normal for his age and we are not raising the next genius child who graduates college at age 11, but I think he is so smart!!

He loves airplanes.  We have a small airport near our house so they fly over all the time and he always points up to look at them, even if we are inside.  Sometimes he will run over to the window and try and see it.

I am starting to give him directions and teach him how to follow them.  He is always right with me wherever I am and the other day I was taking towels out of the dryer and so I gave him one and said, "carry this to the couch" and he looked at me like "what?", so I said it a few more times and then all the sudden he just took off and when I got to the living room he was hoisting his towel onto the couch.  I think he is going to be a great helper!

He is obsessed with my keys!  He always wants to hold them.  I hang them on a hook in the kitchen and the other day I saw him go into the kitchen but then it was very quiet.  I looked over the bar and saw him staring up at my keys.  It was too funny!  I told Stephen that story and he said he was probably thinking, "ok, just 2 more years and I will be able to reach them"- haha!

He gives us kisses, but only when he wants to.  We will ask him for a kiss and we only get one every now and then.  They are the open mouth, slobbery kisses and they are the best!!

His schedule is probably about to change so I want to document this so I will remember:

7am- awake and bottle (7oz)
8am- breakfast
9am-11am- nap
11am- sippy cup of milk
12pm- lunch
1pm-3pm- nap
3pm- sippy cup of milk
3:30pm- snack
5:30pm- dinner
6pm- bath
6:30pm- bottle (7oz)
7:15-7:30- bed

I know it is cliche to say, but everyday I truly love him more.  Each and every day, my heart just swells with pride and joy and LOVE.   Lately I have just had the overwhelming feeling of gratitude to be his mother.  There is no job that is more important to me and no job I could love more.  I love everything about being a mom.

We love you so much Stephen Earl!!  You are the best thing that ever happened to your mommy and daddy!!

Sick Weekend

Stephen was working Saturday so my boy and I had the day together.  We were supposed to go meet Jessica and Olivia at a craft show that morning, but since Stephen wasn't feeling good or napping well, I decided it was better for us to stay home.

He found Daddy's hat in the morning and carried it around.





This week he has been sitting on the window sill like this.







I was taking some pictures of my fall decor and looked back to find him like this:



I was so scared he was going to slip off that ledge and bust his head!  After I snapped that picture I helped him sit all the way on the ledge.  He got up there all by himself, but can't quite scoot all the way back.

Stephen didn't want to sleep in his crib for his morning nap, so I held him while he napped.  It was so sweet and I while I hate to see him sick, I loved cuddling with him!



He didn't want to nap at all in the afternoon, so we just cuddled in the chair.



He was being so funny and sweet all day.  I gave him some cheerios to snack on so I could dry my hair and put some makeup on and decided to snap a few pictures of us when he started feeding me his cheerios.







I was burning candles all day and had them on the bar and he kept wanting me to pick him up so he could blow on them.  He is so adorable when he blows on anything, but this video is SO cute!



All day he was wanting one of the mini pumpkins (aka balls) that I had on the bar, so I finally gave him one.



Then he spotted another one on the mantle.  He is saying baaaaaalllllll in this picture.





He always takes his balls form the living room and throws them on the hardwood floor, so he decided to do the same with his pumpkin.  Lovely!







He does this now when he doesn't know where something is or if we ask him a question and he doesn't know.   So cute!









He loves these legos!



Stephen and I were supposed to go to a halloween party that night and Annette was going to come babysit for us.  We decided not to go since Stephen wasn't feeling well and not sleeping good, but Nana still wanted to come see Stephen.



He loved playing with her charm bracelet.







And he loved her shoes!







He kept trying to put them on himself, but couldn't do it so Stephen would put them on him and he would immediately step out and run off laughing.



Even though he hasn't been napping in his crib, he has still be sleeping in it at night...until Saturday.  He did not want to be in his crib so I brought him downstairs.   We were watching a movie so I just held him and in no time he was alseep.  After sleeping for a little while he crossed his legs.  It was so cute!



We slept in the chair together and he slept great all night!  I really loved holding him while he slept!



When we woke up Sunday morning, I made a bottle and then we joined Daddy in bed.





Stephen wouldn't nap again in his crib so Daddy held him for his morning nap.



Isn't that the sweetest picture!?!  I love his hands on his face.  Too sweet!!!

Sunday evening he thankfully slept in his own bed.  I just hate that he isn't feeling good and would do anything to make him feel better!!