Christmas Eve Video

I am so far behind on posts.  I have so much to post and no energy to do any of it!!  I hope to catch up soon!

Here is the video from Christmas Eve at my parents house.  We had a great day with them.

Bath

Stephen hates bath time lately.  Some days it is a real struggle to get him in the bath, but once he is there, he enjoys it.  

He likes washing himself now with his washcloths that fits over his hand. 

Washing his elbows:

His chest:



And his legs:



His legs look so long in the first 2 pictures!  I can't believe how big he is getting.  I swear he is going to be taller than me by the time he's in kindergarten!

Stephen at 2 1/2

Since Stephen has been born I have loved every stage and watching him grow up.  Every day I think, I just want him to stay at this age forever and then he grows a little more and I think the same thing.  Of course I miss holding my sweet newborn or when he was crawling around our house and I know one day I will look back and miss these days.  So I try not to relish in the past and stay present in the "now".  Enjoy each day as it comes and soak it all in!

I am so blessed to be his Mom!  Even though I am exhausted at night, when he is asleep I think about how much I love him and I can't wait to start our next day together.  Although he likes to start our days together a little earlier than I would like-haha!

Two and a half is such a fun age!  I don't love the tantrums or the "look" he gives me when he doesn't want to do something I've told him to do, but those are so few and far between that it's barely worth mentioning!  

He is starting to talk more and is just so funny!  I really need to take more video of him right now because I don't ever want to forget the way he talks and says things.  

* He goes to sleep around 7:30 each night and is usually up by 7 in the morning.

* He naps from 12- 2 or 3

* He wears 2T shirts, 2T or 3T with the waist sinched in pants, and 3T pajamas.  

* He loves his train set and the way he says choo choo is adorable.  I have to get this one video.

* He has a puppy dog that he sleeps with that he calls ruff ruff.

* He has been going potty on the potty for a while now.  We are not potty training yet, but I think he is ready and we just need to bite the bullet and do it! 

* He loves to wash his hands after he goes potty.

* Since he started school he has become attached to his blanket he takes to school.  It is white with blue airplanes on it.

* As you all know from the amount of pictures of him wearing this, he is obsessed with his orange GAP hoodie. 

* He is also obsessed with the boots Yaya bought him.  He won't wear any other shoes.

* He suddenly hates bath time.

*When he does something good, we started saying, "Yay Stephen" so now he says, "Yay me!".  It is adorable!

* One night we were putting him to sleep and we normally kiss him on the lips and this night he kissed me on the lips and then turned my head to the side and kissed my cheek and then kissed the other cheek.  He also made the cutest "kissing" sound when he did it.  So cute!

* He loves laying in bed with us and watching tv in the morning.  Then after about 10 minutes he gets up and creates a huge mess in our room, rummaging through our drawers, etc.  

* He loves our keys and if he finds mine he will push my panic button to make my alarm go off.  He thinks this is hilarious.  Our neighbors probably do not have the same sense of humor at 7:30 in the morning. His Uncle Aaron taught him this last Easter.

* He goes to school with Hayden and talks about Hayden all the time.  

* He hates sitting in shopping carts and now squats instead of putting his legs through the seat holes.  I finally bribed him in Walmart one day and told him if he put his legs through the holes, he could pick out a treat when we were done shopping.  It worked.  

* He wants to read "The Night Before Christmas" every single night.  He studies each picture and points things out to us.  

* He is obsessed with the cartoon Caliou.  I mean obsessed. 

* He recently started putting the silverware away from the dishwasher.  He stands in his "house" aka kitchen helper and does a great job putting them where they go. 

Stephen,

Every day we love you more and more.   You bring so much joy into our home and our lives.  Every minute I am not with you, I miss you and can't wait to be with you.  You are such a funny and smart little boy.  I am constantly amazed at the things you know and can do.  I am so proud of you sweet boy and love you so much!  

Love, 

Mommy

Ice Days

Our weather has been crazy lately.  This has been a bad winter for us.  One Friday we got rain/ sleet and had freezing temperatures, so the city practically shut down.  Stephen's school was closed, but thankfully Stephen was off so he watched him while I had to work.  By Sunday the weather had warmed up and we were playing outside in short sleeves.

Tuesday, we got more ice and sleet.  Stephen's school was closed again and Stephen and I both had to work so I kept Stephen home with me while I worked.  Stephen actually didn't have to go to work until 10 and I started work early so I only worked until 3 and Stephen napped from 12-3, so it really wasn't too bad.

I tried to keep him occupied with Caliou or other activities while I worked.

He colored and played with stickers for a long time while sitting with me at the table.





After I got off work, we went up to the game room to play.  He loves these Superman pajamas from Nana.





We haven't had any more ice days, but our weather has still be so extreme.  Highs of 35-40 or a few days and then highs of 65-73 for a few days.  It is crazy!  Thankfully the weekends have been when the weather warms up so we have been able to get out of the house and enjoy the warmer weather.  We are so ready for Spring though!!!

Christmas Video

I finally finished our Christmas video, so I thought I would share it with anyone who wants to see it.

If you don't want to watch all of it, there is one clip you must watch.  It starts around 8:20.   He picks a present and sits down to open it.  He thinks it is from Papa.  We had Christmas with Papa and Yaya the night before, so that is probably why he thought that.  So, I told him it was from Mommy and Daddy.  It took him a minute to figure out that we bought it for him and then he walks right over to Stephen and whispers, "thank you Dada".  You can't hear it in the video, but he also tells me thank you.  It was SO incredibly sweet and I am so glad we caught it on camera.

You must watch that clip.  It's from 8:20-9:00.  I have watched it over and over!

Olivia's Birthday

Olivia had her 2nd birthday at Gymboree this year and we were so excited to go.  Gymboree is the best place for birthdays for younger kids.

Stephen had a blast!













There was a paper guitar taped onto the wall in the party room as decoration and Stephen asked me to pick him up so he could play it.  He pretended to strum the strings.  It was so cute!



We had such a fun time with good friends!

Lois Bourgeois

Stephen's grandmother, Lois Bourgeois, passed away on January 12, 2014.  She will be greatly missed, but her last few months were very painful and difficult so we are very thankful that she is now pain free.

She was known as "The Avon Lady" by everyone.  Her husband became ill and could no longer work and so she worked two and three jobs to provide for her family.  One of those jobs was selling Avon and she never stopped.  She was in the hospice facility and being wheeled down a hallway and was selling Avon to a nurse.  That is who she was!

I remember going to her house in Baton Rouge and she would always put some Avon products out on the guest bed and let us go through them and choose whatever we wanted.  The front room in her house was her "store".  She had items displayed everywhere with prices attached to them.  Stephen told me when he was younger, he and his sister used to stay in that room on a pull out couch and after everyone had gone to bed they would get up and go look at everything.

She makes a famous jumalaya.  When Stephen and I started dating, I heard about this jumbalaya over and over.  His family just raved about it.  Whenever his grandma would come visit or they would visit her, she would make it.  I really had no idea what to expect, but the first time I had it, I was confused.  It was just rice and sausage.  It was good though, just not what I was expecting.  Over the years, I came to learn that this was a special family recipe and that jumbalya can be made many different ways.  This recipe is specific to their family and something they grew up eating and loving.  Comfort food at it's finest!  And it's only made a few times a year, when grandma visits or we go visit her, so it's always a special meal to have.   It's made a very special way and at one point in the cooking process, the lid can not be removed for a few hours.  Stephen would always open the lid and sneak out a piece of sausage.  And then get yelled at my his mom and grandma!

Lois was very special to many people and she will be greatly missed.  She was a woman of incredible faith and we can all rejoice knowing she is in heaven and no longer in pain.

Papaw's Birthday

We went out to Papaw's to celebrate his birthday with my family.



My mom brought this puzzle to entertain Stephen.



Playing ball with Papaw.





Stephen got Papaw a cup of water.



He's saying "cheese".









Stephen was taking Papaw's hat on and off and thought it was so funny.





Happy Birthday Papaw!  We love you!

Park Fun

Anytime the weather is slightly warm lately, we head to the park.  We had so much fun playing at the park on several days.  I can't wait for Spring.

I'm certainly not ready for Summer, but bring on Spring!

Snow Day

Our neighborhood had a snow day where they bring in tons of ice and blow it out to resemble snow.  I'm sure people up north think we are crazy, but for people who never see snow this is very exciting!!!  When I was growing up our neighborhood also did this and I remember how fun it always was.

When we got there I was so surprised to see bounce houses and blow up slides, a carnival ride, food truck, and a DJ.  It was crazy!!  

Stephen wouldn't even get close to the snow and didn't care if I was touching it or walking on it, he wasn't getting near it. We walked around for a little bit and found a bounce house for younger kids and saw Hayden so they jumped together for awhile. Then Stephen saw the park across the field and wanted to go over there. WHAT? There is SNOW and you want to go to the park where we go all the time. I thought he may just be overwhelmed with all the people too because it was packed. So over to the park we went.





We had to leave the park to go get a diaper change and I was going to leave at that point because it was getting close to nap time and he hadn't eaten lunch yet.  But then Stephen started freaking out about going back to the snow.  I told him that he didn't like it and it was a LONG walk back.  He still wanted to go, so I told him if we went back he HAD to touch the snow.  He said he would, but I wasn't so sure.

When we got there, he walked right up to the edge of the snow and touched it and came back to me and told me he touched it.  It was so funny.  He was so proud.  This is the part he touched:



Then he realized it wasn't so bad and he did in fact want to play in it.



He started picking up the tiniest pieces and handing them to me.  At this point the "snow" was packed down pretty good form everyone walking on it so it was hard to form a snow ball.



I made him a few snow balls and he loved throwing them.





We saw a boy from his class and he had a popsicle and Stephen wanted one.  So I gave him one.  It was already nap time at this point and he was curling his hair, which he does when he's tired.



He loved the popsicle though!  I told him to look at me and smile and this is what he did:





We came home and bathed from the sticky popsicle, had lunch, and then Stephen took a long nap!

That afternoon we went to a park.  They are renovating a few parks in our neighborhood and I was sad about this one.  It was all wood and such a great size for Stephen.  We tried out the new park today and to my surprise it is a great park!!!  It is the perfect size for Stephen.





We had a fun snow day together!  I'm sure my friend Ki, who is from Michigan, thinks this is so funny!

Counting and Playing Guitar

This is a video from my parents house when we were there over Thanksgiving break.  My Mom was teaching Stephen how to count.  Stephen loves to play the guitar with my Dad and my Dad is so patient and good with Stephen.

2013 Cell Phone Pics

I had some pictures on my cell phone so I wanted to put them all in one post.

Haircut time.  They always cut it too short.  No one knows what a trim means.  But thankfully, he sits pretty still now and is good as long as he has a sucker.



He got these blocks from Uncle Aaron and Aunt Jessica and he always says he's building a house.



My mom put some bandaids in his stocking and he told us he had a boo boo on his face and needed one.



My mom also got him these pajamas and had them monogrammed.  They are so cute!!  And they are super soft and warm!



Visiting Papaw.  I'm not sure if I've updated my blog on Steve lately, but he is currently back at home and doing wonderful!!!  We are so thankful!