Stephens' Stories: 2014

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Thanksgiving 2014

I better post about Thanksgiving before Christmas arrives.....time is flying!

We drove to Lake LBJ on Thursday (Thanksgiving day) morning. DiDi and Grandad were there already with a yummy lunch prepared. My mom volunteered to babysit while David and I went to the Texas vs TCU game. It was also very kind of Stacy to let her babysit since it was his birthday that day. We met my dad and Michelle at the game and sat with them. Unfortunately, it was a loss for the Longhorns and a win for the Frogs. David was happy. On Friday we just hung around the house while the guys played golf. Meredith, Caroline and Toby came by for a visit. It was our first time to meet Toby (born in early September). Austin said "Toby like Toby in Thomas the train", (there is a train named Toby). We visited my dad and Michelle at their house in the late afternoon and then headed into Marble Falls to eat dinner. After dinner we attempted to go to the Trail of Lights but Austin whined and cried and wouldn't get out of the car. He knew Santa was there and was scared. So we didn't push it for the first "Santa" encounter this season. There would be more..... On Saturday we headed back to Houston after a stop at the Calhouns to meet baby Kase (only 3 weeks old at the time). Sadly, I didn't take any pictures. We celebrated Stacy's birthday in Houston on Saturday. Finally, on Sunday we had a late Thanksgiving get together at MiMi and Big Deal's house. It was a fun few days with lots of family and football, and of course chasing the boys around. We are thankful!!!

Puffs in the car on the way to the lake - anything to keep this active boy happy. Being trapped in a carseat is no fun!

Big brother saying "We are almost there Campbell", in a sweet voice.

Pumpkin shirts with Grandad and DiDi

One football game shot. Hook 'em anyways

Pulling up on the coffee table at the lake. Oh my!

Attempting a picture - Caroline and Austin chatting in this one

Austin looks incredibly bored with all these "babies". Really he was so sweet with Caroline (will be 2 in December)

Daddy in the pumpkin boys at MiMi and Big Deal's house

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Halloween 2014

This Halloween we discovered that Austin is terrified of masks and he will do anything for candy. He did not like any of the costumes that involved something covering the face. I think this is understandable. The Scream white mask is terrifying to me too. After he discovered that candy was involved in both our church's Trunk or Treat and while trick or treating in the neighborhood, he could look past the masks. We headed over to a neighbor's hotdog/beer/bouncehouse driveway party before trick or treating. We made it to about 8 houses before calling it quits. He wanted to eat every piece of candy upon receipt and didn't understand saving it for later. I have trouble with this too :) Below are pictures of Bob the Builder (or "strucktion worker") and our little pumpkin! I also posted the pumpkin patch photos taken earlier in the month.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Campbell at 6 months

Campbell turned 6 months old on October 7th. At his doctor's visit he was 14 lbs 11.5oz and 27.5 inches long, which is 7% and 86%, respectively. His head circumference was 17in, or 47%. (side note - Austin was 16lbs 13.5 oz and 27.5 inches at 6 months- same height as C but 2 lbs heavier). He is still a tall and thin little guy. At 6 months he decided it was time to sit without support and crawl - basically at the same time. For a week or so, he was doing the army crawl on his tummy. As I write this on 10/22, he is now really working on the hands and knees crawl. He is one determined little guy. He started some fruits and veggies the day after his doctor's appointment. He has now had sweet potatoes, carrots, broccoli, peas, pears, bananas, apples, mangos and prunes. He needed the prunes for some tummy issues due to the introduction of these solids. He is still nursing 5-6 times a day. He will take a bottle much easier now and has one to supplement the bedtime feeding most days. He is wearing size 6month and 9month clothes. He LOVES Austin, who makes him smile all the time. He loves watching Savannah and smiles when she comes near him. It's so cute! I am trying to teach him to say "dog". He has already figured out how to pass up the toys and go for the shoes, sunglasses, computers/ipad, electric cords....uh oh!!! As far as sleep goes - hmmmm, he has big shoes to fill - Austin was an excellent sleeper and never woke up after 8 weeks. Campbell, can you please follow this example? For about the past 2 months he has been waking up most nights once. It is usually about 9 hours after going to sleep - which isn't bad, I guess. He only naps about 2 hours throughout the day so he needs 12 hours or so at night. He just doesn't quite make it that long without waking. But we are working on it and working on the "self-soothing". I have even tried a pacifier but he won't take it. We'll get there... I think he might also be working on some top teeth. Campbell - you are such a flirt - when I take you on errands, you smile at everyone in the store. You like riding in the bjorn in HEB so you can see everyone and everything. We love you baby boy!

Sitting proud with big brother

First time in the swing!

Trying some new food

Reaches for the spoon when he is hungry

Big boy!

Cutie!

Savannah dog

Not so sure about the carrots

Dont tell Austin - playing golf with his clubs while he is at school. - crawled to them and pulled them out all by himself - sneaky little guy

For comparison-----

Austin at 6 months - not quite sitting without support

Austin eating carrots- big smile and round face

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Lake Tahoe!

Just running a month behind on blogging....here is the Lake Tahoe trip post! On September 6th, we flew to Lake Tahoe to stay at MiMi and Big Deal's time share condo. We had been once before in June 2012 when Austin was 10 months old. It is such a gorgeous place and the weather was wonderful, lows in the mid 40's, highs in the mid 70's. Each way we had flew to LA and changed planes. Campbell did awesome on the flights and Austin did OK. It is a long way to just sit in a plane seat for a very active and strong-willed 3 year old. We had about 3-4 tantrums each travel day. Oh well, we survived. The condo is 2 bedrooms, 2 baths so Campbell ended up sleeping in the kitchen, basically. David would go to the casino (across the parking lot in the Hyatt hotel) each night with MiMi and when he would come back, he would wake me up and we would carefully move Campbell's pac n play out to the kitchen/den. He woke up once each night we were there and we didn't want him waking Austin up too. I was fortunate to be able to run in the cool temperatures along the sidewalk that has views of the lake. Austin loved throwing rocks in the creek on the property with MiMi and Daddy. We got to go swimming in the heated pools too. One of the new discoveries for Austin was mini golf. There were 2 old-school mini golf courses (putt-putt) nearby so we ended up doing this 3 times. He LOVED it! I wish there were these kinds of courses nearby in Houston. Most of the ones I know are indoors and fluorescent or have crowds, which doesn't work with a 3 year old who likes to play each hole 3 times and doesn't care about the order. We ate out some - Austin's restaurant across the street from the Hyatt, The char-pit burger joint in Kings Beach, and the Red Hut in South Lake Tahoe. We also cooked some at the condo and on the grill. Austin loved playing golf in the grass just outside the condo. We went to the playground by the lake a few times and got our feet wet in the chilly water, while looking for rocks to throw (seems to be a theme). It was a fairly low key trip (no rafting, hiking, paddle boarding, kayaking, etc going on due to the ages of our children) but we had a great time in a beautiful place. These activities will come when the kids are older. Thank you MiMi and Big Deal for a great trip with lots of memories!