a beachy thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! This Thanksgiving was Steven's first time to the beach. The Sternad family has made a tradition of going to the coast every Thanksgiving and this is my second time to go as part of the family. I have to admit, getting used to going to Luby's was hard, but the food is pretty good and it's always packed!

This was Steven's second Thanksgiving. If you'll remember last year...

Awww, so tiny.... Ahem. Where was I? Oh yeah....

Steven LOVED the beach. LOVED. IT. The birds, the shells, the sand, the water, all of it.

I'm so glad we brought his wagon! Riding in the wagon was the way to walk to beach.

Here all of us are (well, except for me) walking back to the condo during a beautiful sunset!

Evidently, Steven is master of chasing birds, but I didn't get to witness it. Someone (and I won't name names) decided sleeping at the beach is for the weak, so while mommy and daddy tried to get a few more hours of sleep Nana and Grampy (thank you!!) took him down to the beach where all the bird chasing happened.

The water was a little chilly, so we made our dip in the ocean super fast! He just giggled and squealed- I can't wait to take him when the water's warm! And please excuse the way his mother looks. Apparently she hasn't seen the sun (or the gym!) in quite sometime.

Splash, splash, splash

Gobble, gobble, gobble :)

par-tay!!

Steven's Frist Birthday party was this past Saturday! It was so wonderful and we had so many family members come! Some even drove all the way from Dallas and SW Houston just to celebrate with us and we were so thankful they were able to be there!

The day was perfect- everything turned out so well!

Here is Steven playing in the car that Great Grandma Barb got him. He LOVES this car!





Here is Matt and Steven with Aunt Phyllis and Aunt Tammy!

Uncle Jon!!

Singing Happy Birthday!

What is this....

Seriously, mom? You want me to eat this?

Well, alright.

YUM!

Squishy!

I make a mess and they laugh? More mess it is!!!

SOO messy!!

The colorful aftermath...

Presents! Mommy and Daddy got him a Tickle Me Elmo and he loved it! Mimi got him a playscape for the yard. As soon as the HOA approves it, we will have it installed! I'm so excited!

Nana and B got him an All-Terrain Radio Flyer Wagon and he loves to be pulled around in it!

Kissing Elmo

The weather was so perfect, so we spent a lot of time outside playing catch...

...and riding in cars

Here is some video from his smash cake. I would say he's a smash cake pro, wouldn't you?

Make sure you turn your sound up for this one- you can hear him squealing!

Overall, the day could not have gone better! Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated with us!

Happy Halloween!

This weekend was Steven's first Halloween! It took me forever to decide what costume to get him, and since we have a history of 80 degree Halloweens I thought just a pants and jacket costume was a good idea- and that's why he was a fire fighter! And he was the cutest, most handsome fire fighter I have ever seen. :)

We went Trick Or Treating to a couple houses and we had a great time. I think next year will be even more fun! The weather was perfect and I'm really glad I didn't have him in a fluffy animal costume, even though I found some super cute ones! I think he would have been too hot.

Steven was too funny- the first house we went to he got peanut M&M's (NO- he did NOT have any) but he wouldn't let go of that little bag of candy all night! It was so funny. B traded him his M&M's for a Twix and a KitKat and he loved them too! He would put the candy up to his nose and actually smell it. And if you tried to take his candy away he thought it was hilarious. Too cute.

Here we are on our way to our first house.

With his M&M's

Here he is with Daddy watching all the other crazy dressed people. I think he might have been a little confused.

The awesome pumpkin Matt carved!

Candy!

CANDY!!

I LOVE CANDY!!

sickies

Last week Steven got his first case of the sickies. :( He spiked a high fever Saturday night, on through Sunday and had a slightly stuffy nose. He was tested for strep and the pig flu, negative for both, which is great. We're not sure where he picked up this little bug, but he's all better now. The week before this, he had run a low grade fever and we found this:

He's cutting BOTH of his canine teeth on top. Yep, before any of his other top teeth. I read that canines don't typically come in until 18-22 months. He's already a late tooth popper, so this has me stumped. Poor little guy isn't handling it so well. The bottom two teeth were a breeze and these, not so much. His doctor said it's fine and it can happen, so lots of love, cuddles, teething rings and Motrin 'cause these teeth can be pretty uncomfortable coming in. Since this picture was taken they've broken through the skin and he's finally eating again. I just hope he starts sleeping again.

first haircut

We took Steven to get his hair cut for the first time last Sunday. It was time. It was so long it was getting in his eyes and starting to curl up in the back. I always thought I would be the mom to follow the superstition and not cut his hair until he was at least a year old, but then I couldn't remember what it was that was supposed to happen if we did, and just decided we needed to get it done. I don't want him to look like a ragamuffin for his first birthday party. :)

Matt and I took him to a place just for kids called Snip-Its and it was a wonderful experience! Our lady was so nice and Steven did SO well. I think he actually enjoyed it! I'm going to go ahead and say I hope it's this easy every time, but seeing the little 2 year old in front of us I don't think that's going to be the case. This may be the only hair cut pictures ever.

Before:

I know. He's probably going to stab me in my sleep when he sees this when he's older, but I just couldn't help myself. I would have put a bow in it had I had one. Matt was not pleased. Rest assured I took it out before leaving the house.

See how long it was?!

During:

Such a good boy!!

He just realized he was sitting in a pink chair. My son doesn't do pink.

After! SO handsome!

And some video clips!

pumpkin day

This past Saturday Matt, Steven and I along with Nana, Grampy, Aunt Katie, and Uncle Tom made our way up to Marble Falls to a magical land called Sweet Berry Farms. Nana and Grampy want to start a tradition with Steven and take him to their Fall Festival every autumn to pick out pumpkins. The farm was so cute and they had about 37 different kinds of pumpkins and gourds. Steven had a great time picking out pumpkins and running around in the grass.

Here he is with Grampy very carefully picking out just the right pumpkin.

And here he is being just about the cutest 11 month old ever.

His new found love of hay.

He could have ridden around in this wagon all day!

They also had a Steven-sized tractor he liked a lot.

A family photo!

And here is a video clip of him in the wagon showing off his newest talent "So BIG" :)

And here he is having a blast running around in the grass.