Grandparents

Today is Grandparents Day. Stephen is so lucky to have four living grandparents and three living great grandparents. All but one are pictured above. In the top left is Grammie (Steve's mom, Karen), next is Grandma (my mom, Cheryle), then Poppy C (Steve's dad, Steve), and then Granddad (my dad, Jess). In the bottom left corner is Great Grandpa Leo (Karen's dad) and next to him Great Grandma Betty (Karen's mom). Not pictured is Granny (my dad's mom). The hands pictured are Stephen's with Granddad and Grandma.

The dictionary defines grandparents this way:

grandparent n. 1. A parent of one's mother or father; a grandmother or grandfather.

I found this poem which I think says it better:

GRANDPARENTS
Grandparents bestow upon their grandchildren

The strength and wisdom that time

And experience have given them.

Grandchildren bless their Grandparents

With a youthful vitality and innocence

That help them stay young at heart forever.

Together they create a chain of love

Linking the past with the future.

The chain may lengthen, But it will never part...

~Author Unknown~

No matter how you define them, and no matter what you call them we're very lucky to have these very special people in our lives. I don't know what Steve, Stephen and I would do without the grandparents in our lives.

Happy Grandparents Day! We love you all!

It's Storytime!

Today Stephen attended his very first storytime at the library!!

The theme was "Going Places". Giny, one of my wonderful co-workers, was the leader. She is so great at what she does, and Stephen just loves her! We traveled all around: by car, truck, boat, airplane, train, and even horseback. The hoops you see in the pictures are steering wheels. As you can see Stephen wanted them to be a picture frame, a Hula Hoop, and LUNCH!

The Opposit of Crawling

Within the last week Stephen has discovered that when he's on his back he can use his feet to scoot across the floor. Right now it's pretty entertaining. However, I have no doubt that once he figures out he can flip over and do it on his tummy we're going to have a hard time keeping up with him.

Fresh Air

Last Sunday Stephen and I spent some time in the back yard. I put our blanket under a big tree and we just laid on our backs and looked up at the leaves. Later I moved him to the edge of the blanket so he could put his feet in the grass.

He loved it!

Discovery!

It is so fun to watch Stephen discover the world around him! I put these car seat toys on his car seat when he was only about 8 weeks old. Earlier this month he discovered that they were there! It was really neat to watch how gently he reached out to touch them. He was completely fascinated... and so was I!

4-Month Check-Up

On August 13 Stephen went in for his 4-month check up.

(I know, I know if I was better at keeping up with this blog you would have know about it much sooner!)

All is well. He passed his 4 Month Ages & Stages Questionnaire with flying colors.

He is a little on the small side. He weighed 12 lbs 9.5 oz and was 24.25 inches tall?... long? ... whatever! Even so, the doctor says he's eating enough (my all-time greatest worry) and having a good amount of dirty diapers (my second greatest worry). I never thought I would have so many questions about poo! It seems like that's all the doctor and I talked about.

He had to get four vaccinations -- one oral and three shots. I'm not sure who was more upset, him or me. I did manage to get one picture before the screaming began.

Parent Tested... Kid Approved!

Steve and I have really begun to enjoy watching Stephen play with new toys. This has meant many trips to Toys R Us. So many in fact that I am currently not allowed in the store without daddy supervision! On the day that we bought Stephen's second floor gym (that's right he NEEDED two) Steve decided he wanted to see what it was like to be "inside" the gym. So... he crawled in!

He made it sound so great I just had to take a turn too!

Don't worry... we fully understand your need to shake your head slowly and sigh as you say under your breath "New parents!"