Aren't Grammys Fun

Santa

Well as you can see in the photo... Shea was so afraid of Santa that the photographer made me sit on Santa's lap for the picture. I tried to tell her that I would love the photo of him crying, because when he becomes a man it would be great to show him how afraid of Santa he was. But, nope they would not take it. So, I had to be in the photo.

Important Notice

To all of you who drink coffee or tea out of the industrial coffee pots, ie. ones like the one at church. The pot itself is extremely hot. I was holding Mason and he reached out and touched the side of the pot. He started to cry and I thought to myself, "Why are you crying? That's not hot, and touched it." And guess what it is really hot. I ran Mason to the bathroom and put his hand in cold water. Before I knew it there were blisters on the back of his hand. Needless to say we took a little trip to the ER.
Mason is fine now and truly it was scarier for me then for him, as you can see in the photo. I just want to share my new knowledge with all my friends.

What A Difference A Year Makes

The first two photos were taken a year to the day after the bottom two photos.
My baby not a baby any more. :0(

Disneyland

Scott gave me an early Christmas present and it is the best gift I have gotten in awhile. He bought us both season passage to Disneyland. So, he took all of us to Disneyland on Monday. The boys loved it. After ever ride Shea would say, "More". Mason loved Small World so much that Scott thought for a second that he was having a seizure. Here is a video of Mason at the parade.

Eating

I started feeding Mason cereal and baby food this month. I thought that we should start him on food a little earlier then Shea, because he is bigger and he already has 2 teeth. However, I am having trouble getting him to open his mouth. He cries until I put the food on his lips and then he tries to suck the food in. I try to hold the food in front of his mouth until he opens but he just cries. I have tried to push the food in his mouth and sometimes that works. He loves eating the food, he just does not know how to eat it. When I am eating and he wants some of it he will open his mouth as I bring it to my lips, but does not do the same when he eats. Shea had no trouble eating, but he started food when he was 6th months old. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Our little roller

He is a roller with a mission. Mason can now roll from his back to his front and his front to he back. If you lay him on the floor on the other side of the room from Shea and I he will keep rolling until he reaches us. Check out the video of him showing his stuff.

Halloween

The boys and I had a great time on Halloween. For those of you who went to the Compass Harvest Fest you know what I mean. It was awesome!

Pumpkin City

My Little Sluggler

Shea likes to hit balls in the backyard. It looks like he will throw right handed but be a left handed hitter.

My handyman

For those of you out there with kids who love to work with tools. This is the perfect thing to do. Lowes gives kids free aprons, safety goggles and all the tools they will need to make the project. I went with both of the boys all by myself, but I do not recommend this. It was a little hard to help Shea and hold Mason at the same time. One of the dads made this comment to me, "Only a mom could help a 2 year old hammer and hold a nail with one hand and hold a baby in the other." I just laughed. This would be a really fun thing for them to do with Dad. When we were done making our spider they gave us a certificate and a patch to sew on to Shea's apron. It was so fun. If you want to do this the next project is on Nov 10 at 10am. Go to http://www.lowesbuildandgrow.com/ and sign up.

Teething

Ok, so Mason just started to get his two bottom teeth... When Shea got his first 2 teeth it did not seem to brother him. But, with Mason he can not sleep. I put him down he puts both hands in his month and chews on them the whole time crying. I tried some Tynol and it seemed to work a little but only for about an hour or so. Does anyone have any other ideas of how to help Mason?

Shea can count to ten

Shea can now count to ten, but for some reason he always skips 5. It is so cute.

Mason Belly Laughs

Hailee, Mason's cousin makes him laugh.

Camping

We went camping this weekend. This was the first time as a family of four. I think Shea had the most fun. He ran for three days straight, being chased by Hailee. This is a picture of them both sitting in the Ritter's camper watching Over the Hedge and drinking their milk. Mason loved going also. He loved to watch everyone.

Big Boy Bed

Last night was Shea's first night in his toddler bed. We had to go to the toddler bed, because yesterday when we put him in his bed for a nap he kept crawling out. I wanted to wait until his 2nd birthday, but I guess Shea had a different idea.
It was a little hard. He wanted to get out of his bed and get out of his room. We put a round door knob on his door so he would have a harder time getting out of his room. He kept getting out of his bed. Then stand in the middle of his room and cry Mama, downstairs, Mama's ni night (meaning he wanted to sleep in my bed)etc. I kept going back to his room picking him up, put him back in his bed, all without talking to him.
Finally, I just told him to get back in bed from outside the door. He eventually stopped crying and put a bunch of his toys in the bed. I looked in the monitor and I did not see him, so I went upstairs to tell him to get in his bed. But, to my surprise he was in the bed with all of the toys piled up on top of him.
Then this morning he started crying at 5 am. We had to do the whole thing over. But, this time I told him that I would stay in the room as long as he kept his head down. He could not keep his head down so I left the room. He cried, but this time not for very long. He then woke up at 7. This time he did not cry he just walked to his door, knocked, and said, "Hello". It was really funny. As I walked to the door to open it, I heard him run back to his bed and get in. When I opened the door he was sitting on his bed and said, "I Mama". I told him he was a good boy for sleeping in this big boy bed, and that he could come out. He climbed out of his bed and ran all over upstairs for about 5 min non stop.
I hope tonight he just goes to bed without any crying. It kills me when he cries. Especially when he switches to saying Daddy when I do not come to his rescue.

Soccer

Shea just started his soccer class. It is the funniest thing that you have ever seen. There are about 15 kids in his class. They are 1 1/2-2 year olds. The coaches name is Tiffany. She is really nice, but she tries to get the kids to do a lot of things and they can not do anything. We stretch, run lines, and do ball skills. But, I think that Shea is going to be a goalie like his mom. However, he does have some dribbling skills.

3 months

Mason is now 3 months old. I can not believe how fast it has gone. It feels like he was born yesterday. I do not think that it went this fast with Shea. Anyways, Mason is now smiling, giggling, holding his head up while he is laying on his stomach. His brother still loves him. Just today Shea thought that Mason was hungry so he tried to give him a pancake. If you want you can come check out the rest of our family photos for this month, by clicking on the link.

Family Portraits

Shea is such a big boy

Well today Mason is three months old, which means he is old enough to go in the jumper. I put him in it today. He did not seem to know what to do with it, but Shea wanted to swing him in it. I can not believe that 18 months ago I was just putting Shea in the jumper. Boy does time fly!

Brotherly Love

I hope that Shea's love for his brother never stops. He always wants to hug and kiss Mason. I cannot wait until Mason can hug his brother back.

Croup

So we had are second trip to the ER on Sunday. Shea had a terrible cough and he sounded like he was having trouble breathing. He also had a fever of 102. Scott, Mason, Shea, and I all went to Mission to see what was wrong with Shea. The first nurse was nice and got us to a room quickly. Then our doctor came in, he was also nice. He checked Shea out and wanted him to get some xrays to rule out pneumonia. Shea loves the xray part. He was a really god boy and stayed really still, they gave him some stickers for being so good. Then they came back into the room and told us that he had croup. So, they gave him some steroids that he spit half of them out. The nurse said that it was ok, but I thought that I would ask the doctor. He said that it is very important for him to have them, so he should get a half a dose. I told him that there is no way that Shea will take any more. So, he said that he would have to get a shot. I agreed that a shot was better then him spitting it out. Then we got the two lamest nurses in the world. They told Scott and I that they would take Shea's temp and give him a shot all at the same time. And nope that did not happen. They kept telling Shea that was the worst of it. Nope that was not true. Finally, they were making Scott so mad that he was making faces at them. So, they thought that Scott was not feeling well and kept asking him if he was ok and if he need to sit down. I had to keep myself from laughing at them. They then came back and said that Scott had to pin Shea down as the two nurses pined his legs down and one of the nurse said hold him really tight he is strong. I was thinking who do they think they are holding down The Hulk, he is just a one year old. Then when all of that was done, the head nurse looks at Shea as he is crying so hard that his face is red, there is snot everywhere, and he is having trouble breathing, and says ok that was not so bad do you want something from the treasure chest. I said we have to get out of here. They said ok you have to sign here. I signed and then I ran. Not really, but I wanted to. THOSE LADIES WERE CRAZY!
Shea feels better and will be ready to meet the world on Tuesday.

Our Trip to Laughlin

We took our first trip to Laughlin with 7 week old Mason. Everything went really well, Mason loves to go fast in the boat. It puts him right to sleep, just like his big brother.

Days without Scott

So at first the days without Scott were really hard. I did not know if I was going to be able to be a Mommy of two by myself. But, then I forced myself to get out and get over it. So, I did. The only thing that has been really hard is the night time. As soon as it is dinner time, Mason wants to eat, and at bath time he wants to eat again. I just have to get this timing thing down. Also, naps I have to get them to go down at the same time so that I can nap. I will keep you all posted.

Our first day out without Scott

Today was are first day out without Daddy. We are so sad that Daddy could not come, but I did ok. I can not believe that I already went out with the boys all by myself. Scott has only been back to work for 3 days and I was brave enough to go by myself. But, I do not think that I am ready for open spaces. We went to Zoomars with one of my Mommies group. It is a large petting zoo with gates all over. So, I could keep up with Shea and most of the animals were in pens that Shea could not get to them. He loved all of the animals until he saw the train. Then all he wanted to do was ride on it. I even traded his pony ride ticket for another train ticket. We had to leave a little early because he had a breakdown and wanted to ride again. But, all in all we had a great time. Mason can not wait until he can see the animals, instead of riding in the bjoin. Check out our videos below.

Mason Andrew Stephens 6/15/07

The Boys on the 4th

Sheadon and Mason on the 4th of July. Both of them got to wear their patraotic outfits to the first ever 4th of July block party.

Getting Sadie

This is a photo of Scott and Sadie the first day that we brought her home in Feb 1998. Who knew this was the beginning of our family.