Who remembers...?

... when Zane was just over a year old?  And that he was soooo freakin' adorable?  I mean, granted, he's still adorable, and I LOVE all of the new things he's learning now and everything, but I can remember when he was just a little over a year old and starting to do so many cute things!  This has all been brought on by me ordering new pictures for his scrapbook.  I am finally to 2006 in his book!  (Yes, I know, I'm a little - ok a lot - behind, but having two kids doesn't allow for a lot of scrapbooking time!)  So yeah, I was looking through my picture files from 2006, and tons of memories came flooding back to me as I browsed through them.  

So I have decided to share a few!  Maybe take you down a trip to memory lane as well!  PS- don't pay any attention to the dates at the bottom of some of the pics... I always would forget to set the date when I would change out the batteries.  You would think it would do it automatically or something.  Maybe I just need a new, more modern camera.  lol

Okay, so I SO remember when you would ask Zane to show you his tummy, and he would pull his shirt WAY up high...

  

Oh, and when he would always carry around his little guitar and act like he was a little rockstar!  I would try to teach him to yell, "Thank you, and good night!" while putting his hands in the air.  He got the hands in the air part down... haha!

Oh, and of course, when he was about 15 months old and had some sort of gastroenteritis, or rotavirus, or something like that, and had to stay in the hospital for 3 days on IV fluids.  Gosh, that was so hard to see my baby so sick.  But the thing about Zane is that his spirits remained high, and he was just such a little trooper!  He played peek-a-boo from behind the IV pole...

And he would also play pat-a-cake with that board stuck to his hand!  Here's "roll 'em up, roll 'em up..."

Hee hee... I just like this picture:

Well, I have a TON more pictures, but I would be here all day if I posted all of them!  Maybe someday, I'll get all of my pictures scrapbooked, and I can share the books with all of my friends and family.  Now... to get Gage's book started....  haha!

Gage's One-Year-Old Portraits

On Sunday, we went ahead and had Gage's portraits made for his one-year milestone.  We discovered very quickly that he is not nearly as camera-happy as his brother!  Zane has always smiled without effort, and has always been a ham in front of the camera.  Gage, on the other hand, looked at the guy taking the pictures like he was a wacko!  You could seriously see Gage checking this guy out.  But we like the portraits, and they really did capture Gage's personality.  I mean, that's just how he is.  He has always been this serious thinker, and in that way, I'm glad the portraits turned out like they did.  We only ordered three poses, but all of the shots came on disc, so I have put a bunch of them on here.  Oh, and as you can tell, Zane really wanted to be in some pictures, so the photographer went ahead and took some of Zane, too.  And they turned out very cute!  Again, Zane loves the camera, so he is always smiling for it.  In the couple of shots that Gage actually IS smiling, he's looking at me play "Peek-A-Boo" with him.  LOL

Enjoy!

4th of July

What a wonderful 4th of July weekend!  We went out to Mineral Wells to spend time and have dinner with our family out there and to watch the fireworks show.  We were pleasantly surprised to find out that Aunt Kim, Uncle Gene, and Michael, Lauren, and Austin would be at Meme's house to visit as well!  We had a great dinner with good food and good company, and the kids played some ball before we went to watch the fireworks.  

Mom was the only one who went with us to the show, but I know that she really enjoyed not only the show, but watching Zane and Gage's reactions.  

We weren't too sure what Gage would think of the the loud fireworks once we got there(plus it was way past his bedtime, and he was getting a little on the grumpy side), but he and Zane played a little before they started...

... and once they started, both boys were in awe!  Gage stopped being grumpy, and just stared up to the sky.  He didn't even get scared of the loud sounds, which was great!

So all in all, it was a very enjoyable 4th of July, and we were very happy to get to see everyone again!

Big Weekend!!

Well, the Stephens family had a great weekend!  Jody and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary on Friday night by going out to dinner at an Italian restaurant called Avanti in North Dallas.  
We started the night by having our traditional celebratory shots before leaving the house...The restaurant was beautiful and the food was terrific!  There was live music, valet parking, and candle-lit tables.  But most of all, we had a night just the two of us away from the kids, just enjoying each other's company.  I had a wonderful time!


And then Saturday was the annual Stegmeier Lake party that Jody's company throws every year.  You can camp out with tents and campers and everything, but we figured that we would wait to do the camping out until next year when Gage is a little bit older.  We had a very fun day, though, and Zane got to go out on our friends Tamara and Robb's boat.  He even "drove" a little bit!  Amy came and brought Haleigh and Joey, too, so they all got to play together all day.
Mommy and Zane on the boat


Zane and Haleigh LOVE getting to see each other and play together!

Gage splashed around in the kiddie pool for a little while.

Daddy and Zane... taking a break and having a snack after a long day.
All four of the kids were very well-behaved all day long, and it definitely made for a relaxing and fun day.  Thanks to having good friends with campers, Gage got to take his naps throughout the day, so that was nice, too.  We look forward to next year and trying out the whole camping thing with the boys.  That should be quite an adventure!
Finally, Sunday came around, and just when we thought the excitement was over, Gage decided that he would start walking!  I was in the kitchen, and heard little bare feet on the tile, and when I looked up, there he was, standing in the middle of the floor, just waving his arms and grinning all big!  I was like, "Where did you come from??"  Jody had thought he had come from the couch in the living room.  So we took him in the living room, sat a few feet apart, and had Gage walk back and forth to us.  Eventually, after about 10 times going back and forth, he was up to 14 steps!  And then, he had gotten some confidence, and after all that practice, he was just walking around like he'd been doing it all along!  I'm hoping this video uploads and plays okay, but it was one of his longest treks. 

Such a big boy!!
So needless to say, we had a very eventful weekend, but had tons of fun!!  Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Gage's First Birthday!

First of all, a huge thank you to those of you who came out to Gage's party!  Being the hostess, it was difficult to make my way around to everyone to visit and say hi, but just know that your presence was greatly appreciated, and Gage thanks you for all of the wonderful gifts!  And if you were unable to make it, we sure did miss you!  Thank you for the cards and birthday wishes in the mail, too.  Now for the pictures!  : )  

The Birthday Boy!

 

Daddy and The Boys

  

Mommy and the Birthday Boy

CAKE TIME!

TIME FOR PRESENTS!

So, again, thanks to all who came out to celebrate with us, and thanks to those who helped make the birthday party possible!  All the help was appreciated. 
I still can't believe Gage is a whole year old... my baby is growing up!  lol, and I always laughed when my parents said that.  But now I know what they were talking about.  All of the little cliche phrases, "They grow up too fast," and "Enjoy them while they're babies," and "It seems like just yesterday they were just this big"... well, they all make sense.  And maybe it's part of knowing that Gage is our "last" baby - because I didn't really feel it as much with Zane.  Oh well, either way, I am enjoying all of Gage's steps in his life so far, and I love sharing them with my friends and family!

Gage's First Haircut

Well, it was finally time.  We had said that Gage could keep his curls for his first birthday party, but as soon as it was over, all that baby hair was going to be gone.  In the same fashion as Zane had his first haircut, Gage was sheared by his daddy with his clippers.  Although, Gage did have a lot more hair than Zane did, and we cut it a little sooner than we cut Zane's.  Look at that hair!!

He heard the sound, but he had no idea what was about to happen!

But it sure didn't take him long to not only realize what was happening...

... but to also learn very quickly that he did NOT like what was going on!

After all of the drama was over, Gage turned out to look very cute with his newly shaved head!  I think he looks more like a toddler than a baby now.  

So yeah, he may have cried through the entire process, but he got over it, and now he looks absolutely adorable!  I really like short hair on boys.  

Well, I have birthday party pictures that I need to get uploaded so I can post a blog about Gage's first birthday this past weekend.  More later!

Gage is a year old today!!

Well, it doesn't seem quite possible, but Gage's first birthday is today.  

A year ago today, at about 3:00 p.m.,I was just laying on the couch with Zane, doing the laundry that I would be packing up later into my hospital bags. We would be getting everything ready to take to the hospital the next morning when we went in for my scheduled c-section.  My dad had just gotten to my house after a long 17-hour drive from Minnesota, and he was just going to take a nap for a few hours to rest up a little bit.  Zane had fallen asleep, so I was going to take him up to his bed.  No sooner had I pulled myself up from laying down, and my water broke!  Gage was coming a day early!  It was a good thing that my dad had gotten there when he did!  Jody was still at work.  I didn't grab hardly anything I needed!  No camera, no change of clothes, no camcorder... I was so bewildered that this was happening!  Anyway, so Gage arrived later that afternoon, and was just as beautiful as he

 could be.  

Welcome Gage...

So here we are, a year later, and he is a big boy now!  He is crawling around, pulling up on things, and he has taken up to four steps!  He's got four teeth, and tons of hair!  (He WILL be getting haircut soon, but we are letting him have his long hair for his first birthday party.)  He's a very observant and attentive baby, and he studies things.  Faces, toys, objects, the television... everything.  He is a little more serious than Zane was, but he still laughs and smiles often, too.  

Zane is very excited about his brother's birthday party.  He helped me wrap all of Gage's presents, and Zane even picked out a present for Gage.  (And put his name on the name tag for who it was from.)  He has been doing an amazing job with learning to write his letters.  He wrote the letters of his name the other night, and I was just amazed!  I'd never seen him do that before.  He has known his alphabet since he was 2, and has been able to tell you what the letters are, too.  He's definitely a smart boy!  

OH, Jody and I have our two-year anniversary coming up on Monday.  We will probably go somewhere nice out to eat, but we'll have to wait for a weekend night that is not busy (which is next to impossible!), and then, we are also going to go to Six Flags with a couple of friends of ours (Keith and Amy) who are having their anniversary next month.  We did something together for our anniversaries last year, so it looks like we are making this a tradition!  Which will fit right in with our New Year's tradition!  : )  We love our friends!

Well, I am going to try to keep this blog up to keep everyone posted on what's going on with us!  Feel free to leave comments!