Catch-up!

So it's been a bit busy for the past few weeks...I have clearly been neglecting my blog. Needless to say, a lot has happened since I last posted. Where to begin...?

Owen had his 4 month check-up last week. He is now 25 1/2 inches long (75th percentile) and a whopping 15 lbs 7 oz (65th percentile). I had to laugh at the reactions of Owen's grandmas... Grandma Loretta said, "Oh, so he's above average!" and Grandma Vicki said, "He's just a tiny thing!" Hahaha Their comments were so cute. As you can probably guess, the Araiza children were on the smaller/average side and the Stephens children were always in the 90th percentile and above. It was just funny and cute. Owen continues to get cuter and cuter every day. He has the cutest little giggle, which he shares with us about once a day ( he has to be in the right mood). He has also started sucking his thumb on occasion... I keep pushing the pacifer because as he gets older, I can take the pacifer away, but I can't take his thumb away. He continues to be good natured and very laid back. We're hoping that these personality traits will continue into his toddler years. :) I had to capture Owen on film sucking his thumb because it is pretty cute.



A week or two ago Rick came home from the grocery store and said, " I bought us a little treat!" He then proceeded to take out the ingredients for s'mores. I asked him how he was going to make the s'mores, and he excitedly said, "Using your candles!" So, yes, Rick made roasted marshmallows over the flame of my sugar cookie scented candle. He had a good time bonding with Owen, pretending that they were camping. Here are my cute boys:




December, of course, brought lots of family gatherings. We went Christmas caroling with Grandma and Grandpa Araiza, Tawny, Donovan & Rylan, Hannah, and Joey. It was a lot of fun, but also a bit more difficult this year with two infants in tow. Grandma Loretta bought each of the babies the appropriate attire for the evening. Rylan was our little reindeer while Owen was our little Santa. I think their cuteness made up for anything we were lacking in the singing department. :)




We also had the annual Stephens family Christmas party, complete with a visit from Santa Claus. Owen sat on Santa's lap for a photo and didn't shed a tear. We were so impressed! We had a great time visiting with family members that we don't get to see very often.





That's all for now... I'll post a "part II", including Christmas eve and Christmas morning. Stay tuned...

Priceless

My Nephew

As of November 24th at 7:56 p.m., I officially became an aunt to Rylan Stone Holloway, son of Tawny and Donovan. Rylan is absolutely adorable (as you'll see in the pictures below). Congrats, guys! We love you!

We had a great Thanksgiving, splitting the time between families. We are so fortunate to live close by both of our families so that we can see them both all of the time. We got a few great pictures of Grandpa Henry and his two grandsons and also a very sweet picture of Owen with his great-grandma Rita.

Owen continues to entertain us - his latest trick is trying to sit up on his own. When he's laying on his back, he lifts up his head as far as he can go. When you let him hold your fingers for resistance, he pulls himself up to a standing position. This little boy can't wait to be on the move! I have a feeling he'll be an early walker...

He also has become obsessed with his hands! He's discovered that they are attached to him, and so now his hands are either neatly folded in front of him or in his mouth. Additionally, he loves to be out and about amongst the action. He seems to be quite social, as he tries to have conversations with people by making all sorts of noises. He also LOVES to smile at people and is starting to laugh. We look forward to hearing giggles soon!



Great-Grandma Rita and Owen


Owen, Grandpa Henry, Rylan


Rylan Stone Holloway


Aunt Sherri and Rylan


Brother and Sister and their babies: Rick & Owen, Tawny & Rylan


Owen and Uncle Jonathan home from BYU


Owen sitting


Owen standing

Baby Time!!

Right now my sister-in-law Tawny is at the hospital in labor!! Wahoo! She went in last night at midnight to be induced. They didn't get into a room until about 3 a.m. because other women kept coming in who were already in labor. The last report we got was about an hour ago and Tawny was at 4 cm and hanging in there! GO Tawny! We'll keep everyone posted...

Three Months Old!

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Here are some more pictures of Owen from Halloween. Rick and I really wanted to get some pictures of Owen sitting in a big pumpkin. Of course, we procrastinated and waited until Halloween to buy a big pumpkin. FYI - if a pumpkin has not been bought by then, there's a reason. They were all rotten or disfigured. Luckily, Auntie Hannah had a pumpkin that she hadn't carved yet and she allowed us to use the pumpkin for our photo shoot. It was a bit smaller than we had envisioned, but we made it work. Auntie Julie had this cute little teddy bear dressed up in a pumpkin suit just like Owen's, so we had to take some pictures of the two of them together.

Last Sunday we attended the blessing of Bostyn Renee, the daughter of Rick's good friend Jason. We took a few pictures of our two little ones together and they both look just adorable!

Owen continues to grow...he's starting to fit into his 6 month sized onesies and his 3 month sized pants, which allows me to play dress up with a whole new batch of adorable clothes. He is smiling a ton now and we just can't get enough. :)

My mom is doing all right - she started chemo this week and is just taking it one day at a time. We started a blog just for my parents so everyone can stay posted on her health. We'd really appreciate all of your prayers.

My sister-in-law Tawny is due THIS Friday - so basically Owen will have a little cousin any day now! We can't wait!

















Bostyn Renee and Owen

My Little Pumpkin

To update: Owen had his 2 month check up last week. I had to restrain myself from crying at the doctor's office while he got all of his vaccines. Funny how that happens when you become a parent. Rick was at work when we had our appointment and so I was giving him the update that night. I mentioned how you always hear that parents are in pain when their children are in pain, and that it was really true and I told him how I almost cried. He said, "Oh, well, I was fine today about Owen getting his shots." I told him, "Honey, you were not there holding his hands while he was getting big needles poked into his legs!" I think I'll make his 4 month appointment when Rick can go and see what he says then.

Anyway, he is a growing boy. He weighs 12 lbs, 3 oz and is 23 1/2 inch long. I don't remember what his head circumference was... I think maybe 15 inch. He wears 3-6 month size onesies and newborn/0-3 size pants still. The bigger sized pants are still a little long, so I think he might have a long torso like his mommy. :)

Saturday was our ward Halloween party and our first time to dress up as a family! I tried to make our costumes cohesive - I think they look alright together. Long before we even were pregnant, Rick and I had decided that our child's first Halloween costume must be a pumpkin. So, two days before Owen was born I was at Babies R Us and they had just put out all of the costumes. There happened to be the cutest little pumpkin suit, so I went ahead and bought it. We had fun dressing up and Owen looked just adorable.

On a sad note, my mom was just diagnosed with breast cancer. It's only in stage 2, so it was caught early and is very treatable. I'm not worried about her making it through because I know she will. I'm just sad that she has to go through the treatment. She went to the doctor's today and she has to have chemo, surgery and radiation. We were hoping that she wouldn't have to have chemo, but she does after all. Our family's taking it pretty well - like I said, we all know she will be fine. I think we're all just wishing that my mom didn't have to go through the treatment process since it is so hard on your body. We're all sort of in a state of shock, though. There is absolutely no history of any type of cancer on my mom's side of the family (heart attacks, strokes, and other fun things, yes, but no cancer) and my mom nursed all six of us kids which is supposed to lower your risk. This whole cancer thing was really not on any of our minds. It just goes to show that no one's immune. Anyway, your prayers for a speedy and complete recovery would be much appreciated.

On a happy note, it's my sister Julie's birthday tomorrow! Happy Birthday! You are the best oldest sister I've ever had! :)

Weekend Update

This weekend we attended Rick's cousin's baby's blessing. (Whew! What a mouthful!) The baby is named Travis and he was born exactly 9 days after Owen. He is just adorable and looks a lot like his dad. We went to the blessing and then to a family member's house for food and visiting. We took some pictures of the two boys together and it was hilarious! Owen was asleep and Travis was wide awake. We propped them both up in a chair together and Owen kept falling over onto Travis, still sound asleep. Finally he did open his eyes for a few seconds so we got a few shots in. It was just adorable. After that, Rick had to go to church for his calling. Then we went to the Araiza home for a little R&R and dinner.

After we left the Araiza's, Owen fell asleep at about 9:30/10 ish. I thought for sure he'd wake up at about 1 a.m. for his next feeding, so I decided to lay down and get a nap in the meantime. To my surprise, he did not wake up until 4:30 a.m.! Wahoo! His sleeping pattern at night has been pretty regular - getting up around 12 a.m., 3:30 a.m., and then about 6:30 a.m. On occasion he will sleep through the 3:30 a.m. feeding and instead of 6:30 it becomes 4:30 or 5 a.m. I LOVE those nights! They seem to be happening more often, so hopefully that trend will continue.

On a special note, it is my sister-in-law Tawny's birthday today. Happy Birthday!

So here are pictures from the baby blessing and then some others of Owen that were just too cute not to post. Enjoy.

Owen smiling in his Hawaiian shirt


Sticking out his tongue... (his favorite "trick" at the moment)


Second Cousins Owen Edward and Travis William


Close up shots




Cousins John and Rick with their boys


Playtime!


Nice and clean (those are quite the chubby cheeks he's got there)


I want to thank whoever designed this Tigger bathrobe because it is just too cute!

Smiling at the Wall

Okay here's the video. It's 2 minutes - kinda long - but we captured a few good smiles in there. Be sure to turn up the sound to hear all of the little baby noises; it makes it cuter.

Owen's Blessing

This weekend was packed full! On Saturday we had Tawny's baby shower in the morning, a Costco run in the afternoon, and then Rick took me on a date to celebrate my birthday. It was so great to get dressed up and eat dinner without holding a baby. However, it did feel like something was missing. Thank you to grandma, grandpa, aunts and uncles for watching Owen!

On Sunday it was my birthday (yay!) and Owen's blessing. My in-laws were gracious enough to let us use their house so that all of the family and friends who'd driven far distances to be there for the blessing could gather for a luncheon. Thank you again Henry and Loretta! The weekend was busy but it was so much fun.

Owen is getting so big and is learning all sorts of new tricks. He is making all sorts of new noises and smiles a lot now. One thing that Rick and I get a kick out of is that he LOVES to look at these wall hangings next to his changing table. We lay him on the table and he just stares at them. Then he'll get really excited and start smiling and cooing. We caught it on camera this morning so I'll try to post it. I've never posted a video before, but I'll try to figure it out. Also, his hair is starting to grow back. No more "old man" look.

Here are some pictures of the blessing yesterday. Owen's outfit was just adorable. I was afraid that he was going to mess it up because 1.) it is all white and 2.) he's been having some explosive diapers lately. We made it through the blessing and even lasted several hours at grandma's house until he had a very messy diaper. Needless to say, the back of his white pants were covered in you-know-what. Luckily I was able to soak them right away and the stain is gone! Wahoo! I can still use them for boy #2 when the time comes.







Owen with cousin Macy from Utah


Owen and Daddy staring at the ceiling lights