Two months already?

Time flies when you are delirious. Luke hanging out in the bumbo. He wanted me to shoot him from above because he said it makes his face look thin. :) He is starting to smile a lot which is fun. Austin loves talking to him and making him laugh too..."Ma Ma, baby brudder is miling!"

Aah yes, feeding time....it is always feeding time. I am happy to pass it off when I can. Austin was so proud of himself for helping out. We just had to remind him frequently to hold the bottle, not shove it into his mouth.

After a while though Luke kept looking at me like,...seriously? Are you really going to let him feed me this whole thing?

Oh....two year olds...so helpful...

I had just woken up. Luke was rustling around, so I unswaddled him, and was letting him stretch out in his crib while I fixed a bottle.

Austin had come in to help, and asked me, "Baby brudder wake up?" In my sleepy state I replied, "Yes."

Austin then asked me something about one of the stuffed animals on the adjacent bed being Luke's. In my sleep deprived state I remember thinking to myself....I mean if you want to get technical. Luke can't hold his head up and/or grab an object by himself right now, so NO....the stuffed animal at this point is really just decoration....but instead I realized explaining this to a two year old at that moment would be very exhausting, so I just replied, "Yes, that's Lukes."

.....enter scene....

"What are you doing?!?!?!"

Austin had taken everything off of the bed and put it in the crib with Luke. Being that they were Luke's items...in his head, he thought they should be in bed with him.

Then I got a little closer...let's look at exhibit B....here we have a variety of stuffed animals.....a bib...the comfortable yet stylish Baby Bjorn....a shoe? Apparently it was a grab as much stuff as you can until mom gets back. Yeah, we had a chat about putting things in his crib especially when I am not in the room.

Poor Luke. I guess he better start getting used to it.

In a better moment. Austin and I made oatmeal blueberry muffins the other morning. He had three...

Guess he liked them.

This is soooo my life...

You could maybe describe this scene as a "blow out." Yikes. I mean having boys it's just a given that you are going to get peed on. There I am diapering, and he starts going again, so it was a mad dash to cover him up, and then the foot gets involved, kicks open the diaper....and what I can only describe as an explosion happened.





All over the changing table, wall...closet....floor...diaper champ...I have never seen such a thing. It was something out of a movie. Like the exorcist it was so unbelievable....so I took a picture. I figured no one would believe me if I didn't.

I mean this is sooo my life. It's not enough that he just pooped out his diaper. Of course it had to be like this massive clean up that took 30 minutes, a roll of paper towels, and several cleaning agents....because I've just got that kind of time.





Here is the little darling in a cuter scene. Aunt Megan sent him this onesie. It says, "My Auntie is #1." The first time he wore it he cried, so I don't know if he was feeling it yet.




It's the little things....

...a nice evening by the chiminea....kid sleeping in the baby ktan....hands free to drink my cold beer....priceless. And...then five minutes later I was asleep too. :)

Little brother big brother. We were having problems coordinating a shot with Austin's eyes open and one where Luke didn't look in pain. So I just settled on the one where they are doing both. Have their matching shirts on. Austin loves hugging on Luke. Especially his face, we are working on that.

Video of Austin singing guitar to Luke. Don't let the eye contact fool you, Luke is totally in to it.

He's Here!! Meet Luke Forbes Steging!

Last picture before heading out the door. Had to be at the hospital at 5:30 a.m. I am 39 weeks




All dressed up in my fancy hose ready for surgery.










Josh in his sweet leisure suit. We laughed because it had a collar. I told him he looked like he was going into Area 51 or something.

Luke's first picture with Mom and Dad!

Getting his vitals. 6lb 12oz, 18 inches born at 8:17 a.m. Has been doing great all day. Nursing really well, and sleeping good. We chose the name because Luke is Josh's middle name, and Forbes is Ryann's dad's middle name. It comes from my dad's maternal grandmother who was full Scottish. Forbes is a an ancient Scottish clan. They even have their own tartan.

All cleaned up. Pretty sweet. Not too much fussing...so far anyway.

In our room, everyone out of their gear, and settling in for the weekend. Everyone is doing great!

First visitors Grandma Patti

Grandma and Grandpa King

Big brother arrived after school to meet Luke. A little shy at first, but he soon was very excited to hold "Wook" and then to pass him back to Dad, saying he was "too heavy."...and then wanted to watch Toy Story the rest of the afternoon. :)

Summer Fun

We have a great little park right by our house. Austin and I have been hanging out there a lot this summer. It has been a nice go to spot for Austin and I when we are going stir crazy at the house.









I look a smidge pregnant from the side.









So....we were potting a plant, and then he peed his pants. Went to go get him some new ones, and when I came back out he was putting the dirt back in the old pot....pant-less. The front shot was pretty funny, but he would probably kill me in 20 years if I took a picture of that.








Rainman showing off his anal retentiveness. Almost all the colors are in order....taking this kid to Vegas to count cards in a few years.








Sorry he likes to accessorize. In his defense, he did call it his back pack. Josh still didn't think it was as funny as me. He even had a tiny bottle of lotion in there.










New Big boy room. With the baby about to come we moved Austin upstairs. Still revamping, but a little paint, some decals, and voila! Big Boy room. He even said he was done with the choo choo bed. Still on the hunt for some bedding, but its summer, so who needs a comforter.







He wanted to pose by his book shelf. The only furniture in there right now. So far only a few pop up books have met their demise at nap time.












Baby update. Again, same ole' stuff... with some new decals really just makes it a nursery again. Had a sonogram again today to check fluid levels. Apparently, I was low on oil (amnio fluid) last week at my appt. Went back today. Fluids were up a little baby looked fine, but my Dr. was delivering at the time. Go back in the morning to see what she wants to do. I assume I am still on for next Thursday, but will keep you posted if anything changes over the weekend!

4 weeks...4 weeks...4 weeks....

Don't let the smile fool you. I am sweating profusely. I never knew how much a person could sweat all the time even indoors. Thankfully there is an end in sight. If nothing exciting happens Sept 9th is the official day!!!

Austin and his guitar, we don't crush his ego by telling him he's rocking out on a ukulele.

Always fun when dad makes dinner.

God help us, we are potty training....

Austin modeling his new Thomas the tank engine underwear. The train set in the background wasn't planted I promise.

He likes the support, yet comfort of the elastic band. He was given the option of the Hanes package of 6 as well, but opted to go with a little style.

It has been 3 weeks since this picture was taken. We still have the majority of the underwear left. A week of the stomach flu looked like it might set us back a notch, but I guess when you have to poop all the time, you learn pretty quick how to do it on the potty. He is getting there. I wouldn't say it is a great success yet, but a start in the right direction. Just working on telling mommy when he has to go before...not right after he already went. May the force be with me. :)

Dr. Austin on duty. Grandma Patti gave him a little animal clinic kit. He loves the stethoscope.

Checking the vitals on his hot wheels car...very serious.

Happy New Year!...belated...

I admit, I have been a huge slacker when it has come to blogging lately, but I figure I have had a pretty good excuse. Or several good excuses. Most of you know we have been in a "transitional" phase, a.k.a. moving, that took about 6 months longer than we expected. Most of our things have been in storage, including addresses so it feels we have been out of touch. I thought since we were not able to send out a holiday card this year, we would fill everyone in on our shenanigans via blog. So let me go back to the beginning....

Last spring and summer we were still staying cool outside of Iowa City. When we learned that Josh's job of almost a decade, Chrysler Financial, was no longer considered a viable finance company for Chrysler LLC. It started us in action to evaluate what we wanted to do. We decided if Josh was ultimately going to get laid off, then we wanted to move back near family.

We put the house on the market and 31 days later it was sold. We officially moved back to the KC area in August, and Josh stayed in Iowa until he was eventually laid off.

Josh working while moving. Austin taking a break from all the heavy lifting

I took a job at our church with the Parents Day Out program 3 days a week teaching the two year old classes, and so Austin could attend in the baby room.

First Day of school for both of us!

We moved in with my parents while we were looking for a house. Josh took a job in St. Jo, MO which was not close, so at first we had lots to consider in location. We found a house we thought had potential, but it was a short sale. If you know anything about short sales....they are not short. 4 months later.....we got out of the short sale, and started looking again.

We eventually did find another house. We moved in March, and we have been working on it ever since. Josh lovingly refers to it as the money pit. In the past we have always owned newer homes, so....every day it seems we discover another joy of owning a 30 year old house. :) When we do find time to relax we do love our deck, and always enjoy having company!

In those crazy 6 months of being without a home. Josh took another job as the credit manager with MHC Truck Leasing. Much closer than St Jo, and lots of growth potential for him in the future.

We also learned that I was pregnant. We are expecting our second son Sept 14!!! Everything has been going well so far! We are excited!

Austin and I both loved our time at PDO this year. He always looks forward to going to school. All the teachers were so good to him. I am hoping to keep him in the program next year as well. Unfortunately, since I am due in Sept. I will not be able to work there. I took another job this past month at Element Fitness. A gym 3 minutes from our house. I am doing membership sales and just was certified to teach their Body Pump and Body Step classes. It has been challenging, especially doing all this pregnant, but a lot of fun. I have always wanted to get back into teaching aerobics since college. They have a great kids area there. Austin loves "jumping" as he calls it, and the best part is the baby can come with me in the fall.

Austin just celebrated his second birthday. He loves choo-choos, cars, balls, ruffs (dogs), mowing (lawn mower), and talks about them all day long.

He likes to pat my tummy and say "baby", or makes a shushing sound for the baby sleeping. We were snuggling in bed the other morning watching choo-choos. Austin was drinking his milk, and before I knew it he had the sippy cup spout in my belly button saying, "baby mulk"....I had to tell him not to worry, that mommy feeds the baby plenty throughout the day. :)

He is quite the talker that is for sure. Josh is teaching him all about hair bands and air guitar. Even though we deal with the tantrums of a two year old. He can be pretty sweet sometimes too. My favorite is when he says, "Mama, hug."

So here we are, May...Josh and I are about to celebrate our birthdays at the end of the month. New house, new jobs, baby on the way....two year old keeping us on our toes. Did I forget anything? Probably. We hope to do a better job of staying in touch this year. Have a safe and Happy summer!

Love, The Stegings