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

MEEERRRYYY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Santa Austin hopes everyone is having a great holiday season. We are staying busy as usual. Holiday cards might be coming out a little late. Considering, all my addresses are in our home computer...that is in storage. :) Hope to be in a house soon. Austin is a crazy man by day. It is hard to get anything done....which is why I guess I am updating my blog at 12:30 a.m.

A cute video of him eating pees and watching Days (of our lives) OK, I was watching Days....he was just dipping all of his food in ketchup. He likes condiments like his mama. Too bad he can't eat ranch. He just doesn't know how good food can be...

October fun!

A group of us traveled to Hermann, Missouri for their famous annual Oktoberfest. It was a fun night of wine drinking, beer drinking, and camping in city park.

Don't let the name fool you. This town was gorgeous. Here is a shot of one of the wineries we stopped at.

Josh...being that guy drinking wine out of a paper bag...on the hillside...at a winery...by himself....in Hermann, MO.

Halloween came and went. Austin had a good time. He was Wolverine. He loves pumpkins which he fondly refers to as "balls." Close enough...

We even gave him Hugh Jackman chops....and his mask....well, let's just say it didn't fit over his eyes, because his head is larger than the average bear. Oh, well. He probably wouldn't want to wear it over his eyes anyway.

Trunk or treating at our church. Austin and my nephew's Cameron, a.k.a Tiger, and Eric, a.k.a. "A Bat" had a blast. I mean this is pretty much what is looks like trying to take pictures of toddlers, and a 4 year old. They are so wanting to be somewhere else. The fact that they are all relatively facing the same direction is a miracle.

Apparently we are going through a sitting in things phase...

Oh...look at this tiny box top on the ground, what's this for?...





sitting...


Austin has an odd attachment to the laundry basket. If it is visible he wants to be in it.

This time he had to bring all of his friends and blanket too.

And then there is this box he found......No idea how he fits in there. This thing is like a clown car.

First Day at school!

For Austin and me. Lots of stuff to bring to work!! I am working at the Parent's Day out program up at our church three days a week, 9:30-2:30. I am working with the 2-3 year olds, and Austin gets to go to the baby room for free!! Bonus! Busy first day for me and him. When I picked him up at the end of the day I was told he had a great first day. He had "colored" a bus. And by colored I mean, a line of green, and line of blue. She also told me I might want to bring him more food for lunch. I was like...yeah, he eats a lot....so...I mean I packed him a whole hot dog, six or seven grapes, about a half a cup of mixed veggies, several teddy grahams. Plus I gave him a snack before I dropped him off. He is an eating machine.

Posing for the camera. Tell grandpa how excited he is for school.

The boys hanging out watching football.

Bump on the noggin'. He fell the other day, like he does a hundred times a day. This time he landed just perfectly so that his head hit the corner of the stereo cabinet. Poor boogerbutt.