Stephan's First Christmas and New Year!

Fresh on the heels of Thanksgiving, Stephan kicked off the holiday season with being introduced to Christmas music 24/7 (thank you, Pandora!).  Stephan greeted the celebratory month with introductions to new friends and family, followed by parties, strolls through Zoolights, and of course, the big day itself, Christmas cheer.  Enjoy his first Christmas pics!

Meeting new friend, Salvatore (5 weeks old)

 Santa made a special appearance at our building's Holiday Party - Stephan approached him like a pro!

Zoolights at the National Zoo

We traveled to Catawissa, PA for a pre-Christmas celebration and first introductions to Jan's family - sister Brook and her lovely boys, Claire, and Jan's mum, Nancy.  Oh, and of course, Brook's endearing pups - Jack, Sophie, and Millicent who adopted Stephan as one of their own.

Christmas pajamas and bunny slippers

Christmas day celebration with Mary, Michael, Ian, Mason and Elise.  We feasted on ham, turkey sandwiches, mean mash potatoes while indulging in great conversation, laughter, and cheer.

Uncle John was Stephan's Secret Angel and while his gift arrived several days later, his ode to UNR WOLFPACK was intact! Go WOLFPACK!

We were blessed with another warm, loving, joyous, and peaceful holiday season!  Next major event - Stephan's first birthday on April 4th.  Until then, continue to follow his every adventure and glorious discovery.  Many blessings in 2014!

Stephan's First Thanksgiving

Stephan concludes his seven-months with holiday jubilee and his uncles' 50th birthday.  Stephan and mama boarded Delta airlines on Wednesday, November 27 for a six-hour journey to mama's birthplace, Las Vegas, NV.  His charm wooed travel companions, making the travel easy and fun.  His Aunt Jennie, Uncle John (R) and grampa Joaquin greeted us at the airport and whisked us away to Green Valley Resort where we joined the Limon gang in celebrating Raymond and Michael's 50th birthday.  The evening sealed beautiful memories of 1963 trivia, yummy treats, and of course, hearty laughs and hugs.

Thanksgiving Celebration
Stephan starts the morning at Olympic speed racing up the stairs - his first - with his Aunt Jody shepherding him along. Mama and sister Jennie burned a few pre-meal calories, not at Olympic-speed, but enough to get the juices flowing.  The day followed with lots of eating, football, arts and crafts, lots of eating, napping, and storytelling.

Black Friday with Santa, Cousins, and Jammies

Goodbyes 

Can't wait for next year! Now, here comes Christmas!!

6-Month Celebration - Sweet Potatoes and Downward Dog

Stephan marked his six-month birthday with tasty, fork-smashed sweet potatoes!  While the jury is still out on taste, playing with food was much more entertaining!  In return, Stephan showed us his downward dog and pre-crawling moves.  We love our little yogi :).

5-Month Beginnings

On September 4, Stephan celebrated his fifth month with a host of new acrobatic moves!  He's sittin' pretty tall and proud.  When not looking he goes from tummy time to sitting up in seconds.  He is also known to scoot himself off his play mat without your notice.  We have a feeling crawling is not too far away.

He also was introduced to his first solid (watery that is) - rice cereal and the idea that he is going to have to take a bottle now and then.  His sense of smell is on overdrive as he intensely watches us prepare and eat our meals.  Teeth or no teeth, he'll experience that mouth-watery banana next month! Until then, we are enjoying his every move.