Fingers and toes :)

Steven continues to crack himself up playing with his fingers and toes.

His newest thing is doing hands together like prayer hands. He can even intertwine all his little fingers. Then he likes to pet them like he's doing in this pic here.

So far fingers and toes are better than toys. But not for long!

Bathing in Style

What! It's Bath time?

Where's my spa towel?

Bring me a bottle. Shaken and luke warm.

Do I look like I'm kidding?

Back to Work and off to Child Care

Well, today I finally had to go back to work. I knew this day would come and thankfully I love my job so it was not as bad as I had feared. The morning routine will take some getting used to thats for sure. I felt like I was packing for a weekend between the diaper bag, the bottle bag, the pump with more bottles, my books/laptop for school, then the baby/stroller/carseat. I have hope that I'll get into a routine as easy as some of my friends and cousins make it look :)

Steven is enrolled at the child care right on the campus of my school. So although it will be hard to be apart from him he is literally a 30 second walk away.

Steven had a new outfit for school today, and cute little brown moccasin shoes :) Even daddy got up to say goodbye to him (whoa!).

The ladies at child care are pretty amazing and I'm really lucky to have such a great situation where I know he's well cared for and I can pop in and see him when I miss him too much :)

All the girls at school made my day much easier - they all were happy to see me and to hear about Steven. (Don't tell but we did spend a few minutes of class time looking at pictures of him on the computer)

When I picked him up the ladies said he was delightful. He ate and napped and played and napped. Obviously he was dealing with the separation okay. They said he loves music (shocker) and that he stopped fussing when he was sung to (another shocker).

Miraculously he had not soiled his new outfit! I was so excited until...you guessed it...I heard it happening in the car seat the second we walked in the door. Oh well, it will be fine after the wash.

So all is well, one day down, one day closer to summer.

Door Jumper

Steven was getting cranky during a visit with Mandy and Lucy, so we decided to throw him in the door jumper to see if it would change his mood since Lucy loved it so much. We thought he might be too little, but he LOVED it! His legs have gotten so strong and he was jumpin and boppin right along.

We brought it home so he could keep working those muscles. He loves hanging in the kitchen and watching Papa Cunha making dinner :)

I think it's helped him with his balance in the bumbo too!

Steven out!

Sleeping through the night?

Last night Steven slept from 11:30 until 6 am. This was fantastic for both a sick mama and papa Cunha, but I'm not really sure this is a sign for nights to come. Steven had 2 vaccinations yesterday and was more sleepy than usual in the afternoon - which meant he was wide awake later at night and up later too - till 11:30. I'll take what I can get, especially when under the weather. Hope he can keep it up. Since he is part Cunha, I'm hopeful the longer sleep sessions will continue. The Spinola's sleeping patterns (aside from Ellen's, or mine in my college days) are not on my side.

FINGERS FINGERS FINGERS!!!

Steven has spent the last month or so trying to swat at his special friends on his playmat. Only in the last week or so has he discovered that his fingers can do something on their own!!

He's now grabbing at all kinds of links and strings and loving it. Yaay Steven!! He's become closely acquainted with Mr. Koala, Madame Butterfly and his own reflection in the mirror during his many hours on the playmat.

I'm not sure what he's saying but he talks the whole time on the mat with his oohs, ahhs, duhs, guhs, bahs, dehs, boos and gehs.

He's having so much fun with his new favorite toys now that he knows how to play with them. You can just tell he feels like a superman :)

Okay - so shame on me for taking such a horrible video - its really dark :( My only excuse is I was really sick that day. But I'll try to capture a better one. But you can get the idea of the moment. This is the big smile he had whenever he hit his targets. Cut and paste this into the darkness :)

Our Mini Valentine

Valentine's was super sweet! Our mini Valentine was really good to us all day long :) Steven looked very cool in his "Heartbreaker" outfit from Uncle Bobby :)

We started the day with griddle cakes (my fav). Steven sat in the bumbo happily all through breakfast.

Then we opened valentine's cards to find that Jose and I bought Steven the same one.

He immediately loved the elephant teether/rattle we got for him. Daddy showed him the long nose and Steven found it right away. After all, grabbing things with his amazing FINGERS he recently discovered is his newest trick!

Later we took off for the Fitch's out in Brunswick. Major cabin fever called for a big outing. Since Lauren is due in 2 months we knew they would be good company for us and Steven.

We had such a nice time relaxing in a baby friendly zone OTHER than the condo.

And later that night my mini valentine went to sleep just in time for me to actually sit and eat dinner with my big valentine.

Snowpocalypse 2010

Snopocalypse 2010. More snow than DC has ever received in one Winter. Lucky us! So how do you enjoy the snow with a 2 month old that can't go out and play in it? Well, you build a snowman on your balcony of course! And if you're like us, you may still have your Christmas tree sitting out there because you never got around to getting rid of it, only now its like new, all snow capped and picture perfect.

Jose built the little snowbaby and I dressed him. Then we got Steven all bundled up in his pooh fleece and in his Bumbo like a big boy. He was so well behaved and didn't seem to mind the cold at all. I couldn't help but put my own brown hoodie on to match with my son. I know I am ridiculous. Then there is Jose in only his t-shirt.

This was a nice start to a week that ended in severe cabin fever for mom and baby. Well, mom mostly. Jose and I did take turns going for walks - can you believe what our street looked like!

The smart ones were cross country skiing. As much as it made DC fall apart it was beautiful.

We also finally found the time to do Steven's baby footprints and handprints. One hand and one foot to be framed, one hand for a christmas ornament and the two feet was just with extra foam. Not sure what we're going to do with those yet. We're open for suggestions.

I can't wait for a snowstorm when we can take Steven out to play - beyond the balcony :)

Nap time

Naps are a big part of Steven's days. They can happen anytime, and anywhere....

sometimes naps are on the couch with Tootie...

sometimes they are in the swing...

sometimes they are in strange places...

or in the carseat...

sometimes he takes them after a bath...

outside or even in the snow...

special ones are with Auntie Ellen...

long ones are with daddy...

and lots of them are in mommy's arms :)