Tonight we are all watching Ohio State play Ah-Ball. That would be "football" for those of you that don't speak Sam. We're 4 minutes into the first quarter and he has already noticed that all the players are wearing hats. He's told both teams to Go! He enthusiastically announces boom! whenever someone gets tackled.
This all makes me very excited to watch with him over the years to come.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Christmas 2010
Do you know what happens when you live 1000 miles from your closest family member? You travel - every year - for every holiday. Chris and I have been doing it since we met. Its great to see all of our family, but the packing is exhausting. Some years we wrap pictures of the gifts we've gotten for each other, some years we blow a wad shipping things around the country, some years we jam it all in our checked luggage and hope for the best.
But this year we had Sam (ok, we had him last year too, but last year he was pretty unaware). And this year Sam was getting a Cozy Coupe. He plays with one at the gym and loves it. I knew he'd recognize it. I wanted him to have it on Christmas morning. I wanted it under the tree.
So we drove. For the first time ever (yes, I moved between Houston and Columbus 3 times and had never driven it - God Bless corporate moves!). 20 hours door to door, including 2 sizable stops. Chick-Fil-A playgrounds are a beautiful thing, as are old family friends along your route. We drove overnight and through naptime, so Sam slept most of the way. Mom and Dad were TIRED when we got there. But I didn't hate the late night drive all that much. It was Christmas music non-stop and I had some nice reflective thinking time. But that's another post...
It was cold in Ohio. I spotted our first snow 76 miles south of Cincinnati and it stayed with us until the day we left for home. It snowed on Christmas eve as we were walking out of church - kind of perfect. Unless you're Sam, then it was both concerning and a bit frightening. Both my boys had their first White Christmas, and it made me happy.
Uncle Matt and (almost) Aunt Kate joined us in C-Bus as well. Kristen, George and Molly stayed in California this year - something about not wanting to fly across the country with a 2-week-old, not really sure about that ;-) It was (almost) Aunt Kate's first Christmas away from her parents and siblings, so we were honored to have her.
The first day and a half were pretty hectic - wrapping, assembling, cookie baking, food prep, and a quick visit with my High School Girls (we missed you Megan!). For the first time ever we brought kids - OUR KIDS - to the rendez-vous.
The volume of presents on Christmas morning was
awesome. We did stockings upstairs first and then let Sam lead the way down to the tree. He ran right to the Cozy Coupe and jumped in. Five minutes later he got out and checked out his new car ramp, then knocked over a few cardboard blocks on his way back to the coupe. It took us a week to finish opening his gifts. The rest of us were much speedier and had a wonderful time opening all the packages. Daddy broke the rules and got Mommy a very special pair of earrings!
That afternoon we were joined by my Grandma and Grandpa Sivard, Grandma
Gaffney and Uncle Tim. We cooked, ate, and opened a few more gifts. It was a very nice day.
The rest of the week was incredibly lazy - and wonderful. (Almost) Aunt Kate received seasons 1 and 2 of Criminal Minds and we watched a great deal of that show. I don't think many people showered before 11am the whole week. A little shopping, and lot of playing, some napping. Nice.
I feel like there are more stories to tell from the week, but this post is already quite long. I'll add more later.
But this year we had Sam (ok, we had him last year too, but last year he was pretty unaware). And this year Sam was getting a Cozy Coupe. He plays with one at the gym and loves it. I knew he'd recognize it. I wanted him to have it on Christmas morning. I wanted it under the tree.
So we drove. For the first time ever (yes, I moved between Houston and Columbus 3 times and had never driven it - God Bless corporate moves!). 20 hours door to door, including 2 sizable stops. Chick-Fil-A playgrounds are a beautiful thing, as are old family friends along your route. We drove overnight and through naptime, so Sam slept most of the way. Mom and Dad were TIRED when we got there. But I didn't hate the late night drive all that much. It was Christmas music non-stop and I had some nice reflective thinking time. But that's another post...
It was cold in Ohio. I spotted our first snow 76 miles south of Cincinnati and it stayed with us until the day we left for home. It snowed on Christmas eve as we were walking out of church - kind of perfect. Unless you're Sam, then it was both concerning and a bit frightening. Both my boys had their first White Christmas, and it made me happy.
Uncle Matt and (almost) Aunt Kate joined us in C-Bus as well. Kristen, George and Molly stayed in California this year - something about not wanting to fly across the country with a 2-week-old, not really sure about that ;-) It was (almost) Aunt Kate's first Christmas away from her parents and siblings, so we were honored to have her.
The first day and a half were pretty hectic - wrapping, assembling, cookie baking, food prep, and a quick visit with my High School Girls (we missed you Megan!). For the first time ever we brought kids - OUR KIDS - to the rendez-vous.
The volume of presents on Christmas morning was
awesome. We did stockings upstairs first and then let Sam lead the way down to the tree. He ran right to the Cozy Coupe and jumped in. Five minutes later he got out and checked out his new car ramp, then knocked over a few cardboard blocks on his way back to the coupe. It took us a week to finish opening his gifts. The rest of us were much speedier and had a wonderful time opening all the packages. Daddy broke the rules and got Mommy a very special pair of earrings!That afternoon we were joined by my Grandma and Grandpa Sivard, Grandma
Gaffney and Uncle Tim. We cooked, ate, and opened a few more gifts. It was a very nice day.The rest of the week was incredibly lazy - and wonderful. (Almost) Aunt Kate received seasons 1 and 2 of Criminal Minds and we watched a great deal of that show. I don't think many people showered before 11am the whole week. A little shopping, and lot of playing, some napping. Nice.
I feel like there are more stories to tell from the week, but this post is already quite long. I'll add more later.
Merry Christmas with love,
The Hunnifords
The Bottom Drawer
One Saturday morning Chris opened the refrigerator to get Sam a drink. While Chris was pouring, Sam opened the bottom drawer and then quickly ran off.
I guess when you leave an open package of hot dogs in toddler's reach, this is what you get. Nothing like cold hot dog at 8am. Mmmm! Maybe I should load that drawer with peas and carrots instead.
I guess when you leave an open package of hot dogs in toddler's reach, this is what you get. Nothing like cold hot dog at 8am. Mmmm! Maybe I should load that drawer with peas and carrots instead.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Home
Just a quick note: yesterday we returned home from a 9 day adventure to Ohio. We drove this year (hence the 9 days - 2 of them were in the car). I didn't feel much like touching a computer on my week away. There is much blogging to be done, but today I am organizing toys. Stay tuned...
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
A Whole New Person
It still totally amazes me that a mommy and a daddy can love each other very much, and nine months later there is a whole new person. I mean, wow!
As you might have guessed, I'M AN AUNT. Kristen's doctor decided that 41 weeks at 98.6 degrees was long enough to bake, so they went in for an induction on Sunday night. Baby girl was born at 8:46pm Pacific Time. 8lbs 3oz and 21 inches long.
As you might have guessed, I'M AN AUNT. Kristen's doctor decided that 41 weeks at 98.6 degrees was long enough to bake, so they went in for an induction on Sunday night. Baby girl was born at 8:46pm Pacific Time. 8lbs 3oz and 21 inches long.
Introducing Molly Katherine Stegmiller:
Sunday, December 12, 2010
A Christmasy Kind Of Day
Saturday was a lovely, Christmasy kind of day in the Hunniford household. After spending most of last weekend baking a decorating cookies, it was nice to take a more laid back approach to celebrating this week.
After a lazy Saturday morning complete with cinnamon rolls, we headed out for the anticipated Santa visit. Last year's picture was pretty cute, but this year Sam is much more keenly aware of strangers so I had pretty low expectations. In fact, I expected a picture of a terrified, screaming child with the jolly old man. Fortunately, he was pretty interested in the giant flash on top of the big old camera, so that distracted him from the strange man we just handed him off to with the promise of toys. Clearly he's not thrilled, but he didn't hate us for it either. Maybe next year he'll understand...
We thought he would be pretty excited about lunch at Chick-Fil-A right after, but he's also teething hard core right now. He mostly used the french fries as a way to get the ketchup into his mouth.
In the late afternoon we rode our bikes over to some friends' house to enjoy the
annual festivity known as Lights In The Heights. A small portion of our neighborhood (The Heights) takes it upon themselves to put on a lovely, laid back, outdoor Christmas party each year. There's a low-key parade, tons of decked out houses, bands playing outside, food trucks, Santa, etc. We watched the parade (he wasn't too sure about the police horses, but was pretty excited about the roller derby ladies all covered in Christmas lights) and walked around for a while with some friends. I found myself thinking about what the evening would be like in Ohio...I probably would have taken a coat with me.
We had one tired little boy on our ride home, but he had fun. There were so many kids at our friends' house -
they all had a ball running all over the place. And he loved the adults too. He saw Chris shake another man's hand a reached his own out to shake Chris's hand. He saw these two sitting on the step and pushed their legs out of the way to join them. Just one of the guys.
After we tucked the tired one into bed, Chris and I capped the evening off with Home Alone. A true classic, and a great way to end the day.
**On the subject of Christmas, I feel it is important to note Sam's affinity for gingerbread men. He steels them. He begs for them. He does care about the sugar cookies - just picks the candies off and leaves the cookie. But the gingerbread men...that's the good stuff!
After a lazy Saturday morning complete with cinnamon rolls, we headed out for the anticipated Santa visit. Last year's picture was pretty cute, but this year Sam is much more keenly aware of strangers so I had pretty low expectations. In fact, I expected a picture of a terrified, screaming child with the jolly old man. Fortunately, he was pretty interested in the giant flash on top of the big old camera, so that distracted him from the strange man we just handed him off to with the promise of toys. Clearly he's not thrilled, but he didn't hate us for it either. Maybe next year he'll understand...
We thought he would be pretty excited about lunch at Chick-Fil-A right after, but he's also teething hard core right now. He mostly used the french fries as a way to get the ketchup into his mouth.In the late afternoon we rode our bikes over to some friends' house to enjoy the
annual festivity known as Lights In The Heights. A small portion of our neighborhood (The Heights) takes it upon themselves to put on a lovely, laid back, outdoor Christmas party each year. There's a low-key parade, tons of decked out houses, bands playing outside, food trucks, Santa, etc. We watched the parade (he wasn't too sure about the police horses, but was pretty excited about the roller derby ladies all covered in Christmas lights) and walked around for a while with some friends. I found myself thinking about what the evening would be like in Ohio...I probably would have taken a coat with me.We had one tired little boy on our ride home, but he had fun. There were so many kids at our friends' house -
they all had a ball running all over the place. And he loved the adults too. He saw Chris shake another man's hand a reached his own out to shake Chris's hand. He saw these two sitting on the step and pushed their legs out of the way to join them. Just one of the guys.After we tucked the tired one into bed, Chris and I capped the evening off with Home Alone. A true classic, and a great way to end the day.
**On the subject of Christmas, I feel it is important to note Sam's affinity for gingerbread men. He steels them. He begs for them. He does care about the sugar cookies - just picks the candies off and leaves the cookie. But the gingerbread men...that's the good stuff!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Sam's New Word
Sam is a boy, which means that Sam loves trucks. More accurately, he loves things that drive and make lots of noise. Sometimes its motorcycles and loud cars that catch his attention, but mostly trucks...and buses. Because buses are big and loud too.
He's really good at pointing the trucks out to us. He announces their presence loudly and with great enthusiasm. Its really the only word he uses when he's in the car seat. We hear it a lot. But here's the thing: sometimes he proclaims "truck!" when its actually a bus. So I taught him the word bus by telling him that the yellow ones was "bus." He caught on quickly - even pronounced the S at the end.
But then we noticed that he was calling trucks buses, and he was calling buses trucks. I can totally see mixing up the city buses, but he was having a lot of trouble with the school buses too. I kept trying to teach him which word to use for each vehicle.
I think I overdid it. I think he is tired of being corrected when he's simply trying to share the very exciting thing that is driving by. I think he's just confused.
The solution? Sam has now coined the phrase "BusTruck." One word. All encompassing.
Now that's problem solving.
He's really good at pointing the trucks out to us. He announces their presence loudly and with great enthusiasm. Its really the only word he uses when he's in the car seat. We hear it a lot. But here's the thing: sometimes he proclaims "truck!" when its actually a bus. So I taught him the word bus by telling him that the yellow ones was "bus." He caught on quickly - even pronounced the S at the end.
But then we noticed that he was calling trucks buses, and he was calling buses trucks. I can totally see mixing up the city buses, but he was having a lot of trouble with the school buses too. I kept trying to teach him which word to use for each vehicle.
I think I overdid it. I think he is tired of being corrected when he's simply trying to share the very exciting thing that is driving by. I think he's just confused.
The solution? Sam has now coined the phrase "BusTruck." One word. All encompassing.
Now that's problem solving.
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