One Room at a Time....the Living Room

As promised, I am sharing pictures of the inside of our house.  The first room I'll share is the living room.  Hands down this is my favorite room!

I love the french doors leading out to the lanai (a.k.a. - sunroom) and the built in bookcases by the fireplace.  The room is huge yet it still has a warm and cozy feel to it.

We didn't change much of the decor from what we had in Rocklin.  As some of you may know these green couches are the bain of my existence.  Brandon is holding on to them for dear life and they have definitely seen better days. We did however purchase a rug, TV stand, and lamps which I think look great.

The room is pretty much complete with the exception of decorating the bookcases, excuse the junk. :( 

Gwyneth gives this room a big thumbs up!

Gwyneth Turns 1!

This post is a week late, but better late than never....

It is hard to believe my baby is already one years old!  It seems like she was born just yesterday.  Brandon and I have been looking back at pictures from the hospital and it's unbelievable how much difference one year can make in a child.  She is developing into a beautiful little girl and we fall in love with her more each and every day!

Gwyneth Harper Stepp was born May 7, 2011 weighing 8 lb 2 oz and measuring 21 inches long.

One day old.

Gwyneth one year old.  She just gets cuter with age!!

My parents have been here in CA with us since the end of February.  It has been such a blessing to have their help during the move.  I honestly don't know what we would have done without them!  Gwyneth really enjoyed having them too!  They left yesterday on their drive back to AL.  We will miss them dearly!

Gwyneth with Granddaddy and Grandmama Raymond (Erin Noel Photography).

My sister, Heather, came out this past weekend to help celebrate our mom's and Gwyneth's birthdays.  We decided to do a joint birthday since Gwyneth's birthday was the 7th and my mom's was the 9th.  The celebration was a bit belated, but I think they both enjoyed it.

Heather and Gwyneth.

The Hello Kitty Cake.

Heather really wanted Gwyneth's birthday to involve swimming and I thought it was a great idea too.  We don't have a pool but that was a positive since I had no intentions of getting into a bathing suit.  So we made a trip to Toys R Us and got a baby pool.  It was perfect and Gwyneth absolutely loved it!!  I have a feeling we will be using the pool a lot this Summer.

I have an amazing family and I am so very lucky to have them in my life!  Happy Birthday Dunebuggy!!  Mommy and Daddy love you so much!  XOXO

Southern California

It's been way too long since I last blogged...almost a year!  The Stepps have been on the move. We just made a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) move and are now in sunny Southern California.  Brandon is working as the Executive Officer for the Commander of  4th Air Force at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside, CA, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.  In 1994 March AFB was converted to March Air Reserve Base (ARB), a stand-alone reserve base.  The base itself originated back in 1918 and is one of the oldest airfields operated by the United States Military.  They have kept most of the buildings in their historical condition, with minor updates, and they are absolutely beautiful.  I love driving around and imagining what it would have been like on base back in the 1920's and 30's.

We live in Green Acres, a neighborhood comprised of what used to be base housing.  When the active duty base closed in 1994 the city of Riverside acquired a portion of the housing and they lease the houses through March Joint Powers Authority.  The houses date back to the early 1930s and they are amazing!  Just down the street from us there is a house called "The Doolittle House."  Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, who led Doolittle's Raid during World War II, once lived there.  There is also the "Hap Arnold House" which still resides on base.  General Henry Arnold, the General of the Air Force, once lived there when he was the base commander back in the 1930s.  The inside of the houses are a bit dated but I LOVE all of the historic details.  There is just something about an old home that make you feel cozy.  So many memories were made in the same spot that you are now making memories and I love that!

 Entrance to Green Acres. 

The house we rent used to be designated for high ranking officers.  It is a 4 bedroom 3 bath home and is so much bigger than our home in Rocklin.  The floors are beautiful hardwood and the rooms are huge!  Gwyneth loves playing in her room and is going to be so spoiled with all the space in which she has to play.  The walls are super thick plaster so decorating has been a little bit of a challenge since you can't hang pictures or curtain rods.  When we first looked at the house I noticed the crown molding was not flush against the ceiling.  I thought it was just poor workmanship when I saw a 1 inch gap but later learned the molding is used to hang pictures.  Little details like that are what I love!! :)

Adams Avenue, our street.

The house is slowly coming together.  We have come to realize that we have accumulated a bunch of "junk" over the years.  The move has helped us declutter a bit, but we still have a long way to go.  I will be posting pictures of the inside of the house over the next week.

Our house.

State Fair

It's been a month since I lasted posted a blog and oh my how Gwyneth has changed!  At 10 weeks, she is getting to be such a big girl.  Her awareness of her surroundings is increasing everyday.  There must be so much going on in that little brain of hers, Brandon and I joke about the new synapses firing as we speak.

Today was a big day for her.  Brandon and I took her to the California State Fair at Cal Expo down in Sacramento.  Having lived in the Sacramento area for sis years, you would think that we had been to the fair before.  We actually lived about a mile from the fairgrounds for two years, but for some reason or other we have never made it.  This year we made it a point to go since we had Dunebuggy.  Fortunately this year, the weather was perfect!  Every year the fair is held at the end of July, the hottest time of the year here in Sacramento.  The idea of going to the fair in 100+ degree weather just does not sound like a good time.  Fortunately, we've had a two-week span of unusually cool weather and the high was a very reasonable 80 degrees with the standard NorCal 100% sunshine. There was a nice breeze as well.  We really couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day.

My favorite part of the fair was by far the farm animal exhibits and the petting zoo.  The farm animal exhibits had hundreds of pens set up with goats, pigs, sheep, and cows.  Many of these animals were pregnant or had recently given birth.  We saw a pig that had given birth to 10 babies that were just five-days old.  They were super cute but not as cute as the baby sheep that were one day old!  They were still learning how to walk and were smaller than Baylee.  They were absolutely adorable!!

The petting zoo was a lot of fun too.  I have always enjoyed petting farm animals and today was no different. :)  They had sheep, goats, llamas, pigs, donkeys, deer, and even a kangaroo!  I bought a small cone of food to feed the animals and it didn't last long.  Those guys were hungry!  I am realized surprised those animals aren't severely overweight from all that food the kids feed them.  They are constantly eating!  Dunebuggy was a little too young for the petting zoo this year but I am looking forward to next year when she can join me in the fun.

After visiting the animals we perused the fair for yummy junk food.  We shared a funnel cake, fried cheese curds, fried peanut butter cups, and chocolate bacon.  I think we had enough fried food for the week.  They were all delicious but my favorite was the funnel cake.  Gwyneth got hungry somewhere along our fried food journey.  We found a shaded park bench to sit and feed her a bottle.  She did so well, not crying a single time.  As Brandon burped her, he felt her poop in her diaper.  We decided to change her right there on the park bench (the bathrooms at the fair are not the cleanest or the most family friendly for changing babies).  I opened her diaper and.....oh my!!  She had an explosion up in that diaper!  Good thing we changed her quick, otherwise we would have had a code blue (a term for an outfit ruining blowout that we learned from Cindy Teel) on our hands.  After many many wipes we were able to get her cleaned up and diapered without knowingly offending anyone because we were out in the public.  Overall, I would say we had a successful day at the fair.  It was a lot of fun to experience the fair for the first time and to share that experience with my wonderful little family.

After we returned home, I fed Dunebuggy and got her ready for bed.  We are still working on a bedtime routine.  I have come to realize that she is never ready to go to bed right after she eats.  Tonight I decided to read her some books.  She loved it!  I read her a book about puppies and she was smiling as I turned each page and she got to see a new picture of a puppy.  It was amazing to see her so engaged.  I read her the book several times (it was a short 5 pages long) and each time it was like she had heard it for the first time.  Since she was so enthralled with that book, I decided to read her another book.  I read her a book that her Yaney gave her on numbers.  It is a super cute book that is shaped like a purse and teaches the numbers one through ten.  She loved the book however I think it is going to take many more reads until she is able to count to ten. :)  I think reading a book will definitely be a part of our nightly routine from here on out!

Gwyneth goes to work!

Today I took Gwyneth to Williams & Olds to meet my co-workers.  Unfortunately not everyone was in the office but Gwyneth enjoyed meeting those that were there.

Gwyneth and Stacey.

Gwyneth with Pamela and Jamie.

She got a little fussy soon after we got there since it was time for her to eat.  Luckily, being the good mommy that I am, I had a bottle ready.  Stacey and Lisa both enjoyed feeding her. :)

I have missed seeing everyone so it was good to catch up and let them meet Dunebuggy.  For those that visited Gwyneth soon after she was born, they were amazed at how much she has grown!

Gwyneth chilling in my office.

Pamela and Gwyneth.

I look forward to working with everyone again, but I am not looking forward to leaving Gwyneth.  August 1st will be here way too soon!

They grow up fast...

Gwyneth is getting big so fast!  I can see a change in her almost everyday.  She is still packing on the weight and is filling out.  My guess is that she weighs around 11 pounds now, but we won't have an accurate weight reading until our next appointment on July 1st.  I knew she was getting bigger but it wasn't that obvious until I took her to see my friend Sarah's newborn.

Sarah and Baby Lukas, one week old.

Sarah gave birth to Lukas John Holmes exactly one month after Gwyneth was born.  Gwyneth and I had the opportunity to visit with Sarah and Lukas when he was just one week old.  Seeing Lukas as small as he is next to a 5 1/2 week old Gwyneth really brought to my attention how much she has changed.  Her arms and legs were much thicker than his and her head was much larger too.  Everyone tells you babies grow up fast and of course I believed them, but it didn't really hit me until I saw it with my own eyes.

This week has been a week of firsts for Gwyneth.  Monday she started making sounds and coos that we hadn't heard before.  Prior to Monday her sounds were limited to crying but now she is making all kinds of noises!  Most of her vocabulary consists of vowel sounds like "oh" and "ah."  When she "talks" we repeat back to her the sound she made, as if we are having a conversation with her.

Another first for Gwyneth this week was the use of a pacifier.  We have attempted to get her to take a pacifier for the past two-weeks with no luck.  She was just not interested in it and when she did take the paci it was only a matter of seconds before she spit it out.  Yesterday, she had a breakthrough and took to the paci with no problem at all!  It may be a problem down the road when it's time for her to give up her paci, but I am willing to deal with that battle then for a happy baby now.

Last night Gwyneth had another first, she slept in her bassinet without having to be in her bouncer!  For the past few weeks, the only way we could get her to sleep at night was to swaddle her, lay her in her bouncer, turn it on vibrate, and bounce her to sleep.  The bouncing would sometime only take five-minutes, but there were times I had to bounce her for 30 minutes or more!  Gwyneth loves laying on her changing pad when she has her diaper changed so Mrs. Stepp had the idea that we put the changing pad in the bassinet to see what would happen.  We tried it last night and Gwyneth slept like a...well, like a baby.  It worked so well that I went to the store and bought another changing pad just for her bassinet.  Hopefully this is the start of many peaceful nights to come!

One Month

The weekly blog updates are very different now.  Instead of sharing pictures of my baby bump I now get to share pictures of our sweet Gwyneth as she grows!  I can't believe she has been with us for a month already.  I apologize for not keeping up with the blog, but as you can imagine I have had my hands full lately.  Now that I am starting to get the hang of things around here I will have more time to keep everyone updated.  I may not get as many blogs out as I would like, but I promise a genuine effort for at least one per week.

Gwyneth is one month old!

Everything has gone as well as can be expected since we got Gwyneth home, she fits right in here in the Stepp household. :)  Joe has yet to pay any attention to her and Baylee has done surprisingly well.  Brandon and I constantly joked about how Baylee was going to hate Gwyneth and how she was going to snack on baby toes.  I was very worried when we first introduced them but Baylee handled herself well and has yet to show any signs of aggressiveness towards Gwyneth. She has not been aggressive but she most definitely is jealous of all the attention our new little girl is getting.  We are trying to balance Dunebuggy and Baylee time so that she doesn't feel too left out.  It's funny, it feels like we have two children!

Baylee lounging in Gwyneth's bouncer.

Baylee participating in bath time (ignore the messy counter :) ).

Gwyneth has had two doctor's appointments since she was born.  The pediatrician said she  looks great and at her last appointment she was up to 8 lb. 15 oz.  She is packing on the weight and turning into a chunky little baby!  Soon we will have our own little Michelin man. :)  Her next appointment is July 1st and Brandon and I are not looking forward to it.  She will be getting her first round of vaccinations and we are dreading having to watch her get shots and cry.  Everyone says it happens so fast and that she won't cry for long...I hope they are right!

Gwyneth looking just like her daddy!

When she was born, her skin had a dark complexion that can only be described as purple, and she kept the darker complexion for several days.  Brandon began wondering if Gwyneth, which is Welch and means pale or fair, was an appropriate name.  As the days have gone on, she has certainly lightened up and is now living up to her namesake.  We've taken to calling her the Pale Princess of Poo Poo.

Gwyneth getting her first bath...she liked it.

It's been amazing to see how much Gwyneth has changed in just a month!  She was once unable to focus on much of anything in front of her and now you can see her staring at things.  You can hold something in front of her and she will follow it with her eyes as your move it around.  I love just sitting with her and watching her stare back at me.  It's like she is studying my face and trying to figure out who I am.  I can't wait to see how much she changes over the next month!

Of course the sleepless nights and the blowouts in her diaper weren't unexpected. We knew they were coming, yet still they have somehow been shocking in their magnitude and their frequency.  We've been told by multiple parents that the negative parts of these days will fade with time.  It is tempting to look ahead to that day when the extreme tiredness is but a memory, but at the same time that means that she won't be a nine pound precious little baby anymore.  We know various people with babies that are four, six and ten months old, and they all seem like baby behemoths compared to Dunebuggy.  I hear great things about babies when they can hold their heads up and they actually recognize you, but it is still hard to give up our tiny princess.