Moira Darling

As you can see, Moira has the sweetest face. Which is perfect because it matches her personality. She is an amazing girl. She absolutely ADORES her brother Carter. She gives us each a little glimpse of who she is. For Carter, she just stares at him with a look of total awe and admiration. For her daddy, she is all smiles. For me, spit-up. Seriously though, my favorite is the sighing, sing-song sound of her voice. I have never heard a sweeter sound. She is perfect.

She is strong too! She has already rolled over tummy-to-back and Jon and Carter caught her rolling from her back to her tummy!!! We were all so proud of her. She is definitely physical. She has found her hands and has started reaching for objects above her. (sheer genius!)

Moira is growing so quickly. When she went for her well-baby she already weighed 12 lbs. 9oz. That was two weeks ago! She is so long too (see photos above). She is in 6 month clothes already so her toes won't scrunch.

We are settling into life with two quite nicely. (Except that it takes me three months to update the blog) I will try to be better. I am loving the "girl-thing" so much more than I could have ever imagined. Moira is a joy and a delight to each of us and we are so blessed by her everyday.

Snowy Day

We have had ONE snow day this winter. Carter looked out the window nearly all day looking for Jon's car to pull in the drive-way so the two of them could go outside and play. He was so worried the snow would melt before his daddy made it home. Fortunately, no such problem occurred and the boys enjoyed several glorious minutes in the frigid temperatures before the sun set. They were quite successful in their snowman endeavors. Carter was so proud and excited to have his very own Frosty. Of course the best part of playing in the snow is coming in for hot chocolate. Carter was excited to use his special miniature "Mount Liberty" mug his Gramma got for him at Mount Vernon. (He's a little confused on his National landmarks)

Welcome new baby Stevenson!

We now officially welcome Miss Margaret Moira Stevenson to our family. Moira joined us last night, December 2nd, at 11:40pm weighing in at 8lbs 15ozs and stretched 22 inches tall.

As I am sure many of you are wanting to know, here's the (quick) story...
While playing a rousing game of cards with her sister, Mariah's water broke around 3:15pm yesterday afternoon. I was already on my way home from work (yes, you too can go home from work at 3:00 in the afternoon if you work for the government) so I easily made it home... and luckily traffic cooperated with us. (As some of you may know, traffic in and around D.C. can be challenging to say the least.) But we were fortunate. We arrived at the hospital just before 5:00 when Mariah's contractions really started to get her attention. We got checked in, jumped through the normal adminstrative hoops and eventually got settled in our room without any issues.

Quick sidebar --> The planets must have been aligned last night because this place was/is PACKED! When I eventually saw Moira in the nursery it was wall-to-wall babies and standing room only... if babies could stand that is.

At any rate... Things kicked into high gear around 11:00pm when the doc came in, checked and said "you're complete, ready to have this baby?" Oh, well... if it's that simple, then sure. And once they were all set up, 10 minutes and three pushes later later little Moira was born at 11:40pm. Unfortunately she did have a little muconium to deal with that they had to take her into the nursery for. But after a few hours, some great TLC by the nurses and a squeaky clean bath, she was ready to join us.

Mom and little girl are doing well and can't wait to tell you more about themselves once they get thier energy back! Oh yeah, Dad is fine too. :)

Be sure to check out the new slideshow below!

Carter had his first authentic Trick-or-Treating experience this year. Our church hosted a community Trunk-or-Treat where we got to walk from car to car collecting treats, as well as go one hay rides, bounce in a bouncy castle and see animals at a petting zoo. Carter had a blast! He was overwhelmed by all the decorations and costumes. His favorite trunk? The one decked out with Santa Clause, of course! ;-)

As you can see Carter went as a dragon. He really wanted Jon to go as The Bravest Knight and me as a witch (I am sure I will find out years from now from his therapist why). But we were not creative enough. Instead, I decided to put my belly to good use and go as Bob the Tomato from Veggie Tales. Carter was skeptical at first but once he saw me with the costume on, he got it and thought I was very silly.

We had a lot of fun. It was a hoot to watch Carter walk around in his costume. I love the tail and the wings!

Hope you all had and fun and safe Halloween!

Carter's Big Month!

Carter has had an eventful month this September! His first big step was starting preschool earlier in the month. He L O V E S it! He is so excited each day that he has school and can't wait to see his friends and teacher Mrs. Mgoflin (actually it is Mrs. McLaughlin - I was pretty impressed with how close he got!). When Carter gets into the car after school he tells me he had a great time but when I ask him what he did he just says, "I don't know.", typical boy! ;-)

Carter is also mastering the potty this month. His arms and hands are covered with tatoos from all his successful attempts. We are really proud of him. He is all boy now and I don't know what to do. ;-) He is still as sweet as ever and uses cuddles for his favorite stall technique at bed time. I am a sucker, what can I say? I know the day will come when I ask for cuddles and he will look at me like I have 3 heads.

Carter's final big event this month was that he turned 3!!!! He requested a barn/farm/tractor party so we obliged. Jon and I made the cake (please see below, it was our first attempt and we really are quite proud - pay close attention to the exquisite detail.) and enjoyed the team effort. Carter's friends joined him for a barn stompin' good time and he loved playing with his friends. He couldn't wait for everyone to sing "Happy Birthday" to him! The next day, his actual birthday, we took him to a Fall Festival with lots of animals and rides...he was overwhlemed by all the activity but had a good time none the less. He was a happy farmer! His favorite parts of the day were riding a pony, getting his face painted and eating an apple.

We also had a surprise visitor for Carter's birthday - his Gramma surprised him all the way from Arizona and came to stay with us for the occassion. Carter was thrilled and has thoroughly enjoyed and lapped up all the spoiling, cuddles, and play time that he can get. I would say he has had a great birthday!

That is about all from here. Baby Girl continues to grow just fine and we can not believe that we have less than 10 weeks until our due date. The time is fast approaching! I suppose I should put her room together some time soon. Carter is still excited for Baby Sister to get here and kisses my tummy most everyday. He has decided that we should name the baby Meatball. It is an "M" name so I will let you know if it sticks. ;-)

We hope you all are well!

The Stevensons
Jon, Mariah and Carter (and Baby Sister)