Playing catch-up

Hooray!! We finally got this working again! Sorry it's been sooo long since an update. There obviously is a lot to catch up on, but I'll try to keep it short.

So first, in June, my brother Geoff and his fiancé Emily got married. It was a beautiful outdoor ceremony, which was also good for the kids because they could run around till it started.

TJ had to leave the day after the wedding to get back for finals, but I was able to stay and we had a little Rands' family reunion! It was lots of fun, although the fact that Steven got sick the day after it started made it a little less fun. I'm not really sure what exactly was wrong, but he had a fever and threw up a couple days in a row. Bottom line, he wouldn't let me put him down and wouldn't let anyone else in my family hold him, which was pretty sad. He also didn't really want to play with any of his cousins. One of the few things that did make him happy, though, was the piano. He LOVES the piano.

We finally sold the Passat (otherwise known as Mrs. Jones). It was bittersweet since we had been trying to sell it for a while, but once it came down to actually letting it go, we weren't sure if we could do it! This was the car that TJ and I fell in love in! She had been with us through our entire relationship so far, we brought Steven home from the hospital in her, and for TJ, she had been a part of his life since high school. Anyway, we miss her, but trust that she's happy with her new family. (We made the guy we sold her to take this picture right after we signed all the papers)

We got some family pictures taken that I had gotten a Groupon for. We love them!! The people did a great job and we just wish they weren't so expensive so we could get pictures take there all the time!

In August, TJ's family came to Utah and we had a Peper family reunion. It was so much fun! We started out hanging around in Provo/Lehi for the first half of the week, and then headed up to Midway and stayed in a house up there for the rest of the week. It was gorgeous in Midway. We were able to spend lots of time outside during the day, and then the grown-ups got to play games once the kids were asleep. It was especially fun when we played Minute to Win It. Lyndsay did an awesome job putting it all together, and it was one of the most entertaining things I've ever seen.

We also had some good girl bonding time shopping, and three out of the four sisters/sister-in-law got matching shoes! I felt like a true Peper girl.

After a week of TJ's family making comment's about Steven's hair and how he needed a haircut, we finally relented and gave him one. It was so, so sad. Once all his curls were gone, he just didn't look like my little baby anymore.

Anyway, now that we have this up and running again, I promise I'll update more soon! It's good to be back :)

Videos... well not really

So I just have a question... is anyone else not being able to upload videos on here? I've seriously been trying since I put up my last post and it won't let me! I don't know what's going on, but I'm really frustrated about it! We finally got some really good ones of Steven walking and I have a bunch from around his birthday that I want to put up too :(

Catching Up

So obviously a lot has happened in the last month and a half, so I'm just going to jump right into it. First, Steven had his 1 year well-check. It went pretty well. He's a very healthy little boy! He weighed 22.18 lbs (41st %tile), was 30.75 ins long (81st %tile), and had a head circumference of 18.25 ins (50th %tile). He had to get 4 vaccines which was not fun. I always feel like he looks at me incredulously after getting those, like "how could you let this happen to me??" The only thing that the doctor was worried about were his communication skills, which are basically non-existent. He's doing really well in every other area (motor skills, fine motor skills, social skills, etc) but he does almost nothing in the way of communication. He barely waves, he doesn't do any of the baby signs we've been working on with him for around 5 months, and he definitely isn't even close to saying any words. It's extremely frustrating. The doctor said that she wanted me to come in and fill out another developmental worksheet at 14 months, and if he still hasn't made any progress at that point, we'd discuss options. So far, we've got nothing.

Besides that, just a couple fun things that have been going on - we finally got Steven a suit and he looks so handsome in it. We haven't really gotten a good picture of it yet, but here are a couple anyway...

TJ's been working with him a lot on playing the djembe. He also got 2 egg shakers which he loves playing with. We're pretty sure he's gonna grow up to be a percussionist.

Here's a picture of him and me on Mother's Day

So I know I might get some flack for these pictures, but I just think they're adorable. And I am not cutting his hair. I might trim the sides a little sometime soon, but I am not cutting those curls off. I think they're the cutest things ever.

Last of all - some pretty big news - he's finally walking!! Well, more like waddling, but it's progress. For a long time, we could only get him to walk if we were holding his hands. Then, all of a sudden within the last two weeks he went from me seeing him take his first step by himself, to taking about 11 in a row a few days later, to doing it all the time (when bribed with food), and now he will just get up and walk sporadically for no reason at all. We had a video of him doing this, but for some reason, I can't get it to upload, so I promise I'll post it later!

Happy Birthday Steven!

I can't believe my little baby turned one yesterday!! Both TJ and I don not feel like we've had him for that long... Time flies when you're having fun! We decided to have a little party for him with a few of our friends and it was so much fun! We had pizza,

opened presents,

and ate cake! He pretty much inhaled it.

He was being pretty grumpy, though, and wouldn't let anyone else hold him. Every time they tried, he would start crying, and sometimes he would just start for no reason.

Still, it was tons of fun!

We are so lucky to have great friends that came to show their love for steven! Ty and Kami,

America and Tyler,

and (not pictured because they had to leave a little early)Katie and Mckay.

Happy Birthday Steven!!! We're so lucky to have him in our family. He brings so much joy into our lives and we just love him more than I thought was possible.