Meeting the Stephens Family

The long-awaited visit had finally arrived! Aiden got to meet his Auntie Melissa, Uncle Derek and cousins Grady and Kendall. They were joined by Grandma and Papa Mike (and Blondie) while they stayed with us for 5 days. I know Melissa and Grady in particular had been counting down the days until they got to meet Aiden! Grady has become quite enamored with his baby cousin during our FaceTime chats!

Aiden had a lot of "firsts" while they were here. We took him to Farmer's Market for the first time, a Saturday staple in our household. He slept the whole time and hung out in the shade with Daddy while Mommy, Grandma and Auntie Melissa went shopping and Derek, Grady and Kendall played on the playground. (Papa Mike stayed back at the house with the doggies).

Aiden also had his first 6-hour sleep fest. It was a small miracle and I kept looking at the clock in disbelief when he woke up. I could get used to this! Keep it up, buddy!

He went for his first long walk. We have been taking Aiden on walks around the neighborhood, but since they usually happen in the afternoon/evening after it cools off outside, he doesn't have a long tolerance for being in the stroller and we've been keeping the walks relatively short as a result. But this time we snuck out in the morning before it got too hot and went for walk on the path along the main road by our house. He did pretty good, but started getting tired and did his half-strength cry for most of the way back.

It got pretty hot during their visit (108 degrees!), so to get the kids out of the house and away from the TV, we escaped to Cayucos and took Aiden on his first trip to the beach. It was a good 30 degrees cooler and had a nice breeze. I think he liked the sound of the waves, because he promptly fell asleep. Kendall had fun just playing in the sand, while Grady played paddleball and made sand castles with his Uncle Jeff.

 

 

 

 

We also took Aiden on his first trip to the park. We have a great park near our house (Sherwood Forest Park) that has a big playground with some neat equipment and comes complete with a castle and dragon! The kids had fun, and once again, Aiden fell asleep. I'm sensing a theme here...

Aiden also had another blowout. Really, kiddo...you don't need to make this a frequent event! So Grandma got to help clean him off (she always says she doesn't mind poopy diapers!), and Kendall helped give him a bath. Although, her "helping" was mostly her playing with the water and dumping it on his face. It was still cute!

We also spent a lot of time reading books, coloring, sidewalk bowling, and snuggling with Aiden.

It was great having everyone here. Makes me wish we lived closer together so the cousins could hang out more! Hopefully it won't be too long before we see them again!