Happy holidays, everyone!
2011 – and life in general, since starting a family, was such a crazy blur. Didn’t we just start this year a few minutes ago?! In February, Kansas celebrated the big 0-1 in style, and it seems like every day she’s been hitting new milestones and growing from our little baby into our little girl. She learned to walk soon after her birthday and has been unstoppable ever since. She finally decided to cut us a break and sleep through the night beginning at 15 months old. By the time she was one and a half, she received her first hair cut, given by my cousin Judie (who cut mine and my brother’s hair growing up). She was saying I love you to us (“iiiiiyouuuuu”) and also saying that she wanted to go shopping at Target. She loves dogs, she loves books, she loves the Wiggles, she loves to dance, she REALLY LOVES ketchup, she loves Macaroni and Cheese (Kraft, of course) and generally all Italian food, and she loves her friends Makena, Brennon, Cary, Mollie, Geli, Elias and Sammy.
We were able to cross two major league baseball stadiums off our list in our goal to see a game from every stadium in the country. In June we saw the Texas Rangers at Ranger stadium in Arlington…
…Followed by a Houston Astros game at Minute Maid Park. Both stadiums were awesome! Side note: the Astros may be known to suck, but they’re officially my favorite team for life because it was 200 degrees in Houston that day and they have an air conditioned stadium, not to mention the best ballpark food we’ve ever had.
After 13 months of trying, we found out in June that Susan was pregnant! Our second child – another girl! – is due in February 2012. Her name will be Patten Grace Stewart. You might be thinking, “Patten, eh?” Stay tuned for a future blog post about the story behind her name. Trust me, it’s really cool. In the meantime, say hi to our new baby girl!
Since their birthdays will likely be so close together (Kansas turns 2 on February 18th; Patten’s due date is anywhere between February 13th to February 18th), and because we already have the vast majority of everything we need for another little girl, we’ve decided not to have a baby shower. Instead, we will be having a ‘Happy Birthday, Kansas!/Come Meet The New Baby!’ event, to be held in either late February or the first weekend of March, 2012. Details forthcoming. We hope you can attend!
In September, Kansas was in the bridal party for her auntie Christina’s wedding. We were a little nervous initially and unsure of how she would do, but she pulled it off with flying colors and minimal tantrums.
On a sad note, we lost our beloved Charlie Brown in April of this year. He was 12 years old and our perfect old man. There is always some concern when you introduce new babies to your domestic animals for the first time- but both Charlie and Lucy have been nothing but gentle around Kansas and unbelievably tolerant of her ear pulling and exaggerated petting.
You are incredibly missed, Charlie-Barlie.
So that’s been the goings-on in our 2011! Hope you all have a fabulous holiday season, and we look forward to sharing our cute baby girls with you in 2012. 
Aww, a shout out to Makena!
We are very much looking forward to meeting baby girl 2.0!