Helping Mommy

Belen woke up early from her nap, and I was still folding her clothes. She so graciously volunteered to help.

When I came back from the bathroom,

this is how I found her.

Sorting laundry.

This was a BIG help to Mommy, don't you think.

The situation just can't help but put a smile on your face.

Always lovin' being a Mommy,

Dawn

Tooth Fairy Stay Away!

The day we have long been waiting for has finally arrived .... Belen has gotten her first tooth!!!!

I have no picture, of course. She has no plans of letting us look long enough to take a picture. But I have seen the white whale (I mean, little white nub) with my own eyes. It is a sight to behold!

Belen doesn't know it yet, but this one little milestone will throw the flood gates of gastronomical experimentation wide open! Hooray for food!

Love,

Dawn

Disaster Zone... I Mean, Mealtime!

At her 9 month check up, Belen's pediatrician told me that our spoon feeding problems are most likely due to Belen growing more independent and wanting to feed herself. So we have been offering her more finger foods and letting her go. As I'm sure any parent knows, this can be MESSY! So I am taking cues from the preschool where I worked in college and stripping her down for supper!

Love,

Dawn

Culinary Creations

For our anniversary this year, Gavin took me to Dominica, a New Orleans restaurant owned by chef John Besh. It was the most delicious meal! I ordered asparagus risotto, Gavin got paneed veal, and we took turns savoring both. So, for Father's Day, when I decided to go a little bit out of my culinary comfort zone to cook something special for Gavin, this was the perfect meal to emulate. It was my first attempt at risotto, so I was scared! But I guess all the hours of watching food network must have paid off some. The meal was great! I might not be John Besh, but at least I can cook a decent Father's Day meal for my love!

My greatest culinary success to date!

Love,

Dawn

Two Week Review

I have been so busy for the past couple of weeks, that I haven't been able to find the time to post. Happily our lives kept on going despite my busyness! Here are a few pictures as a review.

Belen is practicing her new skill... clapping!

Gavin and Belen are too cool for school.

Belen is hanging out with Bell. She loves when we

all get together for supper at Bell and Wobbles' house.

Aunt Sarah turned 23!

Better Than Ezra concert at the court house square in downtown Houma.

Me, Gavin and Trace at the concert.

Hanging out with Daddy on his first Father's Day! Praise God for our great fathers!

Love,

Dawn

Baby Dedication

Gavin and I are so happy and thankful to God for our amazing little Belen! Since she was growing in my belly we have been praying that God would put His Spirit inside of her and make her His child. Two Sundays ago we made our prayers public before our church, our family and our friends in a baby dedication ceremony. We asked for everyone to join with us in praying for God's working in Belen's life and also to pray for us as parents to be godly leaders and examples for her. My family and Gavin's families were both able to come and celebrate this time with us. It was a great day! Praise God for His goodness!

All dressed up!

The Stevens and Duplantis families

Belen and Luke, the two babies being dedicated.

Belen's no-nonsense manner was appropriate for such a solemn occasion.

(Actually, she had just woken from a nap to find everyone staring at her.)

Praying for God's blessing.

What a happy day!

Love,

Dawn

Havin' Fun With MawMaw

MawMaw and Uncle Trace came to visit this weekend to be here for Belen's Dedication. We were all so happy to see each other, but MawMaw and Belen were the happiest of all! They love to be together! We can't wait until MawMaw, PawPaw and Uncle Trace move back home!

Taking a break from playing to take a picture

Swimming is even better with MawMaw!

I hope PawPaw isn't too jealous!

Love,

Dawn

Destructive

The picture says it all!

She is so happy that she made such a big mess! hahahahah

Love,

Dawn

Babygarten!

Now that I am staying at home with Belen, we are able to do so many things that we weren't able to do while I was working. Our favorite is Babygarten at the library. Babygarten is a time of singing, reading, and playing that is meant to encourage babies to talk, read, and socialize. We go every Tuesday morning and have such a good time. Belen loves to read and sing, so it is perfect for her. And I am finding out that she loves to make friends. She will go up to anyone and start jabbering and playing (or stealing things from their purse! Thankfully the other moms understand! hahaha)

Our friends Beth and Silas have started coming with us, and we all have so much fun. Silas is Belen's protector. He keeps other kids from hurting Belen and brings her toys that he thinks she will like. It is SO cute! And Beth and I enjoy hanging out and getting to know other moms.

Reading together

Reading by herself

Going for the toys

Playing and making new friends

Playing with Silas. I think he was scoping out the room

for good toys for himself and Belen! haha

Thanks to Beth for sending us all of these wonderful pictures. If you want to see more pictures from another day at Babygarten, go here to view a posting on Beth's blog.

Love,

Dawn

The Mad Hatter Would be Jealous!

On Sunday our cousin, Brooklyn, had her 5th birthday. She had an Alice in Wonderland themed tea party. We all had so much fun, especially Belen. Gavin and I loved to see family, and Belen played with all of the kids.

Playing with the birthday girl!

She even got her face painted. (There is a pink heart on her cheek.)

What a fun day!

Love,

Dawn

Matherne Family Reunion

Sunday after church we headed to Boutte for the annual Matherne Family Reunion. The Matherne's are my family on my dad's, mom's (Gram's) side. The Matherne family is getting exponentially bigger every year, and the only time we see most of them is once a year at the reunion. Now that Gram and Gramps live in Louisiana we see them much more often, but it had been a while since we saw Uncle Gary, Uncle Glenn, Aunt Ruby and many others. And it was the fist time that Belen met almost everyone but Gram and Gramps! It is always a good time to visit with everyone, and of course this being south Louisiana, there is always good food! Uncle Gary made crawfish enchiladas that were out of this world! Yum! We had another party to go to that afternoon, so we didn't get to stay as long as we would have liked, but had a great time nonetheless.

With Me and Gram

With Gramps

With Great, Great Aunt Ruby

Love,

Dawn

Take Me To The Ball Game

The Stevens family had a very busy weekend! We saw lots of family, went to lots of parties, and had LOTS of fun!

On Saturday we were so happy to be able to go to Gretna to watch Ashton dominate at tee ball! We are so proud of how good he played, and he had so much fun doing it! Good thing he knows the rules! I was trying to get him to (illegally) round third and head for home. In tee ball you are only supposed to run to the next base and stop. Oops!

Unfortunately Uncle Blair had to work, but we were so happy to hang out with Aunt Heidi and Ashton. Ashton was so sweet to Belen. He kept blowing in her face to make her laugh. He will be such a good brother one day!

There's A-Rod... I mean Ashton.

After the game.

The cousin's playing together! They had so much fun!

Love,

Dawn

What Will She Be?

Playing with pots while Gavin and I cook

Looking at this picture, you might be tempted to say that Belen might become a chef when she grows up. If only! At this point, I am more likely to guess that she will be anorexic!

Things in the Stevens' household have been crazy the last few days / weeks. After over a month and a half of eating tons of homemade babyfood at every meal, Belen has suddenly decided that she doesn't want to eat anything I try to feed to her. This has been building for the last few weeks, where we had to try by hook and by crook to get her to eat, but today was the worst. I worked for 30 minutes at lunch to get her to eat three bites! I don't think the actual food is the problem. She WILL NOT open her mouth to accept the spoon! She will only eat things she can feed herself, so I am attempting to offer her more and more finger foods. But that is kinda tricky since she doesn't have even a single tooth! All I want is for her to eat! What is a mother to do? Really, what am I to do? (Any suggestions would be helpful! hahaha)

Love,

Dawn