Nikolas, Sonja and Michael: Thanksgiving in Austin

We spent another awesome Thanksgiving at Steven and Laurie's place in Austin!
The whole Moore family was there, minus a couple of busy grandkids.
Stephen slept in a playpen in our room and napped in a playpen in Steve and Laurie's room. He did well sleeping through the night and going to bed after we moved him from the car each night coming back to the hotel from Steve and Laurie's house.

The new things with Stephen:

He started asking for real food. Just before the trip he became very interested in a banana that I was eating, and I offered him a little at the tip of my finger. He swallowed it and kept reaching for more. Those first few bites turned into half a banana by the time we got to TX. There, during breakfast, he regularly at half to a whole banana, then also a bite of pizza crust, and a tiny bite of bacon (ok, daddy was really pushing the limits here!). He never spit anything out.
He started furiously nibbling on my chin. Whenever I hold him, he goes for my face with his mouth open, like a little monster! He is teething for a few months now, and the new teeth are started to bother him--not enough to make him cranky, but to nibble on everything--on his fingers (fist), my chin, my collarbone, toys...
He is turning 6 months right around Thanksgiving and wearing 12-18mo clothes.
He found a new kind of expression: growling! During our TX trip, he had a bit of a cold and congestion. The day we arrived back home, as we sat in the living room he started growling, which seemed like trying to clear his throat. I didn't understand what he was doing at first, so I started laughing and he growled more loudly in response, breathing in and growling out--it was hilarious!!!!

Stephen was baptized here, with Steve and Laurie as his godparents. We had a short and sweet ceremony and a lovely lunch. Stephen behaved wonderfully at the church, wasn't bothered by the holy water, and then slept all the way through a lovely lunch that the rest of us had in his honor afterwards.

After Stephen's baptism in Austin.

Sonja, Michael, Nikolas and James spent a good chunk of time at the swimming pool at the house, as well as upstairs in the game room playing video games, just like last year. There was some table tennis, too.

We got to watch Jenny play in her high school basketball game, where she was the star of the team, and then we also got to watch Justin at his high school football game, where he is the quarterback.