Sunday, July 20, 2008

11 Months Old!

Evan is almost 1 year old now! Hard to believe that at this time last year I was hugely pregnant and very uncomfortable! Now I have a very sweet boy to show for it!

According to the scale at the vet's office, Evan is 21.4 pounds. (Don't worry Grandmas, we checked for doggie peepee first!) We will have an official weight and length after his 1 year check-up next month. Within the past few days he has started to become a very coordinated crawler, picking up both hands and knees in sync. Now the cats are in real trouble and they are just starting to get an inkling of it!

I'll let the picture tell the rest. We had a beautiful day last Sunday and the outside pictures are from then.


Evan can show us "how big" he is! The answer: SO BIG!


Playing in the shade with his hippo!


Closing in on the camera.


He always looks this engrossed when playing with this toy! It's one of his "Top Ten Favorite Toys of 2008."


One last smile for the folks at home! Evan knows why you visit my blog!!

Monday, May 19, 2008

First Tooth!

This morning started out like any other. Evan played on his playmat white I tried to get just 5 more minutes of sleep before getting ready for work. He was insistent on chewing my finger like always. But this morning, I felt something different, something tiny and sharp! Turns out that it was the corner of his first tooth! It is the bottom right, for those who care to know such details. Of course, after I realized what was going on, he would not let me inspect his mouth any further!

Unfortunately, he had a rough morning at the sitter's and was pretty difficult to deal with till after his afternoon nap. His afternoon was decent and then he got fussy again after getting home. I had suggested to Robert that he give Evan one of the teething biscuits that I had made once they got home. He later told me that he offered Evan one and Evan threw it! Twice! So that wasn't the answer tonight.

He is sleeping peacefully now and hopefully will for the rest of the night. Soon, the tooth fairy will visit again and bring him another pearly white!


Wednesday, May 14, 2008

9 Months Old!!

Evan turned 9 months old this past Saturday. He "celebrated" with a check-up at the doctor's. Evan now weighs 20 lbs 8 ounces and is 28 and 1/2 inches long!! He seems to be going through a "more long, less round" phase. The doctor was pleased with how he is growing and said that he looked happy and well-adjusted.

He has been experiencing one of the hallmarks of his age: separation anxiety. It seems to be improving a little. He is at least adjusting well to the new sitter. It's still a scary thing for him when I leave the room for longer than a few seconds and especially scary when I shower!

Evan hasn't shown much interest in crawling or standing, yet. He is able to get around well enough rolling for now. I'm not worried as every baby develops at their own pace. Still no sign of teeth, either, but that's fine with me as he is not yet weaned!

We are looking forward to warmer weather so that we can take Evan on the trails in his bicycle trailer! I think he will enjoy that quite a bit. He loves anything to do with being outdoors!

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

My Handsome Boy!!

I just had to post some more pics of my handsome little guy! He was looking so spiffy in his polo that we took some picture today. Enjoy!!





Heart Walk 2008

Saturday was a windy, cloudy and cold day for a 3-mile walk! We took the train and arrived at Forest Park just after 8 a.m. Evan seemed to enjoy his first train ride! He especially liked watching the people come and go from the platforms.

We met up with my friend, Andrea, and her husband. To help protect Evan from the wind, I put up the sleep hood on his carrier. He didn't complain one bit and in about 5 minutes he was fast asleep. In fact, he slept for the entire walk! All in all, it was a fun time and a nice walk.

Thanks again to everyone who made donations to the American Heart Association! Your contribution will be a great help to a great organization!


Big boy sitting in his own seat on the train! He wasn't too sure about that!


Evan and Momma on the train!


Andrea, Evan and I at the walk! See all of the people behind us? What was amazing wasn't the amount of people, but the amount of people in shorts!! Brrrr!!

Friday, May 2, 2008

Funny Cats to Make You Smile!


Winston will tell you that this is the story of his life since Evan came home!


Thank goodness all of our cats are "self-kleening!"


This one is for Lee...remember playing "the floor is lava?"

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

All Geared Up!

Evan has a new carrier! We are all geared up and ready to walk for the American Heart Association. The walk is Saturday, May 3rd. This was a spur of the moment decision so we don't have a lot of time to raise support. If you would like to support our team and make a donation visit my AHA page! We'll post pictures from the event!!


In other news, Evan is now 8 months old! He is around 21 pounds. Quite a chunky monkey!! He is still rolling to get where he wants to go. I now call him "Mr. Independent Sitter" as he is doing very well sitting on his own. His new trick is "High Five." He loves for people to put up their hand so he can give them high fives! It's so funny and he gets a charge out of it, too! Today he has also been experimenting with his vocal volume. This time instead of screaming and sqealing, he was whispering to himself. It was cracking me up! Evan starts with a new sitter, Ms. Debbie, on Monday. His previous sitter was licensed for day care and could only have 2 infants at time. We are hoping that he likes his new playmates, he already likes the cat, Gabby, that lives there!

Friday, March 14, 2008

7 Months Old!!


I am seven months old now. Mama says that's hard to believe! I am beginning to roll like a pro! Last night I rolled until I was under the dining room table and couldn't roll any further. I have been eating lots of solid foods. My favorites are oatmeal, carrots and sweet potatoes! I'm not a big fan of green beans and sweet peas, but Mama gives them to me anyway.

When I'm not rolling on my mat I like to read books with Mama and play with Daddy! I have also been to the park a few times since it is getting warmer. They have swings that are made just for little guys like me! I love to swing!!

I still don't have any teeth, but I'm chewing on everything that I can get a hold of to try to make them break through. I'm also getting better at sitting by myself!

Making the Kindest Cut of All

I recently decided that I was tired of long hair and tired of always wearing a ponytail or braid. So I had it all cut off and have donated it to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths campaign. They are collecting ponytails to be made in to wigs and given away free to cancer patients! I had around 10 inches to send. Check out my new do!!



Saturday, March 8, 2008

When the Tickle Monster Strikes!!



What's that Tickle Monster saying? Heeee's aaaaa chunky monkey, he's a silly monkey, he's a funky monkey, he's my baby monkey!

Gets him every time! I love that he has begun to giggle in anticipation of being tickled, just from seeing my hand hover above his belly and hearing the beginning of the Tickle Monster Chant! So much fun!!

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Prunes and Carrots Everywhere!

First it starts with a hand...


Then the other hand gets involved...


And before you know it...



Prunes and Carrots Everywhere!!

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Learn-A-Word Wednesday: obstreperous

ob-strep-er-ous

-adjective

1. resisting control or restraint in a difficult manner; unruly.
2. noisy, clamorous, or boisterous.

Even after three years of spelling bee training, I don't recall ever learning this word. I do, however, completely comprehend the meaning. Let me give you the word in a couple of example sentences to demonstrate my comprehension.

Using definition #2:
Winston, our cat, is at times obstreperous after Evan has gone to sleep for the night.

Using definition #1:
I pray that Evan will not be an obstreperous child once he begins making his own choices.


Do you know any obstreperous people or animals? I hope that they are boisterous rather than unruly!

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Cabin Fever: Times Two!

On Sunday, Evan didn't seem well and felt kind of warm to me. So, following the mama instinct, I took his temperature (the accurate way, which he tolerated quite well). Good thing that I did, the poor baby had a fever of 103! I was a little freaked, but considered the facts that he was nursing well, wasn't overly congested and wasn't having difficulty breathing, I decided to treat at home and not run to the e.r. Some Motrin followed a few hours later by some Tylenol and his temp was down to 99.6 by bedtime.

Monday had to be a sick day for me as Evan's sitter doesn't take kids that have had a fever in the past 24 hours. I wholly agree with that policy. Evan had a temp most of the day around 100 anyway. He was only happy if he could lay in Mama's big bed and nurse and sleep, which he did most of the day. Thankfully he was agreeable to also do this on the futon so I could watch Oprah and the 5 o'clock news and not go completely crazy!

Tuesday was better. No fever and he went to the doctor for his 6 month check-up. He received his shots as well. By the way, he is now 26 and 3/4 inches long and 19 lbs 2 oz. I told the doctor about the fevers and she confirmed that he likely had a virus and she saw inflammation in his left ear. She told me to give her a call if the fever came back and she would call in a script for antibiotics. No fever before bed last night.

This morning I got up and got showered for work. I could hear Evan fussing in his crib so I got dressed and went to get him ready for the day. I put him on the changing table to dress him and he totally freaked out! He is usually the happiest first thing in the morning. Okay, I thought, he's probably just really hungry. I nursed him, but when I put him back on the changing table he started screaming again. Today his temp was102.2. So we made calls to the doctor, the sitter and my work, then I took Evan to sleep in the big bed.

Our only outing today has been to the Shop N Save to get Evan's amoxicillan and to the Starbuck's to get me a skinny sugar-free latte. What a day to start South Beach again! How long till my Laughing Cow cheese wedge and celery? Hopefully Evan will be feeling better tomorrow and we can go walk the track at the Y. For now, I'll close as my right hand is tired from typing and my left arm has fallen asleep from holding Evan! Why did I have to make this such a long post?!

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Polar Bear Mania

The past few weeks I have been all about this sweet, little polar bear! Her name is Flocke and she is being hand raised by zookeepers at the Nuremberg Zoo in Germany. Every so often there is a video on CNN of her. Here are some pics so you can enjoy the cuteness, too!! To see more, click on any of the following pictures.


Friday, February 1, 2008

Snow Day!!

Today we are having a snow day! I was so excited to see how white everything looked out the window when I woke up this morning! Mama said that I could go out to see the snow for "just a little bit."


Here I am all bundled up in my snow suit ready to go! It turns out I don't have mittens, so mom put socks on my hands to keep them warm. That was fun! I like to chew on socks on my hands!!



This is what we saw when we went out the front door! Snow everywhere except where the snow plow had been! It was so bright and white it made me squint my eyes!!


Here I am in the snow! Mama says that I am her Snow Angel! Don't worry Grandmas, I was only in the cold long enough to get these pictures!!

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Learn-A-Word Wednesday: ephemeral

e-phem-er-al

adjective
1. lasting a very short time; short-lived; transitory: the ephemeral joys of childhood.
2. lasting but one day: an ephemeral flower.


noun

3. anything short-lived, as certain insects.

I always thought that this was a pretty sounding word, but never knew for sure what it meant. Already there are so many things about Evan's babyhood that have been ephemeral, but I have a feeling that teething is not going to be one.

Trillium nivale is a "spring ephemeral" flower. I looked at pictures of ephemeral insects, but they were all really creepy, so we'll just have the flowers!

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Learn-A-Word Wednesday: galactagogue

ga-lac-ta-gogue

noun:

An agent that promotes the secretion and flow of milk.

This was a new work for me! I encountered it while googling for how to make more milk. Turns out, I already had some galactagogues in my cupboard!


Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Random Animal Picture


Some people say childbearing and breastfeeding have the same effect. Hmmm....

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Send More Milk!

The request of my babysitter on Monday, relayed through Robert, was send extra clothes and send more milk. Send more milk?! I usually send along 3 full bottles of breast milk with Evan totaling somewhere between 15 and 18 oz. So, as of Wednesday, I'm now sending 4 full bottles, 20-24 oz. And I spend a lot more time with my trusty breast pump.


Here it is in its "at home" location on the end of the futon. Then I can pump and watch Leno and not be driven as crazy by the sucking, whooshing sound! It travels with me to work so that I can spend half of my lunch hour with it as well. I never thought that my breastpump would be the most-used baby shower gift, ever!

Pumping more to get more milk also makes more dishes. Here's my kitchen counter complete with bottles, lids, etc that are air-drying.


And because I cannot and am not willing to breastfeed forever, we have started giving Evan "tastes" of rice cereal and banana.


Of course, it will take a little while until Evan is proficient at eating solids. So, in the meantime, I'm spending extra time with my pump and sipping more nursing mom tea!

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Random Animal Picture

Just for the heck of it! I found some funny pics here and will post them occassionally for a laugh!!

Friday, January 11, 2008

5 Months Old!

Evan is now 5 months old and full of new tricks! Just to recap from the last month: he grabs his toes, raises his head while on his belly, has rolled once from back to front on his own and is beginning to sit up leaning forward on his own. I must note, however, that the sitting up is very brief, usually followed by a topple to the left or the right. Thankfully he is a sturdy little fellow and doesn't scream once he hits the mat!! I will post several new pics from today. I think I have figured out what I was doing wrong at Christmas to make the pictures so blurry.

Evan has a new foam alphabet play mat. We set it up in the living room for him to roll around on and play with his toys. It is quite large (6'x6') so I put some of the squares away and will set it up in full when it gets moved to his bedroom.


Evan also has a new chair! It is a high chair that attaches to a kitchen chair to save space. He likes sitting at the dining table now like a "big boy." Besides, his legs are getting a little to chunky for the Bumbo. He still uses it, but when we pick him up, sometimes the seat stays attached!


Showing off new tricks!


Smiling for the folks at home!!


Smiles is Sepia!!



Thursday, January 10, 2008

Learn-A-Word Wednesday: auld lang syne

Okay, so it's three words and technically a phrase, but what does is mean?! I figured since it is the new year and the phrase is featured at the end of one of my favorite holiday movies (It's a Wonderful Life) it is time to find out!

The phrase is from Scottish and Northern English descent.

noun
1. old times, especially times fondly remembered
2. old or long friendship

Knowing that it seems even more appropriate for the New Year as we reflect on the year that has just passed. HowStuffWorks notes the the song is Scottish and extremely old, written in the 1700's. And I thought Bing Crosby Christmas songs were reaching a ways back!