It's funny how the little things become so big when you have a baby in the house.
"David, look! He's grabbing that on purpose!"
Evan has recently started reaching/grabbing/touching things on purpose. We went through this with smiling too. Did he mean to be smiling, or was that just gas?
Suddenly, the play mat has become very interesting. He'd always lay under it but now it's like it's a whole new world under there. He watches the star, like really watches the star. He bats at the earth rattle and grabs onto the...uh...swingy plastic things. It's awesome to watch him enjoy all these things.
I'm working on Christmas pictures this weekend. Here are some test pictures that actually have nothing to do with the actual Christmas pictures. They're just too dang cute not to share.
And this one is a bit of hint, but seriously! Look at those man boobs! This kid is out of control.
This is, hands in mouth, toy in mouth, everything in mouth.
Evan has started the phase that will last...what? Four years or so?
Everything. Goes. In. Mouth.
Hands in Mouth
Toy in Mouth
His hands are gross and slimy all the time.
Shiny Hands... Shiny with spit, that is.
The most entertaining part of it all is that he inspects everything first. But, his arms are short and his head is big which means he's always going cross-eyed while doing his inspection. I haven't gotten any good cross-eyed pictures, but don't worry. They'll be posted.
Careful Inspection
This is a milestone. It's a good thing. But, I'm not exactly excited about having to keep things away from him for fear of them going in his mouth.
Evan was Stewie Griffin for his first Halloween. Seems like an easy costume, right? Wrong. Nowhere has plain red overalls so we had to ebay them. And even fewer places have plain yellow onesies. We had to buy a white one and dye it.
But seriously, did we get it right, or did we get it right?
Although... the above pictures were taken once we got home. This is how he was at work during our Trick or Treat:
Stewie Griffin: Look, I really don't want to go to hell, but I can't stop my nature. I'm just a hateful person.
Brian Griffin: You're not hateful, you just need to control your anger. Like I do.
Stewie Griffin: Oh, you mean by being sauced all day! Wait a minute! Of course! That's it! If I'm drunk, I'll be calm and if I'm calm, I'll be nice. Then I won't go to hell. Fix me a highball; I'm going to get good and tight!
You started your third month of life by starting daycare. Your dad was out of town that week and leaving you on that first day was hard. That was maybe the longest day at work ever. Miss Elizabeth encouraged me to visit at lunchtime but I knew that was a bad idea. Leaving you once in one day was plenty for me. When I picked you up, you were just chilling in a bouncy chair. You weren't affected by my leaving or my return. Clearly, I'm the emotional one here.
I was so worried in the beginning. You're such a mellow kid so I was worried that they wouldn't like you as much because they don't have to tend to you as much. Or maybe they wouldn't like me and therefore wouldn't like you. Or maybe they wouldn't know how to comfort you when you cried. Or maybe you'd run out of milk. And would they call if you needed me? Would they treat you well and change your diaper when it's wet or dirty? Would they hold you and hug you?
I was just being silly. They take great care of you.
And, they teach you great things at daycare. Like, rolling over, holding your bottle, sitting, standing "on legs" (that's their term but I laugh every time they write it on your My Day sheet because what else would you be standing on??) They read books to you and sing songs. You do crazy things like play at the water table. One day we picked you up and you were covered in some kind of schmutz. Miss Betty said it was bubbles. That day was bubble day. They blew bubbles and you smiled at them. Apparently they also landed on you. I can only imagine the guck that is going to come home on your clothes in the years to come.
I'm happy to be back at work, but I spend every day counting down the hours until I can pick you up. I get so excited for the weekend-- not because I can finally goof off but because I get to goof off with you. Your dad occasionally sends me messages at work like, "When do we get to pick Evan up?" or "I miss Evan." I love that he loves you.
And, hoooo boy, do you love him! You two are so ridiculous; I just have to roll my eyes at you. I can feed you, diaper you, tell you stories, love on you or whatever and get no response. All your dad has to do is walk into the room and suddenly you're all smiles, talking and sticking your tongue out. You two just crack me up.
You've continued to improve on the head holding. We can hold you upright now with very minimal support of your head. Also, when we hold you now, you lay your head on us like, "I love you, Mom" rather than "I'm just a baby and I need you to carry me from point A to point B." I think that's because you have more control of your hands so you use them more like you're hugging now. You're also putting them into your mouth like crazy. Suck, suck, suck. All you ever want to do is sit around and suck on your hands. Sometimes it's your thumb but you're not super good at singling it out so you just stick your whole fist in there. You'll also hold onto a rattle if we put it in your hand. Of course, then you just suck on the rattle or bang yourself in the head with it. I know you're just learning, Buddy, but it's pretty hilarious to watch you sometimes.
And, of course, you're growing. You're weighing in at 15.5 pounds and measuring 24.25 inches long. You have doubled your weight in the past 90 days! You've got rolls on top of rolls and it's adorable. I used to carry you around on one arm like a football but those days are long gone. I'm so glad that you're healthy and happy.
And Buddy, you are so happy. That smiling that you do with Dad? You do it sometimes for me too. I think I've mentioned this before, but weekends are our favorite times. On Saturday and/or Sunday mornings, we wake up and I feed you while Dad brews some coffee. When your belly is full, we'll put you on the Boppy and you'll commence smiling and "talking" and semi-laughing and sticking your tongue out. We drink our coffee and eat our breakfast and make faces at you and sing songs to you. I have to admit, the song we sing is Baby Got Back. I'm not sure how we found out, but on the "uh! double-up, uh! uh!" part, you'll laugh and say "uh! uh!" back to us. It might be the most adorable thing ever. I guess maybe we shouldn't expose you to those lyrics.
Speaking of lyrics, I was walking around with you last week and I wanted to sing you a song but I couldn't think of any lyrics to any song. There are really so many songs that I know from start to finish but I was drawing a blank. The only song I could come up with was Love You Madly by Cake. We love Cake, Buddy. The band and the food. We went to a Cake concert when you were in my belly. So here you go, this month's slide show is an artsy one and Love You Madly is the song.
What can I say? This kid is photogenic and I cannot resist taking pictures. I'm kind of out of control. Here are some of my "collections." Ha!
Fun Times in/on the Kitchen Sink
I know, I know. The Bumbo should never be anywhere but the floor.
But, he was helping me make his bottles for daycare.
He LOVES bath time now,
but I think he's just about to outgrow that tub.
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He was in such a great mood this day. I considered changing his outfit for our photo shoot but I was afraid it would ruin the mood. So, stripey sleeper it is.
Getting Artsy
aka If anyone tries to say these aren't adorable, they're liars!
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I've started thinking about buying backdrop fabrics and props. Did I mention that I'm out of control? I bought this black fuzzy fabric. This was a spur of the moment shoot and the lighting turned out terrible, or at least not what I wanted it to be. Still, pretty dang adorable.
Rolls and Man Boobs
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Random Cuteness
It's amazing we get anything done on the
weekends when he's like this.
