Baby's First Christmas

Evan had a wonderful first Christmas.

Christmas was a build up this year (sorta like Hanukkah...but not). It started mid-week the week before with deliveries from Grandma Barbi and Grandpa Ed. Evan doesn't understand getting gifts, but he was mesmerized by the lights and music and seemed intrigued when we sat him in the ball pit. I have a feeling I'm destined to be finding plastic balls all over my house for the next... more years than I care to think about.

Please forgive the poor quality cell phone pic.

On Christmas Eve Eve we took a trip to see Santa. Yes, Evan doesn't care about Santa but after seeing a friend's Santa photos, I knew there was no way I could pass up the opportunity. She also tipped me off that the Santa at the shopping center only a mile from my house was never really busy. And, he was a real old guy-- none of that fake beard shenanigans. She was right. There were only two families in front of us and the beard was 100% real.

We saw two kids throw holy fits. Evan, however, was totally straight faced. No smiles. No crying. It wasn't particularly exciting, but I'm glad we went.

That evening, we exchanged our presents at home. Evan laid staring while David opened gifts that I had wrapped. Anticipating the stuff he'd get from grandmas, aunts and uncles, we didn't get him much-- a Sophie, a couple books, socks, pacifiers, a jingly toy and a onesie with planes on it.

Our stockings were hung by the...uh...on the cabinet from IKEA.

On Christmas Eve morning, we packed everything into the car and headed to West Virginia. Evan was perfect. He slept almost the entire way, waking up just about 10 minutes before our arrival. And, lucky for us, not waking up screaming.

We spent the afternoon visiting with Grandma and Grandpa Straight, Aunt Annie, Uncle Charles and Cousin Michaela ("The Dampares", as they so hilariously wrote on their gifts. So formal, those Dampares. I don't know why, but that just cracked me up.) Both Aunt Nikkis stopped by to meet Evan. Both brought gifts. Evan got some cute clothes and fun toys. One of his aunt Nikkis made him the most adorable Super Evan onesie.

We visited with Grandma and Grandpa Pill that evening. Evan was super pleasant-- no doubt, his way of saying Thank You for the gifts he'd received earlier in the week.

With Grandpa Ed

And Grandma Barbi

We woke up on Christmas day and after Annie finally got Michaela up (Doesn't that child know that you have to get up early and open presents on Christmas day?! What is Annie teaching her?!), we opened presents.

Michaela got stuff too! :)

Evan and Grandma Janet

Aunt Annie (or should I say Mrs. Dampare?)
and Evan playing with Michaela's trains

Evan got a bunch more toys and clothes, including a Kick 'n Play piano.

The funny thing about this video is what David and I were doing just minutes before it was taken. We hooked the piano up to the side of the crib and showed Evan how to kick it. Except we were standing there watching so he just wanted to stare and smile at us. So, we were both sitting on the floor, hiding behind, but looking through, the mesh crib bumper and watching him kick it. And, whsipering to each other, "I think he gets it." I just looked at us and thought, this is such a classic parenting moment. We'll file that one up there with Dad running out for diapers at midnight on the first night Baby is home from the hospital. And we thought we were so much cooler than all the other parents.

Back to Christmas.

After presents, we visited Grandma and Grandpa Jackson and David's relatives.

With Grandpa Herschel

With Grandma Connie, a little distressed

Aunt Dot loves this kid! That makes me smile. :)

Trying on Cousin Lynn's Christmas hat

After a very busy Christmas Day, we returned home to Ohio after Evan fell asleep and he slept the whole way.

It's crazy how much my feelings about the holidays have changed since having Evan. I've never been so really and truly disinterested in gifts. All I cared about was Evan having a good time (although he didn't understand what was going on) and getting to spend time with all of the people who love him so much. I consider myself very lucky that David and I both had some time off to spend lounging around the house and enjoying being a family.

Here's to a fabulous 2012!

Month 5

Dear Evan,

Your fifth month has been so eventful! And sick, but I digress.

At your four month appointment, your doctor told us to start you on cereal. So we did. Oh, how exciting that has been. At first you were iffy about it, dripping more into your neck folds than in your belly. You've really warmed up to it though and now you get upset if I'm not getting the spoon back to you quick enough. After four weeks, we started veggies-- peas. So far, no dice with the peas but we'll keep trying. At least for a couple days and then we'll move on to green beans, which should be equally appetizing to you. Sorry buddy, you need to try a bunch of veggies before you get to fruits. This is the first of many hard life lessons.

Each month, you become more and more vocal. We love it. You wake up in the morning and lay in your bed and talk to yourself (the mobile? the walls? the animals on your sheet?). You talk to us all the way to daycare in the morning and all the way home in the evening. In the past couple weeks, you've started doing crazy things with your voice-- changing pitches and making lots of new sounds. You've also started whining, but we won't talk about that. We wonder if all the talking now means that you'll be a chatty kid. We also wonder if you constantly chatter because you think we do and you're just trying to be part of the conversation. Do we really talk that much?

You love to stand on legs and sit on butt. It will be very exciting when you can do them on your own. You're getting noticeably better at sitting, but it probably won't be happening anytime soon. You learned how to roll over from back to belly this month. You've rolled from belly to back about three times, but I'm pretty sure they were all on accident. When we're home with you, we're constantly flipping you over because you get yourself on your belly and then get super cranky about it.

You're a very independent baby. You like being held and played with, but 15 minutes is just about your limit. You enjoy laying or sitting (assisted, of course) and inspecting your toys. The ladies at daycare commented that you're one of the easiest babies to take care of because you love the independent play. One of their most difficult jobs is to get the babies to play independently before they move into the toddler room. You're so advanced. Ha!

We celebrated Christmas this month. You got to spend time with many people who love you a lot. And you scored a lot of toys that I know you'll enjoy and annoy me and your dad with for years to come. I guess that's what grandparents, aunts and uncles are for-- to buy you gifts that will drive us crazy. It's okay. We love them anyway.

It's so fun to watch you grow, Buddy. I can't wait to see what the next month holds!

Love,
Mom

Peas

Not a fan.

Christmas Cuteness

 I've been working on Christmas pictures for about a month now. Evan can only last in a photo shoot (with things on his head) for about 10 minutes before he gets cranky. And no one wants cranky Christmas pictures. It was hard to choose which ones I'd use because a.) I'm picky and b.) there were lots of cute ones.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Pretty Smiles~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mid-shoot Snack~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Unimpressed~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Too Much Slobber~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Possibly the Funniest Picture EVER~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Coming Soon to a Mailbox Near You~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today's New Development

He's been working on this for a couple weeks now but that bottom arm is a real bitch. He finally got it all worked out today.




Also, do you hear those high pitched noises he's making? Those are new too. And "fussing" has gone by the wayside, now it's "whining". I hope he gets over this soon because these noises are right up there with the squirrel noises of the first couple months.

Commando Fire Drill

Heh. Our son, Evan. Not some other Evan.

And the rest of the story is...

Remember that fear we all had in grade school that we'd be in the bathroom when the fire alarm went off? Evan was on the changing table when the alarm went off. Miss Betty took the rules very seriously and Evan went out with no diaper or pants on. No worries, they covered him with a blanket.

And do you know how they take babies outside for a fire drill? They put four babies in one crib on wheels and roll them out into the parking lot. That's a lot of babies in very close proximity to the half naked baby! I just hope it was some of the less curious babies in Evan's crib. Like, not Allen, who comes crawling over the second we put Evan down in the morning. Or Violet who was banging him in the face with a toy when we picked him up today.

He was apparently very excited about being outside... with his junk hanging out. Miss Betty said, "I just kept saying, Please don't pee! Please don't pee!"  Can you imagine? A crib full of babies. Outside. And pee. Miss Betty would've really had a mess on her hands. Luckily, Evan was too excited about seeing the sky and trees to pee on the other babies. So considerate, that child of mine.

Sick, Sick, Sick

Sick, Sick, Sick is a song. I can't get it out of my head. Because "sick, sick, sick" are the only words I know and that so perfectly describes the three of us right now.

David and I have colds on top of our colds. It's seriously out of control. Everyone keeps saying, "Yeah... the first year is the toughest...." Does anyone have any idea how unhelpful that little tidbit is? 'Cause Evan is only FOUR MONTHS OLD! Are we seriously doomed to be sick for the next 8 months? Someone please shoot me now.

Luckily, David and I are far more miserable than Evan. We're doing everything possible to keep him comfortable but those things, like using the nose sucker on him, seem to make him more miserable. He's fairly happy with a nose full of snot. He is a kid, after all.

all boogers, all the time

Saturday Morning Activities

David, Evan and I were sitting on the bed "chatting" on Saturday morning when Lars came to see what was up. Evan started looking at Lars* so I grabbed him and held him in front of him. I put Lars' paw on the back of Evan's hand and he grabbed it. Lars was purring and Evan was listening.

Although I know they're very important, David and I often joke about the "sensory activities" that they do at daycare. So, we start talking about our homemade sensory activity. It started as a good learning experience but went downhill quickly.

Well, wouldn't Miss Elizabeth and Miss Betty be proud. We have a Saturday morning sensory activity for Evan.

Evan, you can feel Lars' soft fur.
And you can hear his purr. Prrrrrrrrrr....
And you can see him. He's orange!
And if you give it a while, you're likely to smell him (referring to the litter box, of course). Ewww! Stinky!
And... well, Evan, you should never, ever TASTE Lars!

Why do I get the feeling that Evan will complete that sensory activity one day? Kids are gross.

*Until very recently, Evan has completely overlooked both pets. It doesn't matter that they move and have faces and make noises and, in the case of Laika, lick him. To him, they've been as interesting as a piece of furniture (not counting the ceiling fan, of course, because that is the most interesting piece of furniture EVER.) It has been so incredibly strange to me so I'm glad he's starting to notice them.



Just chillaxin in the sunlight.



Nom, nom, nom

Notice how excited he gets (kicking feet) between each bite.

Cereal!

At Evan's 4 month doctor appointment, the doc told us that we can start cereal any time we'd like. I was guessing he'd say to wait until 6 months since that seems to be the common guidance right now. Nope. He said to do cereal for a few weeks then start adding veggies and then fruits. By his 6 month appointment he should be eating cereals and all fruits and veggies.

Because I had heard so much about a belly full of cereal and sleeping through the night, I was more than eager to give it a try. We made our first attempt on Monday night. The box said to mix one tablespoon of cereal with 4-5 tablespoons of milk so I did just that. Ha! I was essentially feeding him ever-so-slightly thicker milk on a spoon.

At first, he just made faces and gave us looks like, "Why the hell are you putting this in my mouth?!?"  And he was keeping very little of it in his mouth.

I tested the temperature and it was just lukewarm, so I popped it into the microwave for 5-10 seconds. That made it a little warmer so I hoped he'd like that better. He's very picky about the temperature of his bottle so it made sense to us. His reaction to that was... wow, just wow...hard to describe, really. It was like that spoonful of cereal was the worst, most scorching hot thing to ever pass his lips. He thrashed around like he was dying. I'm not kidding, it was not hot in the slightest. My child, the drama queen.

So, we let him sit in his chair while we ate dinner and that (apparently) hot-as-lava cereal cooled. When we finished dinner, we gave it another go. A few more terrible faces and he started to warm up to it a little. By the time we made it halfway through the bowl, he was holding his mouth wide open and fussing for more if we didn't get the spoon back to his mouth quick enough.

Talk about a quick turnaround!

We now have two more nights under our belts. We thickend it up significantly and he's still doing okay. He still makes terrible faces even though he's awaiting the next spoonful with a huge gaping mouth.



nom, nom, nom



Oh, by the way, the whole belly full of cereal and sleeping through the night stuff? Total crap!

Month Four

Dear Evan,

Wow. What a month! (Do I say that every month?) Your forth month of life started with Halloween, ended with Thanksgiving and everything in between was a whole bunch of sick. Yep, first me and you, then daddy, then all three of us. Lucky for us, daddy and I were far more miserable and whiney than you. For that reason, there is no slide show for this month. After all, snot and boogers and crusty eyes don't make good pictures.

For Halloween, we dressed you up as Stewie Griffin and took you to work to show you off. Everyone loved you... or at least "ooooh"-ed and "aaaaah"-ed for our benefit. And, they laughed because that was a seriously good costume for you! We took some of their candy on your behalf. Thank you.

"Stewie" and Tracy

Your development this month has been amazing. (And, it's sort of amazing what we think is amazing. We adults really take the little things for granted!) You've started reaching for things and grabbing everything. And it all goes in your mouth! You hold things, like the rattle, in front of your face and inspect them....put them in your mouth... study them some more... rinse, repeat. Daddy likes to think you're trying to figure out how they're constructed and how you'll take them apart and put them back together. I think he's giving you a little more credit than you deserve, but who knows.

You're a pro at standing on legs and sitting on butt. In fact, you seem a little irritated at laying around these days. You're much happier in some sort of sitting position and "standing on legs" is a good way to make you stop fussing. You seem to like the challenge. You're really enjoying your boppy seat now that you can hold your head up. That's good because pretty soon your butt and legs will be too chunky to fit in it! You're really beefing up!

Standing on Legs

Your vocalizations are crazy. You talk and talk and talk. We always stop whatever we're doing just to listen to you talk. Unfortunately, I occasionally have to stop sleeping! just to listen to you talk. I'd prefer if you'd keep the talking down between the hours of 11pm and 5am. Your voice cracks us up. Sometimes it's sweet and smoothe like butta, and other times it's raspy like you've been smoking a pack a day for about twenty years. Probably the best development of all is the laughing! It's still a little hard to get it out of you but we finally got more than a little chuckle. Nothing makes me happier than hearing you laugh.

Tomorrow is your official 4 month check-up (ick, shots!) so I'll come back and update your current weight and length. I think your weight is somewhere around 16 pounds though. Edit: You weighed in at 17lb, 4 oz and your height was 25.75 inches. You've gained almost 10 pounds and over 5 inches since birth! That's amazing!

We had one photo shoot this month in preparation for Christmas pictures. I haven't quite gotten what I want yet, but I did get some serious cuteness.

Thanksgiving was a real treat. You visited West Virginia for the first time. You've heard about the place and, of course, cheered on the football team, but never visited.

You did very well, all things considered, on the drive to and from. The three days there were a little stressful for you (and therefore, us) but you put on a good face and everyone got to see at least a little bit of smiley, happy Evan. Most people got to see some of cranky, crying Evan too. You got to see your Grandma Janet, Grandpa Mike, Grandma Barbi and Grandpa Ed again.

Grandpa Mike, Evan, Grandma Janet

Grandpa Ed, Evan, Grandma Barbi

And you got to meet your Grandpa Herschel and Grandma Connie for the first time.

Grandma Connie, Evan, Grandpa Herschel

You also got to meet lots of aunts, uncles and cousins, including your Great, Great Aunt Dot! We love Aunt Dot and I'm happy you got to meet her.

I'm so glad you got to meet so many new family members. They all love you so much!

Grrrr... I'm four months old!

What up, homes?  

And now for another exciting month...

Love,
Mom