Merry Christmas!

 Santa came!!!

A basketball hoop for Evan

 Evan on Christmas Morning

 Not too sure why there were toys in front of the fireplace

 After we told him Santa brought them for him he had a big smile

 E and Dex needed a break after playing with their gifts from Santa

What a memorable and relaxing Christmas morning of playing with our new toys, sitting by the fire reading books, eating breakfast, and most importantly remembering the true miracle of Christmas...our Lord, our Savior, Jesus, was born today!!   

Happy birthday Jesus!!!

Evan & Friends

Christmas Gift Exchange 2010

Grace, Tyler, William, and Evan

Evan and our friends gathered today for our annual Christmas gift exchange!  So nice to get together to celebrate the end of a fun year with good friends.   We are so happy to have found them.   I honestly don't know what we would have done without them!  They have helped us survive the last 2 years of me being a stay-at-home-mom and through the transition of me going back to work.  I'll tell you, it. was. not. easy!   Anyone who knows me well knows that I am not good with change :0)   Anyhow, the girls and kids in our play group have made many many memories together and I truly miss hanging out with all of them in the mornings.   Fortunately, E still gets to hang with them every Monday morning when Catherine, my friend, watches him.  She takes him and her daughter, Grace.   Although I am not able to join them every Monday morning I look forward to the Monday mornings, about once a month, that I can join them.   Thanks to all my city mommy friends and their kiddos for yet another wonderful year of fun and laughter!!!

Momma's Little Helper

Evan is quite the little helper these days!  He loves helping me clean and cook.   He seems to have all good intentions and tries very hard to please me but usually I end up having to clean more.   It's all worthwhile when I see the huge grin on his face that shouts "I am proud of myself momma!"    When we cook together, E slides the kitchen chair to the counter and climbs onto it so he's standing next to me.  He much rather taste test the foods than actually cook.   I guess you can say he's my best critic!   He's definitely not afraid to spit out the food onto the floor below him...oh E!!!   Gotta work on those manners ;0)

So You Think You Can Dance?!?!

Santa Claus is coming to town...

Waiting for Santa!

Santa & Evan 2010

Having a serious conversation with Santa

Evan, Dave and I went to see Santa (Tanta is what E calls him) yesterday on Michigan Avenue.   We went to the same place as last year...to see the 900 North Shops Santa Claus.  It was fantastic!  We waited 15 minutes to see Santa.   I thought Evan was going to cry when he sat on Santa's lap...but much to my surprise he didn't.  He walked right up to Santa, looked at him, and Santa picked him up and placed him on his knee.   Evan didn't even blink an eye.   He was dead serious as he looked at Santa and everything that surrounded him.   We  eagerly tried to get him to smile but he was intent on taking everything seriously...it was definitely no laughing matter.  Ha ha ha.  He was such a big boy and happy as can be after he got a little toy Christmas cat for his braveness.   We were so very proud of him!  Thank you Santa for a lovely visit!!!

Giving Thanks

I am ever so grateful for so many things in my life.   I have been blessed with good health, a beautiful son, husband, loving family and friends, a home, and a career I love.   When I think of all of I have been blessed with in my life I can't imagine being blessed with more.   I thank God everyday for all he has given me.   I love the ups and downs that life has brought me.   I know each day is uncertain and I try not to take it all for granted.   At the end of the day, I enjoy sitting back, relaxing and remembering all the people that have touched my life and the things that bring me happiness!

All Said and Done

It's official... all contractual work is complete!  Yay!!!   Now we just wait patiently for our couch to be delivered within the next month.  Once the couch is here we will have completed the final touch to our 'new' home.   We are ecstatic that everything structurally is done now.   However with everything complete it's hard to believe for the last 6 months we were living in a construction zone....really?!?!   Where did the time go?!?!

An Extra Hour! Totally Forgot!!!

I forgot today was day light savings time...jeez...an extra hour, what to do with the time (LOL)!?!?!   I sit here on the couch, while Dave and Evan sleep, thinking about what I need to get done today.  Rather than pondering about the day, I should be sitting here enjoying the peace and quiet.  With all the construction and chaos this past month, I have sadly fallen behind in scraping, creating Evan's 17-19month DVD's.   Luckily while I have fallen behind in this stuff, our home has been refreshed and is practically brand new!  

Speaking of new... the latest update on our house as of today is....carpeting is going to be installed this Tuesday and we have the intercom serviceman coming out to fix our buildings system.  Apparently there is some fault somewhere in our building's system and it's not allowing any of the units to buzz guests into our homes.   Our neighbor's unit, the one above us whose roofer started the fire, is almost finished.  They sanded, buffed and stained their floor yesterday (wow! was that loud-glad I gave the neighbor below us a heads up when we had had our floors done).   Overall we are looking forward to not hearing the pounding of hammers, the drilling, the sawing, and seeing the dry wall and dust accumulate in our main entryway and stairwell.  E will finally be able to take a nap in his own crib and not in our master walk in closet.   What a trouper he has been!   Due to the construction, E's naps were all over the place last week.  After trying to get him down to sleep for nearly an hour or two, E went down to sleep around 2p (usually he's down around noon, 1p the latest) and would wake at 4p, so then he didn't go to bed until 8p, would wake at 7:30a and the cycle would repeat.   I finally got to take his nap at noon yesterday and hopefully he is back on track.

Honestly...as excited as we are to have the whole house completed and looking like new (sometime soon we hope) we are so over having people in and out of our home working on something.   It will be nice to have this all said and done by the holidays.

Halloween 2010

Oh boy!!!   We had Lots of fun this halloween.  Evan was a kick in his Elmo costume.   He picked up the trick or treating deal when he got to the 5th house or so and started to take a handful of candy instead of the one that I told him was suffice.   On Friday night we carved our pumpkin.  On Saturday we went to Grace's Halloween Birthday party.  And, on Sunday we went Trick or Treating.  

We are glad to be back into our house and getting settled in.  We are still waiting on a few things like the carpet, couch and bed spread.   All had to be special ordered so now we wait :0(  The roof is completed and the construction crew are now working on our neighbors kitchen.   They speculate it to be done by the end of the month, or so we hope :0)

Latest Reconstruction Update

As of this afternoon the crew has completed the painting of the 3 bedrooms, electrical work, unclogged toilet (clogged toilet was not due to the fire rather compliments of Evan), and half of the floor tile in the guest bathroom.  Today the crew is finishing refinishing the hardwood floor in the hall, kitchen and living room.   All that's left is the guest bathroom tiling and painting of the hall, kitchen and living room.   The carpet will be installed sometime within the next week.   As for the roof (where the fire happened), it is just about finished.   They started moving the trusses up on Thursday, opened the roof yesterday to replace the burned ones and have sealed the roof until they complete the remaining work.   Hoping it doesn't rain too hard these next couple of days.   Good news is... there is no leakage from the rain we are getting today, bad news is...we are out of our home and living in the hotel until Tuesday.   As much as we are eager to get home and back to our normal life as we know it, we are pleased with our living arrangements since we moved into a soft loft 2 bedroom hotel room.   There is plenty of space for the 3 of us so we can still work and move around while E is sleeping.  We have to be quiet of course, but we are separated by a wall so it makes it more conducive to still do stuff without waking him in the process.  I will say, I was a bit worried about how the hotel room would pan out when I was discussing details with Home Link (a temporary housing service provided by our home insurance).   I placed much emphasis on how essential it is that we get a 2 separate bedroom room.  Thankfully my persistence paid off and we were provided with the 2 bedroom hotel room for the length of our stay.  We are very much happy and grateful to have this temporary home.   It makes a bit easier to be away from our real home; although, we sure do miss our home!  Speaking of missing home, we also miss our furbaby Dex.  He's still at my parents house until we move back.   We wonder if he will even want to come back...lol...he is living in the lap of luxury.   He gets far more attention and walks than we provide now that Evan's here.   Hope my next post is written from the comfort of our home.

Let the Construction begin...

Yesterday the construction crew started the repairs.   I can't believe it's finally starting nearly 5 months following the fire.   I am just so glad that there is an end in sight.   Of course there have been a few (to say the least) glitches along the way.   From the tile being discontinued to our hotel room issues, it feels like we've been under construction for a month.   Luckily we have had the support of our parents opening their home to Evan, Dex and I while we have been booted out of our home for the next week to week and a half.   We are hopeful that by the beginning of November all the mehem will be non existence...lol

Pumpkin Pickin' Then and Now

October 2009- Evan 7 months old

October 2010- Evan 19 months old

Last weekend Dave, Evan, Nana, Papa, Aunt Callie, Uncle Matt, Grace and I went to Goebbert's.   We had a great time despite the overwhelming crowd of people.  The weather was great, although it did seem quite odd going to the pumpkin farm in 80 degree weather and shorts...he had fun!  We went to the animal land, giraffe house, and the pumpkin patch, of course, and Dave and Grace picked out the perfect pumpkins (so perfect we didn't even take a picture of them. ;0)  Evan had such a fun time feeding the animals.   He also got a kick out of the shovels used to feed the animals.   It was funny to watch.

Glad we visited again this year...it's always a good time and a perfect way to spend a Sunday morning!

Chillin at Nana and Papa's in my cool new Elmo shirt

Apple Picking

Dave, Evan and I headed up to Wisconsin on Sunday morning after breakfast. We all embarked on our first apple picking experience together! Apple Holler was a lot of fun! Despite the large mass of people, we found some delicious apples while enjoying the sunny afternoon as a family. Evan really liked the hay ride. We sat right behind the tractor so Evan was consumed by it's functions and could care less about the beautiful scenery that surrounded us.  So...when the ride was finished...yep...without fail... E asked for more. I took a video clip...

I have to say that we got plenty of apples to last us at least a month.  I wish I'd make the time to bake or cook something with them. If only there were more time, yeah...right!  Here are some more pictures from our apple picking day...

First "Official" Hair Cut

Before




After






Today was a very eventful day for Evan! He had his 18 month wellness check up. He weighed in at 28 lbs and 33 inches tall. He was in the 90th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height. He got 3 shots all of which he absolutely hated! But soon forgot after we gave him a veggie chip...surprise.surprise. the food always does the trick :)

After E's check up we went to Starbucks and then to Snippets for E's first official hair cut by a professional. No more mommy cuts for Evan. E had much fun playing with the toys while we were waiting for an available stylist. He also really really liked playing in the seats that were cars and trains. He probably could have sat there all day pretending to drive them. A lot to watch there and a video of Thomas the Tank was playing so he was in his element with all the action. Once the hair stylist put a cape on him E started to clam up. He started to fuss then fake cry. Dave and I were able to manage distracting him with the spray water bottle and his Elmo books. He ended up sitting relatively still until the electric razor came out to finish off his cut. E screamed! Oh boy was that tramatic for him as you can see in the pictures I posted.

Playing With Cars

Our Little Ball of Energy

Quite a few new changes with Evan. Not only is he getting taller he's thinning out! He's using less sign language and using more words to communicate. He's quite the little chatter box. Jeez...he's already got me beat! He has 2 more teeth, a total of 14 and there are two more ready to erupt shortly. He still loves music and is singing (well really la la la la-ing) to the music in the car or from his 2 favorite tv shows, Wiggles and Sesame Street. He really enjoys playing with anything he can put things inside, like a box or bag, walking Dexter, and reading his books. His most latest accomplishment is him feeding himself using a fork. He has become so independent in using it that he doesn't want us to come close to helping him if he is taking a long time to get the food onto the fork. As soon as we attempt to help him he makes a whiney noise telling us to back off. E's parallel play is becoming more interactive. Lots of fun to watch! E's gotten very in tune with others feelings and his. Anytime he hears or sees someone crying he signs and sad. As of late he's been signing happy. He hasn't quite grasped the angry feeling...he just screams or clenches his fists.

Evan's been having difficulty pronouncing the 'c', 'ck' sound. We have been practicing with him by placing emphasis on the sound when we say it in 'car' or 'yuck'. Hoping it will come with time.

Evan did a fantastic job these past few weeks with me going to work. He adjusted better than I did. Waking up was not as easy as I thought it would be. I didn't think a half hour earlier would have made that much of a difference...ha, was I wrong. Now that I have gotten into the swing of things (been back for a week and a half) I have gotten a better grasp on balancing out home and work life. At first I felt that I was giving all my attention to E and not giving my full effort to work. Now that I am getting back into the work groove I feel that I am better utilizing my office hours and time during E's nap and/or at night to prepare materials for my students. Hopefully as the year progresses I will have less materials to prepare and then have some time during E's nap to catch up on house chores...yea! After I get back from work, E and I play for a little bit before he goes down for his nap. After his nap we usually head to a park, play place or friend's house to burn off some energy. I have found that the errands I need to run are getting pushed to the weekend now. Oh well.

I can't believe how much F.U.N. Evan is! He is changing every day. He's always up to something and is extremely determined to get what he wants. He loves getting into things that he's not supposed to, like this past Thursday. He took the brush vacuum attachment and flushed it down the toilet. Now we have a clogged toilet... lovely :0) He also fell face first into the bath tub. Yikes! I apparently wasn't moving fast enough for him and he wanted IN like yesterday. Luckily no broken bones...just a nice black and blue goose egg on the side of his head; but that didn't seem to phase him. No matter what he's up to it is such a joy to watch and learn through his eyes. He is been loads and loads of fun that I can't imagine it getting any more fun! I love his energy and how he makes people smile and laugh.

An Angel Amongst Us

Yesterday....My morning run was not like my usual morning run. I remember thinking what a perfect, sunny and cool morning it was. When I run I usually say a prayer. So my prayer this morning was one just for my grandma Anne. For the past year she has been battling cancer. Early Tuesday morning she fell and broke her hip so I went to visit her in the hospital. It was then that I learned of how much she was suffering. It was so heartbreaking. All I could do was say prayers for her. But today in thinking of how long she has been struggling, I asked God to take her into his kingdom. It was this day that she passed away. Despite not having her here on earth with us, she is in a more peaceful place. She no longer has to endure the aches and pains, the daily struggles, the sadness, that once filled her life. Although she lived a long and plentiful life, we have the wonderful memories of her in our hearts. As much as it hurts not having her with us physically, she will forever be a wife, a mom, a friend and a grandmother. You will forever be missed... Love you Grandma!!!

A New Chapter

Well the day is finally here...I am going back to work tomorrow! It's bittersweet. So excited to go back to doing what I love...teaching, yet sad to not be with my little man in the mornings. For the past year and half, I've been all E knows during his days. As I reflect on the year I am so happy and grateful to have had the time I had at home with Evan. We have done so many things together from music to swimming to tumbling classes. We have even explored the museums, parks and local play places. We also met an amazing group of friends. I am so glad to have met them and don't know what I'd do without them. They made being a stay at home mom all the more fun!

As cliche as it sounds, I feel as if it were yesterday that I was holding our newborn baby boy. With the blink of an eye, he's become a little man! As I have said so many times (and as I imagine all parents do) I am so proud of Evan. He's naturally developed and has exceeded my expectations. It's the little moments that we share. When we sit and play, we cuddle, we explore, we sing and dance. It's the look we give one another, the unspoken love between us. These are the moments that I embrace, the moments I want to remember forever and ever. Since I will no longer be with E in all day, I will truly cherish those moments we have had and the moments that we have yet to experience with one another. As the saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder. With that said, I sure hope that God gives me the strength to get through the first few weeks of not being with Evan in the mornings. I know E's in good hands and will continue to thrive but I naturally find it hard not to feel guilty for going back to doing something that I love while I leave him. I hope Evan will also appreciate me more when we have our time together!

Mommy & Daddy Time

What a rejuvenating weekend! Dave and I went to Kohler Water Spa this weekend in Wisconsin. We left Friday afternoon to retreat to the most relaxing and most needed time away sans Evan. We planned it for a last get-away before I return to work part time the end of August. It was hard to leave E without shedding some tears (me that is, not Dave :0) but once we did, I was eager to start to set all worries and cares aside to embrace the time Dave and I had for one another. Once we arrived at the Carriage House (our hotel located above the water spa, we enjoyed some appetizers and drinks before dinner. We ordered room service (too tired to get dressed up and go out to eat) then headed to the relaxation pool at the water spa. How inviting and relaxing!!! We enjoyed a drink while reading and lounging on the cushioned lounge chairs alongside the waterfall. Saturday we worked out, Dave went to the range to hit some balls while I went to a yoga by the lake class and got a mani/pedi. We met up for lunch at Blackwolf lodge and after lunch relaxed in the spa for a few hours before getting ready for dinner. Right before dinner we went to the Winery had excellent wine and listened to a pianist. We had dinner at the Wisconsin Room and again went to relax for the evening at the relaxation pool before calling it a night. Sunday we ate breakfast in bed before leaving for home. As much as I enjoyed the time away with Dave, the relaxation and ease of not caring for anyone but ourselves it was beyond wonderful to see our smiling E when we got home! He had a great time with his Grandpa and Grandma. Dex, of course, had fun too! They went to the beach, Family Grounds, and for walks. E slept and ate really good and brought much joy to his grandparents during their stay!! Thanks Mom and Dad for helping to make our time away stress free!!! We are very grateful!!!

Taking a Moment

I love to stop, cuddle and breathe in Evan. His smells, his touch, his pure innocence is so peaceful. In one single moment of seeing him or thinking of him all my cares and worries disappear. Each day, I stop, I sit, and I take in all of him. I can never get enough of him. I thank God each and every day for being so blessed to have him. I cannot imagine life without him. He is such a breath of fresh air. I love what he has taught me, to be still, take in the moment, and listen to the laughs, the tears and the experiences in life. I love imagining what his future holds and all the endless possibilities it offers. Thank you Evan for being you! I love you with all my heart!

A week of many firsts

Lots of stuff happening with E...my goodness! I feel like I haven't written in months! Well Evan is continuing to amaze us. He is talking up a storm. A few people that I see during the week at our play places even made comments about him being a chatterbox. I think Dave and I may be in for it! E also walked backwards for the first time in our kitchen earlier this week. I think he was motivated to do it because I sort of had him cornered. He was in need of a serious diaper change. For those of you that don't know, E has never been a fan of diaper changes in fact he hates it so much he throws a full out crying fit every time. Tears and all...you would think he was in some serious pain by the look and sound of his outrage. Well anyhow, he so cleverly used his newly acquired skill in an attempt to escape the "diaper changing situation". Putting my proud mommy moment aside...I quickly captured him and successfully changed the diaper. E was not too happy to say the least.

Another first happened at Gymboree. Evan had been practicing walking across this green bridge for the past week or so. It's not a flat bridge rather it is an uneven bridge. Looks like a ripple if that makes sense. Well...he finally did it...without falling might I add. He was very proud, but not as proud as Mommy of course. He even got to show off his latest achievement to Daddy on Friday when Daddy tagged along with us.

This past weekend E and I went to Family Grounds Cafe on Saturday (Dave was in Wisconsin visiting his brother and golfing). For a week now I have been teaching Evan about feelings and using the sign for happy, sad, and mad and how to teach him when to say 'excuse me' and 'sorry'. While E and I were sitting in the cafe, E was munching on his snack and heard a little kid crying. He stopped, looked at the kid, then at me, and signed 'sad'. I was ecstatic!!! Now to work on his awareness of his own feelings :-)

First Family Vacation to....

Lake Geneva!!! Dave, Evan and I decided that we needed a little weekend get-away so we packed our things and headed out to Lake Geneva Sunday morning. The weather was perfect! We relaxed and enjoy our family time away together. We really didn't do a whole lot it was just nice to escape the city and our daily routine for something different. We went to lunch, check into our hotel, took a walk along the lake and Main Street with all the cute little shops. Later in the afternoon we went to a pool with water slides, sprinklers, and a zero depth walk in which was perfect for E. His favorite were the water slides. I think he would have keep going down about another hundred times if we hadn't stopped him. He was quite the ball of energy. Can't blame him for being in the car as long as we were. We decided to order dinner to our hotel since E was exhausted, as were we. And watched a movie while sipping a couple glasses of wine before we called it a night. The serenity of the evening was breathtaking. I wanted to stay in the moment and not return back to reality. So little care and worries. Well... that didn't last that long because E woke up at midnight. Not sure why he actually woke but it was challenging to get him back to sleep. We brought him into bed with us (mind you this is something we haven't done since E was 6 weeks old). That didn't work out that easily. E was up for about an hour and a half. Dave finally got him to sleep and we were able to squeeze in about 4 more hours of sleep. After rising from our semi-rested night, we headed to breakfast, the park, Starbucks and the Geneva boat cruise. It was interesting! We never realized how many Chicago dwellers actually own homes along the lake in Geneva. E enjoyed looking at the water, climbing up and down the stairs (we sat on the top of the double decker boat), sitting in the chair, and saying hi and bye to a little boy that must have been about 2 years older than him. It was sad to have to leave but I am glad that we took the time to enjoy some relaxing family time. I, of course, took lots of pictures and videos that captured some of our best and favorite moments of our Geneva get-away.