Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with our families! On Thursday we went to my grandparents house for dinner. E got a new toy...that he absolutely LOVES! It lights up, plays music and rolls. He ate his first Thanksgiving dinner... turkey, mashed potatoes, carrots and stuffing. He sure was stuffed after eating all that and his milk. I think his bib said it best "I'm Stuffed". The poor boy barely could move but it sure did make for a good nights sleep!

On Friday, we went to Wauwautosa to visit with Dave's family. We had a great time with them. The girls played and entertained E with music, legos and a sit-and-spin that lights up and plays music. We sure missed out on that feature when we were little...darn it. He also got lots of love from his Grandma and Aunt. Jackson did not leave a dry cheek on Ev either :) He had plenty of love to go around.

Today we were glad to be back at home and chill out. We went to Family Grounds Cafe so Dave could check out our local hang out during the week. It was fun for Daddy to see Evan in his element! We built some towers, crawled all around the play space, bounced on some bouncy animal pillows, and played with the train set and cars. Later this morning we went to Best Buy to buy a new camera. LOVE IT!!! Still playing around with it, but boy have I been missing out. The picture quality is fantastic on the new one. After Ev's afternoon nap, we went to the park to snap a few shots of E in the leaves, on the swing and as Daddy did "tossers" with E. I posted some pics to the left. Hope to learn more ways to add depth to the photos and use different angles to achieve a higher quality picture. Can't wait :)

Overcoming food issues

Well what I once thought may be a problem is no longer a lingering one...phew! At one point in E's short life, he was refusing solid foods and when he didn't refuse foods, he'd only eat about an ounce of it, if that. It was terribly worrisome for me because all his friends were eating 3-4 ounces at one sitting, and wanting more! Luckily Ev has come around and is now eating just about everything. He is not a fan of turkey though. If it's ground, forget it. If it's in little pieces, he will suck on it and then swallow what's left of it. Aside from not liking turkey, he has added carrots, cauliflower, blueberries, peaches, bread, goldfish crackers, and shredded cheese. I made the mistake of giving him mandarin oranges before reading that it is a forbidden food...oops! Now I see why! When I took him out of the carseat the same day I fed the oranges to him, he was soaked!! His digestive system must not have been made to handle it yet, it came out as orange water...lol...at least he smelled sweet :0) Hoping to try some cottage cheese and yogurt next week!

On the road to recovery :)

Slowly... Evan is getting past his nasty cold!! He spiked a fever Thursday night and it lasted into Saturday morning. Poor little guy was on fire! You could cook bacon on him he was that HOT! On Saturday went to get E a swine flu shot, the first of two that he will get, and then we visited Aunt Callie. Callie was resting up from her surgery she had the day before and we were looking to bring her some company. We were happy to see her smiling despite the discomfort she was in. The cats were a bit unsure of Evan. He wanted to pet them, like he does with Dexter, but they didn't want anything to do with that. We were sad to have had to postpone our visit to our friend's, the Teschner's, but didn't want to chance spreading our germs to them and their new 2 week old little girl. Although we have missed out on a lot of fun things the end of last week and this past weekend, we are happy to say that we are back in full swing again with hope that we remain healthy for the rest of the winter...ha!

Another Cold

Poor little guy! It looks like he is on cold number 3. Hope this one is short and the worst day...today, is behind us :0)

Despite Ev's cold, Evan spent some time with his grandparents on Saturday while mommy was out with the girls and daddy was golfing. They went for a walk and played with his toys. He started getting some seperation anxiety and was crying for a good part of the visit. I hope this too shall pass!

E's a cruising machine these days. He's been finding lots of stuff like the door stopper-boinger thingy, Dex's bowls (yuck), and the toilet bowl (double yuck). All of our floor standing decorations in the house have been moved into the office closed off to our little Curious George :)

He now has a friend that he wrestles with. William and Evan give it back to each other at our play dates. It hysterical!! I should catch it on video sometime. I can only imagine what's to come as they get older..ahhh

Learning More

Well the nap schedule is back to where we used to be. Three naps a day... 8am, 12, and 3pm. Go figure! I thought we were finally getting down to just two longer ones. Oh well! Can't complain too much since he is a good sleeper :)

Today was a busy day!! We went to get Ev's 8 month pictures taken at Picture People. Won't have the pics for a couple of days, there printer was down...seriously?!?! And the internet system to send the pics to us via email was down...double whammy! We also went to our Aquababies class this afternoon. Evan learned how to sit on the side of the pool and lean into the pool as I caught him. He seemed to like it because he kept smiling as I counted one...two...three and he dipped into the pool!

Poor Daddy has been at a conference all week and is exhausted! We are looking forward to spending time with him this weekend. Yay for Daddy time!

Tomorrow we are having our friends over for a play date and book talk. Babies will be showing off their most recent accomplishments and the mommies will be discussing the book Love & Logic. Great book that I highly recommend!

Grrr...nap transitions

Well it's not due to the time change, but that didn't necessarily help matters, but E's naps are a changing :( Not too sure about it yet. Usually he takes three naps, 8, 12, and 3. Now, he is sleeping in later and going for his first nap around 9/9:30am. The second one isn't until 1pm. Hmm...I hope he and I get this figured out soon...ha! Hate being such a routine person, sure doesn't mix well with parenting ;0)

Trick-or-Treating

On Halloween Day, Dave, Evan, Dex and I carved Ev's very first pumpkin. He appeared to enjoy it! He wasn't too sure at first, probably wondering why we were letting play with his food when I am usually busy cleaning him up as he is eating and making a mess :0) But needless to say, he got into playing with the gooey slimey seeds and wasn't too happy when I took the bowl of seeds away so I could clean up the mess.

Around 4pm we headed out to trick-or-treat...lol...well sort of. Dave, Evan and I met up with some of our friends to walk up and down Greenview between Irving Park and Montrose while we talked and observed all the kiddos dressed in costume and the homes that were decorated. We had a lot of fun. Wishing we had known about this neighborhood's tradition in years past. Very festive! I think we will be laying low today since the last week has been so action packed. Need to refuel for this week...Gymboree class, Mama get-together, swim class, book and babes at our house, , hobbitland, mom's day & night out!

Halloween Party #2

Evan and I went to the library for our friend's Halloween Party! So many cute costumes. Being that it was unusually warm today, Evan was only able to keep his little monster costume on for about an hour before he became flushed and cranky. He probably also hated the fact that he can barely find his hands in the costume let alone see out of it. The teeth of the little monster hood kept falling into his eyes. After I took it off he was MUCH better. Crawling and playing with his friends and toys. Love our little monster!

Ev tried prunes today and scarfed them down. I think this may be his fave thus far...go figure! That is probably the sweetest fruit he's tried yet and he ate 2 ounces of it. I guess my theory of him not liking fruit is out the window...ha! Meat's on the menu for next week.

Our last Halloween party (for this year) is tomorrow night! It's a trick-or-treat type block party thing. Geared more for the parents than the kiddos. Hopefully we'll get some more "treats" than "tricks" from our little ones ;0) More pics to come!

Aquababies Day 2

So today was even more fun than our first class. Evan was like an old pro in the water. He knew exactly what to do. It was cute! Right after he got in the water with me, he was dunking his face in the water. Then as soon as our swim instructor started class, I held E in the front hold and he let his legs float back while he kicked his legs behind him. He also tried splashing the water which is something he wasn't too sure of at his first swim class last week. Grandma also came to watch and take lots of pictures. I will post one as soon as I can.

Headed to the Shedd

Evan and I went with some friends to the Shedd. A FUN day all around! I realized that it has taken me to have a child to see what great things Chicago has to offer...ha! We watched the diving show at the coral reef tank. While Evan was watching the fish he fell asleep :0) Very soothing & tranquil place for a nap. When he woke up, Jen, Tyler, Evan and I went for a walk around the exhibits. We saw Eels, baby sharks, and LOTS of colorful fish! We'll definitely be going back this winter.

Halloween Party #1

Today Evan, Dave, and I went to our first of 3 Halloween Parties at our friend's house. We all dressed up the kiddos in their oh-so cute halloween costumes (see pics aside) while we mingled and ate lots of food :0) Boy are they gonna hate us someday when they get a hold of these pics...HA!

After our halloween party, Grandpa and Aunt Callie came over to watch Evan for a few hours so Dave and I could catch a movie. It felt great to get out by ourselves while E spent some quality time with our little monster. They went on a walk and to the park with Dex. Ev showed off his crawling, pulling up moves, babbling, and how he eats his puffs. Quite the little character these days...that's for sure!

Ba ba blah blah ba

These are Evan's latest words. He also has been saying "ga ga da ga..." and "ma ba ma". Basically any combination of the vowel consonant sounds. Love seeing his latest and greatest accomplishments!

Musical Magic, Music Playhouse, & Aquababies classes

On Tuesday, Evan and I went with our play group to a trial music class. We are taking trial classes at various places to see which one we want to sign up for for the winter session. E didn't seem to sure of it. Although...I really really enjoyed it :0) Oh well!

On Wednesday morning we tried the Music Playhouse class through the park district. Super close but aside from a great location, it's hard to compare a this class that is hosted by the park district to a private, independently owned music class. Luckily E didn't seem to care for this one either. He much prefers listening to Daddy play and sing with the guitar. Thankfully there is one musician in the family! Phew!! After class we headed over to Julius Meinl for a cup of coffee and snacks with our friends before heading home for Evan's nap.

Later in the afternoon once E was well rested, we headed over to Galter Life Center for our first Aquababies swim class! Lots of fun! This one we registered for every Wednesday for eight weeks. Our friends, Nicole and William, are taking the class with us. E seemed to really enjoy it! He was smiling a lot once we were in the water for about 5 minutes. He learned how to splash, kick, and "sort of" float. He accidently put his face in the water, and of course, came up gasping for air with a not so happy look on his face. Funny thing...about two minutes later, he did it again, and then did it again and again. By the time he dunked his face in the water 3 times, he was laughing when his face resurfaced.

Rainy day today so we're heading to Family Grounds cafe with our play group this afternoon.

Juniper Park

Today Evan and I went to Juniper Park for a play date. Hopefully this was not our last one of the season. The weather was perfect and the company, as always, great! Evan found a few leaves that he thought would be a yummy addition to his diet...ha! Didn't taste all as good as it looked...I guess?!?!

Later in the afternoon, Evan's friend, Mia, came for a visit. Mia chased Dexter around while Evan watched in amazement.

E tried Butternut Squash for the first time today and liked it! I think we are going to try cauliflower in a couple of days.

Hobbit Land

Today we went to our favorite Friday hang out...Hobbit Land! E and I have been going with our friends for the past month. It's a play place for kids with TONS of toys, free coffee, and good conversation.

E's eating solid foods again, in fact he has been eating them for the past 3 days. He went for a couple weeks without eating any...actually refusing to eat any. He's eating about 3 tbsp a day and just this week added peas to his diet.

We started baby proofing this week...Oh My!!! He's moving quite quickly now and pulling himself on just about anything he can grab onto...hopefully he won't be walking anytime soon :0)

Visiting Family & Friends

Yesterday we went to visit Evan's Great Grandparents (my Grandparents :). We had a FUN time! Evan played pat-a-cake and cuddled a lot with Great Grandma and I got to see Evan's new Lionel train that Great Grandpa is passing onto him as soon as he polishes it all up. Aunt Callie also stopped by for a bit. After our visit with our Grandparents we went to Hoffman to visit my collleagues. E even got to see some of my students. He crawled to them and on them...a few even held him. It was cute!

Pumpkin Farm

Sunday we went to the pumpkin farm. E's first time!!! A bit cold but we had a good time. We went to the animal zoo and E got to see lots of the farm animals. He even saw some black pot bellied pigs that looked like Dexter. We found a big pumpkin that we hope to carve this weekend.

Long Overdue

Countless times I have thought about creating a family blog but never got around to creating one. As easy as it is to get one started, I knew it would be just one more thing to do...to update, upload pics, you know how that goes. And, although each days events and thoughts drove me to put it off for this long, I have FINALLY decided that there is no time like the PRESENT to create our family blog. So here it is. I hope you enjoy following it as much as I enjoy sharing it!