Sleep Vent

Let me just tell you now, if your child has slept through the night since they were a few weeks old, you many not want to read this.

Now, I love my son. I love my friends. I love my friend's kids. But let me tell you what I don't love right now.

#1 - my son/daughter has slept through the night since they were two weeks old.
#2 - my son/daughter has slept through the night since they were a few months old.
#3 - my son/daughter gets up once at night, how do I get him/her to sleep through the night?
#4 - my son/daughter sleeps from 7 pm- 6:30 am, but I'm trying to get them to sleep until 8.
#5 - maybe you should give him (my son) some cereal before he goes to bed.
#6 - maybe your milk isn't strong enough to last him through the night so he gets hungry.
#7 - have you tried the Ferber Method?

Let's recap last night's events.

6:45pm: Evan falls asleep.
9:30ish: Evan wakes. We wait to see if he falls back asleep. Nope. Paul goes in to get him down.
9:45: Evan's asleep.
12:00ish: Evan wakes. Paul goes in to get him down.
12:15am: I sing, rock, sway, dance, shush.
1:20: Evan's asleep.
1:45-2:15 (not sure what time): Evan wakes again. Paul goes in.
2:45: I go in after hearing Paul's calls, give in and start nursing.
3:20: Evan is asleep.
5:30: Evan wakes. I go nurse again.
6:05: Asleep.
7:15: Up for the day.

Yes, I'm glad that he slept until 7:15. Hallelujah! It definitely beats his 4:45-5:15 wake up calls. Is he getting the sleep that he needs? No. Is he still happy in the morning? Definitely. Did I miss the memo about how to make your child sleep or something?! If so, I'd like to get it.

Mara's Birthday

Our niece, Mara, had her 4th birthday yesterday. I have never seen so much pink in one place. Everything was "princess" themed, most of the girls were wearing pink, most of the gifts were pink, and most of the wrapping seemed to be pink.

There was a giant inflatable water slide for the kids to use. We took Evan in while the kids were inside playing and eating cake.

Evan also had the chance to play with his cousin, Benjamin. He loves following Ben around. When he would hand something to Evan, a huge smile would come onto Evan's face. It was adorable to see.

Hope you had wonderful birthday, Mara!

Zoo

Paul's dad had given us a zoo membership for Evan's birthday, and seeing as how Evan had still not been there, we decided it was time. We met up with Meghan (Paul's eldest sister) and her kids, Mara and Benjamin on Saturday morning.

We had a great time, although it was a short visit. Evan loved looking at all the plants and water features (and sometimes the animals). He also loved playing with his cousin Ben. Mara was excited to show us all the animals and tell us that there were twenty-eighty-nine of them inside the zoo. Ben kept calling everything a turtle and wanted to wear Evan's had.

Since were were there early (7:30), we were able to see the orangutans, the monkeys in Monkey Village, and a peahen and her chicks without many other people around. After our wonderful morning, we headed back and it was nap time.

Thanks for joining us Aunt Meghan, Mara, and Ben!

And he's off!

It's official...we have a walker!

In fact, today while at the Verizon store, Evan actually was refusing to hold my hand while walking. I caught this on video after about the third time of him walking from one side of the room to the other. Let the chasing begin!

Call me crazy

Now, Paul and I are no where near ready to try for a second child. We pretty much agree that we'd at least like our son to sleep through (most of) the night. But, the more I think about it, the more I can't wait to be pregnant again and experience creating a new life. Call me crazy, but I'm also considering a natural childbirth. I've already spoken to my OB/GYN about having a VBAC, but my heart and head keep leaning towards completely med-free. (When I mentioned this to Paul, he said he would support me and thought it was a great idea. But when I told him that I meant no medication, not vaginal...he wasn't so sure.)

Maybe it's because I don't remember the first several hours after Evan's birth.
Or that I didn't get to hold or see him immediately after he was born.
Or that my delivery didn't go the way I had always imagined.

But for now, it's just a thought. We'll see if it really happens...

12 month well child

Evan has is 12 month well child visit on Tuesday. (Actually, we thought it was Monday and arrived to some confused looks on the receptionists face when she didn't see his file.) Our pediatrician says that Evan is doing great. He now weighs 20 lbs., 12 oz. (25% - lean little boy), is 30 1/4 inches (60%), and has a head circumference of 44.5 cm (10% - yet again, our pedi told us that he has a small head).

Now if we compare to his birth measurements...

Birth weight 8 lbs., 10 oz. (gained 12 lbs., 2 oz.)
Birth length 20 1/2 inches (gained 9 3/4 inches)

I can't forget that we've even turned his car seat around! Evan can now face forwards in the car and has truly enjoyed the change. He likes to play with the window shade and talk (or sing) to me when we go for drives. Don't worry...I also put the child safety lock on the door so that he can't open it from the inside.

First year photo shoot

My sister spent some time with us this weekend to take photos of Evan for his first birthday. Here are some samples that she's shared with us thus far:




You can see more of the photos on her Facebook page.

Father's Day

I sit here in our new home, with a sleeping baby, and my husband is off cleaning our "old" home to get it ready for possible renters. And this is how he ACTUALLY wanted to spend his Father's Day. The man just can't sit still. (Sounds a lot like our son.)

We spent last night with my family to celebrate Father's Day with some carne asada. This morning, we had breakfast with Paul's family to celebrate with his dad. We then went to Sears to pick up Paul's new bbq/grill cover. This evening we'll be going grocery shopping and *hopefully* getting new phones.

Happy Father's Day to my two favorite dads!

A year in a chair

birthtwo weeks

ONE

Over the past few days, I've contemplated how to start this post. The wording I would use to start, the order in which I would write the events. I even wrote a quick outline as I was copying a cake recipe. But as I sit here now, it's all so much of a wonderful blur that I'm not quite sure where to start.

Evan is now a year old. He's ONE! So long babyhood, and hello toddlerhood!

I must say that I am so thankful I was able to spend his first birthday with him at home. ALL DAY. I'm also thankful that as a pre-birthday present to himself, Evan slept a 6 hour stretch with no wake-ups requiring us to get him back to bed!

Your birthday started with Daddy bringing you into our room (as usual) and nursing in bed. We then sang Happy Birthday to you. Then you and mommy did a birthday dance together. Daddy then had to get ready to go to work (but was able to go in late). You and I spent the day walking around the house, playing games, going on a quick trip to Target, and napping.

After your first nap, you had some mommy milk. I had been counting the hours and minutes until 10:11 (the time at which you were born). While you were eating, I happened to look at the clock. 10:11. I started crying. There is no place else I would have rather been, or could have ever planned to be, but sitting there holding you while you nursed. I didn't get to hold you right after you were born, but this made up for it as best as it could.

Aunt Emma and Uncle Jason stopped by to say hello in the evening. Once Daddy came home, it was time for bed. You had your bath and had a fussy time putting on pajamas. We tried to read part of Dr. Seuss's Happy Birthday to You, but you wanted nothing of it. So off the sleep you went. And then you were up every few hours at night.

Today, we met Aunt Emma bright and early to take some first year photos. Later on, we had some close friends and family come over to help us celebrate your birthday. I made you a no-sugar apple spice cake and no-sugar cream cheese frosting. You, cousin Benjamin (18 months), and Grandma Hopper seemed to be the only people who liked it. The cake itself was fine, the frosting...not so much. I made a red velvet cake with chocolate and vanilla frosting for everyone else. My talent friend (and former color guard student, Alison) made some Cat in the Hat characters for your cake. They were adorable! Many people were also surprised to find out that you have never had cake until today.

Grandma and Grandpa Hopper brought you special balloons with your name on them, too. You received lots of great gifts, including a zoo membership, toys, and clothes. I hope that you had a blast eating frosting, playing with bubbles and balloons, and spending time with ones we love.

I hope that you had a wonderful birthday, baby bug!

Evan's one year milestones:

-Babbling...finally! Your now saying buh buh buh, smacking his lips, and blowing raspberries. Every once in a while we hear a muh.

-Cruising. You like to use anything that you can to help you walk: walls, doors, people's fingers. You are also becoming even more brave and taking steps alone to get from one object to another. Every time you walk by yourself, you have the largest grin on your face. I love watching you and how proud you are of yourself. You also love to walk with something in our right hand. It doesn't matter what it is, but you typically will be holding something. Sometimes it's something large and heavy that you can't quite lift, but you get so upset when it gets in your way and you can't walk.

-Screaming. When you don't get what you want, you scream. It's not the most attractive thing, but we still love you.

-Eating. You would rather feed yourself finger foods and with a spoon, then have us feed you. You love to eat yogurt, Cheerios, and apples with chicken. We've also added wheat bread/pasta, egg whites (which you like!), blackberries, peas (which you threw up immediately after), tomatoes, cherries, and cream cheese. Right now you also have seven teeth: four on top and three on the bottom.

-Drinking. Sippy cups do nothing for you. A regular cup is what you prefer to drink from. I think we might try a cup with a straw and see how you do.

-Play. You like to take toys out of containers and put them back in. You're now also learning how to stack your blocks and other toys. This month you also discovered buttons inside the alligator to your play center. Pushing buttons is also something you still like to do, especially on our DirectTV receiver. Most of the day you spend walking around the house, opening and closing cabinet doors. You still love to read books. You've become especially fond of your My First Catechism book that Aunt Emma bought you. Playing chase with Layne is fun for you. You also like to pet him and when you do, it makes you so excited that drool comes pouring out your mouth.

-Nursing. You're not nursing as much as you used to. It makes Mommy sad. You know only tend to nurse in the morning, before naps, middle of the night wakings. You've also now decided to start putting your hands down Mommy's shirt to play and you like to play with Mommy while you nurse. In addition, you now have started saying "mmm" when you nurse for about the first 30 seconds. I guess Mommy's milk tastes good.

-Sleep. This is still and ongoing thing with us. You still wake several times a night. You take two naps during the day for about 1-1.5 hours, but you're still tired and just don't want to sleep longer.

Of all the things you do, I still love it when you smile. How I love your smile, baby bug. How I love you!

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” -Dr. Seuss

It's 10:01 pm. and I would have been in labor for seventeen and a half hours. I only had ten more to go before Evan was actually born.

And yes...this is a photo of me mid contraction.

At this time a year ago (5:00 pm), I was on my way to the hospital for the second time today. This time, I would be staying.

A year ago today as I went to bed, I had no idea that tomorrow would be the day I'd go into labor...5 days post-due date.

A year ago

A year ago today, I was heading home from the hospital at this time (10:00 pm) from having had cervical gels placed to get my labor started, or at least moving along.

A year and two days ago was my due date.

A year ago tomorrow, I had my doctor's appointment to see my final progress. I was one centimeter dilated. The plan was to get induced on June 18.

5 minutes later

He's up again.

Why?

Why did my beautiful little boy fall asleep so quickly and then wake an hour later, only to stay awake for 3 more hours before falling back asleep?

At Last

It's official. We are Ahwatukians, Ahwatukans, Ahwatukeeionians. What ever they're called.

Paul took Thursday and Friday off of work so that we could pack and do some cleaning at the new home. My dad came along and helped which made it even easier while my mom watched Evan. Our first stop was to Home Depot to pick up some new cleaning supplies and toilet seats. Did you know that they made them with built in toddler seats? Incredible! We just had to get one for Evan's bathroom.

Evan and Daddy "packing".

Friday morning, my parents met us at our "old" house and helped us pack up the rental truck. My mom was kind enough to take Evan to her house for the day (and night) so that we could have the house to do what was needed.

Evan and I are ready to move!

After the first load, Paul stayed at the "new" house to meet the Qwest, Direct TV, and Orkin technicians while my dad and I went back to fill up my car. I later went down to my parents house to visit with Evan for a couple of hours before heading back up to meet Paul. We went home late that night and celebrated our move with some champagne that a friend of mine gave to us when she head we signed for the house. Unfortunately, our celebration was met with a late night of packing.

The next morning, we woke up early to get our day started. We picked up friends that were helping us move and were able to make two trips. I have never experienced such a long day. My mom was able to keep Evan till almost 5:00 that evening. She offered to keep him another night, but I missed him terribly. The only goal that I had the entire move was to make sure the his room was as complete as possible before he came back to the house.

Evan's room...CHECK!

I'm actually quite surprised at how well he's taking the move. Evan is having a ball running around and checking everything out. Layne on the other hand, is out of control. He has run away down the street countless times the past two days while the moving has occurred. I know that it's because he's out of his element and in a new home. After putting Evan down for bed and then putting our bed together, it was close to 8:30 pm and we realized that we hadn't had any dinner. We considered having something delivered, but instead chose to have canned soup, edamame from the freezer, and some Cheerios (although we had no milk).

Today, my parents met us at our old home (bright and early) for some more packing then came back to the "new" house to help us start getting situated. Evan decided that he wanted to help my mom and me clean while Paul and my dad went back for another load of stuff. He actually became quite upset if you tried to help him with the cleaning.

Cleaning the vacuum.

Cleaning the sofa.

Using the Swiffer.I'm not sure what Paul and I would be doing right now if it wasn't for them. They have been an incredible help! Thanks, Mom and Dad! Tonight we were able to have a better dinner since Paul was able to go grocery shopping. He made some grilled chicken and corn on the cob. Yummy!

As of now, most of our kitchen is ready, our dining table and chairs are set, our bed is put together, the office/computers are running, and Evan's room is pretty much set. Not too bad for 4 days work.

We've spent the last three months trying to make everything work for this house and now we're finally here. Let's just hope everything is close to being complete for Evan's birthday on Friday!

Thanks, Dad

My dad is incredible. He's always been a very great dad. But now, he's an amazing grandpa. He recently made this video capturing Evan's first year. It made me cry.

Evan Daniel

All smiles

I believe there are some people that think my son always smiles. That's not the case. See?



He's not even a year old and the tantrums have begun.