Yet another

I was recommended to a friend's ex-roommate for their wedding announcements. They wanted to know if I could make them cheaper than buying them off a website. The answer...of course!

40 weeks

Evan is now 40 weeks old. That means he is now as old as I was pregnant. Which means 80 weeks ago I had my last period. Yes...dear Aunt Flo hasn't visited me in 80 weeks.

In addition, a few new things have happened, two of which occurred today. One is that after a few weeks on trying on and off, Evan finally was able to put a Cheerio into his mouth! Hooray pincer grip!!

The second happened during the pincer practice. Evan laid his head down while in his high chair.

After doing it a third time, I figured he really was tired so I put him into his jammies, nursed, and he feel asleep - quickly. It was amazing!

Evan is also extremely eager to start walking. He gets up and down from standing very quickly. He crawls fast to whatever it is that he wants. (Especially to the plant that my friend Liza gave me for my baby shower. He LOVES that thing!) Now if you hold his upper body, he takes steps. He also is getting better at moving while standing from one place to another, like from our coffee table to the couch.

Finally, Evan's 2nd bottom tooth has emerged!

Baby Madelynne

Congratulations are in order for my dear friend, Tiffany, and her husband, Chris. They are now the proud parents of baby girl Madelynne Kay. She was born today at 12:37 pm, weighing in at 9 lbs., 4 oz. and is 22.5 inches long. (Luckily for Tiffany, little Maddy arrived a little smaller than expected! They were planning on having a 10 pounder!)

Again, congratulations Tiffany and Chris! You're about to embark on the most amazing of journeys. Good luck and have fun!

Struggling

This week has been a blessing, but at the same time, an extreme challenge. I believe that in order to get better at something, you must admit when you're struggling.

#1. Evan is so used to his weekly schedule that when I have time off of work, I feel that it throws him WAY off. He hasn't been sleeping well this week at all. Not one of his naps has lasted more than an hour since I've been home. (Until my mom watched him...then he slept almost an hour and a half.) Last night, he decided to wake from 9-11:20 pm.

#2. I admit, some of this may be due to the fact that he was sick today. He woke up from his morning nap, whimpered a bit, sat up, was quite for minute, then started to wail. I went in to get him and he was covered (neck down) in vomit. Arms, hands, shirt, pants, socks (drenched), and the sheets where all the target. He then continued to vomit clear fluid, then brown/purple fluid (I'm assuming from the blueberries he had for breakfast). He spent the morning attached to me, crying, fussing, gagging, and then we were having to change multiple pairs of pajamas for Evan and shirts for mommy. I finally just threw a bib on him to catch the vomit and grabbed some old towels out of the closet. I even leaned him over the sink a few times during the gagging sessions.

We finally were able to drive to CVS to pick up some Pedialyte for him. (Evan was crying and fussy while at the register and the cashier said to Evan, "It's ok. You'll get food soon. Not need to worry." At that point, I had to tell the cashier that in fact my child was not hungry, but had spent the morning vomiting.) After having a little Pedialyte, Evan napped on my chest for about 40 minutes. Once he awoke, he was smiling and happy.

I must also admit that I did my fair share of crying this morning too. Everytime he would gag, he would cry. His face was pale and he just looked miserable. It broke my heart that I couldn't help him.

#3. For about the past two weeks, Evan has not wanted to nurse to sleep for naps. I've been finding it very apparent this week. He'll nurse, then push away by rolling, sliding, turning, or standing. We'll try rocking in the glider, rocking while standing, bouncing, but none of it satisfies him. I then rest him on my shoulder, shush him, and he'll fall asleep. Sometimes I'm lucky and he'll want to nurse again once he's calm. When he does this, he'll still pull himself off just before he falls asleep and just rests his hands on my chest. I remember when he was itty bitty and I couldn't wait for me to not have to be his only method of falling asleep. But now that it's here, I miss it terribly.

Nine Months!

My baby turns 9 months old today and what a day it was! We started by going to the doctor's office for his well-child visit. According to the doctor, everything looks and sounds great. There were no shots at today's visit (yay!), but they did test his hemoglobin levels. (Evan did great when they pricked his toe...not even a flinch! He did enjoy playing with the Wylie Coyote bandage that was on his toe.) The results came back saying that his iron levels are low and he needs to take a multivitamin. Evan now weighs 19 lbs., 12 oz (45%) and is 28 3/4" long (75%).

At this stage Evan can/can't:

-Crawl (quickly!)
-He now also pulls himself up to a standing position on just about everything: boxes, his activity bouncer, toys, his chair, the couch, etc.

-Evan also likes to climb. He'll try to lift his knees onto the things that he climbs.
-"Dada" and "mama" are sounds that he is still working on. On the other hand, he's VERY good at making high-pitched squealing sounds.
-Milk is still his main source of food. We've also added oatmeal cereal (for the iron), Cheerios* (to work on his pincer grip), egg yolks, blueberries, carrots, and broccoli.

-Still doesn't sleep through the night.
-Throw a tantrum. I experienced the first one today. After only having 3 half an hour naps, at 5:00, he was done. Everything made him cry, especially after I took my water bottle away from him to take a drink. That made him explode. Tears, snot, you name it, he had it. Poor baby.
-Has a tooth! His left central incisor is out and the right one is coming soon. His top incisors are red and puffy, so I don't think they're too far behind.

-Bites. HARD.
-Barely fits into 9 month shirts and is too long for 9 month pants. He's mostly wearing 12 month clothing.
-Laughs a lot! He giggles and cackles. It makes my cheeks hurt from laughing with him.
-Evan also loves, loves, loves being outside. He'll play on one of our patio chairs, banging on the sliding glass door, scratching the screen, and shaking the chair.
-Whimpers for his dad. This makes my heart smile.
-Still takes 2-3 naps a day.
-Loves to look and touch plants. There is one in our house that a friend of mine gave me for my baby shower and Evan loves to climb things to get to it.
-Looks at things while tilting his head. It's adorable!
-Stares at his hands while turning them to view it from all sides.
-Celebrated his first St. Patrick's Day by going to the Irish Festival with family.

And the chair photos...

*Cheerios story: Evan tried really hard to get the Cheerio into his hand. When he finally gets it, he tries to put it in his mouth (along with his chubby little fingers), but it falls out. Keep trying, buddy!

trying

I'm trying to get a picture of Evan's "tooth". It's still not completely out, but it's there. Anyway, I've been failing miserably.

What a weekend!

Standing
I caught Evan standing up in his crib yesterday morning after his nap. We moved his mattress down to the final position shortly after that incident. This boy loves standing!

Sleep
It's amazing how sleep can be so different. Evan had a rough night on Friday. He was up from 9:15pm till around midnight, then decided to wake up at 4:15. Yet last night he slept from 6:45pm-4:45am with only one night waking. Oy.

Rash
Evan has developed his first diaper rash. I called the doctor on Friday because he developed small pimples too. The nurse said that he has a yeast infection. I went and purchased him some Monistat 7 (yes, the kind girls use). As of today, the pimples are gone, but the redness is still there. Hoping that it will all go away soon. But in the mean time, Evan is enjoying more naked time!

Fraggle Rock
Granted, we don't let Evan watch t.v. during the day, however there is one thing we do let him watch. The opening credits to Fraggle Rock (and only once in a while). The second he hears the opening bass line, his head turns around and he freezes. As soon as the credits are over, he goes back to doing whatever he was doing before.

Spring Training
Yesterday, we went to our first Spring Training game as a family of three. The Indians played against the Cincinnati Reds in their home opener. The weather was beautiful and we couldn't have asked for a better way to spend the afternoon. Thanks to the family that was able to join us!
Parents of the Year
Preface:
Evan likes to play with a box that his stack-able cars came in. He likes to use it for banging, hitting, shaking, and standing (now that he can). I noticed yesterday that he had pulled the top flap out and was chewing on it. I made a mental note about making sure that I took it away after a bit so he wouldn't get it too soggy that a piece would go into his mouth.

Chapter 1:
Evan was playing with the box this afternoon. Paul and I decided to go out and do the grocery shopping. Paul picked Evan up and commented that he was making a funny face. I mentioned that it looked as though he was chewing/eating something. Not thinking much of it (Parents of the Year vote #1), packed up and headed out to Safeway. We got there a few minutes later and headed into the produce section like we always do first. After picking up a couple of items, Paul and I separated. Evan was with Paul in the shopping cart and headed to get some salad mix. I went to pick out a red onion.

As I'm searching for that perfect red onion, I hear my name being called out. I see Paul walking briskly with Evan in tow, yet there is no shopping cart. "There's something in Evan's mouth," Paul says. We try get a finger in his mouth and tickle his neck/cheeks to peek in. Paul finally pinches his cheeks together and we try to see what's inside. Just then, Evan starts to gag. (In that split second, I begin to think that I'm going to have to perform the Heimlich Maneuver on Evan and I picture turning him over and whacking his back to get whatever is in there out!)

All of a sudden, Evan violently vomits on the floor of Safeway and all over Paul's right arm. There on the ground is a big piece of that box!!

I've marked where the piece used to be. The left side flap should look identical to the right side.

Needless to say, that box is now in the trash. Lesson learned on our parts as parents.