Triathlon Baby

The first triathlon of the year went very well, and we didn't even get the predicted thunderstorms (those make triathlons no fun for spectators).  Here's the whole gang before the race:

While Brian biked, Ev swung (isn't this an awesome picture?):

Daddy finishing the run:

Brian and his biggest fan:

And a picture of Ev enjoying his watermelon the other day.

6 Month Birthday!!!!

The saga of Giant Baby continues! There is no slowing down this boy! At his 6 month checkup today (which was actually on his 6 month birthday - wow!), he had these stats: Weight - 18lbs, 8 oz (75th %ile), Height - 28 inches (90th %ile!!!), Head Circumference - 43.2 cm (25-50th %ile). He is a big boy and was a perfect bubbly little smiler for the nurse and doctor. (It helps that he doesn't get shots from them.) The nurse asked if he could sit supported and Brian said, "He can sit without support!" very proudly. As a 6 month birthday present, I think we'll head over to Wal-Mart (only because Target's so far) and get him his very own sippy cup to try.

Last night, the monster didn't want to sleep, so he ended up sitting up with us for dinner. The fussy monster went after Brian's slice of watermelon, so he let him try it. Let it be known, Everett looooves watermelon. He sucked that thing to a tiny stub. I'm assuming it felt nice on his gums too. I'll have to upload those pictures later today when we're back at home.

Tomorrow Brian has his first triathlon of the year and we're planning to leave home at 5 a.m. to get to Terre Haute in time for registration. (It's either that or Brian hitches a ride over tonight and I have to get Ev and myself up and ready to go and leave around 6 a.m.....yeah, I pick getting help.) I just need to make a large wetbag for diapers and make some adjustments to Ev's triathlon shirt (currently a turtleneck...) and we'll be ready to go...after we pack a couple of diaper bags full of stuff, that is.

A rusty swingset and new appliances

It's been a while again, so I'm sure I'm not going to record all the important things today.  Oops.

On Monday, we went out to dinner.  No, we didn't get a babysitter and have a romantic date - who do you think we are?  We went out with eight of our dear Purdue Triathlon friends.  (Impressed that we have that many, aren't you?  I am too!)  Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera, but I might be able to post some if our friend Katie puts them on facebook!  It was a great time and Ev was as well-behaved as we could expect him to be.  We tried going to one restaurant, which was closed for the holiday, and ended up at a restaurant Brian's been dying to try.  It was actually a wonderful place and we had the best waiter I think I've ever had in my life!  He even brought Ev a little bowl of sliced avocado for free!  Ev played "pass the baby around the table" and had fun bouncing on everyone's laps and smiling (and trying to grab their water cups and straws, of course).

What else did we do over the holiday weekend, you ask?  Looked at washers and dryers.  I kid you not.  That is ALL we did.  Well, besides a few trips to the apartment playground and pool, that is.  And finally, after much adieu, we have our washer and dryer ordered!  Here are some pictures/links!  I am suuuuuuuuper excited about the washer - dreams.  coming true!  Oh, and don't mind the prices - of course we would only buy these things on sale. 

Ev has had some bad nights lately, so I did some research on amazon and the interwebz and then drove our bums down to the library to borrow The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley.  Her views align with mine pretty well, so I'm excited to continue reading.  I have to keep some logs today and we'll see how that goes.  (But of course, Ev only woke up once last night to prove that I don't need to read the book...silly boy)  I've been trying to come up with a list of things to ask/talk about with Ev's pedi. this Friday and I was trying all day to think of a way to describe this wheezy thing he does (pretty sure he's just exploring his voice, but hey).  Last night, well, this morning at 4:30 am, it hit me.  He sounds like a rusty swingset!  No other way to desc

ribe it!  It's perfect.

And finally, here are some pictures!  This boy smiles for the cam

era better than anyone, and I love it!

Ever discovered this toy on his jumperoo the other day.  Now he likes to gnaw on it.

Here's some proof of his love of avocado, and his love of the feeling of avocado on his forehead.  Check out that awesome bib from Auntie Janelle.

When Everett gets tired of sitting, he will sometimes fling himself backward.  That's okay...when there's a boppy behind him...

We also tried his little mesh feeder with a piece of banana in it (bad decision - banana is impossible to get out of this thing!)  And he sucked on it so hard, it just stayed in his mouth when he removed his hand.

Washer/Dryer Dilemmas

We trekked over to Sears yesterday to do some learning about washers and dryers and what we might want to get.  Well, we found out that they are currently having a sale through Monday for 15% off appliances.  So that put us in a new position of trying to learn, very quickly, about what we might want so we could order them in the next two days.  One set we really like is quite pricey and we're trying to decide if it's worth it to get the matching set (which will include the additional pedestals for free if we get both) or to go for an unmatching set and lower the price by about $500.  I know it seems simple - duh, save half a thousand dollars! - but the features I want on a washer put us into the higher price range no matter what.  So the real dilemma is, do we want the matching set with free pedestals or a cheapo dryer to go with a nice washer and have to build a platform to raise the washer to a reachable height (jerks purposely make front loaders so low that you'd be silly to not buy the $200 pedestal).  Sigh.  Guess I'll update when we figure out what to do.

Happy Times

So I won't write about miserable teething times, here are the happy moments:

Everett wonders why Olivia won't play with him:

Tried to sort laundry...found something out of place:

How else would I get a baby and a load of laundry back upstairs?

Ev loves watching the cats eat.  Olivia saw the camera come out and took off.

The new motorboat sound, and some teething yells (AND I held the camera the right way!!!):

Bedtime Horror

For the past week or so, Everett has decided that 7-8pm isn't actually bedtime.  We're assuming it's something to do with his sore gums (will those teeth just appear already!?), but he has been waking up after only 45-60 min. wailing and won't go back to sleep until around 10ish.  It also might have something to do with sleeping in with mama (which I'm trying to stop!) and taking long naps during the day.  I need to do some more reading and figure out how to proceed.  Last night, I totally gave up and he slept between us all night.  He's currently napping and then we're heading in to work for a while.

Yesterday, I had my first encounter with "park moms."  Of course, I swore to myself that I would never be like them.  They just all seemed so self-deprecating and judgemental.  Ev an

d I were sitting in the shady grass and I took my shoes off.  A little girl noticed this and told her mother that I wasn't wearing shoes.  Her mother said, loud enough that I could hear her of course, that there are dangerous things I might step on.  Geez.  Not, "it's okay because she's just sitting on the grass," not a simple "yes, I see that," noooo, I am apparently a terrible example to her little girl.  I just kept my shoes off and smiled at Ev (who also was not wearing shoes).  It was a lovely park though.  Here's a picture I snapped on my cell phone (before it died....gotta get a new battery...) of Ev sitting all by himself in the grass:

A new experiment

I have been scouring the interwebz this morning/afternoon for an appropriate teething biscuit recipe for the monster. I figured my favorite baby food website would have a lovely recipe to make biscuits out of nothing but fruits, baby cereal, and water. Fail. So I am in the process of making up my own recipe. I know it would probably be fine to give him biscuits made with flour, eggs, sugar, and oil, but I just don't want to, darn it! I have a list of ingredients that I'm going to try out (and that are age approved to some degree) and we'll see what happens. And just in case you are dying to know what those ingredients are, here you go: baby rice cereal, ground pearled barley, applesauce, banana, water, flax meal egg substitute (flax meal + water, boiled and simmered). I'll give you an update on how it works...

UPDATE: Not successful.  Might try again later this week.

Swinging

Yes, I know....I should be locked up for my continous ignorance of how my camera works....

This baby is STRONG

That pretty much sums up this post. Brian realized today that all my whining is for good reason. Everett got a fistful of Brian's arm (like he does to me multiple times/day) and said, "Wow, he is really strong!" Yeah....I know. Not just strong little pincer fingers either. If we are sitting on the floor and Ev decides he wants to jump, he can just about knock me over (I am totally not exaggerating!) He is definitely strong enough to crawl, he just needs to figure out the coordination and such and we'll be on our way. This baby amazes me.
Mini-Me: I now, without a doubt, agree with everyone who says that Ever looks just like Brian. It is especially obvious when he's sleeping. I looked at him asleep the other day and went, "Holy cow!" Ev's also developing a clear replica of Brian's brow line. Strange genetics and their cloning.
The boy is also still growing. I just did another full closet switcheroo this morning, replacing all 3-6 month clothes with 6-9, 6-12, and 9 month clothes. They are cuuuute clothes, but I'm so sad to put away his adorable baby gap onesies! *sigh* Big boys don't need onesies.... We also had to raise his jumperoo to level 2 (out of three). Now his feet barely touch the ground, but at least he can't launch himself out and onto the ground.
Monster boy has his 6 month check-up on the 29th and shots on June 9...and I have to do both appointments all by myself! Brian has been awesome about coming to every checkup (even prenatal ones), but now I can supposedly handle the babe on my own and should be able to take him to the doctor and scary county health office! That will be nice about moving to the northwoods and getting a better insurance policy - Ev won't need two appointments for every check-up!
The teething saga continues in full force. The poor babe is learning how to use his teething rings well. The funny/scariest thing: obviously his gums are sore, but he gets MAD. He shoves his fists in his mouth and yells. Loudly. And very intensely. I told Brian I'm not sure I want to see him as a 6 foot-something teenage football player who loses a game...
Anyways....We're planning to go to the park today and enjoy the sunshine, and hopefully I'll get some cute pictures of the boy/baby. He's still a baby, right???! Enjoy your Sunday!

Sitting

Check out this cutie patootie:

An Everett Update

I realized it's been a while since I've given y'all the milestones update on Ev.  So here goes as much as I can remember.

The weekend of April 25-26: Feet were discovered.  He had been examining them for a few days and looking a bit startled when they moved.  Over this weekend, he realized that he could control them and they promptly ended up in his mouth.  He now loves grabbing his feet (especially when they are bare) and pulling on them, eating them, drooling on them, etc.

The next week [on vacation]: Being able to grab feet suddenly made it much easier to control the rest of his body.  While he still hasn't quite figured out rolling front to back or moving on his tummy, he did manage to move a bit.  I would lie him down on the floor with his head pointing one direction, turn around, look back, and his head was facing the opposite direction.  It's the beginning of independent movement and it's scary!   :)  Just kidding, it's very exciting, but we're kind of hoping he holds off on the mobility a bit until we move and only have to childproof one house.

   Also during the vacation week, auntie Christy was nice enough to teach mister baby man how to blow raspberries.  He now spits, razzes, and makes farty noises ALL THE TIME.  This also results in his nuk flying across any and every room we are in when he decides it is a good time to razz.  (We used the nuk as a crutch over vacation and now have to work on not using it during the day again....)

And just today: Ev figured out how to hold and use his own pacifier.  Eek!  It takes a while and he ends up with it backwards, sideways, and upside down before he gets it it the right way, but he can do it.  This also goes along with.....TEETHING!  Yes, the dreaded time has befallen us.  Ev was miserable this evening, chewing (and drooling) on everything he could get near his mouth.  You have to feel even worse for the poor babe because he tries so hard to be happy.  In between whines and cries, he smiles at you.  Poor thing.  We finally gave him some tylenol and he fell asleep (only about 2 hours past normal bedtime).

Still working on: 

Sitting - Everett can sit on his own, but for very short periods of time.  He does pretty well with the boppy behind him, but inevitably finds something interesting on the floor in front of him and faceplants.

Rolling front to back - Yeah...he just doesn't like being on his tummy, so....

Moving - I have a feeling this one is coming soon.  I don't know if it will be creeping, rolling, or some other method, but he's going to start moving.

Expanding the palate - Ev has now dined on acorn and butternut squashes, avocado, pears, rice cereal, sweet potatoes, and barley.  After some more work with sweet potatoes and barley, we will be moving on to bananas, green beans, peas, and oatmeal.

Phew!  This boy is growing (huge!) and learning so fast, my head is spinning.  He's going to be a genius athlete who runs the world....at least I think so.  :)

We're Back

Vacation was wonderful and now we're back home where the weather is also gorgeous! We went from 75 and breezy to....75 and breezy! We're about to leave for a walk to the grocery store but I wanted to add our last few pictures first.

Happy mother's day to me:This is how he slept at the condo:
(That's Max the dog and Seymour the seahorse)I love the look on his face here!The one picture of our family of three:

Aquarium!

Ev liked the fishies!We all quite enjoyed seeing the giant sea turtle over our heads
Bri, Ev, and Auntie Christy
Brian wanted a picture with the horseshoe crab
Ev and his build-a-bear puppy, "Max," from Auntie Christy

Mini-Golfing