Holy nightmare diaper changes!

Apparently, this is some of the fun crawling brings...

Now that he is mobile, Evan won't lay still for diaper changes and he just had a poop blowout. I managed to get his outfit off and his onesie over his legs without too much poop spreadage, but then OMG. He twisted, he rolled, he sat up, and he started crawling away while the poop was everywhere hanging off his butt and on his belly, back, and penis. He layed in it, sat in it, and it went everywhere. All while screaming because I was trying to contain him and hold his legs by the ankles. I couldn't get him to be still enough to wipe it up in any efficient way and the wipes were flying, landing on my newly shampooed carpet. I finally got him relatively clean and chased a naked baby around the room trying to re-diaper him. I managed to get a new diaper on him while he was on all fours, so it's cockeyed.

I'm exhausted. I think 3 people would have had a tough time with this one. Good times. :)

He's on the move!

We have an "official" crawler! And to make life extra interesting for us, Evan has also learned to sit up from laying/tummy position AND pull up in his crib. All in the last few days. Naps and sleep have gone to hell. He is TROUBLE! Guess we really need to babyproof now. ;)

On a side note, I'm having issues with my computer's memory and until I resolve it (or get a new laptop), won't be able to do much with pictures. I have about 893642 new ones just waiting to be uploaded. I hate technological limitations.

Zamboni: 1996-2008

Sadly, we had to put our sweet Zamboni to sleep last Friday night. He had rapidly declined over the past week and we knew it was time to intervene before he began suffering. I'm thankful Dave was able to be with me before he left for Hawaii and grateful we were both with him at the end. We are so sad and the house seems so empty without little Zammer. I miss him so much. He was the best kitty. Now he is with Wylie in kitty heaven, chasing mice, schnapping on pink blankets, and enjoying all of the water he wants. 

I plan to do a larger post with more pictures soon. 

Zamboni: July 1996-September 26, 2008

U of M Photoshoot

We took Evan back to Picture People last week for some new pictures since he was still unable to sit at his 6 month appointment. We opted to do a U of M theme, just in time for the football season. He was fussy at the session, so it was a bear to get a smile, but they are rather cute. Here are the 3 pictures we purchased:

Go Blue!

Shiny new shopping cart cover

Well, I didn't kick the cold fast. In fact, it kinda kicked my ass for more nearly two weeks. But I'm finally in recovery mode and now have a ton of catch up to do. It's nice to take some time to rest and heal, but payback can be a bitch. I'm now knee deep in housework, emails, blogs, pictures, shopping, etc. Bummer.

On a different note, Evan's shopping cart/high chair cover arrived! I ordered it from Kozypal, an online site that creates cool custom covers. I love it! It's very padded and thick and the fabric is fun. It looks extremely comfy. We tried it out for the first time at Carrabba's on Saturday and Evan did quite well. The cover has loops that can be used to attach toys, which was very handy. Evan happily sucked on his rings and spoon for most of the meal, freeing us up to actually eat with both hands for the first time in months. Woo! And then yesterday, I took Evan to Target and tried it out in the cart. He was fascinated with being up high in the cart and seemed to love the new vantage point. It was so nice to shop without a huge fear he would start fussing. I'm hoping the novelty doesn't wear off anytime soon. *fingers crossed*

Evan at Carrabba's:

Evan at Target:

Eczema

We survived our trip to Michigan! It was tiring, but fun, and I'll post more about that soon. 

I took Evan to the pedi yesterday for his worsening eczema and random rashes. The doctor prescribed 2 strong steroid creams and suggested we give him Benadryl at bedtime. If he doesn't improve in a couple of weeks, he will probably be referred to a pediatric dermatologist. There was a little talk of him possibly needing to switch back to the Alimentum formula in case of a milk allergy. Or the possibility of other food allergies. I really doubt it (there is no family history and he hasn't had many solids yet), but it's something to consider if it continues. Poor guy. He's been such a trouper, but I know it must really be itching and bothering him.

Oh, and Evan also has a mild virus, which appears to have manifested as conjunctivitis. He has oodles of eye junk and just generally seems under the weather. Unfortunately, I appear to be getting sick, too. Sucky. I rarely get sick and can't remember the last time I had a cold. So this is a surprise. I'm hoping it's mild and I kick it fast. 

Happy 08.08.08!

In honor of the 2008 Olympic Games, I took this picture:

On a Scale of 1-10, Avocado is Icky

Well, the verdict on avocado is a big "ewwww." Evan is not a guac fan, I guess. So today I'm moving on to banana. He'll have to like that, right? I'm also keeping an Excel spreadsheet with the different foods so that I can keep track of what he's tried and how well (or not as is the case so far) he liked them. Otherwise I'll never remember. 

He's napping now, so I need to work on getting my house clean. We are headed to MI on Saturday (his first plane ride!) and an old high school friend is dropping by Friday night. So I have to clean, pack, and generally get everything organized for people, pets, and baby in the next two days. Lots to do!

Veggie Tales

The high chair is here! After MUCH research and discussion, we opted to get the Boon Flair chair. It has a pneumatic lift, a removable tray (which allows it to pull right up to the table), and is extremely easy to clean. Plus, it looks cool. And Boon is a great company who gives part of their proceeds to charity.

Here is the chair:


Evan has finally started eating solids! We started with rice cereal, which...ew, and then moved on to oatmeal. He seems to tolerate it a bit more.

Checking out his oatmeal-covered spoon:



Last Tuesday, I made butternut squash for his first veggie. It was really quite easy, considering I'm not a cook. I used this super-cool babyfood maker called the Beaba Babycook. It's an all-in-one steamer/defroster/blender.

Baked squash (oops, failed to remove the stickers):



Pureed squash:


Squash face:


Evan really isn't crazy about squash yet, so I froze the remainder and will try again at a later date. Next up is avocado, which should be really easy because no cooking is involved. Then probably sweet potatoes or carrots.

I'm pretty sure I won't be making all of Evan's baby food, but there is no reason I can't at least make some of it. We'll see!

6 Month Checkup

And we have two teeth! The pediatrician noticed that a second tooth has poked through. Evan has been surprisingly ok with it all. What a trooper!

The doctor visit went well. He weighs 17 lbs, 6 oz, is 26.25 inches long, and has a big giant head. Totally average on weight and length and the 95th percentile for head size. However, the doctor thinks it's tapering off and his body should do some catching up soon. I hope so! It's gotten very obvious lately just how ginormous his noggin has gotten. Lots of brains! Or air! But hopefully brains!

Anyhow, he had two more shots and handled them pretty well. All body parts checked out. We discussed food and we are definitely starting him on solids this week. Rice cereal for a few more days (the first few tries haven't been fantastic) and then we'll start with a veggie over the weekend. I'm planning to make at least some of his food, being the awesome chef I am (NOT!), so it will be interesting. We also discussed sleep habits and we were told that we need to toughen up and let Evan cry a bit at night instead of feeding him. There is no reason he should need to eat in the middle of the night at his age. We need to break him of the habit now, while it's still relatively easy. Sigh. He has already learned to manipulate me, so I guess it's time I learn to take control. It's going to be a fun few nights. 

Oh, and new pictures are up at Shutterfly!

All the better to bite you with...

Evan has his first tooth! We noticed that one of the lower middle teeth poked through on July 16th. It's sharp like a razor blade. I think this explains why he has been waking up so much at night lately. Hopefully now that it's in, he'll feel a bit better and we'll all get more sleep. Until the next tooth, that is. No pictures of the little tooth yet, but I'm sure we'll get one soon.

6 Month Pictures

Evan discovered his penis the other night when Dave was changing his bedtime diaper. Now, typical of a male, he doesn't want to let it go. Ha.

I took Evan to have his 6 month portraits taken at Picture People on Monday. Nightmare. I purposely scheduled the appointment for late morning, assuming he would be well-fed and well-rested by then. Yeah, not so much. He wouldn't nap in the morning, so he was a fussy baby. It took all of my power to keep him happy the entire session. Plus, he is still unable to sit up unassisted and still hates tummy time (he immediately flips back to his back), so the poor photographer had very limited posing options (perhaps a "real" portrait studio could have done more, but it's probably good I didn't spend a ton of money). Sadly, we had to prop him in the bouncer for most of the shots. Drat. I was really hoping he'd be able to sit by these pictures. Oh, and because I was thinking his entire body would be in most of the shots, I picked his outfits based on that. But most of them were closeups, so the "fashion" effect I was hoping for didn't work out. Oh well. I think I'll just take him back in a month or two for a fun session. Maybe in U of M gear or something.

Regardless of the issues, a few of the pictures are quite cute. We ordered these two and will likely get additional ones. I should have the link with all of the shots soon.

6 Months!

And there I go again, not updating. Oops. Epic fail. We did have many visitors in June, so that can be my lame excuse du jour. 

Evan is 6 months old! Unbelievable. He's getting so big and doing so many new things that it's hard to keep track, particularly when I fail to write it all down. *headdesk* I have no "official" current height and weight for him, but I'll update after the pediatrician visit on July 22. However, his head is still large. Heh.

We celebrated his half-birthday last Saturday with cake. Not for him, obviously, but we went to town. Any excuse for cake is a good one. And it was delish.

Our great regularly scheduled napper and eater is gone now, and has been replaced by a random napper and inconsistent eater. Evan still loves his naps and needs several each day, but they are hard to predict and vary in length and time daily. It's quite frustrating. Plus, he won't nap out in public in his stroller for fear he'll miss something interesting, so it keeps us housebound a bit more than I'd like. At least he'll sleep in the car if the trip is long enough. But generally he gets cranky and rubs his eyes within 90 minutes of waking up, so he is often a tired baby. Bedtime generally goes ok, but we still have nights where he cries and cries for quite awhile before falling asleep. We have learned that getting him to bed early is key--if we wait too long, it's not a pleasant thing. So he typically goes to bed around 7 PM. We stopped swaddling him in June and it went well for a couple of weeks. Then he regressed a bit and since then we have been going back to the swaddle some nights. But I am optimistic we are almost done entirely with it. We are still doing a 10:30 PM "dreamfeed" and usually feed again around 2 or 3 AM. He clearly still needs his nighttime meal. I think that part of the night feeding need is because he is an odd eater during the day. Some days he eats very little at each feeding or just grazes or snacks throughout the day. I think he is just distracted and doesn't think eating is important when other stuff is going on. Unfortunately, this results in him trying to make up the calories at night, and he tends to eat a ton between 7 PM and 3 AM. Sigh. But otherwise, he usually sleeps well, so we really can't complain too much.

Evan had been on a special formula (primarily for reflux), Similac Alimentum, but we switched back to the regular Similac last week, figuring he's outgrowing most of his issues. So far, he's fine. Good thing because the Alimentum cost a small fortune and was getting more expensive with his growing appetite.

We attempted to give him his first taste of rice cereal on July 4, but he hated it. In fact, it made him cry. He got this horrible look of disgust on his face and then started crying. It was sad and really funny at the same time. I got it on video and if I were a smarter blogger, I could post it here. We will probably try again soon with the cereal, but might instead just skip right to veggies. We plan to start veggies very soon. I bought a Beaba Babycook and am planning to make some of his food. We'll see how that goes!

Evan started consistently rolling from tummy to back on May 22. Now he refuses to stay on his tummy for more than a millisecond and immediately flips back over. He really dislikes his tummy. He still hasn't rolled more than a few times from back to tummy, but I figure it's because he knows the endgame is the tummy and would rather just avoid that altogether. Heh. It's really not a big deal, though, because some babies just aren't big rollers.

He is starting to express more interest in sitting and does pretty well propped up or supported. We are putting him in his Bebepod as much as possible to strengthen his muscles and he likes to play with his toys and read books while in that. Just recently, he has also started "standing" and seems to really enjoy looking at his world from a higher vantage point. It's hilarious to see him so excited to be upright. 

He still adores his bouncer and is very skilled at making it bounce. He is really great at kicking his legs in unison to get maximum bounce. He's very coordinated. Several times he has actually nearly launched himself out of the seat with his vigorous kicking. I mean, he really kicks and kicks and thinks it's the best thing ever. It's really fun to watch. I think he'll be excellent on the swings. Or perhaps have a career as a trapeze artist. He is a little over his bouncer toy bar and generally prefers just to be toy bar-free and bounce.

He is also a bit over his activity gym. He does enjoy pulling the toys off of it and playing with them separately. He now has an exersaucer with a cool keyboard and other movable toys. So far, he loves banging the keys and particularly loves the tugboat toy. Really, though, he just loves putting it in his mouth. 

He is teething, so is full of drool and puts everything in his mouth. Reading is no longer fun just for reading's sake--he wants to eat his books. And everything else he can grab. It's a challenge to keep things out of his reach. My earrings and necklaces have been relegated to the jewelry box most of the time.

Evan's other favorite toys right now include Sophie the Giraffe teether, monkey blankie, plastic keys and rings, and the measuring spoons from the kitchen. Anything small that he can easily grab, bang, and put in his mouth is a good toy. He also likes his Eric Carle talking block and his learning puppy. It's fun to watch him get excited about more "advanced" toys.

We have been wearing him in the Baby Bjorn more and more and he is liking it quite a bit. It's a convenient way to carry him when the stroller is too big or annoying. However, it hurts my shoulders and neck. Bummer. I've tried the slings, but just can't figure them out. But it's ok because I'm pretty sure that he wouldn't stand for them. He really has to be looking out at all times.

He's very good in his stroller now and puts up with our longish hikes/walks. Soon we (read: Dave) will be able to jog with him.

Bathtime is now fun! We still only bathe him a few times a week because of his dry skin/eczema, but he loves them now. He splashes and checks himself out in the mirror and grabs at the washcloth. I really wish we could give them more often because it does seem to soothe and relax him for bed. 

Evan loves to laugh, but still saves it for the few things he thinks are very funny. Like us waving our fingers at him and saying "dancing phalanges." We got it from an episode of Bones and he just thinks it's HYSTERICAL. I guess "phalanges" is a silly word. Anyhow, he has a full out belly laugh now and it's the cutest thing. Of course, he still doesn't want to smile for photos, which irks us. I have about a billion pics of him looking startled or bewildered, but very few of him truly smiling.

He is generally a very happy baby, which honestly surprises us given that we aren't typically bubbly and relaxed (duh!). I'm trying really hard to be more laid back around him because I know he can sense uptightness. But he's sweet, silly, smart, and happy, so we are doing something right. 

Next up in the world of Evan: a high chair purchase. We are just about researched out on this one and are close to a decision. As always with baby items, there isn't one perfect high chair, so it's a matter of figuring out what's most important and going with that. Ugh. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Wow, I'm a mommy.

Evan is truly the love of my life, and each day I adore him more and more. From his little elfin ears to his chubby legs, he's perfect in every way. We are so blessed to be parents to such a sweet and smart baby.

On my first Mother's Day, I wish all other mothers a lovely day. It's awesome to join your club.

16 Week Update!

The problem with not blogging regularly is that when you do finally sit down to write a post, it's a a bit overwhelming. So I'll probably keep this short and sweet and give you the highlights of the past weeks.

Evan is already 16 weeks old tomorrow! It's hard to believe. Looking at my postpartum body (I'm talking about you, thighs), I'd swear I'd just given birth. ;) But alas, he's growing so quickly. Evan, that is. (well, and my thighs)

Earlier this week (Tuesday to be exact), he rolled over (tummy to back) for the first time! And...of course I missed it. Oops. I looked away for a moment and when I looked back, he was on his back. I was thrilled, but also wondered if he had truly rolled over or if I had rolled him over myself and forgotten. Ah, the wonders of "Momnesia." Anyhow, after efforts to reproduce it failed, I was convinced he really hadn't rolled on his own. But this morning, he did it again! And I saw it. So yay! Watch out world--Evan is on the move.

He has also been giggling more and more the past few weeks. He's certainly not a laugh monster or anything, but makes an adorable machine gun-like sound when he is amused. It's charming.

Evan loves his books! It's amazing how seriously he looks at them, like he is actually absorbing the pictures and words on the page. We read many books to him each day. He has his favorites, too. Jungly Tails is a fantastic book for infants--it's colorful, crinkly, makes jungle noises, and has animal tails for baby to grab. He just loves it. He also really likes a book I bought at Costco about a kitty. Really, he likes all of his books and we try to rotate them so he is exposed to a few different ones each day or two.

I tell myself that his love of books makes up for the fact that he also seems to like television. Sigh. I'm certainly not using TV as a babysitter, but he is drawn to it if he catches a glimpse. Like mommy, like son.

In the past week or two, Evan has discovered his feet and is grabbing them more and more. It's so cute! I'm constantly amazed at how flexible babies are and know it is just a matter of time before he is sticking his toes in his mouth. Ewww. And awww.

Speaking of grabbing, he has gotten quite adept at grabbing his toys and is much better at sucking his hands and fingers. He's still not crazy about his pacifier, and seems to prefer his hands. But that's ok--the fingers are always attached. It's much easier that way.

Evan still needs to be swaddled for naps and especially at bedtime. It really soothes him. I suspect we'll have to wean him when he starts consistently rolling over, but until then, I'm thankful we discovered the swaddle. It's been a lifesaver.

He is still napping in his bouncer (I know--bad habits--yada, yada, yada), but is doing really well at night in his crib. He generally goes to bed around 7:30, is fed again at 10:30, wakes once during the night to eat, and wakes for the day at 6 or 6:30. Not bad. And he is pretty good about going to sleep on his own and not fussing or crying too much. I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop, but so far, we are pleased with nighttime. I'd love for him to sleep through the night, but he is a hungry guy at 3 AM, so I don't see that happening anytime soon.

We bought a jogging stroller, and even though Evan's still too young with run with, it's much better for walks. He seems to like it, especially now that we have figured out that he prefers to look out and see his world. He's very curious, so no reclining or carseat in the stroller for him. He's alert and hates missing out on anything.

Lately, he has been less interested in his activity gym and more fond of his bouncer's toy bar. We also bought him a Bebepod to sit in. His neck and back muscles aren't super strong yet (that giant head is very hard to hold up), but he can sit in it for short periods. I also think it's time I look into buying an exersaucer or jumper, but admit I really don't want a ginormous, ugly plastic plaything in my family room quite yet. But I guess that's just a rite of parenthood.

Unfortunately, he still has symptoms of relux and is spitting up a ton. I think the Zantac helps him feel better, so that's good. But man, I do a lot of laundry since by the end of the day it seems he's spit up on 72849 burp cloths, his clothes, and often, mine.

That's the Evan update for now. It's hard to capture in a few words all he has been up to and how quickly he's changing. It's pretty incredible. But I did just upload some new pictures (13-16 weeks) to Shutterfly. You can see them here.

In other news, Dave was very sick for a few weeks (pneumonia, he thinks), and is just now feeling a bit better. He has been working crazy hours and barely gets a break. I joined a mom's group and hope to attend a few of their events in the next few weeks (they are very active and have something almost every day). Skating tryouts are soon and I need to get my butt back on the ice. Or at least try to do some sort of exercise so I'm not in such terrible shape.

Evan's Nursery is Featured!

Hi!

Geesh, it's been too long since I've updated, and I promise a longer one soon. In the meantime, Evan's nursery was featured in one of my favorite blogs, Ohdeedoh! You can see the post here. It has pictures of the room and details about our inspiration, favorite items, etc. I'm excited so many people like it!


Also, I uploaded more Evan pictures to Shutterfly today. They are located here. They span from about 6-12 weeks. It's hard to believe he's already 3 months old!

If you aren't on my Shutterfly picture email distribution list and would like to be, let me know. I will still post the links here, but it might be more delayed.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! Have a wonderful holiday!

Top O' The Morning

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Evan doesn't have a holiday-appropriate outfit, so he's wearing the only green onesie he has. He looks like a wide-eyed frog. Hee.

Somebody's got a case of the Mondays...

Happy Monday!

We all had a nice weekend. On Saturday, I had a nice relaxing belated birthday lunch with my friend Val. The day was GORGEOUS in the 70s, so Dave and I took Evan for a walk. He hasn't been liking his car seat/stroller combo lately, so this time we tried him in the stroller without the car seat. Eureka, it worked! He was a much happier baby. Of course, it could have been a fluke, so more testing will be necessary. But we think that Evan prefers to be able to look out and see the world, which might also explain why he hates being held in any way but forward-facing. The boy knows what he likes.

Yesterday was a lazy day, due in part to the 6 inches of snow we received. CO weather is nutty. We did some housework and that sort of mundane stuff. We also attempted to capture Evan's handprints in a plaster kit my friend Tracy sent us, and that was pretty much a hilarious failure. After several tries with his hands, we gave up and did his feet instead. It came out ok, but it was definitely difficult. I think it would have been more successful with a younger Evan.

As usual, Evan was an angel all weekend because Dave was home. Oy. I swear the baby does it purposely; he's fussy all week and perfect on the weekend. I think I'm going to create a giant cardboard cutout of Dave and stand it in the family room. Oh, and maybe record his voice for good measure: "Hi, Evan!," "You're such a good boy!," "Be nice for Mommy!," and that sort of thing. Heh.

I picked up The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems at the Tattered Cover bookstore and started reading it last night. Today I am attempting to implement the E.A.S.Y. system recommended in the book. Generally, it's an eating, activity, and sleeping routine that is supposed to give control back to the parents and promote better sleeping habits. So far, it looks like we've accidentally had Evan on something sort of similar, but I'd definitely like to get him on good, more predictable routine so that he starts sleeping longer at night. HA! I've only skimmed the book so far, but I'm unclear on when activities like errands or walks are supposed to occur--I would think in the "activity" period, but if he falls asleep would it count as a nap? Who knows. I realize parenting books can only help so much, but it looks like there is some decent advice in there. And we really want Evan to be a good sleeper for the long haul.

Taken Friday:

Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta...

(5 points for getting the title reference...)

Hi, all! I have updated our Shutterfly account to include pictures of Evan up to 6 weeks. You can view them here.

In the last few weeks, Evan has gone from frequently (shown here at 3 weeks) flashing "gang signs" (we have given him a gangsta name of Barracuda P)...

...to raising his arms in a victorious fist pump (here at 6 weeks)!

He is so silly with his "poses." We especially miss the gang signs. They were adorable.

Today, we started using Huggies size 1 diapers; I think he has outgrown the newborn size. Sadly, he's also just about outgrown most of his newborn clothes. I was at Target the other day and saw the 3 month size of one of his newborn outfits and snatched it up. He's getting so big already! Especially his head, which is giant. I like to think it's his huge brains, but it could just be that he's gotten his daddy's big noggin'. It's anyone's guess. But wow...his poor neck. Heh.

Evan has now started making more eye contact and is just starting to smile occasionally. Such fun! He's sleeping pretty well in his nursery at night (except for the periodic grunts, groans, and squeaks he makes), although he's decided that wake-up time is between 3 and 5 AM. Not such fun for Mommy and Daddy (Mommy's EXHAUSTED)! Oy. We'll have to work on that. But we do have a bedtime routine started that involves feeding in the glider chair while listening to either the Green Day or Metallica lullaby CD, a diaper change, and dressing him in his swaddle sack, which is the infant version of a straightjacket. We sometimes read a story, but it's still mostly lost on him. Entertainment Weekly has the same effect as Goodnight Moon (and you know which I prefer).

He's been really fussy lately and we initially thought it was colic, but have determined it's probably acid reflux. Feeding him upright seems to be helping a bit and he's been better recently. He still hates to be burped, but he enjoys me loudly singing the theme song to The OC while burping. Whatever works. I also changed the lyrics to the chorus of "When the Stars Go Blue":

Where do you go when you're hungry
Where do you go when you poo
Where do you go when you're sleepy
I'll swaddle you
When the stars go blue
When the cows go moo

He really likes me to sing this while feeding, although I usually cheat and sing the actual lyrics. He doesn't know the difference and I don't want to subject myself to kiddie songs much before I have to. ;)

Even during the day, swaddling is very helpful and he usually falls asleep in his bouncer (his favorite thing!) when tightly bundled. Thank goodness we discovered this trick--it's a lifesaver!

People say that "miraculous" and wonderful changes happen between 6 and 8 weeks. I'm not sure what those are quite yet, but in the meantime, it's safe to say that Evan's a keeper! He's cuter by the day.

Miscellany

Avis and Dick left this morning and I'm on my own for nearly the first time since Evan's birth (my mom was also here for two weeks and Dave has been home quite a bit). Eep! He's had a few fussy/gassy days recently and has been hard to console at times. It's definitely frustrating, especially considering he also has such sweet, calm days/hours and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it at all. I'm generally hoping for the best!

A few things I've/we've learned:

1. Have few expectations for each day's accomplishments
2. Baby is in charge
3. Gas sucks
4. Leaving the house is akin to a military operation
5. Two (or three or four) sets of hands is better than one
6. Eat (sleep, exercise, shower, do chores) at the first available moment
7. Parental sleep usually always trumps eating
8. Always have plenty of burp cloths within arm's reach
9. The bouncer is awesome
10. Babies are noisy sleepers
11. Planning baby outfit wearing before outgrowing is stressful
12. Burping can be difficult
13. Take lots of pictures

Speaking of pictures, I've also learned that taking a 4-week old to get professional photos taken is not necessarily the best idea. Oops! On Monday, we took Evan to Picture People at the mall and he was not really thrilled (read: crying, requiring food, wetting on the blanket, looking grumpy, etc.). Heh. It was taxing on all of us, but fortunately we had a sweet, patient photographer and she managed to get a few cute pictures. I was hoping for a few more non-grumpy face pictures, but according to numbers 1 and 2 above, you take what you can get. Best laid plans and all. See, I'm learning!

Anyhow, here are tiny versions of the pictures I ended up ordering. If you would like any of these (or any others taken that day--there are more "poses"), let me know and I can order them. I'm sure Evan will be very happy about the naked photo in the years to come; I sense blackmail material! Heh.



Yesterday, we visited Dave at work, which was fun. Evan was very well behaved and adorable (wearing a stroller-coordinated outfit including his new guitar-decorated Robeez shoes, which received many compliments). All of Dave's colleagues were so excited to finally meet Evan, after hearing all about his IVF conception, my pregnancy, and generously throwing us a shower. He is a bit of a celebrity at National Jewish!

I've been terrible about updating this blog, but I'm planning (hoping) to get into a more regular routine. I would love to blog about the actual labor, delivery, first few weeks, etc., so hopefully I can do that and post a bit out of order. I just need some dedicated time!

But in the meantime, in case you missed them, our Shutterfly account has been updated to include nursery pictures and Evan pictures. I plan to upload more pictures soon. He's growing so incredibly fast!

In (relatively) unrelated news, I am very excited that the Hollywood writers' strike has ended. Yeah, I know TV is bad for baby, but thanks to the wonder that is TiVo/DVR, it's much easier to watch on the sly when Evan is asleep or not paying attention. Hee. I'm sure it will get trickier in the future, but for now, my shows are also my sanity.

It's a gorgeous mid-50s day today, so I'd like to go for a walk with Evan. That is, when/if he stops screaming from gas pains. Poor guy.

Laura

It's a Boy!

In case you missed it, baby Evan Andrew Beuther was born on Saturday, January 12th at 1:39 AM. He was feisty from the get go, with Apgar scores of 8 and 9. He weighed 6 lbs, 7 oz at birth and was 20.5 inches long--a long, lanky boy. He is perfectly healthy and quite the handful already! 

We will post pictures of Evan very soon! Stay tuned. 

Holiday Pictures

I've uploaded a few pictures from our very quiet holidays. Take a look! Zamboni checking out our new Roomba is fun.

Holidays 2007