Signs of the Times

In the car, Luke turns to me and says, "Mommy, when we get home, can we read your blog?"

After telling a joke that Grandad didn't get to hear, Luke says, "It's okay. We'll just rewind it like we do on the TV."

7 Months

Evan is 7 months old!

He enjoys his baby food and gobbles it up at breakfast and dinner these days. He is beginning to master the art of pulling himself up onto things. He hasn't done it in his crib yet, but I think it's time to lower the mattress so he doesn't happen to fall out! He also moves into a crawling position if he's sitting down. He'll get up on all fours and just get stuck there. Luke cheers him on and tries to get him to crawl to him, but so far, no luck. I don't think Luke realizes exactly what will happen when Evan starts crawling... and, getting into all of Luke's toys!

Here are a few pictures from Evan's 7th month. And, one of our all time favorites of the boys together.

Mmmmm... foooood.

He fell asleep holding his foot. :)

The boys.

Teeth

Puffy.
Red.
Swollen.
Painful. White bumps under the gums.

Just get here.

Summer Memories and New Video

We have had the best summer. I'm getting sad that this is my last week of summer with my boys before I head back to work. This is the first summer that Luke hasn't been enrolled at daycare, so he's been home with me every day. I was a little worried at the beginning of the summer - would we have enough to do to keep busy? We sure did. Would Luke drive me crazy by being, well, a four year old boy? To be honest, he did. But, I don't remember much of that. I just remember all of the great times we had going to the waterpark, having friends over to play, going to the pool, the beach, reading books, playing in the backyard, going on long walks, etc. etc. etc.

Here are some fun videos of the boys while we were playing this afternoon. We had just gotten home from the pool and were all wet and silly.

Luke getting Evan to say "dadadadada" backfires.

Evan has been saying "dadadada" a lot lately. Here he is showing off his latest verbal tricks.

Luke makes sure he didn't miss out on an opportunity to be in a video. :)

Some cute pictures of the boys.

Family Picture

One more picture from our week at the beach. This is everyone that was there. So fun.

Eric, Katie, Mom (Grammy), Dad (Grandad), Evan, Danielle, Mark, Luke, Jill, Dan

Comments

It has come to my attention that there is some confusion about how to leave comments. Directions were requested, so here goes:

1. Click on the link at the bottom of the post that says, "comments" (or, sometimes it might say 0 comments, or 1 comment, depending on if anyone else has left a comment on that post).

2. Type your comment in the box provided.

3. Under "choose your identity" click on the circle next to the words "name/url."

4. Type in your name.

5. Click on "publish comment." Voila! You have commented.

A note to Evan, from his Mommy

To Evan:

You are 6 months old now and you are such fun. We had your hip checked out and everything looks good. You had x-rays done and everything looks like it’s in place. Since you were breech, they had to do a little extra monitoring, but things are smooth sailing now. Another big event in the past three months is that you no longer spit up as much! You still have a few little dribbles every once in awhile, but nothing like it was at the beginning!

In your fourth month of life, I went back to work and you resisted it by shortening your night sleep. I began pumping bottles for you during the day and I think you missed your nursing time, so you began waking up once or twice a night again. Secretly, I didn’t mind it too much, because I missed our time together, too. However, after a few weeks of working full time and waking up to be with you at night, I had to cut you off. We still got together around 3 or 4 am for a feeding, but that was okay. Grammy began watching you during the days while I was at work and she got you on a decent nap schedule for the first time in your short life. Your laugh was the most memorable thing about your fourth month. You laugh at everything. You love watching Luke and laugh at whatever he does.

In your fifth month you got a bit obsessed with your toes. We would find you in the morning with wet toes on your pajamas because you would suck on your feet that were inside your PJ’s. We have several pictures of your toes fully in your mouth and you sucking on your big toe. You do, however, prefer your thumb. I could tell early on that you were going to be a thumb sucker (you get it honestly, I sucked my thumb until I was way too old). You prefer your left thumb and suck on it all day long. You have rolled over from your tummy to your back – probably because you hate being on your tummy. You are working on sitting up without support, and are becoming very social. You like people around you, holding you, and you will smile at anyone who smiles at you.

The last month has been very eventful. One day, you just decided that you didn’t want to be rocked to sleep anymore for your naps. For as long as I could remember, you had to be rocked to sleep and then very carefully put down for your nap. As I was trying to do that one day, you were extremely fussy. I finally gave up and put you in your crib. You immediately stopped crying, stuck your thumb in your mouth, grabbed your blanket and closed your eyes. Now, all we have to do is give you your blanket and lay you down and you fall asleep. It’s a wonderful addition to your day! You also sit up without help now and you have started eating baby food. We started rice cereal at about 5 ½ months and now you have tried several different foods. You don’t love baby food as much as you love nursing, but you are getting better at it. However, your latest obsession – blowing raspberries – has made feeding you somewhat tricky.

You continue to be an adventure, Evan. We are learning more about you every day. On one hand, you are social, happy, and love to smile at the world. On the other hand, you like your routine, structure, and doing what YOU want to do. When we get frustrated with your emerging personality that can often demand a lot of attention, all you have to do is flash us one of those gummy smiles (still no teeth!) and we melt.

Vacation - Pt. 1: Videos

We had a great vacation! We went to Grammy and Gradad's beach house and spent a week playing in the sun and hanging out with family. Here are a few videos from the week

Evan playing Peek a Boo

Evan playing in the water, eating sand, and sucking on a shovel.

Luke "surfing."

Vacation - Pt. 2:Beach Bums

The best part of the trip was the many visits to the beach. We got into a routine of waking up late, eating breakfast, letting Evan take his morning nap, eating lunch, and then heading to the beach for the entire afternoon. Evan eventually got used to taking naps on the windy beach, as long as someone was holding him. Some more highlights...

Mommy and Evan on the beach.


Luke splashing in the waves. He spent most of his time in the water. He was a little fish!

Evan getting sleepy.


Evan hanging out in his little pool of water, sucking on a shovel and eating too much sand.


Jill and Danielle building a sand castle with Luke, except Luke wasn't helping. :)

Vacation - Pt. 3: Family Time

We enjoyed spending time with the whole family. Uncle Eric, Katie, Uncle Mark, Aunt Danielle, Grammy, Grandad, and of course, all of us, invaded the "beach house" and did a lot of laughing, playing, and eating. Oh my... lots of eating. Some of the highlights:

Uncle Eric playing Wii Boxing (we also played Guitar Hero, very addicting).


Jill's Aunt Jean and Grammy play with Evan on the 4th of July.


Mommy and Evan.



Daddy, Silly Luke, and Sleepy Evan.


Uncle Mark and Luke with their shorts on backwards.

Ear Tube Surgery

Luke had ear tube surgery (for the third time in his life) today. All went well. Luke was not interested in drinking the medicine that was intended to make him relax and go with the doctors. He finally did, but it didn't have much time to take effect. They came to get him while he was still coherent and he was sad to leave. But, once they got back there, they read him a story and he was fine. When he woke up after surgery, he kept saying he didn't want to go to sleep and have them work on his ears. I told him that they already did it and that it was time to go home. He didn't believe me and asked all the way home if they were going to work on his ears. He was afraid to close his eyes on the car ride home, because he thought if he fell asleep that the doctors would appear and work on him.

He's quite pathetic and sleepy right now. Not too stable on his feet. We are having a hard time not laughing at his up and down moods and wobbly walk. But, overall, he's recovering fine. He's watching a movie right now and I expect a good nap this afternoon (for everyone! It was an early morning!)

Prayers

Luke has been saying prayers before we eat dinner. One of our favorites was this one:

Oh, God.
Thank you for our food.
Thank you for the clouds.
Thank you for the leaves...
... and, for putting them on the trees.
That's all.
The End.