4 months old

wow! i cannot believe it's been 4 months that we've had the best little baby ever!! he has grown a lot. he's so much fun. he's got the best little personality. and he's SO loved!! so here are his stats:

he weighs... 17 pounds and 8 ounces! wow! that's a big kid (95%)

his height... 25 and 5/8 inches! wow! he's a tall little boy (75%)

some facts about the man:

-standing is still one of his most favorite activities

-he is officially in all 3-6 month tops/ pjs but still in some 0-3 month pants

-he eats 4-5 8oz bottles every day

-he is done with size 2 diapers.

-he loves anything bright- which includes books, the christmas tree and... the tv! the good side of that, he will sit and watch at least half of sesame street every day, which gives me at least 30 minutes to get stuff done!

-he talks ALL the time. i swear it sounds just like he says "hi" all the time. i can't wait until he means it!

-he will put pretty much anything in his mouth. he loves his fingers.

-he rolls over very well

-he can lean himself forward if he's propped up so, you cannot leave him attended if he's not laying down

-he has no consistent night schedule. he goes to bed sometime between 6-9. wakes up sometime between 5-7. sometimes he sleeps through the night, sometimes he wakes up once, sometimes twice. we are working on it.

-he cracks up! and he does not have a little baby laugh, he has a deep cackle! it's awesome, watch my video on facebook to witness.

-he definitely knows who his daddy is. he stares at him when he gets home if he isn't holding him, he will just watch matt's every move. it's super sweet.

so those are just a few stats. we started him on baby food this week and are looking forward to him being able to sit up all on his own soon (he's SO close). he really is awesome. i could not love anything more, seriously. if you haven't met him, make a trip to seneca and see this boy!

evan's christmas tree

i made a christmas tree just for evan! i wanted to put a small tree in his room but wasn't sure what ornaments to put on it so, i made them! and here is the process/result

first, the inspiration- pottery barn of course!

then the supplies- all from michaels which means- martha!!

then i sanded the metal, splashed on some glue and glitter, put some stickers on the mat, and printed out pictures of the 12 days of christmas. here is day 1.

i had this star and a white tree from my piano recital last year, but the star was purple so, i turned it red.

next i made a tree skirt. i cut out the number 1-12 in felt, backed them in felt that i also cut out, and then made them glittery with glitter glue.

then i made the other 11 days of christmas, put it all together and....

baby's first christmas complete with his own personal tree! he stares at it while i rock him, which makes me very happy.

evan and santa

evan met santa today at the anderson mall. he did a really good job! when i first handed him to santa, he was not happy about that. santa turned him around to look at him and he scrunched up his face to make the "troll" face, puckered that bottom lip, and let out quite a wail! i took him back from santa, took all of 5 seconds to calm him down then i placed him in santa's lap, facing away from santa, and slowly stepped away. then he was fine! he would only smile when i was right up next to him, so never when i was far enough for them to take the picture, of course. but he's still such a cutie!! merry christmas!

evan's nursery

we have lived in our house for 3 months now and i finally have 1 room finished! it's my sanctuary- a room i feel no stress in and actually makes me happy. what i especially love about it is that it's evan's room. he's the best little baby and he should have the best little room- and now he does! we officially hung the last picture up this week so now i can share pictures of my favorite room with all of you.

this is the view when you enter the room. doesn't it make you happy too?? the walls are a super dark navy blue on top and super bright white on the bottom. we always planned to have chair rail in his room and it just worked out that when we bought the house, it was already up in this room. the rug is one he will eventually be able to play with his cars on. it really brightens up the space.

here is his changing station. the center picture says "i am a child of God" with a picture of Christ to the left, the salt lake temple above and a picture of president monson, the prophet, to the right. and that's his USC build-a-bear, named cola, on his changing table that his AK brought him in the hospital. he talks to it while he's getting his diaper changed.

his beautiful, small crib. i love his bedding too- it's perfectly boy without being themed, exactly what i wanted. i really love this crib- it's so nice and it's not huge like every other crib we saw. also it has a great drawer underneath that holds all of his blankets and swaddlers and such. this picture doesn't do the crib or bedding justice.

the most amazing artwork ever!! my aunt joyce painted these for him- they are way more than i ever imagined. isn't she crazy amazing? he loves to look at them, but i may love to look at them even more. 

the wall opposite his changing table. this is my favorite spot in the house- in the rocking chair grammy gave us. we sit there and read at least one book every single day. my mom made the curtains and they have the madras on the top and the bottom- i love them, i wish i had the top in this photo. the picture of Christ with the children was the final picture we hung in his room because we finally got it from grammye's house. it hung in my room my entire childhood and now it will hang in my child's room! my dad bought evan the bookends, which you can't see very well but they form a fire truck. the cars and airplanes on his dresser are just vinyls, but i like them! and the adorable monster art on his dresser is something katie and i bought him at the scarecrow fest here in seneca in the fall. the picture frame is like a ferris wheel and allison gave that to me in middle school.

this was the first picture i bought for his room. it's from target (of course!) and i love it! i would do the alp it hangs on the wall right next to the door. i initially thought that if i did do a "theme" i would do the alphabet. instead, his room has just morphed into all things boy- and i love it that way. it's got cars, planes, sports, animals, monsters, plaid- it's just all boy.

one more look. i love this room so much!!! now if i could just feel that way about the rest of my house... someday i will. and as i do, i will share with you all!

best friends

okay this post is certainly late, i really wanted to get it up in the month of november but, as usual, i am a day late and these days, also a dollar short! but that's another story...

thanksgiving was last week. matt and i always go to kentucky for this holiday to spend it with his family. so we loaded up wednesday morning and headed for lexington! matt and his brother were going to see the uk basketball game wednesday night which meant that i planned to spend the whole evening and night with my best friends! first stop was the moore's house, none of them had met evan yet. debbie had made us (allison, lauren, and me) some yummy soup to eat and of course, there is always good bread and dessert at the moore's (because they're all super skinny and can eat it!). it was so nice to be back in their home- it had been a year! but they couldn't keep evan all for themselves so we moved on to the wemyss' home. here we all 4 were reunited- it was so great. we just sat on the wemyss couch and tried to pick a name for lauren's baby-on-the-way. we definitely had a lot of fun with that. it was WAY too short of time, but great none the less.

my best friends since 1999! (ha, that sounds ridiculously long ago...)

so the third, and final, stop for the night was of course the shaw's. sue had made some yummy cookies we all partook of and then evan and i spent the night there. it really was just like old times, hanging out on the shaw's couch, eating cookies, and just being together.

all three of the homes of these beautiful girls and like my home away from home. i didn't grow up near cousins or aunts and uncles but to me, these girls and their families are my extended family. i feel completely comfortable when i'm in their homes and/or with their families, because i feel like, at least in spirit, these homes and families are mine too. i remember when i was in middle school (which is when i met all of them), i said to my family that we would be best friends forever (of course, middle school girls created the phrase "bffs"). i also remember my uncle and my mom and telling my how hard it is to really stay close to friends from your childhood (why were the trying to squander my 11 year old dreams!), but i knew then we would prove them wrong and look at us now, all grown up and on our 13th year of friendship.  i could never replace these girls because we have something that's can't be replaced, deep rooted, true love for each other. it has certainly been tried and tested over the years, we've endured fights, boys, band, middle school, high school, hundreds of miles of distance, college, jobs, marriages, a baby (and soon to be another), tears, laughs, and everything in between but through it all, and some may say against all odds, we have remained the bbhc. i really hope that we can make this picture possible more than just twice a year. i love you all!

3 months old

last friday, november 4, evan turned 3 months old. he is still the best little boy! i love him so much. i told him today, i'm not sure even eternity is enough time with him, he's so beautiful and sweet (not that i'm biased). here are some of his highlights this month-

he is great at standing and he loves it! he can bend his knees and bounce up and down while he stands.

he is officially in 3-6 months tops and pj's but still in 0-3 pants.

he is officially in size 2 diapers.

he eats 6oz at every feeding.

he has slept through the night a few times but, it's still not a regular thing.

books are his favorite thing. if he's upset (which is rarely) he will calm down with a book. he can stare at the same page for a very long time, it's cute.

he took his first plane ride and he rocked it!

he smiles ALL the time! it's the best. it's big and crooked and i love it!

he laughs now- so cute.

he has rolled over multiple times. i have caught it on film, i will have to post it soon.

since he didn't have a doctors appointment, i am not sure how much weight he has gained or how much taller he is. i will take some informal measurements soon, like tomorrow. if you haven't met the man, you're missing out! come by anytime!!

look at that face!! i love him so much! 

i wish i knew how to rotate a picture on blogger. i guess i should just do it in iphoto before i upload them.

travels lately

so where have i been? obviously not on blogger. evan and i have been traveling america! first we went to l.a.- no, not los angeles, lower alabama, mobile to be specific. we went so that all of my mom's family could meet the little man. they threw us a shower and i got to see so many people! my mom's cousin took evan's first professional pictures while we were there too. it was a great trip.

me and evan, brittany and ryland, jaime and jamison (2 of my 2nd cousins and their boys) 

this is a special picture. you can barely see it but in the background, in the brown frame, there is this same picture in the same place (in front of my aunt's fireplace) when i was 2 months old with my mom, grammye, and her mom, who just passed away a year ago.

from mobile, we drove to hilton head to visit with katie for a couple of days. that was a LONG drive, but worth it to see katie. we went around to a lot of thrift stores (HHI is THE place for thrift store shopping) and then headed back to seneca. my dad came that weekend and katie came up too. we all went to upperstate to see matt's last band competition of the season. his band did well, but did not make state. it was a major growing year for him and the band though and i am super proud of all they accomplished.

so then we were home for a week before departing again. this time, on plane! SO MUCH BETTER! evan was perfect! seriously. no crying, just happy or sleeping or eating a bottle. his new love is books and they keep him occupied for a long time. katie and i flew with him from charlotte to NYC to visit my parents for a week. and it only took about 2 hours to get there. flying is by no means my favorite activity but i sure do love the convenience of it.

of course we arrived right after the biggest snow storm in october in recorded history. most of it had melted by the time we had landed but there was still plenty around to see. i had not been to my parents house and they've lived there for 10 months now. it was so nice! we hung out at the house the first day and ate at the italian deli/meat market that is literally next door to my parents. it was delicious! that day was also halloween. we went out that night to sushi mikes- a wonderful sushi restaurant in my parents town. katie bought evan a dinosaur hat that he wore as his "costume".

ak and her dino boy.

the next day we went to my dad's job. it just opened so we shopped around while he worked, but only after he showed evan off. they have a model in his office that cost 1/2 a million dollars (i can't even wrap my head around that kind of money) and we thought it would be fun to take evan's picture in it like he was a giant baby. we were right- it was a lot of fun!

 taking over the center!

 chatting with someone walking on the sidewalk.

at poppa's job with a hard hat on.

the third day katie and i went into the city while mimi got her evan time. we basically just window shopped times square, 5th avenue, and soho but we had such a great time! if your siblings aren't your best friend, i'm sorry. we ate at the star light diner, where aspiring broadway stars are the waiters and they sing during your meal. not only was it super entertaining but my meal was absolutely yummy! we ended the night by eating italian food and then seeing "anything goes". it was great! but the next night was the best- katie and i saw "how to succeed in business without really trying" starring daniel radcliffe (yes, harry potter himself) and john laroquette and we sat in the 4th row center! our uncle's friend is the trombone player in the pit so he got us tickets. OMG- not only is that show awesome (so funny and just so good) but i was feet away from daniel radcliffe! we had an amazing time.

in front of "anything goes. we didn't take one in front of h2s for some reason.

both of my trips were so great. i love my family and love getting to spend time with them. next trip is in 2 weeks to visit matt's family and my "extended family" (best friends from... forever and their families) in ky. i can't wait for evan to meet more people who love him and i cannot wait to reunite with my long lost loves (aka, the bbhc).