I have been slacking!, but I am back!

I feel like I haven't updated in forever! Lets see whats been going on..
Well we have gotten lots of snow. It snowed a few weeks ago and we got to go outside and play in it. Evan loved it!! Of course we don't have appropriate snow gear so we couldn't stay out too long, I think it was in the teens or twenty's that day. It snowed again about 8inches last weekend, but Ev was sick with another ear infection, so he didn't get to go out and play in it for a few days, when he did he just likes to walk out in the street and stomp on the snow puddles and eat icecycles.

Holiday Update!

Wow I can't believe I haven't updated on Thanksgiving or Christmas yet.. So for Thanksgiving we went to Ohio to visit my sister Sarah and her family. My sister Rachel and my Dad came in to visit as well. We had a really great time. Grandpa Mike bought shoes for all the kids, Evan got his real hard sole pair of shoes and its what he wears every day now.
For Christmas we went to Tennessee to visit Ryan's side of the family. Evan loves visiting his Grandpa Bob and Grandma Cheryl. While we were there we went to the Chattanooga Aquarium it was really nice. We wish we had things like that closer to where we lived.
Evan got tons of outdoor toys for Christmas-- Basketball Hoop, Sand/Water Table, Automatic Car, we we are really looking forward to warmer weather were we can enjoy all of them!

Evan 13 Month Update

My baby boy is 13 months old!! And we are having sooo much fun!!
Evan was diagnosed with Asthma back in November and after about 2 wks on the medicine we see such an improvement. Evan was coughing 5-10 times on a good day and 10 plus times and all threw the night on a bad day.(we had bad days 70% of the time) He hasn't coughed once in over a week!!! He is taking better naps and not crying out in the middle of the nite. He plays much better by himself and isn't as whiny and clingy to me as he use to be. Overall we are just so excited that we have found the cure! We go back in a few weeks to find out where we go from here.. (where we are right now it taking a steroid inhaler twice a day).
Below are Evan's 13 months milestones
-Evan is officially a walker!! He walks everywhere and never crawls anymore
-Evan's new words this month are- Ball, Book, and Bye Bye.(he still says mama,da,and doug)
-Evan's favorite toy this week is a Baby Einsten farm animal book that he carries around with him everywhere and makes me read it to him over, and over, and over, and over again. Seriously not exaggerating!
-I have been working on basic sign language with Evan since he was probably like 7mos.. he has finally picked up on it. He will do more, all done, and some times drink.
-Evan loves to play outside, sadly to say we have had really cold weather the last few weeks and are time outside has been limited
-Evan's continuing bad habit this month is hitting. His cousin Elise has been in town all week long and he has hit her quite a few times ( she has bitten him quite a few times for payback as well :) "NO" does nothing for Evan.. so we are trying time out this week. I know I know.. time out on a 1 year old, but anyone who knows Evan knows he is a smarty and saying NO and redirecting is like sitting a 13 yr old in time out.. it does nothin. The verdict isn't in if its working or not so time will tell.

Elise walking Part 2

Elise Walking!!

The first night Elise was here she was really trying to walk on her own. The last few days she has just been in observation... But today I caught her on 3 occasions walking without being promted, but just on her own while she was playing. We got this video tonight just before she went to bed. Oh and excuse my annoying baby talk (do I really sound like that??!)

Elise Breaking It Down!

My sister Sarah's daughter Elise is staying with Evan and I while Sarah and Jason are skiing in Vail! We are having a fabulouse time. Last nite we went up to Gymboree so the kids could get out some energy. They had a blast!!

The week has been good, but the kiddos are definitely having a hard time not getting full time attention from someone. It doesn't matter what the toy is the other one wants it and if I am holding someone then the other one wants held. Its a never ending battle.

Elise has been learning to walk and has taken several steps while she has been here. Evan is so excited with himself that he can walk now and is having a blast with it.

As many of you know my sister Sarah is a Doctor in the Air Force. She found out yesterday she is being deployed to Iraq in 3 weeks. My heart breaks for her :(...
She will be gone for 6 months. Please keep her, Elise, and Jason in your prayers!

Elise and Evan Gymobree

Elise and Evan at Gymboree

New Addition

We have a new addition to our family. A new cousin. My brother Will and his wife Susanne adopted their baby girl from China Monday morning. Her name is Olivia Rose and we are sooooo excited for them and to meet her!!

1 Year Update!!!

Evan turned 1 on November 16th. He is such a big boy!! Below are his one year milestones~

-He can take 8-10 steps at a time
-Most of the time he will point at his nose, mouth, ears, and hair when asked where they are
-He is saying Mama, Doug (for Dougie), and Da (for Daddy)
-When you say "Touch Down" He will lift his hands in the air.
-He can drink from a straw
-Eats almost anything and has even been working on biting off his own bites and eating with a spoon
-He is off formula, but still gets a bottle of cows milk in the morning and evening.
-Can climb off the bed and couch with no assistance.
-Got another mini hair cut performed my Mommy yesterday. We will take him somewhere in a few months to even out my damage :)
-He weights 22lbs and 12oz and is 28 inches long
-Evan has just started to hit people in the face when you do something he doesn't like. He usually only does it to Mommy and Daddy. It makes Mommy very sad. We are working on it by giving Evan a firm NO,telling him to be gentle, and then redirecting. Hopefully he will grown out of it soon and won't be one of those kids other mom's don't want their kids to play with :(
-Evan loves to play outside with his car, balls, and golf set. He also loves to read books and bath time!

Evan Making His Grandpa's Proud

This is for you Grandpa Mike and Bob.. Evan playing golf!! I got a plastic golf set for Maddy when she was here in the Spring and I pulled it out for Evan a few weeks ago. He got the hang of it right away.

Evan's Still Walking :)

Evan has been taking several steps at a time for the last 2 weeks. Walking still isn't his main mode of transportation but he is definitely walking more and more every day!!

Evan Turns 1

Evan turned 1 on Monday November 16th!! We had a party for him on Sunday. We had a fabulous time. Ryan's parents came into town for the celebration and we had some friends and other family over for the big event-- which consisted of pizza, fruit, cupcakes, and we ended the party with playing with Evan's new ball pit in his bedroom.
Evan was interested in opening presents (he is a true boy and loves to rip things up) However he wasn't to interested in his cupcake. I think he tried to feed more of it to Ryan then himself. Also he had probably ate close to 2 slices of pizza and a cup of fruit so he was probably full. Towards the end of the party it was getting close to his nap time. All of the kids were playing in Evan's room. Evan walked over to his crib and asked for Dougie and Passy. I gave them to him and then he laid down in the middle of the floor and rested his head. It was too cute. He did it about 5 times.. he was hoping his friends would get the hint :)

Saturday before his birthday party we watched the Auburn football game and Evan got to open up some of his presents early.
Evan goes for his one year check up next week, after that I will update with his one year milestones :)

Words to the Picture Update

So the blog is messed up and wouldn't show me the pictures as I was uploading just a bunch of text (annoying) so I couldn't add comments to any of the pictures because all the text ran together. I also accidentally uploaded an old picture of Evan but again can't delete it because all the text runs together.. any who...

I will start on the bottom pictures and work up.
Evan and I went to the park with Sarah, Harrison, and Avery to feed to ducks a few weeks ago. Despite the scared looked the kids have on their faces we had a lot of fun!
The pictures of Ev in the bathtub are showing off all his new teeth (4)!!

The pictures of Ev in the orange was Evan playing peekaboo with himself. Adorable!

For Halloween we had a lot of fun. On Friday afternoon we went up to Ryan's office where they go over the top decorating and showed Ev off in his Halloween costume. Then Saturday we went over to the Forbis's ate dinner, took Evan trick or treating, then waited for Carter and Katie to come back from their parties so they could see Evan and then headed home for the night.

Picture Update

Evan's First Step

For the last few days Evan has taken a little mini step, actually probably more like a little shuffle... but this morning we got him taking his first real steps!!! I don't think he will take off running or anything tomorrow but its definitely a step in the right direction ( cheesy I know :)

11 month update!

We can't believe our baby boy is about to be a year! Its gone by sooo quickly. Well maybe not the first 6mos.. I think sleep deprivation makes time go slower.
Evan has been a tremendous blessing in our lives and we can't imagine it without him.
Evan is a very happy laid back baby. He loves people and being outside. He greets everything with a smile, "talking", or his new favorite a point.
Evan's favorite things to do are read books, riding in his big red car, blowing bubbles, playing in the kitchen with the utensils and pots/pans, bath time, and watching Yo Gabba Gabba.
Evan's favorite foods are banana's, mac and cheese, pears, chicken, and baby cheese puffs.
New things Evan is doing this month has been pointing, he loves to point at things to get your attention. He has also started to make new sounds .. doe, da, no, wow, and oh. He says them repetitively through out the day. Evan isn't walking but he is a very good stander and can walk around holding onto things. He can climb up jungle gyms and up stairs. Evan has a full head of brown wavy hair that he gets compliments on daily.
Evan's only complaints in life are getting his diaper changed, clothes changed, face washed, and car rides over 45 minutes.

Grandparent's Visit

Ryan's parents came into town last weekend and we had a great time!! Friday night Ryan's parents watched Ev while we went and celebrated our friends birthday. Then Saturday we got dressed in our Auburn gear and head to the Auburn vs. Arkansas game ( sadly to say Auburn lost). My mom watched Evan while we were at the game, it was too cold to take him. Then Saturday evening we went to dinner with some of Bob and Cheryl's friends that live in Fayetteville. Sunday afternoon we went to a pumpkin patch and corn maze with Bob and Cheryl, our friends Mike and Jamie and their daughter Ava (2yrs), and Jeff and Sarah and their two little ones Harrison (2yrs) and Avery (4.5mos). It was a lot of fun! We picked out pumpkins, had a hotdog lunch, went on a tractor cow ride, did a corn maze, and went on a high ride! It was a fun filled afternoon. Sunday evening my friend Ronda came and watched Evan while we took Ryan's parents out for dinner to celebrate Bob's birthday and to say thanks for all they do! Overall it was a great fun filled weekend!!

Evan and Daddy playing in the hay stack

Ryan, Emily, Evan, Jeff, Sarah, Harrison, Avery, Mike, Jamie, and Ava

Harrison and Evan eating lunch

Daddy, Mommy, and Evan

Grandpa Bob helping Ev pick out a pumpkin

Evan and Mommy on a cow ride

Evan picking out a pumpkin

Grandpa Bob and Evan putting together his new Giraffe Bike

Evan playing football

Evan and I were over at the Forbis's and Evan found a little soft football and started throwing it around. It was adorable and Katie and I got this video!