Welcome Graham William Johnston

Yesterday my dear friend Kelly and her husband, Brian, welcomed their first child into the world. His name is Graham William Johnston. He is absolutely beautiful. He was born yesterday at 7:45 am weighing 8 lbs 9 oz, and measuring 21 1/2 inches. He has a head full of brown hair (both of his parents are blonde!!). He is one lucky boy, already loved by so many. We cannot wait to meet him. Kelly and I have been friends for 20 years, and I just know Evan and Graham will be the best of friends. Congrats Kelly and Brian, you did good!!!

Enough Pictures Already Mom!!!

112 pictures later, Evan had had

enough!!! I could shoot those big blue eyes all day!!!

Photo Shoot at Dawn

A new outfit and a new camera = photo shoot time!!! Everyone must comment on what great quality the pictures are PLEASE!! Because my husband still doesn't understand what was wrong with my last camera. Which I will still use, but I need a point and shoot and a Canon Rebel DSLR!!!

Testing the Waters

Yesterday we visited Dr. Phillips Splash Park with one of my Mom's Groups. Evan is still getting used to it. He loves being in the pool, but is not so sure about water squirting at him from various directions!!! But it was nice and refreshing on a hot steamy Florida day. I am just so thankful to be in all the Mom's Groups/Playgroups I am in. Because at this point, they are mainly for me!!! As you can see from the pictures, Evan is never to busy to suck his thumb!!!

What's my name again?

We are probably confusing Evan so much as to what his real name is, he has SOOO many nicknames. So I thought I would list of a few of them!!

Evansky, Baby Evan, Mister Man, Mansky, Buster Boo, Boo Bunny, Boo Bear, Monkey, Vanny, Baby Kid (really creative huh, that's what Daddy calls him), Biscuit, Biscuit Head (??), Buddy, Bubby, Bubba (of course, we live in the south don't we?) Scooter, and Munchy.... Just to name a few!!

More Videos

Again, I can't download videos onto my blog for some reason, but here are a couple more videos of Evan I have on my youtube account!! I hope you enjoy!!
You have to have a youtube.com sign on and password to view.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMLFXcGgJlc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F7yZhoBy8w

Can you feed my dog?

Can you feed my dogs while we are out of town? Simple enough question. Paul's friend was taking his fiance to Vegas for the weekend and we said we would feed his two dogs. They are very little dogs and his friend said they don't even need to go outside, they just go on little puppy pads. Well, I went over on Friday to feed them, and didn't like their living conditions. They were gated in a small area of the kitchen and I couldn't bare the thought of them being lonely all weekend, so I decided to take them home with me for the weekend!!! I didn't realize how much work it would be having four dogs (two of which proved to not be house-broken or actually pee on the puppy pads) and one 11 month old. But it made for an interesting weekend. And Evan loved the little dogs. Actually, now that they are gone, I miss them!!! I think after a while you just get used to the chaos. I tried to download a video on this post, but was having trouble. So here is a link to youtube.com where the video is. But you have to have a youtube.com sign on and password to view.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPk2MjHLYgY

Fun-filled Saturday

One of the great advantages of being in Orlando is being so close to Disney. We have lived here 8 months and have yet to take advantage, until today. We just went to downtown Disney with Evan and had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. It was so much fun watching Evan's face light up while watching all the of the life-size animals dance around our table. After lunch we went to Goofy's candy shop and Lego Land. We had a blast, and we are pretty sure Evan did too!!! We can't wait to go to the Magic Kingdom!!!

Beat it Fay!!!

We are safe and sound here in Florida. Luckily where we live, Fay only brought lots of wind and rain. But unfortunately, it's too bad outside to leave the house much. I ventured out yesterday and got dirty looks from little old ladies. One lady actually told me, "your son looks cold, you should take him home." It may be rainy, but its still 85 degrees!!! And I had an umbrella!!! Anyway, we are going SOOO nuts all cooped up here, that Evan has resorted to using the drawers as toys!!! Here he is sitting in a drawer in our ottoman, and climbing out of the drawer. He can't walk but he can climb!!!

Bitter Sweet

I can't tell you how many times I prayed that Evan would become more independent and start soothing himself to sleep. Our routine has been (for the last 11 months) to rock him to sleep every night, completely, before putting him in his crib. Sometimes it took 5 minutes, sometimes 60. I read all the baby books and I knew that was wrong. You are supposed to put them down awake so they learn to soothe themselves to sleep. But he was doing so good during the night if he woke up, putting himself back to sleep. I couldn't bare the thought of putting him in his crib alone, as a Mom I was supposed to soothe him!!! After a while, I started regretting the habit I started, when it began taking longer and longer every night. I even asked my Mom, " will I have to do this when he is 4? how am I going to pick him up and place him in bed so gently?" She said not to worry, he would grow out of it. And now, I am afraid he has already!!! The last week, he won't fall asleep on our shoulders anymore. And when we put him in his crib, he grabs his Teddy Bear, and puts his thumb in his mouth, and falls fast asleep. All by himself!!! I would have thought months ago, even a few weeks ago that I would celebrate the night that happened, but now I just feel sort of sad!!!

My little baby is 11 months!!

My baby is going to be 11 months this Sunday. I can't believe it. People say, "Oh they grow up quick", but this seems really quick. Some days seemed like years (including today with a 15 minute record short nap), but overall it has FLOWN by. I am not quite ready to let him grow up. Will he still want to cuddle with me in the rocking chair every morning when he is 18 years old??

Not Too Sure About These Things Called Shoes!!!

Barefoot babies are SOOO cute, but barefoot toddlers walking around at Walmart, not soo cute!!! Evan's doctor suggested we start putting shoes on Evan now to get him used to them. But he isn't too sure about them!!!

SOOOO BIG!! And SOOO CUTE!!!

How Big is Evan?

As you can see, the best way for me to get Evan to smile for the camera these days is to ask him "How big is Evan?" The only problem is every picture he has his arms in the air!!!

He's a boy, through and through...

A few times a week after bath-time, Evan has naked time. And he just loves it. He crawls all over the upstairs and I follow along with my camera in tow. And this is what he got into the other day!!! He made a mess!! He is a typical boy, into everything and always on the go. I can just see him and Daddy in a few years, peeing out in the backyard!!!

What is so funny?? Oh yeah, me coughing of course!!

We taped this back in May, and it is just too cute. He doesn't think coughing is funny anymore, unfortunately. But for a few weeks he would either laugh when we cough, or mimic us. Now he loves it when we say "PEEEYEW" when we smell his feet, or what we call "toots"!

My First Blog

Welcome to our Family Blog!!!!
I never imagined I would be creating my own blog. Would anyone really be that interested in our lives, that I had to create an entire website dedicated to informing people of every boring detail? Well, when you have a baby, everything changes. People want to come visit more (Grandparents mostly), people call more, and certain people want daily pictures (you know who you are!). Plus I have a little more time on my hands,in some ways. Time (during naps) where I can't leave the house, do anything that takes longer then an hour, that is too loud, or that makes me dirty (becuase there maybe no time for a shower later!). So why not create a blog about our son, and how absolutly amazing he is!

I really meant to start this when he was born. But he wasn't doing much but eating and sleeping, so really what was there to say?? Now he is crawling, cruising, waving bye-bye, and can even put his arms up in the air when you say "How big is Evan?" He is pretty brilliant, I must admit!!! Anyway, I will be hopefully adding to the site regularly with lots of pictures and videos, and stories about our little boy!!!