Old Friends, New Babies

Last weekend, we went to Jacksonville so I could work a couple of days, but also so I could see my old friends!!! Tammy on the left, I get to see frequently as she lives in Jacksonville. Her little girl Emma is 4 months old and as cute as can be!!! Ginny, on the right, I don't get to see as often, as she lives in Charlotte and has two little ones to run around after. Pictured, is her littlest one, Georgia, who is 5 months. It was so fun to see them both, we all met in college and actually are pretty good at keeping in touch.

SIDE NOTE: I look ENORMOUS in this picture. The camera adds 25 lbs, right? Just a few more days until I am in my third trimester though, so the weight gain isn't gonna slow down any time soon!!!

Baby Caleb

My girlfriend Ana gave birth to her second child 4 weeks ago, baby Caleb. I had the privilege of taking pictures of him today, as well as a few of his big sister Yasmine. He is the most easy going baby around. It was great practice for me, because before I know it, I will have a newborn little boy to take pictures of all the time!!!

We're Back!!!

We are back after a wonderful vacation with friends in Captiva Island. We went with several other families, and we rented an amazing house a block away from the beach. We spent most days at the pool or playing in the sand. Evan really loved being around all of the bigger boys. Most of the kids there were 2 1/2 yr old boys. Evan wanted to do everything they did. He was so independent, it was great. I don't think he even sucked his thumb the whole time we were there!!! The second he woke up, he was asking about his "fwends" and he played from sun up to sun down. Back to reality now, but looking forward to our next vacation in August, to Yellowstone, WY!!!!

Unsolved Mysteries

Although, it is a mystery how Evan went from being my sweet little infant boy to a big boy in what seems like the blink of an eye, that isn't what I am referring to when I entitled this post "Unsolved Mysteries." But rather I am referring to a diapering incident that took place last evening. Granted, I am tired and I have "pregnancy brain", AKA, I am more forgetful than normal. But this makes NO sense. I haven't done laundry in about a week, and Evan goes through a couple of outfits a day, so needless to say, I ran out of usual attire. So I pulled out this little cotton romper yesterday after he decided to play with the garden hose with his clothes on and an outfit change was necessary. Anyway, the romper buttons on the bottom, under where the diaper is. I changed his diaper and I proceeded to button the romper. Or so I think. About 30 minutes later as I am cooking dinner, I notice Evan waddling towards me in a very odd way. I look down and I see a diaper around his ankles, still attached with the sticky strips on both sides mind you. I glance down at the buttons of the romper and they are still buttoned. The romper is on the small side, making no room for the diaper to slip out of one of the leg holes. I thought, well surely Evan found another diaper and put it on, on the outside of the clothes. But I unbuttoned him to make sure. Nope, there was no diaper under that romper, it was bare butt. Not only that, but the diaper clearly had pee in it. Evan is not coordinated enough to button himself back up, even if he did manage to unbutton himself and wiggle out of his diaper. WEIRD to say the least. I would say, maybe I put the diaper on the outside of the romper in my absent minded state, but then why would there be pee on the diaper and not the romper? It truly is a mystery, that will probably remain unsolved.

Rainy Day Blues

Today we have a touch of the rainy day blues, as it's been raining for the last couple of days, fairly constantly. Although, this isn't much different from the sunny day blues, which has been constant now for two months (meaning it's too hot to go outside). But rainy day blues are worse, because we have no choice but to stay inside. Today, I watched a friend's little boy, and when I am babysitting, I feel even more guilty if I get lazy and turn the TV on. Two little boy brains turning to mush. So we did lots of structured activities such as coloring!!! Here are a few pictures of Evan coloring. Not sure what he is staring at into the distance, but as you can see, he takes coloring very serious!!!!

Naked Time is Good for the Soul

Naked time is good for the soul, for Evan that is, not for me and my constantly expanding waste-line. Today we had about an hour of naked time in the backyard, before it got too hot and sunny out. He played with the hose and in the baby pool, as well as lounged around in the lawn chair. What a life. Not a care in the world. Wish I could be so confident!!!

Tough Guy

Evan inherited his clumsiness from me. This boy falls more often then any little kid I know. His favorite and most commonly used word now is "boo boo". He even kisses his own boo boos now along with me. Luckily for both of us, he has managed to only get minor cuts and bruises and has had no major accidents to date. But his little legs must have 15 different boo boos right now. Poor guy, but he's pretty tough.

They Don't Teach you This in the Baby Books

OK, about a month ago we started somewhat of a baby boot camp around here. Evan, although, he hits all of his milestones right on target, prefers to be a baby in most aspects of his life. Seeing as how we will have an actual baby in our home in just four short months, I knew there were some things that needed to change around here.

Step One: Get Evan to walk up and down the stairs by himself. He will do this 100% of the time for Daddy, and about 50% of the time for me. This is a work in progress, but much needed the bigger I get and the closer I get to having to carry TWO babies up and down the stairs simultaneously.

Step Two: Ditch the bottle. We have been bottle-free now for almost 3 weeks. Although about 4 days ago, Evan stopped drinking milk all together. He also refuses yogurt and pieces of cheese. I am now pushing milk in any way, shape and form (hence the big bowl of pudding above!) I can think of, as well as giving him little calcium supplement gummy bear vitamins. Let's pray his growth is not permanently stunted because of his picky little habits.

Step Three: Start feeding himself. Evan doesn't have much motivation to feed himself, as eating is one of his last priorities. So in order to keep his weight from plummeting below the 30th percentile, I have been spoon feeding him since he was 6 months old. Don't get me wrong, he can feed himself just fine when it's crackers, or cheerios, or anything he feels like eating. But today, in order to motivate him, I gave him a big thing of homemade pudding (made with lots of whole milk), and he didn't eat just one serving, but two... by himself. I haven't heard him say "more mama" and "mmmmm" so many times in one sitting. Now, tonight, when it's whatever I cooked for dinner on his tray.... I am sure it will be back to square one. But baby boot camp involves lots of baby steps and patience.

Step Four: I haven't decided yet.... potty training or picking up his toys? Either way, I am SURE I am going to meet some resistance. Wish me luck!!!