37 Weeks Old

To see all the photos from this week, click HERE!

In the photos this week you'll see:

• Evan making a HUGE mess while eating carrots (in all fairness he's actually quite an efficient eater these days but I let him play with the 99% empty baby food container while the rest of the family finished up dinner and this is what happened).  
• Lots of pics in the 'Johnny Jumper' (he's SO cute bouncing around in that and the girls love to bring him toys, spin him around or push him in it.
• A picture I've been wanting to take for awhile- Evan in his crib surrounded by all his pacifiers AND holding his legs 'self swaddling' as he goes to bed.  He does this every night.  So So cute.
• Evan sleeping in his crib
• Lots of fun outside swinging and hanging out in our great weather.  In the photo above I edited out the scratches that are on his head (you can see them in other photos) but I didn't edit his eyes at all- all that great greenish reflection is just the grass on a nice bright day!
• And, Jillian "babysitting" while I worked on some things around the house.

This week has been busy and lots of fun!  A few things I want to remember about Evan right now:  

- When he wakes up from a nap he smiles at me and shoves his face into my shoulder.  Very sweet.

- He reaches for me when he is on the ground and wants to be picked up or when other people are holding him. 

- He can roll over from back to tummy and tummy to back no problem but does not like being on his belly and will not put his knees under him and try to crawl.

- He's starting to scoot around a little on his bottom due to his sitting/lunging for things technique.

Have a wonderful next 7 days!

Nancy

36 Weeks Old

To see all the photos from this week, click HERE!

This little guy is so cute.  He is doing a great job sleeping in his crib without a swaddle or anything- I do 'sprinkle' a bunch of pacifiers around him so he can find one and put it back during the night if he wants it.  He has been able to find and put in a pacifier on his own for awhile now- it's impressive how well he can do it!

Right now he's going to bed around 8pm and wakes up at 7am +/- 15 minutes.  I'll take it!  Great baby!

Funny story about feeding Evan- I've been a slacker.  Really, just giving him bits of our food, baby crackers, and whatever else he can feed himself.  I had bought some baby food awhile back, so I reluctantly decided to try giving him some again (for real this time, not just for the photo op! haha!).  It's just so messy and time consuming...  Anyway, I opened the first container (a stage 2) and he went through it like a freight train.  I opened another, he polished it off.  I offered him tiny baby crackers, he ate those.  I opened a pack of rice crackers (mum mums), & he ate both of those.  It only took him about 5 minutes to eat all this.  When I stopped this feeding frenzy, he started squawking like a baby dinosaur.  So, I topped it all off by nursing him too.  His little belly was SO big!
-smile-  So, now it's been multiple baby food containers per day, and lots of finger food too.  Hungry boy!!!

No crawling (not even rocking... he can't get his knees under him by himself yet) but lots of stable sitting/reaching.  He loves to sit and play with toys by himself or with the girls.  He is really good about being plopped in a pack and play, ExerSaucer or bouncer to entertain himself.  It's awesome.

That's it for this week.  Check out the photos, and see you in 7 days!

Nancy

35 Weeks Old- 8 Months!

To see all the photos from this week, click HERE!

Hey there Mr. Personality!  This little guy is so much fun.  He's doing really well with his sleeping and has graduated from the basement to his room.  -smile-  (He was in the basement because we were letting him cry it out and didn't want to wake up the girls).

Today (Valentine's Day) Evan turns 8 months old.

Here's a few things about him:

His favorite song (by far) is Jingle Bells.  He always responds to it with a big smile.  Funny.
We have lots of nicknames for him.  If I don't call him Evan, it's usually Baby Boy, Baby Boy Blue, Little E, Little Man, Bud Bud, Buddy Bear, Buddy...

Jillian calls him, "Baby Baby, Boy, and Boy Boy".  Both the girls call him "Brother" and "Baby Brother".

Ryan mostly calls him Evan or Big Man.

I took a photo of Evan this week holding onto the tub.  He can grab onto things pretty well like this, but to be honest, it was a situation where I propped him up, ran back and took the photo, and ran back to catch him.

In the bath, Evan loves to splash.  And Splash.  And SPLASH!

The scratches on Evan's forehead are from his own fingernails.  It's getting better, and we're still trying hard to keep his nails short enough to keep this from happening.

In the photos this week you'll see Evan eating a homemade tortilla & posing with his sisters for Valentine's Day.  I realize he will one day roll his eyes at me for that bow tie, but I don't mind!  I think it's adorable.

Until next week, have a wonderful 7 days!

Nancy

34 Weeks Old

To see all the photos from this week, click HERE!

It's been a busy week with a good amount of snuggle time for this recovering Mom!  Since the infection I had last week came along with flu like symptoms it was a tough couple days for me.  Evan is eating a lot more solid foods now- (3/4 of a small banana tonight!)  and after being up with extra feedings through the night over the course of my issues it became necessary to crack down a little and make some efforts to regain our nighttime sleep!!

I should start by saying that until two nights ago, Evan slept every night in a swaddle, with a pacifier in a nap nanny (baby foam wedge that keeps them propped at an angle similar to a car seat).  So, it was fair to say putting him in his crib without these things was going to be a challenge.  I started with the idea that we would just go cold turkey without any of it, but ended up caving and giving him his pacifier (actually, about 6 pacifiers sprinkled around him so he would be able to find them in the night and put them back in if he wanted to -smile-). The first two days were hard on Evan and I (I may have had a little nervous break down after I noticed in addition to crying he had scratched his face all over the place). It was so so sad.  I trimmed his nails down more, but he still managed to scratch himself.  Tonight I filed down any little tiny bits I could find so hopefully his handsome little face is scratch free in the morning!

He was pretty darn stubborn about this new sleep idea for the first two nights but tonight he did really well.  The first day when I went in to get him he was looking at me with one pacifier in his mouth and one in each hand.  Cute.  Twice now, I have been watching him on our video baby monitor as he's making himself comfortable and have noticed that he seems to replicate being swaddled by pulling his legs to his chest and hugging them with his arms. Such a smart baby :)

We continue to be lucky with great weather so lots of time outside still!  Hooray!

In the photos you'll see snuggle time, a birthday party, Ryan feeding Evan pears (with a pink bib?!?), a VERY sleepy boy in his car seat, posing, sister time, tummy time (no scooting or rocking yet), more sister time & a baseball sleeper (thx Nat & Rene, I think?)

Until next week!!

Nancy