8 months old

This has been an interesting month. I just can't really believe that so much has happened in just one month. Everett has changed SO MUCH. It's been a month where Brad and I have had to use our parent thinking caps quite a bit. How will we make sure he's safe with all these new skills? Also, his eating, schedule, and sleeping have had some interruptions and changes as well. He went through a 2 week period where he DID NOT NAP. I think he was using crib time to try out his new skills. By the end of the day, he was tuckered out. We've been trying to make sure he gets plenty of exercise and practice during play time, so that crib time is for sleeping. He seems to be back on track pretty much. We've also played around with a 4 hour schedule. We've done it some, and he does fine with it and still sleeps through the night--4 hour schedule means only 4 feedings instead of a 3 hour schedule with 5 feedings. But if he doesn't nap very long, there's no point in pushing him to a 4 hour schedule. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, no worries! 8 month info:

• Shakes his head from side to side like "no" (He doesn't know it means no. He just knows it gets laughs.) Also, many times when we say "dadadadada" or "mamamama", he shakes his head back and forth and smiles really big. So funny!


• Says "dada"


• Claps. Sometimes even upon request.


• Gets up on all fours (hands and feet)


• Sits up on his own from any position


• Crawls!


• Consistently wakes up around 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning.


• Takes 3 naps a day.


• Holds up his play phone to his ear sometimes when I'm talking on the phone.


• Gives kisses and hugs. It's so fun! When he gets really excited, he grabs your face and pulls it in for a "kiss" or he leans in really far for a "hug". GREAT moments!


• Has a new lovey for the crib. Charlie the lion. So cute. It's by Angel Dear.


• His lovey came with a stuffed lion we named Chili...Charlie and Chili. He already had a very hungry caterpillar stuffed toy we named Chatty Cathy. Starting to worry we're leaning a little too much on the "Ch" sound?


• As of Feb. 3rd at 10:00 am, he can pull up to standing. I've only witnessed it via video monitor in his crib. Thank goodness for the video monitor, otherwise I'd have no idea that he could do it.


• Interested in ordinary things like lotion containers, SHOES!, watches, zippers, etc.


• Likes helping us brush our teeth with the electric toothbrush.


• Loves the book New Shoes, Red Shoes by Susan Rolling. He pulls it out of the book box almost every day. We read it a lot, and pages have already been torn out. :/


• Likes to pull straws out of drinks.


• Is starting to love dogs...which makes us wonder if we'll have to get one soon. They still scare him when they bark, but he loves to watch them run around and hug them.


• Much better with a straw when we give him water at a restaurant.


• Still turns into a complete wildman when we start his bedtime routine...putting his crazy feet into footed pajamas can be a 5 minute ordeal.


• Stayed the night away from home (sleepover with grandparents) for the first time...and we all survived!

This is all I can think of right now. I didn't do an 8-month-old photo shoot because we had a busy weekend, so I'll just put some pictures of Everett lately. Get ready...LOTS of pictures.

Before he figured out crawling, he got to this position quite a bit. Isn't the little guitar on his jeans cute!

He was excited to see me coming after his nap.

All dressed up

I love this face. He's really cracking up.

Blowing raspberries

Sweet face! Notice how red his feet are? They're always like this. We asked the doctor about it, and he looked at them and felt of them and laughed. He said, "They're kinda sweaty, too." Ha!

More push-ups

I wonder what he's thinking when he makes this face...

So happy!

Playing blocks with Daddy

Brad took this picture while we were playing. I love it!

Naked baby!

Playing with the rug

He loves getting into his book box.

We went to the lake this past weekend with some friends. I'll try to blog about our weekend soon because it was a blast! Here are some pictures of just Everett from the trip. These are the pictures taken closest to his actual 8 month birthday.

At first, he was really scared of this rug. We were so surprised because we thought he'd love it. Obviously, he warmed up to it.

Thinking about pulling up

Getting closer!

Happy 8 months Everett!

Here's a video of him from this weekend. He shows off his crawling, and then I ask him if he can clap, so he shows that off, too. :)

My birthday

*I wrote this last night at near midnight, but I'm posting today, so I could add pictures.

I have had a wonderful day today! It started out with Brad taking over Everett's breakfast and Everett giving me a card. I got sweet texts, calls, gifts, cards, facebooks, etc. from great people. I got to work out while my good friend Terri watched Everett and let him play with her puppies...which he LOVED!

Brad had told me that we had plans Thursday and Friday evenings--that Thursday was just the 2 of us and Friday was not. Friday's plans are yet to be revealed, but I would love to fill you in on this evening's festivities. At 5:00, our friends Austin and Jillian showed up at the door. Jillian said that she had a message from Brad--that I was going on a date and that she was going to watch Everett while I took my time getting ready. If you read my Simple Pleasures list, you know I was excited to have TIME to get ready. Brad texted me that he had 3 options for dinner and that I could choose whichever I wanted. He had made reservations at the places that took them.

While getting ready, I realized that it's been a WHILE since I got ready for a real date without Brad around. He's usually getting ready with me or at least around for me to ask his opinions. I enjoyed asking Jillian instead. :) Everett even offered some squealing and clapping about outfits he liked. Then, Brad showed up and knocked on the door...his own door. It was so fun! I know it's simple, but it's fun.

**Side note: Brad and I have been in a relational funk lately...you know, when you're slipping on the little things and not being intentional. It's an easy funk to fall into. Well, we've been working on it and we made a commitment to ACTIVELY love each other for a week--do the little things, give compliments, be affectionate, say thank you, communicate, etc. etc. Even half a day into it, it made a world of difference. That coupled with this being my birthday week...it's been a great week. I'm thankful for my loving, fun husband.**

ANYWAY, back to the date....Of the 3, I picked the restaurant I had never been to. I thought it sounded fun to try something new. I was NOT disappointed. We went to ZaZa's. What a great place! It was super casual and fun. I got to build my own salad, and it was DE-licious! My salad consisted of: romaine, baby spinach, goat cheese, chopped egg, cherry tomatoes, olives, cucumbers, candied pecans, and a lemon-garlic vinaigrette....YUM! We split a pizza, and I had Coke--you know how sometimes Coke tastes good, and then sometimes it is like the best thing ever. In grad school, Jill and I used to call Coke our "candy". Tonight it was like candy--with really good ice. We had a good time talking over dinner.

Then, we decided to get gelato. This is where the story gets good. We were getting samples trying to pick the best flavor, and the sweet girl serving us asked, "Are y'all newlyweds?" !!!!!!!!!!! You can imagine my delight (especially considering the recent funk). We laughed, and told her that we had actually been married near 4.5 years, but that we were celebrating my birthday. She couldn't believe we had been married that long and offered her congratulations. She said that we looked too young to have been married that long. She asked how old we were, but before I could answer Brad stopped me--I knew why he was stopping me.

If you know my husband or have seen pictures, you know that he looks YOUNG. YOUNG! He gets comments often about not looking old enough to drive. He has been carded at rated R movies. When we owned our home in Denver, he was asked OFTEN by solicitors if his parents were home and when they would be returning. You get the idea. So, when he stopped me, I knew the drill....get the person to guess our age. Just so we can keep tabs on how we're looking to the public eye. (I have mixed emotions about how young he looks. Sometimes it seems to make others think I look younger as well. However, sometimes, people think I look lots older...like the time the receptionist at the dentist office asked if I was his MOM!) So, I asked her to guess our age, and she said....drumroll.....NINETEEN!!! That's right, 19! I loved it.

Then, to make it all EVEN BETTER, she said that we could both have our gelato for free because it was my birthday. I forgot to mention that we had used a giftcard from Christmas, from Ben and Elizabeth (Thank you!), for our meal. So, a free delicious meal for two newlywed 19-year-olds. What a great evening! We wrapped it up with a laid back trip to the bookstore. One of our favorite things to do. It was such a wonderful, wonderful birthday!

Here are some pictures from our night:

This is me probably gabbing on and on about the delicious CHOCOLATE gelato or how young and happy we must look. :)

Brad had Cookies 'n Cream and Pistachio.

Yum!

The two of us

Today is special

Because today Everett is 8 months old, and today I'm 28 years old. That's right, today is my birthday. I have been working on an 8-month post for Everett, and it will be posted soon, but today I thought I would post something that made my day yesterday. I'm having a fabulous birthday week so far. Brad has decided that my birthday should be celebrated all week long, and hey, I'm not protesting. He's given me sweet cards and gifts. It's been wonderful! This morning Everett even brought me a card.

So, yesterday....I got the cutest video of Everett. It's one of my very favorites ever! Lately I've been feeling like I need to SOAK UP EVERY MINUTE with him because he's growing and changing so much, so fast. There are many times a day that I think...."if only I could bottle up this feeling", "take a mental picture", "I hope I remember this forever". Great moments! Well, I got one of these sweet moments on video, and it just melted my heart. I've posted the video below, and it may not seem that sweet to some, but to me, it was precious. He was being very typical boy--playing hard, not paying attention to his mama. But then, he looked up and saw me and made the best "I'm so excited to see my mama" face. He took off crawling to me, even belly flopped on the hard wood. SOOOOO SWEET! I guess this was his birthday present to me....this and revealing the fact that he can now pull up to standing! Hope you have a great day...I'll be enjoying mine.

Oh I love simple pleasures!

Kelly posted about simple pleasures--little things that make you smile or make you happy. I just had to participate! What a good idea--to focus on the simple things in life that bring a smile. Here are SOME of mine (if you know me, you know I don't like to have to be nailed down to "the very best" or "the only" or even "the top three"). Ha!

• Going out for breakfast
• Reading magazines
• Looking through cookbooks
• Getting anything personal or handwritten in the mail
• Having a fully-stocked kitchen!
• Having a long time to get ready
• New make-up
  
• Sleeping in (I think I remember liking this. Ha!)
  
• Sleeping on clean sheets
• Wearing new socks
• When Everett grabs my face and kisses me
• Having gift cards to spend
• Ordering appetizers
• Catching up with friends
  
• Holding hands with Brad
• Watching a marathon of tv seasons on dvd
• NAPS!
• Giving Everett his morning bottle in our bed
  
• Bubble baths
• Massages
  
• Having a straightened house, laundry put away, and a list of to-do's I'm at least halfway through
• Sonic happy hour
• Drinking tea--hot and cold
  
• When Everett crawls to my feet and looks up at me!

I'm going to have to stop the list here because I'm starting to stress out..."what if I'm forgetting something, I'm sure there's more". Oh dear, this list should do. Maybe I'll get Brad to get on here and list some of his simple pleasures, too.

He's crawling!

As I mentioned in the previous post, Everett is crawling! It is so fun to watch him go. He's pretty determined when he sees something he wants. As you can see on this video, he's all business! :)

Good week

This has been a good week! Earlier this week, I spent an entire day shopping BY MYSELF! Gran and Grandad came and watched Everett, so I could take off and spend the day on my own. They seemed to have a good time. I know Everett enjoyed himself, and I'm certain that I did as well. It was so fun to meander and piddle and browse...of course, I still worked off of a list of places to go and things to get because I'm a list person. But still, I had a great time. I didn't watch the clock or lug the stroller...fun day. I ate lunch by myself and read a book. Oh, the little things!

Brad has been sick this week--no fun and not a good part of this week. We're hoping he feels better soon.

Everett made a new development this week....he started CRAWLING! I got a video of it yesterday, so I'll try to post that soon. It's adorable.

I'm supposed to have dinner with some girlfriends tomorrow night (if the weather allows) and then a joint birthday celebration with some friends Saturday night. See?--Good week! I hope y'all are having a good week, too. I'm about to go to bed because well, it is almost 10:00. :)

Baby showers!

This post is LONG OVERDUE! I realized that I never posted about my baby showers. Everett will be 8 months old next week, and these showers occurred around my 32nd week of pregnancy, but better late than never, right? The first shower was in Colorado, and the second was in Arkansas. They were a week apart (and 1000 miles). We're blessed with wonderful people in both places.

I was thinking..."How did I go without posting about this?" But then, I remembered the weekend following the Arkansas shower was when I was hospitalized overnight with pre-term labor! Needless to say, things were crazy after that, and I neglected to share with the blog world what fabulous baby showers I had. I also had a shower at work, but unfortunately those pictures are on a cd in a box...somewhere.


Colorado shower:

The lovely hostesses! They did such a great job! I had such a good time and Brad and I felt so blessed. They put so much thought into all the details.

Isn't this cupcake tower so cute!

Precious diaper cake--and those diapers came in handy. :)

The food was delicious!

I was so glad my mom got to be there for the shower. Laurie's mom was out visiting from AR as well. Our moms used to work together, and we've all known each other for a LONG time. So, it was really fun that we all got to be there together.

My wonderful Bible study friends...I miss them and that Bible study so much. It was great!

So fun to catch up with my friends from work and so sweet of them to come.

I miss all of my friends in CO so much!!!

Arkansas shower:

The front door was decorated like this. So cute!

Yummy cupcakes. They say "Oh Boy". :)

This bassinet was set up for gifts.

The hostesses, speer-headed by Shower-Queen Jessica (front left). They did a fabulous job! There were so many details and cute ideas. They should go into business. :) I've known most of these women my whole life, or at least for a long time. It meant so much to me that they all came together to do something so special for us.

The bellies! Me (and Everett) and Sarah-Catherine (and Ella) :)

Orange julius (yum!) in these pretty glasses

Here I am with my big belly by the food table, imagine that! Ha! They did a breakfast theme, and I loved it! Jessica had secretly called Brad and asked him if I had been craving anything during my pregnancy. He informed her that I craved all things breakfast! It was delicious!

They had blocks sitting out to spell Everett's whole name.

Some of my girlfriends. I was so glad they got to be there.

By the picture collage. It had pictures of us when we found out we were having a baby, of my growing belly, of Everett's sonograms, and of me and Brad when we were babies. So fun!

It's so fun for me to look back at these pictures. First of all, my belly...wow! :) It's just crazy to think that we hadn't met Everett yet. It was a sweet time of preparation and anticipation. Thanks to all of you who have blessed us in this journey of parenthood...through showers, gifts, prayers, encouragement, by your example...thank you!