Evan's New Tricks

He's only still and quiet when he's sleeping.

Since E's surgery, we have been looming over him, coaxing him to speak in full sentences. His response? Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

Until...

two days ago!

Now E says mama, dada, and uh-oh. Mama and Dada were mastered before the surgery, but uh-oh is brand new. He doesn't use it in context, mind you, but he says it. He has also done way more babbling and nonsensical syllable chatter in the past week or so. We are hoping this means that his improved hearing will result in improved speech. We'll know about the hearing on Friday when we go for a repeat hearing test and ENT appt. Keep your fingers crossed, will ya?

Evan's other new tricks are not so impressive. To date, he seriously digs:

1. Biting my toes. I have no clue. He seeks them out and bites as if his life depends on it. I have tried yelling no, telling him it hurts mommy, fake crying, and anything else you can think of. He thinks it is ridiculously funny. Me? Not so much. And, the 24 hour stream of Shark Week has NOTHING to do with this- he was toe chewing before Shark Week 2011.

2. Standing on things with wheels (his lawnmower, his mickey plane, his dump truck). This one is KILLING me. I have visions of my own preschool bloodbath when I stood on a truck that rolled out from under me and my head connected with a cinderblock wall. On Valentine's Day. I was wearing a red dress with a white peter pan-ish collar. It was ugly. I still have the scars (literally and figuratively). Again, no amount of no, please don't, that isn't safe, yadda yadda yadda seems to phase him. He is a daredevil.

3. Prepare yourself for this one...E has begun to stick his fingers down his throat and vomit. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? He did it twice tonight. It was so gross. After the first few attempts he realized (I think) that he had our full attention. So, after vomit #2 I told David to just clean it up while ignoring E (I couldn't even attempt to clean it...) and then ignore him if he did it again. He attempted a few more times but when he thought we weren't looking he stopped. Again. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Amidst the daredevilish, death defying balancing acts on wheeled objects, toe snacks and vomit escapades, he has been so stinkin' cute lately that I can barely stand it! He has learned where his nose and ears are and can show you yours (in case you need a refresher in anatomy). He dances to any type of music and has zero rhythm (just like his mom and aunt Beth), and has really started to interact with Newman. They play for good stretches of time with E throwing a ball to him. It's priceless.

And, for the 1 person who reads this blog (hi mom) here's your Evan fix for the day. It 'came a flood' as we say in the south, and during the ridiculous rain, E and I decided to dance on the porch. We came in when it thundered, don't judge.

He's adorable. I can't even talk about it.

Shameful, Just Shameful

I can not believe that after my last post (January 1) where I vowed I would do better with posting, that it has been over 7 months since I have posted. Shameful. I really am going to try to do better, since I haven't begun scrapbooking any of our photos, etc. and I fear this will be the only way I will be able to document Evan's childhood.

So much has happened since January, I hardly know where to begin...

• We changed daycares and E is now at The Little School in Hillsborough. It is amazing and he LOVES it. The change was a tough one to make, but ultimately it was the best decision.
• We are now chasing after a RUNNING toddler. He started walking at about 11 months after about 3 days of crawling. He didn't hold on to our fingers or hobble, he stood up and walked. It was wild!
  
• E has had 6 ear infections in 6 months. It's been rough to say the least. The antibiotics cause a whole host of other issues and in total, he has been a mess.
  
• We spent Easter in the ER with E as he had a horrible infection of some sort that was ultimately diagnosed as a 'probable kidney infection'. The poor fella has been sick for EVERY holiday of his first year it seems. He spent Thanksgiving in the ER with an awful virus that dehydrated him terribly. Christmas was spent throwing up in the back of my dad's car as we drove across the country to see both sides of my family. His birthday in May was spent with ear infection #4 and he had an ear infection for the 4th of July too. Here's a photo of Dave and E during our Christmas trip...
• E had a FABULOUS 1st birthday at the Museum of Life and Science. There were 50 of our closest friends and family to help us celebrate. Although the torrential downpour hit right as the party began, we celebrated anyway, dripping wet! Evan had a fantastic time, although he cried when we sang Happy Birthday and he wasn't interested in the cake AT ALL. Bethany made an adorable Sesame Street cake and cupcakes that the rest of us enjoyed. Maybe next year he'll get into the cake smashing business, we'll see!
  
• E will be getting tubes on July 21st to help with the ear infections and hopefully to help to improve his overall hearing and language development. He's just a 'titch' behind in speech/language (as my cousin Jamie says!) and may need some therapy and possibly some additional hearing help after the tubes are in. We're crossing our fingers that this isn't the case, but know that we can handle whatever comes our way.

I started graduate school in June and have completed one class. I started a second class today and it is technology based. I linked this blog to a profile we were asked to complete and then thought I better get busy updating it!

David is great, he is in good health and we are so thankful for the great report we received at his last set of appointments. He is a great dad and E thinks that he is pretty fantastic- the two of them are so cute together. I think E is 100% a Daddy's boy (until he's hurt, sick or tired and then he wants mama).

For the second time I'm going to promise to do better with updates...I don't blame you if you don't take my word for it- I wouldn't believe me either!

Christmas & New Year's...

Well, Evan is no longer 10 weeks old. Looking at my last blog post has left me feeling ASHAMED. I've seen on several blogs that I read (stalk) that mom's are making the resolution to post each day for the next year to better document the lives of their kids. Considering my already pitiful commitment to blogging and my horrific track record with resolutions, I dare not even jump on this bandwagon. I will, however, promise to do better.

E is now 7 1/2 months old and he is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Here are a few highlights:

-he as 6 teeth (four on the top and two on the bottom)

-his hair is finally growing and he is known to sport a sort of 'comb over' (he does this in honor of his grandad, who is also known to sport the comb over) Sorry Dad.

-he FINALLY broke the 5oth percentile for height at his 6 month appointment. Whew. That one worried me

-he sits unassisted (unless you count the two times he fell flat on his head when I thought he could sit unassisted. My dad witnessed one of those and I have YET to live it down) Sorry E :(

-he can roll from front to back and back to front

-he hates tummy time

-I am convinced he will never crawl (see above statement)

-he babbles da da da da da and screams with glee about 1,275 times a day. The da da da thing is just a consonant sound that comes easily to him. Seriously. There is no way that my heart, the love of my life, would betray me by saying da da before ma ma. I'm glad we agree on this.

-he is the light of our life

E still heads to daycare with me each morning and Dave usually does pick-up duty in the evenings. By the time we all get home, we have a few hours together before it's time for bed. E loves his sit-and-spin froggy and his new piano. We sit him in the bumbo and pull it up to his piano and he bangs on the thing like he is Schroder (sp?) from Peanuts. Cracks. Me. Up. His Uncle Will is proud, I'm sure.

We're still cloth diapering and I'm making E's baby food too. We've used disposables to travel (like our recent trip to Oklahoma) and we've fed him jarred food for the same reason. I'll admit, disposables and jarred food are more convenient, but there is just something maternal, something instinctual about using the cloth and making his food. Somehow I feel like a better mom as a result. Is that crazy? I guess I look at cloth diapering and baby food making in the same way that many moms look at breastfeeding. Since that was not an option for us, I suppose my mothering choices fill that desire to do what is best for your child. My husband thinks I'm crazy. Admittedly, he has warmed to the idea of cloth and homemade baby food and has been a big help.

So many people have asked recently, 'Where are you in the adoption process?". We're nearing the homestretch. Thanks. Be. To. God. We recently finished our homestudy and are readying all of our documentation required by Alabama so we can send the homestudy report and MOUNDS of paperwork to our attorney. The homestudy was overwhelming. We had an amazing agency (Nathanson Adoption Agency out of Charlotte, NC) and an even more amazing social worker, Liz. She put us at ease immediately and was super flexible with meeting dates, etc. We sent her a Christmas card this year- somehow she seems like family. Although the process felt a bit intrusive at times, we kept reminding ourselves that this was just a hoop to be jumped through. It felt like a flaming hoop at times, but it was a hoop none-the-less. I'm thrilled to say that our homestudy process is finally over and it is good for 18 months, should we find ourselves blessed with the opportunity to adopt another child. As David has said once or twice, 'let's go get a girl this time.' He cracks me up. We're not actively pursuing another adoption. But, as our 2010 taught us, you just never know :)

Evan has become quite used to the paparazzi. This poor kid has a camera in his face all the time. Uncle Ryan even joined in over Thanksgiving and took this great shot. Doesn't he just melt your heart?

As I type, I am listening to Evan snore on the monitor and David snore FROM THE OTHER ROOM. Seems like biology can't explain everything.

Happy New Year everyone. You'll hear more from us this year, I promise.