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.