videos!

Evan's room is finally finished! Here's the video to sort of show it. Sorry I'm such a bad videographer. . .

The cute car/walker at toy's r us that is waaaaay too expensive for us but evan enjoyed it and I had to video it to 'hint' to grandma jennie. ;) lol.

First experience in a highchair. This was funny because we were stuffing the space behind him so we wouldn't fall over. He hasn't mastered sitting up and sitting in a highchair is even harder. My favorite thing is his 'chomping' for some reason. It was hilarious.

Never old, BOUNCING!!! ;D

Evan's first swim. So chilly. ;)

Random moments

a birthmark has emerged! i just noticed it last week!

what a good swimmer (in our back yard) ;)

first resturaunt high chair experience. almost ready ;).

we had california visitors last weekend, kathy and charlotte ludlow. they were great guests! they especially loved seeing evan and only held, loved and complimented him. perfect! ;) we hope they come back to stay with us again. and great job to kathy who ran in our Music City Half Marathon... What a woman!

"I love to read"...

beggers. (look how those sweet hands are folded. ;) sooo cute!)

momma's wishful thinking that we could buy this "$100.00" walker. it's sooo cute!

his first two teeth are even bigger than this now but you get the point. ;)

No reason but in the last couple weeks, here is Evan in random moments. (we don't own the sweet car walker but wish we did! we were at toys r us and couldn't resist a little photo shoot. he he. keep your eyes out for a 'combi' brand walker like this used and let me know!)

6 month update

So I never reported on what Evan is doing now! He is as usual, amazing! ;) He gets very much cuter every day and it's amazing to us...

wakes up around 930am (or later!)
smiles as soon as he sees us
let's us know he's awake by crying out or pulling on the vibrating elephant hooked to his bed (i know, "no no". i like to live life dangerously)
eats 8oz formula AND a whole stage 1 fruit for break fast and one for dinner as well as brown rice cereal.
he goes to my friend liz's house for 'day care' and he loves his friend "H" that is always enthusiastic to see him (or his big bag of toys! lol)
laughs and giggles easily
still loves to kick and bounce even when just standing on your lap (will complain if you try to make him sit when he has energy = all the time he's awake)
rolls over from back to stomach like a champ. (already mastered the vice versa at 3 weeks)
sleeps on his left side and back
wakes up completely flipped from where he was layed when asleep
very aware of and interested in smokey and oliver now
cute
loves to wear his hats and gets compliments from everyone (except rms. join the dark side!)
vain (looks at himself in mirrors like his daddy)
still loves running water but will reach for it to touch it now.
reaches out for his bottle and puts it in his mouth ;) (i'll try to video this)
grabs at his feet finally (late bloomer on this, not too flexible)
has 2 bottom teeth! OUCH! (=drools even more now)
eats every stage 1 fruit and vegitable but still not a fan of peas or green beans.
goes to sleep between 830-930pm
in size 3 cruisers cause he wiggles so much

he's growing and growing and growing!

6 MONTHS OLD

So, whatcha' think of our 'oh so cool' dude?

hoppy easter =:o)

We are ok...

A tornado touched down today in our city of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. We are ok. Evan and I were in a closet at home with our dog Smokey and cat Oliver when it safely passed our house. Michael drove to a local store with a half basement for safely. Friends of ours were not so lucky, Michael went to check on their house and said it is "destroyed". They however are thankfully in Arkansas and safe. It is difficult to get hold of us at this time so please be patient. Michael is at our friends house trying to salvage or keep it safe. He said there is a good police force there so he may leave soon. The family is on their way home and need your prayers. I do not feel right about posting their name with out their permission but if you can, pray that they are going to be alright and safe driving home from their vacation.

350pm: Also, I do not know the true extent to the damage or what their needs will be but if it is appropriate, I will post here if any of you are able to help them. ;) Thank you for all the calls for us and them! I've already been called by multiple people to see if you can help us or them. Stay tuned here for an update....

Finalization Date

Today we got some great news from our Attorney. We have a date for finalization! May 11th (day after Mother's Day) at 1pm! We are so encouraged but we are realistic that something could still delay us. If you don't mind a little prayer when you are saying your own to help us stay on track we would really appreciate it. We are looking forward to this day and hope you will get to celebrate with us in your own ways. ;)

"The Band"

So, this afternoon, I babysat, my babysitter and friend Liz's son "H". We were watching a Sesame Street Sing along Video that is amazing (Liz, you'll have to comment and put the name of it please). I got the great idea to break out the drum, etc "Bee Bop Band" set that Evan recieved as a gift (coincidentally from Liz's family). "H" got going on the drums, Evan on 'tamborine and jingle bells'. All was well until.....

in better times...

the anger boiling...

Evan decided to be totally freaked out by the clownish jingle bell prop. He actually started crying and YELLING at it AND HITTING it! I am sooooo not kidding! I was freaked out and very entertained (i'm a bad mom). So, for those of you that don't think our sweet baby cries, here you go. ;)

Love is in the Air

..."the first time, ever I saw, your face"....

Whoa mom, she's a babe!

yes, i'll share with you Rory. Rory... it sounds so beautiful, like sunshine on butterfly wings.

You aren't too bad yourself Evan. ;)

"I thought the sun rose in your eyes. And the moon and stars were the gifts you gave"

we wish this date could last forever....

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

Evan got his first book from Dolly Parton's Imagination Library and he loves it!

It just arrived Friday and as you can see it's, The Little Engine That Could. :) He will recieve one new book every MONTH until he is in kindergarten! That is a lot of books so I am very impressed with this.

I hadn't read this story in AGES so it was actually very interesting and even funny to read. When it was written, a "jack knife" was an appropriate gift for a "good little boy" (like a swiss army knife). I know many parents that would not allow this even in their homes (not ours! MY parents let us play with matches! thanks mom and dad!! ;) he he he he) much less as a gift to their impressionable children so, I got a good giggle out of it.

As you can see, he is VERY serious about his reading...



To find out MORE and how you can register you child (ages birth to 5? years old) Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, go to this site: http://www.imaginationlibrary.com/. It isn't available everywhere but you can 'petition' for it in your area. What started out as a benifit to one very poor county in the mountains of Tennessee is currently benefiting 3 countries. I hope you will go to the site to see why and how she does it but here is the posted reason she started it and that you can get your community involved...

In 1996, Dolly Parton launched an exciting new effort to benefit the children of her home county in east Tennessee. Dolly wanted to foster a love of reading among her county’s preschool children and their families. She wanted children to be excited about books and to feel the magic that books can create. Moreover, she could insure that every child would have books, regardless of their family’s income.So she decided to mail a brand new, age appropriate book each month to every child under 5 in Sevier County. With the arrival of every child’s first book, the classic The Little Engine That Could ™, every child could now experience the joy of finding their very own book in their mail box. These moments continue each month until the child turns 5—and in their very last month in the program they receive Look Out Kindergarten Here I Come.Needless to say the experience has been a smashing success. So much so that many other communities clamored to provide the Imagination Library to their children. Dolly thought long and hard about it and decided her Foundation should develop a way for other communities to participate. The Foundation asked a blue ribbon panel of experts to select just the right books and secured Penguin Group USA to be the exclusive publisher for the Imagination Library. Moreover a database was built to keep track of the information.Consequently, in March of 2000 she stood at the podium of The National Press Club in Washington, D.C. and revealed the plan for other communities to provide the Imagination Library to their children. And as only Dolly can say it, she wanted to “put her money where her mouth is – and with such a big mouth that’s a pretty large sum of money” and provide the books herself to the children of Branson, Missouri and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina – communities where her businesses now operate. If other leaders in their communities were willing to do the same, well something big might just happen.You know what? It did!!
David Dotson, Executive Director of The Dollywood Foundation, Dolly Parton, Lady Jackson, President of the Governor’s Books from Birth Foundation, and Phil Bredesen, Governor, State of Tennessee.
Here’s how it works:A community must make the program accessible to all preschool children in their area. The community pays for the books and mailing, promotes the program, registers the children, and enters the information into the database.
From there The Dollywood Foundation takes over and manages the system to deliver the books to the home. You can find out more of the operational details on other pages in this website – so what are you waiting for! Hundreds of communities are providing books to hundreds of thousands of children.

And, the winner is...

This is what I chose for Evan's Blessing outfit and if appropriate, for him to wear to the temple. I still don't know if there are guidelines on that for him so if someone knows, please enlighten me if you know. For the blessing I actually bought a blue/white gingham long sleeved shirt to go under this jumper as opposed to the white short sleeved shirt pictured. I actually wanted the 'gown' below so I could use it on all our children, boy or girl... Michael said no, boo to him! He looks like a baby on little house on the prairie. :)

P.S. (4.5.09) the outfits featured are at "Whipper Snappers", a local child clothing and 'stuff' store with many homemade things, all high quality. Anyway, it's going out of business! Everything is 50% off right now so, go get your cute on! It is located on S. Church Street near Broad (yes their is current bridge construction on Broad so prepare for delays or take I-24. It closes on May 1st I think.

my cupie

pronounced "cue-pee"

Evan's hair on top is getting pretty long. I've noticed since he initially rubbed it all off but now started eating fruits/vegitables and cereal, he's getting bigger and his hair seems longer.

THIS morning

So... here's our baby son's new morning ritual. I quite like it (though don't like being forced to use a flash for the first time so I can capture him with out turning the lights on). My favorite part is that he totally wiggled one arm out of his p.j.'s and looks all "Flash Dance" here. Plus you can see his slobber on his alligator and his eyes are all sleepy looking. :)