Christmas!!! (in reverse order)

BIG news from December 27th. Evan took 4 steps on his own!!! He was holding onto the coffee table, and then he just turned and walked 4 steps right into my arms. He was a bit wobbly, but he didn't fall down. He also hasn't made an attempt to walk since then, but he will walk with you if you just hold one or both of his hands. I can't believe how much he has changed in the last 9 months!! In other news, it was also the week of Christmas this week ; )

I started uploading these and realized that I was doing it in reverse, so the beginning of the Christmas Celebrations are at the bottom and continue to the top....

Hanging out with Daddy and Grandma G's new puppy, Oscar. Good thing Oscar was a laid back puppy because E really enjoyed smacking his face and pulling on his ears...

he actually opened this one on his own!!!

Evan LOVED the grinch! this one sang and danced which are evan's two favorite things!

just hanging out with grandpa jeff!

using the toothbrush make take some work, but he seems to be mastering the sippy cup!

and, daddy ended up doing most of the unwrapping...this is evan just crawling over a gift as bret was trying to unwrap it

yeah....he's a bit spoiled. and this is just round 2 of 5 christmas celebrations

good thing we are starting early on the toothbrush...looks like e could use a bit of practice on the technique

he ended up enjoying the yogurt melt packaging a bit more than the actual yogurt melts. i enjoy them though ; )

christmas morning!!!

in standard evan style....he quickly moved away from the toys to play with things like cabinet. check out his xmas eve pjs : )

trying to get the toys out of the box

grandma pam's nephew jake read evan a christmas book that was a gift from his great-grandma dee (pam's mom)

bath time just got upgraded!!! (he took a bath tonight and LOVED the boat and toys...just as much as we loved playing with them outside the tub!

grandma pam got a gift in the mail, and she let evan destroy the house with all the packing peanuts. he loved crawling through them, sitting in the box with them and just throwing them....we stopped him short of eating them : )

uh oh.....probably should put up some gates now. he seems to have mastered the stairs

da bears..courtesy of drew, tracy and easton edgell evan LOVES chasing people around the coffee table. he will either crawl (which he does at super sonic speeds now) or just walk around....either way he will scream and laugh the entire time!
he hasn't used his swing in ages, but the other day he was exploring his nursery and noticed it. he kept wanting to pull it out, so i obliged. i think he might have forgotten how it works....
he is also sporting one of his THREE christmas pjs from grammy and grandpa and a fabulous purple bruise that he got from playing around with Olivia and Grant while I made Christmas cookies with my former coworkers Kelly and Lauren.

Better shot of the pretty bruise...it is actually one of three that he got that day, but the others you couldn't see after a few hours. this one was welt like and made his entire cheek red for several hours...poor guy! I'm sure it is the first of many because he is starting to do some things that make us think he might be trying to walk. First, he will let go of furniture while cruising (usually results in him falling a minute or so later....reason for bruised cheek) and, a lot of times he will just hold on with one hand while looking at something across the room...you can just see his mind working "i know there is another way to get there other than crawling". He also hikes one leg up while crawling so it is like a half crawl and half walk....

more of the christmas pjs and a shot of the half walk half crawl in action!

olivia instructing grant and evan on the proper way to play with a reindeer...grant is clearly over it, but evan appears to be listening intently

he is soooo tiny! grant is a little less than a month older than evan, but he is sooo much taller than him already!

beating up on daddy...

First Snow!

Today we woke up to a teeny bit of snow on the ground and a slight snowfall. But, I think this counts as Little E's first snow!!!!

First December Weekend

on saturday, evan and i met our friends kelly, olivia and grant holbrook at the newport aquarium. olivia was a little less than thrilled to be there, but evan and grant were entertained with each other AND the fish! this is maybe what happens when a baby is the only little one around the house. this is evan saying...hey! you're my size! its like the both have never seen a camera...either that or they are practicing their confused faces...
like i said...olivia wasn't the biggest fan of the aquarium. this is the only pic i snagged of her!
intense concentration....somehow i get this tiny piece of food off the tray and into my mouth. i saw daddy do it...i know it is possible

i'm sorry? is this supposed to be yummy? its got a weird texture. the first pictures of evan attempting to eat gerber puffs were taken on thursday. we had a puffs attempt at dinner on friday, all 3 meals on sunday, breakfast and dinner on sunday. this is a video from sunday's dinner attempt...already a pro! ok, well, the best one happened right BEFORE i started recording

going to pick out the christmas tree!! this picture was going to be darn cute...still is, but i'm mad that his hood is covering his eyes!

the perfect tree!

its hard work on a little guy picking on the perfect first christmas tree...

Thanksgiving - sometimes you gotta dance!

ahhhhhh...turkey day! i was really missing evan, so this wonderful 4 day weekend could not have come at a better time for me. now, i just have to make it to the week of christmas then i get almost two full weeks! woooooooohoooooooooo!

here are some pictures of our wonderful weekend

well, it turns out he REALLY wanted his pacifier. i keep two attached in his carseat (one on each strap) so that they are easily accessible on car rides. and, over thanksgiving, i looked down and he was leaning into his carseat sucking on his paci.....oh goodness he is such a little man now...no more baby he was very intrigued by both the tree and the storage container that the tree came out of!

little e rocking away in mommy's rocker from when she was a baby

an action shot of bret chopping wood... hanging out with uncle mike on turkey day

evan at 8 months...officially bigger than great-grandma mary

so what if he has a little puke on his chin...its still a cute pic!

sometimes, you just have to dance...

he really liked the dancing santa....they compared some dance moves, and he is going to incorporate some in his next performance ; )

and from today.....

clearly this baby will not slow down for minor teething pains. all activities will continue, and this appears to be a hands free teething square

this is our new bookcase! we had some smaller shelf type things in the kitchen that were absolutely not evan proof which meant he was attracted to them like a magnet. so, bret and i decided to spring towards something a little more substantial for our xmas gift to each other. the best part is that i can store my steamer, mixer and blender all upstairs now! no more trekking up and down to the basement every time i want to make baby food!!!!

Crawling and 8 months

8 months old...I can't believe it! In only 4 short months, he will be a year. I guess I need to put on my party planning hat and start organizing a one year shin-dig! Why use a spoon? This is MUCH more fun! Last weekend, Evan decided he was done army crawling and ready to crawl like a big boy full-time : )! This weekend...he is definitely picking up speed...I would put of clip of that, but I can't get it on camera...he is much too fast!

This weekend!

Evans Poopy Face!

Yummy, Yummy Baby food!

I took my camera, but didn't take very many pictures at Em's baby shower (cousin due in Jan with a surprise!) Evan REALLY enjoyed pulling himself up on A. Betsy's door to her sunroom. There was a window in the wall, so he could see me on the other side of the door.

This is what I saw ; )

and in action.

Baby E's First Halloween

What a WONDERFUL weekend!! After having lots going on for several weekends in a row, Bret and I had a free weekend to relax as a family. My ideal weekend...maybe not Bret's who loves to be on the move with lots of activities. Here are some pics of little E rocking out the Halloween gear. He wore his jean/chaps all day and was particularly fond of the fringe :). It took him a few minutes of tugging on them and moving his leg to realize that it was actually attached to his pants.

in the whole gear...looking down because he was getting ready to dive out of the chair head first which is his favorite thing to do in this chair. it really makes picture taking hard!