Evan's first real haircut! (You can also see his little tooth poking out.)

Evan's first Christmas

Evan's first christmas cont

Trouble in Paradise

So we all had a wonderful christmas. We enjoyed seeing all of our
family. Evan's first christmas was definately memorable. Evan played
with paper, bows, and boxes all weekend. He loved christmas.
We all got colds from Santa. Thanks a lot big guy.
Evan came down with either a cold or teething problems Christmas
night. He woke up like every hour because he was congested and he
would cough and wake himself up. He was better the last few nights and
slept through the night. Although last night he was up about three
times. He also has started pushing away from us when we try to hold
him and rock him back to sleep. Very frustrating at four in the
morning. When he does this I put him back in bed but that just makes
him mad.
He's also started throwing fits. He threw a huge one this afternoon. I
was trying to put his jacket on. I sat him on the floor which he
doesn't like anymore because he's learned to crawl a bit and pull up
to standing and now all he wants to do is stay on the go. So he was
trying to pull up on me since I was sitting in front of him but I
couldn't get his shoes and jacket on. So I sat a very fussy Evan on
his little butt and tried to put his shoes on. I succeeded but not
without a lot of crying/screaming and wiggling. I also managed to get
his coat on, much the same way. So by the time we were done I was
stressed out and when I got him up I noticed his shoes were laying on
the ground. I said "forget it" and headed out the door. When I tried
putting him in his car seat he started a mini version of what had just
occurred inside. I buckled him in and called Ray and told him our son
was a brat who threw unbelievable tantrums. Which I'm sure is normal
for all kids but I'd hoped we have at least three more months if not
another year before this happened. I'm hoping it's just because he's
sick or because he's not completely mobile yet. Although the tantrums
also come when we take away unapproved baby toys, such as my tennis
shoes or Ray's computer cables.
So anyway Evan's second tooth has broken through.
We gave him his first haircut. I regret it a little bit. The side and
back look fine but the front is a lot shorter than I would have liked.
But it looks good and it'll grow out. By his first birthday he should
be stylin' again.
He hated the haircut by the way. We used the clippers with a guard on
it. Ray held him and I cut. He squirmed and cried the whole time. I'm
fairly certain parts of his hair are uneven. We eventually got fed up
and quit.
Evan was really cute tonight. Ray was laying on the couch. Evan made
his way to the couch and kept grabbing Ray's shirt and pulling himself
up. Then he'd laugh and bounce around until he fell down. Then he'd
get up and do it again. It's wonderful that he's mobile but it's also
tiring.

A cool present from this Christmas.

Oh my god he crawled!

Looks like snow

Remodeling the library into an exercise room. The paint looks a little green but it's actually blueish. We've been cleaning house. We sold and donated a lot of stuff we don't use anymore.

Waiting at ronnie's to watch Avatar in 3D!

An early Christmas present for mommy!

Evan approved

It took a few months of hard work bit it's done just in time for Christmas!

Oatmeal does the trick

Oh I forgot to mention, we've also been giving Evan like a half tbsp
of baby oatmeal in his last bottle before bed. The first night he
slept through the night. Last night he woke up at 10, I patted his
back and he went right back to sleep without even picking him up.

Sent from my iPhone

So many things are happening all at once!

First of all, Evan has officially graduated to the big tub. I've had
him in the baby tub inside the big tub for a few months. However he
doesn't want to lay down in his tub anymore. He wants to sit up and
pull up on the front of his tub and the side of the big tub. He also
wants out when I start to dry him off and tries to stand up.
So we decided it was time to make a change. I asked my friends, Ben
and Dorothy what they did with their son. They told me they just used
the regular tub. Over the weekend I transitioned him. I filled the tub
with a few inches of water and threw in his bath toys and I used a cup
to wash his hair. He did just fine. He sat up well and his favorite
toy was the cup. He even threw a fit when I took it to rinse his hair.
So the next night we did the same thing again and I brought in an
extra cup. It takes a little maneuvering and a bit of caution but he's
doing well in the big tub. He likes to grab the washcloth and splash
really big in the water.

Second, we have started using a modified version of the cry it out
method. Evan did really well for about a week. He went down easy and
slept through the night no problem. But about the middle of last week
he started waking up in the middle of the night and we'd hold him and
he'd fall asleep only to wake up a minute or two later in our arms. Or
he'd actually stay asleep and we'd go to put him in bed and he'd wake
up as soon as we laid him down. We figured he was teething so we gave
him ambysol or tylenol when he was really bad. But it didn't seem to
do much. A few nights the only way we could get him to sleep for a few
hours was to let him cuddle up with us in bed. And this was only after
carefully and slowly laying him down. So we decided that the way we
were doing things wasn't working very well and that he needed to learn
to consol himself a bit. So we tried the cry it out like one or two
nights but Evan just screamed and was really upset. So then I tried
standing over him, rubbing his chest but he just fussed. So the next
night I sat in front of his crib shhing him so he'd know he wasn't
alone. He cried for an hour, I was about to pick him up but I started
jiggling his butt and he settled down and went to sleep. So the next
day for a nap I started buy laying him down and jiggling his butt. He
was asleep within five minutes. More about this in a minute.

So the third event...Last night our wonderful, beautiful, little son's
first tooth broke through! It so cute and barely just there but you
can feel the sharp edge. If you push his lip down with one finger and
his tongue out of the way with the other, you can just see the top of
a perfect little white tooth.

The last amazing event, but not topping the last, Evan just put
himself to sleep! I tried our new jiggle method but he rolled over on
his stomach and while I was trying to pat his back he kept looking
over at me and wanting to play. So I rolled him onto his back. But he
was only interested in playing in his bed. So I tried to hide over by
the door to see how he would react. He didn't get upset he just kept
pushing his little feet through the side of the crib and playing with
his blanket, talking to himself. Then he rolled over and spied me in
the corner. So I got up and put his blanket back over him and said
"Night, Night" and walked out and shut the door. I braced myself for
screaming but it didn't come. He played a bit and within five minutes
I didn't hear anymore noises. I opened the door and crept in and he
was laying on his stomach sleeping! Painless Success!

Well that was a little, okay a lot, longer than I thought but it's all
important and I haven't updated in awhile. And I'm sure you all loved
every minute of it.
Seriously, thank you for your interest.

Working on crawling. Maybe by Christmas he'll have it down.

An early Christmas present for Evan from mommy and daddy.

Cherry cheesecake for holiday party tonight.

Out to breakfast with gram

Pulling up!

Cherrios

Playing with gram

Shana's reward for letting me get a TV....

Our new plasma tv!

Evan's first thanksgiving!

My mom and dad bought Evan a winter coat and hat. The lining comes out and doubles as a lighter jacket.

Evan's first Christmas ornament

Sucess!!!!

First of all, Ray and I were able to watch a whole movie in our home
theater without any interuptions. (GIJoe, for those who are
interested.) This hasn't happened in a long time time. Usually Evan
wakes up a few times.
Second, and the biggest feat if all...Evan slept through the
night!!!!!!! We've been waiting months for this to happen again. He's
started making noises lately where he cries out and then goes back to
sleep but he still wakes up once a night. Last night though I didn't
hear him once.
Sleep looks good on us.

Sent from my iPhone

This is what happens when you leave me alone.

Laughing with daddy

Let me do it myself!

Finally a change. Hope it's here to stay!

Evan's been doing better. The last four days, he's been sleeping
atleast least an hour, sometimes two during one of his naps. The other
nap seems to be lengthening a bit too. And he has a bad night every
few night where he gets up multiple times. Some nights he's only wakes
up once around four. If this keeps up I might start to see a light at
the end of the tunnel.

Sent from my iPhone

Playing with the laundry basket while trying to figure out how to crawl.

Bad dreams

Our poor little baby had his first and hopefully his last night
terror last night. We put him to bed for the night at 7:30. Around
9:30 he cried out and I went in and picked him up. He's been getting
up multiple times a night for the last two months or so. I usually
pick him up and rock him a bit and he goes back down. But after
rocking him a few times he didn't settle down like he usually does. He
was hysterical for like ten minutes. He wouldn't open his eyes. We
tried everything we could to wake him up but nothing helped. He stayed
upset. He was also holding his head a bit to one side. I tried
massaging his neck incase he'd somehow pulled a muscle while he was
sleeping. We tried putting him down in his bed because that usually
wakes him up. He cried for a bit longer and eventually settled down
and opened his eyes. He whimpered a few times but otherwise was fine
and he wasn't holding his head to the side anymore. Ray made him a
bottle and sat down on the couch. He just seemed really drowsy, took
most of the bottle, and went back to sleep. He didn't wake up again
till this morning.
Donna had told me before about her daughter and granddaughter having
night terrors. So I told Ray that might have been what it was. I
called Donna and talked to her and she said it sounded like the same
thing.
So we looked it up online and it says that they are completely
asleep. It usually starts about and an hour and a half after they go
to bed. They usually don't remember them. It says it could be caused
by pain, like him teething. Or by being overly tired. You're not
supposed to wake them up or pick them up because it makes it worse.
Although I think that's going to be hard to do since he seems so
upset. It can also happen monthly, weekly, or nightly. Also they are
usually really sleepy afterward. It said to wake them up about and
hour into sleeping to try to break the sleep cycle.
I hope he never has another one. It was terrifying to watch. We didn't
know what was wrong with him or how to help him. He seems fine this
morning though. A little sleepy.

Evan's first Halloween! He's a baseball player.

We got Evan a bumbo to help Hom learn to sit up.

What's this here?

sleepless in florissant

So we had to call in the experts. Evan was sleeping really well at
night until a couple of months ago. He woke up five times that night.
Every since then he has been waking up at least a few times a week.
And lately every time we try to put him in his crib after falling
asleep in our arms he would wake up as soon as he hit the mattress.
Everything we read online tells you to let them 'cry it out'. This is
an awful solution. Evan just screams and cries and Ray and I were
stressed because he kept wanting to pick Evan up right away and after
ten minutes or so I'd feel awful about torturing our baby. So the two
nights we tried, we ended up picking him up and bringing him into the
living room to sit with us until he fell asleep. Ray said cry it out
couldn't be the right way. So he started looking for alternate
methods. He came across this book; 'The no cry sleep solution. It
teaches you phases on how to put baby down when he almost asleep and
how to teach him to eventually develop techniques to get himself back
to sleep. It also had tricks to get him to take a longer nap. Right
now he only naps 30 min twice a day. So we're employing those
techniques now. We'll see how it goes. It also suggests incorporating
a bedtime routine so that Evan knows it's time to get sleepy and go
down for the night. It seemed to help last night. He woke up twice but
the first time I was able to put him down quickly and the second he
took a bottle and then put himself back to sleep once he was back in
his crib. I'm sure it was a fluke but it's better for all of us if he
can remember this skill.

Playing with my toes and mommy and daddy

I'm needle pointing a stocking for Evan

fountains and grass

Fun or torture?

A whole new world

Stay out if the cake

Happy b-day!

Teaching Evan to rough house

Napping with grandpa