I found my hands!

Hi Everyone! This is Evan. I wanted to share the exciting news that when I was around 9 weeks old, I finally found my hands! They are really yummy, help me drool lots and lots, and keep me happy when my paci is nowhere in sight. I really like my hands.

Love, Evan

2 months old and growing like a weed

This is a bit after the fact, but Evan turned two months old on August 11. It's very cliche, but I can't believe how fast this is all going! (So I write, as I sit here currently marvelling at how he is now, in reality 11 weeks old). We had fun dressing him up for a little photo shoot. It really is pretty neat to look back at his 1-, 2-. and 3-week pictures versus now. Our little guy has no problem sitting up on his own (propped up against the couch cushions anyway), whereas he was quite the floppy one way back when. I just know he's going to be 18 and going off to college before I know it. Dave thinks I'm being dramatic (then again, Dave always thinks I'm being dramatic) but whatever. It will come sooner than I think. Anyway, here's our little man at two months old:

And as you can see, he's starting to hold his own against the size of his caterpillar.
Crazy.

Evan also had his 2 month old checkup on August 20. He passed everything with flying colors, and really is growing fast. He's now 13.3 pounds and 24 inches long, placing him in the 85th percentile for weight and 90th for height. Maybe he will get some height from the Speares men after all. He got all his vaccines - 6 in all - and took it like a champ. With Dave holding him, he only screamed for about 20 seconds before calming down and getting on with his day. Dave and I were appalled, however, when our nurse, in her hurry to stick Evan and be finished with it lost her grip on the needle and left it sticking in poor Evan's leg! Of course she caught herself about a millisecond later and took it out but our new parent mentality kicked in and we were momentarily devastated. Evan, as you can imagine, realized none of this and took it all like a champ. He was, however, quite out of it and running a mild temp for a few days afterward, which we are told is a normal side effect.

Dr. Appley was impressed (or so it seemed to us) =) by how strong Evan is and how far he can lift his head up. I had a Proud Mommy Moment when she asked if he's started being social, and as if on cue, he looked straight at her, smiled and cooed. Tada!! We did tell her about Evan's dairy and soy issues and she said we would likely hold off on starting solid foods until 6 months because of it. I told her about a bump I'd noticed on the back of his head, which turned out to be an occipital lymph node, totally normal, and in fact she found another one as well, so he has them bilaterally. She took a good look at his eyes, pronounced them as "starting to turn hazel", and said she was curious to see where they'd end up. We pointed out the Evan actually has two different colored eyes - the top half of his left eye is brown - and she said she has a couple of patients who have streaks of different colors like that, and they may actually stay that way. That would be pretty neat I think. Here's what I mean:

And here's one last shot of Evan and his bandaids, post-vaccinations. If you look closely, you'll see Evan pointing with pride as his shiny sparkly bandaids (which in reality were way more exciting for Mommy than for Evan). =)

Travellin' Man

Not too long after we got back from Pinetop-Lakeside, Dave and I got the itch to get out of the heat again. Go figure - it's still 105+ here. Luckily for us, our good friends Amy and Drew live in Prescott Valley, a short 2 hour drive up the road. So we called them up, prevailed on their kindness, and packed up yet again for another overnight trip. I have to say, packing this time around went much smoother, so there is hope for us yet.

Evan did very well travelling in the car. As ever it was a bit hard to get him settled into his carseat, but after a quick pull-into-a-gas-station-parking-lot diaper change, we were in business and he slept most of the way. Hooray. It's actually very sad, we've discovered, to have a screaming baby uncomfortable in his carseat when you can't do anything about it. But I digress.

When we got to Prescott Valley, it was - miracle of miracles - raining! Even I have come to love the rain, seeing as how it's so few and far between here. The weather was beautifully cool though, which was exactly what we'd been longing for. Shortly after we arrived, after bottles and snuggles, we set out for a walk. It was so nice to take Evan out and not worry about him roasting! Actually, we were a little worried about him being cold - what a change. Of course I was a bit ill-prepared for our cool walk - having a "bad Mommy" moment - since I'd kind of forgotten to pack appropriate warmer clothes. Poor Evan - nothing matched, everything was very piecemeal, and he had to stay warm in his stroller under a burp cloth and my hooter hider, since silly Mommy forgot to bring a blanket. At least he would make a cute homeless baby though! Here's a pic taken after our walk; you can see what I mean:

Poor kid. Evan looks a little shocked to be such a fashion faux pas, no? The rest of our time was spent just relaxing and hanging out, taking more walks and sightseeing around Prescott a bit. We went to famous street called Whiskey Row, known for all the bars in such a short block. It's very historic. We didn't go in any of the bars though - didn't want to have to pull Evan away from dancing on the tables, party animal that he is. Here's a pic of Amy and Drew with Evan, in downtown Prescott:

Evan had his monkey hat on again, along with his monkey onesie, and was feeling very fashionable. He did, however, think it was a very strange feeling to be wearing pants. Who needs pants in Phoenix?

Amy and Drew were wonderful with Evan and he took to them right away. I think they were pretty taken with him too! All in all it was a fabulous trip, SO relaxing, and SO nice to get out into nature (even though Dave and I were huffing and puffing on our walks - Amy graciously said it must be the altitude factor, saying nothing about the fact that we've just been completely sedentary for the past couple of months! I'm not gonna lie though - I was a little sore the next day). It was exactly what we needed!

Water Baby

I don't know if Evan's been watching Michael Phelps at the Olympics or what, but we've discovered we have quite the water baby on our hands. Outside of those first awkward new-parent-new-baby-oh-my-goodness-how-do-we-work-this sponge baths, Evan has shown a real love for bathtime, and all things water in general. It started with Dave taking Evan for a "swim" in the half-filled tub at the end of bathtime. Then we dipped his feet in the hotel pool when Grampa and Sharon were in town, then for a dip in our little inflatable pool in our backyard (which I have to say he did not love, though likely because the water was cold - can't blame him).

Finally we decided to take him swimming in the pool at our townhouse, and boy did he love that! We got him all decked out in one of those shirts that block the sun's rays (no matter that it's an 18 month old size as such was more of a SPF dress on him), lubed him up with sunblock (even though it was 6 at night and the pool was in shade - can't be too careful, neurotic new parents!), slapped a way-too-big Size 1 swim diaper on him, and we were off to the pool! As you can see, he loved it. It definitely helped that the water was soooo warm.

And of course, Cool Dude had to make an appearance in his shades, which were actually quite helpful as the light reflecting off the water was still very bright. He had a grand ol' time floating and wiggling back and forth and cooing up a storm. Evan amazed us by how relaxed he was in the water!

In fact, he became SO relaxed, that he actually fell asleep right in the pool! We figured with all the warmth and gentle rocking he probably felt like he was back where he started out in life. Too bad baby water beds aren't in vogue.

So, it looks like we have many many more days in the water in our future. 100m Butterfly, here we come!

Lots of firsts

On our mountain getaway trip, Evan also had lots of firsts. To start, he had his first long car trip, it was his first time out of Phoenix, his first time drinking a bottle while in his car seat (thanks, Granny!), his first time to the mountains, and his first time staying away from home (except for the hospital). Not that he recognized any of this of course, but it does make Mommy proud. =) It was pretty surreal to have Evan with us this time, as last time we were in Pinetop, Evan's was still in my tummy. His view was a little better this time around. Our entire M.O. was to relax and go for walks in the same places we went to last time. The weather was a little warmer than we'd expected, but it was still amazing to get out of the desert and into the mountains, even for a short time. It really helps my brain relax to be around so much greenery.

We stayed at our Double B Lodge again, which was just as quaint as last time. Granny took Evan for a stroll around the grounds while Dave and I played a rousing game of horseshoes...and found out we both stink at it...and even got in some tetherball, in which Dave beat the pants off me but it didn't matter because I laughed so hard I cried, it was so much fun.

We took a stroll around the Woodland Reservoir as well. I had aspirations of walking the full mile or so around, but it was so hot and with very little shade on the path, we nixed that idea. We did get some cute pics though.

Afterwards, Evan had his first "hike" through the woods to get to Billie Creek. We were surprised to see it was much higher and more overgrown than last time, but it still is an amazingly peaceful spot. And as babies will be babies, Evan got hungry as soon as we arrived, so he had his first "picnic" , sitting on a blanket with me while Granny and Dave explored the area. Overall, the whole trip was a wonderful way to spend a couple of days.

Over the river and through the woods...

...back to Pinetop-Lakeside we go! In case anyone is not familar with Phoenix weather, this place is a scorcher in the summer. Seriously, it's like living on the sun. Actually we do live in the Valley of the Sun, but I digress. Suffice it to say it's ridiculously hot here, which is not all that conducive to getting out and about with a newborn. Which is why, by the time Granny arrived, I'd only gone on one walk with Evan the whole summer, and we were all itching to get out of the heat and into the, well, lukewarm. Since we'd had such a magical time on our pre-baby getaway trip to the Double B Lodge, we decided to head back there for our midsummer escape.

And we learned many things along the way:
1) A midsize sedan, while seemingly spacious for two adults, quickly morphs into Barbie Corvette-size proportions when laden with overnight bags, baby gear, baby, two parents, and a Granny
2) We have already collected enough baby gear to fill Babies-R-Us, with some spillover into Toys-R-Us, and all of said gear is apparently a necessity to pack for Baby's First Overnight Trip (okay not really, but it seemed like it at the time)
3) Overnight trips are perhaps not the smartest ideas with little babies...with all the prep work, in retrospect two nights would've been better
4) Any conceivable activity takes seven times longer to accomplish with baby in tow. Inevitably as soon as we're ready to go, it's time to feed, or change diapers, or both, at which point then it's naptime.
5) Walks in the stroller when it's 85 degrees (vs. 105) are still just really hot walks
6) Ice cold washcloths work wonders to soothe a screaming overheated sweaty baby
7) It's possible, but a little weird, to pack breastmilk alongside your Gatorade in the cooler
8) Grannies are fabulous helpers to have in the backseat on a long car ride home

In the end, it was an exhausting but thoroughly enjoyable trip, and even though it wasn't quite as cool as we'd expected, it was still wonderful to get out of Phoenix for a while.

And on with July

So I've realized I never wrote about Mom Horne's visit...silly Mommy. More like busy Mommy, but that's neither here nor there. Mom Horne, or Granny, came to visit us for a couple of weeks at the end of July. As ever, it was wonderful to have another set of hands around again, and we were so looking forward to having her meet Evan. Evan seems to have worked his magic on yet another grandparent, as Mom was as enamored with Evan as he was of her. Having found his smile just before she arrived, he bestowed lots of "just for Granny" smiles on her, and she had lots of fun Evan-snuggle time. It was very cute to see. Granny was also a huge help around the house and gave of lots of good tips on caring for baby, which was much appreciated! We hope that even despite all her "Evan duty" it was a relaxing trip for her! Here's a pics of Granny-Evan time (Evan was 6.5 weeks old):

Granny also took Evan to the Stuffington Bear Factory, which is right down the road from us, to make him a bear. We took Evan's cousins - Christina, Hannah, and Josh - there a few years back when they came out to visit us, so it was only fitting that Evan should get a bear too. And what a distiguished-looking bear he picked out! We named him Hartington, after the road the Hornes last lived on in Sheffield, England. We think he, and Evan, are very handsome indeed.

Good Morning Sunshine

Dave and I have realized that one of our favorite Evan moments always happens when we wake him up out of his baby burrito. It's so darn cute to watch him unfold from his swaddle and start his baby stretches as he slowly tunes into the world. I thought I'd share a video of Evan waking up from one of his afternoon naps. We could watch this all day! Another one of our favorite things is to hear Evan sneeze - he sneezes twice and then ends with a big "Choooooo!", like it takes all his effort to get the last one out. Sadly, we haven't been able to get that one on tape, and I think he's kind of phasing it out because he doesn't do it all that often anymore...sniff, sniff. He's almost grown out of his swaddle blankets too, so I don't know how long this phase of cuteness will last either.

If you're happy and you know it...

Clap your hands! Or at least that's what I did when I was graced with Evan's first real smile. Boy, I thought his gassy smiles were cute, but they were nothing compared to a real smile of joy! At around 5 weeks, we started giving him more time on his playmat, and one morning at about 5.5 weeks he discovered this was a fine activity indeed. He had me so enamored with him one morning, as he discovered both his voice and his smile all in one playtime! I think since he's able to focus more on the objects above him, it's now really exciting for him to lay there and look up. All of a sudden he started cooing and making new happy sounds which we'd never heard before, and out came a big beautiful smile! It seriously just melts your heart. Since them we've had a grand old time finding all sorts of fun new ways to elicit Evan's smiles (tickles on his bum-bum during diaper changes are currently all the rage), and of course it feels fabulous that Dave and I seem to be the best so far at getting his smiles to come out. Then again, sometimes he still has his fake-out moments, when I think he must love me ever so much to be smiling so big and batting his baby blues at me, only to discover myself sitting in a pile of spit up a moment later, or to feel my lap vibrate with Earthquake Evan when he lets loose with his bodily functions. Ah, well, most of them are real smiles! Here's a picture of one of the first smiles...my sister-in-law Amy astutely observed, "How can you not smile when you're wearing cow diaper?!?"

No cows allowed!

I realized I have neglected to mention Evan's dietary preferences. Or allergies, or intolerances, or whatever verbiage one chooses. As Evan turned about two weeks old, we entered a really tough patch for a few weeks, as we discovered we had a really gassy baby on our hands. For awhile we lamented the possibility that our baby was...duh-duh-duhhhh...COLICKY...but in the end it happily turned out not to be the case. All we knew was that Evan had started to scream uncontrollably at times and was not easily soothed. After a couple of days of this we decided that a) my mom had left too soon (we weren't getting any sleep!) and b) we had to ask for help. An occupational therapist friend of ours who works with the early intervention population came over to teach us some sensory soothing techniques. These strategies were actually really helpful...for about ten seconds, until Evan started screaming again. She suggested he probably had really bad gas, and a phone call to the pediatrician the next day confirmed it. So, we started him on Milicon, and life became a little bit easier. Except that we kept forgetting to give it to him - oops. Hey, we were tired!

Around this time I decided I better take a closer look at my diet to see if there was anything I was eating that set him off. My mom suggested cutitng out the dairy, as that's what my cousin Peg had to do, and my sister-in-law Charis suggested eating a bland diet, namely cutting out anything acidic or spicy. With a little trial and error, we came up with the theory that dairy is the culprit. This initially was tragic news for me, as we all know how much milk and cheese I ate when preggos, but after a few days of having a happy, settled baby, I quickly realized no cheese is worth seeing my baby so uncomfortable. We think he also developed some sort of eczema due to this, though the doctor assured me (via phone) that this was likely just baby acne. I prefer to believe it was a combination of the two, but I digress.

So, with dairy as a non-option, we set out to the store and bought lots of soy milk products. BAD idea. Turns out, whereas cow's milk made poor Evan really gassy, soy milk makes him spit up like it's his job. Back to square one! However was I going to eat my cereal in the morning? Happily, Dave's mom suggested rice drink, and so far so good. I have since done a bunch of reading and found out that dairy and soy are the two most common "allergies" for babies to have. Go figure. At least he should eventually grow out of it, so says the literature. So, as for now, the only cow around our house is the cow print on Evan's diaper...sigh.