Happy Halloween!

And to round out our month, we had a nice quiet Halloween at home with our little Tigger. Very befitting of our bouncy guy, we've had a Tigger outfit for some time, which was perfect for Evan's first Halloween costume. It was definitely more fun this year to have a kid around. When I got home from work, we dressed Evan up and took him for a walk around the neighborhood to see the festivities. (No, we did not take him trick-or-treating...we thought it'd be a little obvious who the candy was actually for...though that didn't stop many other people in our neighborhood from trick-or-treating with their infants...) I can't say he was all that excited about it, seeing as how he slept for almost our whole walk, but there's always next year. Then we sat in our driveway and handed out candy to the neighbors. All in all it was a fun night!

Here's Evan and his first Jack-O-Lantern (pay no attention to the moldy eyeball and gummy smile - on the pumpkin, not Evan...I wasn't quite on top of taking pictures in a timely manner...Mommy-of-the-Year award I will not win):

And here's our little Tigger!

Twins?

So by now we're thinking October was an incredibly full month, right? Well folks, that's not all! Shortly after our family left, my dear friend Brianne and her daughter came to town. She lives in Iowa now, but she's a die-hard Coyotes fan, and flew back to Phoenix for hockey's opening night. Brianne had her daughter Corinne about 3 weeks before I had Evan, so they're more or less at the same stage. They came over one Sunday, and what a fun time we had!

Evan and Corinne were absolutely FASCINATED with each other. Brianne and I had been joking around, as many parents do, about having an arranged marriage between the two of them, and funnily enough, once they met, it really did look like love at first sight! It was absolutely adorable. They kept reaching out to touch each other, and stick each other's hands in their mouths. Corinne is way more advanced on the playmat than Evan, and she showed him how much fun it could be to roll and roll and roll around. And Evan taught Corinne how cool it is to stand and bounce bounce bounce. We set them up in the exersaucer and jumper, and they had a fun playdate while the mommies visited and caught up. Later on we all went out to dinner and everyone wanted to know if they were twins. Looks like Evan's found a soulmate in his fellow "baldy"!

An apple a day...

Well, actually nothing can keep the doctor away when you're 4 months old and due for your next checkup. Last month Evan had his 4-month checkup with Dr. Appley. All in all, everything went really well. Our baby is still quite the healthy boy, growing big as ever, and weighed in at a whopping 16 lbs, 9.75 oz (80th percentile)...Dave knew there was a reason the car seat was feeling so heavy lately! I had a mild heart palpitation when the nurse measured him at 25 inches (50th percentile)...was my baby boy's growth slowing down already?!?! Don't get me wrong, I love my husband dearly, but I'm definitely having dreams of raising a nice big strong TALL boy. lol. Luckily dear Dr. Appley also thought that number seemed a little out of proportion, and she had him re-measured. Turns out baby boy is actually 26 inches, and 85th percentile -- Hooray! What a difference an inch makes. I think Dave is still rolling his eyes about that one.

Evan also had his second round of vaccinations, which he more or less took like a champ. Definitely more crying this time around, and more fussiness in the following couple of days, but all in all not too bad. We talked about when to start him on solids too, and the consensus is still to wait until right around 6 months. Silly milk protein allergy. That's alright though, because I realized I'm not quite ready for my baby boy to grow up, and eating real people food makes him such a big boy!

All the way from DelaWhere?

Shortly after my Dad and Sharon left, Evan got a visit from his Aunt Charis and cousin Josh, who live in Delaware. Uncle Jony was still here too, so it was nice to get all three Horne siblings together - that hasn't happened for a long time. Josh is 3, and was pretty taken with Evan. He was very cute about watching out for him and holding his paci for him and teaching him how to play. Evan was fascinated by his bigger-than-me-but-not-as-big-as-my-Daddy cousin. We had lots of fun together and took advantage of the (somewhat) cooler weather to do outdoorsy fall things. The holidays will definitely be much more enjoyable now that Evan is around. It's so exciting to see him experience all the new sights and sounds that the world opens up to him.

Evan had lots more firsts this month, too, with his cousin around to show him the ropes. Since it was getting close to Halloween, we went to a local farm for a hayride and a visit to a pumpkin patch:

Although as you can see, Evan was less than enthralled with the pumpkin patch. =)

Evan reeeeeallly enjoys his new exersaucer from Aunt Charis, especially after Josh showed him how to make the toys work, and he loved making faces with Uncle Jony too:

Josh loves trains and carousels, so trains and carousels we found! While I was at work, Dave and the family went to Scottsdale to the McCormick-Stillman Railroad park -- a very cool place, so I hear. It's a big hit with the preschool crowd. They took a train ride around the park, and then hit up the carousel. That was actually Evan's second carousel ride, precocious kid...his first was was earlier that day at the mall:

I don't think Evan quite knows what he thinks about carousels! We had a great time having our family visit this month, and have Aunt Charis, Josh, and Uncle Jony to thank for lots of fun times!

4 months old is lots of fun

Hi Everyone! This is Evan. Guess what? Being four months old is lots of fun. I had a nice time with my family in town. Check out all the things I did!

First, I turned 4 months old:


Then, I went to Oktoberfest with Mommy and Daddy, Uncle Jony, Gramma and Grandpa Charlie, and Grampa and Sharon. We danced the polka, ate a yummy bratwurst, and I got to wear my cool Oktoberfest hat. I wish I were big enough to fit into my lederhosen I got from Mommy's friend Tricia, but no luck this year! Maybe next year.

Then, we all went to the Phoenix zoo. I loved all the animals, even though it was the middle of the day and most of them were sleeping. Oh well, Mommy and Daddy loved it so much they became zoo members, so I can go back whenever I want to! Daddy wants to get a bike trailer so he can take me bike riding all over the zoo.

Stay tuned for more - I was a really busy boy this month!

Love, Evan

God Bless This Child

October was a fun-filled month full of family, family, and more family. The visits started on the 7th, with Dave's brother Jony and my Mom and Charlie coming into town. Then my Dad and his girlfriend Sharon came in the next day. They were all in town for the main event - Evan's baptism which was on October 12.

We joined the First United Methodist Church in Phoenix back in July, though we'd actually been going there since last December or so. With the arrival of Evan, we decided we wanted to make our way back to the church (something we'd been meaning to do for awhile) so he can grow up with a proper Christian upbringing. It's been a good decision, and we're really pleased with the church community we found in First United. So I guess that means we're officially Methodist now.

We scheduled Evan's baptism at a time when it was convenient for lots of family to come out for the ceremony, and it worked out really well. Evan did pretty well during the ceremony, all things considered. Usually he just loves church, with all the stained glass, organ music, and people watching. Unfortunately for him his schedule was totally thrown off in the few days preceding the baptism, with all the family coming and going, so by the time we got to the church that day, we had the makings of a serious Grumpy Pants. It also didn't help that church was right at the time when he should've hypothetically been going down for a nap. He did really well during the actual christening, and didn't miss a beat with the water on his head. What sent him over the edge was when Pastors John and Karen took him around to introduce him to some members of the church. He hung in there for a few minutes, but when they handed him to a lady with a hat on her head, he let the wails fly! I felt pretty bad actually, because it was his "I'm-not-too-sure-about-this-I-might-even-be-a-little-scared" cry. But he did better when he got back to us, and all in all it was good day.

One of the best parts of the day was that my dad brought out the Preston family christening gown for Evan to wear. It's over 100 years old. My grandma was the first one to wear it, and her grandma actually made it for her, and lots of Evan's cousins and relatives have worn the gown, so it had lots of sentimental value. And so cool that Evan got to wear something that his great-great-great Gramma made.

A long hiatus, and lots of developments

It's been a long time since I posted last...October was quite the busy month. I'll do my best to catch up...it's funny how much Evan has grown and how much he has learned just in the past month. I'm quite impressed with his motor skills... He is now actually reaching for his toys and grabbing them when he lays on his playmat (rather than just blithely watching them hanging above him), and he's mastered the art of grabbing his paci and taking it out of his mouth. He's not always the best at getting it back in, but he's getting there. He has also learned to roll over from back to tummy, but again, not the greatest at rolling back over again, which leads to lots of "Help me!" cries. Though just in the past few days he's getting much more adept at that as well.
He's also found his feet, and is pretty fascinated by his toes now. It's a little sad though, because I think his big cloth diapers impede his feet-finding efforts a bit, and we hear all sorts of grunting and gasping while the little guy is trying to work his abs to bring his feet closer for inspection. He's still absolutely crazy about standing up (with our help of course) and is such a curious kid, fascinated by literally everything he sees from his new vantage point.

His communication is coming along too... Evan's definitely found his voice in the past month. One of his favorite activities currently is squealing over and over again, I think just because he likes the sound of his voice. And we've recently heard his first true giggles...this is absolutely music to my ears. It's amazing how the sound of a baby laughing just makes your heart warm and your day brighter. So of course this means Dave and I have put ourselves into all sorts of silly situations and make crazy silly faces and noises just to make him laugh. Evan's favorite sounds to date include all kinds of raspberries and blubbering, and any kind of farty noise is sure to get a big smile. =)

Day to day it's hard to notice the difference, but looking back, Evan is a much different baby than he was even a month ago! What a ride.