Christmas Blur

What a whirlwind it has been since I last posted! We have been up to a lot! I think it started with Jack's company holiday party a week before Christmas. My niece Erika graciously tagged along to take care of Evan so he could meet some of the Fingerpaint folks he hadn't met yet.

Immediately following was a visit from the in-laws for the weekend. We were supposed to go down to PA for an overnight to spend some time with Jack's grandparents and uncles and aunt down there and have our Christmas with them. But there was a huge winter storm that begged to differ. We didn't even get a dusting of snow from it here but there was about 18 inches where we were headed by the time we were supposed to be getting there so it's a good thing we called it off. So we just enjoyed all that extra time having everyone here! Evan was spoiled by all the extra attention (as if Jack and I don't give him enough!) as well as spoiled with all his Christmas presents from that part of the family! He got some stylish new clothes, a stuffed penguin and a Baby Einstein jumper seat.





We recouped the Monday before Christmas and on Tuesday we enjoyed a visit from Auntie Tara and Uncle Dan and meeting friend Alex (A-bomb), and of course Lorraine! Evan showed off some smiles and snuggled for a bit. My parents flew in from Florida on Wednesday and we picked them up from the airport. Evan showed off some smiles and coos but by the time we were heading to the car he was DONE with the carrier. He had been strapped in for a few hours now since we had done some errands before the airport. He was also a bit hungry at that point and he just screamed and cried the whole snowy ride home, including the highly needed stop at the gas station (poorly timed!). But once we got him home and fed and changed he was a new man and enjoyed grandparent snuggles.



We also enjoyed a visit from Auntie Leah! And Evan must have some freaky intuition because the two of them matched!



We had a relaxed and laid back Christmas Eve all together and went to the candlelight service that evening, as always. He was quite a dapper gentleman for the occasion (just ignore the clashing socks)





We came home to a delicious ham dinner (thank God for time-bake!). And finished off the evening with the traditional viewing of It's a Wonderful Life. My parents went to bed shortly thereafter and Jack and I stayed up for the McDade tradition of Christmas Eve present time. Didn't take long for the two of us to open each others' presents but it was special. Jack spoiled me and got me Celtic Woman tickets! We'll even be sitting in one of the semi-private boxes up on the side! I'm going to feel so fancy.

Evan missed out on the Christmas Eve opening being that he has fallen into his own little schedule and bedtime is around 9:30! So we did his presents in the morning. Since he has no idea what's going on, Jack and I split his gift budget and shopped for him without telling what each other got so at least someone would be surprised with it! I got Evan some books and the Baby Einstein one immediately drew him in. Jack got him some sweet new clothes: a flaming shirt that says "Turbo", a "My Mom Rocks" shirt and one that has the definition of "awesome" on it - a tribute to our favorite show How I Met Your Mother. My parents enjoyed the spectacle. We did our own stockings (and Santa even brought stuff for Mom and Dad's stockings up here!) and had some giggles about some of the Stannard traditional stuffers.



We cleaned up and headed over to Ginger's house to have Christmas with the rest of the extended Stannard clan. Mom and Dad got Tiffany and Evan some Santa/Mrs Claus outfits and we only got about 100 pictures of it!



We also got the wonderful news that Sabina and Steve are having a baby! This is the first great-grandchild for my parents which also makes Ginger a grandmother! Not to mention me - a great-aunt! Ahhhh! She's due in late June/early July and will hopefully find out soon if it's a boy or girl!



I can't believe Christmas has passed so fast but we're looking forward to vicariously living through Evan with all the anticipation of Christmas as a child in the years to come.

Mom brain

Well pregnancy brain has transformed into Mom brain. I think of all these things to blog about as I'm falling asleep and my brain won't shut off and then Mom brain takes over when I get the chance to blog and I'm a blank slate. Let's see what comes back while I write this.

Evan has been sleeping a good 6-8 hour stretch every night for the last week and half at least. It has been wonderful! If he wakes up to eat before 6:30 he'll likely go back down which is what happened Saturday when he went back down until 9:30!! It was so weird to be up before him!! I knew Santa was going to be coming around the neighborhood on a firetruck that day (I know Mrs Claus) and was worried he was going to sleep right through it! Well he got up before they came and I put his Santa fleece PJs on, but then he fell back asleep in my arms while we were waiting! I heard the truck go through that was announcing they were coming through soon so I put Evan's winter hat on, wrapped him in a fleece blanket, grabbed the camera and waited in the garage for the truck. Evan actually woke back up about 5 minutes before the truck went by our house so perfect timing!



Well Mom brain has taken over and I forget anything else I was planning on writing about. :)

Pathetic

Sometimes when Evan cries it actually comes out "waaaah". Here's a pathetic attempt at it that makes me laugh every time I watch it!

Pathetic from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Big boy!

Evan had another doctor's appointment on Monday. They like to do their 2 month checkup a little early around 6 weeks (closer to 7 weeks for us though) to get the pertussis vaccine in earlier. Evan is up to 11 lbs/11 oz! That's 4 whole pounds since birth in just under 7 weeks! Then if you consider that he lost some weight after birth, he's gained 4 lbs 6 oz since his first checkup there 6 weeks earlier! I'm just amazed at his growth. This puts him in the 75th percentile for weight. He's also up to 23.5 inches long which bumped him up to the 90th percentile! Tall boy! (definitely gets that from Daddy's side!) They had to give him 2 shots and man did he hate that. He was brave though and calmed down by the time I was putting him back in his carrier.

He's been a very good sleeper these days. He even went straight from 9:30-6 a couple nights ago. That let me sleep from about 11-6 straight which is the first time I've gotten that much solid sleep in about 2 months! Muuuch needed. Other nights he goes anywhere from 4-6 hours straight without waking up to eat. When he does start waking up I usually hear him grunt on the monitor. So cute! This morning I thought I heard him starting to wake up so before Jack went to work we peaked in his room and he was still sound asleep. While we were watching him though he let out 3 annoyed grunts as if he were a grumpy teenager telling us to get out! It was so hard not to laugh right there in his room and wake him up!

He has been cooing and smiling a LOT lately as you can see from the videos! I love "conversing" with him. And it's not strictly in the mornings anymore! As long as he gets some good naps during the day, he's not too grumpy in the evenings anymore.

The cats have been driving us nuts. We have to keep them shut up somewhere for the night (with litterbox access) since they're so loud being shut out of our room. Plus I don't want Bella sneaking into Evan's room since she's able to jump into his crib. Jack finally installed the bi-fold door on the laundry room that we've had for 6 months after he saw the pile of berber carpet that Bella had pulled up while shut in the office for the night. We had to prop it shut with a spring loaded curtain rod. Well they figured out how to push their way out of that one so now we have to keep the bi-fold door propped shut with a baby gate. Ridiculous!

I guess that's about all that's new with us!

Waking up is hard to do from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Giggle?

Sometimes we feel Evan is on the verge of a giggle. The foyer light fixture seems especially funny to him.

Giggle? from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Coofest

Evan is in such a happy mood in the mornings. I think it's because he's so well rested and misses Mom and Dad. He's all smiles and coos so I love laying him down and having a "coofest" with him in the mornings. I used to have to prompt him with noises, but it seems he's initiating most of the conversation these days! Here's a small sampling.

Coofest from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Thanksgiving weekend

Well, we had our first road trip with Evan. Uncle Jim drove up from PA and joined us for the drive up to Maine. Evan slept the entire way up aside from 2 stops to eat and slept the whole way back aside from 1 stop to eat. Surprisingly he was able to go to bed shortly after we got home, but of course wasn't that interested in sleeping past 5:30am. Aunt Catherine got to meet him for the first time (finally!).

We had a great Thanksgiving feast which included Uncle Jim and the Ladds this year. (We missed you Strom!) Evan started fussing a little before dinner started but we were able to keep him happy bouncing him in the bouncy seat and taking turns putting the pacifier in. Then as you can see, all 3 of us took a Turkey/Milk nap afterwards.



Evan was very loved on all weekend. We wish the family didn't live so far away so they could see him more.