8 months old!

Ok, so I'm over a week late posting on this, but an 8 month old sure keeps you busy! Evan has mastered the army crawl, and although he doesn't get up on his hands and knees to do it, he has the motions of crawling down. He gets around fast for the slither/swim crawl that he does now! He can sit himself up, as of about a week ago. I was shocked to peak in on him when I thought he was napping and saw him sitting up in his crib! I thought maybe he used the sides of the crib to pull himself up, but later that night he showed off his ability to do it in the middle of the room without anything to hold onto!

He has a killer appetite, especially at dinner. Some days more than others, but he's a good eater! The only thing I've found that he pretty much doesn't ever like is avocado... but he's gotten pickier lately! There was one night where we could only get him to eat oatmeal and it was about 5 little bowlfuls! I've been making most of his fruits/veggies except beans and peas. Just couldn't get the beans to a thin enough consistency for him and he kept gagging. My favorite to make is this yogurt concoction. I throw a bunch of fruit, usually banana, blueberries, mango, and sometimes kiwi and add some plain yogurt and puree it. He seems to love it... and I can't help but finish the leftovers for him sometimes!

He's very vocal these days when we can get the pacifier away from him. I think teething has made him much more attached to it. No teeth have popped through yet! His FAVORITE thing to say is "dadadadada" in all pitches, tones and volumes! He likes to "beebuhdee"... rub his fist against his lips while humming and that's the sound that comes out. Oh, and not just his fist... he'll grab toys, tupperware, kitchen utensils that I distract him with while I'm cooking (no, not knives... wooden spoons, ladels, rubber spatulas). He does utter the occasional "mamama" with his bottom lip tucked in. It's usually while eating.

He's been sleeping through the night for over a month now! It's AWESOME. We've finally established a schedule that he sticks to most of the time. Church days throw us off with a missed morning nap. He wakes up between 6:45 and 7:30, breakfast at 8, nap at 9 for 45 min to 1 1/2 hours, lunch at 12, nap at 1 for usually at least an hour and a half, sometimes more, dinner between 5 and 6, bedtime between 7 and 7:30. While he's up I try to keep him doing different things since he gets bored easily. If the weather is nice, we go on walks, go to the park and use the baby swings. If it's hot enough I'll fill up his little baby pool, but that usually lasts about 15 minutes and he runs out of patience for it! It's cute though, he's really been loving splashing around in it the last few times! He's fascinated with the vacuum cleaner so it's nice that I can do that while he's up! We occasionally suffer from reverse cabin fever when it's too hot or rainy to go outside. Evan is kind of bored of all his toys. But all in all, he's SO fun.

A few new videos

Here's Evan cruising around the family room with a little chuckle/gopher giggle that he was doing for a few days.

Gopher? from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Evan had fallen asleep on my lap around 12:30 which is a half hour before naptime. I pitied the tired little guy and took him back to his room to put him down for nap early at the expense of a grumpy afternoon when he woke up too soon. But he ended up getting a second wind on the way to his room and decided to have a spit-fest instead and ended up going down for nap at 1:30 instead.

I should be napping... from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Jack always gets Evan in stitches on the changing table.

Fun on the changing table from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

P90X

It's happening this time! Jack and I have started working out and have gotten into a sweet groove with P90X. We just finished Week 1, although Day 6 was delayed for 2 days due to round 3 of this bug I've been trying to kick. Day 1 was Biceps/Back, Day 2 was Plyometrics (yikes!!), Day 3 was Arms & Shoulders, Day 4 was Yoga X (only made it through half that one... it's an hour and a half!), Day 5 was Legs, and Day 6 was Kenpo X (kind of like kick boxing). As if that wasn't enough, we add Ab-Ripper X on the odd days. The fitness program takes you through 3 phases, one month each (90 days total, hence P90X... X for X-treme!). (from the P90X website) "The secret behind the P90X system is an advanced training technique called Muscle Confusion™, which accelerates the results process by constantly introducing new moves and routines so your body never plateaus, and you never get bored!"

So far so good! We've been working out in the evening after Evan goes to bed on weeknights, and we worked out Saturday morning during his nap since we were day-tripping an out of town wedding later that day. I really missed it on the days we couldn't work out. So far I've only made it through one entire workout - Kenpo X. We had to skip some of the exercises in the arms workouts since we don't have a chin up bar. We didn't have the energy to make it through the entire Plyometrics or Yoga workouts. It's a really great home workout since you don't need a ton of space or equipment. We're still trying to figure out how to get a chin up bar or resistance bands in place to we can eventually do all the workouts.

We've also been eating a lot healthier. I've been forced to cook light dinners since we work out a couple hours later. I've added the following to my rotation:

- Double patty stacked turkey burger topped with sauteed mushrooms, onions, and spinach (no added condiments), side of steamed broccoli

- Chicken & Turkey Sausage saute with roasted summer vegetables (eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, peppers, and red onion)

- Stuffed Peppers with brown rice & ground turkey sans cheese

- FISH. I've liked fish, but haven't been cooking it much, so I'm trying to work that back in to the mix. Side of double veggie.

We've been cutting back on lots of little things including butter, cheese, some condiments, salt. Instead I've been learning other ways to flavor up meals - with olive oil, garlic, lemon zest and fresh squeezed juice, and other spices. I'm also growing some fresh herbs! I've been foregoing a carb side and doing double veggies instead. It doesn't leave you very full at the end of the meal but we end up having a delicious dessert with our post-workout protein shake and are completely satisfied at that point. Double Chocolate protein powder, frozen banana, peanut butter and milk (and ice). It may not sound good, but it tastes like an ice cream sundae with peanut butter cups!

We had a cheat day on the diet on Sunday since I was still under the weather and ordered pizza. Although it tasted so good, I hated how I felt that night. I'm loving the feeling after a healthy dinner, workout and protein shake dessert. Haven't lost any weight yet, but it's only been a week with 2 unexpected days off. We personally know some people who this workout program did amazing things for, so we're really excited about it.

Wedding season continues

We had a great time at Ryan Guilfoy's wedding over Memorial Day weekend. Ryan was our associate pastor for a few years, the pastor that married us, and a really close friend of Jack's. They were pretty tight workout buddies about 3 mornings a week, and went to lunch a lot. We've missed having him around after he moved back to Vermont, but he ended up meeting his wife there, so it was definitely the right move! We were very honored to be a part of the celebration of his marriage to Rachel. The ceremony was in a beautiful chapel in a quaint little town in Vermont. The reception was at Ryan's parents' farm and vineyard. Evan spend the day with my sister Jeannine and her gang. We were so relieved to hear about what an angel he was all day! Here are a few pictures from that sweet day.






This past Saturday, I was thrilled to see my friend Meghan get married. Meghan and I went to school together from 3rd grade up through high school. We were very honored to be a part of a sweet and intimate wedding celebration. The ceremony and reception were at a golf course in a sweet little town just inside PA in the Pocanoes. This wedding had quite a Caribbean twist since Meghan's husband is Jamaican! It was SO fun! They incorporated it into their colors - aquas and lime greens, into the ceremony - a Jamaican love poem (we didn't understand all the jokes, but it was cool anyway!), the music, and the march out after the ceremony. It was also great to spend some time with another high school friend Rachel and her husband Travis. Evan was a good little traveler and well behaved for the wedding, charming all the women around him!

Baby Food

I've been making about half of Evan's baby food now. I've made (pureed) applesauce, bananas, mangoes, pears, nectarines, sweet potatoes and carrots. I'm not sure how much money it's actually saved, if any. But it's nice and somewhat rewarding to see actual pieces of fresh fruit and vegetable become his food. I've found that all the prep work necessary for peaches/nectarines probably isn't worth it (flash boil, peel, cut off pit without mashing it, chop, boil to cook, puree), but the others have all been fairly easy so far. I've started cheating on the applesauce though and just buying a large jar of unsweetened applesauce at the store.

So far, Evan has enjoyed every food he's tried. Sometimes it takes a few tries to get him to eat it without a "face". I was expecting a face for his first time trying plain vanilla yogurt, but he LOVED it. Then I read the ingredients and saw that there were artificial sweeteners in it... whoops!