Date night!

Jack and I were so blessed with a nearly free date night on Monday night - all we paid for was a bottle of soda at the concert! Our friends Dan & Stacie offered to watch Evan for us. We went out to dinner in Saratoga at Forno Toscano Bistro, a gorgeous Italian restaurant right on Broadway. We were able to use a gift card from Jack's company Christmas party.

Then we were thrilled to be able to see Celtic Woman at SPAC. We had gone to their concert at Proctor's in March as a Christmas present and had such a great time. I was excited to hear they were coming back to the area, but a little hesitant to buy tickets thinking it would be for pretty much the same show. Good thing I hesitated because Jack's boss is on the board at SPAC and got us 4 tickets in the 4th row behind the orchestra pit for FREE! We invited our fellow fans and friends Andy and Aubrey and we had a blast. No kids for either of us!!




The show was INCREDIBLE. It was the perfect night for the outdoor venue. Again, we were blown away by the angelic yet powerful voices, the thunderous drums, the prancing fiddler, and the world-champion bagpiper they recently added to the group. So much of the music takes Jack and I back to our trip to Ireland. We want to go back to badly!

I couldn't embed this particular YouTube video in the post, but I hope you check out the link! This was their opening song.

9 months old!

Evan had his 9-month checkup on Monday. He weighed in at 20lbs, 10oz. A mere 1.5 pounds more than his 6-month checkup. He dropped from the 75th to the 50th percentile for weight. Since he's more active now he's not gaining as fast as before, but they said that's normal! He's 29 3/4 inches long which keeps him in the 90th percentile.

As I mentioned before, he's an ACTIVE kid. He's crawling around everywhere which leaves Jack and I always doing last minute babyproofing as Evan finds yet another thing he shouldn't be getting into! As of a few days ago, Evan has left the old ways of slithering on his belly behind and he's all hands and knees now, with the occasional "kickstand crawl" with one foot on the ground. He's getting better and better every day at pulling himself up, and has juuust started traversing along the objects he pulls himself up against. Give it a week and he'll be a pro! ;-)

He's eating a lot of for-real solid foods now. Well they're still mushy but not pureed! He loves canned green beans (who is this kid?). Canned peaches and pears are also at the top of the list. He enjoys bananas, peas, cheerios, macaroni, gerber puffs, mangoes, watermelon, occasionally soft-cooked carrots, toast, and especially graham crackers. He's a pro with a sippy cup, and loves juice. What kid wouldn't? He loves feeding himself and makes quite a mess but it frees me up to eat my own meals!

He's getting a little better with the separation anxiety, but it's a little worse when Daddy's around. He is SUCH a Daddy's boy. For the most part he's a charming little boy who is all smiles for most strangers.

Baby Levi

It is so surreal to me that my little but not so little niece has a baby now! Sabina and Steve welcomed baby Levi Allan Ronald into the world on June 30, weighing in at 8lbs 2oz, and 20.5 inches long. So this makes me a Great Aunt (my nephew Peter told me I've always been great... awwww!) and Jack a Great Uncle (or Gruncle as he prefers). I got to go meet him that evening, and what a little sweetheart he is. I have since heard that he is a good sleeper and very chill baby. Not surprising, his parents are pretty chill people! Here are some pictures of the little guy.

July 4 weekend

We had a great visit from Jack's family last weekend. We kicked it off with a Yankee game on Friday. It was the PERFECT weather and we were in the shade too. Evan was a trooper and made it through the whole game with only a few short breakdowns. If only they had won! Oh well, they won the rest of the series.





We had another gorgeous day on Saturday so we headed up to Lake Moreau for the afternoon. Again, Evan was a trooper, but did not want to take a nap in the little tent we brought him! He didn't really enjoy the water either, but he let Gram and Papa Jon take him once Jack and I were out of sight. Evan is going through that good ol' separation anxiety phase. But by the end of the weekend he had warmed up to everyone.





Sunday was a bit hot for a lot of outdoor activity, so we hung out on the deck, all huddling under the patio umbrella as long as we could last before we started to melt and then relaxed inside. We joined some long-time friends of the McDades for a 4th of July BBQ for dinner. They had a lot of fun reconnecting with old neighbors, and Jack and I kept Evan in the best mood possible after all the late nights and missed naps. I must admit, we were a bit frazzled by the time we were heading over to the fireworks and hesitant about our decision to have Evan tough it out, but it was worth it. Although he was a fussball at the bbq (looking back, probably because he wasn't hungry and we kept trying to get him to eat!), he was a blast (haha pun) at the fireworks. He laughed, and played with Regan and I'm not sure a single fussy peep came out of him as we kept him up until 10:30. He wasn't even scared of the fireworks! Somewhere along our journey back to the car we lost his lovey (his little teddy bear blanket). Fortunately we had 2 others at home but it was still sad to lose one of them. I like to think another little kid who lost the same lovey found this one, and lovey has a great new home. Haha. We ordered 2 more the next morning.


You can see the reflection of the fireworks in his eyes!


Evan slept in until 9am on Monday morning! His whole routine is off but we're starting to settle back into it and I'm enjoying his long naps as he catches up on what he missed over the weekend. He was such a trooper, and overall in such a good mood considering how flexible we made him over the weekend!

Standing up!

After I put Evan down for his nap this afternoon, I heard a strange thumping over the monitor. I peeked in on him and he was standing up in his crib, and whacking the vertical fan against his crib!

Standing up from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.