McDade Family

It's a.....

2011-11-03T23:26:00.002-04:00

I know, 3 blog posts in one night, right? Who am I? Well, Jack went to bed early, and I have plenty of time to kill and the computer all to myself.

Oh right, it's a.... BOY! We had an ultrasound this morning and the tech was able to tell right away that it's a boy! I was trying not to get fixated on one or the other. I was really truly happy with either. We'd have a buddy for Evan, or one of each. But I must admit that I entertained thoughts of a baby girl a little more because this pregnancy has been soooo different! So I was quite surprised when the tech said it was a boy! We are soooo excited though! All day we've kept saying to each other "2 boys!". Evan will be a great big brother, and I'm sure will pass on his antics to little brother. Everything he did today, I now imagine him doing with a little brother. Dancing to the Glee version of Bust a Move, running back and forth with his Moe's balloon, playing football. It'll be chaos, but so much fun!

So I'm 18 weeks now, and still kind of in disbelief that I'm pregnant! I'm so distracted by Evan and life so often that I don't stop and think about it as much as when I was pregnant with Evan. I don't have a huge belly, although it has finally popped which gives me a reminder now! But I haven't really had any cravings, and baby boy is much more chill than I remember Evan being at this stage so I don't feel him as much. I realize this is when most people only start to feel tiny flutters, but I was feeling Evan swirl all over the place from 16+ weeks. I do feel tiny taps now and then, which I treasure. I've missed that feeling!

Well, I hope to keep up with blogging more often now, we'll see how that goes!

(I would love to post the ultrasound pic we got today, but our new printer doesn't have a scanner :( Maybe I can do the old school way and take a picture of the picture!)

Harvest Party

2011-11-03T23:08:00.002-04:00

I wasn't sure if I wanted to bring Evan to our church's Harvest Party this year. We went last year so Jack could be a photographer, and I seemed to remember it being more ages 4+ appropriate, and thought Evan would be overwhelmed. Well, when I was shopping for Evan's birthday presents, I saw a little monkey costume that looked like Curious George. Given Evan's obsession with the little character (probably because he's so much like him!) I couldn't resist buying it, and at only $11 it wasn't a huge investment for a one night wear.

He really didn't want to wear it and it took a few days of just showing him the costume before we could attempt to get him into it. I admit, I had to bribe him with cookies. But we snapped up a bunch of pictures in case that was the only chance we had.

We brought him that Saturday and hoped for the best. As soon as we walked in the door, Evan got freaked out by a dinosaur costume (turned out to be my junior high English teacher, Mrs Bellamy!) and ran for the door crying. She pulled up the hood to show him it was just a person, and he stopped crying but told her "bye bye!". Off to a rough start, and we still had to get him into the costume! There were a lot of tears as we were getting him into it, that no amount of cookies could console. He wouldn't even entertain the idea of a cookie. But he eventually came to terms with it, somehow.

I'm so glad I brought him. Almost all of the activities, save the trivia and chess, were perfect for him. Bean bag toss, golf putting, basketball, throwing a football through the hoop, and many other carnival type games. He had a blast. And in future years, maybe we'll let him keep the candy!

My 2 year old

2011-11-03T22:35:00.003-04:00

So Evan turned two on October 21! I made sure to give him lots of kisses and hugs, and grabbed him and attempted to put him on my chest at 4:30 (his time of birth), just like I did last year, and just like the midwife did 2 years ago! Well, I was trying to reminisce to myself because I knew he wouldn't understand what I was talking about and as I was, he pinched my lips as if to say "enough, Mom! I don't want to hear my birth story!".

We had a little McDade celebration on his actual birthday which was a Friday. We had homemade ice cream cake, presents from Papa and GG, and kept him up way too late! Then the next day, we had a little family party with both sides. A nice pizza party (and Evan was too busy playing with cousins to stop and eat!), cookie cake and leftover ice cream cake. We did more presents, and Evan loved unwrapping but was still a little overwhelmed with the whole ordeal. He seemed to love playing with everything though! We got him a little table with 2 chairs and GG made him some playdough and got some playdough toys, and that turned out to be the hit of the party! For all ages!

I'm sure this coming year will bring challenges, as I've already seen Evan adopt the Terrible Two phase, but he's also becoming more and more adorable every day.

Jamaica!

2011-10-15T22:00:00.003-04:00

We just got back from a week long trip to Jamaica. We celebrated our 5th anniversary and enjoyed a second babymoon and Evan tagged along pretty much for free because he doesn't turn 2 for another week! We originally booked our stay with Beaches Sandy Bay in Negril, but after 2 nights we switched over to their neighbor and sister resort Beaches Negril which had a lot more activity and bigger pools, and was nicer. Yes it cost a little more, but it was way more on par with what we were expecting and we had an amazing time. There was some rain the first couple days but it cleared up in the afternoon, and we had a couple spotty storms later in the week, but other than that the weather was beautiful! It was plenty hot which made the pool and ocean wonderful. Plenty sunny which made us appreciate the shade and avoid getting burned for the most part! The evenings were very comfortable and the cloudy horizons led to some amazing sunsets.

The resort is a sponsor of Sesame Street so there are characters in costume that wander every day. We signed up for a character breakfast before we left but quickly realized when we got there that Evan would be terrified so we cancelled that. He enjoyed the shows, but from a comfortable distance and would cry every time they came too close! But he would always ask about all of them when they weren't around. My favorite was when he asked for "Ernie and Burped".

They had a nursery program which allowed us to drop Evan off now and then to get some time to ourselves. We had some free time on the beach and had a few kidless dinners. Evan loved the nursery and the workers there were so great with him. While we were at dinner, they even took him over to the nightly Sesame Street show so he didn't have to miss it!

After the first Sesame Street show we went to, they had a steel drum band come and perform (and Jack and I even recognized some of the performers from a show on our honeymoon!). Evan grimaced his way through Sesame Street, but he danced his little heart out to the steel drum music, doing his best to imitate what they were doing. After the show, they played some dance music and Evan actually danced along to the cha cha slide! Of course he was a step behind the whole time, but that's where he and Jermaine became dancing buddies for the week!

Evan placed his first order by himself. He went up to the bar and said "Hello", and the bartender turned around and said "Hey mon. What can I get you?" and Evan said "um, apple juice?". When he got his apple juice he said "deetoo" (thank you) without being prompted! I was so proud! My family always tells me the story of when I was about Evan's age, maybe even younger and I placed my first order at a restaurant... and it was in Jamaica! I ordered "boogoo, feyes, and wahwoo" (burger, fries and water).

We wrapped the amazing week up with a Reggae Beach Party the last night we were there and we were expecting entertainment in the form of a fire dancer, limbo dude, and others. What we got was a fire dancer and a DANCE PARTY. And Evan had a blast. Jermaine quickly picked up on Evan's favorite move (the run and jump) and did it with him for about 15 minutes straight until they were both pouring with sweat. Then Jermaine brought him up on stage with the rest of the entertainment crew and Evan let lose. He pulled out all his moves (mostly jumping and a little running with the "Evan one arm pump") and he even attempted some of the reggae moves that the entertainment crew was doing, all under the close supervision of Jermaine! He probably danced up there for at least 15 minutes until some of the dancing got a little too crazy and he might have been trampled. As soon as Jermaine brought him back to the rest of the dancing guests out front, he cried and pointed at the stage. So back he went! Jermaine was so great and the two of them had such a great time. Jermaine even came to see us off in the morning!

Jack seems to be planning our next trip already. Whenever it is, I know we'll have a blast!

Home Improvement

2011-09-26T16:53:00.002-04:00

We will be expanding our home by two feet in April!

We are very excited to announce that we are expecting McBaby #2, due April 3!!! I've been feeling pretty different this time around. I barely had any nausea with Evan but this time I spent a good few weeks pretty sick and tired. But my energy is back and food is appealing again! No cravings yet, but plenty of first trimester aversions. I thought this baby might be a vegetarian! But meat is good again! We should be finding out if it's a boy or girl sometime in early to mid November. I guess that's all to report for now!

Evan's first prayer

2011-08-26T12:35:00.002-04:00

Evan's bedtime routine, when we're at home which isn't that often anymore with Jack's family in town, consists of reading books in the rocking chair, saying a blessing that my dad said to me every night (Numbers 6:24-25), hug and kiss and down to bed. Lately he's been asking to pray (by folding his hands and squeaking) when we're done with books, so I've been praying with him for the last week or so, going through a list of what we were thankful for that day. When we were done last night, he wanted more so I said "you do it". And he did!

"Deetoo Fry, Daya, batz, Daddy, Mommy, Farty, poop, nono, peepee."

Translated: "thank you for Strom (Evan's uncle), the Incredibles, pizza, Daddy, Mommy, lovey, poop, fan, peepee."

I had tears in my eyes from laughing, being so moved, and maybe a little from being 5th on the list!

Summer Fun

2011-08-09T11:10:00.000-04:00

Meant to put up this post a few weeks ago once I got a picture of the sunset from my in-laws new house off the camera but clearly, that's taking too long so here we go without the picture!

We've had a crazy month, with many different subsets of family living here. On June 27, Jack's parents, sister, brother, their 2 cats and dog, and 3 cars, and many boxes of stuff moved into our house in between house closings. Aside from some animal misbehavior, we've had a blast having them here.

Pretty shortly after moving in, Catherine's boyfriend Jeremy came down for a visit. We had fun going to Moreau, enjoyed the 4th of July parade and fireworks, and had a great day in Saratoga for Catherine's birthday. Evan rode the Congress Park carousel with me, we walked up and down Broadway, had dinner at Cantinas (YUM), and stopped at Yaddo Gardens on the way home.

After that, we have spent time with different subsets of family. Tess and Joseph headed to Florida for 8 days and the day before they got back, Catherine left for Maine for about 2 weeks.

It went a lot faster than I expected, and I'm blessed to have such wonderful in-laws. I know many would cringe at the thought of hosting their in-laws for just short of a month, but it actually ends up being a lot easier having them here than not. They have truly spoiled us, and we felt a little sad to have them leave. The house feels a lot more empty.

But we spent the afternoon into the evening at their new house yesterday and it's the start of a new and exciting fun chapter that has completely overtaken any feelings of sadness to have them move a whole 15 minutes away! Even though the movers hadn't come yet, we felt like we were on vacation at their house yesterday. Their new house is right on the Mohawk River! We swam in the river, fished, watched the boats and jet skis go by, and Evan even joined in the fun when he woke up from his nap. He's been in an anti-water phase for about a month now. He splashed, giggled, and dunked his face in the water many times. He waved and said "hi" to the boats going by. He "fished" with Daddy. We finished the evening with a cookout, watching the sun set over the river from their patio, deck and 3-season room. The 3-season room will be a favorite to all of us, being able to hang out "outside" and bug-free. Looking forward to many fun times at the new house!

Camping

2011-07-25T16:28:00.003-04:00

We had a fun spontaneous weekend with 2 sets of Jaegers up at their family camp a few weeks ago. We joined Dan/Stacie/Ava/Loralei and Tom/Sara/Lydia for a weekend at the lake with fishing, swimming (or in Evan's case, observing from the dock), kayaking, biking, laying out, campfire and smores and lots of fellowship!

Jack caught his biggest fish to date! Dan got him "hooked" our first trip up to the lake 3 years ago and it's been a growing obsession ever since.

Jack and I got away to kayak together when Evan was down for a nap. It was so peaceful paddling into the coves and over the shallows of Loon Lake. When he woke up, we brought Evan down to the water. Evan was hysterically laughing, watching Ava jump off the end of the dock. We eventually tricked Evan into the water with a ball of course! He wasn't thrilled but he sucked it up just long enough to get the ball and go back to the dock over and over.

Evan had a great time playing with the other kids. They played with chalk, frisbees, Clip Clop (the spring horse), and chasing and rough housing.

We are so grateful for their hospitality and generosity inviting us each year. It's always a good time!

Evmeister

2011-07-25T11:36:00.003-04:00

What's new with Evan? Well he pooped on the potty! He started coming up and saying "poop" right before he was going to poop, so I tried putting him on the toilet one of those times, and he went! Sadly, it was a one time thing. He found the experience somewhat traumatic and wouldn't even go in the bathroom the rest of the day. Now he has a potty chair that he plays with and we'll see if we can start trying again because it seems the ability is there, just not the emotional readiness!

I wonder if this contributed to his sudden water-phobia. Until yesterday, he has hated baths, kiddie pools, swimming pools, and bodies of water. Didn't matter if we were holding him, if he was in super shallow water (he wouldn't put his feet down), or if he was in a flotation device. He would just cry and keep signing "all done". But yesterday, at my in-laws' new house right on the Mohawk River, he had a blast swimming with all of us. He splashed and even put his face in the water multiple times! He stayed in for probably at least 45 minutes!

His vocabulary is growing all the time. He's getting pretty good at his first attempts of new words. He is eager to learn more as he points around the room saying "this?". He has been putting 2 words together more often. "Bye ____" (to whoever he's saying bye to), "more snack", and I'm embarrassed to admit this one, but "watch TV". We really don't watch that much! We play outside a lot!

He had a doctor appointment a few weeks ago... 3 months late for his 18 month visit. We were delayed with insurance changes. He was a complete wimp for everything. He cried through every measurement and examination. And of course cried even more for the shot. But he was fine when we left! He weighed in at 28 lbs 10oz, which puts him in the 55th or so percentile. He measured at 35.5 inches which puts him at the 95th percentile. Tall and lean! My young athlete.

He is feisty and energetic, but so lovable and snuggly and we always catch ourselves endearingly saying "that kid". We love him so much and are so lucky to have him.

Catching up

2011-06-14T21:06:00.002-04:00

I guess I've been too busy living the blog-worthy moments to stop and actually document them here. Here is a quick summary of our summer fun thus far:

FAMILY! Lots and lots of family time. We went up to Maine for Catherine's graduation, hosted the family almost immediately after while they're house hunting. Oh, did I not tell you, blog world? My in-laws are moving back to town! So we've hosted a few house hunting visits. Evan has gotten no shortage of time with Papa Jon ("Bapa"), Gram ("Gigi"), Catherine ("Tat"), Joseph ("Doe"), Regan ("Ree Ree"), and Strom ("..." he can't even attempt that one yet, just rolls his eyes at you when you ask). We're very excited to only drive 15 minutes over to Waterford to see them now. Well, it's still a lot more than that to see Regan and Strom but when they come visit it will only be that far now!

Following a house hunting visit, Regan and Strom stuck around for some extra time with us, and we were so blessed to have them here. Regan graciously (like it took much convincing) used her decorating skills to help us finally decorate our downstairs family room after 3 years of using it with no decor to speak of! We now have a functional toy storage unit, some "theater" decor in the couch/tv area, and a nice mirror and table in the entryway. We went with a green/teal color scheme and I love it! She also helped us do a gallery wall which we still need a couple photos for frames, but it still looks great! Thank you so much!

We also had fun taking them out to Browns Tavern in Troy which has our favorite wings ever. We took them up to Forno Toscano Bistro in Saratoga and since we didn't have time to wait for the outside dining, we all felt underdressed together inside and had a delicious meal. We introduced them to our new favorite TV show, Community, and blew through the first season in about 5 or 6 sittings.

In the time that we didn't have them family around, we've been enjoying the heat wave and playing outside a lot. Since a critter came and destroyed my garden I repurposed it as a "beach" for Evan. Ok, it's a pretty ghetto beach. It's a tarp on the dirt with an inflatable pool and a beach umbrella. He sometimes likes it but isn't always in the mood. He has a new basketball hoop (thank you so much, Gram and Papa Jon. What a great buy!) and it goes inside and outside with us. Evan loves going for walks in the morning before it gets too hot, and we usually end with going to the park down the street. The last 3 blocks of the walk he keeps asking to go on the "bee" (slide) and every time we get to the park, he grabs his basketball when he gets out of the stroller and heads straight for the courts... not the slide! What an athlete.

What's new with Evan? Oh something is new every day. I'll try to recap. He is a CHATTERBOX! You have to know how to translate though. Depending on the body language, a word could have many different meanings.

Bee - slide (because he goes "beeeeee" when he slides down), "sliding" forward off furniture or stairs
Dis - downstairs, juice, eat, dance, cheese
Ba - ball, basketball hoop, frisbee
Bus - any vehicle with a diesel engine or squeaky brakes
Bas - bath
Byah - banana, guitar, piano
Bahp - apple, bubbles
Wiss - woods, raisins, horse
Ca-ee - Charlie (his buddy from church), or car
Wash - walk, watch (TV)
Zah - socks, shoes, snack
Coksh - crocs
Boot - book, boat
Boots - broken
Grge - George (he is obsessed with Curious George now)

He has started putting gibberish sentences together. He has so much to say, but the right words aren't there. Doesn't stop him from trying though!

He is a young athlete in the making. He is most obsessed with basketball, but also kicks the soccer ball around, throws the football, and as of a few days ago he can hike it. He can throw a ball in the air and hit it with a bat. The accuracy depends on the size of the ball. He's pretty good at throwing a ball up in the air and swatting it with his hand like a volleyball serve. He loves frisbee and I'm serious and not bragging here but you need to stand far back from him when he has a frisbee because he could take your head off! He's not only has a good arm, but a dynamite catch as well.

Easter

2011-04-28T21:29:00.003-04:00

We made a last minute decision early last week to go up to Maine for Easter. Jack's family got a contract on their house after just 9 days on the market which is unheard of up there, so we want to get up there as much as we can before they close and then move back here! We headed up on Thursday evening with an iPad strapped to the headrest using 2 elastic headbands hoping it would keep Evan busy on the drive. He hadn't been on a road trip since Christmas and we had to stop about every hour to keep him pleasant. Well, it worked! We only had to stop once on the way there and the way back!

We had a great visit with Jack's family, and of course missing Regan and Strom terribly for our first visit there without them. The weather was beautiful for the most part and we enjoyed the outdoors. Evan loved the basketball hoop and loved stepping on the stones lining the house. He put on a dance show on the back deck.

(We missed you like crazy, Regan & Strom!)

Easter was a glorious day in multiple ways! Of course because of the reason for the season. It was a beautiful weather day. The company was great and the meal was fantastic. After Evan's nap, we "hid" the sport-ball themed eggs outside with goldfish and raisins hiding inside and he "hunted and gathered". That is until he remembered there was a basketball hoop. We had a good long skype with Regan (and Strom when he pulled his eyes away from the XBox!). Evan felt very connected to Aunt Regan through the computer, complete with fist bumping and kissing the screen! He is a bit confused now though, and wants to pound fists with every character on TV!

Sunny Florida

2011-04-12T20:35:00.005-04:00

Jack approached me a couple months ago posing the question, "How would you feel about me going to Belize with the church?" My response? "How would you feel about me going to Florida while you're in Belize?" So that's how it worked out. Jack went to Belize with a team from our church to build a house for a needy family, and you can read about his adventures on this blog.

So Evan and I took off on April 1 on a direct flight to Orlando to visit my parents in Lakeland. He did great on the plane and being on Southwest with open boarding left us with an open seat in the middle on both flights. Who wants to sit next to an antsy toddler on his mom's lap? Clearly no one on a less than full flight!

We kept very busy! Only had 1 rainy day. We had a beach trip one day. We spent most other mornings doing an activity with Evan- 4 different playgrounds, feeding the water fowl (when Evan stopped eating the bread and threw it to the birds), had some lunches out and about. When he went down for a nap, I went to the pool. It was a pretty sweet setup! We were pretty spoiled!

It was a wonderful preview of all the fun we can have with Evan this summer. He loved splashing in the pool and wading in the shallow sandbar area at the beach. He had a blast shoveling sand and dumping it in his pail. He became very proficient at climbing the playground equipment and going down big slides by himself.

A huge thank you goes out to my parents for hosting us for 8 days, driving us to countless activities, treating to lunches, dinner, and ice cream. We can think of no better way that we could have spent our time away from Jack!

Doing the twisty slide all by himself!

Rainy Day Bubbles. He couldn't figure out why these new "balls" kept disappearing when he touched them.

He kept losing the sand he was trying to throw in the backswing!

The Great Outdoors

2011-03-30T22:03:00.002-04:00

I'm barely able to report that we spent nearly the entire day outside today! I'm barely conscious right now, but so thankful for the nice weather that allowed us all day work and play outside. We headed out around 10am when it was a mere 38 degrees but it was above freezing, and that's all I was looking for! I brought a soccer ball and a rake out, bundled Evan up and hoped for the best. The soccer ball hardly got used, but we spent the whole morning outside until 11:30 when we came in to get cleaned up for lunch. I raked about 1/3 of the front lawn and Evan did his best to help. He grabbed handfuls of pine needles, pinecones, and acorn shells and tossed them in the bag. He tried to rake. I even got him a little paper bag to collect pinecones, which only lasted about 30 seconds! He explored so many things about the front yard: the pine tree bark, tapping acorn shells on the bark, pulling pine needles apart. It's so cute to watch him learn!

I headed back out to tackle more of the lawn during Evan's nap while the air continued to warm up to a balmy 51 degrees! I was out there in a short sleeved shirt.... FINALLY! I took a leisurely walk to the park down the street to see if the snow was melted enough to enjoy it and the snow was all gone except on the baseball field... perfect! When Evan got up we headed to the park. I have been anticipating taking him to the park so much now that he's mobile enough to enjoy it. He LOVED it. After a few lessons, he was able to climb up and go down the slide by himself (video below). He also loved the firetruck and swing.

The sponge

2011-03-24T20:07:00.004-04:00

I'm going to take a few minutes to brag about my kid, if that's alright with you all reading. He is just amazing me with how much he learns each and every day. His vocabulary is growing, and while everyone might not be able to understand what he's saying, I can decipher more and more, and he's beginning to attempt repeating things we say. I think this has a lot to do with weaning him from the pacifier down to just naptime and bedtime. He learned how to say "hi" and "bye" today. He can say ball, bath, cat, dog, juice, sock, shirt, shoe, eye, water and waffle (which both come out "wah"), book and my favorite - poop, and attempts to say a lot more! When asked where it is, he can point out his eye, nose, ear, hair, mouth, hand, belly, bum, and toes! He knows the sign language for "more", "all done" and "eat" and uses them all properly without being prompted.

He is becoming much more agile too. He's becoming a climber, climbing all over our couch downstairs. We played at our neighbor's house this afternoon and he learned how to climb up and then go down the slide by himself. He learned how to go down the stairs (safely going backwards) this evening. He helped me clean up his toys tonight. He told us when he pooped and got out the changing mat, laid it out and laid himself down on it. Some might see this as a sign that he's ready to potty train, but I don't think any of us are quite ready for that!

He's quite the eater these days. The last time I made fish tacos, he had a fillet and a half of tilapia! That's about 6oz of fish! He grabbed a whole peach out of the fridge without me noticing, while I was getting something out yesterday and helped himself. He ended up eating about half of it without having to cut any of it up!

He's been making mental connections a lot now too. He sees a bear on his Baby Einstein DVD and he'll go get a book and open it to the bear page.

This kid is amazing, and I feel like he's grown up so much just in the last week. I can't wait to see what's coming up this next week!

Parlay!

2011-03-02T14:18:00.002-05:00

As I'm writing this, I see a few scattered flurries outside. We're not expected to get any accumulation, but I'm still frustrated at the sight. We've had well over 7 feet of snow this season so far and we honestly can't handle any more. Jack has thrown his back out a few times from shoveling and mine is sore. Our snowbanks have gotten so high that we can't see oncoming traffic when we're backing out. Our mailbox is barely accessible. If we do have to do any more shoveling we'll have to get a ladder and climb about 7 feet up to toss each shovel load. This is what causes me to yell "Parlay!", "Mercy!", "Uncle!", "Enough!" every time I see a flurry.

Furry Friend

2011-03-01T22:40:00.004-05:00

Ever since Evan became mobile, he has fallen in love with Bella. Well, any cat. Well, any furry thing that moves. But Bella actually sticks around to socialize with him. Before Evan was born, she was used to a certain level of attention and nothing has met her expectations since he was born so she'll put up with anything at this point! He loves laying down on her like a pillow. He also loves pulling her tail and wailing on her, which we're working on. But she usually doesn't run away so I don't feel too bad for her! There's a sweet video after all the pictures! Pay attention to Bella's face at the end... it's hilarious!

Spring Thaw

2011-02-22T19:32:00.003-05:00

We had some very unusual but very welcomed weather last week. 3 days were above 50 and we're still thanking God for it. Our icicles all melted (they were starting to become jail bars as they reached the floor of the back deck).

The 2-inch thick ice melted enough to break up and chip off the driveway. We didn't get enough snow meltage to see the ground, but any amount of meltage was welcomed. Our snowbanks were about 7 feet high (reaching over the top of the mailbox) which you can imagine is pretty tough to shovel additional snowfall up on top of!

Once I cleared a decent amount of space on the driveway, I brought Evan out to play with his soccer ball.

As soon as I put him down he was off and running and I think he couldn't stop himself on the slight decline of the driveway towards the road. Before long he hit the ice but surprisingly didn't fall! He became "stuck" (wouldn't move) and we had to rescue the poor crying kid. He played with the ball a little but left plenty of room between himself and the ice.

A short while later he took a spill that left him wet and dirty and he was done.

The next day we tried again and he was afraid to move. He didn't want to be on the pavement, just held or have you squatting right next to him. That didn't last long.

When he went down for a nap, I went out for a mile and a half run. I've been working out inside for a few months now and have been dying to get out and really stretch my legs! It was so warm that I ran in a short sleeved shirt and shorts! I felt warm breezes and even felt the warmth of the sun on my skin! In February!! When I got back I just short of kicked Jack out of the house so he could enjoy it too. He didn't mind! He went for a 3 mile walk.

We tried bringing Evan out again that afternoon when it got up to 60 degrees! This time I brought a blanket out on the almost clear driveway and some toys and a snack. He was perfectly content to hang out on the blanket but didn't dare venture off! We hung out as long as we could until the cool breezes turned into cold strong wind. Even though it was a tease we were so grateful for it.

V-Day

2011-02-15T21:15:00.002-05:00

You're probably expecting a post about some elaborate meal and dessert I cooked up to celebrate Valentines Day. Well, I'm not ashamed to admit this, but Jack and I have somewhat of a boycott against Valentines Day. I don't want to come across as a V-day Scrooge. We just feel that we don't need a specific day determined for us where we become extra lovey dovey, go out to dinner along with the rest of the world, and buy presents to support the CEO of Hallmark's third retirement vacation home. It's more special if it's spontaneous. So ever since we were married we stopped celebrating. Or at least we went out the night before Valentines Day so it wasn't so crowded and we were still allowed to use coupons! I even felt a little guilty because our first married Valentines Day, we were snowed in, both "working from home" and we spent the day watching 8 episodes of 24 in sweats! But neither of us felt gypped (I don't think I've ever written that word before... thank you spell check).

Well I figured Jack would think of a special dessert as spontaneous because we don't ever do anything for Valentines Day, so I set out to make Chocolate Mousse. We're both trying to watch what we eat and exercise more, so I thought mousse would be a nice compromise between a plain rice cake and triple death by chocolate cake. Nice light fluffy chocolately mousse. So I scoured the internet and found a doable recipe. I halved it because I didn't want to end up with 8 servings! I ever so gently heated the heavy cream, egg yolks and sugar into a custard. I melted the bittersweet chocolate and carefully added so as not to scramble the eggs. I whipped the cream to stiff peaks and gently folded it in. I scooped it into two large wine glasses (giving us 2 servings each) and patiently waited while they chilled for the next 6 hours. I was so excited to surprise him with this "special anti-celebratory dessert" after Evan went to bed. I even whipped up some extra whipped cream to top it and sprinkled some cocoa powder on top. We cuddled up on the couch to watch our Monday night shows and my mouth was watering as I was about to dig my spoon into the fluffy goodness. My heart sank as my spoon hit the dense cocoa block. It was more the texture of a light fudge and the chocolate levels were through the roof. I'm not like most other women where there's no such thing as too much chocolate. I'm not even really that into chocolate! So oh what a letdown this was. And it was so much work that I'll probably never attempt it again. So I guess I'll have to just order it for dessert at restaurants instead! Or convince my sister-in-law to make me some... haha.

Paging Dr Stork

2011-02-03T23:10:00.003-05:00

This story was too good not to pass on. My sister works as a respiratory therapist at a hospital with no maternity unit (Ellis). A couple showed up to the ER in full on labor not able to get to the sister hospital with a maternity unit that was so close (Bellevue), but too far. Here is the story in her words:

Yup, you heard it right--a baby in the ER. It was a Bellevue patient in labor on her way to the hospital in the family car, 4 previous children--this is #5, and she suddenly started pushing in the car so they bailed and stopped at our ER even though so close to Bellevue. It ended up taking an hour to get the baby out but there was no way to know that any next contraction could have that little baby #5 shooting out like a rocket so there was no transferring her at that point. They called the emergency code "paging Dr Stork to the ER stat!..." (subtle--I'm sure no one figured out what that meant!) Ellis hasn't had a baby born there in years so everyone was scrambling to find things long unused or never used while keeping family reassured that all was well and that they were in good hands (who had never done this before...oh, didn't tell them that part...) All us resp folk were together at the time they called the overhead emergency and we suddenly realized that nobody in the ER is certified to handle the newborns--that is one of our certifications--YIKES! I look at the night crew--two guys, a 23 yr old girl who has never seen a birth, and me. (guess who drew the team leader straw on this one!) So we scrambled to get prepared--the guys ran to other buildings and other floors to gather things we needed and Nichole and I prepared to receive the baby. At the last minute, we had two labor nurses who had been summoned from Bellevue arrive to help with the big moment, one of our residents got to deliver his first baby, and he then turned and handed her to us!! We didn't have a scale to weigh her on but I will guess her at about 5 lbs--she was a teeny little thing although 38 weeks. It was then up to us (me and wide-eyed awestruck Nichole) to make sure baby was breathing, stimulated, responsive, suctioned, heart rate, oxygen, APGAR scored, cleaned, dried, wrapped like a tiny burrito and given to Mom. All went as if it were perfectly orchestrated for which I was very grateful. My neonatal certification also includes rescusitation and intubation for a birth with complications or a baby who is nonresponsive, and I was calmly (full panic) reviewing all the procedures in my head while waiting just in case I needed that knowledge fresh. I was very tempted to grab Nicholes I-phone and google the intubation procedures but didn't want the family to catch me boning up in the delivery room corner (pay no attention to the person behind the curtain frantically studying intubation and newborn procedures...move along...nothing to see here....!) Meanwhile in the other corner of the room, Dad is hovering 3 inches inside the door with a faint green tinge to his complexion. He quickly declined an invitation to the front row with Gramma and cousin, and subsequently had a tech assigned to him to watch for "Man Down Syndrome" as nobody else in the room would have noticed if he fainted! So Baby Anna made her way into this world at 4:35am to a loud round of cheers and applause, followed by the ER staff singing Happy Birthday! Everyone was then packed up and shipped to Bellevue for nursery and OB followup. We were all kind of giddy after that, racing around the hospital trying to catch up on normal responsibilities whih had been allowed to lapse for two hours. I had one of the intensive care units that night and for two straight hours not one person had needed me, no pages, no emergencies, no medications due--a situation which is unheard of but I was so grateful for no conflicts on my time.

This is the reason I love my job--the spontaneity, the unexpectedness which keeps it always new and interesting and never boring, and the opportunity to truly make a difference in people's lives. So hence, my story of Baby Anna and how she brought joy, excitement and life into a place which so often experiences exactly the opposite.

The sweet tooth won

2011-02-02T23:25:00.002-05:00

I've always been more of a salty snacker than sweet, but ever since I was pregnant with Evan, my sweet tooth has gotten a little out of control (admission of guilt). I finally started to get it back under control since I noticed how tight my pants were right after Thanksgiving. Between working out at least every other day and substituting fruit for less healthy treats for dessert, I finally started noticing progress. But progress was halted once I read my sister-in-law's recent blog post. I'm not much of a baker, mostly because I know I shouldn't make such decadent treats because then I'll EAT them! Well between the blog post and an episode of How I Met Your Mother tonight that showed sinfully delicious looking chocolate cake in at least 3 scenes, my sweet tooth beat out my self control. As I mentioned, I'm not much of a baker, and I wasn't about to go out while post-snowstorm cleanup is still in progress just for sweet treats. I knew I had cocoa powder in the back of the pantry and I was hoping and praying that it didn't expire because I have no idea when the last time I used it was. After thorough examination of the package, I didn't see any expiration. Phew! And there was a recipe for chocolate cake/cupcakes on the back, Score! And I actually had all the ingredients! It was meant to be. After reading the instructions, I knew it would be beneficial to use an electric mixer... something I haven't used since my apartment days and was hoping I still had all the pieces to it. I dug up the body of the electric hand mixer from the laundry/storage room and cleaned it off. I found the attachments in the back of a kitchen cabinet and was hoping they fit because back in my roommate days we had 2 mixers and a plethora of various attachments between the two. They fit! Like I said, it was meant to be. (Un)fortunately I didn't have any powdered sugar so I couldn't make the icing. I put "un" in parentheses because I used this argument to justify having more than 1 cupcake. And by more than 1 I mean 3. Yes, I ate 3 cupcakes. And I don't feel bad. They were light and fluffy, yet rich and deliciously moist.

Here is the recipe if you care to try! I halved the recipe because it makes 2 9-inch round cakes or 30 cupcakes. I went with cupcakes.

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups cocoa powder
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water (I just used the hottest my tap goes and it came out fine)

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans. (or line cupcake tins with muffin cups)

2. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour into pans. (I poured the batter into a liquid measuring cup which made it easy to pour into muffin cups - fill 2/3 full)

3. Bake 30-35 minutes for cakes, or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pants to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting (recipe below). 10-12 servings.
Bake cupcakes 22-25 minutes. Makes 30 cupcakes.

"Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Melt butter. Stir in cocoa.
2. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating on medium speed to spreading consistency. Add more milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. Makes about 2 cups.

{no picture because they didn't puff way up or get iced and the presentation was highly lacking. Just picture dark yet delicious flat-top lumps in a muffin tin}

I'd like to add that Jack practiced amazingly impressive self control and didn't have ANY. He opted for V8 and a clementine. What a guy.

Spinachpalooza

2011-02-01T19:16:00.003-05:00

When yearning for pesto without my herb garden in full bloom with basil, and with a lot of spinach on hand that I needed to use up, I thought why not substitute spinach for basil? Tonight's dinner just looked so beautiful, if I do say so myself, to skip blogging about! Here's how I used a whole bag of spinach in one dinner for 2 (well, 2.5... Evan had some!) Salmon with spinach pesto, spinach pesto pasta with peas and tomatoes, sauteed spinach. I used whole leaf spinach, not baby spinach. And I had enough pesto leftover to fill a 3oz baby food container (which should do another batch of pasta).

Pesto (very rough estimates because I eyeballed the whole thing):
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/3 bag of spinach (10oz bag)
1 tbsp lemon juice

Add all ingredients to food processor and blitz until smooth. Taste test and adjust ingredients accordingly.

Salmon:
I seasoned the salmon with salt & pepper on each side. I sauteed 1 clove of chopped garlic in about 1 tbsp olive oil until it started to brown then I added the salmon. After I flipped it, I added about 1 tbsp white cooking wine (optional). Once it was cooked through (they were very thin so it was only a few minutes) I squeezed some fresh lemon juice over them and then topped with some pesto.

Pesto Pasta:
I cooked about 1/3 box (14.5oz box) of elbow noodles in salted water. Both Barilla and Ronzoni make some vitamin and protein packed pasta these days, so I get one of those. After draining the pasta and before returning it to the pan, I add about 2 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp olive oil and about 1/4 cup frozen peas and 15 or so chopped grape tomatoes (just the kind I had on hand today... I've done it before with roma tomatoes) to the pan and cook over low heat until the peas are cooked through. Then add about half the remaining pesto mix and the pasta to the pan and stir until that pasta is the beautiful green color. Top with parmesan cheese.

Spinach:
I used the rest of the spinach, which may be a big portion but it cooks way down, as a vegetable side. I sauteed 1 chopped garlic clove in about 1-2 tbsp olive oil then added the spinach. When it started to wilt, I added a little white cooking wine. Once it was all cooked, I topped with some fresh squeezed lemon juice which is great for flavoring but it will turn the spinach slightly brown where it is concentrated.

As I mentioned before, I had about 3oz of pesto left which can be frozen and used in the future. I also realize that pesto usually has some sort of toasted nut which I've never used before and I still enjoy the taste!

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

2011-01-26T12:52:00.004-05:00

When I first met Panera about 9 years ago, it was love at first bite. The atmosphere, the paninis, the soups, the breads, the bagels. What more could you want in a bistro/cafe type restaurant? And even better when I discovered it was a chain and I could order my favorites in so many locations. But the recent increase in prices and skimpier portions have caused a strain on our relationship. How was I to fill this broccoli cheddar void in my stomach when they give you but a thimbleful for 3/4 of your life savings? I never even considered making it myself because I figured it was full of artificial ingredients and easy squeeze cheese. I am ashamed that I never thought of making a roux. I don't expect everyone to know what it is, but I've been an avid Food Network watcher for over a year now. It's a thickener made with melted butter, flour and milk or cream.

I barely had to do any research before I found a recipe with raving reviews as to how close it was to the real Panera thing. The soup came out amazing, and truly close to the original but I'd still tweak it in the future. Here are some of my notes:

The soup came out very intensely cheddar flavored. I realize it's one of the main flavors, but it was pretty strong. I'd either use mild cheddar next time and/or less of it.
It probably had something to do with the generous portions, but we had a very heavy feeling in our stomachs after eating so I might try milk instead of half and half or a combination next time. I now see that some of the others who commented on the recipe did that and it came out fine.
I didn't use any salt and pepper and it was very flavorful.
Some of the comments on the recipe page said that Panera listed dijon mustard and hot sauce in their ingredients for this soup. I didn't try it this time, but I'll probably try it next time. They didn't list quantities though!

As you can tell, I'm a little addicted to my breadmaker right now. It's so easy to make the dough! I did bagels twice last week and homemade pizza dough. Today I also made homemade french baguettes. They tasted almost perfect, but a few things I might try next time:

A little less water in the mix. I've been adding a little extra since the bagel recipe I used recommended it for certain breadmakers. I used 1-1/4 cups water and the dough was ridiculously sticky.
An egg wash on top before going in the oven. They came out nice and crispy from baking with a pan of water underneath for 20 minutes, but they weren't very brown. I'm wondering if that might help. Plus I rolled them out with some flour because the dough was so sticky, so they were very white on top.
I also might try a higher temperature to assist in the browning.

In any case, they still tasted great. Not as chewy or crisp as Panera but still crisp on the outside and soft on the inside with great flavor.

Money saving tip

2011-01-23T09:31:00.002-05:00

How have I never thought of this before? Using baby shampoo as eye makeup remover. Little 3oz bottles of eye makeup remover seem to start at around $6 and climb at an alarming rate. While a 20oz bottle of baby shampoo (name brand) is only $4. It's gentle on the eyes and totally works. Just a dab on a cotton ball with some water. Man, I wish I discovered this sooner!

15 months!

2011-01-21T11:25:00.003-05:00

Evan had his 15 month checkup this morning. He is up to 25 lbs (he weighed in at 25lbs 2oz while holding lovey... couldn't rip it away from him and the nurse felt bad, so she knocked off 2oz for lovey). And he's 33 1/2 inches tall. He's up to the 58th percentile from the 50th for weight, and up to the 97th percentile from the 90th for height. Tall and skinny kid! Well, he does have a little bit of a belly, but oh so cute! He's been healthy aside from a few sniffles around the holidays and I'm so grateful for that!

He's got a few words that he'll actually share with you when he's not being stubborn. His first was "ball" (or "bah") and he'll use that one a lot. He has said "bath", "tada", "that", "juice", and still says mama and dada but not in reference to Jack or myself. He'll go around the room and point at things and ask "dat?" and we'll tell him what he's pointing to.

He loooves to hide now, in little nooks or forts. His favorite is behind the movie cabinet in the family room. He also hides behind the glider in his room and under the kitchen island behind the stools.

He still loves all balls and anything ball shaped (like clementines and balloons). He loves playing Xbox with Daddy. He even has a preference for the player 1 controller. How does he know? He gets super excited when you're at the top of the stairs and will point downstairs because he knows the Xbox is down there. When you ask him "Do you want to go downstairs?" he'll get all giddy and squeal and bounce up and down in your arms. And the first thing he does when he gets down there is grab the controllers and try to climb up on the couch.

He loves shoes. He tries to put them on himself. He loves to stomp around in them. He loves building blocks now. We got him megablocks for Christmas and he's getting better and better at building towers. We got his bumbo seat back out and he loves climbing in and out of it himself. He loves books. His favorite right now is a 60 page Cars book (Pixar). There is a paragraph on every page and takes about 30 minutes to read through the whole thing but he sits there for all of it! Since he's not much of a snuggler at all anymore, I'll usually read the whole thing to him every night just to get my snuggles.

He's starting to eat more of the food we eat, thank God! He loves stuffed peppers - both the peppers and the filling! He had more than a few bites (which was more than I expected) of our Chicken Divan casserole from the other night. He joins in pizza night with us. We pull up his highchair next to the couch. Some other favorites are chicken tenders, quesadillas, meatballs, PB&J, and fish. Yes, fish! Lemony flaky fish. Oh I love it too, just never expected him to! He still loves yogurt, all fruits, grape tomatoes, whole grain waffles and goldfish. He'll sometimes have peas, and I made spinach pesto pasta which he loves, but other than that we're striking out on vegetables! Hopefully he'll like them more when he gets more teeth and can have them raw.

Well, that's about all that's new with the Bub/the Erv/the Evster/E-man/Skittles... all nicknames we use regularly.

Warm soup belly

2011-01-18T18:27:00.003-05:00

There's nothing like warm soup belly on a snowy winter day. Last night I made Red Bell Pepper Soup. I was hoping it would come out like my favorite Roasted Red Pepper Bisque from my waitressing days, but it wasn't quite there. It was a lot thinner than I was expecting but still very tasty.

Ingredients

2 red bell peppers
5 2/3 cup vegetable stock
1 bermuda onion, finely chopped (I couldn't find Bermuda onion at the grocery store, but read that sweet onion can be substituted)
2 carrots, chopped
3/4 cup peeled, seeded, and chopped cucumber
scant 1 cup cauliflower florets
1 extra large egg yolk (I never buy extra large eggs, so I just used 2 large egg yolks. Seemed fine!)
6 tbsp heavy cream
3 tbsp dry sherry
salt & pepper

1. Preheat the broiler. Put the bell peppers on a cookie sheet and broil, turning frequently, for 10 minutes, until blistered and charred. Remove with tongs, put them in a plastic bag and seal (or a bowl covered with plastic wrap). Let stand until cool enough to handle. Don't underestimate the "sweat stage". It will be harder to peel if you go in too quickly. Peel, halve, and seed them, then chop the flesh.

2. Meanwhile, pour the vegetable stock into a pan and bring to a boil. Add the bell peppers, onion, carrots, cucumber, and cauliflower and bring back to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

3. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool slightly. Transfer the soup to a food processor, in batches if necessary, and process to a puree.

4. Return the soup to the pan. Beat together the egg yolk and cream in a bowl and stir into the soup, season with salt & pepper, and reheat gently, stirring occasionally; do not let the soup boil. Stir in the sherry, ladle into warmed bowls, and serve immediately.

Now, ever since I saw my friend Jen's latest blog post about making her own bagels, I have been dying to make them. And as you can see from the date on the post, that is about 2 days! I was a little intimidated because she put a lot of time into it! I found a shortcut recipe on another blog which uses a bread machine, which we fortunately have! They really weren't too hard at all! Some things I'll probably take into consideration next time -

Take care when pinching the ends of the bagel together. My seals weren't the greatest and came totally apart at the boiling stage with 3 out of 8 of the bagels.
I will not use my dutch oven for boiling next time. It takes way too long to boil the water and never really got to a rolling boil.
The blog recipe says to let sit for 15 minutes before boiling. I read a lot of comments about leaving it to sit a little longer, so I let them sit for 30 minutes.
I baked for about 25 minutes and they were just starting to brown. I'll probably give them a little more time to crisp up next time.

I made 4 plain and 4 sesame. I'm looking forward to trying others!

Here's our yummy lunch on a cold snowy day. Doesn't get much cozier, right?

Balloon boy

2011-01-16T23:11:00.005-05:00

So Evan had a first today. His first menu item at a restaurant. We tagged along with some friends for lunch at Moe's at the last minute after church so we weren't prepared with any lunch food for Evan. Fortunately Moe's has a kids eat free deal on Sundays, so we didn't waste anything trying! Evan had a cheese quesadilla and oatmeal raisin cookie. He even got his own kid cup but didn't use it because he hasn't used a straw yet. He also got a balloon! Thank God for the balloon man. We were pushing it with naptime and attention span and the balloon guy came around and bought us probably another 30 minutes of peace and quiet! He continued to enjoy it at home as you can see below.

up, up and away!

hehe, just kidding!

Too bad the balloon gives away the location of my secret lair!

3 down, 97 to go

2011-01-13T22:03:00.005-05:00

I have tackled 3 soups out of my new cookbook. First was Chicken & Leek soup. My first time cooking with leeks. I had seen them prepped several times on Food Network so I wasn't too intimidated. My second was Bacon & Potato soup, which includes a fair amount of cabbage. My first time working with cabbage (aside from cole slaw). This week I made French Onion soup. It is a high favorite of mine and I knew I was going to be pretty critical of it. I know I'll tweak it a bit the next time I make it but I've got a great recipe to start off with. Ok, ok... I'll share it and what I plan to do in the future:

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil (I might use a little more next time, to avoid some burnage on the pan)

2 tbsp butter

4-5 onions thinly sliced (prepare for your eyes to burn!)

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tsp sugar

8 3/4 cups vegetable stock (I realize they sell it in 4 cup boxes so you could probably get away with 8 cups. I had a little extra leftover from a previous soup)

2 tbsp all purpose flour

2/3 cup dry white vermouth

3 tbsp brandy

salt and pepper

day old crusty bread

provolone cheese slices (the thicker the better)

1. Heat the oil with the butter in a large pan. Add the onions, stir well, cover, and cook over very low heat, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes. Uncover the pan, increase the heat to medium, stir in the garlic, sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt, and cook, stirring frequently, for 30-40 minutes, until the onions are deep golden brown. It's important to make sure they're deep golden brown. I think I gave up too early in the browning... about 15 minutes in.

2. Meanwhile, bring the vegetable stock to a boil in another pan. Sprinkle the flour over the onions and cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Stir in the vermouth and cook, stirring constantly for 2 minutes, until the alcohol has evaporated, then gradually stir in the hot stock and bring to a boil. Skim off any foam that rises to the surface, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 40 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, prepare the croutons: cut crusty bread into cubes, drizzle in olive oil and desired spices (I used garlic powder) and bake for 10 minutes at 350.

4. Stir in brandy, remove the pan from the heat, and taste and adjust the seasoning. Ladle into warmed bowls with croutons and top with cheese.

At step #4, the recipe book calls for the extravagant $16/lb gruyere cheese. I chose to substitute the cheaper provolone cheese for the time being until I perfect the recipe someday. I also don't have the earthenware crocks that can go in the oven so I either melt the cheese with the heat of the soup or pop it into the microwave for a little bit. This is not my picture below, but what I'm shooting for in the future. Delicious looking, right?

I'm looking forward to perfecting this one, and also trying so many more from the book. I think the next on my list is something with clams or shrimp bisque.

Christmas blur

2011-01-01T15:48:00.004-05:00

So many times I wish I had stopped to blog about the events of our holiday season, but the craziness of travel and guests took over and I am finally getting around to it. Hopefully I recall everything worth mentioning!

Well, a few weeks ago we bought our first Christmas present to ourselves... a new mailbox. We weren't expecting this one but thanks to some bored vandals we have replaced our ugly old florally decaled mailbox with a plain but new brown one. I was comforted by the fact that we weren't the only house, let alone the only neighborhood to get hit. We have been vandalized before - our solar lights along the front path of our house were smashed on 2 separate occasions a few summers back and skidmarks were left on our lawn. I was beginning to think we were singled out for some reason but at least a handful of houses in at least 2 neighborhoods were hit. We honestly weren't sad to see the old mailbox go.

We hosted my in-laws for an overnight on Saturday the 18th before all heading down to Amish country in Pennsylvania for an overnight visit to Jack's grandparents and uncle. We met up with Regan and Strom in PA who drove up from Virginia with their sweet little kitten. We all stayed in a quaint Mennonite-run B&B, which we've stayed at a few times now. 8 of us (all except Joseph) crammed into the 2 bedroom "home away from home" for the night, and it always leaves us feeling like we just took the best vacation. Of course we had a great time with the grandparents and "Uncle/Nephew/Cousin Skip/Mac/Jim/Seamus McDade/McDaid" (he has a new preferred nickname each time we see him it seems and I can't bring myself to call him the latest - "Ugly Stick"). Grandmom of course went above and beyond as usual... plenty of food and desserts, and very generous with her gifts. Doobie was pleasant and conversational which was a bonus as he's in agonizing back pain most of the time now. I of course knew the timing of our gift would fall at the most inconvenient time, but it all worked out. We ordered a photo book for them and had it shipped straight there since we didn't think it would make it here in time before our trek down there. After 2 hours of trying to say goodbye on Monday and finally having our coats on and making our way towards the door, the phone call came that the package had arrived downstairs. I wouldn't have stressed so much if I hadn't planned on making a visit to my aunt and uncle on our way home who were about 15 miles away. Well, coats came back off and I called my aunt to let her know we were running behind. It all worked out. The photo book came out great, and they loved it and we got to see her face as she turned each page!

We somehow made it out of there around 3 (originally attempting to leave at 1), and weaved the country roads to Kinzers where my aunt and uncle live. I hadn't seen them since our wedding 4 years ago, so I was excited to visit, even if only for an hour. It was very nice catching up, and an extra special treat to hear Uncle Malc say "Holy Mackerel!" as I came in the door. He had a stroke about 7 or 8 years ago, so "Holy Mackerel" is a speech for him!

After a short visit we were back on the road, our second consecutive day of driving 6ish hours. Evan didn't take to it so well, nor did he the previous day. We pushed through the frustration with some internal screaming and a few tears on my part, with the hopes that we could convince the family to take a day off from driving and crash at our place for an extra day. Well, there were some plans in Maine that couldn't be put off so the next day (Tuesday), we were on our way again - another 6ish hour drive! We stopped in Freeport at LLBean for a clothing exchange, and a much needed break from the car. It was a Christmas wonderland and an experience in itself just to be in the Flagship store!

We rejoined the family (They got about a 2 hour head start from NY) around 9:30pm finally able to kick up our feet and take a break from driving/riding for the next 5 days (I must admit, Jack did 95% of the driving and I'm eternally grateful for it!).

The next few days were laid back and relaxing - Christmas movies, cocoa, way too many sweets, and lots and lots of family time. One day, after a fresh blanket of snow was laid, my father-in-law dug out the old kiddie sled for Evan. We bundled him up and everyone headed outside to watch. It was a pathetic sight indeed. Evan was all tears the whole time. He did a little better with someone supporting his back since he kept toppling into the snow, but not an ounce of eager excitement was emitted. Didn't stop all of us from cracking up at the pitiful lad.

I'm not sure who it was that first discovered how perfect the snow was for packing into snowballs, but it wasn't long before a snowbrawl fight (spelling is intentional) broke out. Jack took this opportunity to exercise his filmmaker skills and set up some wicked slo-mo snowball attacks and then in about 5 minutes put together this "movie trailer".

The Snow Day from Jack McDade on Vimeo.

Christmas Eve quickly arrived, which is the big day in the McDade household. We prettied ourselves up and headed out to the Christmas Eve service which was rumored to be much different than the usual program they'd put on the past 19 years. Well, I had only been there once before and didn't actually get to witness much of it since Jack and I were trading Evan-watching in the foyer for the duration. No childcare at the second service! From what I heard, it was a terrific service!

Then we all headed to the traditional Christmas Eve party at friends of the family and enjoyed the renowned "chowdah". Jack, Evan and I bailed early to get the Mr Fussypants to bed (Evan that is, not Jack!).

Soon after, the rest of the family came home and we had our birthday party for Jesus which included delectable cheesecake, and the march of the baby Jesus figurine to the Nativity set. Soon after, us "kids" were willingly banished to the basement for a little last minute wrapping, bonding time and anticipation building while the "grown ups" played Santa and organized the gift piles, lit candles, got a fire going (not hard with a gas fireplace!) and laid out platter after platter of sinfully delicious sweets. Word to the wise - save Regan's gourmet brownies for last... just a few bites and you're done for the night!

We were finally called up around 11pm and got some much needed coffee in preparation for the next 4 hours of gift-giving! I remember my first newlywed Christmas, and most people got wedding pictures which are much more expensive than you would think! My newlywed sister-in-law and her husband absolutely spoiled everyone, not to be outdone by well.. everyone there! I was blown away by the generosity. One gift that I wasn't expecting and I'm super excited about is a recipe book for soups. I just made Chicken and Leek soup in my new Dutch Oven a few days ago. My first time cooking with leeks, and it was delicious! I'm so excited to try the others. Although I probably won't try all 100... there are a few funky ones in there!

We wrapped up (or should I say unwrapped up) around 3am and headed to bed. I was up with Evan a few short hours later at 7:15, and was surprised to see most of the family roll out of bed by 9! We hung out in PJs most of the day and Evan had his present opening. He of course loved unwrapping more than the present itself, and would let out the cutest "ooooooh!" with perfectly circular clenched lips with every shred of the paper.

Once we were cleaned up, the preparations for the delicious feast began and some of us were able to sneak away for a few rounds of Bananagrams and Rummikub. I don't remember who won any of the rounds except one round of Rummikub. Strom was ridiculously behind... stuck with less than 30 points in his first put-down hand, drawing tile upon tile every round. In an unexpected turnaround, he ended up winning in a few rounds.... very humbly I might add *insert sarcastic cough*.

Before we knew it, the scents that were teasing us for hours were finally upon our taste buds: ham with a very special homemade cranberry mustard sauce, green bean casserole, scalloped potatoes, amish sweet bread (yes, from the B&B!), sweet potato muffins, tossed salad, pistachio salad, applesauce, and pumpkin bread.

It was all over too quickly, but I had something more to anticipate - Christmas with my family was held off for a day so we wouldn't miss it! We packed up the car bright and early the next morning, hoping to get home before the Noreaster hit and we made it! We got in around 2 and headed to Ginger's house for the Stannard festivities. Being the 26th, we were missing a few people but at least all but 1 popped in for part of it! I finally got to see my parents who had flown in a few days earlier. I must admit, my family Christmas is a bit more chaotic than the candlelight Christmas Eve at the McDades, but I'm so glad I didn't miss it! We distributed our secret santa niece/nephew gifts and surprised my parents with their Celtic Woman DVDs and concert tickets. My parents distributed their gifts and shared some videos and pictures from their epic photo safari to Africa in October. Before we knew it, the party was over and it was back to the ol' homestead for about 36 hours of recuperation and cleaning before hosting my parents for their last 2 nights.

It went too fast, but we packed in just about everything I was hoping to do with my parents - Rummikub and Bananagrams, a chick flick with Mom (Leap Year), watching the Star of Bethlehem - an amazing documentary on the cosmic poem that God wrote around the life of Jesus, highly recommended. We squeezed in a quick visit up to my uncle's farm where Evan met the horses, and LOVED them. He kept pointing them out as if to say "they're both the same!" He'd want to go in the barn and point at the horse in there, and then point out the door so he could point to the one outside, and back and forth over and over again. And the display of waterworks that arose when we walked away from the horses led me to believe he got a little more of me in him than I thought!

My parents' final night here was the traditional "Stannard 6" night where my sisters come over for some nuclear family time. We're not cliquish about it though. Jack joined us for some and Sabina/Steve/Levi joined for a bit too. It's always a great sendoff for my parents. Not wanting the visit to end, my parents stayed up with Jack and I until the impressive hour of 1am! We had a few hours with them the following morning where Jack further sold my dad on the idea of going Mac. I begrudgingly brought them to the airport around noon, begging them for a longer visit next year, and hoping to visit them in the spring.

Jack, Evan and I spent yesterday and today lazing about and recovering from the craziness of the last few weeks. We skipped a few parties, but enjoyed staying in for New Years Eve. We had a movie marathon of Invictus, and Scott Pilgrim vs the World. Two very different genres but we liked both!

And that, my friends, is our Christmas blur!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2010-12-05T13:59:00.004-05:00

Jack, Evan and I set out on Friday (thank God for self employment freedom!) to get our Christmas tree. Jack grew up going to Bob's Trees which is about 45 minutes from our house. In our married Christmases together we've gotten from Bob's twice and been very happy, even with their pre-cuts. We got our tree from other places the other two Christmases and boy did they shed! I didn't care what it took this year, we were getting our tree from Bob's! So after a 45 minute drive out, we bundled Evan up and stepped out on the lot of precuts. I picked up the very first tree we walked by and that was the one. Jack felt that the long drive warranted some further shopping so we picked up a few others just for kicks, knowing full well we were going back to the first one. So after a 45 minute drive, 1 minute on the lot, and a 45 minute drive home... we had our tree!

Pop Quiz

2010-12-03T15:38:00.003-05:00

Evan has begun "testing" us. From unprovoked slaps in the face to continually throwing food on the floor at meals, and then attempted biting when scolded. This has all just arisen in the last week, it seems. I guess this is where we transition from taking care of Evan into actual parenting! Prayers are appreciated! We are experimenting with disciplines. The one that seems to work right now is a shunning timeout. We had to use it a few times yesterday after we were slapped in the face. Sitting him on the ground and turning around with our backs to him brought forth the most reaction from him. Here we go to a new phase of parenting!

Would you like an apple pie with that?

2010-11-25T15:17:00.006-05:00

Thanksgiving Menu:
- Turkey (of course)
- Stuffing
- Mashed potatoes
- Candied Yams
- Cranberry Jelly
- Applesauce
- Sweet Potato Muffins
- Multigrain Tuscan Boule Bread
- Green Bean Casserole
- Butternut Squash Soup
- Peas
- Corn
- Pistachio Salad
- Tossed Salad
- And new this year, courtesy of our Korean visitors: Korean pancakes

Dessert:
- Apple Pie
- Pumpkin Pie
- Pumpkin White Chocolate Cookies
- Homemade Ice Cream

As usual, way too much food was consumed. In fact once we were finished with the meal, Jack dared Strom to a second Thanksgiving dinner. The challenge was accepted and they loaded their plates full of another round of turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing (the essentials) and then prayed [for forgiveness for their gluttony]. And agreed they would be partaking of double dessert. We had a great time with family and friends, and are about to sit down to the traditional Christmas movie viewing (that half of us go comatose during). Hope you all had an enjoyable holiday too!

A new chapter

2010-11-21T22:51:00.005-05:00

The McDade family is starting a new chapter of life. Jack is officially self employed. It's something he's always wanted to do, but has been very careful about the right time to make the move. His last day at Fingerpaint was on Friday, and we're enjoying some family time in Maine for Thanksgiving before he starts this new and exciting chapter. I have no doubts that he'll do great. He's very ambitious and driven, a great self-teacher and a gifted entrepreneur. Congrats babe!

Fall Cleanup

2010-11-14T19:45:00.004-05:00

I dread this time of year, at least as long as we'll be living here. Spring and Fall lawn cleanup is not just a chore, it's tribulation, a burden, an unholy mess. I counted 17 pine and oak trees on our property in the middle of the yard. This doesn't include the countless trees that line our property that also litter their needles and leaves all over. We fill up at least 50 30-gallon lawn bags each season. We have hired help three times and had some help last fall from Jack's family while we were in the hospital with newborn Evan. We tackled the lawn from hades this weekend. It was a gorgeous weekend, upper 50's and sunny. We had a little hired help for a few hours each day and managed to fill 52 lawn bags. And there's still more to do. *sigh* At least Evan played outside for some of it!

Daylight Savings

2010-11-07T19:24:00.002-05:00

Fall back is usually something I somewhat look forward to... only for the extra hour of sleep or staying up an hour later. Of course I always dread the earlier darkness for approaching winter months. This year I've been dreading it because I have a kid with a pretty strict body clock that probably doesn't recognize Daylight Savings. I spent the last week preparing him for it, pushing off naps, meals and bedtime as much as I could. But when he caught a cold I had to cave in and let him set his own bedtime. Well, here we are on our first day of daylight savings and I have to say, I'm impressed with how well Evan did. We stuck to an almost normal schedule, maybe slightly on the early side for certain things.

Now I have two sick boys in the house! Jack has it the worst, with some nasty chest cold and fever that is moving up into the sinuses. Evan only has a runny nose so far. Poor kid has a chapped nose and cheeks from us rubbing the snot bubbles away so much. I started to catch the cold part too, but was able to fight it off with Zicam before it took over. Love that stuff! Good thing, too because I don't know how we'd all take care of each other if we were all sick!

So Evan is growing and developing every day! Just today he made two pretty big accomplishments... he fed himself applesauce with a spoon (pretty successfully!) and has learned how to sort and stack (with my tupperware). He's also getting much better at walking, and went all the way down the hall today! He can't stand up without pulling himself up on something, but once he's up he can usually get at least 10 steps and sometimes 20-25 before toppling.

I've been watching a lot of Food Network over the last year and have gotten really excited about trying new recipes. Sometimes I just need a little inspiration about what things go together and I whip up my own thing. My latest conquest is Asian Lettuce Wraps, which I made a couple weeks ago for my in-laws. I made it again tonight, and it will probably become a regular in the rotation until I get sick of it! Here's the "recipe" to the best of my knowledge in case anyone (Regan - your mom said you'd probably like this one!) would like to try it out! These are rough estimates on my quantities. You can always taste test and adjust ingredients in the sauce before adding everything back into the pan.

1 lb ground turkey
1/4 cup chopped carrots
1/4 cup chopped bell pepper (red or orange... I prefer red for the color contrast with carrots)
1/4 cup chopped water chestnuts
8 romaine lettuce leaves, closer to the hearts for the "boat" shape
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar
sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes
sprinkle of sesame seeds
optional bean sprouts and chow mein noodles for toppings

- Brown ground turkey in deep saute pan. Remove from pan and then drain extra grease if any.

- Add carrots, bell pepper, and water chestnuts to pan. Cook for a few minutes until slightly tender. Remove from pan.

- Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar and crushed red pepper to pan, mixing together until sugar is dissolved.

- Return everything back to pan and mix with sauce. Top with some sesame seeds.

- Serve in lettuce leaves, taco style. Top with bean sprouts and chow mein noodles if desired.

This should serve 3 hungry people, 4 people with some supplementary side dishes, or 2 very hungry people with some leftovers! I served it with a side of brown fried rice with carrots, onions and peas.

This isn't a picture of my actual lettuce wraps but roughly what they look like!

Birthday Boy!

2010-10-25T09:25:00.004-04:00

Evan turned one year old last Thursday, the 21st. Everyone says it, but it's so true... they grow up so fast! All day I was saying to myself "Exactly one year ago I was...". At 4:30pm I grabbed Evan as he was enjoying a snack of goldfish and I put him on my belly like they did when he first arrived. Yup, they definitely change a lot in a year. He was squirming trying to get more goldfish into his mouth!

We didn't really do a lot of special stuff on his birthday. It was just Jack and me with him, and he didn't realize we were paying extra attention to him and trying to give him special treats at dinner.

We officially celebrated on Saturday with a little party for him which included our families. Evan got a bunch of new toys and clothes (thank you everyone!). So we should be all set to deal with cabin fever now! We sang to him in typical McDade fashion (horribly out of tune and sync). We had pizza, ice cream cake and cupcakes, with way too much left over. He had his first tasty treat - a cupcake! He had dinner first, and then played for a little and when we put him back in the high chair for the cupcake he burst out into tears! He was having so much fun playing and was very upset to be confined again. He eventually stuck a ball he was holding into the frosting and then put it in his mouth and realized what a treat was in front of him. He devoured the whole thing, aside from a few bites he shared with me and some bits and pieces that got stuck all over his face! Evan had a great time with his new toys and playing with his cousins. But most of all, he showed off and took his first steps! He hobbled a little the last couple days with steps that we were hesitant to actually count. But then in front of everyone at his party he went and took 9 steps! And then he applauded himself!

Watching Timmy Time with Aunt Catherine

Evan with cousins- Tiffany (15 mos), Levi (4 mos) and 1 year old Evan!

Catching up

2010-10-17T10:33:00.007-04:00

I feel like there's so much to blog about that I never get around to because of my future techie kid who gets jealous when I use the laptop. So here I go catching up...

Labor Day - We had a blast at our friend's Andy & Aubrey's BBQ. There were a bunch of other families and friends there. Evan had fun "playing football", holding lovey up at gunpoint, playing with bubbles and dressing up as a cowboy. OK, maybe we had fun staging most of that, but at least he went along with it!

Thanksmas - about a month ago now we celebrated "Thanksmas" with my family. We got together with my parents and sisters and their families (sans Erika who is doing grad school in Boston, and Sabina/Steve/Levi who were visiting his side of the family). We celebrated all of the cousin birthdays, ranging from January - October. We went apple picking and on a hayride. We also had a Thanksgiving dinner since my parents are in Florida for Thanksgiving and all us daughters celebrate with our in-laws. It was a beyond gorgeous day... warm and sunny, bright blue sky.

Scotland comes to Clifton Park - we had visitors from Scotland for about a week! A hopeful hire for Fingerpaint and his wife flew over for an in-person interview and to get to know the area. Jack had networked with Steven Grant through Twitter. Turns out the Grants are the Scottish version of us! They're celebrating their 4th anniversary this month, have a 1 yr old (and a 2 yr old... they're ahead of us on that!), visited the Dominican Republic for their 1st anniversary, love all the same shows as us... needless to say we had a blast with them. We found ourselves thinking in a Scottish accent by the end of their visit! Steven went in to the office with Jack for 2 days and Sarah and I got together with Sara J and Danielle (FP wives past and present). We had a great time showing them around the area and just hanging out getting to know each other. I must admit, the thought of hosting guests we had never met was a little intimidating, but I'm so glad we had the opportunity and pray that it's just the beginning of our friendship with them.

Celebrations - Jack celebrated his 27th birthday (we're the same age!) on Oct 1. We FINALLY went on a date! We got a babysitter and set off for dinner at the newly opened Buffalo Wild Wings. Well, it was their first Friday and we were looking at about an hour wait. We found it silly to be paying a babysitter a mile away while we sat around for an hour so we went to Sakura (sushi and hibachi) for dinner instead. We were determined to see a movie that night since we've only been on 2 movie dates since Evan was born. We had slim pickings but opted for "The Town" starring and directed by Ben Affleck. We were very pleasantly surprised. Although the story is nothing like the Departed, it impressed us to that degree.

Oct 1st also marks a new celebration in our family... Steve and Sabina Ronald's anniversary! In a very special and intimate wedding celebration, Sabina and Steve tied the knot! Here they are with their little "Ring Bear".

We also celebrated our 4th anniversary on Oct 8. We're officially celebrating with a date night in 2 more weeks when my sister will take Evan for an overnight but as an unofficial celebration we went out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse with Evan in tow.

Surgery - we had to postpone our anniversary date because I actually just had surgery. If you're shocked that you were out of the loop, don't be. I actually hardly told anyone beforehand because I myself wasn't even thinking about it... probably a good thing so I wouldn't get worked up! When I was pregnant with Evan they discovered a cyst on my ovary that they kept an eye on for the next year and when it didn't resolve on its own, they recommended having it surgically removed. I put that off for about 9 months and then finally went for it. It was outpatient surgery, and lathroscopic, and also really downplayed. We also didn't tell many people because the way it was explained it seemed no more intense than getting some fillings at the dentist. Well I spent about 8 hours at the hospital (3 of which were pre-op) and left with 4 very small yet very sore incisions, very nauseous and very groggy. Jack stayed home the rest of the week. Evan plays quite aggressively these days! The first few days were pretty rough but within a week I was pretty much back to 99%.

Well, the bub is up from his nap so I will leave with a few more autumn pics.

11 months!

2010-09-23T21:38:00.003-04:00

So what's new with my almost 1 year old? I'm trying to expand his cuisine options, which gets difficult for a little dude with only 2 teeth! Some new things that we've had great success with is string cheese, pesto pasta, quesadillas, fish, meatballs, and ground turkey. The fish has to be marinated. I had made fish tacos for Jack and I one night and gave Evan a little try. He couldn't get enough, surprisingly! So I cooked him some more the next day with no seasoning and he didn't touch it. So now I marinate it the same way as the fish tacos every time and he gobbles it up - olive oil, lemon juice, chili powder and allspice. He doesn't like many veggies but he loves green beans and peas. I sneak tomatoes in to the pesto pasta and spinach into quesadillas. I'm trying to think of some ways to sneak other veggies into his diet.

He's starting to self-wean. He's just not as interested in nursing anymore... but he's not very interested in cow's milk either! We've only tried it for a few days, and I know it's a rough transition for some kids, but Evan seems ready to move on!

He hasn't shown much interest in trying to walk but we've caught him letting go of his prop when standing a few times and freestanding for a few seconds. He just got a walking toy for an early birthday present and he's still learning how to use it. He starts moving too fast and ends up on his knees and will then walk across the room on his knees. It's super cute!

I've noticed that he's really been developing his spacial intelligence. He's figuring out how certain objects fit into others. He gets a really intense face when he's learning too! When he tips out his toy bin I notice that a lot of the time he'll pull out balls. I think he's going to be a jock! My nephew did the same thing when he was little and he ended up playing football, baseball and soccer (now college soccer!). He's expanding his vocabulary ever so slightly. A lot of stuff is still "dadadada" but there's more mamama or just "meh" happening, nanana, bababa, bebebe, bwabwabwa and some other random syllables. It doesn't seem like he's associated any sounds with a particular object yet. He will "motorboat" when he's playing with his trucks though. Is that just a boy instinct?

A bunch of videos

2010-09-17T13:35:00.002-04:00

Flattulant from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

uh yuh yuh yuh yuh from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

My new face from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Big cup from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Skype from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.
Here's Evan skyping with Aunt Catherine

Bathtime from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

I wanna be just like Daddy

2010-09-17T13:33:00.003-04:00

Ok so Jack was actually copying Evan in each of these pictures, but they're still wicked cute!

It's that time of year

2010-09-16T08:52:00.006-04:00

No, not Christmas... although I did see Christmas stuff out at Michael's a few weeks ago. And one of my neighbors has their lights up already. Well, not already...still. They still have their lights up. No, it's that time of year where I let go of my beloved summer and commit to liking fall. I really don't mind the season on it's own. It's the reminder of the imminent long winter that prevents me from fully loving it.

But I'm committed to liking it now. I turned on the heat for the first time this morning. I can handle the house temp a little cooler, but I'm not sure Evan can. Especially since my fellow summer lover hates wearing socks! Plus my thin-blooded now-Floridian parents were coming over and I didn't want them to freeze! The leaves are starting to change. I can get away with cooking heartier hot meals. The flip flops are getting less use since it's cool enough to prefer socks. I bought cider donuts and apple cider. I'm looking forward to going apple picking with my extended family on Saturday (Evan's first time!). And we're going to have a Thanksmas dinner afterwards. We were just going to keep it low key with a bbq or pizza, but my sister Ginger being the adorable kook and cook that she is happened to have a large and small turkey in the freezer and threw that idea out there. My parents are in Florida for Thanksgiving but visit for Christmas but we have a low-key Christmas dinner so this is the second time we're having a big Thanksmas dinner before they head south.

I like this season even more now that it reminds me of the anticipation we had before Evan was born last year and life with newborn Evan. The late night chilly walks trying to trigger labor, cooking up a storm to freeze a bunch of meals, checking into the hospital, bringing him home and going for walks with the stroller running over the crunchy leaves. It all stirs up such wonderful memories of my little bitty guy who is now a chatty crawler/climber who eats solid foods, has a tooth, plays in the bathtub, torments the cat and wears 18 month clothes.

Back online

2010-09-15T14:32:00.006-04:00

Ok the title is a bit deceiving because I've been online here and there, but the home-laptop has been on the fritz for almost 2 months now. It would only work when plugged in and would hibernate whenever it came unplugged... even if it was shut. This left me pretty unmotivated to blog. Not to mention that most of our pictures/video end up on Jack's work laptop since we got our new Canon 7D. Well the laptop is fixed now, thankfully under warranty. I still have to get a bunch of video/pictures from Jack's laptop to post but here's a few things I have access to right now.

Playing outside on a blanket. We miss the summer already!

My new face

Who knew Baby Orajel had 2 uses for teething?

Apparently Evan is finished with these childish toys so he took it upon himself to throw them in the garbage.

If I don't want it, you can't have it either from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.
Here's Evan "sharing" his food with Daddy.

Humph from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.
I haven't figured out exactly what this means. Sometimes he imitates me doing it. Sometimes he'll do it when he's frustrated. Sometimes he'll do it when I'm changing his diaper. Sometimes he'll do it when I make a different face at him. Whatever it means, it always makes me laugh!

Belly Laughs from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.
Good ol' changing table fun

10 months old!

2010-08-23T14:51:00.002-04:00

My little boy is 10 months old already! He's all hands & knees when crawling now, and man he gets around fast! He pulls himself up like a pro and sometimes when he lets go, he'll hover a little before plopping on his behind. He's started pivoting when sitting up using just his legs. It looks like a little breakdance move! He loves throwing his toys down the stairs. It's pretty funny watching him crawl back and forth to grab a toy and then throw it through the banister slats!

He's understanding more and more. Hopefully getting the hang of the word "no". When he's in the right mood and you ask him for a kiss, he'll come at you with an open mouth until he gives you a kiss! He's adding more and more consonants to his "vocabulary". Dadada is still the most used. He'll occasionally through Daddeeee into the mix. He also likes to say nanana, rarara, and once in a while he'll throw in a mamama.

He FINALLY popped a tooth last week (for my own reference - August 17th is when I first noticed it). He loves feeding himself and has almost completely phased out being fed. He'll still do yogurt for lunch, and maybe 1 or 2 baby food meals in a jar a week for dinner. He loves bagels, macaroni, toast, string cheese, most fruits, and surprisingly canned green beans and frozen peas. He'll eat a little ground beef or chicken. I need to find a way to sneak some more veggies into the mix. He likes throwing his food on the floor with a very defiant look on his face. Drives me crazy! But I think he's still too young to pick a fight with over it.

He's sleeping VERY well these days. He'll still do 11-12 hours at night and now he'll take about a 2 hour nap in the morning and afternoon!

He's getting over his stranger anxiety. He's still a little sensitive if some people make the wrong face at him, but he's doing better at letting other people hold him besides me or Jack.

Wedding season finale

2010-08-17T10:24:00.005-04:00

Where have I been for the last 3 weeks? It's been crazy. Jack and I took off on adventures to opposite sides of the country on July 29. He flew off to Seattle and I drove to Boston with Evan. Jack was the best man for his life-long friend Tom Garrity. We determined earlier in the summer that while it would be awesome to have a family vacation in Seattle, Evan would not endure the trip. So I went to Maine to be with his family with a night in Boston to visit Dan & Tara Van Horne (& Alex!). We had a blast catching up and even though they're over a year apart, the boys played together so well!

I continued on to Maine the next morning and for the first time ever, I arrived by 10:30am! It's a lot easier when you're heading out from Boston! We said some quick hellos and then sent off Papa Jon, Strom, Catherine and Joseph for an overnight hiking trip. We enjoyed some quiet quality time with Gram and Aunt Regan for the next 2 days. You would never know it was the week before her wedding by looking at Regan. Our days were spend sunbathing, lounging in the pool, shopping, going out to dinner, watching movies, stargazing, campfires.... pretty much the usual! It was suuuch a relaxing week leading up to her wedding.

Jack flew in to Portland on Tuesday (Aug 3) after enjoying a few days with his cousin and exploring Seattle after the wedding. Unfortunately, we both ended up catching some nasty stomach bug that we managed to kick right before the wedding. It left me a few pounds lighter (only 1.5 more to go to the pre-preg weight!) but it also left my dress looser!

The wedding went off without a hitch (other than a song mixup at the reception). The weather was PERFECT... 73, partly cloudy and a light breeze. The setting was gorgeous. It was a grassy amphitheater behind the public library in Camden which is a quaint coastal town in Maine. There was a harbor across the street with a bunch of sailboats and yachts. The cool thing about the location is that when we went to Camden after Jack's graduation, we explored around the town after dinner and came across the amphitheater and Regan said "I'd love to get married here someday"... and she did! Something else that was really sweet about the wedding is that Regan had never seen Strom in his dress blues before, so they both got to have a "see each other for the first time" moment in what they were wearing for the wedding. She came down the aisle to the very fitting theme for Band of Brothers before marrying her military man. After a sweet ceremony and some pictures, we headed to the reception around the corner at the Whitehall Inn, a lovely maintained yet historic B&B. They hired a 4 piece band that played hits from the 40's. Such a classy reception. So much dancing to be done, and somehow I didn't get enough! It was so sweet, none of us wanted it to end. We probably spent over an hour saying goodbye over and over again.

Evan was such a trooper. I had been so nervous about this day because he's pretty set in his nap schedule and can be a huge grump if it's thrown off. But he sucked it up and was a blast at the reception, crawling all around the room and giggling and dancing with us. It was such a sweet way to wrap up our wedding season for the year. We miss you terribly Regan & Strom!! Can't wait to see you on your way through NY!

Date night!

2010-07-28T14:40:00.005-04:00

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!

2010-07-28T14:28:00.003-04:00

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

2010-07-12T13:47:00.005-04:00

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

2010-07-11T23:24:00.001-04:00

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!

2010-07-08T22:36:00.001-04:00

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.

8 months old!

2010-06-30T13:52:00.002-04:00

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

2010-06-27T20:37:00.004-04:00

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

2010-06-08T22:32:00.003-04:00

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

2010-06-07T22:45:00.006-04:00

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

2010-06-07T15:07:00.003-04:00

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!

He's on the move!

2010-05-28T22:27:00.002-04:00

Evan has become a master of pivoting and rolling to get himself around somewhat, but tonight for the first time he got the hang of forward motion! Here he is army crawling!

He's on the move! from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Wedding season

2010-05-26T20:16:00.010-04:00

Jack and I will be spending our summer going to weddings... or so it seems! This past weekend kicked it off with Jack's cousin Tommy's wedding. Tommy is a very close cousin to Jack, despite the fact that they only saw each other once or twice a year growing up. They pack all the year's fun into one or two visits. Jack had the pleasure of being one of the groomsmen (as Tommy was one of his!). It was a gorgeous location and you couldn't hope for better weather. It may have been on the hot side (in the 90's during the day!) but the wedding wasn't until 7pm so it cooled off pretty nicely by then. Of course I was wearing a strapless dress and Jack was wearing a tux, so he may feel differently!

Evan was a trooper during the trip. We were both fighting a bug the day before we left, both feverish and both crashed early. The next day we were much better so we headed down to the King of Prussia area in Pennsylvania where the wedding was. Jack happened to have a meeting about 20 miles from the wedding the morning of, so we had our hotel paid for the night before and he didn't have to take any vacation time! Evan was so good on the drive, playing napping and eating without getting out of his carseat for about 6 hours! He was then up until 10pm that night... yikes! 3 hours past his bedtime! And he was actually quite social the whole time at the rehearsal dinner. He remained pretty flexible that night but it was a rough night of sleep with his whole routine thrown off.

We spent the next morning at the hotel while Jack was at his meeting up until checkout time. Then we headed off to King of Prussia mall to kill time until Jack got out of his meeting. Then we enjoyed a mini-vacation dining at Bahama Breeze for lunch. We split jamaican jerk chicken wings, coconut shrimp, and this crab/shrimp/avocado/fruit salsa stack. We killed a little more time back at the mall before heading over to where Jack would be getting ready with the groomsmen. Poor Evan was woken up right after he fell asleep before lunch and when we got to the mall. He was still a good sport and then slept pretty much the whole time we were in the car the 30 minute drive out to drop Jack off and the 35 minute drive back to meet his family at our hotel.

He was running out of patience for the car by the time we were heading back to the wedding but he was actually pretty quiet for the wedding! I had to put him down in the grass to play with a water bottle but hey whatever keeps him quiet!

His behavior during the reception was just about what I expected and what I was dreading. We had no way of getting/bringing a babysitter or leaving him behind since we were continuing our trip to visit Jack's grandparents. So the poor kid stayed up until after 10 for the second night in a row and was beyond exhausted. Tess finally got him to sleep about 20 minutes before the end and he woke up as we moved him to his carseat. Then we heard a cry out of him we had never heard before. A cry of exhaustion and desperation. It was so heartbreaking. I traded seats with Catherine so I could sit in the back with him and get him back to sleep.

It was another night of not-so-good sleep, this time Jack's brother Joseph shared our room and was kept up! AND the rest of his family could hear Evan through the wall in the next room. The next morning we continued our trip out to Quarryville to visit Jack's grandparents. Fortunately Evan slept the whole ride! Jack's grandma met us right outside the front door of their retirement community... so excited to finally meet her first great-grandchild! He was such a good boy for our visit with them.

We finally got to have our Christmas with Uncle Jim, and he spoiled Evan! Some Cars books, Polar Express, and some jungle animals that go perfectly in his safari room!

We went out to dinner to celebrate their 60th anniversary, and Evan ended up falling asleep on my mother-in-law's lap around 6:00!

That night we stayed at the cutest Mennonite B&B. We stayed there before on our last visit. Everything is new construction within the last few years, completely private from their residence, and with lots of home cooked goodies for breakfast and a stocked refrigerator with every beverage you could imagine!

We enjoyed some more time with the grandparents and Uncle Jim the following day before heading home.

Evan was a trooper for the 5 1/2 hour drive home... occasionally needing my company in the back seat with him but pretty good for the drive! He was definitely glad to be home and trying to get back into a routine for him.

And that concludes wedding weekend #1. This weekend Jack & I are heading to Vermont for the day on Saturday for Ryan Guilfoy's wedding while Evan hangs out at my sister's house. The following weekend we all head down to the Pocanoes for my long-time friend Meghan's wedding. Mid-July starts another stretch with Josh Messenger's in Lake George, Tom Garrity's 2 weeks later in Seattle (after this weekend we decided that only Jack will go to that one! He's the best man!), and Regan's in Maine the following weekend (Jack is a groomsman and I'm a bridesmaid!). Lots to celebrate!

Baby Mozart

2010-05-19T14:10:00.001-04:00

Once Evan took a break from sucking on the piano keys, he composed this fine piece

Baby Mozart from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Evan's dedication

2010-05-18T19:39:00.002-04:00

My mom wrote a child dedication song and was thrilled to be able to sing it this year for the dedication of TWO of her grandchildren. Here we have a video of the song and the dedication of 5 children, including Evan, his cousin Tiffany, and our little friend Lydia!

Evan's dedication from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Mothers Day

2010-05-11T00:19:00.003-04:00

What a wonderful Mothers Day. It started with accidentally sleeping in. I've had a noisy box fan running in our room so I could start sleeping through the night. I determined that Evan didn't need a 4am feeding anymore when he started wetting through his overnight diaper and pj's. I tested it out one night and when I got up at 7:30am not being able to hear Evan at all during the night and he was still asleep until 8 AND woke up in a good mood and not ravenous, I felt good about my decision. Well on Sunday morning Jack and I overslept until 9am! We woke up to the doorbell with my parents stopping in. Their power had gone out and they tried to call to see if they could kill time and finish getting ready at our house before church. I'm not sure how long Evan slept or just sang contently in his crib during the morning. There's a chance he did actually sleep that long since he stayed up late playing with Aunt Beth and his cousins the night before while Jack and I went on a date!

The wonderful day continued as we went to church and had Evan dedicated. They do a child dedication every year on Mothers Day and there's always one kid... ...one kid that would rather not be held up in the air by Pastor Bruce. Well Evan was that kid! Fortunately he didn't cry, but he made a few discontented peeps in his superman pose. I was thrilled to be standing next to my sister Beth while her daughter Tiffany was dedicated. And also thrilled to have my parents and my sister Jeannine and her gang all there for it. My mom even sang a song she wrote with the worship team for the occasion.

We came home and had the whole family over to celebrate Mothers Day. Matt & Ryan's girlfriends even joined us for the occasion. I was kinda banking on it being a nice weather day and enjoying the deck that Jack and I powerwashed, and continuing on to the park. But alas, it was only 46 degrees so it was an indoor party. We "snuggled" around the dining room table for our indoor bbq. Mom brought an old VHS from 1987 of their 25th wedding anniversary party. It was a scream to watch. We all gathered around and mocked the hair and fashion of the day. Of course no one mocked my cute 4-year old self.

I was so ready for a nap when everyone left.... yes even though I had slept in until 9! We attempted a family nap in our king sized bed, but Evan wasn't digging that idea. I didn't really feel like falling asleep at 5pm either, but it was nice to relax and snuggle all together.

Jack cleaned up everything from the party and then we skyped with Jack's family to wish his mother a happy day! Evan fell asleep in my arms mid-skype at 6:50pm! Poor kid. I roused him at the end of the convo to change him into pj's and the kid got a second wind and ended up staying up until 9! Oh well, he was very cute and then quite snuggly so I didn't mind at all. Jack ordered Papa John's pizza for dinner at my request (I'll take it any chance I can get since they just returned to the area after about 8 years... plus our stove is busted so we can't cook much!). Evan played in his jumper seat while we ate and watched "The Invention of Lying".

It was a wonderful day, lots of family time, and lots of snuggling with my boys. :)

6 month appointment

2010-04-27T22:57:00.003-04:00

Evan had his 6 month appointment this afternoon. He weighed in at 19 lbs, 3 oz (75th percentile), and is up to 28 inches (90th percentile). He was such a brave boy for his shots. Lots of tears with the needle, but stopped immediately when I picked him up.

We've been doing rice cereal for about a month now and he has become a champ at eating! We started applesauce last week and bananas a few days ago. I'm so excited to introduce Evan to so many different foods! I wish he were hungrier! I might be a bit over-ambitious but I want to try to make baby food. I ordered the book "Feed Me I'm Yours" by Vicki Lansky which was recommended by the pediatrician. I already have an immersion blender which I've used to make soups and mashed potatoes. Seems easy enough... we'll see!

We had a great visit over the weekend with my in-laws. Regan's fiance Strom is back from Afghanistan for some R&R so it was great to see him for the first time since July! We're looking forward to their wedding this August!

It was a gorgeous weekend so we spent a lot of time outside. Evan went for a ride in Joseph's old wagon and played in the grass for the first time!

6 months!

2010-04-21T11:05:00.004-04:00

Evan is 6 months old today! It has flown by, but it also feels like forever ago that we were in the hospital waiting and waiting while he took his precious time. Probably because he's grown and developed in leaps and bounds in such a short amount of time. He's gone from totally helpless to this little person with a will of his own who likes to sit up, play with toys, clap, giggle, gives out lots of smiles, and eat (semi)solid foods!

So what have I learned about Baby sleep, or Evan sleep in particular in the last 6 months? NOTHING. Every time I think I've got a piece of it figured out he changes things up on me. 98% of his naps are still 45 minutes tops. Some days he takes 2 naps, and others he'll take 4. Bedtime is anywhere between 7 and 8 now. Wakeup time is anywhere between 6 and 8. Sometime he'll last 1 hour between naps, and other times almost 4 hours or more. Nighttime sleep is slightly more predictable, although the last week he's woken up crying a few times before his late night snack. That kid sure keeps me on my toes. I've learned to work around it for the most part.

No teeth yet, and it seems like no teething pain for the time being. Hasn't stopped the drool from pouring forth and hasn't stopped everything he can get his hands on (including his hands) from going into the mouth!

It's exhausting work keeping up with him sometimes, but completely worthwhile. I have loved learning every little thing about him, and then relearning when he decides to change things up.

After his bath last night I brushed his hair backwards and looks like the mohawk is back!

Happy (Belated) Easter!

2010-04-11T19:33:00.006-04:00

I just realized I never blogged about Easter last weekend! It all started an hour too early. I heard Evan start singing, which is usually my alarm clock now. I was shocked to read the clock saying 8:45! He never sleeps that late! We got our morning started, all 3 of us getting showered/bathed/breakfast. We were scrambling to get out the door by 10 to leave us plenty of time to get seats on the most crowded Sunday of the year! I was about to grab Evan to put him in his carrier, looked up to see the clock on the wall saying 9:00am. What?! Surely I hadn't gotten up just 15 minutes ago... Oh right! Our bedroom clock is hard coded to the old daylight savings dates and automatically does the reset. Must be that day! Well we had a leisurely hour before church! Aaaand Evan hadn't slept in after all.

It was another gorgeous day. We had a great service at church. The worship team leader wrote a drama for the service which took the place of the sermon and it really blew everyone away. It was a series of monologues by different people who knew Jesus, like Mary Magdalene, Judas, Peter... including an amazing solo of Amazing Grace acapella. Gave me goosebumps!

Family Easter Photo

We went home and enjoyed a restful afternoon, opening our package from Gram! Ok, ok we actually opened it the day before! We got some candy, an Ireland DVD, & The Blind Side. Evan got his own little baseball basket with a ducky, bunny and 2 cute summer outfits.

We were so grateful and honored to be invited to the Groh's house for Easter dinner... the day before nonetheless! They are such incredible people, opening up their home on a special holiday to family, friends and anyone else! We had fun mingling with everyone, and Evan had fun with the LeVake boys again! Dinner was delicious, and it was great to continue the fellowship.

We wrapped up around 7... when all the kids started to crash, and headed to Sam & Christie's for a movie while Evan crashed in their pack & play.

What a day! So wonderful!

Fun at the Park

2010-04-11T19:18:00.005-04:00

The weather was absolutely gorgeous last weekend. We jumped at the opportunity to join the LeVakes & their neighbors, Lederers, Grohs, & Lovelaces for a picnic at Shenentaha Park. We tried out Evan in the baby swing there. He liked it for about 10 seconds and then burst out crying. Fortunately we got some good shots before the waterworks began! He also had fun playing with buddy Charlie!

Milestone!

2010-04-06T16:09:00.001-04:00

Before I forget, I just wanted to record that Evan rolled over back to belly for the first time today!

Here he is in action. He's wimpering a little because he was frustrated with all the takes it took me to get this video! I finally had to bribe him with the remote control!

Rolly Polly - Part 2 from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Look what I can do!

2010-03-31T14:48:00.001-04:00

Check out what Evan learned recently

Look what I can do! from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

And now add rice cereal:

Look what I can do + Rice cereal = Uh oh from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Silly Grampa!

2010-03-31T11:08:00.001-04:00

When saying goodnight, Grampa got Evan in a mini-laughapalooza

Silly Grampa from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Florida!

2010-03-29T16:58:00.007-04:00

We just got back from a wonderful week-long vacation to Florida. It was our first time flying with Evan and I was pretty nervous about it. I had many ear problems growing up and was hoping Evan didn't inherit that! He was perfect on the plane. He even fell asleep during the taxi before takeoff both times!

We visited my parents from Saturday-Thursday. Evan showed off for his family! First time on a plane, first solid(ish) food, now able to sit up on his own, first time spending dinners in a high chair, first time in the swimming pool, first sink bath. He must have decided he was a big boy on this visit! I joined Mom for aerobics on Monday and Wednesday mornings and was surprised to have sore abs the next day! Jack joined my Dad and 2 golfing buddies for 18 holes on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. He got pretty close to double digits! Not bad for his third and fourth times doing a full 18 holes. We had a great relaxing visit with Mom and Dad, and enjoyed being shown off by them :)

We headed to Spring Hill on Thursday morning where Jack's grandparents and a bunch of aunts, uncles and cousins live. We enjoyed a whirlwind visit and I think saw about 20 of them in the 2 days we were there! We had fun going out to the family favorite Beef O'Bradys and hanging out at Jack's grandparents house - a certain hub of activity!

We knew the vacation would fly by and it sure did. It was very sad coming home, especially to colder weather! But spring is on it's way in and my parents will be returning to their NY home in about 6 more weeks, so there's lots to look forward to!

Rice cereal

2010-03-22T22:39:00.004-04:00

After the epic fail with Cheerios last night, Mom and I went out and bought some baby rice cereal today. Evan gobbled up the entire portion. He LOVED it... whining between spoonfuls and letting out a contented sigh when the spoon entered his mouth.

He has also decided as of today that he can sit up on his own! He still launches himself backwards sometimes, but for the most part does it by himself. I think it's the partial Cheerio he ingested yesterday.

5 months old!

2010-03-21T22:44:00.004-04:00

Has it been 5 months already? What's new with Evan... he wakes up "singing" in the mornings (and also when he's ready for his 4ish AM feeding). When he lays on his back he pulls his feet up and grabs them, sometimes pulling them to his mouth! He's starting to sit up on his own for 10-30 seconds at a time.

He's also become VERY interested in food. Our pediatrician said we'd talk about solids at his 6 month appointment but I'm starting to think we won't make it that long. He's very whiney in the evenings and always grabbing at our plates. We finally decided to give solids a try today. We are visiting my family in Florida so we weren't armed with the typical rice cereal as a first food. My mom had Cheerios though, so we tried it! Here's the verdict:

The verdict on Cheerios from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Teeth are on the way...

2010-03-07T22:44:00.003-05:00

It's become evident that Evan's teeth are on the move. Not sure how soon they'll cut through, but the drool has multiplied exponentially, he's constantly munching his hands, and he's gotten crankier. The increased drool has resulted in some looser, more frequent and horrific smelling twosies and a rash... poor kid. He's in good spirits most of the day, but hard to keep him happy after 5pm. He's been crashing earlier and earlier every night - 7:30 tonight! Just last week he was up until 9! If I can, I like keeping him up later since he sleeps about 11 hours and putting him to bed at 7:30 most likely means I'll be up at 6:30 tomorrow!

He's gotten a new nickname lately... Dante's Inferno. The kid is his own heater. I've turned the heat down to 66 in the house and started dressing him in short sleeves with no undershirt onesie on and he's completely comfortable when I need a fleece to stay warm!

Cabin Fever

2010-03-04T11:45:00.002-05:00

Evan and I are both suffering the effects of cabin fever. I never thought it could affect a 4 month old as much as it has! Evan is bored with all of his toys and activity centers. He's antsy when I try to snuggle. He's pretty fussy during the day at home. And he's completely silent and content when we leave the house. In fact, when we go to someone else's house, he'll actually be happy and giggly almost the whole time we're there!

Tuesday was wonderful. We started the day by going to church where they've just started having a couple hours of open baby/toddler time in the gym there. Evan the social butterfly that he is was a bundle of joy the whole time and got tired right out. We followed that up by heading to the LeVakes' house for lunch and some playtime with Charlie! He was a bundle of joy there too and snoozed for about half an hour in the bouncy seat. We headed home mid afternoon (still unseasonably warm outside at 47 degrees!) and he fell asleep on the way so I pulled the stroller out of the trunk when I got home and we took a walk with Evan asleep almost the whole time. We hung out for a couple hours at home (Evan becoming immediately bored) and then headed up to the Jaegers for our weekly Lost night! He was fun the whole evening and crashed in their pack & play in time for the show.

Yesterday was a different story. I'm pretty sure there are teeth on the way which multiplied the fussiness of being home. Evan took 3 short naps all around half an hour and when he was awake he let me put him down for all of about 7 minutes all day. He sat in my lap for every meal and I had to assemble my lunch with him in the front-carrier. We dropped off a meal for our friends Ashley and Luke who just had a baby and I was hoping his cabin fever would subside while we were there and he'd be happy, but the sore gums kept the fussiness going and we didn't stick around for long after dinner. He screamed half the way home and then fell asleep (after I screamed into my coat out of frustration). And then he woke up screaming at home. A dose of Baby Orajel, Baby Tylenol and some bouncing on the ball I finally had a sleeping baby who actually stayed asleep until his early morning feeding. It was a patience-growing day!

Looking forward more than ever to our trip to Florida in 16 days!!

Another girl!

2010-03-02T09:25:00.002-05:00

We're so excited to celebrate the birth of Emily Rose to our friends Ashley and Luke! She was born Saturday Feb 27, 8lbs 4oz, 19 inches. She is such a sweetheart! She has the same first 2 initials as Evan so if they get married someday they'll both be E.R.M.! Ok, maybe we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves.

4 months old!

2010-02-23T12:59:00.002-05:00

Evan had his 4 month doctor appointment this morning. He weighed in at 16 lbs 10 oz! That nudged him just above the 75th percentile. He also grew to 26 inches long, just under the 90th percentile. He must get that from his dad! He had a couple of shots and of course hated that but calmed down pretty quickly - my brave boy.

I've been working on Evan's sleep habits. The biggest one is teaching him to fall asleep on his own. I have been reading everywhere to put the baby down when they're tired but not asleep yet and they'll learn to self soothe and fall asleep on their own. In my mind, that's what I had been doing but when I really stopped to think about it, I realized I had been putting Evan down when he was almost asleep anyway. By the end of the night he'd be so tired from waking up before he was ready that it took every trick in the book to get him to fall asleep. So for naptime one day, I decided to try a "no-cry" method I had read about. With this method, you start by putting the baby down when they're tired but not asleep yet. Each time he starts to cry, pick him up and comfort him just long enough until he's stopped crying and put him down again. He'll know you're there to comfort him, but you're not putting him to sleep. The woman who wrote the book on this started by having 126 up-downs the first night, 30 the second night and by the 4th night didn't have to do it at all. I didn't count but it took about half an hour the first time I tried it (and a few bangs of my head against a wall!). The next day he was falling asleep all on his own without having to pick him up for any nap. I miss rocking him to sleep but he seems to be sleeping much better at night now that he can put himself back to sleep when he rouses. He's still pretty much a cat-napper although he napped for an hour and a half yesterday without any help from me! There really must be something to this "put the baby down when they're tired but not asleep".

Laughapalooza

2010-02-21T22:10:00.001-05:00

Jack got Evan laughing so hard that all he had to do was snap his fingers to get him to laugh more! He laughed more this one time than he has in his whole life so far!

Laughapalooza from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Fun at the Circus

2010-02-12T15:21:00.004-05:00

No, we didn't go to a traditional 3-ring circus. We had our very own circus on the changing table yesterday. Instead of a clown spritz bottle, well... I'll just let you finish that thought.

Evan was having a rough morning and afternoon yesterday - never figured out why but he woke up from very short naps screaming. Very uncharacteristic of him so I felt really bad. When I was trying to calm him down in the afternoon I decided to check the diaper even though I hadn't detected any rumbles from below. It was pretty wet, but no reason for him to be so distressed. He had peed through the diaper a bit so I changed the onesie and the crying began again so I tried to nurse him. That worked for a little while and when he was done it was back to the changing table because I felt his outfit was a little wet too. When I laid him down there was a sudden burst in seismic activity so I grabbed another diaper and tossed his outfit in the hamper. Once the cold air hit the nether region however, the showers began. Fortunately it didn't get me, but unfortunately for Evan, his perfect arch landed right in his face! In my rush to block the flow, I grabbed the soiled diaper and ended up smearing his leg. So there he is with a fresh wet onesie, a new wet outfit behind his head, a puddle in his eye, and a poop smear on his leg...... and a HUGE smile on his face. I could only stand there and laugh. This was a job for the bathtub. So one bath later he was in diaper #4 of this fiasco, onesie #3 and outfit #3 (although outfit #2 never made it on him!)

Evan ended up crashing on the couch for 2 hours (first time he's napped that long in WEEKS!)

And then he was such a happy boy when daddy came home!

They Grow Up So Fast

2010-02-12T15:13:00.006-05:00

Every new parent will hear that hundreds of times before their baby is even born from every older parent, yet you never understand the extent of that statement until you have one of your own. I feel like I just transitioned the 0-3 month clothes out of Evan's wardrobe and now he's transitioning into 6-9 month clothes (at 3 1/2 months old!). He seems to be a goldfish - growing as big as his container. I keep thinking "he just got all these clothes for Christmas and he's already outgrowing them?" Well that was 7 weeks ago! And that's longer than the previous size lasted. Thankfully we got a huge addition to Evan's wardrobe from our little friend Ashton!

It really hit us how fast Evan has grown when we met little Lydia Jaeger, who at less than 3 months younger than Evan was less than half his size! It was the first younger baby we had met since we had him.

Evan's first haircut

2010-02-08T17:02:00.004-05:00

We attempted his first haircut over the weekend. His stringy mohawk was about 4 inches long and he was rocking the Benjamin Franklin do for too long! I put him in the bumbo seat on the bathroom counter with a backwards bib and he looked like he was at the baby barber shop! I started by trimming the mohawk... not too bad but Ev was a little wiggly. Then I moved to the base of his head with the clippers. Erring on the side of caution, I went with a really long setting which didn't really trim anything. Jack suggested I try something much shorter and when we tried that, he burst into tears! Apparently the prongs were a bit much for his sensitive scalp. We did as much as we could and it's a little patchy but most of the excess hair is gone!

Changing table Evan

2010-02-03T16:12:00.003-05:00

For some reason, Evan is almost always in the most wonderful mood on the changing table... even if he was an utter grump in the other room.

I'm a little late in posting this one from almost a month ago, but this was when Evan started gaining more voluntary control over his limbs and loved "dancing".

Dance, Dance, yeahhhh from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

And this one is from last night. More giggles for silly daddy! Again, really digging the sounds he can make with the back of his throat!

Changing table Evan from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Some new sounds

2010-02-03T16:10:00.001-05:00

Evan has been experimenting with some new sounds in the back of his throat and seems to have picked up on how to impersonate a Wookie! Wonder where he got that one from... Daddy!

Our little wookie from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Accomplishment!

2010-02-03T11:44:00.004-05:00

Evan rolled over for the first time last night! Jack and I were both there to witness it. He wasn't in the best of moods since it was evening and he was running out of steam, so once our applause and congratulations started he burst out crying. But he's an old pro all of a sudden and rolled over 5 times this morning as soon as I put him on his belly, and he was much happier about his accomplishment!

Rolly Polly from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

45 minutes

2010-01-27T16:46:00.006-05:00

I could almost set a clock by Evan's naps. Almost always 45 minutes on the dot. Sometimes shorter, rarely longer. Yet he's never quite as rested as he wants to be when he wakes up. He's ready for another nap within an hour or less sometimes, but I can hardly ever keep him awake longer than 2 hours. Sometimes he'll doze a little longer if I put lovey across his face and his pacifier back in his mouth. But he'll almost never sleep straight through without rousing. He used to! But he'll take 4 or 5 45-minute naps (sometimes with an extra doze tacked on the end) each day. I would love to try to consolidate them down to 3 longer naps (so I can nap too!) but doesn't matter what I try, nothing works! I've tried keeping him awake until he's falling over asleep sitting up and I've tried putting him down at the first hint of tiredness. I've tried the swing, his crib, my arms, his carrier. I've tried darkening his room and leaving him in the bright living room. I've tried adding white noise, silence, and keeping it loud. I've tried shedding layers to cool him down and bundling up to keep him toasty. I've tried his goodnight routine. I'm open to suggestions...

Oh, and this is just for naps. He's a fantastic sleeper at night - most of the time going from 9ish-5:30, quick feed, and back to sleep until 8ish.

Lovey-face

Milestones

2010-01-26T10:39:00.005-05:00

I'm relying on this blog as a substitute for a baby book but I've been horrible at tracking the milestones. There haven't been any major ones like rolling over or sitting up. Evan still hates tummy time but we can make it last a couple minutes now! He is very good at grabbing objects now and I'd say that's been the case since right before the new year. He really loves his playmat with the dangling toys now, although I think we try to use it too much during the day because he has no interest in it by evening. Although we're still technically a month out from the Baby Einstein seat according to the box, Evan fits in it if we wrap a blanket around him in the seat and he seems to enjoy it!

We have some off nights here and there but he's doing very well at sleeping through the night! Usually until around 5:30 then I feed him and he goes back down until around 8. He has a "lovey" (a tiny blanket with a teddy bear head in the middle) that he's gotten quite attached to. It really helps him sleep. He always pulls it over his face which causes his eyes to roll back in utter comfort and security. It's so cute. He's also started hanging out with lovey outside of nap/bedtime.

He's just about ready for his first haircut, although it will just be at the base of his neck. He's been rocking the "Benjamin Franklin" do for too long. He's still got a slight mohawk left, but most of the rest of his hair has fallen out and he's got some new fuzz coming in.

Well, he's waking up from morning nap #1, so to be continued... when I have more material!

Evan's future girlfriend?

2010-01-14T11:09:00.001-05:00

Lydia Catherine Jaeger was born last night at 11:40pm, less than 2 hours after arriving at the hospital! A petite 6lbs 8.4oz, 20 inches! We look forward to meeting her!!

A few more videos

2010-01-06T16:33:00.001-05:00

Giggling for Mommy!! Oh the joys that a baby's laugh brings:

Giggles for Mommy! from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Aunt Catherine playing peekaboo and wiping up spittle:

Peekaboo! from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Playtime

2010-01-06T15:55:00.002-05:00

Thank you GG, Grampa, Liddy & Bill for the playmat!! Evan is starting to reach and grab at things so we figured he was finally ready for the mat and he loves grabbing at all the fun animals.

Playtime from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

The Perfect Storm

2010-01-06T11:20:00.003-05:00

We had our first inconsolable blowout with Evan over the weekend. It was our last night in Maine (bonus night because of the weather). Jack, Evan and I had all been fighting a bug while we were up there but Evan was a trooper and still in good spirits despite his stuffy/runny nose and cough.

Right before I was going to give Evan a bath, he burst out crying. I figured he was cold and put him in the bath to warm him up. Didn't work, so I made the bath as quick as possible. He got so worked up that towards the end of the bath he actually stopped breathing for a few seconds which freaked us both out. I finished up the bath as fast as I could and got him dressed quickly so I could nurse him, figuring he was hungry. He stopped breathing a few more times, only a few seconds each. Jack ran upstairs to ask his family to pray and his mom calmed us down by saying that it happens to most babies that when they get themselves that worked up they'll stop breathing for a few seconds and then get scared and start crying and breathing again. Jack and all his siblings had done that as babies. That eased my mind a little but it still killed me to see his little terrified face each time. He was able to nurse a little but was caught in a cycle of losing his breath and crying for about an hour. We called the doctor and he gave us a few things to check for - hair wrapped around a finger or toe, scratch on the eye - and asked a few questions. We were instructed to give him a dose of children's tylenol which fortunately we had packed and if he was still inconsolable after 45 minutes to take him to the ER. We were hoping and praying we wouldn't have to do that! I can't imagine trying to strap him into the carseat and drive a half hour to the hospital. Thankfully our prayers were answered and he fell asleep in my arms about 35 minutes later. We were wondering if it was an ear infection or something intestinal. Or just utter exhaustion.

He woke up for his normal early-morning feeding at 4am showing no signs of distress and went back to sleep afterwards. Then woke up for the morning around 8am totally fine. We gave him another dose of tylenol preemptively thinking it could still be an ear infection. We got a follow up call from the doctor a short while later asking if we could make it back in time for a 4pm appointment. Jack checked with work since he was supposed to be available remotely if they needed him. They said to do what he had to do and they would take care of things so we packed up in a whirlwind and headed out at 10:30am - just barely enough time to make it there. We were about 15 minutes out when I went for some chapstick and saw my phone and without thinking I blurted out "do you have your phone?" and Jack checked his pockets only to realize what he thought was his phone was batteries. We frantically called back and asked if we could meet halfway to pick up the phone which we did. Shoot... now we're actually getting on the road at 11am. Could we make it back in 5 hours? We decided we were in it for the haul - no pit stops and if Evan got hungry I had to pump a bottle and give it to him on the go. We ended up needing a quick fuel stop but we pulled in the doctor's parking lot at 3:56pm. PHEW! (don't ask what our average speed was). Well it wasn't an ear infection and nothing else that the doctor could see was out of the ordinary. He said Evan would give us the next clue.

Well Evan has been totally fine since, other than fighting off the rest of his sniffles. It must have just been a perfect storm of hunger, exhaustion (he hadn't napped much that day) and "I don't want a bath right now, why aren't you listening to me!!!" which launched him into that cycle of losing his breath, getting scared and crying, and calming down, only to lose his breath again. It was really scary at the time but we're glad he's ok and we have that notch under our parent belt.

These are a few of my favorite things...

2010-01-06T09:25:00.002-05:00

By Evan McDade,
Translated by Mommy

My hands - they are always there when I need them. They always taste great and I have a choice of 10 fingers or any combination of them to put in my mouth. I can even fit all 10 in if I want to. They're nice to look at too as I'm falling asleep, although sometimes when I have too much energy they whack me in the face a lot.

My pacifier - what can I say? It soothes me!

My swing - It's such a good listener. It doesn't interrupt me when I tell it stories and it even rocks me back and forth my entire nap!

Riding in the car - and when I say riding in the car I don't mean the stop and go business around town. I mean perpetual forward motion!

The hanging toy on my carrier - It's a great listener like the swing and loves my stories, but sometimes it interrupts with it's jingles.

Being held while bouncing on an exercise ball - mostly because I know how silly it looks for the person bouncing me.

Anything fluffy - Now that I have some control over my hands it's great to use them to feel soft and fluffy things!

Daddy - who wouldn't love someone that snuggly and who makes all those great faces and noises?

And of course Mommy - because she's actually the one writing this and will always be one of my favorites :)

Giggles!!

2010-01-05T14:20:00.000-05:00

The last week or so Evan has had a few barely passable giggles that we figured were flukes. Well there's no doubt now that he can giggle and he's on his way to laughing! Then again who wouldn't laugh at Daddy making funny faces?

Giggles! from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Grandparent Time

2010-01-01T10:21:00.004-05:00

Evan has had a lot of quality time with both sets of grandparents the last few weeks. Here he is in a couple videos showing off for them!

Why I Oughta... from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Cooing at Gramma from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Christmas Blur

2009-12-30T09:30:00.011-05:00

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

2009-12-16T08:51:00.003-05:00

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

2009-12-09T15:12:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-12-09T08:26:00.004-05:00

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?

2009-12-06T09:09:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-04T10:24:00.003-05:00

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

2009-12-01T11:11:00.004-05:00

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.

One month!

2009-11-24T13:28:00.000-05:00

Well, technically one month and 3 days now, but Evan had his one month appointment at the doctor today. He is now 10lbs 11oz!! That's 3 whole pounds over his birth weight! That puts him in the 75 percentile for his age. He is also 22.5 inches long, 1.5 inches longer than at birth. Also 75 percentile for his age. He is thriving! He also had his second Hepatitis B shot today. He had been so good up until that point and when the needle went in the leg his face got bright red and he let out a good scream and cry. Tired him right out though, he was asleep by the time we were pulling out of the parking lot.

Evan spent the night in his room for the first time 2 nights ago. He seems to like it or at least we don't hear his disapproval! I have sure slept a lot better without him in the room. He grunts and snorts a lot when he's not quite awake but not all the way asleep yet and that was keeping me up a lot at night. Now I only hear when he cries which is really the only time he needs me. He's also sleeping a lot better during the day. Not quite sure why or how anything is different from last week but he catches cat naps, hour long naps and really long 2-3 hour naps throughout the day. We have had much more pleasant evenings now! One thing that has helped is that Sam and Christie suggested an exercise ball to us. We were over at their house Friday night and we knew they had used it to calm Sammie down when he was a baby and now they're using it with Charlie. It worked like a charm. I just sat on the ball and bounced while holding Evan when he started to fuss and it calmed him right down. We bought one the next day and it has worked to calm him down every time he starts fussing (unless he's hungry of course!). It relaxes him so he can start calming down enough to fall asleep.

As you saw from the previous post, the cats have been driving us somewhat crazy - mostly Bella. Since she can hop a double baby gate we shut her in the office and the other two were contained with just one baby gate. Well she pulled up a ton of carpet while shut in there which of course infuriated us. So almost immediately after Jack saw that he started to install the bi-fold door on the laundry room that he was so hesitant to install for months. It opens pretty easily so we have to "bolt" it each night with a spring loaded curtain rod. What a hassle!

We're embarking on our first road trip with him tomorrow! We're heading up to Maine for Thanksgiving and looking forward to the adventure!

Jealous older siblings

2009-11-20T13:20:00.002-05:00

So my cats have had to make some adjustments since Evan came home. They've been shut out of our room almost consistently and have had to deal with a lot less attention. Phantom and Callie are mostly ok with it, just occasionally cozying up a little more than usual. Bella is pining for attention. The more we ignore or try to shoo her away, the harder she comes back to love on us and get some affection herself. We finally started trapping them downstairs with 2 baby gates on top of each other so we could get some peace and quiet at night since Bella wasn't taking the hint with the squirt bottles. Well, that didn't work. Check it out...

Ninja Cat from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

A few videos

2009-11-18T08:53:00.002-05:00

This one is from our first week home with Evan. He still has very strong legs and can launch himself with them. He was able to army crawl up Jack twice!

Army Crawl from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

This is from Halloween (obviously). It cracks me up how he's not moving at all and is stricken with the hiccups.

Flying Penguin from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Towards the end of Evan's cries he usually does the CUTEST pouty face

Pouty Face from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

While trying to calm Evan down Jack decided to multitask and get a workout in

New Daddy Workout from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.

Trial & Error

2009-11-17T10:07:00.002-05:00

These past few weeks have been a lot of trial and error with Evan as we are learning how to read him and getting to know him. One success we've had is that he sleeps very well at night - at least during the hours of 11pm-6am. He'll get up to eat but usually not less than 3 hours apart and sometimes as much as 6 hours and he'll go right back to sleep after eating. Sometimes he'll go back down for one more stint in the 5am-6am range but that's not always the case.

We're still working on getting some better naps during the day and every day there's a different magical mix that results in a good long nap. He seems to have a different preference every day. He can catnap pretty easily, but he needs at least one solid 2-3 hour nap every day to be reasonably pleasant in the evening. He has both enjoyed and heavily refused a good nap in/on the swing, Mom, Dad, the carrier and the bassinet. We've tried it quiet and with background noise, light and dark, walks in the stroller, rides in the car and it still seems to be a different combination every day. I feel a sense of accomplishment if he gets a good long nap.

We had our first dinner outing and it was a success! We all went to Chili's on Saturday after Evan took a very long nap. We made sure he had a good full belly before we left and were surprised when he started fussing once we got our appetizer. I gave him a pacifier and that did the trick for the rest of our time there. He dozed off a few times but stayed quiet once he had the pacifier.

Overall Evan is still a fairly mellow baby and when he fusses we can usually figure out what he needs. Usually it's sleep, and that's not always the easiest to encourage when there's a different magical combination each day, but we're working on it!

Singing boy

2009-11-15T16:05:00.002-05:00

Singing Boy from Jennifer McDade on Vimeo.