Model Baby!

I thought it would be fun to enter Evan in a baby model search contest on the Parenting.com website! Please take a minute and vote for my little cutie!!


Click here to VOTE: http://modelsearch.parenting.com/contests/showentry/292378

You can vote once a day. Thanks for your support!

Photo Contest

I recently joined a photography group. I would have loved to take a photography class but right now I just don't have the time for that. Through this group it has been fun to meet other people who share an interest in digital photography. I submitted a photo of Evan's feet splashing in his little blowup pool for a photo contest the group was having. I was so surprised... I actually won!! I only won bragging rights but that is good enough for me!

Character Sketch

Last night while my sister, Dan, Evan and I were at Tijuana Flats for dinner there was a character sketch artist doing pictures for the kids. We were sitting at our table eating and the guy just started doing Evan's picture :) I think he was pretty generous with the amount of hair he drew! hehe

Happy Mother's Day

Dan and Evan have made this a very special Mother's Day for me! They started off the day letting me sleep in. Awe, it was so nice to catch up on some sleep! Then we took a trip over to Old Time Pottery and bought a bird bath for the outside, a vase, candles, and a set of paintings for our dining room. I love this store, you can get such beautiful pieces for so cheap. Then we ate lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. Evan tried their macaroni n' cheese and ended up loving it. He kept opening his mouth up for more- it was so cute. For my Mother's Day presents I got flowers and a beautiful bracelet. The bracelet is really special to me because it is a Chromosome Disorder Awareness Bracelet . It was designed especially for Chromosome Disorder Outreach (CDO). This bracelet features the signature CDO colors green, yellow, red and blue in Swarovski crystals and 25% of the purchase price of each bracelet is donated to CDO.



To finish off my Mother's day celebration we are meeting my parents for dinner at the Melting Pot. Since my sister is in the middle of law school finals and not able to be here for Mother's Day, we will be having a Mother's Day celebration with our mom when Rachel comes home next week. So today is all about me :) I feel so blessed to have such an amazing family! I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day!!

Plan B

This morning Dan had a plan to wake me up and surprise me with a trip to Islands of Adventure! He wanted to kick off Mother's Day weekend with a bang! He took the day off work, Evan was at my parents... he thought he had it all worked out. What he did not plan on was that I woke up this morning still feeling sick. I have been sick with an upper respiratory infection and sinusitis all week. Since I was not feeling up to riding roller coasters Dan quickly started working on Plan B. I slept most of the day, taking full advantage of Evan being at my parents. When I woke up in the afternoon I was feeling a little more refreshed. Plan B was for us to go to Color Me Mine in Hyde Park. I have been wanting to do this for a long time!! Color Me Mine is a paint-your-own ceramics studio. I walked around the store for a while looking at all the options of things to paint. I finally narrowed it down and chose to paint a heart shaped plate. Dan on the other hand new exactly what he wanted to paint before we even got there. He painted a Celtics chip 'n dip plate.

We had a great time! We ended up closing the place down and they were nice enough to stay open an extra hour so we could finish our pieces. I can't wait to see how our masterpieces turn out!! Afterwards we were starving so we went to Chilies. Thanks Granny and Pop-Pop for my mother's day the gift card! It ended up being a perfect day with my hubby!

Fun at Home

Here is a new video of Evan playing at home!!

http://s14.photobucket.com/albums/a320/sara0710/?action=view¤t=silly017.flv

Things That Make Me Smile :)

Evan's froggy shoes from his Great Aunt Nancy.

My silly boy! We were playing one of his favorite games-
Where, Oh Where, Oh Where is Evan??

The beautiful flowers Dan got me on his way home from work!

Fun Day

Friday night Dan, Evan, and I spend the night in Dunedin at my parents house because we had to wake up and be at the March for Babies walk at 8:30 am. My parents walked with us along with my good friend Tiffany and her family. This year we raised $450 for March for Babies!! The weather was perfect, not to hot and there was a nice breeze.



After our walk to went to a Touch a Truck event. It was fun to see all sorts of trucks from fire trucks to dump trucks to ice cream trucks :) It made for some fun pictures! After our eventful morning we went back to my parents for subs and afternoon naps.

Happiness

As I am sitting here watching Evan roll across the living room floor, I am overcome with happiness. One thing we do in our house is celebrate every little one of Evan's milestones, big or small. To most it is just the natural progression babies make... but to us it is a huge, much anticipated accomplishment. I love documenting all his firsts and all the new experiences he has. His baby book is filled with dates and descriptions of all his firsts, lots of pictures, and stories.

It amazes me to see Evan's little personality coming out. He is cautious and skeptical of new things. Once he masters a new skill, he will practice it over and over again until he perfects it. He loves to observe the world around him. He is calm and happy going most of the time and easily comforted. He loves being around people and would be perfectly happy to be held and cuddled all day long. However, he also has a wild side and fearlessly likes to be tossed up in the air :)

Here is a poem I found that makes me smile because it reminds me so much of my baby boy!

A Special Child
by Sharon Harris

You weren't like other children,
And God was well aware,
You'd need a caring family,
With love enough to share.
And so He sent you to us,
And much to our surprise,
You haven't been a challenge,
But a blessing in disguise.
Your winning smiles and laughter,
The pleasures you impart,
Far outweigh your special needs,
And melt the coldest heart.
We're proud that we've been chosen,
To help you learn and grow,
The job that you have brought us,
Is more than you can know.
A precious gift from Heaven,
A treasure from above,
A child who's taught us many things,
But most of all- "Real Love"

Out with the old, In with the new

Yesterday I packed up some of the things Evan has outgrown and brought them to my parents to store them for our future babies :) Evan is now too big for his infant bath, travel car seat, swing, and kick n play. I had a huge bag of 6-9 month clothes that were also ready for storage. My baby is growing up :)

These last few weeks Evan has been so much more alert and is doing new things all the time. Evan can now sit up unassisted. This definitely makes trips to the store so much easier. He has tried many new foods: avocado, mango, papaya, tofu, pasta, yogurt, and mashed potatoes. I have had fun making some of Evan's baby food! It took some time, but Evan is now drinking whole milk. We are still working on introducing the sippy cup. He now rides facing forward in a convertible car seat and uses a bath ring to take a bath. His favorite game right now is peek-a-boo and flying around like an airplane. He also loves when we sing "The Titsy Bitsy Spider" and "The 5 Little Horsemen".