Happy Easter!

Evan had a great first Easter! While he was getting over some tummy troubles (thanks antibiotics!) and his ear infection (what the antibiotics were for), he still was a happy guy all day and had lots of fun.

We spent the morning at home celebrating as a family. The Easter Bunny hid a basket for Evan in his "fort" aka the cardboard box that his new car seat came in. The bunny brought him some cars, a puzzle and some baby-friendly treats. He crawled right for it and dug through it like a pro.

Finding his first-ever Easter basket!!

 

We spent time with both our families as well and Evan got even more goodies. He even got a package in the mail the next day from his Auntie and to-be Uncle! Evan is one lucky boy to be loved (and spoiled!) by so many people.

At my parents, the kiddo did an egg hunt. Evan went for a few, but he had to be in close proximity before he even knew they were there. Our 5-year-old niece really cleaned up since the two boys weren't quite ready for the full-on finding. :) She'll have some competition in a few years though!!

One special tradition is that the kids (and us still actually) get an egg with $1 in it. This is something my Grandma Sell did for all of us grand kids and we loved it so much. We've kept the tradition alive since she passed away with the grand kids and now her great-grand kids!

Dressed in his Easter best!

Found an egg!

7 months

The little man is just to squirmy and interested in getting the blocks to do our usual poses, so Chris had this good idea!

 

 

Seven months old! Well, Evan is really 7 1/2 months old, because Momma is getting behind in blogging!! Chris has been traveling more for work lately which means that after Evan goes to bed I pretty much get everything ready for the next day and head to bed myself. It's really tiring taking care of him by myself! I seriously don't know how single parents do it!!

 

There have been a lot of milestones hit in the last month or so. Evan is scooting all over the place! He doesn't stick to the living room anymore (where his toys are). He explores into the dining room and kitchen now - and does it quickly too! We have baby-proofed a lot more of the house and installed the gate at the top of the stairs. We still have a little more to do, but it's all in places he hasn't found yet - yet being the key word!! He gets up on all fours and rocks a lot, sometimes moving his knees, but hasn't quite figured out the whole crawling thing yet - again, yet being the key word!

 

Evan is also the proud owner of a tooth! One of his bottom teeth popped out a few weeks ago and he's currently working on the other one. Thankfully it wasn't too much of a struggle. He is a little fussy at times and doesn't like to eat off of a spoon when his gums are sore, but mostly he just loves to chomp on things and drool.

 

He's still doing well with food, trying new things and eating things with a little more consistency now that the tooth is there to help chew! He loves to pick up and eat his puffs and he's also managed to feed himself some banana, carrots, bread and sweet potatoes.

 

Overall, he is still our happy little guy! He loves, loves, LOVES to play toys and read books. He has started talking, even saying "da da da," but we're not sure if he is associating it with Chris or not. We get lots and lots of smiles, snuggles and even some kisses. What more could parents want!!

My new tricks

Evan is really doing some amazing things!

He is army crawling all over the place. He is getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth but no movement yet. We officially need to make sure everything is baby-proofed because he has already gone after outlets (they are already covered), air vents and our TV audio/speaker system.

Check out his skills! I took this on my phone last weekend. Our entertainment for the weekend was making him crawl after things. Yes that may sound mean, but hey, we let him get it in the end and he thought it was fun! We're only helping him improve his skills :)

He also can eat some foods by himself! He likes to try to eat with a spoon, but he usually ends up banging it around and knocking all the food off before he gets to his mouth. He is learning the concept though! The really awesome and impressive (to us at least!) thing he can do is pick up some items and eat them. We have some puffs that he is really good at getting into his mouth.

Check out his skills!

6 months

This is what happens when you try to take a picture with an active 6-month-old! We might be done with the block pictures!!

 

 

Some very big things have happened this month as Evan turned a whole half-year old! We cannot believe it's been that long, though it also feels like he has always been in our lives.

Major accomplishments this month - sitting on his own (the length of time he can do this is increasing but he is still a little wobbly with it), eating three meals a day of solids and...crawling/scooting!!

The last one took place for the first time last weekend. He's really been trying to do it for awhile now, but he pulled himself to get a toy last Saturday. He was pretty slow at first, but even in just a week, he can now move pretty quick. Let the baby proofing begin!

It has been so fun to play with him recently. He is so engaged and active. He goes after toys he wants and bangs things around. He grabs well and passes things between his hands. He is just so much more aware that it is a blast.

I think his accomplishment for next month will be his first teeth. While we have felt like he has been showing the signs for awhile, I think his gums have a different feel to them these days. But I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Being that he is 6-months-old, we also paid a visit to the doctor this weekend. He got an "A+" from her for all aspects of his health and development. He tipped the scales at 18 pounds and measured up at 27 inches. He is in the 65 percentile for height, weight and head circumfrance. Mr. Proportionate!!

He also got some shots (his last for a little bit!) and did well with them. There was crying after he got poked of course, but after a quick hug from Mom, he even gave the nurses a smile as they walked out of the room. One said, "We never get smiles after it's done! How cute!" And other than being a little extra tired, he showed no other side effects from the vaccines.

Mom played photographer again to get some 6-month portraits. As with the blocks, it's hard to keep him still, but I managed to get a few good ones.

Here are my two favorites!

 

What a ham!

Back in action!

Sorry for the absence! With work, a baby and all three of us battling colds recently, there hasn't been much time for blogging.

But I did do a little digging and found out why my photo uploader wasn't working - I had hit my 1G limit! My very nice camera has a downside - very large file sizes for photos. So I worked on shrinking down the existing photos and also purged a few too. Don't worry, there's still plenty of Evan on here, just maybe not quite as much.

And here's a few more! Even though he's one week away from being 6 months, here are his 5 month photos!!

5 months

** I apologize for the lack of pictures (I know that's why everyone comes on here!), but the blogger site is not cooperating! I've been trying for a few days with no luck. I promise the next set of block pictures will be up whenever it gets working again.**


Our sweet little boy isn't so little anymore! He's almost a whole half-year old!!

Not only did this last month include his first Christmas, Evan also had some major milestones. He of course has started eating solids and is now up to three meals a day (fruit in the morning, rice or oatmeal cereal at lunch and a vegetable at dinner). He has liked everything we've given him, except avocado and zucchini. We plan to try them again this week to see if we can get his palate on board with those flavors.

He also is rolling all over the place! This weekend he rolled from the middle of our living room to the wall within seconds. I know this because it occured as I quickly ran into the next room to get a cup of coffee. Thankfully flopping around on the wood floors didn't seem to phase him!

Thanks to the solids he's sleeping a lot better. We're not through the night quite yet, but he usually goes at least 8 hours and has done up to 10 1/2.

He starting to be even more vocal. He has found the "high-pitched" part of his vocal range. That's a fun noise!

He does really well playing. He grabs things well, transfers toys between hands, love to be read books (and hold them). He loves to bounce and jump. He can also roll to get toys that he wants. We haven't seen any scooting or crawling yet, but he looks like he's trying to figure out how to do it.

He continues to grow and grow, especially now that he's eating solids. He starting wearing 6-9 month clothes already, mostly for the length, but a little bit for the tummy area too. :)

Tickle Monster

We're not really sure if Evan is ticklish anywhere. Sometimes he laughs when we tickle his feet (like his Dad) and sometimes it's more in his stomach.

Today, Chris was tickling his tummy and got him really going. Of course, with everything, it was short-lived and Evan was over it. But I still managed to capture some of his super-cute giggles on camera!