One, two, threeeee!

Evan turned the big 3 this past weekend-3 months that is. To capture the motions of these special moments, here is a snapshot of our life at this time. Hopefully, this will serve as a good point of reference for baby #2 down the line. :-) So consider yourslef warned-extra long, detailed, and all about baby post ahead! Ready?

Nursing:

Evan has had zero problem eating from day one, and continues to be a champion eater. In fact, I'm sure we'll be starting our solids on the 4 month end of the recommended 4-6mo spectrum just to keep up with his growing appetite. For the most part, he is eating much faster these days and usually falls into the "happy spitter" category(not to mention the "wow that's alot of spit up" category!). Thankfully, he has overcome his bottle anxiety and is now able to take a bottle(pumped milk) without a fuss. This has been a huge relief in my transition back to work part-time.

Nightime Sleeping:

It's no easy task training a little one the skill of sleep-but by golly I think we've done it..almost! I love the babywise schedule for a lot of reasons, and early sleeping through the night is probably at the top of the list. Currently, Evan goes down for bed between 7:30 and 8pm, and sleeps through until 7am. Whoo hooooo!! I'm still waking him up at 10pm to squeeze in that "dream feed," and will likely wean that one out over the next month or so. In any case, we are thankful to be well rested!

Naps:

Sleep is a science, and believe me I've logged a ton of hours in the lab over the past few months! Nightime sleep came easy, if not natural, to Evan. Naps on the other hand have been a more difficult beast to tame. Thankfully, naps have become worlds easier recently, probably due to his age and his growing ability to really sync into a schedule. We've come through the woods of waking up too early, wrestled with our waketime windows, and conquered the "45 minute intruder." After many prayers, and seeking the advice of google, good books and great mommy friends, I'm happy to report that I am now enjoying the harvest of my hard work-quality, consistent daytime naps! Nine times out of ten, Evan now goes down with with hardly a fuss, and is content to stay in his crib and suck his thumb if he wakes up early. He naps anywhere from 45 minutes(towards the end of the day) to an hour and a half (usually the first nap of the day). It's a day to day work in progress still, but I'm finally starting to feel like "I've got this" in the nap depot. Amen!

Milestones:

Smiling, reaching out and grabbing objects, cooing, eye contact, thumb sucking, terrific tummy times-check, check and check! Evan is an explosion of personality lately, and so much fun to watch! I love seeing him discover new things; he is one smart, silly kiddo! I swear I've heard him giggle several times now, but the jury is still out on that one. I've also noticed that he's become much more vocal lately, and more dynamic and even louder with his "babytalk." He's not quite rolled over yet, but I think that's right around the corner as he's mastered, and even prefers laying on his side. He is absolutely captivated by bright, moving colors and loves him some Praise baby and Backyardigans. Last but not least, he continues to be a big music & movement baby.

This and that:

Evan is a drool-a-sourous these days! I'm sure he's going to be an early teether at this rate...bib town here we come! In other news, I've noticed he is starting to bear more weight on his feet from time to time, and has spent more time being carried on my hip lately as he's gotten better with this head control. Speaking of head, Chris and I have both seen a slight change in his hair lately-it's turning into a much lighter brown, with shades of auburn(where did that come from?!). I may be an ounce biased, but I've gotta say he gets cuter and cuter everyday. :-)

Schedule summary, 15 wks:

7am Wake up to start the day, first feeding.

7:30-8:45 Waketime / playtime

8:45-10am Nap

10am Eat

10:30-11:45 Waketime / playtime...insert errands "here"

11:45-1pm Nap

1:00-1:30pm Eat

1:30-3pm Waketime/ playtime

3pm-4pm Nap

4-4:30pm Eat

4:30-6pm Waketime, playtime with Daddy!

6ish-7ish Last short snooze of the day

7pm Fifth/last feeding of the day

7:30-8pm Bedtime!

10pm Dreamfeed

Before and After

Before...
...and afterSurely the poo-splosion-as we refer to it here in the Scott household- is a first time mommy must, a rite of passage if you will. After this monstrous, muddy mess, I feel as if I've officially arrived haha. All I could do was laugh, make a bee-line for the camera, and grab the Oxy-clean. :-)

Congratulations Josh & MacCaffity!

I spy...something new!

This silly chipmunk is up and full of new tricks this morning. Can you spy something different?

Exhibit A-His position. I laid him down last night at a completely different angle, and more towards the middle of the crib.

Exhibit B-Someone found their thumb!! He's been looking long and hard over the past two or so weeks, and has had many a sticky fingers as a result-sometimes even trying to squeeze his entire hand into his mouth. Looks like we may be joining the thumb sucker club after all! (We're still working on the paci love, which I've heard is an easier habit to break-after all, I can't take that thumb away!)

Round two:

There are two new things in this photo as well. For one, I bit the bullet and went for a more mommy appropriate haircut. Evan is getting grabby these days, so it was time for a change. Every time I cut my hair I always come back to "I like my hair better long," but in the end, it's just hair and boy do I need a wash n' wear do!

And how could you not notice the most adorable lion backpack ever?! I've recently found some very flexible, partime childcare for Evan with a wonderful stay at home mom. She is a former teacher, has a one year old son, and a great, godly woman. She is truly an answered prayer during this season of our lives while I'm still maintaining a job outside of the home, and I couldn't be happier about the whole situation-it's all fallen into place so perfectly! That being said, I figured Evan needed a little pack to take with him for his things-bottles, burp clothes, diapers, change of clothes. ect. And so came about the cutest little lion, from Gymboree a la Grandma.

Cheers to 3 years

“Marriage is a vocation. It is a task to which you are called. If it is a task, it means you work at it. It is not something which happens. You hear the call, you answer, you accept the task, you enter into it willingly and eagerly, you commit yourself to its disciplines and responsibilities and limitations and privileges and joys. You concentrate on it, giving yourself to it day after day in a lifelong Yes.” -Elisabeth Elliot

Happy 3 year anniversary honey!! Here's to our lifelong "I do." :-)

We are the Chipmunks

Chris and I were watching the "Alvin and the Chipmunks" movie the other night, and could'nt help joking about our own family resemblance, haha! It's scary how closely our personalities resemble these silly guys. Hands down, Chris is......Alllvvinnn! I'm Simon, and Evan is our adorable Theodore. :-)

Friends & Family

We have been busy bees this week! To start, one of my closest and oldest friends stopped by for a short and sweet Carolina visit. We had a great time catching up, and Evan loved the extra face to smile at! Our time together brought alive the resounding echo in my head, that things are so very different now with a little one in tow. About this time last year us girls had another kind of visit, one with less nursing and napping, and much more shopping haha! This life with new life is certainly a change, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Chris and I were also able to meet up with our Pennsylvania bound family for lunch on Saturday. Needless to say, this new Grandma was overjoyed to see her growing grandbaby!

I am so thankful for this new season of life with my sweet Evan, boy what a difference he makes!

Tummy Time Rewind

This video is a few weeks old now, but I wanted to post on our tummy time champ! At this point he's much better at holding his head up on his own at tt(tummy time) and is even turning it from side to side a bit. Sometimes he lifts his legs at the same time and looks like a flying super man-silly boy!

Potpourri anyone?

If you were to take a snapshot of my mind lately, you'd find there a colorful pot of potpourri. In other words, alot of "this and that." Here's a taste...
Chris and I were so thankful to have my mom and sister up this weekend to watch Evan so that we could have our Imax date in Downtown Raleigh.

On Sunday, we wrapped up the weekend with an great morning at church, grocery shopping, afternoon naps, Digorno and a fun trip to the dog park. Piper was elated to get out of the house and have some special puppy time, and Chris and I were equally as happy to drive home with a tired puppy and napping baby in the backseat.

July is turning out to be a busy month for us. This week we'll have a few visitors- first my bestest friend Jessica will be stopping by for a few days, and then we'll see Chris' family on their way back to Pennsylvania from their beach vacation. Our 3 year anniversary is coming up soon, followed closely by my birthday, then my mom's birthday! And then a wedding, and more visitors oh my!

Between taking care of Evan, working from home, and keeping up with the laundry-not to mention those "life" activies like birthdays and such-time is flying by warp speed. Evan will be 3 months on the 25th, and that's a quarter way to the big 1!

Goodness. Gracious.

Happy Friday!

On the agenda this weekend:
Painting!
Imax date
Clean bathrooms
Bananna bread
Puppy Park

And if all goes well...find the perfect fabric and give the couch pillows a mini makeover!

Mommy Thoughts Vol. 1

So it goes without saying, that a lot of things change when you become a mommy. Here are some of my newer observations and mommy thoughts..

On mess making...
Thanks to the evil that is spit up, baby E goes through a good 2-5 outfits a day. However, mommy-who often takes a good bit of the spit up- usually stays in the same clothes. This makes for a lovely afternoon scent to greet the hubby with haha! In general, messes just don't matter as much when your a mommy. It's just life.

On the kindess of strangers...
When your a mommy, almost anyone and everyone volunteers to open doors for you. With carseat and baby in tow, chivalry is alive and blooming! I was especially touched the other day at Target, when as I was putting my many bags of groceries in the trunk and securing the carseat, I stood up to notice that a friendly stranger had taken my cart(without asking) and took it back to the store along with hers. Besides making my day, her thoughtful kindess was completely inspiring.

On my dwindling patience...
Alot of things about being a mommy can unearth a great well of patience you never knew you had. Except that is, when waiting in lines at craft stores. And there's only one line open. And there are four people in front of you. And the lady currently at the register is debating a sale item that is ringing up full price. Naptime was so 10 minutes ago, and it's so stinkin hot outside...you get the idea.

On baby love...
When your a mommy, nothing melts your heart like the face of your sweet, sleeping baby. No work is more rewarding, no paycheck as valuable, no time better spent, no smile as beautiful, and no love so special as a mama's for her little chipmunk cheeked babe. :-)

Fun "firsts"

Almost everyday holds a new "first" for baby Evan, and I feel so blessed to have a front row seat to his blossoming personality. Here are some snapshots of what our little guy's been up to over the past few weeks...

First time at the NC Science Museum. Evan gives the dinos a two thumbs up!

First pooltime! This boy loves baths. The pool however...well, he has'nt made up his mind about that one just yet. Our first pool experience was as expected-this little 2 month old liked it for about 2 minutes before he decided he was just too hot and too wet to stand it all!

Practice makes perfect!

First taste of mommy's yummo fourth of July cupcakes! Okay, so it was more like a tincy tiny taste of a very itsy bitsy fingertip of buttercream icing-but it's a start. Sweet toothe here we come! :-)

And last but not least, a first go at the "bumbo." I know he's still a bit young for this, but we were so excited when we got it we just had to try it out.

As you can tell, he's still got some head strenght to master before we can be bumbo pro's. In the meantime I'm going to savor every second of his babyhood before he get's to sit up on his own like a big boy. I can't believe how fast two months have flown by!

2 Month Well Baby!

Evan was a trooper for his 2 month well baby check up, s-h-o-t-s and all. I'm happy to report that he is healthy and growing, meeting all of his milestones and was all smiles to boot. He is now 13 pounds 8 ounces and measuring an inch longer at 24".

At 10 weeks, Evan's personality is really starting to blossom. He grows more and more adorable everyday, and I'm really enjoying this "2 months" chapter we've turned to. The pages these days are full of smiles, coos and a myriad of new and differant facial expressions. His latest trick...lifting his head on his own during tummy time!
Evan continues to be a champion eater-just don't interupt him or you'll have one unhappy camper on your hands haha. If you were to ask him what his favorite things were, I'm sure he would say his swinging in his swing, hearing music and bedtime stories from daddy, and snuggling with mommy of course! He is definitly a movement & music baby, and there is no better soother for him then the back and forth rock of his swing or a sweet ride in his stroller. He thinks he's pretty hot stuff and loves to catch a peak at himself in the mirror. Hmmm what else...he is starting to demand more attention these days and is getting more and more captivated by the world around him. It's so fun showing him all these new things-I can't wait for all of the fun "firsts" to come-especially his first laugh! We can tell he is trying soooo hard...it's like there is a big giggle bubble inside of him working it's way up, just waiting to pop!