My Second Christmas

My second Christmas was so much fun.  Grandma and Grandpap were here to celebrate with Mommy, Daddy and me.  They even took care of me one night (overnight) while Mommy and Daddy went on a date to the Nutcracker in Houston.  Grandpa Max and Grandma Candi arrive tomorrow for some more spoiling and fun I'm sure.

My tambourine and maracas are AWESOME!

I master the art of sucking my fingers, holding my talking Santa and opening presents.

OK actually I couldn't do all at once, so I  settled for a quick break on Mom's lap.

Dad trying to get me pumped for more presents.

Mommy and Daddy got this thing called a Nook...seems pretty cool.  I gave Grandma and Grandpap a new camera. 

Here's the lens cap Mommy.  I found it for you!

On Christmas night, I insisted on having EVERY bath toy in the tub.  Looks like alphabet soup. 

I love Christmas just like my Mommy!

Early Christmas Presents

Because Mommy and Daddy knew that it would take me forever to open up my Christmas presents, I tricked them into letting me open a few of them early.  Here I am with Grandma opening up my Alphabet Train from her and Grandpap.  It was sad to see this present leave the tree.  I used the box for leverage to get up to see different ornaments. 

Ini order to get the rest off, I had to take matters into my own hands and get up on top of the box.

Grandma and Grandpap also got me this chair.  It is a smaller version of the one my Great Aunt Mary and Great Uncle Gary got me.  I'm super special now to have too cool chairs with my name on them!

I love to push my train around the house.  I'm still not too steady so someone has to be behind me. 

Getting Ready for Christmas!

Evan had a fun time getting ready for Christmas.  At first he told me that it was no way that it was Christmas because it was in the 70's in Texas.  By Christmas morning though, it got cold.  Evan loves the Christmas tree and will be very disappointed when it comes down soon. 

He's still all over the place crawling.  He's started to pull up on furniture and cruising, so I'm sure he'll be walking before Brian or I can even blink. 

He's also mastered the art of pushing around his trucks and cars.  It is so funny to watch.  He'll push them all over the living room (aka Evan's play room!).

Funny story about our refrigerator.  But first a cute picture of Sir Charles telling me what he wants for dinner...

Yesterday morning we woke up to a broken fridge.  All of the things in the freezer were pretty much thawed and the fridge was also not cooling.  So Evan and I spent one of our Mommy-Evan days out searching for a new fridge.  With a baby, there isn't time to wait for a repair guy that might show up in a week and there also definitely is not time to wait for Sears (they told me they could have one here on the 3rd...thanks but no!).  So Brian met us at a local appliance place and we bought a much nicer fridge than the one that was broken.  They delivered it yesterday afternoon.  Proud to do what we can to support the local Victoria economy.  Let's just hope that all of our purchases are not this expensive!

Auntie Jo Visits!

My mommy is a little behind in posting since she didn't feel good last weekend.  But two weekends ago, my Auntie Jo came to visit.  It was so much fun.  She even got to go with me to my 12 month doctor's appointment to get my shots.  How lucky can she be?  She also took care of me for a while on Saturday while Mommy and Daddy finished their Christmas shopping.

Here I am watching her dry her hair before my appointment.

I got to help Auntie Jo open her Christmas present from me. 

And then I got to sit in the box.  Christmas is going to be sooo much fun!

My favorite past time...and I love when others read to me.  I get tired of hearing Mommy's and Daddy's voice all the time.

Thanks for a great visit Auntie Jo.  I cannot wait to play with you again soon!

Evan's Hat

Here is Evan is his hat that Mommy's friend Amy (Beth's mommy) knitted for him.  Isn't it soooo cute?  Thanks Amy!

Pictures of our Toddler!

After a very loud and boisterous lunch out yesterday, Brian and I concluded that Evan has officially entered toddler hood.  Here are some recent pictures of our little explorer!

This chair is an early Christmas present from his Great Aunt Mary and Great Uncle Gary.  He loves it!

Evan is getting good at the shape sorter.  He can put the in the right place if you show him which one to try. 

Watching Baby Einstein in his new chair. 

Getting into the "V" formation.  I swear one day he's just going to stand up and take off!

He loves to pull his books off the shelves in our office.  Mommy used to do the same thing when she was a little girl so I'm sure it is genetic!

The perfect face for the shirt he is wearing...it says "Dear Santa, I can explain".

Smiling and sucking fingers.  It just can't get any better than this!

Merry Christmas from our little elf!

Crazy Dancer

Evan, can you take off your socks?

Tonight for the first time, Evan responded to something that I asked him to do.  I put him on the changing table before bath time and was singing to him.  Then I stopped and asked him if he could take off his socks.  And he promptly did just that!  It was really the first time that he let me know he understood what I was saying.  Even though this is the hardest job in the world, it just keeps getting more fun!

Helping Mommy and Daddy Decorate for Christmas

This long weekend I not only had my second Thanksgiving and my first birthday, but I also supervised some serious work around the house. 

Here I am instructing Daddy on how to put up the tree.

Then I got to work showing Mommy how to vacuum.  I was more interested in the vacuum than the tree. 

Finally I had to show Mommy where this ornament really should have been placed.

Evan's First Birthday!

Evan turned one on Friday.  We had a great day of hanging out and playing.  It was a great day for a birthday!

So what is Evan like at 12 months?  He loves to smile and giggle.  He loves to be naked...whenever you strip him down on the changing table, he kicks his legs up and down and just giggles away.  He loves trips to the park and the zoo where he loves to look at the birds.  He still LOVES books.  We've started to leave some on the floor with his toys and he'll go over to them and pick one up.  That is our cue that it is time to read.  It is the one time that he'll sit still on our laps.  His favorite books right now are anything touch and feel.  He really loves that "That's Not My..." series...I think we have 6 or 7 of them!  Right now we are reading some Christmas books too.  His favorite toy is still his car ramp.  Everything is fair game to go down the car ramp...even Baby Jesus from his Fisher Price Nativity set!  His favorite food is definitely still cheese, but pickles are probably a close second.  He loves snacky foods like Goldfish and cheese puffs.  He always has to have something in his hand when you are feeding him...probably because he wants to feed himself so badly!  He's only got two teeth so our menu is still rather limited to purees and things he can gum.  Evan has a little stranger anxiety right now and plays shy whenever a stranger is around...that is until he warms up to them.  He's crawling all over the place and pulling up on his knees.  He has good balance and is an expert crawler.  We've only had a few tears as a result of crawling thus far.  Evan has two teeth on the bottom although we can see the outline of the ones on top so they can't be too far away.  He's not a big fan of having his teeth brushed, but we definitely sing the Raffi song while we brush.  He's still a little dude...only 18.5 lbs.  That puts him in the 5th percentile with weight and little higher in height (I'll have more accurate numbers in a week after our dreaded 12 month doctor's visit).  Our pediatrician is not concerned because he's a healthy little guy who likes to eat, so we're trying not to worry too much either. 

Here is a picture from last weekend with all the balloons from his party.  Would you believe that they are still all up over a week later?

Here he is on Friday morning opening up his birthday present from Uncle Chris, Auntie Jenn, Cole and Jayden.  He's awesome at opening presents. 

In celebration of his 365th day, he had a pickle.

And made the famous pickle face in his crown!

Yummy...don't you want a pickle too???

Swinging at the Park

I love to go swinging at the park.  I smile and giggle the whole time.  Here's Daddy pushing me.  

Wow now that is a some crazy hair...

Mommy usually takes me down the slide a few times too!