Things to be thankful for

A healthy beautiful boy that contently plays


The special bond between a mother and her baby



A July afternoon at the park


The loving relationship between my two most favorite people



Sunshine


Everett's pouty little lips


Playtime


It's so easy to overlook the simple things in life and to be thankful for them when one experiences a stressful day but for me, it's the unfortunate stresses in life that brings me to realize the many things I have been blessed with. I stand back and and remind myself to not sweat the small stuff. It's really not worth it, especially when I have SO much to be thankful for. The next time you're thrown a curve ball, throw that ball right back as hard as you can and see all that you have been blessed with.

Cute

This is just full of cuteness. That is all.

I'm done with you!

...That's what Everett pretty much said to his swaddle last night. We are going night 2 of no swaddle and I don't think Dale and I could be happier. We have struggled with trying to wean him off for the past several months and when he started rolling over onto his tummy at night a few weeks ago, we knew we had to get rid of the thing but Everett decided to all on his own. Last night, he refused to go down for the night and I finally undid his swaddle and his body relaxed and he went right to sleep. Tonight, I didn't even consider wrapping him up and I set him down for sleep with just a blanket over his legs and he drifted off to Dreamland pretty quickly. I feel such relief that we no longer have the swaddle battle anymore. We were having to get up multiple times a night to re-swaddle him because he woke up every time he got an arm out but then refused to sleep if we didn't swaddle him back up.

Mr. Swaddle was such a lifesaver for the first handful of months but eventually became to be more of a pain and we are all so ever glad to say that "we are done with you!"

Just another blog entry.

This picture here doesn't need a witty title. It's just cuteness overload. If he wasn't so cute, I would be running out of patience these days. Dale and I have been so sleep-deprived these past couple of weeks. These weeks feel like months though. It has been some time now that he has slept through the night and him doing so is the #1 thing on my wish list. I'm too tired these days to be tired of being too tired. The only thing I'm tired about is hearing myself complain about how tired I am. Not sure if that makes any sense but it does in the world of sleep-deprivation.

Anyway, I was starting to get a bit of cabin fever the past week but Everett and I were able to get out yesterday for a little while and meet up with Tiffany and her boys for lunch and some relaxation at the park. He sat in the swing for his first time and he is still much too small for it. There was so much space around him and I was worried that he was going to fall out.



Ethan enjoying time at the park and the fresh air.



Everett and I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening out at my parent's house and while I don't like being out all day due to the interference of Everett's nap schedule, I was glad to be out of the house for once.

On another topic, Everett is now eating squash as of Sunday and of course, along with everything else, loves it. He's such a pigmeister.

Love This, Hate That.

I LOVE that my son loves his new ducky tub.


I HATE clutter. I feel like I'm always picking up around the house but yet, there's stuff sitting around everywhere.



I LOVE how adorable my son looks playing and frolicking around naked.


I HATE dishes in the sink. I never go to bed without all the dishes done but last night, I was so tired I didn't have it in me to get them done; so I guess I can never say never, anymore.


I LOVE how my son is easily entertained by the smallest things. His favorite "toy" right now is the packaging to my new Benefit "boi-ing" concealer. {By the way, this is THE best concealer, ever. For you tired mommas who need to hide those dark, under-eye circles, boi-ing will make those disappear!}


And what I especially LOVE right now are the little things that Everett does that make me smile. Like this:

Sleep Regression

Dear Everett,

Mommy and Daddy just want you to know that we really miss your full nights of sleep. You know, the kind with no multiple awakenings. The kind where we put you to bed by 8pm and you sleep soundly until 7am. What happened to those? One of your teeth finally cut through but do you have another one coming out? We sure hope that's what it is because we do not know what else it could be. You seem to be waking up when you get one of your little hands or arms out of your swaddle too but you went several months sleeping with both of your arms out, with no bother. We think maybe it's time to think about weaning you off the swaddle because it is getting to be somewhat straining for us to get up over 10 times a night to have to re-swaddle you. You are getting to be such a big boy now and we don't think you need the swaddle anymore.

If you could find it in you to start being the great sleeper that you once were, we would greatly appreciate it and we would love you even more than we already do, and that there, is a WHOLE lot of love!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Family

One thing that my parents instilled in me while growing up and over the years is the importance of family. There is nothing like the bond, relationship, and loyalty that could ever be duplicated from anything else. I've had my ups and downs with my parents and siblings and the end result of these situations ended with the comfort of knowing that they will always be there no matter what happens. Sadly, I do have to involuntarily eliminate a sibling who has over the years neglected to display respect and has therefore withdrew themselves by choice from this circle of love and trust. unfortunately, I don't think he received the same definition of family that was instilled in me.

Nonetheless, the point I am trying to get at is that I have now been given a family of my own and the opportunity to instill the same value of family to both my husband and son. Dale had the past 5 days off and we were able to spend a lot of memorable times together.



Happy as a clam and ready to go for a walk.


I recently bought Everett a beginner sippy cup. Other than there, he doesn't show much interest in it unless I hold it up for him so he can drink out of it. Lazy kid!


Everett finally has a tooth. His middle left incisor came in yesterday. I feel that he has another one about to cut through due to his multiple times of waking at night and early, early morning time. He was up about 10 times between the time we put him to bed at 8pm last night to 4am this morning. He doesn't wake up crying really but more with a slight fussy whimpering. I've been trying to get a picture but every time I try opening his mouth with my fingers, he starts gnawing or sucking on them.

We gave him green beans for the first time yesterday. And of course, this piggy enjoyed them.



I am so thankful to have been blessed with such a wonderful family of my own. This past year has brought me both a marriage and a baby; 2 things I once hoped that I would be blessed with one day, and here I am today!

Husband + Extended Days Off = Fun Weekend

It seems as if the only time I've had to blog lately is when both Dale and Everett are asleep. So, once again, here they are both passed out. (By the way, Everett is going on a 3 1/2 hour nap!)



We've had such a fun-filled weekend. Dale normally works Saturdays and Sundays but this week, he had them off. This weekend, we enjoyed dinner at my parent's, Farmer's Market, garage sailing, dinner with some close friends, church, Coldstone, sunny afternoon and evening walks, movies, and best of all, time together as a family.



I absolutely love this picture of Everett and I!


Daddy and Everett with my parent's Dobey.


Everett all dressed up and ready to go to church.


I would have to say that prunes have been Everett's favorite so far.


He loved them so much he couldn't stop smacking his lips!


This weekend was busy and left Everett a little tuckered out by the end of each day but we were able to spend some extra time with Daddy that we normally didn't have.


We hope that you all had a fabulous weekend too!

The truth about prunes

So they say that prunes help you poop because they are full of fiber. Well, ain't that the truth! I started Everett on prunes today and he filled his diaper within minutes. He sure enjoyed them though.



He found them a little sour at first but he quickly ate up his whole serving.

4th of July Celebration

What a great 4th of July we had! It was full of good friends, delicious food, and fun fireworks. Josh and Tiffany hosted the party and it was nice meeting their family and seeing Amber and Nicolas, and meeting Fernando finally.

All jazzed up for some 4th of July festivities






Everett did well with the fireworks and wasn't phased by the loud noises but we had to leave a little earlier than expected to get him to bed. Nonetheless, I think it was a great first 4th of July for him.

T is for Tired

As I had mentioned in a previous blog entry, I have been overly tired this past week. My nights have been consisted of interrupted sleep caused by wakings of 2-4 times a night. I'm actually kind of glad of this change in weather because it's been one of the main reasons why I haven't been able to sleep. Our place takes up the fourth and fifth (fifth being the top level of the building) and not only do we get all the heat rising to the top level where the bedrooms are located but there is no AC unit. The AC on our main floor doesn't even reach the upper level so therefore, we have been sleeping with the bedroom window open and all we hear is the Max going all night, in combination with the cars coming in and out of the parking lot. I'm looking forward to sleeping with the window closed and getting a full night's sleep.

It was nice having Dale home all day today. Minus a few errands, we did a whole lot of nothing. Dale is just about back to feeling better from his respiratory infection and we decided it to be safe for him to finally hold and play with Everett today. He avoided being around him for the past handful of days until he got past his contagious phase.

Today, we tried out some bananas for Everett. While he didn't go bananas for them, he didn't dislike them either. He enjoyed them but not nearly as much as he enjoyed the sweet potatoes.



I spy...a baby! (Oh, and don't mind the passed out blob on the couch.)



I was having somewhat of a difficult time keeping Everett entertained while trying to fix some dinner so I stuck him in the basket with his toys and he had a ball sitting in there. I didn't hear a peep out of him for the remaining amount of time it took me to finish getting dinner ready!