Blog Hiatus

It has been so long since I have blogged. There are many reasons why I haven't but it's largely due to my camera breaking. I prefer (as well as I know others do) blog entries with photos. I've been debating whether to get the Canon Rebel DSLR or to get a smaller, basic digital camera. I've wanted the Rebel for so long but haven't been able to justify spending the money on one. I'm not interested in becoming a photographer nor have the time to sit down and learn about all the options the DSLR's have to offer. But- when I see beautiful, high quality photos, I always wish I had one!

Time has also contributed to my lack of blogging. Everett is so playful and social these days and needs me to play with him all day. When he's down for a nap or in bed for the night, I work on cleaning up the house. It seems as if I have a dishwasher full to unload and to fill back up every single night. I'm a little OCD on leaving clean dishes in the dishwasher or dirty dishes in the sink so it needs to be done every night, along with the pick up of toys that literally lay EVERYWHERE. By then, it's 9pm and I'm ready to shower and get into bed.

I admit I haven't been staying up on everyone else's blog and am looking forward to catching up and seeing what everyone's been up to. I have been able to stay in touch via Facebook, which makes it so easy to do with the mobile app but I just deleted it off my phone. I have a love/hate with Facebook.

I'm also trying to shed about 20 lbs so I've been trying to run about 5 days a week. I haven't exercised in years. The first time I ran left me quite sore and barely unable to get up. It didn't hit me until about 3 days later. I should've ran a mile instead of two. Everett enjoys being in the jogging stroller and munches on snacks and waves at every single car and points at every single tree.

Well, sorry this is a boring blog entry with no photos. I'll be getting a camera here soon!

Easter 2011

Look how cute and little Everett was last year!

I can't believe he celebrated his SECOND Easter this year!

He's not very fond of photo-taking lately so I wasn't able to get any big smiles or poses. They were all caught "in action."

{Notice the bump/redness on his head? This comes from a lot of constant banging of the head. He's been doing it a lot. }

{Ignore the ugly boxes. We're still in the process of moving. Ugh.}

We enjoyed a wonderful sermon at church and headed out to my parent's afterwards. Lots of great food and wonderful company in celebration of Jesus' resurrection! Wonderful day indeed!

Challenging Day

Today's been a challenging day. We had to cancel our move for this weekend due to me losing my job in the coming future. Long story short, my boss is in the process of losing his buildings due to substantial delinquency.

On the bright side, the owner of the place we were going to move into graciously is willing to refund the $1700 in deposit and rent we already paid. Working in this field, this is something that a landlord never does. It's very rare, to say the least. In the 10 years I've been in this business, the companies I worked for never once refunded a deposit if someone backed out for any reason. He was so sympathetic when I called him this morning. The best part is, I didn't even ask and it was his offer to do so.

The place we're living at now has been re-rented so we are scrambling to find an affordable place. I admit I was looking forward to a newer, larger, more private place to live.

Also, after only 2 days, we pulled E out of daycare since I'm home with him now. In these 2 days, Everett hit the inevitable and is SICK. It was my understanding that if a child is sick, that they are not allowed to come to daycare. Every single kid in Everett's class has been sick this week. Coughing and excess amounts of nasty green/yellow snot hanging from their noses. No wonder Everett is sick. I'm also fighting something as well. And with no naps in daycare, Everett is beyond exhausted. He is so off schedule that he hasn't been able to nap at home either. I'm really looking forward to getting him back on track.

It's been a whirlwind and stressful day for me today with the combination of an overly fussy Everett, canceling our move for this weekend, and talking to my current landlord and seeing if there's anything we can work out so we don't have to move out in 2 days.

I truly believe that everything in life happens for a reason though and this bump in the road is all apart of God's plan for Everett, Dale, and I. Dale told me today that God is just keeping us on our toes, and isn't that the truth!

First Day of School

Today was Everett's 1st official day of school! Just like my mom always did, I made sure to get a photo.

Last night, I was already anticipating him going and was trying to think of a reason why he didn't have to go. Deep down though, I knew it would be a great experience for him.

I ended up staying there for about an hour and a half to help him get acquainted. On Mondays, there's only 4 of them so it was a good first day for him to adjust.

He did very well sitting at the table with the other kids for breakfast. At home, I don't give Everett his food in bowls because he always ends up throwing the bowl, causing food to fly everywhere. I told the teacher that I'm surprised that he hasn't chucked the bowl of cereal and mandarin oranges. Sure enough, about 5 minutes later, the floor was covered with honey nut cheerios and oranges.

As I left to go to work, he didn't cry. The minute I got into the car, I broke down. Yes, that's right. Everett didn't cry but Mom did. About an hour after I got into work, I called Emily (director/owner) to check up on him. I guess he ended up crying a little awhile after I left when he realized I wasn't there any longer but he was easily consolable when his teacher held him.

I worried about nap time and thought (and still think) impossible for Everett to sleep on a cot on the floor amongst the other kids. He actually ended up napping for 20 minutes but was woken up by an infant crying in the next room. I'm just surprised he napped at all. I was also told he didn't eat lunch and only had a bite or two of his afternoon snack. He went to town on dinner when we got home!

I received the "Toddling Turtle's Daily Report" and here is what today's report had to say: Today at school, I had a wonderful first day. After you left for work, we did an art project. I made a penguin and I enjoyed putting all the body parts together. The first toy I played with was the vacuum cleaner. I also played with the big red ball. All in all, I had a fantastic first day and can't wait to come back again.

I'm not quite sure if he really can't wait to come back. When I came to pick him up, I peaked through the classroom window and watched him for a little bit. He was just standing there with a glazed look over his face while staring at one of the other kids. The second I walked in, he saw me and started crying and refused to give me a smile or a hug and only wanted to rest his head on my shoulder. He had such a somber-looking look on his face. He didn't make a peep the whole way home and it took a little bit of coaxing for me to get any noise or expression out of him. This is unlike him. Poor guy!

Overall, I guess I am pleased with how his 1st day went. I'm thankful that he didn't cry all day, which Emily told me that a handful of kids do on their 1st day. I am looking forward to staying home tomorrow with Everett and getting a decent nap out of him. It'll be recovery day for us.

I'm already dreading him going back on Wednesday. This will be a big adjustment for all of us!

Fun Family Day

Today was the first Saturday in a long time that offered decent, non-rainy weather that allowed for us to spend a little bit of time at the park. Dale also didn't work today either which was the first Saturday off in over a month. It was so nice to wake up together as a family and have breakfast today and spend some time lounging on the floor with blankets watching Sesame Street. The show for the morning was Everett's pick. He wanted some Elmo.

Dale's mom came over shortly after breakfast and watched Everett while Dale and I went out to run a few errands.

After naptime, we packed Everett up and went to Tickle Creek Park. This park was awesome!

The moment we carried him out the door and set him at the entrance to the playground, he got the cutest grin of happiness on his face. It's been so cold and rainy and dark here and he hasn't spent time outside playing in months and it was so great to see how much he was enjoying himself.

Even Dale had some fun!

The park had some of the comfiest and safest child swings I've ever seen.

We had such an enjoyable time being outside and spending some much needed family time together.

The day ended with a delicious Mexican dinner at La Bamba with Dale's mom. It's been awhile since we had such a fun Saturday. I took for granted Dale having both Saturday and Sunday off! I also got the house cleaned, laundry done, and Dale cleaned both of our vehicles. Talk about a fun and efficient day!

Wordless Wednesday {Pots & Pans}

I love him.

Everett has been so cuddly lately. He's always been a snuggle bug but has been moreso lately. I love how he'll be playing and I'll be sitting on the floor watching him and every few minutes, he'll come over and give me a hug and sit himself in my lap for a few seconds, and then get back up to run back and forth from the living room to his bedroom and back.

He makes my cup runneth over.

{When I pulled the cooking pot lids out, he got so excited and wouldn't let go of it!}

Rambunctious

What's that saying: "Boys will be boys?" I know they say this moreso applies to adult men who act childish but I find myself saying this about Everett a lot. He is such a boy! I'm not speaking in literal terms. When we first found out that we were having a boy, I found myself believing that he would be quiet, shy, low key, and not so rambunctious. Dale was this way as a young boy and I myself was extremely shy and held to myself often as I was younger; so I somewhat expected our son to have the same kind of behavior. So far...it's a no.

This kid has so much energy in him. He plays hard and so rambunctiously. If it doesn't involve loud noises, horsing around on the floor, or running, he wants nothing to do with it; unless it's Elmo on TV, of course.

Everett loves the tent we got him from Ikea. He doesn't play IN it though. He plays WITH it. Watch this video and you'll see what I mean.

What's new with Everett?

Could this kid be any cuter, or look any more Asian in this picture??

I love his squinty eyes and his bowl haircut. My friend Tiffany who is a hairdresser said that the lady who cut his hair didn't blend the front, hence the look. On a daily basis, it reminds of Jim Carrey's hair from Dumb and Dumber.

If you look a little bit closely at Everett's cheek and nose, you will notice that his cheeks look a bit blemished and his nose is yellow. I had suspicions that it was a reaction to dairy so I cut all dairy products out of his diet last week and I can see a significant change. His cheeks have cleared up and his nose doesn't seem as yellow. I also think he may have Carotenemia, which is an overabundance of carrots in a diet but it can also be associated to citrus fruits. He rarely eats carrots and I'm most positive it is due to the amount of mandarin oranges he eats. Everett would eat 2-3 mandarin orange fruit cups if I let him. He absolutely loves them. I haven't removed them from his diet as I wanted to remove the dairy first. I don't plan on completely removing them but limiting the amount I give him. For the past month and half, he has been eating them for breakfast every single morning.

Everett's sleep schedule has been decent. Prior to the Spring time change, I was actually pretty excited because his normal bedtime of 6pm was a bit early and I was looking forward to him going to bed at 7pm. It only lasted a week and he went back to the 6pm bedtime. Regardless, he goes to bed around 6pm and gets up for the day around 6:30am. He gets up anywhere from 10pm-12am with a full diaper and for a bottle. Yes! I still give him a night feeding! This weening has been a bit delayed due to us moving within the next few weeks/month. I want to wait until we are settled into our new place before taking his night bottle away from him.
At noon, he naps for about an hour and a half. He's pretty consistent with his nap schedule.

Everett is running around everywhere these days. He spends a lot of his time during the day running around the living room, into the kitchen, into his bedroom, and back out again. This kid rarely chills for more than a minute to play with any of his toys. I spend a lot of time chasing him and giving him tickle fests once I "get him." It's a fun game we play.

Everett has 8 teeth. Still. He's had 8 teeth since what seems like months. He is teething at the moment though. We have excess drool, gnawing on the fingers, swollen gums, and multiple night wakenings. Thankfully, he's not as fussy during the day as he used to be while teething and am thankful that he's somewhat adjusted to this developmental process.



I love this kid more than there are stars in the sky and fish in the sea. <3

Time to Cook!

At the church nursery, there is a stand up kitchen that Everett loves to play with. I had been wanting to get one for a few weeks but put it off because the last five or so toys I have bought him have lasted all but 5 minutes of entertainment. He still pays no attention to them at all. Nonetheless, Dale and I gave in and bought him one. We set it up after he went to bed and when he woke up the next morning and walked out to the living room, he saw it, looked up at us and gave us the biggest smile, and ran to it. He played with it a lot for a few days but it's been almost a month now and he doesn't play with it as much as I thought he would have and hoped but he does step into his kitchen to make me a pot of coffee from time to time.

While I do wish that he played with his toys more, especially since he has SO many of them, I love that he's such a bundle of curiosity. To name a few of his favorite things to do these days:

*opening up the cupboards and playing with the bowls
*having me chase him and tickling him
*playing peekaboo
*rolling around and jumping on Mom and Dad's bed
*building forts with the couch cushions