Tourists in Our Own Neighborhood

We typically lounge around on Mondays, but we've been meaning to check out the beautiful park down the street for four months now and finally made the decision to go today. I knew Evan would be game. He's quite the road warrior in his JEEP stroller and loves to be outside...so we packed up our gear and headed out for our very flat hike to the park...all of two miles! On our way we were startled by some commotion in a tree above us. I looked up and screamed when I saw two beady eyes staring back at me. There was a raccoon perched on a branch feeding on berries. We realized it was just a baby so I courageously made an attempt at taking its picture, but decided zoom would work just fine. It was a great start to our little outdoor adventure!

The park, Ponce Preserve, has a couple of trails that you can take leading to either the beach or an open area where a massive green mound oak tree resides. The trunk of the tree is the width of at least two cars while its numerous branches are probably half that size. Our admiration however was short-lived due to an attack of mosquitoes. Evan's soft, white flesh to a mosquito is like candy to a 5 year old. We decided to go off the beaten path and make our way out of the woods. Across the street from the trails is a dock extending about half of a mile through the marshland into the Halifax River. There are numerous shallow canals that feed into this marshy area and eventually lead into the river. If we owned a canoe or kayak we could leave from our back dock and make it to the river...oh, in probably a few days with our lack of endurance! Actually it wouldn't be too bad. Maybe once Evan is old enough to sit in a small boat we will look into doing that sometime. Anyway - so we traveled the dock out to the river and sat and watched the pricey boats go by. The weather was awesome today! It was about 78 degrees and just a few clouds in the sky. Now that Christmas is over I can start appreciating the warm weather again. We took a few pictures to remember the day which I have posted for you. I have also added all of our albums from July to November. Click on the image and you will be directed to that album. There is ordering information on the album's site if anyone sees a picture they'd like to have.

Until next time!

Ponce Preserve-12/'08

Christmas 2008

Evan was eager for Santa's arrival. He tried to get us up around 2am, but that was seriously pushing it. We finally rose from the dead around 6:30 and took part in our first Family Christmas. It was thrilling, to say the least. Evan was more interested in chewing on the wrapping paper than playing with all his fabulous gifts. We unwrapped and unboxed everything feverishly to avoid any possible tantrums due to inactivity, but we couldn't escape the inevitable...even on Christmas. Daddy did however play a part in the breakdown. While trying to unwrap a present and support Evan, Robert's left hand continued unwrapping while his right hand slowly wandered to the present as well. That of course left Evan sitting unsupported which resulted in a tilt to the floor. And unfortunately we have tile...the rest is history. BUT, Evan's new friend, Leap, made his tears quickly dry up. Leap is a friendly frog that sings the ABC's and laughs...anything to make our baby happy! The holidays were swell and we hope everyone enjoyed theirs as well! Happy New Year!

Christmas 2008

Getting Everyone Up-To-Date

Evan will be officially 6 months old on January 11th. I honestly thought for about the first 4 months he only had two emotions... cranky and crankier. It about got the best of me, but I plunged through and finally have a baby that smiles and laughs and displays a fun personality...thanks to Similac's ever-so-expensive Alimentum formula. The price, I realize, is not an issue anymore because I would literally take out a loan to make sure we have this on hand at ALL times. I'd much rather be in debt with a happy baby than the reverse. At least I have my sanity back. No more allergies for Evan and no more meltdowns for Mommy! Life is good.

Evan is currently mastering the skill of steam rolling. A few days ago I experienced every mother's nightmare when Evan went steam rolling right off the edge of the bed. The thud and the scream that followed had me in a tizzy as I rushed over to see if he was ok. I believe he was more frightened than hurt because I've heard him cry a lot louder. He was happy in about 2 minutes after many kisses and many "oh, my god, I'm so sorry...I'm such a horrible mothers!" Thanks to a hard noggin (I think it comes from both sides of the family) he was A-ok. And Yes, Mom, I know you told me so!!!! I'll listen to you next time...(seems like I've been saying that for years).

In addition to the steam rolling, Evan is also on the cusp of sitting unsupported. He manages to slump over and hold himself up with his hands, but I think his jelly belly is so big that it takes his breath away to sit like that. So he usually just falls over to one side. He's getting there. I'm sure we'll wake up one random morning and there he'll be sitting in his crib waving and grinning and asking mama and dada if he can borrow the car for awhile. It certainly feels like he's developing that quickly.

As you can probably tell, Evan is a great eater. We began rice cereal last week and he took to it like he was eating from a spoon in the womb. After his 6 month check-up we move on to fruits and vegetables. I'm thrilled when I think about the mess!!Weighing in at 21lbs and measuring at the length of 28in., our son is in the 98th percentile in both categories. I can understand the height, but the weight is a mystery. Or is it...Dad? ha! Of course Robert has already contacted the UT athletics department to put Evan's name in their ears so he'll have a spot on the football team in the future. Let's just hope they're not playing as poorly in 18years as they did this year! I don't care what sport he plays as long as he goes pro and takes care of his parents! :)

From this point on, I will try to keep everyone informed of Evan's developments and post many pictures for you to enjoy. I'll be sure to include any special outings we take or activities we engage in...so keep checking back for more!