October!

Lots of fun stuff is happening in October and will be ending with fun as Evan will celebrate his first Halloween.  I took some pictures of Evan to help kick off the Halloween season.

6 1/2 months vs Baking

Time is flying by and I've been slack on my blog this last week.  It may have something to do with the amount of cakes I had to do last week & this past weekend.  I baked 14 dozen cookies for Converse College.  They wanted a signature "C" cookie.  I helped them design one & they loved them.  They are going to be ordering them again in October & November.  I also baked 2 different orders of cupcakes, and 3 different cakes.  All of them were due by Saturday.  Whew!  I am so glad my parents were in town to watch Evan for me for a couple of those nights.  It's funny how the orders always come in waves. 

I have several more orders already lined up for the next few weeks so things are taking off in the baking world.  Now if I could just get a sous chef and a maid to clean up afterwards, I'd be set.

Evan is now over 6 1/2 months old.  He's sitting up better every day, but needs lots of support.  He loves to stand and he is yelling a lot.  He also makes a whispering voice in the letter E or A.  It's really cute to hear him make these new sounds.  He loves to eat all different foods from fruits to veggies. 

I have started thinking about his 1st birthday party and what kind of theme he will have.  Lots of fun decisions to make!

Rachel brought Ravyn & Cody this past weekend to celebrate Cody's 6th birthday at Chuck E Cheese.  With Mom & Dad here, we had a nice little party.  Evan enjoyed his first visit to Chuck E Cheese & got to ride some of the rides before he fell asleep.

6 Month Photo Shoot

Evan had his first official photo shoot (if you don't count the lady in the hospital when he was born).  My friend Jessie is an awesome photographer & managed to capture Evan in some cute poses.  He was not real happy about being woken up for the photo shoot, so I'm amazed at how well some of these turned out.  And thanks to my friend LaDonna for booking the photo session with Jessie for me!  Check out her website:
http://smilindown.wordpress.com/

I'll be using some of the pictures for our Christmas card this year, but wanted to share a few that may not be on the card.  So here's a sneak preview.

You'll have to wait until December to see the rest!

6 Month Check Up

Evan did not have a lot of fun at his doctor's visit for his 6 month check up.  The first thing we do when we arrive is to strip him down to his diaper to get his measurements.  They keep the office a chilly 65 degrees.  I don't know why they keep it that cold for the naked babies.  He is 12 lbs 11 oz, 25 1/2" long.  His head measured just over 16" around. 

The doctor examined his ears since he's been rubbing his left ear.  She used a long skinny tool with a loop at the end to remove some wax build up.  He hated having his head held down.  He cried because he was being held down, not so much because wax was being removed.

She then checked out all his body parts and after taking off his diaper, he wet all over her like a big fountain.  It soaked the paper on the table and he got her really good.  Her hands were dripping wet.  So while she cleaned herself up, I cleaned up Evan, who was surprisingly dry since he shot it so far out.  The doctor said "Evan 1, Doctor Parra 0."

Then the nurses came in.  Evan has to have a thyroid base line at 6 months old, so they had to draw blood.  Only since he's bigger, they used a vein in his arm and no longer use his foot.  They wrapped a tourniquet around his upper arm.  One nurse held his arm very tightly, at which point he really started crying hard.  Then the other nurse drew his blood.  I couldn't tell that he was crying any harder when she stuck him because he was already crying over being held down.  But he started letting up before she was done drawing the blood, so that was good. 

He got an oral vaccine, which he spit a lot of it out, and then he got a shot in his thigh, which he cried about again.  So he had 3 big cries at the doctor's office. 

They made us wait 15 minutes in the lobby after shots to make sure he has no reaction.  He was happy enough to be out of that room so we fed him his cereal and bottle in the waiting room. 

Overall, he is a healthy little 6 month old!

Evan is 6 Months Old

I can't believe my baby is now 6 months old.  Sept 4 marks his 1/2 year birthday.  He is getting bigger every day.  It seems like every couple of days he is learning something new.  This week alone he now makes a high-pitched "E" sound, rolls from back to front, and reaches his hands out for someone to pick him up.

Evan eats 2 tablespoons of cereal mixed with either a fruit or veggie 2 times per day.  He now has several things on his diet:  rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, apples, pears, bananas, green beans, and squash.  He tried sweet potatoes but had some diaper rash from it so we stopped feeding sweet potatoes to him.

He is sitting up better every day, with lots of support. He can sit up by himself for about 10 seconds.  However, because he likes to buck so hard backwards, someone has to be right behind him all the time.

Evan loves to ride in the car.  He usually falls asleep within 5 minutes of getting in the car. It puts him to sleep every time.  He is such a good little traveler. He also loves his piano that he kicks when laying on the floor. He will kick it so hard while he talks to himself in the overhead mirror.

One of Evan's favorite toys is his little music box.  Evan loves music. We got him several musical toys that he loves to watch and try to eat.  He also loves books and helps hold them and turns the pages.  And he loves really soft things like blankets and lovees.

 He loves chewing on his hands and feet now.  Evan also loves to hold your face while you talk.  I think it will help him learn to talk faster. He sure does concentrate on everything you say.  And he loves to stand. His little legs are pure muscle.

 Happy 1/2 year birthday to my baby boy!

Evan All Dressed Up

We took Evan to church on Sunday and for the first time ever, left him in the nursery.  They had about 5 people in there watching babies.  Evan did great from what they told me. He was all dressed up for church.

I also had Evan try on Nathan's going home outfit that Nathan wore when he was born.  He was a much bigger baby than Evan so it took Evan a few months to be big enough to wear it.

This week I received the Bumbo repair kit (seat belt) for Evan to use when in the Bumbo.  He loves to launch his whole body backward so he definitely needed more restraining. I had to alter his Bumbo cover with a few slits in it so he can still use it over the Bumbo with the seat belts. 

And he is still growing lots of hair.

24 Weeks Old

Evan is just growing like a weed.  I held a new baby this week that weighed 7 lbs 3 oz and she was so little bitty and tiny.  I can't believe Evan was only 5 lbs 13 oz. He is 12 lbs 9 oz now and seems so big compared to the newborn baby.  It's amazing how quickly you forget how tiny they were.

He has been doing a few new things this past week.  When you sit him up, he can hold the position for well over 10 seconds until he does his newest thing - he lurches his entire body backwards, head first.  He's very quick at launching himself backwards so we have to make sure we're directly behind him. I'm hoping he stops this soon.  He laughs every time he does it so he thinks it's a game.  We sit him back up and tell him not to do it. 

Evan is also reaching towards objects and people.  He will reach up for his bottle and bring it to his open mouth.  He will reach his arms out to me if someone else is holding him or if he's laying down. When on his tummy, he can reach out and touch objects before turning over.  He still turns over lickety-split.  We're still trying to get him to turn from his back onto his tummy.  He is not interested yet.

He has tried rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, apples, bananas, sweet potatoes, and green beans.  He got a red bottom after eating the sweet potatoes for a few days so we've discontinued them for now.  We may start back up after a couple of weeks.   His next food will be pears.  He has eaten them all really well.  He does like oatmeal better than the rice cereal. 

Evan is also chewing his fingers, toys, and anything else that he can get in his mouth.  I keep waiting for that first tooth to show up any day now.