Summer!

I love summer. I love waking up in the sunshine, naps, playing with Evan all day and impromptu trips to Target. I love Target almost as much as I love summer.

We went to the beach for vacation this year, and Evan loved the water. He went out in the waves with his Daddy while Mommy nervously looked on from the beach cause she doesn't like weird stuff touching her feet. Evan also had some Kohr's ice cream, and he rode rides on the boardwalk in OC, NJ. We had a great time. I do have to say that going to the actual beach is a little overrated with a 19 month old. Surprisingly, it's not as relaxing as you'd think, but we dutifully hauled 300 lbs. of gear down there for 90 minutes of pure beach fun! Evan liked the sand - playing in it AND eating it - but it only held his attention for so long. He had no fear and would have made a beeline into the water if one of us wasn't on Evan-duty!

In other news, before we went to the beach, Evan and I went to the allergist. We both tested NEGATIVE for seasonal allergies (although she said it wouldn't surprise her if Evan actually had them). So he's staying on Zyrtec, and we will try to take him off of it again in a few weeks to see if he's ok (he got a super runny nose while he was off of it for the testing at the office). He's also allergic to eggs. He eats things with eggs in them, he just doesn't seem to do well with scrambled eggs/omelet type items. He even had French Toast and was fine with that, so hopefully he will outgrow it. She said most kids do.

Although Evan's vocabulary is not "typical" of his age, he's really trying, and he's learning new words all the time. And thank goodness for sign language so we know what he means in the meantime! The cutest thing about his emerging words is that he says thank you (da do) every single time you give him something, and if he sees that you have something he wants, he says peeeeeeeeeeee (please). He's so cute when he does it that you HAVE to oblige!

My summer vacation is coming to the end. It's almost time for my annual "week of mourning" where I stay in my pajamas and watch as much daytime tv as I can cram in. Evan has no idea what fun that week will be for him. :)

Pics are on Stan's computer...hopefully I'll get some up soon!

Crazy time ending? Nope!

Life has been busy and crazy, and Evan has been growing like a weed both physically and mentally. I have been balancing working full time with a class with a lot of needs (and being team leader this year) along with a very challenging year of grad school AND being a mommy and wife. Most times this year, I have felt like I'm not doing any of them well, and it has definitely been a year to learn about myself. Stan has been working and is now umpiring again. With me at grad school twice a week, and Stan umping at nights a couple nights a week, we have been quite dependent on Nana (Stan's mom - I don't know what we'd do without her). Because of Stan and I being gone so much, Evan has developed a little bit of separation anxiety and has been having some difficulty at night lately.

In other news, Evan and I were both diagnosed with seasonal allergies this Spring, and we are officially a Zyrtec family. It seems to be keeping everything under control. Evan is understanding a ton of things lately. It's crazy to say, "go get your milk and bring it to mommy" or "go throw that away" or "put your shoes in the closet", and he understands it all. He is trying to communicate, but he still doesn't have a lot of words yet. He tries to imitate inflection in the voice though. For example, he doesn't ever say the words thank you, but whatever sounds he chooses when he's trying to say thank you still have the same inflection of when we say thank you.

Soon school will be over (June 22), and grad school will be over for the summer on June 30. Finally, I will get to be a stay at home mommy for a couple weeks - the best "job" ever!!

Here are some pictures from Mother's Day and Easter when my family came to visit.

Evan's Birthday

Total Slacker...

...that describes me and my blogging skills. This post is dedicated to Mrs. Klinger who kindly pointed out that it has been awhile since I've written. :)

There is too much to catch up on, so I'll give the short version and promise to try harder in the future. :)

Evan's first birthday was great (except for him getting shots). He is 24 1/2 lbs. and 31 inches. He is running everywhere and has a new found love of climbing. He can now climb on the chair and turn around and scoot back off. He has become more vocal although his "words" are still limited to mama, dada, nana and yaya. He has become very interested in books and will bring them over to me and sit in my lap so I can read them to him. He had his first visit to Santa on his birthday, and even though I thought he would cry, he was fine! He even smiled (which we did not catch on camera, of course).

Between Ev's birthday and Christmas, our house looks like a toyland. We have a whole pile we haven't even opened yet that we will save until summer. I will be better about this next year in what we ask for and what we buy him so we don't get an overwhelming amount of gifts. He got a lot of giftcards too, so those are great, and we are saving them for things we need.

In other recent Evan news, he is now pacifier and bottle free. He strictly drinks out of a straw cup. Where did my baby go??? He has started fussing when we put him down, but it only lasts for about 5 minutes, and he goes to sleep. He has been showing us his little personality a lot, and we are loving it. This kid is a ham!!

I don't have pictures from Christmas yet (they are on Stan's computer, and I need to get them), but I will post other pics that I DO have.

Love to all!
Melissa, Stan and Evan