3 months

My lil Ev, you are 3 months old today (8/11/11)!

You are growing so fast and getting chunkier and chunkier and I LOVE IT! Your little cheeks are just to die for. You are even getting little love handles. Its adorable. You are in size 0-3 still, but I know you will probably grow out of that this month. You are currently in size 1 diaper but only because I am finishing up a package. You should really be in size 2.

You love to lay on your play mat and look at the toys. This goes for the bouncy chairs and your mobiles too. Any toy you love to stare at, and then talk to.

Speaking of talking, you have REALLY found your voice this month. You love to talk. Its so funny too, its like a raspy "coo" that you do over and over. You laughed once this month, for the first time, but it scared you so bad you haven't done it since! I can't wait to be able to hear your laughter.

You are such a happy boy. You really only cry now when hungry or over tired (and if its the latter, watch out. hard to console you when you're overly tired). You smile so much. Its so sweet. Now when you're being fed you take breaks to look up at me and smile. You do it to daddy too when he's giving you a bottle. I sing to you often and that really gets you smiling, I think you are laughing at me! When daddy sings to you it puts you to sleep.

You are getting more and more hair. Its still fine, and looks reddish in the sun. Your eyes seem to be getting lighter and lighter, still a wonderful shade of denim blue.

You discovered your hands this month. You love to put them in your mouth and drool all over them. You are all about eating your hands lately. You stare at them too!

You haven't rolled over since you were a couple weeks old, until today! You were doing tummy time and just flipped right on over to your back. It was too cute.

We have many nick names for you around here. Ev, Ever Dean, Ever Boy, Sugar Boy, Sugar Booger (I know), Sugar Buns, Tweet Boy (your dads choice) and Tweetums.

You are sleeping very well at night. We start bedtime around 8, you usually go to sleep at 9 and then wake up around 4-5am to eat. Sometimes you get up at midnight or 1 am but are quickly put back to sleep with a little food or comfort. Naps are great from morning until late afternoon. You take a nap about every 2-3 hours for one hour, sometimes longer. You still are a little fussy from 5pm til bedtime, but its not very bad at all.

We love you so much Ev! You are getting so much personality. I love how you look at me and smile. You melt me to pieces daily.

Things I don't want to forget:

• your talking voice. Its so raspy and adorable.
• how sometimes you get excited and let out a squeal.
• when you nurse how you rest one of your feet on my shoulder
• how you kick your feet in the tub and the splashing water scares you
• in the morning when you wake up all smiles
• how you look up at me and smile for no reason but just because.

Sedona

This past weekend I had a job shooting a wedding in Sedona. We decided to go up as a family and make a mini getaway out of it. I was gone at the wedding for 7 hours while Chris and Ev hung out in the hotel room. This slightly made me nervous mainly because I knew I'd be out late and putting the baby to bed without nursing seemed impossible to me. Well, what do you know, I get home just before 11 and Chris had gotten Everett to sleep at about 8:30 for the night! He woke up to eat around 1 (he usually wakes about 4), but I was just so impressed that he slept that long "without" me! Chris is just so great with him!

Here are some pictures, these are just from my phone. I was too paranoid to use my camera because the wedding photos were taking up almost all my memory card and I didn't want anything to happen to them. I know nothing would have, but thoughts of the whole card being deleted were running through my head so I couldn't even touch my camera, ha!

Ev did so good in the car, on the way there :) coming home was a different story...

We stopped in Glendale to get Ritas Italian Ice that Chris has been talking about for as long as I've known him. There is one here in AZ now so we made a stop.

I have never been to Sedona. I thought it was much prettier than any camera could capture. It was a bit cooler up there, in the 90's. Saturday our friends Joe and Stacey drove up for the day and we had brunch and went to Grasshopper creek.

Everyone swan and jumped off cliffs into the water. I hung out with the babies, a job I do not mind :) I am glad we went here vs slide rock. We drove by slide rock and the line to enter was a mile long. This place was so not crowded at all and nice and shady.

Later we went and shopped around downtown. Ev was not having it in the ergo, I don't blame him it was so hot! So we stuck him in Olivias stroller and he slept there for a while! She was so good and let him cuddle with her.

Later when he woke up she was making him smile. It was too cute.

Yes, I know Chris is wearing the ergo wrong... he wouldn't listen to me about how to use it. Neither him nor Ev seemed to care! He was much happier like this.

12 weeks

Today my baby is 12 weeks old! Isn't that crazy??

I remember how slow it took to be 12 weeks pregnant and be in the "safe zone" so I could tell everyone. Man those weeks felt like forever, even though it was really only 8 weeks of knowing I was pregnant. The past 12 weeks with baby being outside my belly have seriously flown by.

Now that I am 12 weeks postpartum, I barely remember what it is like to be pregnant. I remember thinking it must be so weird to go from having a big belly with a moving baby to suddenly just not being pregnant. I thought I'd expect to feel movement or forget I was no longer pregnant, but none of that happened. It was such a smooth and natural transition.

I was extremely caught up in worry about breastfeeding. You hear so many horror stories or of people that is just didn't work out for, or infections, food allergies, no milk, etc. I was prepared for a struggle. I didn't have to worry, but I am glad I prepared myself. I remember being on google all day long trying to figure out if I was doing it right. I didn't think the lactation consultants were very helpful in the hospital, mainly because every time they came Everett was too sleepy to eat. After the first couple weeks of me being more confident in my supply and his latch, it was a breeze. He was self latching only at only a few days old and my milk came in after 2 days, so I am not sure what I was so worried about. I am still dealing with breastfeeding nausea. Since my milk came in after those 2 days I get nauseous with every let down of milk and latch. I don't get sick, but I feel pretty bad. Even when I miss a feeding because I am out on a photo job and my milk lets down, I get sick. I read it was supposed to go away after 6-8 weeks, but here I am 12 weeks and its still going strong. I mentioned it to my doctor who said he had never heard of it. hmmm.

One thing I am still struggling with is weight. No I do not diet or exercise, but I clearly should since my weight hasn't budged in 8 weeks. I am still hanging onto those last 10 pounds. I was seriously expecting breastfeeding to make my weight fall off me, HAHA. I am not one of the lucky ones! Its so hard to even think about dieting, because just in the past 2 weeks I have become so ravenous its unreal. At first for several weeks I had no appetite, but now, watch out! I am starving all the time. Oh and forget exercise. This girl doesn't do that, especially in this awful heat. (ok I see why I should stop complaining about my weight :)

Another thing that hit me recently was hair loss. Just the past 2 weeks my hair has started falling out in clumps. I need a hair net. It is so gross, I even found loose hairs in Everett's mouth and diaper. Sick I know. The worst thing is, my hair is in a ponytail 90% of the time and it still gets everywhere.

I hope the next 12 weeks will be just as fun as the past 12 with Ev. And I really hope in the next 12 weeks I can fit into my pre preggo jeans!

last week in photos

1. Baby wearing in the sling for the first time
2. the best way to sleep in in the mornings
3. seriously, how cute is he???
4. those lashes! getting so long!
5. supper club with baby O
6. sweet nursing babe.
7. hanging with Sammy boy
8. went shopping with Aunt Rebecca, he feel asleep.
9. he looks huge sitting like this, those feet!
10. yes he does

I have to admit, I have been getting so lazy with my dslr since getting the iphone. Seriously its so easy to just snap and upload and post on here! I told myself I need to take a photo of Ev with my camera at least once a day. Lets see if I can do it...

my daily lunch.

I get into habits with my food. For the past, I don't know, say 6 weeks I've been eating the same thing for lunch every.single.day.

Field greens, light ranch dressing, tomatoes, hard boiled egg, black beans, corn, shredded chicken (some days, usually its whatever meat was leftover from dinner the night before), and quinoa. Most days I only have time to prepare it, then do something with the baby, then finally get to eat it an hour later.

I'm loving quinoa since I discovered the best kind at Costco. Its pre-rinsed and cooks up very fuffy and light. In case you've never had it, it is similar to rice but has a more nutty taste to it. My only complaint is that it stinks like dirt when you cook it. Besides the health benefits and being FULL of protein, I love it because it really helped my milk supply. No lie. I eat it daily and I get more milk when I pump and feel fuller at feeding times. So in case you need help in that department or know someone who does, give quinoa a try!

This is my PSA announcement for the day. ok bye.

happiest boy on the block

Since about 2 weeks ago, Everett has started changing immensely. He has personality, he makes eye contact, he coos and talks, he smiles all the time and even fake coughs. Its so adorable and I am so lucky to witness all these changes!

The funniest thing is when he is on his playmat. He stares at that octopus and talks to it and laughs at it. I'm pretty sure he likes that octopus more than me...

Then there is his dramatic side...

I was giving him tummy time when I turned him back onto his back, and he starting the fake cough, followed by wimpers, followed by full on screaming. Why, I have no idea.

Then, sure enough, once I started talking to him he was full on giggles again. Oh this boy melts me!

on the iphone

1."Supper Club" (need to post about this more) @ the Keg. Boys don't like carrying the babes.

2. Us @ the Keg

3. My beautiful now flight attendant Kari and Ev. I miss her- she lives in Chicago now :(

4. Nothing as sweet as a sleeping baby (those lips!)

5. Chris sharing his iPhone with Ev- watching a news clip. Baby thought it was pretty funny.

6. Driving downtown, getting kinda lost...(I was hired to take photos for my husbands work event for the 2nd year in a row)

7. thumb.in.the.mouth. sorry- its adorable.

8. fussy baby- finally laid him down and he stared at the fan so contently.

overwhelming love.

how did I get so blessed? this precious baby is mine, all mine. He is beautiful, happy, healthy, perfect. He is the best thing to ever be apart of my life.

I still look at him and think, "wow, he belongs to me. I'm his momma"

brings me to tears.

Two Months

Everett, you are two months old today (7/11/11)!
My how you have grown! You look big in pictures, but everyone still comments on how "little" you are in person. You are in the 50% for height and weight (11lbs 9oz, 24in) so I know you are growing right on track.

You feel different in my arms, more solid. This happened over night and I got a little sad. You no longer just melt into me when I hold you, unless you are asleep.

Your head control is very good. You love to look around and turn your head to see everything and anything. When you are awake, you are VERY awake! So alert with those big wide eyes!

You love to look at mama, and daddy too, and coo and smile. Oh your smiles never get old and melt my heart to pieces every time. Sometimes I feel like you want to have a conversation with me. You look at me, study me, then curl your lips in and let out a big "cooooo". So sweet.

You are a big "exerciser". You kick and kick and kick and even get your arms going. Its like you're trying to go somewhere!

You are better at sleeping this month. You take two very long naps, one in the early morning and one in the early afternoon, but the rest of the day is still random for sleep. At night you have been doing much better, only getting up once, maybe twice to nurse. You still cluster feed before bed, from around 6pm-10pm which is also your "witching hour" (as the doctor calls it, we call it "fusserton time")

You are still a great nurser. I think you are getting stronger because you don't take as long to feed anymore. We have given you formula a few times when I was either away, or because it was easier at the time, but as of now you refuse formula bottles. It started out bottles in general, but if its breastmilk you will drink it now. Also, as much as we tried, we don't think you'll be a pacifier baby. You do like your hand, and I've caught you with your thumb in your mouth now.

For a while you would cry when we went anywhere (while driving, in the store). It was horrible for us. Now, you are so relaxed in your car seat and are content anywhere unless you're hungry.

You wear size 1 diaper now and 0-3 month clothes.

Things I don't want to forget:

• that concerned look you wear almost all the time
• when you smile in your sleep and let out a little "heh heh heh" laugh
• how you suck your tongue when you sleep
• how happy you are in the mornings
• how sometimes you go to sneeze, and let out a big sigh instead

hello blog world.

want to see more photos of my babe?

1. two month old birthday

2. asleep on the boppy after nursing, typical way to wind down the day

3. fell asleep during tummy time

4. ALWAYS trying to get a finger, thumb, or whole fist in his mouth

5. holding onto a burp cloth, he does this to blankies too

6. fast asleep on my lap.

(taken from my iPhone, because now I am cool like that)