1st Birthday Bash

Evan's first birthday party was a success. In all, we had about 20 people show up for the festivities. Evan toddled all around, in and out of everyone's legs. He enjoyed a whopping piece of cake and afterward, Grandma Terreri graciously offered to scrub yellow and red icing off in the tub. Evan received all kinds of gifts for his first birthday-- a tool bench, dump truck, fire truck, ride-on zebra, swing set, free babysitting vouchers, maracas, sit & spin (remember those?) and more! We're so thankful for the kindness of our friends and family. This past year of parenthood has been so great, and we couldn't have done it without your support. Enjoy the pics!





























Evan & new friend Tai.






Kevin's always ready for the camera.


Yuki, Eric & Tai.








Evan's fan club.

Party Prep

We held Evan's 1 year birthday party last night... what follows are mostly pictures of the decorations, etc. I'm waiting for more pictures from our camera man (aka Grandpa Hugh), where you can see more of Evan and his extensive fan club.


Note the monkey & palm tree chandelier.



Birth-12 months collage



Cute Curious George cake that my friend Holly generously offered to make.

What's old is new again

About a month or so ago, I discovered that a good high school friend of mine from Vienna lives less than 10 miles away from us! Some of you reading this may remember Yuki Peete (formerly Matsushita). Turns out that she, her husband and son have been living in Newnan (next town over) for the last 5 years! What a great find! We were good friends in high school, and actually Yuki, Jason and I all were on the swim team together. What a small world! Anyway, it has been so much fun getting to know her all over again and spending time with her family. She has a son that is 20 months old, so Evan will have a great little playmate. Here's a cute pic of Yuki's son Tai.










Stay tuned for pics of Evan's first birthday party....

Memorial Day

I would have posted sooner, but we've been going non-stop these past couple of weeks! This past weekend, we travelled to my home town in Indiana to visit family and attend my sister Alex's high school graduation. Evan met most of the Taylor and Opperman sides of the family, and Jason and I caught up with everyone. In short, we had a great time. Just a few pics below-- more to come soon (as soon as my dad sends them!).



Evan nippin on the bottle. Takes after his mom's love of root beer.





At a get-together with the Opperman family-- aunts, uncles, granparents, cousins.

An early birthday present.

Evan with his cousin Ethan.

Story time

This was such a cute pic, I had to post. This is the first time I've caught Evan trying to read to his bear... usually he just chews on his books.

Fun for the whole family

Yesterday, Jason & I took Evan to a new place in PTC (Peachtree City) that houses a bunch of inflatable moon walks/bouncy castles. It was SO cool! I'm not sure who had more fun! And, it is free for adults and kids under two. They have a "mommy & me" time so that older kids don't trample all over little toddlers. Evan was a little unsure of the whole thing at first, but ended up having a great time.

Mother's Day...

...was 3 days ago, so I'm a little behind with this post. I had a very good first Mother's Day. I was treated to a nice breakfast out and Evan's special present to me was not taking a nap.... all day long! Wasn't that sweet? Here are a few pics to commemorate the day.



















Evan discovered the curtain in our foyer and had so much fun playing.

ok, here are some pics

Jason and I appreciate the outpouring of sympathy/empathy via comments, letters, phone calls and even flowers for our "parenting mistakes" post below. It's nice to know we have family and friends who care. (since you can't hear my tone, read: sarcasm)

Now, getting to what you came here for: pictures. The first is of Evan on his airplane rocker (a nice hand-me-down from one of Jason's co-workers). And the second is a shot of Evan trying to hide from the paparazzi.

No pics, just an update

We've been so busy lately, the camera is collecting dust! I'll have to remember to take it out and snap some new shots.

Since the weather has been warmer (and beautiful) around here, Jason & I have been towing Evan in the bike trailer. Moving to Peachtree City, we knew that the golfcart paths would be great for running & biking, and now they are really paying off. Just a block from our house, we can be on the paths and ride on up to 81 miles (I said "up to") of protected and mostly shady winding paths. It is awesome! Evan seems to enjoy it too. We always make sure to stop along our ride at one of the parks so he can get out and take a turn on the swings.

Talking about the bike rides leads me into a story.... Remember when you were a child and you thought your mom/dad could do no wrong? And then remember when you grew up and realized that this was a ridiculous idea? Most of us know by now that parents don't always exercise good judgement.

Example #1: Earlier this morning, Jason brought Evan upstairs to play and forgot to latch the baby gate at the top of the stairs. After a few minutes of playing, I turned around to find Evan on the OTHER side of the baby gate, facing down the flight of stairs. I don't think I've ever moved so quickly in my life! Thankfully, no harm done, except maybe taking a few years off my life.

Example #2: Stupidity happens in pairs?? To offset Jason's slip in judgement, I had a similar incident later in the afternoon. Evan and I went for a bike ride and on the way home we stopped at the park, where there are swings and a huge playground/fort play area. Not thinking, I walked Evan onto the elevated play area wearing my clipless bike shoes (absolutely no traction). As we were leaving, I slipped and fell while Evan was in my arms. The whole thing happened in slow motion-- no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop from falling. I took most of the fall, but Evan did bonk the back of his head, and boy did he wail. Calmly, I went into panic mode. I managed to settle Evan down, give him some water and then call Jason (who has EMT experience) to ask about the signs of a concussion. After I caught my breath and could think more rationally, I realized that kids fall on that playground more than 100x a day. And to reassure me, Evan acted completely normal for the rest of the evening. Whew! Way more excitement than I needed on a Tuesday!

I'm sure these incidences are the first of many more to come. Hopefully though, they will be caused by Evan's lack of judgement and not ours. After all, we are the "adults."

Evan walking

A quick clip to show off Evan's walking skills.

Hot summer days...

Summer is here in all it's glory-- sunny, hot and stinkin humid! Since we're still trying to figure out how to finance an in-ground pool in the backyard, I thought I'd get Evan a little baby pool. I remember having one as a kid and I loved it! Evan had fun yesterday in his new baby pool, and it made for a great afternoon nap (bonus!).

Pre-walker no more

It was more than a week ago that Evan took a first step, but I can now officially say that he is walking! Tonight he started walking from one item to another independently-- in other words, he wasn't just walking to me because I was enticing him with a toy (which, coincidentally is the same trick we use with Bullit). It was so exciting to watch him, not only to reach such a big milestone, but to see the look on his face when it all clicked. He was so excited. He just kept doing it again and again, each time a little more brave. 3 steps, nose dive. 4 steps, nose dive. 6 steps, wobble, nose dive. Didn't seem to faze him though. And since this all took place on the part of our house that is carpeted, I wasn't too worried either.

Stay tuned for pics and/or video... don't have any record of it just yet.

The Sandman...

...is Evan's new nickname after this past weekend. We went for a quick trip to Hilton Head and while we were there, visited the beach. The last time we took Evan to the beach, he was just a spectator. This time, he was knee deep in action--literally. He loved playing in and eating the sand. I was convinced that sand must fulfill some kind of mineral deficiency because we could not keep Evan from shoving handfulls in his mouth!

The Grandparents Terreri were once again wonderful babysitters and let Jason & I enjoy ourselves child-free for most of the afternoon and evening. That was nice! We told them we would be visiting often... for Evan of course! ;)

And, we all enjoyed watching Evan on the verge of walking-- he's already taken a few first steps! We'll have a walker soon!













Jason digs Evan a hole. We weren't sure who was having more fun in the sand...






Evan... in the hole!

























At the Tiki Hut, spending a kid-free afternoon with our friend Brian. Jason has known Brian for 11 years... never a dull moment when he's around!








After a long weekend of sun, sand and over-indulgences, Evan takes a breather on the hammock. Not shown in the picture is Grandma Terreri swinging the hammock for him--what a life!

Training continues

Jason & Evan's Ironman training is going well. Here they are, hard at work; Jason on the bike trainer and Evan jumping in his Jumperoo. They are watching Finding Nemo for motivation: "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming..."

Baby shoes

Like almost everything else these days, the choices for infant/toddler shoes ("pre-walkers" as they're called) are endless. It's not just the color and style of shoes, but the whole science behind choosing pre-walker shoes. Soles must be flexible, heels must be rigid; make sure there's a thumb-width between the big toe and edge of the shoe; not too tight or high around the ankles. And then there's the theory that early walkers should be left to go barefoot so that feet can develop properly. Of course, when Jason & I were growing up, we were laced up in ankle-high, hard-soled leather booties.

After a visit to Stride-Rite-- are you kidding me they sell infant sandals (not even a full shoe!) for $42??-- Evan and I wound up at Old Navy and found a pair of cute, flexible (and cheap) sneakers. So much work for such little feet! And for the record, no, he is not yet walking. I'm guessing we have a week or so before the first official steps.

Below are more pictures to keep you amused.

Word of the day

Evan's newest words are "guh" and "da." Until now it was only ma-ma-ma and ba-ba-ba. I would like to say the "ma" came first because he was saying mama, but then I have no idea where the "ba" came from because he doesn't really take a bottle.

Anway, this may be small change to you, but Jason and I are very excited because he's finally saying dada! Now maybe he'll call out "dada" when he's yelling to get out of his crib. One can only hope!

Happy Easter!

Banana pancakes, Easter egg hunt and a wonderful dinner with friends sums up our first family Easter. Pancakes were a hit; Easter egg hunt was fun, although I think Bullit was confused; and dinner was incredible-- thanks to our friends the Bergers for cooking up a 5-star meal that included Beef Wellington and great "bargain" white wine!

Friends are good for hugs

Little Bella invited Evan to her house for an Easter party in her neighborhood. Despite falling asleep at the Easter party, Evan had a great time playing with Bella. He showed off his crawling skills by chasing her around the house; he spent time playing with his favorite toy-- Bella's doll house; and he loved it when sneaky Bella gave him bites of her food when no one was watching.

Picture for posterity

Too cute not to post. I'm sure Evan will love his mommy later for posting this shot.

Training Partners: Ironman, Part Deux

Today marks the first day of "Ironman, Part Deux" training for Jason. Jason will again race the Ironman, this time in Panama City, FL on November 3. This time around, he has a training partner! Thanks to our nifty convertable jogging stroller, Jason can run and bike with Evan in tow. Evan has already spent plenty of time in the jogger when we trained for half & full marathon. It became our routine to take Evan out on a Sunday 10-mile run.

As for the race in November, Evan & I would love to have some company waiting for Jason at the finish line!

Balloons are funny

Just ask Evan--balloons are hilarious! He was introduced to a balloon yesterday and Jason & I have never seen him laugh so hard or for so long. He liked it so much, our friends let us take the balloon home. Cheap entertainment!

Brotherly wisdom

Bullit has taken on an active role in teaching Evan his best tricks (yes, Bullit does know some tricks). Below, he shows Evan the most efficient way to carry his toys. Thankfully, Evan does not [yet] follow Bullit's lead in carrying his toys out the dog door. All in good time...

Jason & Cara live here too