Easter

We had a very nice Easter this past weekend. Our friends Yuki & Eric invited us over to their house to have an Easter egg hunt for the boys at a nearby park. This year, Evan caught onto the idea of finding eggs. The weather was great and the boys (Tai & Evan) had such a fun time hunting for eggs and playing in the park. Below is an overload of pictures... there were too many good shots not to share all of them.


Easter breakfast. I made waffles. Evan ate as if we starve the poor child.

Easter basket at home.


A lesson in perspective. Yes, his feet are big, but not THAT big!


On the hunt for eggs.

Checking out the Easter egg goodies. Evan doesn't understand the concept of candy yet; he ate a chocolate egg with the foil still on it.

The boys find a cat that is willing to sit for a minute for attention from two doting toddlers.

There are two things that Evan has been obsessed with since he was very little. One is telephones; the other is ceiling fans. Here we were at the park, hunting for eggs, and what does he want to see? The ceiling fan in the park pavilion. Strange kid.



Some family shots. Jason and Evan look so cute in their matching green.




An honorable mention: Bullit. He often gets left out of my posting, but he's still very much a part of our family. Evan greets him every morning with a kiss and a "Hi Boo-wit!"

Calling in the professionals

I am very lucky to have grandparents that are not only very generous and giving of their time and attention, but useful too! Last weekend, my Grandma & Grandpa stopped in for a visit... and some general contracting work. In my mind, there isn't much that my Grandpa doesn't know about fixing and installing things around the house. Jason and I asked a while back if he would help us run some wiring in the garage and, oh yeah, install an electric garage door opener. Minor projects, really. After this weekend, we have new outlets and a light in the garage, an installed (and working!) electric garage door opener, a new garbage disposal and new kitchen sink drain pipes. All in less than two days' work! My Grandma donated her time by helping to entertain a busy 21 month old little boy and cleaning around the house--a nice break for a tired and very pregnant me. To say that we are thankful for their help and lessons in home repair would be an understatement. Just one picture from the weekend. I meant to take more but forgot! Evan had a lot of fun with his "Gwa."

35 weeks...and showing

A belly picture for your viewing delights. Being 35 weeks pregnant is, at times, very uncomfortable. By the end of most days, I'm exhausted and achy. Then, I wake up feeling like I've ran a marathon--stiff, achy and walking really funny. The good news is that I am sleeping very soundly and comfortably (for the last few nights anyway). I've even been able to squeeze in a nap on most days. Got to get sleep while I can!

Confessions of a scatterbrain

I'm almost 34 weeks pregnant and officially losing my mind. Not sure if it's lack of sleep or the influx of hormones (or both), but I've been very scatterbrained lately. Yes, more than normal. No really good stories to go along with this rant (or if so, I've probably forgotten them), just silly things like losing my train of thought mid-sentence, forgetting appointments, continually forgetting e-mail attachments, etc, etc. Given my state of mind, I found Evan's latest magna-doodle drawing very poignant:

Don't the "experts" say that kids' drawings often represent feelings about their home life, their emotional state of mind, etc? Is Evan trying to tell me something?

Ni-night bear

For some time now, Evan has had a favorite bedtime buddy called "ni-night bear" (it's a stuffed bear attached to a 12"x12" blanket). It was a baby gift given to us before he was born and I started putting it in his crib around 6-ish months or so. Over time, he has become VERY attached to his ni-night bear. I have washed it several times, but it still looks dingy. I have sewn it back together twice. He's not even 2 yet and already this thing looks worn and thread-bare in spots. I've contemplated buying a back-up, but at $32, it's a little rich for my budget! I may however, have to cave and get one soon. I'm not sure what Evan would do without him. He sleeps with him every night (and at naps) and carries him around for the first hour or so in the morning. We haven't gotten to the point where he wants to take it on outtings, in the car, etc. He does, however, have this weird obsession with ni-night bear's tag. Every night as we read him his bedtime story, he takes the tag and rubs it against his face, his mouth, and [ew!] the white part of his eyes! Weird, I know-- but what can you do?

Scattering of pictures

A selection of pictures taken over the last couple of weeks...

Update to "What will we find next?" He is completely asleep in this photo. The item in his bed, by the way, is his aforementioned firehouse.

Mommy's little multi-tasker. Nothin like chillin on your stool, talking on the cell and grillin a few dogs.

Some of you know that from time to time, we run the "Terreri Kennel." Recently, it was overbooked with 4 dogs (including Bullit). As a result of always having dogs around, Evan has learned to love dogs. He's always eager to give them pets and kisses (his favorite), and he's also more than willing to share his food. Bullit and any dog that's been to our house for more than a day know this very well. The photo below shows Evan surrounded by the sharks, er... I mean, dogs at snack time.

DiSciullos in ATL

Earlier this week, our good friends from DC, the DiSciullos ("dee-shoo-lows"), stopped by our house for a night during their whirlwind vacation in the South. We made plans to visit the new Georgia Aquarium (which we had not yet been to)--the world's largest aquarium. We had a great time catching up with Nancy & Joey and getting to know their little girl, Jenna (13 months). Evan enjoyed the company/audience and loved the aquarium. This place has received a lot of hype since it opened and we were not disappointed. For anyone interested, we would be happy to be your hosts on a tour of the aquarium.

Potty

We might be in over our heads, but Jason and I went ahead and bought a potty chair for Evan with the intention of trying to potty train him before child #2. It would be great to only have one kid in diapers! I think it's possible since he does actually tell us when he goes potty. For now, we're just getting him introduced to the chair and telling him what he's supposed to do on it. He has fun sitting on it and saying "po-eee, po-eee." I'm not sure he understands though that it's anything more than just a kid-sized chair... see picture #2.

What will we find next?

For the past week or so, when Jason and I peek in Evan's bedroom to check on him before we go to sleep, we've found a randomly placed item in his bed. The item is in addition to the usual bedtime tenants--"night-night bear," "kitty" and giant Elmo. For the first few nights, it was his comb, which is typically located in the top drawer of his changing table. Comb in bed=Evan rumaging through changing table drawer. Yet, for some reason, the fact that Evan could access this drawer didn't alarm us. Aww, how cute, how funny. Fast forward a few nights later and when we go to check on him, we notice that his room smells a LOT like A&D diaper rash ointment. Upon looking into his bed we found his comb.... and an open tube of A&D ointment. The tube was actually underneath Evan, as if he was hugging and cuddling it. Ointment was everywhere. We dragged Evan out of bed, wiped him down, changed the sheets and put him back to bed. Jason and I both went to bed smelling like A&D. How romantic.

Ok, so this was becoming a little less than funny. We put the A&D ointment--and all of the other creams, lotions and oozable items--in a different location. Everything except for the wipes. The next night when I checked in on him, I found about 30 wipes laying next to his head on the pillow. Curled up next to him was the remaining box of wipes.

Next day: trip to store to buy childproof drawer lock. Aha! We outsmarted the toddler. All of the items go back into the drawer, which is now safely locked. Or is it? Naptime comes and while I'm out running errands, Jason hears a ruckus in Evan's bedroom. The kid has jimmied the lock and opened the drawer! Damn, foiled again! Drawer items are again relocated, and the drawer still remains empty.

For a few nights, we find nothing in the bed except for maybe a stray book. Until tonight. I just checked on Evan and found his [quite large] plastic dollhouse* resting at the foot of his bed. Now this is funny.


*Yes, I said dollhouse. Yes, it is pink and white plastic. No, we did not purchase this for him--it was a "grandparent gift." It sits in his room right next to his plastic firehouse. Jason has renamed the dollhouse the "sorority house."

First ice cream cone

This weekend, G&G Terreri came in for a visit for some TLC with Evan and to provide some much-needed and MUCH appreciated help around our house. Grandma Terreri always brings a special treat for both Evan and Bullit. This time, Bullit enjoyed a prime rib bone, some steak scraps and lots and lots of petting. Evan, on the other hand, enjoyed his first-ever ice cream cone. The weather was beautiful on Saturday, so thankfully Evan enjoyed his cone in the back yard. Much to our surprise, and Grandpa Terreri's disappointment, Evan was very neat with his cone. He didn't drop it, he didn't let it melt all the way down the side of the cone, and he didn't even get any on his bib! He took this assignment very seriously and spent about 25 minutes methodically eating his ice cream cone. It was very funny to watch.

Baby #2 update

Oh yeah, did I mention I'm pregnant? I'm at 30 weeks right now and feeling it! Every time I pick Evan up or bend over to pick up something, my lower back wrenches just a little bit tighter. My new favorite hobby is to sit on the recliner with a heating pad on my lower back. Ahhh. Other than that, the baby is doing just fine, growing on target, etc. He is also moving around like crazy, sometimes uncomfortably so! The whole pregnancy thing still amazes me though. I'm obsessed (as Jason would tell you) with feeling my stomach move and swirl around, and trying to feel a little foot or leg. My weight gain this time around my be just a little bit higher.... I recently hit the total weight gain from when I was pregnant with Evan (21 lbs). I'm hoping that's because I'm putting on more weight and not because I'm going to have a 10 lb baby! Jason and I went on the hospital tour last night. We will be at a different hospital this time-- much closer, only 7 minutes away. They opened this maternity ward a few months after Evan was born. His hospital was about 45 minutes+ away. This belly pic (the first "bare" belly shot I've posted with this pregnancy!) was taken about a week ago, and I feel like I've grown since then, but who knows.

You know a little boy lives in your house...

When you walk into the bathroom and find two Matchbox cars sitting on the sink next to the soap and toothbrushes.

Outing

The weather was beautiful this past Saturday, so we took the opportunity to get some fresh air outside of our sick-house. We toured a little scenic spot that Jason had found on his many runs and bike rides in Peachtree City. Jason captured some great shots of Evan.

Late Christmas

Evan got a late Christmas package from his aunt Amanda and Uncle Clint (I think the mail lost their package, wink, wink). It was filled with all sorts of fun things, including a cute little grill with accessories. Evan took right to it and made us hamburgers and steaks. My steak was a little over-done, but that's ok-- he's still learning.

Clever solutions

Over the days that Evan was sick, he got into the habit of waking frequently at night and coming into our bed, sometimes every half hour. No, no, no.... our bed is not a family bed! So, to eliminate the problem, we put a baby gate in front of his bedroom door. We set it up at bedtime one night last week and it has been a life [sleep] saver! The first night we put it up, he stood at the gate talking and laughing for quite a while. When it was finally quiet, I went to check on him and found him asleep on the floor, on the other side of the gate! So cute. We moved him into his bed and he stayed there for the rest of the night. There have been a couple of times when we've found him there in the morning.

Terreri Infirmary

"Give us your sick, your tired, your vomiting...." No posting = sick, sick family. The last week has been rough, and only today is it finally starting to look up. Last Sunday (a week ago), Evan woke up with a stomach bug that continued to "erupt" all day long. We weren't sure if it was a bug until early Monday morning, it hit me. Yay! 7 months pregnant and throwing up. Can't get more fun than that. 3rd strike's a charm... Jason got it Monday evening. Thankfully, at least for Jason and I, it was only a 24 hour deal (and that was enough!). For Evan, it continued throughout the week (one end or another) until on Weds/Thurs, it morphed into bronchitis. Don't get me wrong, the vomiting was still a problem-- he would cough so hard that it made him throw up. After upping his asthma medication to no avail, we took him to the Dr. and he was put on antibiotics and, drumroll please.... tylenol with codeine! Was it true--could we actually get a full night's sleep?! Yes, yes! I'm happy to report that as of today, Evan was well enough to go to daycare (so I could catch up on piles of work) and he seems to be on the mend (I feel like I've said this a time or two in the past few months...).

A sick family on the couch. Bullit made sure to keep us company.

Over the hills and through the woods

Ok, part of the reason for a lack in posts is because we've been travelling a lot in the last two weeks to visit grandparents. We figure that this will be the last month where we do any long road trips since I'm approaching 7 months pregnant. Two weeks ago we drove to Hilton Head for some much needed R&R while G&G Terreri gave us a break and watched Evan for the weekend. It had been a long week with the toddler bed transitioning.... suffice to say that we ALL lost a lot of sleep. It is going much better now, and although Evan still wakes once or twice during the night, we are able to walk him back to bed and he falls back to sleep easily. Getting him to fall asleep at naptime is still a struggle, but it's coming along. Today was a little bit of a setback though-- it took Jason 3 hours to get Evan to fall asleep.

Anyway, back to our travels. Hilton Head was a nice little break-- so much so that we don't have any pictures to show for it! A few days after we got back, we left again to see family in Florida. Coincidentally, we hit the road the same afternoon that it decided to snow/sleet/hail/rain in Georgia. Snow?! We live in the "South"!! Our 8 hour trip to Sarasota turned into 9+ hours. My uncle Warren was nice enough to let us stay in his beachside condo. Unfortunately, the weather during our trip didn't allow for much sun bathing. It was cold, rainy and tropical-storm-like windy. We still had a great time though visiting with "Nana" (my mom), Uncle Nate, Aunt Rachel, Great Grandpa Donnie and Great Grandma Bonnie (pictured above with Evan), Great Aunt Nellie and Great Uncle Rich. Evan was doted on by all. He was great for almost the whole trip. Given the fact that he stayed up late every night, ate "vacation" food (ie, pizza, whip cream, diet Pepsi), and spent hours in the car, he was a real trooper. We didn't take as many pics as we would have liked, so here is a small selection.

My grandparents' back yard lanai has a lovely water feature, which Evan quickly discovered a short time after our arrival. Oh yeah, he had a LOT of fun with this.

There was one small window of time when it was nice enough to visit the beach.

Bullit was pooped after 4 days with his yellow lab girlfriend, Belle. Yes, this is Bullit, asleep, covered up, in our bed.

Show me your....tummy!

Yes loyal readers, I've been on blog hiatus. No particular reason; to be honest, I was shocked to see that my last post was Jan 5! Oh well. A few updates to follow.

Evan gets a little enthusiastic about showing off his tummy/belly button. Jason's happy that he's not a little girl-- that could start a bad habit!

Jason modified one of his running visors and Evan loves to wear it around the house.

My new assistant

He's a great multi-tasker!

Big changes

In preparation for #2, we started to transition Evan to a "big boy" bed. The process began last night. Jason disassembled the crib, assembled the toddler bed and set it up with all of Evan's crib snugglies. For the next hour after it was set up we all had such fun watching Evan climb in and out, jump on his new bed, giggle, laugh, squeal....






The real fun began about an hour later when we started the night-night process. Evan first went down at 8:15. He was up and down in and out of his room every minute until about 8:30 (not bad). Then, after he realized he was supposed to stay in his room, he would only come to the door, crack it open, stick his head out until he saw us, then slam it closed and run back to his bed, crying. This continued until about 9:30, when he finally gave in and fell asleep. "Success!" we thought. "We broke him!" we said, pleased with our parenting ability and impressed with Evan's understanding of the new concept. We settled onto the couch to watch some TV before bed. At around 11, we wearily climbed into bed after a long week, ready for some restful sleep. Sleep? Yes. Restful it was not. We took turns returning Evan to bed at 12:30, 12:45, 1:00, 1:30, 2:00, 2:30, 3:00..........long break.....5:00, and he finally woke, happy, for the day at 7:30 am. The key, which we realized around 3 am, was turning on his night light. He didn't like waking up to a pitch black room. All in all, considering this was such a big change, we felt it went well. We're hoping, however, that the process will get easier in the next few days.

New Year's

Our friends the Bergers invited us over for New Year's eve dinner. We ended up staying for New Year's day breakfast and dinner. It was fun, low-key and we had great food. I'm not sure if we'll be invited back next year seeing as how Evan woke everyone up around 7:30 am. Jason and I expected this; our friends--sans children--were a little less prepared.

Evan rang in his new year in a crate.

Little percussionist

Evan's buddy Tai got a new set of drums for Chistmas-- a real set of drums. We went over to their house for dinner last weekend and Evan got a chance to play a few sets. He's a natural! I suggested we buy a set for our house; Jason said he could play the triangle.