Family Visits for Christmas

Here are some pictures of the Majeres clan coming to visit for Christmas. Evan loves his family and misses them!

Here is a picture of the amazing outfit Grandma Majeres made for Evan. It is a reversible jacket and jumpsuit. She actually did this on my sewing machine which is the most finicky machine on the planet - so it was a pretty amazing feat! She also made another outfit using her much superior machine back home. She created patches with images of Baccio and Bear and sewed them on velvety pants.
Auntie TT and Uncle Shawn made these amazing paintings that spell "Evan." E is for Elephant, V is for Viper, A is for Angelfish, and N is for Nightingale. They are hanging in Evan's room above his crib. We are so blessed to have such a creative and loving family!

Happy New Year!

I know, I know, I have been the worst blogger in the world. Things got so busy after our trip to Seattle back in early November - I started back at work, mom (Grandma Majeres) came to stay with us for 6 weeks, Thanksgiving came and went, and all of a sudden it was Christmas, and now it is 2009! What the heck happened?

In that time, Evan has grown so much. The first picture here was taken on our trip to Seattle - he was three months old at the time. At that time, he was smiling a lot and starting to play with toys a lot more. Now he is almost 5 months, and just in that short time he has started to roll over, laugh, grab toys with precision, profusely suck on his hand (his favorite teething object), talk in consonants and vowels constantly, and generally grow more adorable by the second. No, I am not biased or anything. ;)



Our Seattle trip was great. Tutukane (Hawaiian for Grandpa Ogilvie), flew up with me, so it was much easier travelling this time. The Seattle contingent threw a huge party for Evan so that everyone could meet him. We are blessed with an extremely sociable baby - he just loves meeting new people - so he was an angel the whole time despite being greeted by so many new people and passed around all day. The second picture is from the party.
At his last 4 month check-up, he was 15 pounds 4 ounces (50th percentile) and 26 inches long (75th percentile). He must be over 16 pounds by now. His eyes are still blue, so he is still my little Clark Kent/Superman. He is still pretty chunky, but appears to be less so. During month 4, Aaron undertook a project to take pictures of Evan during his sleep every night. This picture is one of my favorites of the collection. His various accoutrements would inevitably become dislodged and strewn all over his crib as the evening wore on. Aaron took the photos and developed a calendar for 2009 for the grandparents and great-grandparents. Quite cute.
Also quite exciting, Evan has started to hold his bottle when he feels so inclined. He'll even take it out of his mouth and attempt to put it back in. He sometimes misses and gets his eye, but 1 out of 5 times he'll get it back in his mouth.

I've posted lots of pictures on our picasa site and I am about to upload some video as well. The group of pics titled "Handmade Onesies" are pictures of Evan in the handmade onesies that he fits in at the moment. Our friend, Amy, organized an art project for our baby shower. Everyone who participated decorated onesies in various sizes for Evan. W have enough handmade onesies to last him until he is well over 1 year! I will continue to post pics of them as he grows into the next sizes.

Enjoy! And Happy New Year!

Happy Halloween and Happy Election Day!

Evan was an elf for Halloween, though his outfit turned out looking a little more like Robin Hood. I made little slippers with toes that curled up, a Robin Hood looking hat with feathers, a bow and arrows, and a little green outfit. He was super cute! More pictures are posted on the picasa site. We did not get that many trick or treaters, probably because of our house location and the rain, but those that did come were pretty cute. There were a few more hand-made outfits this year, so that made me happy.

As you can see in this picture, Evan is turning out to be a little chunkster! He continues to be a voracious eater (obviously). I don't have a proper scale to weigh him, but I am sure he is around 13 pounds. I measured him at 23 inches the other day. Tomorrow he will be 3 months old - I can't believe it.

In a final note, I hope you are going out and voting! Don't let the polls deter you - the election is never over until its over. That's all I have to say about that.

Chicago Visit

Evan had his first plane ride a couple weeks ago. We traveled to Chicago to meet the Majeres side of the family and to get him baptized. The plane ride went amazingly well despite the fact that I was traveling alone with two bags, two carry-ons, a baby AND the flight was totally full! Evan was an angel (as usual!) and slept most of the way. I, on the other hand, was a complete stress case. I have never packed more than a few hours before a flight before, but this time I started packing two days in advance. Dear god, I am turning into my mom (don't take offence mom!).
We were also able to meet Hannah Mangan - the new addition to the Mango family - pictured left with the beautiful new parents, Chris and Michelle. She was born shortly after Evan on September 14. The running joke is that we are planning an arranged marriage although the sparks did not seem to fly between the two as Hannah was totally asleep when Evan came to visit her house and then Evan was totally asleep when Hannah came to his baptism. Oh well.
Here is one picture from the brunch before the baptism of Aaron, Evan, Michelle, and Hannah. I have posted more pictures on our picasa site, but since I forgot our camera for the baptism, I will post more pictures when I get them from my sister and mom.

And We Have Smiles!

Evan started smiling more a couple weeks ago and it became obvious it wasn't just gas! He smiles the most in the morning after just waking up. It makes us so happy to think he must be smiling because he is happy to see us first thing in the morning! He also loves to smile when we put him down for playtime. I think he recognizes that it's playtime and he gets to bat things around and watch mommy and daddy make silly faces at him. He is really good at holding his head up now and pushes away from us whenever we are holding him so he can look around. During tummy time, he is constantly moving and kicking his legs or doing push-ups. You can tell he really wants to start crawling and I think we are in for it when he starts!

In other news, Evan had his 2 month check-up yesterday. He now weighs 11.25 pounds, is 22.5 inches long, and has a head circumference of 15.5 inches. He is in the 25th percentile for his age. We also had to give him his shots, which I was really nervous about. We had a really great nurse that did an excellent job this time. He was fussy and slept a lot yesterday, but today he is back to his good old self.

We are off to Chicago next week to show him off to everyone. I am sure Evan will love all the new faces. Evan will also be baptized at St. Isaac Jogues on October 19 at 1:30pm. Everyone is welcome to join us. I have uploaded more pics at our picasa web album if you just have not gotten enough of Evan's adorable face!

Aaron can feed!

Four weeks of solid breasfeeding have passed, so I decided it was time to pump and try the bottle. I also came to the realization that this meant Aaron could feed Evan. Yep, that means I could be really mean and pump enough for one whole night and make Aaron do all the feeding while I at last get a full night's sleep. I have yet to carry out this sinister plot, but Aaron better be prepared!

We have had a busy couple of weeks. Grandparents Ogilvie came to visit, as well as Aaron's uncle Leo and our friends the Stones (see blog link in sidebar). Pics of the visits are posted at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jeogilvieandaaogilviepics. Other friends Christy Doyle (see blog in sidebar) and Lee will be visiting shortly and my sister is able to make a second visit this weekend. Evan loves new faces! Of course this means he is spoiled rotten by being held all the time. "His feet shall never touch the ground!"

It's a darn good thing that Evan is so adorable and I am totally in love with him. With the sleep deprivation, projectile pooing (yes, he has pooed across the changing table and hit the bedroom door!), fountain peeing all over himself and me or daddy at least every other day, and the daily vomit all over me no matter how much I attempt to shield myself, it's amazing I am still sane. But I manage to laugh through it all and shower him with kisses.

In other news, we had our 1 month check up. Evan weighed in at 9 pounds!!! He had gained 2 pounds in a couple weeks - I guess those feedings every 1.5 hours or so paid off. We also had to give him a Hep B shot, which was more traumatizing for me than him. He cried for about 2 seconds when he got the shot and stopped crying as soon as I picked him up. Meanwhile, I was balling before the shot, during the shot, and for about five minutes after the shot. I am a little paranoid about vaccinations, what can I say? He turned out fine though, so no worries now. I hear the 2 month visit is a lot of shots - I think I may need a valium or something for that one!

Evan is One Month!

Time is flying already. Evan is one month old today (based on it being four weeks ago this Tuesday that he was born). He is also growing like crazy. He measures 21 inches today - 3 more inches than his birth length! The new parents are still doing pretty well, but very tired as shown in the picture of Aaron. He may look like death warmed over, but he is happy! In this picture, he is employing the patented Aaron-swadle method by which he keeps Evan bundled up in contentment with his hands. Mom is pretty tired too. Evan is going through a growth spirt, so he wanted a feeding every 1 hour and 45 minutes the other night!

The next picture is one of my favorite Evan poses. He arches his back, purses his lips, closes his eyes but raises his eyebrows like he is trying really hard to open them, and then moves his head back and forth while moaning or grunting. He usually makes this pose when he is working on a diaper or digesting something.
The picture of Evan and Aaron's feet gives a good perspective of how tiny he really is! And the last picture was taken today to memorex his turning one month old. He is staring intently at Grandma Ogilvie. He loves to stare at people's faces, look at light or rainbows, and listen to our windchimes or voices. He just started kicking toys and grabbing things on his own yesterday. He is already lifting and holding his head really well. I think the curiousness, always wanting to be able to see and check things out, and staying awake as much as he possibly can comes from Mommy. He loves sitting up and looking around. It is really amazing to watch his development.

Grandpa Majeres says he could just stare at Evan all day and it would be better entertainment than television. And that is saying a lot - if you know my dad, he LOVES TV. Even in his sleep, his face goes through the whole "panaoply of human expression" as Grandpa Majeres says. Continue to check out all the pictures we have posted on our picasa web album (link is previous post) because we occasionally add new pictures. Also, don't forget to vote in the latest pole in the sidebar - who do you think Evan looks like more??