Party time with Evan

Here are the photos of Evan's presents. I am not on the computer as much as I need to be at home now, so I am months behind in my photos. But because I need to keep up with something! Here are a few to show how much fun we had on Saturday.


While Evan napped, Nathan got a few small gifts:


Grandma Vandever gave him three fun Pezz holders and lots of refills!


Grandma & Grandpa Beebe gave Nathan a set of dinosaurs!


and a cool convertible car!


We gave him a Mac Truck from the movie Cars that Lightening will fit inside.


When Evan woke from his nap, we started the presents but he wasn't too interested. Mostly he was just thrilled to get a hold of a piece of paper and he kept running away with it! When it was all done, he got:

A birthday candle from Grandma & Grandpa Beebe. A family tradition of mine, you light the candle each year on your birthday until you turn 21!


Grandma & Grandpa Beebe also gave him a Little Einsteins bath toy that he loves:


Grandma & Grandpa Vandever gave him some new books:


And a Baby Einsteins electronic book reader:


And a hobby horse that plays music and the head moves:


And Texas Rangers pjs!


James's sister Kim couldn't come but sent a great gift! It's an airplane that Evan can pull behind him but also has balls that you can put inside and it plays music and talks.


My sister Melissa also couldn't make it but she sent a great baseball game! You hit the ball with the bat and it swings around, cheers and says fun stuff like "You got a single" or "Home run!"


And James, Nathan and I got him:

A soft, stuffed Rocket from Little Einsteins. The top unzips and all 4 characters can fit inside.


A really cool space rocket that came with 2 astronauts, an astropup, moon rover and an alien.

And finally, a ride-on train like Nathan's. We wanted to get him a different ride-on but found that this one really is the best made and most fun. When Evan is a little older, he and Nathan can race each other though the house, it should be loads of fun and lots of noise!


It was a great first birthday for Evan and now both boys are enjoying lots of fun new toys! Thanks to everyone!!

FREEDOM!

Well, life without pumping is nice, relaxing, and well, what the world takes for granted every day!

Here are the things I DON'T miss (in no specific order because they all would be first):

The Pump - both the rental and my portable one

Carrying the pumps with me where ever I went, including to work

Pumping every 3 hours for 45 minutes!

Sitting up straight until my back screamed

Getting milk on me from the pumps either leaking or when cleaning them

Cleaning and drying pump parts

Telling people I had to pump

Driving, eating, talking on the phone etc while pumping

Thinking about it, drinking enough and eating enough every moment of the day

Making everyone and everything wait while I pumped

All the details that I won't go in to because, well, that just crosses into Over Sharing! Let's just say...It Sucked!


It does feel good to go to the freezer and see a shelf full of frozen milk, defrosting a bag and mixing it with whole milk to give to Evan. Finally the feeling of plenty. Although it is kind of nice to be reminded every 3 hours of everyday that God provides. And usually it was exactly what I needed at that moment or exactly what Evan had just consumed. But, I guess because I am human and always wanting more and God is generous and always giving much more than we could ever expect, there were also those times when I got more than an 8 oz bottle would hold. Then I got the thrill of freezing a bag for another day. Each bag bringing me closer to the day I could stop. And now, by the grace and provision of God, who alone could get me through this I have more than I ever needed. There is plenty of milk to slowly transition Evan to cow's milk so that he might not even notice the change!

God is good, all the time! Especially in the details.

Happy Birthday Evan!

Ahhh!

It's 10:30 pm, both boys are finally asleep, I am relaxing with a large cup of Stash Tea (one of about 50 flavors I got for my birthday in anticipation of no longer pumping) and the house is quiet at last!

Yep, you heard me right - I am no longer pumping. In fact, Monday night will make a week. It is so wonderful to be back to normal. And all my concern and freezing milk has left us with plenty to start transitioning Evan to Whole Cow's milk. Life is good!

Even better, our little man has turned one year old today. With it comes all those memories of how a year ago today we arrived at the hospital for our scheduled c-section, my sister and her kids were in town and we were all looking forward to meeting the little baby that would join our family. A lot has happened since that day and Evan is growing up fast. He's almost running now!

We had a super fun day today! It was a Little Einstein's Rocket themed party. Grandma and Grandpa Beebe, Grandma and Grandpa Vandever, Nathan, James and I had so much fun celebrating with Evan!


Our decorations for the party


With my Mom's help, I made a Rocket cake for Evan!


Good enough to eat!

He woke at 7 am, and although he didn't really understand what today was all about, he was anxious to get it started. We had fun playing with Nathan and getting the last minute things in place for a party. The grandparents arrived and James started grilling burgers, brats and Nathan's Famous hotdogs! Just as all the food was getting ready, I slipped upstairs with Evan to see if he just might take a much needed nap. I was surprised and pleased that he relaxed into my arms, slurped down his milk and fell quickly asleep! His 2 and 1/2 hour nap gave us a chance to eat lunch, socialize, give Nathan some special attention and let Evan wake up ready for presents!


Grandma Beebe and my new Rocket!


Considering some long distance calls with Grandpa Beebe!


Stories with Grandma and Grandpa Vandever!


A surprise phone call from Grandpa Palmer!


He had a ton to open and almost didn't make it through them all, but he enjoyed it. There were gifts from all of us and my sister Melissa and James's sister Kim sent great gifts. James's Dad sent a savings bond and sweet card and James's Aunt Barbara also sent a very thoughtful bond! There were plenty of new toys for Evan and Nathan to share and a few surprises for Nathan too. All in all a very busy, exciting and fun day.

I'm going to load as many photos as I can here, but then it's off to bed! I'm exhausted after taking Friday off to clean the house and all the excitement of today. And since I'm not pumping any more I am anxious to get to that good nights sleep. So I will finish my tea, choose some photos from today and get them loaded here!

Sweet dreams to my two little boys who are growing up so fast!


Getting ready to sing to Evan:


"Happy Birthday to you!"


Make a wish...


Dig in!


Evan wasn't interested in eating cake or icing, but he had lots of fun playing with it!


All done!


Sorry everyone, but I'm pooped out! Time for bed. I'll post photos of presents soon!

Our Rockin' Weekend

Nathan got to go to his first concert on Saturday. Yes, that's right, our 3 1/2 year old is already going to concerts! Hard to believe, they grow up so fast.



Not to worry, it wasn't anything too grown up! In fact, going to a kid's concert was really nice. It was the most pleasant concert experience I think I've ever had. I've been to a lot of big concerts - Elton John, Billy Joel, Phil Collins, U2 - and Christian concerts - Rich Mullins, Big Daddy Weave, Charlie Peacock... And at all concerts up until this Saturday I have always experiences frustrating to dangerous parking experiences, people pushing and shoving to get in, rude people and a sense of anxiety even though we all had tickets and most of the time reserved seats. I thought it was just part of the event.

I don't know if all kids concerts are like this one, but what a difference!

We went to see the Imagination Movers at the Bass Hall. This was our first experience at Bass Hall, and what a gorgeous venue! The building is lovely, the staff was very nice, helpful and friendly. James's boss gave us a great tip on a parking garage across the street that had free parking and we got one of the closest spots. We arrived about 45 minutes early and the building was pretty empty. They said we could look all around but not enter the concert because they were still setting up. There was one merchandise table and we were the second ones in line to get Nathan a t-shirt. Then we found out that for this event they were allowing cameras in and we could even take photos during the concert! I had brought ours just in case I could get some photos of Nathan in the lobby for the scrap book, I had no idea they would allow photos during the show!

Everyone was laid back, polite and just all about letting their kids have fun. No one was rude or pushy!


The Imagination Movers are a really cool band we found out about on the Disney Channel. It's 4 guys who do 80's style rock with kid lyrics that are really good and clever. (it's nice to have some music for Nathan that doesn't make me want to scream) They just finished their first season of a really cute TV show too. The premise is that they have a business to help people solve problems. They work in a big warehouse and each episode someone comes to them with a problem and they brainstorm and test ideas until they solve the problem. There are always 3-4 songs, their neighbors (a cute girl and her super boring uncle) always come over at some point to help and it's pretty funny. I would say its a modern day version of The Monkey's for kids. (www.imaginationmovers.com)

We bought one of their CDs and really enjoy listening to it with Nathan. And their concert was awesome! We had excellent box seats which was really nice.



We had one other family with us who was very nice, we were up where we could see everything and didn't have to interact with the crowd much. But next time I will get us isle seats on the floor because all of the movers came out into the audience at different times and were great with the kids!



It was a super fun time and Nathan had a blast!



I highly recommend the Imagination Movers if you have kids, their music is great and don't miss their concert!!




Here are the Movers:

Mover Rich



Mover Scott



Mover Dave




and Mover Smitty

Walking Tall

Evan is now 11 months old and really on his way to walking. He does a really cute stumbling, sidways walk that will take him halfway across a room. He's so excited about it that he often pulls up to a stand on various objects in a room and takes off, feet going every which way, until he plops down on his bottom.





He's getting a little bit better about eating some days and seems to be chewing on less toys. So we are making some progress. We will be glad when he is not crawling as much because every little spec on the floor goes into his tight little fist and eventually into his mouth if we don't catch him. His favorite snacks are carpet, cat litter (we use a recycled newspaper pellet kind)and paper. But an occasional old dropped cheerio isn't bad either.

We will be going to the doctor's on Monday afternoon to check his iron levels again and see what the next step in that will be.

Nathan is having lots of fun and enjoying all his toys.



Grandma Beebe moved an old computer downstairs so he can play computer games now which has been a big hit. Nathan is very good at moving the mouse around and he is enjoying being in the computer more. His favorite games are mazes and matching photo puzzles.

This coming weekend should be pretty exciting. We have Nathan's first concert to see The Imagination Movers on Saturday at Bass Hall. We are all pretty excited and got good box seat tickets (Evan will spend the morning with Grandma). Then on Sunday we will be doing Evan's baby dedication at church! This is our way of saying Thank You to God for giving us our son and giving him back to God since He is really in control of our lives and everything around us. It's a time to commit to raising him in a Christian home and ask the church to partner with us in teaching our children about God. This has nothing to do with his personal salvation, as we believe he will have to make that choice for himself when he is old enough to understand about God and why Jesus died to save us. We are looking forward to a special day of praising God!

Well, time to march into a new week and see what kind of adventures it will provide.