Single Parenthood

Thank God, Doug has not come to his senses and ran to Mexico, but he is off at Mountain Bike Oregon for the weekend. This is the first time he has been away from us for this long, so I just hope I survive these next few days! I have a feeling he left so I would appreciate all he does for us on a daily basis!

So, all in a week Everett has learned to crawl, to pull himself up on furniture (or legs or blankets or electrical cords), to cruise the furniture and at times stand completely independent. Whew! We've been busy!

Since mobility has been gained we have been using that two letter word (and some four letter words) a LOT! "No! Don't rip your book apart!" "No don't eat the paper you just ripped out of that book!" "No, don't pull that plant over on top of your head!" Then we get the "devil look" (pictured below) Its like he's 8 months going on 2!! We are gonna have trouble containing this one!

Eating Cereal

Standin up!

The face only a mother could love

Wrestling Dad (Ev won)

2/3rd's of a year already?

Is it really August already? I can't believe how quickly time is flying! What a busy summer it's been. Doug and I were just talking about how interesting it is when you become a parent, its like life before was just a dream. We just have no concept of who we were before Everett. Having him certainly has made me a more "live in the moment" person. I can't look back, because I don't remember! I can't look forward because its too overwhelming! I just have to be here, now, fully engaged in the present. It's a pretty awesome gift we parents get. It almost makes all the diaper changes worth it...almost.

We have a lot of excitement to look forward to this month! The most thrilling of course is watching Everett grow and change, almost daily it seems! He's cuter and cuter (I'm not being annoying either, everyone says so!) He's up on all fours rocking back and forth all the time I'm sure as soon as he gets his momentum up he'll be crawling all over the place! He makes "kissy" noises with his mouth and he loves to play the cough game (he coughs, we cough, he laughs and coughs, so on and so on...). Our new adventure is finger foods, we are still learning that though. I usually find 2 or 3 sweaty Cheerios stuck in his palm at some point during the day.

My best friend since I was tiny was married this past weekend... It was a beautiful wedding and so much fun for Doug and I to get dressed up and have a fancy date night! We also had Doug's 20 year reunion the next night, it was pretty interesting to walk into a room full of "oldies"! I have to say Doug, and my sister Tamara (who was in his class) were the best looking there! I got myself a keeper!

Those were only the first two days of August... We have so much coming up this month, the mayhem never stops. More posts to come!

The 7th Month

July has been a busy month for us so far! I can't believe Ev is 7 months old! Everyday he is teaching us something new about who he is. He still is screaming... loudly... he has found his "privates" and is obsessed with grabbing at them any chance he gets. I guess it's an instinctual think that never goes away!

We spent 4th of July in Ashland milling around with some of our awesome friends from Portland and Ashland. Headed home in the evening just in time to put Ev to bed and climb on the roof with a couple of cold ones for the Medford fireworks display. It was a wonderful day.

The next day we decided to head to the Oregon Vortex for a little "Mystery"! I've never been and all I can say is wow what a racket....

Here are some pics of our summer adventures so far:

Swimmin in the pool

Return on the Jedi Bike Race, Doug took first!

4th of July

Rogue Valley Hot Air Balloon Rally!

Move over Ironman!

Doug has been going full throttle lately... races galore. June 7th he competed in the "Granite Man Duathalon". It was a 13 mile Mountian Bike race and 5 mile run around Applegate Lake. Taking FIRST PLACE he broke last years record by about 3 minutes! He ROCKS! I was so excited that I was screaming like a wild person... utterances I will not mention because even now I blush. Seriously, people around me just stared like I was doing the Macarena naked. At any rate, Doug kicked serious butt and we had a total blast watching him!!

Talkin to the Medford Mail Tribune reporter

He only has to win 200 more times and we can tile the kitchen counters!

You can read the article about the race in the Mail Tribune. Here is a link to it:
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080608/SPORTS/806080331

The "Un-Birthday"

Isn't that what the half birthday is called? Well at any rate, Everett met the "half way" mark on June 3rd! Yep, he's already 6 months!! Everett's 6 month milestones are:

Sitting without support: He love's sitting on his own and playing with his toys... he looks so grown up too! It's adorable.

Teeth: They are kind of hidden still but his two bottom teeth have broken through! He was a great teether too, just a couple nights of pain, nothing a little baby Ora-gel couldn't help.

Fruits and Veggies: Ev has moved on from boring rice cereal to a more exotic palette including, peas, squash, carrots, banana, peaches (ew! he's not a fan), etc... He would pretty much eat anything and tries to; even mommy's food!

Screaming: Oh yes, we get to be "those people" in public. Everett no longer lets out a cute little squeal with delight, he now SCREAMS! A high pitched, break a wine glass scream... I'm hoping this phase passes soon!

Here are a few pics of Ev on his half birthday, I will post more soon but have to get them off Doug's computer.

Squash = Messy face!

His Asia

Cool Do!

Mid Scream

The tooth fairy

Yes!! The Tooth Fairy will have to add our house to her list! There has been a sighting, it hasn't broken the skin yet, but it's really close.... stay tuned!

Camping and other May adventures!

We had our first camping adventure with Everett this Memorial Day. I use the term camping loosely since we actually stayed in a hotel near the campground. We did hang out mostly at the campgrounds and Ev got to see the ocean for the first time as well as redwoods and the Smith River. Here are pics of the weekend:






Here are some random pics from May...

Our little monkey LOVES to be upside down!




Special Delivery!

Mother's Day



What?? How cute is this kid?!