Bed Time

We have added "teeth brushing" to our nightly bedtime ritual. Everett seems to like brushing his teeth. Of course, he's always happy when he's putting things in his mouth!

He continues to love being read to at night. It's amazing how this very active little boy will actually sit still for story time.

Busy Boy

Everett has really enjoyed roaming around the house. It's amazing what interests him. This afternoon it was the cord on the vacuum cleaner.

Since we knew it probably wasn't a good idea for him to be chewing on an electrical cord, Daddy decided to put away the vacuum cleaner.

But not before a very tearful game of tug-of-war with Everett. Give it back Daddy!

He got over the tears quickly as there were other things in the living room to discover.

A family fun day

David took today off from work and we enjoyed spending the day together. We had planned to go to the Plano Balloon Festival, but then found out it didn't start until 4pm. Instead we decided to go to the Dallas World Aquarium. We had never been there before.

On the way there we stopped at North Park Mall to eat at Kona Grill. David and I had eaten at a Kona Grill in Kansas City a few times and were excited when we heard they opened one nearby. The food was just as wonderful as we remembered and the atmosphere was perfect for Everett (it's loud).

After lunch we headed to the aquarium. By this time E was looking pretty sleepy but there wasn't enough time in the car for him to nap. We walked around for about 1.5 hours before deciding we should leave or else face Friday rush hour traffic on Central Expressway. Everett seemed to like the monkeys, sea turtles and big fish. I think E would have probably enjoyed himself more if he hadn't been so tired.

the monkeys

Our "little monkey" gets to see some real life monkey!

He fell asleep in the car pretty quickly on our way home. We stopped at Collin Creek Mall and then went to Black Eyed Pea for dinner. We were so proud of how great Everett did today. He was so happy and well behaved. I thought for sure he'd be really cranky after being confined to a car seat, stroller, and high chair most of the day. We all really enjoyed our day together.

A new post - finally!

I've been wrapped up working on a few projects and haven't had a chance to post these pictures that were taken last week. Our neighbor, Steve, is an aspiring photographer who offered to take some pictures of Everett. Everett was not especially happy about sitting still to have his picture taken on this day, but we did get a few cute shots.

Everett continues to "wow" us daily with his new motor skills, vocabulary, and his need to assert his independence. We've seen an occasional "temper tantrum" which, while brief, are quite impressive. More often than not, they result from the remote control being taken from his tight little grip.

His nap time is becoming more inconsistent ... and non-existent while he's at school. The teachers say he's very happy ... just seems to be too busy playing to take a nap. At home, he may nap for a total of 4 hours one day and refuse a nap the next day. I guess it all evens out for him.

He walks now (much more) than he crawls. In fact, on Wednesday, I witnessed him almost running from garage door to laundry room door (the doors face each other) as if he were competing in a relay race.

Hmmm ...What else is new with our monkey? Oh - he has two teeth on top now - both on his left side. His vocabulary consists of "mamma, ball, and bubble". The Fisch's gave him fridge magnets that when you match up the front and back of an animal, you get to hear a song and hear the noise the animal makes. When he matches up the sheep ... he copies the "baahhhh" sound. It's pretty cute.

Everett has been allowed to roam the home outside his "baby jail" recently (with supervision). He is one happy camper when he's "free". He loves the dogs' water and food bowls, the toilet paper roll and this afternoon he thought it would be a good idea to put his bottle (which was completely full) in the toilet.

David has taken the day off tomorrow and we plan to go to the Plano Balloon Festival. Unfortunately, the cool weather we've been enjoying is not in tomorrow's forecast. :)

Best wishes for a great weekend to all!

Open House

Tonight we stopped by Everett's school for a "Meet the Teacher / Open House". David had never seen E's classroom or met his teachers before. We were both surprised at the things E has learned in his first three weeks of school!

Miss Debbie blew bubbles for Everett and when she said "bubbles" a few times to him, he said "bubbles" right back to her! We didn't even know that he knew that word!
Miss Debbie asked E if he'd like "more bubbles" while using the sign language sign for "more". E responded back with also signing "more". She told us about the other signs they use at school - please, thank you, milk, etc. I bought a book a while back to teach E some signing, but never really worked on it with him. After seeing that he's picking this up at school, we will definitely need to work on it at home with him!
In the background of this picture is Kyle. He's one of E's friends at school. He's a couple months older than E and Miss Debbie says they play well together. Kyle's a very happy kid ... always smiling!

All in all, I'd say school has been such a good thing for Everett. He was fussy most of today and looked so tired and ready for bed before we left for the open house. As soon as we got to his classroom, he was wide-eyed, happy and ready to go! 

Birthday Lunch

We met Daddy for a pizza birthday lunch in Little Elm yesterday. Everett was wearing his new "Goo Goo" shirt from Aunt Molly. staring contest?

Birthday Morning

Here are some pictures of Everett the morning of his first birthday playing with some of his new toys and wearing his new pjs from Jill, Gareth & Owen. Aren't they cute?!?!

We definitely have a climber on our hands.

1st Birthday Cake Pictures

Everett's First Birthday Party

I had hoped to get pictures posted yesterday from the party, but it took all of yesterday for us to recover from the fun! Everett had a great time! I'll get all my pictures uploaded to Shutterfly this evening. In the mean time, I did put together a little video / slideshow of the party. Enjoy!

Edit video online at onetruemedia.com

1st Birthday Party

Tomorrow is the big day ... Everett's first birthday party!
Of course, at this age, the party is really for us, so it's turned into more of an afternoon cookout with some family, close friends and neighbors. David is in the kitchen now cooking up a storm! I made him promise to cook something he could somewhat prepare in advance that wouldn't keep him in the kitchen during the party.

Everett had a bit of a rough afternoon. He didn't nap at school and was worn out by the time I got him home. He finally fell asleep and napped a good hour, but man, was he one cranky, sad little boy when he woke up! I've never seen so many tears come out of him. :( I'm pretty sure this is the result of teething. Those top teeth must be more painful than the bottom ones that came in a few months ago. Some Tylenol, Orajel, a bottle, and lots of hugs and kisses ... and he was much better. I just hope he's not that fussy again during his party tomorrow.

We can't believe it's been a whole year since we made the frantic drive to the hospital to meet this beautiful little guy! This past year has gone by so fast ... but yet, I find it hard to imagine my life without Everett being a part of it! I must admit, I sometimes miss sleeping in and spontaneous weekend getaways, but I can't remember ever being happier than I am right now. Life is good!

Stay tuned for pictures from E's party. Hopefully we get a few good ones!

Playing with Lefty

We went to visit Grandma and Grandad Rankin over the weekend. Brenda was recovering from surgery and was on a restricted diet, so Chef David got to work making up some yummy soups and other meals.

Everett enjoyed playing with Lefty while also entertaining us with his happy squeals of laughter. I turned my camera on in time to catch a little bit of the fun.

Edit video online at onetruemedia.com

Playing with cars

Everett showed a new interest in a toy car today. It was so cute to see him acting like a little boy, playing with the car. vroom vrroom.


 

Slippers

Everett sporting his elephant slippers.

Everett has been eating much better this past week. The newest items on his menu are corn, peas, ham and vegetarian corn dogs. He even ate some of his Dad's crab & corn chowder this weekend. We recently discovered he has one new tooth on top and another one has almost arrived.