Rule #59: Pumpkins rot...I mean rock!

We carved pumpkins on the last pleasant day of fall this week. It was gorgeous! Mom came over and helped carve and entertain the babe. We didn't carve pumpkins last year, we had just moved and had a new baby, I was preparing to go back to work the week before. It just never got done.

But this year because of the pumpkin patch we had three beautiful pumpkins just begging to be carved! Here are the results.

Alex's pumpkin....it's a little green, so even in the daytime it still looks really cute. I think this one is my favorite.

This was mine, it looks like I need to tweak it a bit, it looks better from a distance.

This is my mom's, the fire-y face. Thanks for coming mom!

Happy Halloween!!!

Rule #58: Doctor's are always late.

Evan met his new pediatrician today. After I posted the conversation with Dr Black it was decided by basically EVERYONE I know, that he needed a new pediatrician. Most of my friends at work don't live near me, so I couldn't ask for theirs, so I waited. For a long time. Finally his 15 month appointment was coming, so I decided to go with a woman in my sisters neighborhood.

I waited to be seen for over a half an hour...but I was assured by the receptionist it shouldn't have been that long, and that future visits would not be like that. Then the usual waiting for the doctor came. All told, I was there for an hour and a half! But I'm not complaining, it was a good decision to switch!

What a difference I tell ya! There was virtually no chit chat what-so-ever. She came into the room, sat down and asked if I had any concerns. (Why yes I do, thank you very much for treating this like a professional meeting) She was quite good with Evan, but by no means does she want to be friends with me. And I'm okay with that. She listened to what I had to say, offered opinions, and assessed my boy, all without talking about nudist in France! All in all I think it's safe to say that we will be keeping her.

Here are Evan's stats:

Weight: 21 lbs 3 oz (10%) He moved up!
Height: 32 inches (80%) Getting to be so tall!
OFC: 18 inches (15%)

In reference to the concerns I have for my son, Dr Burnett decided to have his hearing checked and referred me to Early Intervention. For those not in the Know, Early Intervention is a group of therapists; developmental, occupational and speech, that work with children who have deficits. Don't go thinking anything has been decided about my son, but he is showing signs of a communication delay of some sort. So, sometime in the future strangers will come to my house, play with my son and tell me what they think. Whether he is just on a different timetable than most kids, whether he's capable of communicating but it too stubborn to do it, or if he would benefit from therapy and programs to overcome a deficit.

I'm very excited about this.

It's strange to think I am excited to have strangers come tell me if something is wrong with my child, but I'm excited to have some knowledge one way or the other. I can handle anything, whether it be stubbornness or something more. But I cannot handle not knowing. I can't. So I am excited for some information.

I feel validated. I was worried she would think I'm some crazy paranoid nurse, who's looking for problems. But she didn't. I don't even know if she knows I'm a nurse. (I guess that depends on what Emilie has told her?) I feel justified in my concerns, and that's very relieving.
His hearing test still needs to be done. I think Evan can hear just fine, but it is possible that he has some mild hearing loss, or fluid or something, and that can Definitely affect speech. But it's not just that he won't "talk" to me. He doesn't really try to communicate. No pointing, no mimicking. Hence my mild concern.

I'm thrilled to now have a pediatrician that doesn't want to "wait and see". So thank you to everyone for voicing your opinions about Dr Black and convincing me to go and seek elsewhere!

As for my toddler, he is a walking machine! It's hard for me to remember a time when he wasn't walking. He's just as cuddly as ever, and I love when he toddles up to me to sit on my lap, or bury his face in my lap....it's all affection right? He continues to love reading, but prefers to read to himself I think. He adores Jasmine and thinks everything she does is the funniest thing ever. Yawning, eating, walking past him...it doesn't matter. It's all hysterical! His laugh is contagious and I can't get enough of it!

I love this little man!

Rule #57: Babies are big business

We went out to the zoo on Monday to see all of the new babies. I was a little concerned that since it was Columbus day it would be crowded. Apparently Columbus day isn't a big deal anymore. Kids don't even have school off. So it turned out to be a perfect day, really nice weather, and minimal crowds.

The baby Elephant was a highlight of the trip. It was so active and playful. The mom just sat there and ate the entire time, but the baby was playing with the ball and log, rubbing up against the fence, trying so hard to get the right spot...cute stuff.

The baby giraffe, well...it was a little disappointing. It didn't move at all!! It just started at the wall the whole time! Boring! Don't get me wrong, it was cute and little...but sometimes that's just not enough to keep me interested. Alex emailed the zoo to find out the name of the Titi monkeys. Turns out they are sisters, Beni and Trinidad. The zoo is working on finding a male for them.

Our last trip to the zoo we got a really good view of the tiger cubs. They looked so cuddly, but I bet they really aren't. :)

Evan seemed to really SEE the animals this visit. It could be because they were so active, but it was cute to watch him follow the animals...instead of stare off into space, or watch the people around him so intently that I can't even get him to LOOK in the direction of the animal! (Turns out he's a people watcher like his mom)
There were also baby meerkats! They were adorable! I took a little video of them wrestling, sorry if it's jumpy and a little hard to see. They had rolls of toilet paper to play with, those little guys had TONS of energy! I think they might have even stolen the spotlight from the baby elephant! Tough to do!



All in all it was another great visit to the zoo! Thanks again Mom and Dave, we are certainly getting your moneys worth from the passes!

Rule #56: Walking is better than clapping

Big News Big News!! Evan is finally walking!!! *confetti* Truthfully, he's been walking for a few weeks now, but it's finally becoming consistent enough that I can say, "my baby's a walker" now. Evan is very excited about his new skill. He will still crawl about 40% of the time, or occasionally hold on to something for emotional sake, but he's definitely a walker!

Since he can walk, you'd assume he can do something most 6 month old babys can do right? So wrong. My son still can't clap. Or chooses not to. I'm not sure which. But at least he continues to progress and develop in other ways right? He is walking after all!

He's started carrying around a blanket with him around the house. He has three special blankets that loved ones made for him, one is rather large, so of course he wouldn't drag that around, but the two from Grandma Emma and Nana are a good size, does he favor them? Of course not, they're special, that would make sense. No, he favors a blanket that my cousin bought him, very cute, and soft...that must be what he's going for? Who knows. Maybe it feels the best to bite, because that's what he does to it all. day. long.
He's also started to play Peek-a-Boo with said blanket. Usually it's with me, but when I was trying to take the video, he turned his back on me...so I guess he just wants to play by himself. (stubborn boy) I love him anyway!

Rule #55: You can't beat free pumpkins

We went to Black Island Farms last week to celebrate my favorite season! True, it's already to cold for my liking, but soon the leaves will change, fall and get crunchy...then I can put on a fall sweater and go for a walk with the wind blowing all around me....going out of my way to walk through piles of leaves! Just thinking about it puts a smile on my face.

*it's a fact that I can't be angry when walking through leaves. Last year I was grumpy about some non-important issue, so I went for a walk, planning on stewing and huffing the whole time. Half way through my walk I realized I was smiling and jumping through leaves. Good ol' fall.*

We got free admission because we bought a house last year, pretty sure that's the only reason Alex was willing to drive all the way out there in the first place. Nana was able to come with us.

It was a tad bit chilly, but we all bundled up and were suitable dressed. Evan at first was a grump, who knows why. He was not interested in the "petting zoo" in the slightest. In fact, I think he was a little annoyed that the cows just wouldn't STOP mooing! But then we took him down the slides. That was a big hit! He loved it. (So did the adults) He got his first taste of a doughnut there, and no surprise he loved it. (Sorry that the video is off the to side, I'm not sure how to fix that)

There was a kiddie train pulled by an ATV, but despite the name they let us adults on as well.

There was the cutest "sand" box, filled with corn kernels! It was great and Evan had a good time there as well. Don't worry, we took out that kernel and quickly put in his binks for the rest of the playing
As for the corn maze, I had seen the picture a few weeks ago of a corn maze of Edward and Jacob's faces...and laughed at the lameness of it all. Turns out that's the corn maze we went to. We didn't go through the whole thing because it was getting late and we wanted to catch the next hay ride.
Waiting for the hay ride

Which also despite it's name had no hay. Just benches on a long trailer pulled by a tractor with the BIGGEST wheels I have ever seen. Evan really liked the wheels.

I was surprised at the end of the hayride when they parked the trailer in a huge field of pumpkins and told us each to go pick one out! Awesome! We now have free pumpkins that are just waiting to be carved, and even better, pumpkin seeds waiting to be roasted! Mmmmm!

I love fall!

Rule #54: vacations should end in hot tubs

We went to Yellowstone with my Papa, Emma and our collective families. The Lawson's were unable to come due to the distance and the ever increasing belly of my sister. :) Jason/Laura and kids were also unable to come due to the distance, and Jaymes, Robbie and Lyle were missed as well, for work related reasons. Hopefully someday we can all take a vacation together.

But for those of us who were able to go, I think I can speak for us all, it was fantastic! Papa and Emma rented a beautiful "cabin" in Ashton, ID. It's about an hour away from Yellowstone. I use the word cabin loosely, this place was amazing! Unfortunately I wasn't thinking about blogging and therefore did not take any pictures of the cabin. To see pictures check out my sisters blog. Click here It sleeps 30 people, several bedrooms, hot tub, pool table, ping pong table, air hockey, theater room...you get my drift. This was no dumpy drafty cabin. And to top it all off, it was right on the lake, with a large grass area and a fire pit! Have I sold you yet? You wanna go too right? I don't blame you.

It was only about a four hour drive to Ashton, which is very doable. Especially if you have a champion traveler like my son! I had high hopes that he would sleep...I was wrong. But even staying awake for most of the trip, he was very pleasant.

Pretty content to just read his books!

We all took turns cooking meals during the trip. Hands down the Millers out shined everyone else with their mexican meal. Mmm, delish! But thanks to all who cooked, it made meals so nice and simple.

Ryan and Morgan

On Monday we went to yellowstone. I haven't been since I was a little girl. I had a really good time, but I had forgotten that once you are in Yellowstone, you still have a LOT of driving to do to go see any sites. And there was a very inconvenient road closure that blocked off the quickest route to the falls. Because of that, we all went to see Old Faithful, and then ate lunch together. After lunch our group split up. Papa, Emma, Jenny, Emma's brother Scott and his wife Melanie and the Miller clan all drove the round about way to go see the falls. The Daly's and my own little family opted to stay with the geysers and then head back to the cabin. It was so nice to be able separate like that, so everyone was able to do want they wanted to. I don't think we felt any pressure to stay together every moment. It was a very chill, relaxing vacation that way.Emilie, Tennyson, Karaia, Melanie in the back, Emily and Brooklynn

The weather got down right hot while walking around the boardwalk, but we all had a wonderful time. Beckham and Karaia never leave me bored. They had to take turns reading the signs of the geysers. Sibling rivalry, even when minimal is somewhat amusing to me. (We'll see how I'll feel when it's my kids.) And Alex was almost banned from being their uncle with a few of his blunt/adult comments. "if you fell into the geyser you'd die" etc etc. Brooklynn and Beckham! How cute is that?!

After our loop around the geysers then we split up once more. The Dalys wanted to see one more site, while Alex and I, but mostly Evan were pretty much done. Alex wanted to stop in West Yellowstone to find a rock shop. And boy did we ever! We spent over an hour in one store! Evan was so relieved to finally be able to crawl around! There were two cute old ladies running the store who practically fell in love with Evan. (who wouldn't?) There was a VERY large table piled with polished semi-precious stones. Evan couldn't get enough of them. He kept wanting to crawl onto the table. Finally one of the sweet old ladies said he could, that it happens all the time. I very well might have been the highlight of the trip for Evan. While Alex was still deciding between this rock or that rock, evan played and babbled in his pile. Alex took a picture with his phone that I'll try and remember to upload later. This is Evan, pretty much done with the stroller. But super cute in his new vest!

Then on Tuesday, to further demonstrate our laid back vacation. We just kicked it at the cabin. Evan let Alex and I sleep in even! The kids played in the river, Ryan and I played a few games of badminton, I remember being better at that game when I was younger. Many a pool game was played and I just about knocked my fathers fingers off playing air hockey.

The adults sat in the hot tub every night and gazed and the stars. And at the bat, it was officially decided it was a bat we kept glimpsing in the night. Every vacation day should end in a hot tub.

We left Wednesday morning, wanting to make it home early enough for me to take a nap for work that night, which we did. Evan was again a wonderful traveler. Myself on the other hand, I was so sick of being in that car! The last 3o minutes felt like 2 hours! Brooklynn and Morgan keeping Evan entertained while the adults cleaned up!

Thanks again to Papa and Emma for provided such a fun and wonderful memory! I'm so glad that we were able to go. What's more, going on vacation and not having to use any vacation time is pretty awesome!

Rule #53: You're never too young to read

Evan was playing alone in his room a few weeks ago, and I heard him talking....not really talking mind you, the boy still won't say a single word. But I heard him babbling excitedly. So I crept around the corner, and there was my son "reading" to himself. He has really been into books lately, I just had to take a quick video. It was so cute!!