Tooth #5

Evan's fifth tooth has decided to arrive in his mouth! His upper right tooth neighboring his two front teeth cut through yesterday. The twin tooth on the left side has definitely moved down as well, and we're sure it'll cut soon too. Such an eventful 2008 and it's only the 7th day of the year!

Feliz Seis de Enero!

Happy Seis de Enero (or the 6th of January) to everyone! Today is the Epiphany, the day the 3 wise men brought gifts to baby Jesus. This is the 12th day of Christmas, marking the end of the holiday. Jason and I always celebrate our Christmas on this day, as we are back settled in our home. This year was no exception. Christmas is so much fun with a child! We woke up this morning and had coffee and cocoa. Unfortunately, we didn't have any holiday cookies left around...something we'll remember next year!

Everyone (Daddy, Mommy, Evan, and Daisy) all opened their stockings from Santa first. Evan got some cool stuff...a book, Cheerios, snack-trap containers, and some mini cars... Daisy was really excited to open her gifts as well...Evan got a ball popper toy which uses forced air to pop these balls up and if they stay in the toy, they'll roll back down and pop back up again. He has a lot of fun with it and quickly learned how to push the red button to cause it to start. Santa also gave Evan a huge fire truck filled with blocks!We have a musical clock that opens and sings Christmas songs (or regular songs when it is not the holiday season). Evan loves the clock and will stop everything he's doing to stare at it. Here he is "ooooohing" at it...Merry Christmas everyone!

Milestone!

Evan started pulling himself up in the middle of the room unassisted yesterday! We didn't notice it while we were home for the holidays, so maybe he was waiting to be back here to surprise Mommy and Daddy with his new found ability. Such a great baby!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! The Mears family made it back to Maryland from our Midwest trip home for the holidays. We had a good time visiting family in Indiana and Michigan. I have quite a few pictures to muddle through, but I thought I'd post a few from our trip. Here is Evan in one of his cute Christmas outfits, hanging out with Mommy... Evan had a lot of fun with the Christmas holiday. He got new PJs to wear on Christmas Eve for when Santa visited Grandma's house. On Christmas morning, Evan awoke to a stocking full of goodies! Even though the Chicago Bears didn't do very well this year (Super Bowl Curse!), Evan, Daddy, and Mommy still got lots of awesome Bears gear to cheer them on in the off season and next year. Daddy and Evan model some of their new stuff... Evan did really well opening his presents. At first he was a bit unsure of what to do...just pounding on the box seemed fun! But his sister, Daisy, was very eager to show him how to tear into packages. Evan got the hang of it quickly!Want some paper?

If it looks like Evan is not so thrilled in some of these pictures, he was happy but battling a nasty illness. He got diagnosed with bronchiolitis caused by RSV a day before we drove home. So he was sleeping a lot and had to have nebulizer treatments to clear his lungs. Poor fellow! But he's doing great now. His pediatrician check-up went well on Wednesday.

I have more pictures to share...hopefully I'll find time this weekend between packing up boxes to post more. Take care!

Almost Christmas!

It's almost Christmas, and Evan is very eager to undecorate the tree. Every day, basically every hour, he is tugging on the tree, taking ornaments off. We've seen the tree sway a bit, but thankfully it hasn't fallen yet. I don't know how many times we've said, "no," but he is not listening!

It's fun to see how much Evan has learned over his life. If I start singing "patty-cake, patty-cake," he gets a huge smile on his face and starts clapping. He's even trying to roll his hands. It's adorable!Evan's also very tolerant. We put his puppy dog on his head and he'll just look around the room. Eventually he realizes there is something on his head and reach to get it off. Ahhh, Mommy & Daddy are goofy!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

Preparing for Christmas is quite different this year. Having a toddling baby makes the usual holiday preparations a bit more difficult. Our holiday shopping is not done. I'm not sure what sort of delicious treats we're baking this year. And we just put up our Christmas decorations this past week. It's worth it, though, as Evan is in love with the tree! His basket of toys is close enough to the tree that he can touch it and even pull off a few ornaments, when we're not looking, of course. Gotta love all those "soft" ornaments we've accumulated over our lifetimes! This year Evan got the honors of putting up the first ornament...
Admiring all the lights on the tree...Evan basically walks everywhere he can now. Crawling is becoming more and more rare. Today, he was toddling around the house and I followed him (one of his many favorite games). Guess where he went first? The tree! For the adorable photo ops, I let him undecorate it a little...Oooh, this one looks fun...What can I take off next?Ever the goofball, Evan always keeps us laughing. Daddy got him a soft puppy dog from San Diego. Last night, he was being silly and carrying the doggie around in his mouth! Ha!This evening after doing some holiday shopping, Evan and I were playing a bouncy game with the ottoman. We were bouncing up and down, and up and down.... Boom! Down for the count!

200-yard dash

Lots of running around in the Mears household the past week. Evan is SOOO good at walking. He gets going across the room and if you act like you're going to chase him, he giggles and takes off in a sprint, well a "baby sprint!" Of course, all this walking comes with its dangers. He's taken quite a few spills and bonked his head multiple times. So much for the family picture last Friday - he had a bruise on his forehead! Cross your fingers for this weekend...

I don't have any new photos of the past week, but here are some really good pictures taken over Thanksgiving by Evan's grandma, Jeanne. Look at those beautiful blue eyes and sparkling white teeth...Evan's always ready to cheese it up for the camera...Playing contently...Haaa, haaa, haaa...we see you! Someone found his reflection in the dishwasher. Gotta give that other baby there a kiss...We adore this child! Mommy and Daddy bombard Evan every night with tons of hugs and kisses. We cannot resist!