Six Months of Everett

...have FLOWN by. During my pregnancy, I heard lots of people say that pregnancy time moves so slow, but once the baby's here it would go so fast! Well in the middle of a period where the weeks can't pass faster (pregnancy), I didn't believe them. But here we are 6 months after Everett was born and I can barely remember being pregnant at all, it seems so long ago!

In honor of this guys 6-month "birthday" I've decided to (finally) recap what's been going on in our house the past few months! Be prepared for tons of baby pictures, lots of random thoughts, but a whole lot of cuteness! (And yes, I know that 99% of the pictures are terrible, iPhone quality images. We were tired and Everett had quick mood swings, so it was hard to have the camera ready at a moment's notice. I love these pictures all the same, and I hope you do too.)



Our life lately has consisted of...

• Cuddling the baby.
• Feeding the baby.
• Listening to the baby cry.
• Changing the baby's diaper.
• Spencer giving Everett a tour of the house (my favorite part was that he told Everett he'd have to kill spiders for Mom in the basement).

• Worrying about jaundice.

• Going to the hospital for billirubin tests.
• My mom coming to town (the week after Everett was born).
• Watching a whole lot of tv. (Shout out to Shonda Rhimes for writing all the best shows. Currently addicted to Scandal. So much so that I'm almost caught up with the current season AND I'm watching it again with Spencer. So I'm basically watching the whole series twice in two weeks. And I'm not even sad about it.)
• Gaining the nerve to go out in public with the baby.
• Losing the nerve after he freaks out ten minutes into said outing.
• Everett smiling in his sleep.

• Going up to Eden and Pineview reservoir with Spencer's family.
• Many, many baths.

• My dad and sister coming to town (the beginning of September). They originally came to town for the baby blessing, but we learned very last minute of a regional conference that conflicted with the date we had scheduled 😑

• Staring at the baby.
• Making the baby smile.
• The baby making us smile.

• Everett shaking his fists as he stretched when he woke up. (I already miss it!)
• One night where Everett slept the WHOLE night. (like 6pm-6am)
• A first trip to church as a family of 3!

• A trip to Idaho for Conference Weekend at the cabin.

• Many, many funny faces (on Everett's part and ours).
• Little baby laughs.
• Too much stress about Everett's weight gain. (He was born in the 95% and dropped steadily through several appointments to the 18% before being diagnosed with reflux)
• A trip to the pumpkin patch, just because.

• Two Halloween parties in one night.
• Scheduling the baby blessing four times and finally having it happen!
• My parents coming out for the blessing.

• Hosting ~50 people in our house for the baby blessing (which also took place in our home!)
• Many sleepless nights. And sleepless days (this baby only takes 30 minute naps!)
• Hanging out with friends like Alex and Jane, and Mackenzi and Zander.

• Three sets of shots (the pokey kind, not the drinking kind).
• The cutest little frowny face.

• Daylight Savings that created a regular bedtime (prior to that, he'd go to sleep at 6:30/7 and only sleep for 30 minutes then want to play for another 2 hours, but after the time change, he started falling asleep for the night around that time)
• Many car rides with a screaming baby...

• A four-month-sleep-regression that lasted four dang weeks (and only ended because of some sleep training)
• Going to my friend Emily's bridal shower.

• Lots and lots of laundry

• Many outtakes to get the perfect monthly update picture (below are just a few. When I say many, I mean like hundreds-each-month many)

• (Finally) Having some happy trips to Target!

• Spencer's brother McKay returning from his mission to Thailand!

• Spencer traveling to Phoenix Monday-Thursday for 6 weeks.
• The mystery of the missing jeans (which we loved and were so sad to have lost! Update: they were found under our bed...after they grew too small)
• A trip to St. George for Thanksgiving.

• More funny faces, with growing intention behind them on Everett's part.

• Watching Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (and a baby that slept the whole time!)
• A desperate attempt at sleep training that actually paid off and worked (so far!).
• Nearly 2,000 iPhone photos of this cute little boy.
• Lots of love and not nearly enough cuddles.
• An increasingly chubby baby! (He was up to the 23% at his 4 month appointment).
• Everett learning to spit, and thinking it's the funniest thing.
• Playing with Dad and getting stuck in a box.
• "Drinking" Dr. Pepper with Mom.

• Big belly laughs that fill the whole room.

• A first snow!
• A wonderful white Christmas (where Everett got spoiled).

• The mystery of the orange tongue (remains a mystery, but has since gone away).
• The start of solids! Rice cereal (short lived because it upset his stomach), oatmeal, sweet potatoes, squash, bananas and carrots so far.

• A visit from Aunt Kim!

• An early New Year (we celebrated at 9:30).

• A second try at a movie (Rogue One) that didn't end as well as the first (we took turns in the stairwell entertaining Everett).
• Everett sucking on his bottom lip until it was chapped.
• Everett sucking on his top lip and making the funniest faces.
• Learning to roll over (front to back, then back to front)
• A handful of naps longer than 30 minutes.
• Learning to suck on his top and bottom lips (separately).

• Learning to fall asleep in the car (and at church in the carseat).

• A few shopping trips that lasted more than 30 minutes (more than two hours even!)
• And more funny faces.

• Riding around on the robot vacuum.

I can't believe how fast time is going! I look back at pictures from a month ago and feel like Everett is a whole different baby! And the pictures from his birth feel like a lifetime ago! We sure do love this little boy and are so excited to have him in our life!


(and that long blog post is the reason I've decided to be better at blogging! That was rough. Congrats and thanks if you made it this far!)

Time for Hobbies

We've had a busy couple weeks, and that's my excuse for not posting anything before now. We had an unexpected death in the family, my cousin's (ex)husband (though he didn't really act like an ex. He still came to family gatherings and felt like a part of her family), and that's been hard to wrap my head around. I want to be supportive to the family, especially my aunt who's been such a support to me since I moved to Utah for college. But I just can't find anything meaningful to lift their spirits. What's the best way to support someone after a loss? Give them space and let them grieve on their own? Provide a listening ear? Distract them with a cute baby? I haven't quite figured out what's the best option, so I'm just hanging back and sending my love through texts.

And beyond that, we've just been busy! I've finally found the energy/desire to do something productive during the day, thanks to Everett taking some better naps! For the past 5 months, Everett would only take 30 minute naps at a time. And that is still largely the pattern, though he'll sometimes give me an hour long nap once a day. Even more infrequently, like once in the past month, he's had a solid, 2 hour nap.


Since his naps are getting longer, I have more time to get things done! I always feel silly starting a project when by the time I get it going Everett will be awake, so I haven't really done anything fun/productive the past few months except for keeping up with the house. But with the prospect of better naps on the horizon, I've started evaluating my hobby options:

Sewing
I am a very novice sewer (is it a seamstress when I don't really make clothes?), but I love finding new projects that I can make! So this week, I made a skirt! Everett slept long enough that I started and finished sewing a skirt! And I also learned what a pain in the rear it is to sew with knits. The dang unfinished edge kept curling which made it nearly impossible to keep straight! So I used 200 too many pins to keep everything secure. Next on my sewing to-do list is some fun Valentine's decorations.

Decorating
I've also been largely dissatisfied with our front room since we "finished" it. Since posting about it, we've gotten a rug, replaced the floors, gotten a new coffee table, hung new drapes... and it still didn't feel right to me. So I've worked this week to identify what the problem is and find a solution for it. And I think I've solved it. The walls just felt too empty, and one piece of art was just the wrong style/color. The room is still a work in progress, but I'm hoping it'll be finished tomorrow (that might be a little ambitious...?), and then I'll create a post about it. After our front room is finished, my goal is to work on our bedroom. We have stuff up on the walls, but it was mostly just thrown together stuff, and I want it to feel intentional.

Blogging
Aren't you sick of hearing me talk about how I need to be better at blogging? Well this is mostly just to remind me what I can blog about on days where I feel my life is too boring to blog about.
I need to share our kitchen renovation that's been a year in the making (it was our Christmas present to ourselves last year), a look back at 6 months(?!) with Everett, and a record of that silly mom-guilt and how I'm getting past it.

Photography
I recently got a new camera lens for my camera and have been playing around with it. And then I stumbled across a free trial of Photoshop/Lightroom. So I'm trying to decide if I need it or not... I might drive around and look for a spot to take some family photos so I can finally try out my tripod and remote shutter release. Maybe. That still just feels awkward to me. I need to get over it.

I told Spencer that I need to find a hobby that doesn't involve me spending money. Any suggestions?


But for today, my goals are:
1. shower (it hasn't actually been that long since I've showered, but I always put it off till the middle of the day... I'd get so much more done if I got ready early in the day).
2. folding the laundry that's been in baskets for 2 weeks (at least) so that I can wash the next loads of laundry
3. loving on my sweet boy


And now at the 45 minute mark of Everett's nap, please pray that he decides to turn it into an hour long (or more) nap so I can get stuff done!

New Year's Resolutions

At the beginning of a new year, it seems all I hear is about people's resolutions. And I love that! It gives me great ideas of things I might need to change and ways I can make those changes! But I've never really gotten behind the idea of New Year's Resolutions. I don't see why the need to wait for a new year to change something once I've realized it needs to be changed. A new year doesn't mean that those goals will be any easier to keep. It doesn't make it easier for me to say no to that second piece of dessert (or the first...). It doesn't make it easier for me to keep the sink clear of dishes. A new year doesn't make it easier for me to give up Dr. Pepper. It doesn't make it easier for me to be patient (with myself and others). And so on...

So if waiting for the New Year doesn't make resolutions any easier to keep, why is it such a big thing?

I think it's a total mental thing. A new year is a fresh start. And maybe it's just me where the first of a new year doesn't actually motivate me any more than any other day of the year. But one thing's for sure. I love the idea of New Year's Resolutions. 

I love the idea of New Year's Resolutions because it means that people want to change. I'm sitting here, working on my lesson for church, thinking about "Who am I, and who can I become?" and I love New Year's Resolutions because they help people become better. In whatever area of their life, they are becoming better. So if a new year means that people will take the time to think about their life and what areas might need improving, I'm all for it.

So I recently thought about an area of my life that needs improving, and surprise, surprise, it's keeping a record of this crazy life! I have always been terrible at journaling or scrapbooking regularly or just taking pictures of important moments (and blogging!), but whenever I look back on the few times I have, I so much enjoy those pictures or blog posts! They bring those memories right back and it's like I'm living in that moment all over again. And as I watch Everett's baby-dom quickly slipping away, I so much want to document it so that I can relive it over and over. So my current goal (not for this year, but hopefully a lifelong change) is to be better at blogging. I'm not sure exactly what that means yet. I may need to set the goal to blog every Saturday and recap the week. I may just look for moments and events throughout my days that I want to remember. But I hope it creates a place I can look back and remember this wonderful time of my life.

And because I love this quote, keep this in mind if you've made New Year's Resolutions or not, if you end up keeping those resolutions or not:

Everett's First Solids!

We've experienced many firsts in the past few months, but there's one that we've been looking forward to for a while--solid food. Spencer said I "had the corner in the market of feeding Everett" for too long and he was excited to share in the responsibility for feeding him. I'm happy to share the experience of feeding him, but I'm a little sad that it's a step in the direction of weaning him from nursing.

For about a month now, Everett has shown some real interest in our food. So much so that if I were to eat or drink anything while feeding him, he'd stop eating and grab for what I was having. He loves sucking on the bottom of glasses but most especially my Dr. Pepper cans. I'm mostly certain he just likes it because it's cold, but I tell myself that he's already a DP fan.

We received some mixed advice about when to start Everett on solids (my original pediatrician told us 4 months, but when she went on maternity leave we had to see a new doctor for Everett's 4 month appointment who told us to wait until 6 months. Same practice, different opinions. Don't you think they should be unified??). We decided to split the difference and introduce it around 5 months.

We started with some rice cereal per the pediatrician's recommendation. The first bite, Everett looked a bit confused, but not concerned. After three or four bites, he knew what to do and was opening his mouth in anticipation for the spoon. He struggled a little to clear off the spoon (and still does a week later), but he's starting to figure that out. He wasn't exactly aware of where the food was coming from, so between bites, he'd try and eat his fingers or his bib. He ate everything that we prepared (which really wasn't all that much), and was ready for more!

In the days since, he's more interested in our food and will smack his lips or click his tongue if we sit him at the table with us when we eat. It's the best thing, and I really need to get it on camera.

We are so proud of our little guy, even if every new step means he's growing up!

It was fun to see how excited Spencer was to feed Everett. He's so great with our boy!

Eating everything but the food;)

An empty bowl!

Trying to get every last drop.

So happy!

Everett's First Christmas

Christmas always comes and goes so quickly. I loved this Christmas season more than most. I had such a fun time picking out gifts, probably because I was home all day and it gave me something to do.  And I loved enjoying the holiday spirit with Everett! Is it too soon to start thinking about next Christmas? Here's a (late) recap of our first Christmas with our sweet baby boy!

This was our 4th Christmas since we've been married, but we hadn't fully decided on what traditions we wanted to start for our family. We both have lots of traditions around Christmas-time we grew up with, so it's been kind of tricky deciding which ones will work for our new family. We still haven't fully decided what we're going to do for Christmas traditions, but here are the ones that we already had, started this year, or plan to do in the future:

-sugar cookies

At some point in the Christmas season, we make sugar cookies! I don't really love making them or eating them, but they are so fun to decorate!

Spencer was in charge of making the cookies.

Everett was in charge of being adorable.

And I was in charge of decorating them. Now to find more holidays to decorate cookies for before Christmas. I had way too much fun and wanted to make another batch as soon as I frosted the last one. Because you definitely need 4 dozen Christmas sugar cookies the day before Christmas...

-Christmas pajamas (Christmas Eve gift)

I feel like this is a pretty common tradition, but I had no idea until recently. This was something I grew up doing, and I loved it! We won't get matching pjs or even Christmas pjs, but we get a new pair of pajamas that we can wear all year long! 

My family had the tradition of opening one gift on Christmas Eve, and we are still trying to decide if we want the pjs to be that present, or if there would be an additional gift. Conversely, we could start getting Christmas pjs and opening them on the first of December, then have the tradition of opening a random gift on Christmas Eve. That one's to be decided, apparently.

-Christmas Eve dinner

Spencer's family has a specific meal every Christmas Eve (usually clam chowder, but this year it was changed to street tacos--a much needed change for this non-fish-eater). I love this idea because it gives the kids something to look forward to all year. I'm not sure what meal it will be, but it will probably be something a little fancier that I wouldn't normally have time to put together. I'll keep you posted what we decide😄

-Christmas lights

My family would always make a trip around the town to see Christmas lights, usually on Christmas Eve. I heard of an improvement of this tradition by allowing the kids to choose a drive-thru restaurant to get dinner at before starting the Christmas light tour. Each kid can choose their own restaurant, and then you just stay in the car and have dinner while looking at lights! I love that each kid gets to choose where their meal comes from! I know how hard it is to agree on a dinner location and this gives the kids a chance to each have a say in where they eat! No arguments on this trip!

-Christmas morning crepes

I love the idea of a special Christmas morning breakfast, but I don't really love breakfast foods. Spencer made crepes when Everett was first born, and we've loved them ever since! It's fun and different, and again, something to look forward to!

-Hidden gifts

Spencer grew up with the Christmas tree and living room being blocked off to prevent little kids from peeking at their presents. Then the kids line up from youngest to oldest to enter the room and see their presents! It's adds an extra level of excitement that I really enjoy!

Christmas Eve was mostly a slow day at home, but we went up to Spencer's parents' house in Bountiful for the evening. We had some awesome street tacos, then had a small program. There were songs and laughs and an accordion, but I think the highlight of the program was the game. Spencer's mom called it something like the "Big Awesome Crazy Ball of Fun." It was much more clever, but it definitely included one two many adjectives. But whatever the name, it turned out to be a big awesome crazy ball of fun. It was a whole bunch of small prizes wrapped up in plastic wrap. You had until the person in front of you rolled a pair of sixes to unwrap as much of the ball as you could and whatever prizes fell out you got to keep. It was pretty crazy!

Since dinner began at 6, Everett missed most of the evening, but we were so proud of him for sleeping in his pack and play through all our craziness! We woke him when it was time to leave, and I got a whole 30 seconds of snuggles from our usually wiggly baby! It's always so hard to wake him up to take him home, but he was a trooper and still slept great that night!

When we got home, we put Everett to bed and continued on with our traditions (new and old). The first is that we opened up a new pair of pajamas. We both are so excited about our jogger pjs--Spencer because they look more normal than his baggy plaid pants and beat up t-shirts, and me because they are the perfect tightness for pajamas! I hate when my pants roll up past my knees when I crawl into bed.

Then we crawled into bed and stayed up a little too late talking about our excitement for the next day.

Spencer woke up early to prepare breakfast. I woke up early to feed Everett. Looks like we're already early-Christmas-morning people. Well, not really. I went back to sleep after feeding Everett at 6am, while Spencer finished up breakfast preparations. By the time I (and Everett) woke up next, Spencer was done making breakfast, and we didn't have much time before our 9am church. So we enjoyed our crepes and monkey bread, and we each opened one gift before rushing to get ready for church.

Church was wonderful. I love Christmas programs because I always feel the spirit so strongly through music. This year's program was no different.

Everett was hungry as soon as we came home, so I told Spencer which gift he should bring up to the nursery to open as I fed Everett. He opened a BB8 droid and was so happy to play with it as I finished feeding Everett. It was fun to see him so surprised by the gift and have so much fun with it. I had to break him away from it to finish opening the rest of our presents.

Everett was an angel. We set him up in his high chair to watch the action, and so we could have our hands to open things. He helped open a couple of his presents (read *pulled at the wrapping paper*), but then he was so happy to just sit and play with the wrapping paper and his new toys.

Spencer was surprised that Everett was so interested in the wrapping paper.

After we finished opening presents, we quickly finished getting ready and headed up to Bountiful. We received quite a bit of snow overnight, and it was still snowing, so I was nervous to be out on the roads. I knew that the roads would be plowed, but I didn't know how well or how frequently the plows would come through since it was Christmas day. And it turns out (for once), my worries were not in vain. The roads were great, until we got onto the interstate. Shouldn't that be a priority? to clear the 70mph freeway? You'd think, but no😞 . For about half of our drive, it was okay, just a little slush on the road. But once we got to North Salt Lake, it looked like the roads hadn't been plowed at all. It was not a fun ride, and I much would've rather stayed home. But we had lots of family things going on in Bountiful, so we didn't want to miss them. And Spencer's a pro in the snow. But I'm also a pro worrier. It doesn't help that his parents live up on the bench in Bountiful, which means extra snow (I think we got 4-5 in. that day and his parents got 18 in. 😳)

Anyway, we got to Spencer's parents' safely where were exchanged gifts and hung out until it was time to go to his grandparents' house. They had a little dinner and program, but it was mostly just a lot of talking. And for the first time ever Everett took a nap for longer than 30 minutes in his carseat. Since this is so uncommon, we spent the extended part of his nap checking to make sure he was still asleep every 5 minutes.

By 5pm we were both peopled-out and ready to go home. For me, it was more that I wanted to get home before it was dark because I was still worried about the roads. Again for good reason. On the drive home, we saw someone fishtail for what seemed like 30 seconds. Surely it was less than that, but it was an eery sight to see.

Overall, we had a great Christmas. I could've done without the snow, or I could've at least done without driving in it, but it was great to experience the day with Everett. Every holiday is so exciting because it's his first, and it was fun to actually have an excuse to decide on and start some traditions.

This family of mine is the best gift!