Our BIG Boy!

5 weeks old and 11 lbs, 3.5 oz. :)

Cuteness!

This morning I put Evan in a onesie that said "best friends" with two animals on it.

I told Liam and asked if one day Evan would be his best friend and he replied "he already is". :) warms my heart!

SMILE!

Trying to chew on fingers :)

Mommy and her boys at the zoo!

My Helpers :)

Evan was snoozing...

One Month Old

I had visions of doing everything exactly the same for Evan as I did for Liam... well, those visions are put into reality now!  For Liam I had a few more weekly shots those first weeks, but I am determined to get the monthly shots and updates done.  So, here is the first one (and even on the right day!):

Our Evan is somehow one month old already... I know time goes fast, but seriously where did the last month go?  Here are some highlights from our one month old Evan:

• He is just beginning to have some awake time now.  Both grandparents got to experience some awake Evan today... when he is awake, he is calm and bright-eyed!  He loves listening and watching what is going on around him and fortunately big brother usually has lots to entertain him with!  When he is awake there is very little that can convince him to sleep.  He frequently will stay up the three hours in between feedings when there is something he wants to watch!
• He has quite a lot of head control when you are holding him and starting to learn how to pick up his head and turn it when he is on his tummy playing!
• I don't have current weight/height stats (stay tuned... friday is another doc. appt.), but he is definitely still packing on the weight and he certainly feels longer when you hold him.  He used to fit snugly in your arm, but now those feet are sticking out several inches past your elbow!
• He started showing some allergies to my breastmilk several weeks ago and while his poop is still various shades of green and filled with mucous and he does still have daily bouts with painful gas, he does seem to be feeling better overall.  He is easier to calm, has distinguishing cries, spends some time awake and not screaming and is sleeping a bit more peacefully.  We have been on reflux meds and those seem to be helping him as well.  He is still gagging/refluxing, but that is usually not accompanied by an ear-piercing scream anymore.  All of these things are signs that the diet restrictions I have been going through are working!  
• Speaking of, a week and a half ago I cut out all diary (had to do the same thing with Liam) and 5 days ago I also cut out basically everything else in an effort to reduce the green mucous in Evan's diaper and set his digestive system on a better path.  I am essentially down to eating rotisserie chicken and various fruits/veggies.  Both Jon and I are checking each diaper hoping to see that yellow/orange poop again... I know, our lives are very exciting!  
• Evan is sleeping well.  He still has some hard times with reflux/gas at times, but for the most part, he is a good sleeper (THANK YOU!!!!).  During the day, he has days where he is pretty much asleep, eating or crying the whole day and then he has days that look more like nap, awake, nap, awake with some eating in between.  Nights have been more consistent, usually eating between 10-11 and then going down fairly easily until 2-3 am, up for a feeding and back down until 5-6.  This has made life so much easier than up for hours with a screaming baby :)
• Evan already has some favorite toys: black and white faces book, cow mirror, brightly colored hanging ball
• Evan gets kisses from big brother all the time... he seems to love it already!
• He is beginning to smile!!!! The past couple of days I swear I have seen it, but I figured it was gas.  Today though... I had witnesses... smiles!  So incredible to see that!
• Evan is a pooper and a mover... always doing some kind of both!

I know the next month will fly by as well... each day it seems that Evan is doing something new and exciting :)

Catching up on some pictures!

 Uncle visiting.  Played a lot of train and held the sleeping/crying nugget so I could get some things picked up!

 My boys zoning out in front of the t.v.  See the resemblance?

 Sucking out the nose boogies.  Evan caught a little cold from Liam his first week home... he doesn't like his nose boogies sucked out!

Granda Mike Visits

My dad came down a couple of weeks ago (sorry, I am trying to catch up here!) to meet Evan and play with Liam.  He brought our awesome new riding lawn mower with him... Thanks again, it is cutting our yard work time down to less than an hour!  Liam loved playing with Grandpa Mikey :)

Evan talking

Kite flying!

Mulch

We have a long list of house/outdoor projects for our summer weekends...  The first on the list was mulch for our sad-looking gardens/landscaping and we got to tackle this project a few weekends ago with the help of my parents.  Liam was really excited that a dump truck came to our house to dump the mulch!  He was even more excited about using his shovel and wheelbarrow to help spread the mulch!  He was an incredibly hard worker, loading up many loads with his shovel and taking them over to the garden bed to dump.  Couldn't have done it without him!

Kite Festival

We went to the Kite Festival by the lakefront this weekend.  A bit colder than I would have liked, but fun nonetheless.  Liam was pretty excited about seeing the kites and as soon as we got there, he was even more excited to FLY a kite!  They had little paper ones for kids to make a fly, but Liam was having none of the little kite, he wanted his kite to go high in the sky!  So, what better place to buy a kite than at a kite festival!  Liam picked out his very own kite... a diamond one with a flamingo and a long red streamer!  Fortunately for us, the wind was perfect for flying down by the lake, so with very minimal effort, the kite was up and flying.  Liam held on to it all on his own and loved every minute of it!  Evan slept through most of the event.  When he got hungry we all went over to Alterra to have a muffin (well not mommy with my crazy diet restrictions... more on that later) and Evan got some milk.  Fun morning!

And passed out... :)

Fresh from the bath!

Bedtime

Liam has always been a predictable sleeper in his big boy bed. He always lays on the pillow closet to the lamp and covers up with his thomas blankie... Well lately that has all changed! I tuck him in every night before i go to bed and the past few weeks he has been giving me a few surprises! He pretends his bed is a dinosaur train and lines up all his animals (many of which didn't start in his bed!) in just the right spots and rearranges his pillows... Sleeping on top of blankies in all sorts of positions!

Tonight I went in to tuck him in and he was sleeping completely backwards, on top of Thomas, covered up with cars blankie... Talking with jon, that's how he wanted to go to bed tonight.... Silly boy!

Precious Moments :)

Evan sleeping on Mommy :)

Liam's favorite activity!

Liam has been really good at entertaining himself while we have been busy with Evan... He loved playing his trains!

2 Weeks Old!

A bit on the late side, since Evan is already three weeks old (whoops!), but here were the highlights of our two week old little Evan.

Weight: 9lbs 8 ounces: 65th %ile (up from 8 lbs, 1 oz on 5/1)

Height: 22.25 inches: 94th %ile (up from 21" on 5/1)

Head Circumference: 37 cm: 66th %ile (up from 36.5 cm on 5/1) 

Our little Evan (a.k.a "Nugget") has changed our household quite a lot!  Liam is now a proud, wonderful big brother.  Seriously, I couldn't have asked for a better transition and attitude from Liam. He has never once said a negative thing about Evan; in fact, just the opposite!  He is loving, always wanting to kiss his baby brother and helping mommy with diapers, wipes and burp cloths!

Evan is now over his jaundice, which is helpful for Mommy and Daddy!  He is not a 'content' baby; in fact, he is a lot like his big brother when he was a baby!  We have screaming times where nothing can really comfort Evan and we have reflux/gassy times when our content baby just starts arching, crying and screaming from pain/uncomfortableness.  We are working through these issues!  He also started getting mucous in his diaper (about 10 days in), which has now progressed into dark green, shiny mucous ALL the time.  I have cut out dairy from my diet and am starting to remove just about everything else in an effort to turn that poop back to mustard yellow!

Needless to say, I am tired and overwhelmed at times, but there are many times when both my boys are content that I realize this is just for today and will change all too soon.  So, I am trying to enjoy my screaming  nugget and my toddler who is watching entirely too much TV :)

Evan has started to have more awake time... we just had a wonderful dance party with Evan, Liam and I earlier this week :)  When he is comfortable, he loves just watching everything with his big (dark blue, for right now) eyes.  He really likes looking at this 'baby faces' book we have and Liam's favorite cow mirror!  Even with all his uncomfortable issues, he has been a great sleeper this week (third week).  He has slept fairly consistently every night week with 4-5 :0 hours of sleep at night!

So long Newborn size!

We are now solidly into size 1 diapers and 0-3 clothes :)

Brothers :)

An awake,alert little boy :)

There is a lot to catch up on with our little Evan, but for now, here is a picture from this afternoon's play session.  Evan played for 20 minutes, looking at pictures and toys :)

Playing

Exciting night at the West house...

Sleepy nugget :)

A thoughtful gift

A friend dropped off dinner and some presents with her two boys last night. Keegan, her oldest, came up with this inscription all by himself... Thanks Wichmans!

Rocking out some poopies

Daddy thankfully paused a bit before changing a diaper... I could hear that diaper fill from across the room!

Liam has decided that he likes Full House. Yeah for the 90's

Some Evan...

Flowers :)

Liam has just grown up so much in the past week - Jon and I have both just marveled at it. He loves going to play outside on and around the deck all by himself (with our supervision - although don't tell him that!)

Yesterday I had a coworker stop by to meet Evan and he just kept popping back inside with more and more flowers ... Before I knew it I had a whole bouquet of dandelions :)

Big brother

Liam LOVES his 'Evie'

He gives him kisses all the time, Evan's kisses are always first! Evan couldn't have asked for a better big brother!

Zoo Trip

The weather is all of a sudden so nice and now that we have a cordless baby, we can be outside together as a family :)

We took Evan to the zoo today for his first zoo trip! Liam was excited and it was a gorgeous day! We packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed the morning. Evan slept the whole time, had to wake him up for some lunch :)