you are 13 months!!!

Dear Evan,

I haven't even finished my letter to you for your 1 year milestone but I have to write this one today bc I need to capture just these last few days. You are literally growing up every single day. You amaze me several times daily at how smart you are! Ok where to start... :) Tuesday morning you coughed just 1 time - but it sounded horrible. Then T said not again all day. Wednesday morning you did it again - same as Tues. So I made you appt expecting to hear that maybe your ear infection never cleared up or that you were fine & I was just being a worried Mommy. But instead you have RSV :( I'm SO hoping it stays mild and that we caught it early enough. Daddy is in Chicago for work and Mommy just got a new clinic to work at...Mimi offered to take 2 days off work and her life and come stay w/ us and take care of you during the day while I was at work. I was SOOO happy. And although you were sick, you had a great time w/ Meems. So far it has just seemed like a bad cold w/ some nasty sounding coughing here and there. You are on breathing treatments every 6 hrs and a decongestant. Both work, but for not quite as long enough as they should :( Today was the 1st day I heard you wheezing when it was not close to a treatment. My poor little gentleman. Freaks me out. But you are happy and have been absolutely hilarious these past few days. Friday after work Mimi went home and its just been you & I all wkend long and I've had a BLAST w/ you! You were very stir crazy Sat so I took you to the mall. I pushed you around for hours and you laughed hard at the puppies in the new puppy store and enjoyed a pretzel, the 1st thing you had to eat that day - nothing else sounded good to you :( We were only there a little less than 2 hours but it did us both some good to get out. Your new thing is kissing everything and its soooooooo adorable! You make a sound like "ahhh" and lean forward with your mouth open and you lay your head on whatever you are kissing. You kiss Max & Salsa daily, and if I'm lucky I get a few too :) You kiss all your stuffed animals, the cling-on dogs on the front window (that are actually Valentine's Day dogs but I don't have the heart to take them down bc you love them so much!), you kiss the TV if a dog show is on, and you kiss your books if there is a doggy or kitty.

You say sounds for a dog and a cat - - your own version which I have to get on video. LOVE it! You're saying more words, just recently began saying "dog", "kitty - sounds more like kee", and still my favorite word besides mama is more. you sign it and say it at the same time except when you sign it you tap your index finger on the top of your other hand instead of in the middle of it which I love!

SMART!!! : When Mimi was watching you Friday she didn't know where this big bowl went when she was emptying the dishwasher so she put it inside your bowl in the circle ledge. You immediately went over to it, picked it up - opened your tupperware cupboard and put it in there!
- Every night when you go to bed (which you do SO well! most nights you are very happy to and don't cry) I push the button on your rainforest toy in your crib so it lights up and plays music. If it stops before you are asleep you reach your arm way up high and don't even sit up all the way and push the button so it comes back on. Its like you're irritated that you have to make the effort to turn it on like you're thinking "ugh, I'm not asleep yet!"
- Your favorite thing to drink out of is this giant red cup. You say "MO, MO" and then say "ahhhh" after you take a huge drink!
- They way you rock out to Footloose has reached a whole new level. When Daddy says "Do you wanna get down?" no matter what you are doing, even if you're hysterically crying, you follow him to the computer room & laugh. You play the piano amazingly well and even have the whole slide down pat. Its one of the cutest and funniest things I've ever seen.
- You now think its cool to put your hands in Max's food & water bowl. I don't think its so cool but I have to admit that inside I am SOMETIMES laughing.
- Your all time favorite thing to watch is Jack's Big Music Show, which has come in VERY handy when you are sick! For the 1st time ever, yesterday I heard you belly laugh to TV. I was cleaning the kitchen and you were watching Jack and I heard it. SO cute! Luckily this show is very entertaining and has catchy songs bc we've watched it sooo many times now. So happy for DVR!
- When we got home from work the other night you saw your sled in the garage and pointed to it and said "MO, MO!" - you LOVE sledding. As soon as you're all better I'll bundle you up again and take you for a ride :)
- you RUN now which is awesome and hilarious!
- you wave to everyone, and its like you know you're making people smile by seeing you. you are seriously the cutest ever. ok i have not captured all but its almost midnight and i'm sure you'll be up in 5 short hours so i should sleep too. i'm very tired but so amazed by you! i even stopped using the shift key now i just noticed. haha. i love you more than anything E!!!!! i have no idea if you'll ever read these ramblings but maybe your wife will one day :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a great Valentine's Day :) Evan is finally feeling better and was back to his normal healthy happy self! He is even more in love with dogs than ever. We have some Valentine stickies on the window - dogs w/ hearts and he loves to run to the window saying "do, do" (dog) over and over excitedly and point to them. It never gets old, I could watch him do it all day long. Its so amazing to see him begin to talk! Needed to hop on real quick and post this picture. My little Valentine. We never did get to passing out all of our Valentine cupcakes so we'll be delivering them via sled tonight. He looooves his sled, and was very into the cupcakes. He wanted to eat all of them and didn't care that I was saying they are for our family and friends. heehee :) :) :)

(he got some Valentine's goodies from his Grandma's & Grandpa's - - he loves the Valentine doggy he got from Mimi & Bapa) OH - and now he says "Bapa"! I think my Dad will be elated!

Just because :)

I know there's lots of people who live far and haven't seen a recent pic. I've been horrible about putting pics in here lately! Our computer is sooooo slow. Here's one of my latest fav's. A little blurry b/c he was moving and it was taken w/ a phone but oh so cute b/c he looks chunky but he's so not. My happy little gentleman!!!

Some cool things E does...

Claps when he hears clapping on TV

Began nodding "yes" last week. Does this when he walks or dances and makes us laugh hysterically.

Said "My Mama" the other day and literally melted me! (updated Feb 5th - said it again last night!!!)

Began pointing to things he is interested a couple wks ago (CUTE!!!)

Seems to understand more all of the sudden

Will hold up what he wants (a DVD, a wagon wheel, etc.)

says his own version of meow when you ask him what a kitty cat says

will point to his hair when you ask him where it is (still working on other body parts)

Began blowing kisses this past wkend!!!

has a word for "more" and if he is in his high chair he'll sign for "more" or "all done".

runs around nodding his head and laughs. Seems like 2 simple things but for a new walker is quite complicated. He'll fall, laugh, and do it again!

Speaking of running, its so amazing that just about 1 month ago E began walking and he now can practically run. I can't believe how fast he picked it up! We play chase around the circle of our house but can't do it when he's tired b/c thats when the excessive falling and booboo's begin!

A new favorite: fake coughing! He fake coughs and laughs, then when we do he laughs even harder!

Favorite songs right now are the same ones - h, sh, kn, & toes, deep & wide (which he sings - "baby version" soooo cute!), hokey pokey when getting dressed - he hates getting dressed or diapers so this helps distract from the screaming and back arching, ha. 3 little ducks (he does hand gestures w/ this one). He is a fan of Lady Gaga's music, Gwen Stefani, a few radio favorites, and his all time favorite to dance to is foot loose.

Favorite video (the only thing he watches actually, except at the sitter's - I think sometimes he watches shows there?) - Dorothy the Dinosaur, a Wiggles DVD. When we wake up in the morning I ask him if he wants to watch Dorothy and he gets so excited. Then I get ready for work as fast as I can knowing I have a very small window of time. haha :)

this is very random but thats how its gonna be I'm sure from now on. As long as I capture these things to look back on, random or not - I will be happy!