Daddy's Home!!

Travis was out of town for work this past week. He left early Tuesday morning and didn't return until after midnight last night. He definitely was missed!! It was tough at times... and the bedtime routine that we have for the two kids was hard to handle by myself, but I figured it all out. It gave me a pretty good sense of accomplishment, too. :) This was Trav's first trip since Noah was born. We have been really lucky that he hasn't had to travel much lately - I should probably knock on wood after saying that...

Here is a picture of Evelyn and Travis taken earlier tonight. Doesn't she look happy to have her daddy back?

We went to an event today called Petpalooza. It was pretty fun. We participated in their 3K Dog Trot (I was the only one pushing a double stroller) and then we walked around and dog-watched. Cocoa was in heaven today -- she spent the rest of the afternoon conked out on the couch. All the excitement from the morning tired her out. Here is a picture of Trav and Cocoa trying out an agility course... it was pretty funny to watch. And Noah was happy to have his daddy back, too. Here is a picture of Trav doing storytime before bed. He usually reads them a childrens book or two and then a chapter from the bible before putting them in their cribs.

Thanks for the visit Mom!!

My mom came out to Seattle this past weekend for Noah's baptism. It was a quick visit (she flew in Friday night and left Monday morning) but we were all very thankful that she made the trip. As you can see below, both Evelyn and Noah love their grandma!!
She is great at cuddling...
She was such a proud grandma after Noah's baptism...
And she makes bath-time a lot of fun! (Evie is smiling at her grandma taking the picture)

Thanks so much for coming to visit. We wish we were able to see you more often. We are already looking forward to seeing you again for the 4th of July!!

Noah's Baptism

Noah's baptism was this past Saturday night. It was a great event -- we had a lot of friends and family there to witness the sacrament, and then we celebrated at our house afterwards.

My only complaint... at the beginning of Mass, the priest and another lady walked around and introduced each family and infant to be baptized to the congregation. When they got to us, the lady introduced us as "Michael and Travis Vandervort and their daughter, er... I mean son, Noah William" Grr... Oh well. We have it all captured on video to look back on and laugh at :)

Here are a few photos:
Sleepy Noah after the baptism... he is wearing the same gown that about 13 people have worn in Trav's family. He looks slightly like a girl in it -- but it is tradition -- Travis wore it about 31 years ago, too!
Us with the godparents, Michelle and Bryan
Trav's parents, my mom, and us
One of my favorite parts of the day was immediately following the baptism and the annointing with the chrism oil. Travis had to hold Noah up above his head and turn in all directions to present him to the entire church. It was just like the scene from the Lion King -- remember that part?? It was so neat!

Evelyn's case of the munchies

So -- Evie evidently gets "the munchies" in the middle of the night. The problem is, she is chewing on the side of her crib! I found the evidence yesterday morning when I went in her room to get her. She must be using her two top teeth to bite into the crib rail. Has anyone had any experience with this??

I guess I am worried about her damaging her teeth more than anything else... She more or less just took some of the finish/stain off the wood crib in a tiny area. Now that I think of it, I guess that probably isn't good for her either...

Noah's Nursery Pics

Here are a few pictures of Noah's nursery. We finally got everything hung on the walls.

Huge thanks to Trav's mom, Sally -- she did some amazing work!! She is the mastermind/craftswoman behind the crib skirt, throw blanket (on the back of the glider), window treatments, pillows on the floor, and most importantly - the quilt/wall hanging. We always sing the "no more monkeys jumping on the bed" song to the kids. Perfect sign for Noah's nursery, huh? (Thanks again to Sally -- she found it while out shopping one day)

Here is the wall hanging -- you can't tell from the picture, but a lot of the fabrics used have sock monkeys on them.
I was trying to get a picture of the hanging mobile, but I couldn't get a good shot due to the sun coming through the window. We wanted to hang the mobile above the crib or changing table... but Travis is so dang tall he would be constantly hitting his head on it. We have a vaulted ceiling, to we were able to hang it at the peak and not have it hit him in the head :)

too tired to come up with a title...

Is it seriously only Monday?!? I am beat. It's not quite 9:00 and I am thinking about going to bed.

I give a lot of credit to all of the stay-at-home moms out there... my job is way easier than watching my kids! I can sell our drugs, give seminars, and plan dinner meetings all day long - no problem. But give me a 1-month old and a 17 month old to take care of all day... that's a different story. I find myself looking forward to nap-time and bedtime just so I can catch a break :)

The kids

Travis took some pictures tonight while I was making dinner. Poor Noah was trying to catch a nap, but his big sister had other plans...
She always wants to be as close to him as possible. We just have to be careful that she doesn't crush him! She sure does love her brother :) As you can see, Cocoa always wants to be right in on the action, too!



I'll write more later, just want to catch some sleep for now. Isn't that sad? It is 10:15 on a Friday night and I am ready for bed!! We have a fun weekend ahead of us --- birthday party at the zoo tomorrow for one of Evelyn's daycare buddies, haircut appt for me in the afternoon, church with friends Jim & Melissa on Sunday...

1 month

Noah is one month old already. He had his check-up on Friday and weighed in at 10 lbs 4 oz. Evelyn was probably close to 4 months old before she weighed 10 lbs!! Travis calls him our "big guy".

Here are Noah's one month photos...
Evelyn had all of her monthly photos taken with a teddy bear that was given to her by our friends Sarah and Boris. Noah is going to have his pictures taken with this monkey that was given to him by his Nana (Trav's mom). I thought it was appropriate because his nursery has a monkey theme :)
And here is a picture of what the rest of the family is doing right now... (besides Evelyn, she is upstairs sleeping in her crib)
Happy Mother's Day to all the moms!! Enjoy your special day :)