Happy Anniversary to Us!

Well, August 21st was mine and Trav's 3rd anniversary. It is hard to believe that it has been three years already... I am not sure if Trav would say that same, but I think we are more in love than ever :)

We didn't do much to celebrate on our anniversary (since it was during the week) -- I made a yummy strawberry chicken salad for dinner, and we ate it along with some cheesy garlic bread in candlelight (with Evelyn playing on the floor next to us).

It has been a tradition for us to go somewhere every year around our anniversary. It has always been Trav's thing to plan the weekend. It is such a treat!! For example, we went to Portland for our first anniversary. From Friday night until Sunday afternoon, the entire weekend was planned out. He had plans for each meal, the hotel, and all sorts of fun events during the day. We went to a beautiful rose garden in Portland (apparently Portland is known for its roses), we went to a Japanese garden, had a picnic lunch at an old mansion overlooking the city, we went to a show after dinner to see Wayne Brady perform (I think he is incredibly talented and absolutely hilarious!!), we went for a breakfast cruise down the river in Portland on Sunday morning before heading back to Seattle... it was an amazing weekend.

For our second anniversary we went to Mt Hood in Oregon. It was the same idea. Travis planned the entire weekend -- it was great! It is neat to go on a little vacation and not have to do any of the planning and be completely surprised!

This year we were unsure about what we were going to do.... we contemplated taking Evelyn with us for our special weekend, but it definitely wouldn't be the same. Considering her bedtime is usually before 8:00, that means we would be stuck in our hotel room from 8AM until morning... At the last minute, Trav's mom and dad decided to come into town. Trav's dad had plans to help Chuck (Trav's brother) do some work on his house. Trav's mom offered to babysit on Friday night so we could go out and celebrate our anniversary.

As usual, Travis planned another fun weekend for us. The weekend started by us checking into the Fairm*nt Hotel in downtown Seattle. This is probably the nicest hotel in town (it is where all the famous people stay when they come here). The great thing is, we have a very close friend who is a manager at the Fairmont --- he hooked Travis up with the "friends and family" rate. I can't imagine paying their usual rate for a room -- even if it is our anniversary!

When we got into the room, there was a bottle of champagne on ice and some chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us. We hung out in the hotel for a while, enjoyed the champagne and strawberries, and then headed out for dinner. We walked to dinner which was a few blocks from our hotel. We had a yummy Italian meal -- and then went to see a movie. (Death at a Funeral -- I don't recommend it) Even though the movie wasn't great, it was nice to be in the theater and enjoying a night out on the town. We walked around a bit after dinner, and then headed back to our hotel.

In the morning we had breakfast, went to the Seattle Art Museum, had lunch, and then went to a neat little park. We headed back home in the late afternoon. It was another memorable weekend -- Travis did a great job planning everything. I love looking forward to our anniversary weekends! I am hoping it is a tradition that will continue on for many years :)

Unfortunately I didn't take very many pictures --- which is surprising, since I usually take way too many! Here are a few from the weekend:

Travis Saturday morning watching some tv while I am getting ready...
Travis outside of the hotel. There are pigs all over in downtown Seattle. Not sure what the deal is with that... but I decided it was a good photo op.
Me with another pig on Saturday morning...

8 months

It is getting harder and harder to take Evelyn's monthly photos... she is such a little mover and shaker! She isn't crawling yet -- but she sure tries hard to move everywhere. Here ya go!

End of the Weekend... & End of BFing

Well -- it is Sunday night, and that means back to work tomorrow. I can't help but get a little sad on Sunday nights sometimes. I wish the weekends were longer! Tomorrow it is back to work for me & Trav, back to daycare for Evelyn, and back to an empty house during the day for Cocoa. :( At least we had a nice weekend. We spent a lot of time together as a family. I guess that makes the transition to Monday a little bit easier...

Evelyn is feeling better. I think her teeth were starting to move or something on Monday. Her fever went away, and never came back. She has been feeling great all week -- but she is drooling more than ever! She actually has gotten a few little bumps on her chin (a rash kinda) from the irritation of the drool I think. I can't wait for the first tooth!!

I am doing better now, too. I stopped breastfeeding and pumping for good last week. I slowly started introducing formula the past week or so (just mixing a little bit in with her bottle). She doesn't seem to care whether it is formula or my milk -- so that has made the change even easier!

I made it almost 8 months -- I feel like that was pretty good. 6 months was my main goal -- and then I was almost taking it week by week after that. My milk had automatically started to decrease recently (more on that later), so I was already having to start using my freezer stash even before I introduced formula. I pretty much went from about 5 feedings (or pumping sessions) a day, down to 3 for a couple of days, and then 1, and then none. I was a bit uncomfortable for a couple of days -- but I think I am almost back to my normal size now :) I can't wait to wear cute bras again!! And go bra shopping!! My mom had given me a Victoria's Secret gift card, and I wanted to save it until my boobs were back to normal. Now I can't wait to get a pretty bra!

Here is a picture of Evelyn eating bananas -- she loves them!! She has gotten so good at eating. It was a hassle in the beginning, because she didn't know how to open her mouth -- but now meal-time is fun! :)

Here is another picture -- Evelyn hanging out with daddy. :)

first fever :(

Well - I haven't posted much lately, but there hasn't been much going on. Travis is actually out of town for work right now... He left Monday morning and comes back Wednesday night. Evelyn had her first fever on Monday -- of course it had to happen when Travis was out of town! I was your typical extremely worried mom... called our pediatrician's office to talk to a nurse, called Kara to get advice (thanks Kara!), talked to both my mom and Trav's mom, etc. Her fever went away after giving tylenol -- and she has been fine since. She has been gumming everything in sight -- I am hoping it was just her teeth coming in!!
Here is a picture of her and Travis over the weekend. She is getting better at sitting -- but still topples over.

Here are a couple of pictures of what Evelyn looked like this morning when I went into her room...
I thought it was funny -- so instead of helping her out I went to get my camera :)

That is all for now. I have bills to pay, emails to catch up on, and a tape of The Hills from last night to watch -- I can't wait!! Since Travis is out of town I can watch it and not hear how dumb the show is. I know it is kinda a dumb show -- but I still enjoy watching it when I can :)

random stuff...

Last weekend we went to Chuck and Kim's house for their 2nd Annual Vandervort family BBQ. Here is a cute picture we took of all the kids. The other children are Trav's cousin's kids. It was impossible to get the youngest two to look at the camera...

This picture was taken after Evelyn peed all over herself, her clothing, and her changing pad cover while I was changing her diaper. Travis and I decided to put this bunny hat on her to see what it looked like. She has such a big head, we are worried that she will grow out of the hat before the weather gets cold. At least we got a picture!! Sorry about the nudey-girl parts...
And last but not least is a picture of Evelyn with her cell phone. Travis is always joking around that she is calling Brynley (one of Kara's twins). He was telling her last night that she can't talk as long as she usually does because she is running up our phone bill :) Not much else going on here... Hope everyone is having a good week so far!