He made it until the very last present.
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Its a three hundred and sixty degree world

Not only is the world a whole bigger than a month ago, but its all over. Andrew's newest discoveries have been volume (to go along with sound), reaching, and the coolest yet ... wait for it ... if I sit up the world is all around me. There are things to look at everywhere. Up, down, left, right, forward, everywhere. For those who think his head is permanately turned to the side, yes he does look forward, just not when facing you. Drew's sitting abilities are getting better everyday. He still can't get him self up with out a head start (reclining and something to pull on), but if you sit him up, he'll stay that way for a while. There's definitely a lot of concentration involved, but we're making progress.

Andrew is also learning to reach for things. Its very cool, when you watch him as he sees something and tries to reach for it. I know in a short while it won't seem so cool as he gets into everything, but right now its amazing to witness the discoveries. When was the last time you looked around your house as if it were all new. I get to everyday. Of course his favorite thing to watch is still Midnight. I have a feeling, they're going to be great friends. Especially after Drew starts finger foods. Midnight will never leave his side then.

By the way, who replaced my little boy with a pteradactyl? Andrew's vocabulary is increasing as well as his volume. He still coos, but more and more he's trying out new sounds, including raspberries. I swear he does the best dinosaur imitations you've ever heard.

As for foods, applesauce is by far the favorite. Followed closely by sweet potatoes. Peaches weren't a big hit, but we're going to keep trying. Poor little guy even feel asleep eating his applesauce today. His morning nap got interrupted, so when it was time for second breakfast he was really tired. He made it to the next to last bite before he just couldn't go any more. I was watching him and his eyes would close when the spoon went in his mouth. Finally they just stopped opening when I took the spoon out. After that he went down for a two hour nap. Talk about living life to the fullest.

And the fun continues ...

liz

The future doctor, scientist, president, fireman, soccer player
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

A comfy blanket for Christmas
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

This was the image I was going to upload yesterday, but selected the wrong one. Anyway, merry Christmas!
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Yippee! Presents!
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

New pics should be coming soon.

Sorry I haven't posted any pictures the last couple days. I don't have any more post-worthy shots of Andrew, but should be getting a roll of film developed on Sunday. After that, I should be able to post more. Please bear with me.

skot

This is what we had just 3 months ago. I don't want him to grow up!
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Merriweather Lewis? Ponce de Leon? Ferdinand Magellan? Amateurs!

The world suddenly got a whole lot bigger. I've had fun watching Andrew discover his world since he was born, but these last few days have been amazing. Its like the world just opened up in front of him and he can't wait to take it all in. Everyday, more like every hour, he discovers something new. First it was Midnight. Now Midnight has been around since before Andrew, but so far they've just been ignoring each other. That was until recently. Andrew is in love with the dog. He loves to watch him, pet him, and talk to him. For his part, Midnight is starting to warm up to Drew as well. He's been a lot more interested in him since we got back from Thanksgiving travels. He even seems to be amused at Drew's attempts to pet him.

Next there was sound. We never doubted Andrew's ability to hear, but he's never been that interested to toys that make noise until the past couple of days. It started in the car. All of a sudden Drew just started talking/singing to himself. Since then, he's discovered crinkly toys and rattles. They are just too cool for words, especially if he can put them in his mouth as well.

Yesterday, it was the mirror. There are two baby-proof mirrors on the butterfly gym, one of which we have hanging in the center. I noticed that Drew was watching himself in it while chewing on his toes (still by far the coolest toy). So I took off the bigger mirror and showed it to him. We spent a while playing where-did-the-baby-go, by flipping over the mirror so he couldn't see himself. Every time I turned the mirror back around he would shriek and giggle. There's nothing better than that.

Of course with all of this discovery, we end up with an over-tired baby sometimes. I'm still working on getting him to take more than a thirty minute nap by himself. So far no luck. Of course with Christmas packages arriving left and right, that means a dog constantly at the ready and many interrupted naps. This too will pass.

Well, its time to find out what today's discovery will be.

liz

More fun on the swing
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Not the camera again!
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Bigger and better

Today we decided to go with the green beans instead of the sweet potatoes. Those were met with an enthusiastic and resounding, "eh." I tasted them and my opinion echoes Drew's entirely. I think the label might be incorrect and should read, "Ingredients: Water, green beans" instead of the other way 'round. Who knew that veggies could be so utterly bland (besides the British)?

skot

Church can be so exhausting
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Crisis averted

We had a start late last week. Seems that Drew decided on Thursday that he didn't like sweet potatoes anymore. That's exactly what he did with the bottle and we were afraid it was happening again with baby food. Liz nursed him that evening and the following day, with some trepidation, we pulled out the food again. I don't know what we were afraid of, those were the best sweet potatoes he'd had in at least a week (of course he'd only eaten them for about four days).

Today was a cranky day. I have no idea what the problem was; he'd eat, sleep, poop, and get changed but still was not happy about life. He remained grumpy for most of the day, seemingly whining constantly. Unfortunately, though, he's discovered the trick to getting what he wants. After all of that moaning, he managed to pull out one grand smile just before bed and all of his transgressions for the day were forgiven. Oh, this isn't going to be easy.

skot

Giddyap!
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Concentrate...become one with the potato
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Food, glorious food.

As you can probably tell, we started Drew on food yesterday. Real food is way cooler than cereal. When we broke out the bowl and spoon, he seems irritated that we were going to try this again. He started to squirm so I placed a little of the sweet potatoes on his lip. When he licked his lip mid-whine, he realized that this wasn't the cereal and that it was pretty darn good. After that little taste he has become a monster sweet potato eater. We can't get it into his mouth fast enough. This part is going really well. I hope he likes the next vegetable as well. Carrots, peaches, pears, or green beans?

skot

Hooray for sweet potatoes!
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

If you look really closely you can see the drool marks on his left shoulder.
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Laidback doctors and uptight nurses

Well, we had the doctors appointment on Friday. Boy is it rough to take a happy playful baby and have someone jab a needle into his leg, three different times no less. The doctor seemed really happy with Drew's development. He even commented that his eyes focus really well. Of course, that was after I got read the riot act by the nurse. Now, I've been less than impressed with her since day one, but this time she went over the top. It seems that Drew is going to follow in his daddy's footsteps and be a slow grower. He's only up to 9lbs, 8ozs. He does seem to be tall though at 24.5in. Of course since the nurse hasn't been able to read the scale in the past - she's over reported by a pound on each previous visit, now she thinks he's lost weight. Well, since she breastfeed her last baby and kept it in bed with her, of course that's the only way to do it. (She claimed that her baby would latch on and feed all night. Next time she comes at me with that crap, I'm going to ask when its gastric bypass is scheduled.) She was furious that he was sleeping all night. Apparently, although its normal for babies to sleep through the night at this age, I shouldn't be letting him do it. I should wake him up every four hours to feed him. Anyone, that's been around this baby can tell you that he'll only eat when he's hungry and when he's sleeping that's what he wants to do. grrrrr!!

After I brought Drew's supposed lack of weight gain up to the doctor, he suggested we bring him back in to check his weight in a few weeks. We'll see if solids make a difference or if he's just going to be small.

Small or not he's still obsessed with sitting. He's got the stomach muscles for it, but not the back yet. Any day now.

liz

Last of the photos from Dad.
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Cereal!

Yesterday we decided to introduce Drew to cereal. Well, we didn't entirely decide on our own, he helped quite a bit. He hasn't had a bottle since the day before we left for VA. He had dinner on 11/17 from a bottle and has absolutely refused one since then. We've tried three different nipples, two different bottles, formula, breast milk, Riesling, bourbon (okay, those last two were for us, but we were at wits end). Who knows what's going on in that little head of his.

Yesterday's attempt at cereal was difficult at best. I don't know how well other children take to cereal, but Andrew did not care for it at all last night. I think he spat out more cereal than he ate. Now, we weren't exactly smart about how we did it, though. We tried a bottle first and he hated it. After a few attempts with the bottle, we decided to see if he liked cereal. We made the cereal with his formula and sat down to feed him. He was already worked up over the bottle to begin with and then we threw this completely different food source at him. Needless to say, he was shocked, confused, and kind of pissy about it.

We tried the cereal again today with much more success. We made it with breast milk and gave it much more consistency. I don't know if he like the cereal more or if he just wanted to chew on the spoon, but he ate about four or five spoons of it regardless. We'll try again tomorrow and then it's on to fruits and veggies!

skot

Again with the Grampy Everett photo!
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Landing

...and then we landed. Drew slept through the whole landing ordeal and uttered nary a peep. We took the shuttle over to the car rental shack and he slept through that bus ride. Only when we got to the rental place did he start to get fussy. We figured he was hungry again.

I rented the car and Liz fed him in the passenger seat. Now we were ready to finish the trip in a slightly more comfortable manner. Oh, but that was not to be. Andrew decided much earlier than I did that he didn't like the new 2005 Pontiac Grand Am we rented (I reserved my judgment for a couple more days). He screamed like we had never heard him scream before from the airport to Manassas in rush hour traffic. For those of you who don't know what DC rush hour is like, think about trying to find a parking space at your local mall this weekend. Now imagine that experience on an interstate highway. The 20 mile trip took about 45 minutes but it seemed like hours. After we passed through old town Manassas, though, Drew passed out until we got to Liz's parents' house.

Aside from these two incidents, Andrew was wonderful on the trip. Even with these we can't complain about him. We asked a lot from him and he exceeded our wildest expectations. He has now been proclaimed a "traveler." He'd better get used to it, I feel like seafood for dinner!

skot

Again, from Dad.
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

An amazing trip.

As Liz mentioned earlier, we learned quite a bit about our baby these last few weeks. We were concerned that he wouldn't take the travel well, but he exceeded our wildest expectations. On the way out, Andrew slept through the two hour drive to the airport and was calm through check-in, security (including removing him from the car seat), and the one hour wait for boarding.

While waiting to board, we thought we'd feed Andrew at the gate. On this day, though, he decided that bottles were for babies and since he's three and a half months old, he doesn't need to take one anymore. So it's been about three hours since he last ate and he doesn't want to eat. I thought that, with all the driving and moving he had done that morning, plus everything that was going on around us in the airport, he was probably anxious, excited, and distracted so we decided to wait until we got on the plane and try again. They let us board (no call for handicapped, those with small children, or those that need more time, though), we get into our seats, and Drew still didn't want the bottle. He started to get kind of fussy, so I stood with him while people were boarding (luckily we were in the back?) and calmed him down. We got into the air and the captain turned off the seat belt sign, so Liz decided to go ahead and nurse him since it had been almost five hours since he had last eaten. Obviously he was famished. He ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. Talk about one hungry baby.

After Liz fed him and burped him, he seemed to be happy and interested in everything going on, so we held and played with him for a little while. He flirted with the women around us and played with others; laughing and giggling all the while. He turned to Liz, flashed his winning smile, and promptly threw up all over her. We changed him and Liz cleaned up as best she could while I held Drew. He seemed much happier after that. Until he flashed his winning smile, and promptly threw up all over me. At least it wasn't as much as Liz got. Again, he was probably over-excited and super hungry and ate too quickly. Oh well, such is life. After that though, he slept through the rest of the flight.

Tomorrow, landing...

skot

From Chatham Manor in Fredericksburg, VA -- I love this picture. Thanks, Dad.
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

There and back again

Well, the past two weeks have taught me a little about myself and alot about my son. Yes, as expected he handled the whole experience better than I did. He's even settling back into a normal routine with little difficulty, including sleeping through the night. The only hitch is that he thinks someone needs to hold or play with him at all times. (Maybe I just got used to not being the sole playmate, I'm not sure.) Of course, we haven't tried the dreaded bottle yet. I'm still not sure why he decided that he wouldn't take one during the trip, but we're going to give it a try again soon. After that, we move on to solid foods. Anyway, I'm sure skot will being signing in tonight, but I thought I'd add a few thoughts.

Andrew's 4 month checkup is scheduled for Friday, so I'll be sure to post the new stats then.

liz

There's that winning smile.
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Oh, so tired.

What a busy two weeks (and change). I'm so tired tonight and we haven't even begun to umpack. I promise to post tomorrow. For tonight you'll have to deal with a photo from before the trip.

Sorry,
skot

Baby shower

Well, skot's mom had a baby shower for us the weekend before Thanksgiving. I must say that Drew was an angel. I should also say if you have a touchy baby don't try this at home. Everyone had to hold him and he was passed from pillar to post the whole afternoon. Drew, being the flirt that he is, just cooed and smiled for everyone. I want to thank everyone for coming (if you're reading this). I had a great time and got some amazing gifts. I can't wait to get home and try them out. We still haven't figured out how to get it all home, but something will be worked out. There are pictures floating around, but I haven't seen them myself, so I'm not about to post them until they can be edited.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

We made it!

After a long day on Thursday, we finally made it to Washington, D.C. Andrew was wonderful during the trip. He slept the entire way to the airport from Waco, we played in the airport while waiting for our flight, and he slept most of the flight to Washington. Actually, the toddler sitting behind us was more of a problem on the flight than he was.

We have been on the go since we got here. First we had to see my sister's new place in Warrenton, then Drew had to have his picture taken with Santa on Saturday and today my mom threw an infant shower, so he's been in his car seat most of the weekend. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to just relax at the house.

Well, gonna go.
skot

Last post for a while

This will be my last post before we leave for our annual Thanksgiving trip back to VA. We have to leave the house at about 7:30am and we won't be at Liz's parents' place until after 5:00pm EST. The success of the entire trip rests solely upon the shoulders of one very tiny person. Let's see how he handles it. Here's to hoping that he like airplanes.

skot

Mom kissing Drew
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

On the way home from getting the tree.
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Tasty fingers.
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Drew's first Christmas Tree.
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Sorry about last week.

Wow, last week was terrible. On Thursday night I crashed out on the couch before Letterman was even over. Liz came out at about 2:45 and woke me up to tell me to go to bed. And Friday night I got involved with some other stuff online and didn't realize what time it was until about 2:00. Hopefully I'll be better these last few days before we head home.

Speaking of heading home. I never realized that something so small could require so much stuff. It seems like Liz and I will have one suitcase each and Drew will have about a half-dozen to himself. We have bottles, clothes, toys, car seat, stroller, ... When does it end?

This weekend we went out to the only Christmas tree farm in the area and tagged Andrew's first Christmas tree. It was a blustery day and Texans would call it arctic, but those of us from north of Dallas know differently. I think he enjoyed himself. Well, the parts of it he didn't sleep through. The fresh air did him wonders though. Today's picture is from that excursion.

It's bed time.

Enjoy,
skot

At least this is a different picture.
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Sorry about recent posts

Wow! I didn't realize that I had posted the same image twice until Liz mentioned it to me the next day. Whoops.

Sorry about the lack of image yesterday. I'm currently involved in a number of projects that might enhance the site and didn't get a chance to upload a new pic.

skot

That is one interesting Boppy Pillow.
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Where are the Everett genes?

I must say that I am terribly disappointed to see that Drew's getting the Cherry ears. I had hoped for better and that the far superior Everett genes would find their way into his appearance. At least he doesn't wake up well. I know he's mine that way.

Oh yeah, and Doris, our next-door neighbor, has said that she's glad he looks like Liz. She apparently back-tracked a little bit, but was still relatively un-apologetic when she said that I was a good looking guy, but she was still happy he looks like Liz. What's up with that?

I'm getting really good at this sitting thing.
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Cherry ears

OK, since skot hasn't mentioned it, I feel obligated to. If you haven't noticed, you haven't been looking at the pictures closely lately. It would appear that Andrew is going to have the dreaded "Cherry ears". skot was really hoping and praying, but they seemed to have magically appeared in the last week or so. I think they're adorable, but skot still hasn't accepted them. He prefers to not talk about it. I don't know what his issues are. I was hoping Drew wouldn't get his dad's feet, but he has. So I guess we're even.

liz

No pics today

Sorry, but I am super tired tonight. I haven't stopped sneezing since about 1pm and I just want to go to bed. Tomorrow I might post 2 for the trouble.

skot

Just in case the other image doesn't come through. -- It didn't.
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Dinner time

What is it about our dinner time that Andrew doesn't like? He can be the happiest baby in the world all day long; through all other meals, but as soon as dinner time rolls around and we put him in his swing, he turns into Damien. He loves his swing. We can put him in there a just about any other time of the day and he is thrilled to be there, just not when I am about to put food in my mouth. Now, since this seems to be the only complaint he has, I'm not going to argue it too much. He sleeps through the night, he eats well, he smiles often, and loves people, but I would like to eat every now and then.

I need to sit!
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

I can't wait to show this to his friends later in life. I had to suffer the indignity, so can he.
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Happy Halloween

OK, so today was Halloween. I'll just set the record here -- we did not take Andrew trick-or-treating today. I'm sorry for all of you that might be disappointed in me, but we figured that;

1. he was super tired; this time change really messed with his head,
   
2. he isn't going to remember it,
3. he can't eat candy right now, anyway,
   
4. it was raining,
   
5. we were the only house on the block giving out candy.
   

At least we took pictures of him in his costume, though. I promise we will take him out next year.

I again resized the images on the blog. The previews are still the same size, but if you click on them, you will see a full sized (1024 x 768 I believe) copy. Those of you who want to take these to your nearest photo lab to be printed will appreciate that.

skot

Happy Halloween, everybody!
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Old neighbors

We have these great, old next door neighbors, Jim and Doris Jones. Jim is an old WWII vet who might be starting to go senile and his wife Doris is a sweet lady who isn't afraid to tell Jim where to go. They fell in love with Drew the moment they found out that Liz was pregnant; that would be about 6 days before he was born. They have since adopted Drew as their own grandnephew; in fact, they signed a card to him as "Auntie Doris and Unka Jim" (I don't know why a grandnephew and not a grandson, but we'll go with it).

Earlier today they brought Drew his first Halloween gift - a ceramic jar filled with candies - and made Liz promise to give him the candy when he is old enough to eat it. I don't think it'll last that long, but we'll refill it and tell Doris that he ate it.

I can stand!
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Oh, so tired.
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Sleeping again?
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Meltdown

Let me tell you. I am amazed at how much endurance these little things have. When he's not happy, he certainly can get your attention and keep it. On both Saturday and Sunday nights Andrew really didn't want to go to bed, but we put him there anyway. I have never heard such squealing. You would have thought that we put hot coals in his bed with him. The sad part is that on both occasions he was in a wonderful mood before we put him down; smiling and giggling at us. It broke my heart to put him in bed knowing that he'd be mad at us for it. At least he's too young to hate us for a while.

Sorry about the name change (if you even noticed it), but I did a Google search and found a professional web design firm with the name "Midnight Designs" and decided that, in a spirit of altruism, I'd change the name of my blog before I received a cease and desist letter in the mail. I'll leave it to you to find out what "hypnagogic means."

skot

You can't smile with the pacifier in your mouth.
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Is sleeping all he does? I can tell you that when he is awake, he can let everyone know about it!
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

A good baby-day!

Today was a great baby-day. I had a long day at work today, but when I got home the little one was in a great mood. Just kind of makes all of the ills of my day disappear. He loves to show off his new giggle.

I was going to buy some new components for the computer I'm in the process of building (hard-disk and dvd recordable drives), but I think I'm actually going to buy that microphone I've been considering purchasing for the last year or so. I always thought it would be cool, but optional. Now I see it's necessary. This giggle only lasts so long.

skot

Finally, a quiet moment.
(c) 2004 Scott Everett

Every day's an adventure

Who knew that watching someone grow up could be so much fun? OK, a bunch of you knew, but I didn't believe it until now. I was talking to my parents on the phone last weekend and told them that I found something that could render all religion obsolete; something that answers that oft-repeated, cliched philosophical query, "Why are we here?" -- infant smiles. I need to amend that today. I think the answer is actually infant giggles. Drew and I were playing on the couch this evening after a not-so-great day at work and he started giggling every time I lifted his head and shoulders. The rest of the world outside the sofa just melted, leaving the two of us, laughing and talking, alone in our own universe. Being a dork is so much fun!

Such tiny hands.
(c) Scott Everett

Here's my first photo upload of the most beautiful baby boy.
(c) Scott Everett

This is just a test post to see if I can figure out the picture publish function.
(c) Scott Everett

Errgh...

The entire point in setting up this blog was to post photos of the baby where everyone who wanted to see them would be able to. It seems that I can't upload my pics right now. We just got a roll of b/w film back from the processor and I really want to show some of them. I've been working on this for 2 days now and I think I might be getting close to figuring out what the problem is.

skot

Whew! What a day!

Today was definitely a bad day to be a baby. Andrew did not want to take a nap, nor was he interested in eating until about 5pm. At that point, we couldn't get enough food into him and we couldn't get him into bed fast enough. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

skot

Bienvenue!

Here' s my attempt to simplify the distribution of Andrew photos and the like. Hopefully I will be able to maintain this a little better than a full webpage, which I may design later on. This should go live in the next week or so.

Photo viewer

Here are some of my other photos!

See more photos: All photos on TrekLens

(c) 2007 Scott Everett