G-rated Expletives

Anyone who knows me knows that I tend to have a bad habit of swearing. This particular habit does not go well with child rearing so I have tried to mend my ways as best I can. The g-rated expletives never seem to really fit my mood or emotion at the time but little ears are always listening so I attempt to tone it down. I am definitely getting better but at times the substitute words I use are not always the best choice or ones that I want my little guy to repeat. For example, today while we were shopping in Babies 'R Us Evan was getting antsy in the shopping cart and yelled out "Dad, get me out of this effin' shopping cart"! Very funny but not something I want him repeating in preschool!

Nursery

With just one week to spare the nursery is finally complete. I am challenged in the ways of interior decorating so choosing a theme was quite difficult. I spent hours online trying to find the perfect fabric. When I found patterns I liked I sent emails out to friends and family or carried samples around with me to get their opinion. Thank you Mom, Mona, Joy, Gwen, Betsy, Nancy and Natalie for giving me your input! It truly was a team effort. Seen in the pictures below my step-mom Mona made the quilt on the chair, my Mom made the curtains and the fitted crib sheet (among other things), Joy picked out and put together the artwork above the changing table, and the crib skirt and crib quilt is courtesy of my mother-in-law! Apparently the Latin meaning of the name Ava is bird so this theme was coincidentally very appropriate for the name we chose!

Caspar Babypants Groupies

Several months ago Evan and I went to a concert at Gymboree for a kid's band called Caspar Babypants. The main singer, Chris Ballew is also the lead singer for The Presidents of the United States of America. They were popular in the mid 90's and even nominated for a Grammy twice. Since that first concert Evan has been hooked and just this week we went to our fourth Caspar Babypants concert. It is all we listen to in the car (we own both of their CD's of course!) and Aaron and I find ourselves singing their songs constantly. Chris' music in The Presidents was not too far from kids' music to begin with. It is great to find music that is geared towards kids that is not obnoxious and is actually enjoyable. Evan adores Caspar (Chris), he knows most of the words to almost all of the songs, and even asked the other day if I could call him on the phone. Sitting in the audience again on Tuesday and realizing I was singing along to every word of every song made me feel like a total groupie! The concerts are incredibly popular and each time we've had to arrive as much as an hour early to the show to make sure we were able to get in. The things we do for our kids! It is all worth it, just seeing his face light up when they sing one of his favorite songs and seeing him dance brings me such joy. The first shot is Evan waiting patiently for the band to set-up, after 30 minutes his patience wore very thin and he was ready to see Caspar!

Evan's First Baseball Game

On Sunday, my Dad and Aaron took Evan to his very first baseball game. At his age, we were not sure how he would do sitting in a seat for that long (personally I cannot make it through an entire professional baseball game!) but fortunately he loved it and lasted until the 7th inning stretch. He came home very excited, telling me all about Safeco field, the Mariner Moose and of course what he ate! He also learned to sing "Take me out to the Ballgame" which is absolutely adorable!

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend being pampered by my boys. The weather was gorgeous which made it all the more enjoyable! We had an amazing brunch at the Seattle Tennis Club on Sunday morning and because it was so nice out we were able to hang out and walk around the grounds soaking in the sun that we've been deprived of since October. Evan loved being able to tell everyone Happy Mother's Day and we got to show him the spot where his parents were married. He was not so thrilled when we forced him to pose in multiple family portraits however!

Baby Shower

I am so fortunate to have the friends and family that I have. I have had three baby showers thrown for me to celebrate the pending arrival of our little girl. The last one was hosted by my fabulous girlfriends Gwen and Joy on May day. It was fun 'ooing' and 'ahing' over all of the adorable baby clothes.

Vacation!

I went to Boston without both of my boys at the beginning of April to see my Aunt Jane get married. It was the longest period of time I had been away from Evan. He was completely fine while I missed him like crazy and called several times each day. He and Aaron kept very busy going to Gymboree, attending two birthday parties and a concert.

I had a great time seeing the Campbell clan and it was actually really nice to have some time to myself before I am a mother of two! It felt great to just sit around and read if I wanted to or take a nap! Jane and her new husband, Arturo were incredibly sweet and threw me a baby shower just two days before their wedding. It was nice to celebrate the pending arrival of our little girl with everyone since we live so far apart and would not have normally had the chance to. I stayed with my grandmother during my visit and got to spend some quality time with her which I really appreciated as well. This was likely the last time in a very long time that I will get a mommy vacation but I enjoyed every minute of it!

Easter

We spent a great Easter, as per tradition, at Kristoferson Farm. Evan had his own egg hunt at the farm where we all had fun following him around subtly directing him to certain spots, although we had a hard time getting him NOT to open each of the chocolate eggs as he found them. We also had an amazing dinner in the log cabin. He rarely gets to eat candy so he was in heaven! He also received a very cool John Deere lunchbox from his Great Aunt Lorraine and as you can see below, he REALLY liked it!