We officially have a toddler! This year has brought amazing changes to our lives and a ridiculous amount of happiness. Everett is an amazing little boy, and both Andy and I have a hard time leaving and can't wait to get home from work to see him. Of course, some days we want to pull our hair out and throw our own temper tantrums but 95% of the time he is a sweet, loving, intelligent, happy and busy boy.
At the beginning of the January Andy and I went on our first alone vacation since Everett was born. We went back to Mexico for the 4th time. It was amazing! We got really lucky with the weather and never saw a rain drop. We just went for a quick weekend, Friday-Tuesday which was the perfect amount of time. Since we don't have any family nearby this was the first time that we'd left Everett overnight! 2 of my sisters offered to be Aunties of the Year and traveled from MN to UT to watch Everett while we were gone. From what I hear it was a vacation for them since it was mid 40's the entire time they were here :) Everett did great and so did his aunties. We facetimed every night and they made sure to send us pics and videos of all the fun they had while we lounged on the beach and read books. It turns out to be quite the undertaking to pack myself, as well as get everything ready for 2 aunties that don't have kids of their own :) Everett had a schedule down to the minute which turned out to be very helpful but that meant this mama forgot to pack 2 essentials...sunglasses and camera...boo. Thank goodness for camera phones and kiosks in the airport. Needless to say we have very few pictures. We ventured outside of the typical resorts we stay at, and stayed about 20 minutes south of Cancun. We got a room upgrade and were about 20 steps from the beach and 55 from the ocean (Andy actually paced it out). The only complaint we had was the food. Overall a great vacation. Seeing all the families with little children playing on the beach or in the pools us homesick though...
 |
| View from our patio. Beach and ocean right over the hedge. |
 |
| Our outdoor shower and hot tub |
 |
| Patio. Only complaint was the direct morning sun. |
 |
| We spent the first day at the pool with the swim up bar :) |
 |
| The beach was amazing! Loved the palapas |
 |
| Horrible photo after dinner :) |
 |
| Last day on the beach :( |
 |
| In heaven. |
 |
| Most favorite place with my favorite person. |
We missed all the friends and family that were able to make it to our wedding, but we still had an amazing time. Our age is starting to show through though. We spent most of our time applying sunscreen and sitting under the shade. Neither of us got sunburned! Thanks Greta and Gabrielle for being awesome and taking Everett!
 |
| Pictures of Everett/Auntie time |
 |
| Everett's favorite drawer! |
 |
| Couch time |
 |
| Love you Auntie Gabrielle! |
 |
| Everett's 2nd favorite drawer. He must want to bake cookies with mom :) |
 |
| If Cali is outside Everett is at the window. |
 |
| Showing off his baby blues at daycare |
 |
| Getting into everything! |
 |
| Helping dad install cabinet locks |
 |
| Hanging out with mom on Monday |
 |
Running errands with mom wearing his new big boy shoes!
Unfortunately he likes to chew on them in his car seat... |
 |
| Finally had a breakthrough with the sippy cup! |
 |
| Yay! I got this mom! |
 |
| Just playing with my bus while wearing my dino sweatshirt |
 |
| Mom, I'm a little busy for pictures |
 |
| Everett loves opening and closing doors |
 |
| Birthday breakfast of scrambled eggs! |
 |
| Happy Birthday Everett!! |
 |
| Mini cupcakes for Everett's b-day party on Saturday |
 |
| "Strangers won't make me smile" |
 |
| Nope, not gonna smile dad... |
 |
| Birthday party guests. The Gonzalez family had to leave early. Baby Quinn is 3 weeks old and Sara is expecting a baby boy at the end of June!! |
 |
| Checking out baby Quinn but not excited about having to take a picture |
 |
| Smash that cupcake!! |
 |
| "I'd like a refund. That cupcake was horrible" |
 |
| Love my Monday's with my little boy |
 |
| Loving lazy pajama days |
 |
He absolutely cracks me up. Like sister like brother? Cali used
to do this all the time. He's started putting toys under the couch
and then laying down and fishing them back out. |
 |
| Poor Cali... |
 |
| He loves her so much! |
 |
| Getting so big! |
 |
| My big cuties! |
Lots of new stuff since the last post...
- He can clap his hands and wave bye bye
- Has started saying "ya". Not sure if he knows what he's saying but its fun that he'll answer when you ask him a question
- Loves to open and close doors
- In all the cabinets and drawers
- He had a good stretch where he refused to drink out of a sippy or cup. He had a breakthrough on Superbowl Sunday and I put the bottles away the next day. Only 1 rough day at daycare when he saw the other baby with a bottle. So glad I was able to reach my goal of no bottles after 1.
- On cow's milk exclusively now. We did a half formula half milk to transition a couple weeks before his b-day.
- He plays with cars and trucks and makes his version of the car sound which is so cute.
- He got a block sorter from his Uncle Tom and Aunt Emmy for Christmas. He can put the square and circle in the correct holes!
- He is a full on turbo crawler. He is SO fast I'm amazed.
- He's started to mimic sounds and actions more and more.
- He can mimic grrr and the elephant sound. A lot of spit is involved but he does great
- As expected he's constantly testing boundaries and likes to try and make you feel bad for saying no.
- Walking really well hanging onto furniture and can balance for 5+ seconds. He could walk but knows he can get there so much faster by crawling
- When playing with his bus he can open the door and put the people thru.
- Loves bath time. We've had to add a bunch of time to our bedtime routine because he won't get out of the tub.
-Everett loves to play hide and seek and be chased down our upstairs hallway. He's so much fun to play with now.
- He still loves his "ba." Aka Cali. When she barks she kind of does a low "buh" bark. The minute Everett hears her outside he stops what he's doing, looks up, says ba, ba and makes a bee line to the patio doors. Then proceeds to stand there and bangs on the glass saying ba, ba until I let Cali back in. Too cute. I have a great video that I wish would upload...
- He LOVES reading and is VERY specific about his book choices. He has a rotating repertoire of his current favorites. We just rifle through the bookshelf until we get to the one he wants. He'll also grab a book from the living room, hold it up, hand it to me and then crawl over and up into my lap and expect me to read :) Makes me so happy. Until he requests that we read the same book 5 times in a row...
- He also has a new car seat! My boss is amazing and gave me her old convertible seat. Everett was beyond miserable in his infant seat. We are still facing him backwards and he is so much happier. He gets to sit up pretty straight and he has more room to stretch out and see out the window. As long as he's happy I think we'll keep him rear facing. We don't really routinely go places that are more than 30 mins away and now that he can eat and drink in his seat we are all happier :)
- Still sleeping great at night. 12+ hours. Normally takes a good morning nap (1.5 hrs) and maybe an afternoon nap if we are lucky.
- He's matured so much in the last couple weeks. He's much better coping if he misses a nap and does even better at the store for errands. I can't even really call it coping anymore. Even after a refused nap or a super short nap he's just a happy little guy.
Andy and I even got out skiing last weekend together! We got our babysitter last Saturday and skied Alta. It was cold but we found some good snow. We were supposed to get a big storm this past weekend but all we got was rain in the valley. The mountains got a bunch but we were hoping to take Everett sledding for the first time for his b-day party so we were a little disappointed with 45 and rain...sorry MN.
Thanks everyone for checking in!
Love,
Lexi, Andy, Everett and Cali
