Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Evan's (Pre) Birthday Celebration

Since Evan's actual birthday was full of handymen doing home improvements and repairs, plus Ed had to work, we "rescheduled" Evan's birthday the day before. 

We started with presents. I lined them all up on the coffee table, and Evan had fun knocking them down to the ground. 


Once they were down, I showed Evan how to tear the paper, and soon he was a pro!


Evan got a mix of practical and fun presents, though we were a bit limited since we couldn't give him anything that would be too big (have to keep that move in mind).


His presents? Some 2T long sleeved onsies I picked up on clearance and figured he needed, baseball footie pajamas, books from the Grand Canyon and Chicago, and a little cloth tree stump with a bear, chipmunk and deer finger puppets from the Grand Canyon. So far, the books are the biggest hits, though he also likes the finger puppets. It's way too hot here for the clothes we bought - we'll save those for when we move.


Afterwards, it was time for cake! Beforehand, I wasn't sure about trying to make a cake so soon after arriving home from traveling. With everything going on, I thought it might be a bit much. However, I was luckily feeling up for it, with the help of a box cake mix. For some reason I'd always imagined baking Evan his 1st birthday cake, so I'm really glad I got to do that. Full disclosure, I sort of messed up getting the cake out of the pan, and it fell apart a little. Luckily, since the cake was just for the three of us, I didn't worry about it. Just re-assembled and used lots of homemade buttercream! And raspberries around the side to hide the missing cake :). 


Evan went for the fruit first, but soon dove right in.


Once he started on the cake, though, he went to town!


In what seemed like no time at all, he polished off his slice, with almost nothing on the ground. 


And to wash it down? A cup of milk. 


What a happy one year old! It was actually really nice celebrating with just the three of us. A perfect, (sugary) sweet day with the sweetest boy imaginable.

Monday, April 20, 2015

Happy Birthday Evan!


How is it possible that our sweet, amazing little boy is already one year old?!? Wasn't it just yesterday that he was just a little 10 pound baby?


Ed and I are so thankful that we get to be Evan's parents. It has been the best year of my life learning how to be a mom, and I feel, more than anything, thankful and excited for what's to come. Our family feels just perfect in this moment. Later this week (hopefully I can take a packing break), I'm looking forward to sharing more details about what Evan's been up to. He's been progressing by leaps and bounds, and is a joy to watch every day. 

Happy Birthday sweet boy - we love you so much!







Friday, April 10, 2015

A Grand Visit


We've just returned for a perfectly wonderful visit in the Grand Canyon. While everything is incredibly crazy, it was a wonderful respite in nature.


I'll hopefully post all the pictures sooner rather than later. But, we had a wonderful trip. Ed ran to the river and back in only 4 hours, which is insane, and Evan and I hiked 3 miles on the Bright Angel trail, which was harder, but more amazing than I'd ever imagined. Hiking in and out of a canyon is a whole lot harder with 40 lbs of baby and gear on your back! We have one more adventure and less than 3 weeks between now and the big move to CA, and and we can't wait. 

Wish us luck!

Saturday, April 4, 2015

The "Before We Move" List

Updated! We're making progress....

Before Evan was born, Ed and I made a list on here of everything we had to get done before the big day, and I was realizing that it would be super helpful to do the same thing as we gear up for our move. It's amazing how quickly it's approaching!

Activities (Places to Go)


From my last visit to the Grand Canyon, back in 2008! 
Still Left:
  • Grand Canyon
  • Heard Museum
  • Williams (?)
Done:
  • Taliesin West
  • Sedona
  • Big League Dreams (replica famous baseball fields) (off the list - Ed realized he wasn't as excited as he thought!)
  • Superstition Mountains
  • Desert Botanical Gardens
  • Relatives in New Mexico  off the list - they came to us instead!
  • Tucson - off the list - not a priority
  • Camelback Mtn. - Ed had a great run there
  • Evan's picture, and lunch, at ASU

Restaurants

Still Left:
  • Olive and Ivy
  • Farm House
Done:
  • Rock Springs Cafe (pies)
  • Blue Adobe
  • Postinos
  • Gertrudes
  • Farm at South Mountain
  • Pizza Biancos skipping - not enough time
  • Oreganos 



Research


Redwood National Park
Still Left:
  • Moving Company
  • Storage Facility and logistics
  • Germany Trip
Done:
  • Realtor
  • Camry Car Value
  • Santa Cruz lodging
  • summer plans
  • Alabama visit - delayed :(
  • Chicago visit
  • Grand Canyon visit
  • cleaners
  • Townhouse square footage and layout
  • Redwood Natl. park lodging and visit
  • 5th Anniversary ideas - Ed says not to worry, he's got it covered :)

Book

Charming Cottage Very Near Beach

Still Left:
  • Nothing!

Done:
  • Chicago lodging
  • Redwood lodging
  • Santa Cruz lodging

House
Still Left:
  • Make 3 lists of stuff: summer, storage, townhouse
  • Craigslist items
  • Pack
  • Home inspection repairs
Done:
  • list of stuff to sell
  • clean out closets
  • donate clothes
  • minor repairs
  • clean grout
  • landscaping (hire)
  • refill gravel
  • share news
  • recycle electronics
  • put house on market
  • sell house
Job
From my website: www.adelynlyon.com

Still Left:
  • Nothing!
Done:
  • Finalize Resume (Ad)
  • Update Edjoin (Ad)
  • Finalize Websites (Ad)
  • Share website with SSU (Ed)
  • Apply for jobs (Ad)
  • Attend jobfair  Not needed!
  • Sonoma lodging for jobfair Not needed!

Other
(picture of what Evan could be doing in daycare next year!)

Still Left:
  • Contact friends/relatives re: summer visits
  • Confirm daycare enrollment for Evan
  • Celebrate Evan's Birthday!
Done:
  • make blurb books (Year 4, Running, College) -delayed for summer project
  • Buy new camry hubcaps
  • Cancel Stroller Strides (when house sells)

Whew! It's a full list, but it'll be completed before we know it :)

Friday, April 3, 2015

Big News!



Life has been insanely crazy lately, but we finally have some great news to share!

First, the sale is pending on our home! After only 3 days on the market, we received a full price offer for our home. We've made it through the appraisal and inspection, so now we just need to make all the fixes (and there are, unfortunately, quite a lot), and we'll be home free. Closing is April 30th, less than 4 weeks from now. We'll so miss this home, but we can't wait to move onto our next adventure.


Second, I officially have a job for next year! I will be teaching either 4th or 5th grade at Healdsburg Charter School. It was such a whirlwind experience. I interviewed via skype on a Wednesday and was told almost immediately afterwards they wanted me for the demo lesson. So, Evan and I hopped in the car and drove the 7.5 hours to my parents. The following day, my dad drove Evan and I the 10.5 hours up to Sonoma county. We stayed with a family friend and early on Friday morning, I taught a demo lesson to 26 bright faced 4th graders. It went great, and right after the lesson, my new principal brought me back to her office and offered me the job. I am so excited to work at a school that focuses on science and social studies, and active learning via projects. 




And finally, just this evening, we sold the Camry! It's been with me since 2005, back when I was in college. It sold after just an hour or two on Craigslist, and we're really happy with the family we sold it to. They seemed really deserving, and we're very happy they got a car that will hopefully last them a very long time. Now, of course, we are a one car family, which will certainly give its own unique challenges. Wish us luck!

So, lots going on in the Lyon house. We are so fortunate that most everything has worked out for us better than we could even imagine. Less than 4 weeks left!

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Love Them!


We're hitting our final visits to some of our favorite places, including the Riparian Preserve. We've had many, many wonderful walks here, and will definitely miss it!

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

11 Months

(Okay, it's 2 weeks late, but I finally found my camera!)



Weight - We'll find out at his 1 year appointment (how are we almost there?!?). Hoping for around 23 lbs, but we'll see. 

Height - Not sure, though he seems taller. 

Head circumference - Again, not sure. But, his head is certainly looking fantastic!


Still in mostly 18 month clothes, though we can still make use of the 12 month ones when needed.

Likes:

Enjoying our impromptu bib at the ball park!

Food continues to be going really well. Berries are a huge hit and Evan can polish off a box of blueberries or raspberries in a couple days if we let him. He also will eat an entire banana any time we let him. Taco bowls are also a huge favorite, with ground beef, salsa, onion, bell pepper, cauliflower cilantro lime rice, and sour cream. He also sometimes eats half an avocado in one sitting. When he wants more food, he makes a "huh, huh, huh" noise, which is helpful. 


He continues to love being active. He climbs anything we'll let him climb, and is much faster with things like going up the stairs. His new favorite place to climb is onto the fireplace mantle, but is thankfully good about going back down correctly anytime I say "careful." He cruises at lightening speed now, too, and is standing independently a bit more purposefully now, but still not very often. 

He still loves playing with the car wheel, and has also figured out how to play with the radio, air, windshield wipers, and anything else he can get his hands on up there. 


One of our new favorites is that Evan is now tall enough to reach up to the piano with both hands. He gets such a kick out of playing on it, and sometimes even manages to hit octaves, which is a much more pleasant sound for all of us. 

Books are also probably one of his favorite "toys" right now. He loves taking them off his shelves and turning the pages. We have these little baby sized books that we got at my shower that are perfect when we're on the go. 

And, while last night was pretty horrible, in general we seem to have made new progress with sleep!! Hallelujah. A few weeks ago, around when he got his helmet off (more on that below), we decided since he was sleeping longer stretches for the first chunk of sleep, that it was time to switch back to the crib. And? He's been doing so, so much better. It was a rough first night, but he consistently almost always goes at least 3 hours, and often between 4-6! I think it's because he's eating so much more food during the day and, honestly, because he's finally ready to do that. All this sleep craziness has taught me that babies are all different and that you can't make a baby do something they aren't ready to do. Hopefully we can keep improving here this month.

Dislikes

Happiest in mom or dad's arms

Evan still hates lying on his back with a fiery passion, so diaper changes are still insanely difficult. I really thought we'd be done with this phase, but it is still going. On the plus side, we're now okay with the carseat, unless he's exhausted or really sick of driving.

He's been a bit clingier this month, which has been hard since we've had to do so much "extra" stuff that doesn't involve him. We put our house on the market this month, which meant lots of time-sensitive cleaning, which Evan didn't like. I also had to do a job interview, and for it I had to prepare a lesson, which was more time with a distracted mommy.

Food-wise, his dislikes are mostly whims. When he's decided he doesn't want or is done with a certain food, he simply drops it over his tray onto the floor. I'm finding blander foods are often the ones that don't make the cut, and rarely do berries not make it into his mouth. But, more often than not, that food later in the day is perfectly wonderful. We still have stayed away from much in the way of processed foods and bread products which I think has been a good call. The one day we let him munch on a bunch of stuff (cheerios, tortilla, etc), he was fussier than he's ever been. Probably a coincidence, but we may not be in a rush to have any more of those foods.

Final dislike is those darn teeth. Luckily, we are just about there with this set, I hope! One has popped through, and the other three on top should be here any day. 

Important Events:



This month was crazy, if the lack of blog posts was any indication. The biggest thing for Evan was that he finally graduated from his helmet after a long 6.5 months!!!


We are so proud of him for making it through this therapy with no complaints or issues. He's taken a few painful thumps as he's gotten used to losing that extra protection, but otherwise has adjusted to helmet-less life with just as little drama as he adjusted to wearing it in the first place. Ed and I are thrilled to be able to rub is soft, blond hair covered head all day long and give it lots of kisses.

Our cute stocking headed boy. You can see that his ears are more symmetrical and the stop of his head is a bit more even. 

You can see how much higher his left ear used to be from his right! Still not perfect, but so much better
And here's what we were most worried about. You can see how pointed his head was on that right side. Now it looks like a normally shaped head!!

I am just so proud of his changes. As you can see, he's now in the mild range for all the measurements. I am so glad we decided to go ahead with the second helmet. He actually made a lot more growth in that helmet than in the first and went from high moderate in asymmetry to mild. And now, it's hard to even remember  him wearing it. I am just relieved that he now has a "normal" head. I would so recommend helmet therapy to any parent going through this, whose baby is at least 4 months old. I remember that sick feeling in my stomach I used to get looking at that flat spot when we was little, and just feeling so helpless. While there's a chance it could have fixed itself, I would have felt so guilt if it didn't (and I've had more than one person approach me during this whole thing, telling me how they wished they'd gotten a helmet for their child when he was little, since now it was too late and their child's flat spot was still quite bad). So thankful that insurance made this a free process for us and that it was so successful!



Successes:


The most exciting milestone, that Evan's about 9 months "late" in hitting is that he finally found his toes!! This is so exciting because it means he's finally flexible enough to easily reach them. He found them during a diaper change partway through the month and now seems like he's almost always grabbing them when he's sitting or lying down. This was huge for me because it was something I really worried about, but that Evan needed to hit when he was ready, not when I wanted him to or even when other babies normally hit it. I'm remembering this for any other milestones that he's "late" on. 

Quiet, but oh so cute :)

Speaking of which, he's almost seemed less vocal this month, but I'm not going to worry about that until a year. He's still very communicative with us, so we'll just focus on that. Occasionally he makes word sounding sounds (like uh-oh or egg) but definitely just a coincidence. In general, Evan is a very contemplative baby. His personality sort of reminds us of Ed and me. We often just like to sit quietly, so maybe it makes sense that Evan does, too. We're still doing lots of reading and talking and singing, and someday I'm sure he'll start talking back :).  

Challenges:

The biggest challenge this month was getting Evan to be more independent so that we could take care of house and work things. 

Breakfast with Papa in Healdsburg

Also, though, we had to go on a huge road trip! I did well at a skype interview and so had to drive up to Healdsburg, in Sonoma County, to do a demo lesson. Since Evan is still nursing, he obviously had to come with me. To make things complicated, Ed was actually flying to the bay area the same day as my second interview, but I had to be there at 9am that morning, so he couldn't be around to help. After some stressful problem solving, we found a way to make it work. Evan and I drove the 7.5 hour (with stops) drive to my parents after the interview Wednesday. I was nervous about such a long drive with the two of us, but he did awesome. Then, the next day my dad came with us and we made the 10.5 hour drive up to Sonoma. It was intense, to say the least, and I'm so impressed by how well Evan did! Makes me feel better about all the traveling coming up this summer. 

Mommy Successes:


Running has unfortunately been on the back burner with getting sick and then house and work stuff. However, getting back into working has been a huge success. It's made me excited to go back to work. Hopefully, I'll have some very good news to share on the job front soon!

Daddy Successes:

Ed was thrilled to finally get his family day at work. Evan and I joined him for a morning in the office (I had a few teaching things to work on). Then we all went out of lunch and a walk around campus! 


Best Moments:

Being back in the bay area, knowing we were going to be moving our family here in just a few short months, was incredibly special. We are so excited for Evan to be growing up in such a wonderful place.


We also got to spend a weekend with Evan's Aunt Irma and Uncle Thomas. It was a fantastic getaway to Sedona and we're so glad they came out. Uncle Thomas even wore Evan for part of the hike in the Ergo - the first time that someone besides Ed or I has carried Evan in one of the carriers! It was pretty cute.


We also made it out for a Giants Spring Training game. Evan had a blast, and I decided that baseball games are very much improved by bringing a baby and getting to relax on the grass.


Can't believe only one month left until we hit a year!!!