4 Months

Everett turned 4 months yesterday. We took him for his well checkup today and everything looks good. He is now 25 inches long and 12 lbs. 14oz.

He gets more and more fun everyday. His faces are still making us laugh. It's amazing to see how much he's grown. He's getting better at rolling. More so at going from stomach to back, but we're getting there! He is a drooler! Everyone asks if he's cutting teeth,but nothing yet. I thought he was the other day, still nothing. The doctor even thought he was. I just think he really likes to drool.

This boy is going to get all the girls. Today at the doctor's the nurses would talk to him and tell him how cute he was. Well, he'd give them the cutest little smile and they would just gush. Todd said he's going to be a heartbreaker.

Not only do the girls think he's pretty cute, but I think he thinks he's pretty cute. We'll get him up to the mirror and he'll just smile, and then he'll turn away like he's shy. Then he'll turn back and smile, and turn away. Well, the other day I put a picture of him up on my computer and he just stared at it forever. it was the funniest thing.

He is getting soooo active. I swear if he could crawl, or walk he'd be all over the place. We've started putting him in his exersaucer and he loves it. We'll put him in there and it's non-stop moving. He's starting to learn how to push on all the things that makes noises. He hasn't quite got to pulling things yet. He's constantly grabbing for things. Whatever is in his view he'll go after. He even watches us eat and follows the fork.

We are loving our little boy and couldn't be happier. We love getting him to laugh. Todd can just talk to him and he'll starting laughing and then the hiccups start! He sleeps great. Loves his crib! The only thing that is good, but sad at the same time is that he doesn't like me holding him to help him to sleep. I miss it, but it is nicer just putting him in his crib, let him fuss for a few minutes and he's out. Little things like that really make me realize how fast time goes and I just need to really enjoy this time right now cause he's constantly changing.

Pictures

When I want to take pictures with Todd he always ends up making some goofy face. I've just come to accept it. That's just who he is. Well, Everett's only 4 months old and he's already following in his father's footsteps.

While we were in Denver we had some pictures of us taken. For some reason, while we were taking them, I thought Everett was cooperating and they were going to turn out really nice. He did cooperate by not crying, but once you see his faces! Each picture he looks different. Todd and I were laughing so hard at some of them.

Take 1: The arm swinging.
He must have been in the middle of moving, or something. Who knows.

Take 2: The tongue.
Seriously this picture is hilarious! He must of been in the middle of sticking his tongue out, or coughing, but we got a good laugh out of it.


Take 3: The hands.
As always his hands made it to his mouth. This is probably the best picture out of all of them. Plus that's just what he looks like on an everyday basis right now:)


Take 4: Start of a smile.
I remember someone was getting him to laugh at one point. So this has to be at the beginning. He has this "yeah, yeah, whatever" look. Like he knows he's cool, or something.


Take 5: The laugh.
This I know is in the middle of him laughing. And whoever was making him laugh was lower than us cause he keeps looking down!

Oh the joys of taking pictures. At least we have some decent ones of all three of us. I can't complain. Plus I guess pictures are suppose to capture us and our personalities. And these definitely capture who Everett is!

24

Since I can remember I always wanted to be 20. Who knows why. I guess I just thought it was "cool". Well, I turned 20, nothing real cool about. I turned 21, 22, and 23, and always felt twenty. I've never felt old, or older in anyway. But two weeks ago I turned 24. I feel old.....

I should rephrase that. I don't really feel old, cause umm...24 is not old in anyway, but I feel like I am now getting older. It's life right. We get older every year. But I'm no longer in my "early" twenties. I'm officially in my "mid" twenties. I don't know if it's being married for 2 1/2 years and now having a child. Who knows. I normally getting super excited about my birthday. I start sending emails out to my family two months in advance. This year completely spaced it. My family always calls, but it's usually in the morning. This year my mom and my friend Sarah called me early in the morning. The siblings not till late. And Spence, he was way late! Anyway, I'm not bashing on them, but I think I'm coming to the realization, like I said before, I'm getting older. Birthdays aren't as important. I have a little baby preoccupying my time now. I can't even remember to send out emails two months in advance. I just never thought that getting older would hit me this way. Oh well..... Anyway, enough about the age.

I had an amazing birthday thanks to my wonderful husband. I like to joke around that I have a birthday week, or weekend, but Todd does not agree. He says it's one day and that's it. Well, he doesn't admit it, but he made my birthday a birthday weekend!:) Saturday night he took me out to Texas Roadhouse. I had been craving some ribs, and they have some yummy ribs! Everett was able to come and join us. We contemplated getting a sitter, but then decided he should come! He was the cutest thing. By the time we got to the table he did not want to be in his carseat. So Todd had him sit by him.

Luckily, for the meal, Everett sat in his carseat, chewing away at his hands. Those things are in his mouth 3/4 of the time!

I LOVE Christmas. If I had tons of money we would have so many decorations. But as for now we have a few random ones to get us in the spirit. The one decoration I think you have to have is a Christmas Tree. For the past few weeks I've been telling Todd that I wanted to go out and cut a tree again. We NEED a tree. He keeps telling me we don't need a tree till we are actually going to be here for Christmas. Well, the thoughtful man that he is bought me a tree. I love it. After giving me the tree I was able to go out and buy some decorations for it. So Sunday after church, my actual birthday, we put some Christmas music on and put up our tree.

I only have one ornament that actually means something. We got it last year when we were in Jackson with my family. Hopefully some day we will have collected a few more. So our tree now is just some random balls and ribbon. I love it though. Once we get home from work I go and turn it on and it's beautiful!

Another present from Todd was a cake. For the past few years I have made my own cakes, but this year Todd made it. And it was delicious. He even went a little further and put some peppermint extract in the frosting so it tasted like a peppermint patty. Mmm.. it was very tasty!

So despite getting older I had a fantastic birthday! I guess I don't need to remind everyone two months in advance to enjoy it. It was nice to just be home and spend it with my two handsome boys.

Laughing Little Boy

Our little boy is the most ticklish little boy. I can run my finger up his back and he starts squirming. You can get the back of his neck, feet, but the most ticklish is at the top of his chest. When Everett starts laughing he has the cutest laugh, but every time I try and get it on camera he usually stops. Except for the other day. We finally got a really good video! He seriously is the cutest kid ever. I could listen to his giggling all day.

The Mom and Dad

So I've come to the realization that when you have a kid your life kinda gets put on the back burner. If that makes sense. When people see you they always talk about the baby. When the baby's not with you they ask how he's doing. While not much is asked about you anymore. Which is fine cause I'd rather talk about Everett more anyways. You go shopping more for the baby than you. And then you tend to talk more about the baby's life than yours.

So here I am updating about the two of us. Nicki and Todd. Now I'll have to warn you we're not as entertaining as little Everett. In fact I don't think much has happened since the last time I wrote about us and I'm sure most would rather hear about Everett anyways. But oh well...Tough luck:)

Todd and I are both still working. Todd has 3 weeks left of working at PPI. Then it's back to school. Which he is excited about. School's a little more exciting for him these days then work. He's starting to get more into his main classes. Not just the basic ones everyone has to do. So it's a little more interesting.

As most know he's been having problems with his ankles and finally went to a podiatrist this fall. The doctor had him fitted for orthodics with the hope that he wont have to get surgery. But I honestly think he still might have to. Maybe not now, but eventually. I think they're starting to help,but one of his big problems is that he is standing on his feet all day on concrete. Hopefully once he's back in school he wont have so much pain and can do a little more without his ankle hurting.

Todd is still being an amazing dad. Him and Everett have some good times. Todd loves making noises which in turn usually scares Everett! It's pretty funny. Todd will make faces and Everett will look at him like "you weirdo". Last night Todd was making a face and Everett would look at him and then look at me like "did you see that". Then he'd look at Todd and back at me. We were entertained for a little bit! (see it's easy to start talking about the baby rather than you!)

Anyway....he is also still my stud muffin of a husband. He's still the most patient man which helps in our relationship. If he didn't have patience with me I don't know what would happen. He helps out a TON. And the best part is that he is constantly making me smile. Not a day goes by were he doesn't make me laugh.

And now the mom. I'm still working and bringing Everett to work. It is truly a blessing for me to bring him, but some days it can be extremely hard! I love my job which in all honesty helps. I'm so grateful for my work allowing me to bring him and still be able to provide for our family. Work has gotten so busy the past two months and it doesn't look like it's going to slow down. Which is awesome. It keeps me busy and on my toes. Some days I feel like I'm running around all day between getting work done and still taking care of my child.

After work I feel like I don't have much of a life. Once I'm home I'm pretty much home. I've been telling Todd that I wanted to go to the gym for the past two months, but have yet to make it once! I seriously don't know how people with kids do it. I just wish it was warm so I could go on walks and take Everett. It's really not cause of Everett though. Todd keeps telling me I can go, but I'm exhausted by the time I can go! Luckily with all the running around at working I'm getting some sort of exercise done.

I can't really complain about much. Although some days I feel like that's all I can do. Todd and I are doing pretty well. We have a roof over our heads, we have jobs, we have an amazing kid, we have families that support us, and we have each other. You can't get much better than that.

Cousins

I never grew up with many cousins my age. Most were quite a bit older. Everett already has 21 cousins with three pretty close to his age. My brother had a little girl, Cassady, in April. Todd's brother Tim had a little boy, Josh, in September, and Tom also had a little boy, Slade, last December. I'm so excited for him to grow up with cousins his age. He'll be able to have friends to play with when we go to family events. This past trip Everett wasn't quite big enough to play with Slade, but Everett would just stare at him. Then Slade would stare back. It was pretty cute.

We were able to get a picture of Josh and Everett together since they're so close in age.This picture Everett looks huge compared to Josh, when they really look pretty much the same. At least I think so. Which is funny cause I think we figured out Josh weighed a little more than Everett!

Hopefully our next trip all 3 boys will be able to play with each other and hopefully not get into too much trouble:)

Hands

Everett LOVES his hands! Since he has figured them out they are constantly in his mouth with tons of drool coming out. While we were in Denver, over Thanksgiving, everyone kept saying he's cutting teeth, but he's been doing this for the past month and a half! His shirt is constantly wet from of all the drool.

When we're trying to put him to sleep we can peek in the room and his hand is shoved in his mouth while he's trying to cry. It's a little humorous at times. He hasn't become a thumb sucker, but I don't know which is worse his whole fist or his thumb!?!

Bundled Up

This past week it has been getting pretty cold. Most mornings when we've gone to work it's in the negatives. So we've been trying to bundle Everett up so he doesn't get too cold. A little background on Everett, he does not like to be confined! Every morning in the car he has been screaming! But we can't take anything off cause it's seriously freezing. The worst part is that a belt on my car broke this week so I have no heat what so ever. Todd's buick gets a little heat, but takes forever to heat the car up. So because of that we've been putting a little extra clothing on to make sure he stays warm enough. I don't know if it's from the screaming, or just being all bundled, but he falls fast asleep before we get to work:) When we go to get him out of the car his hands are usually poking up and you can tell he's been trying to get loose.

Despite his not liking, he sure does look pretty cute!

Day 1: Bear Sleeper and Grammy's Christmas Beanie


Once we saw this we figured out why he was crying most of the way.


But it obviously helped him fall alseep!


This is just cause we thought it was a funny picture. He was just waking up and started rubbing his eyes. I wish it wasn't so blurry.


Day 2: Hat and Gloves




And once again rubbing the eyes.


Day 3: Furry Hat and Snow Pants


What's funny about this one is that right as I was buckling him in he just started crying. He didn't want to go through this again! But once Todd walked in and started talking to him Everett just started smiling. I think he thought Todd was going to save him or something!

I don't think this boy was meant for Rexburg weather. He sure does not like being bundled up! Especially when I tuck him in with his little blanket and he can't move! By the time we get him out he's managed to free himself a little. Hopefully he'll get use to it by the end of winter.

3 Months

I can't believe our little boy is already 3 months! I probably say that every month, but seriously time has gone by soooo fast. He's getting so big. Apparently not to the doctors though. He said they like to see a few more rolls on him. Right now he's 23 inches long and 11lbs. 6oz. He is changing so much. We are still loving all his many faces. I can sit there and take pictures and in almost everyone there's a different look. I've had fun looking at older pictures and seeing how much he's changed

He is becoming much more vocal, especially at bed time. He is a great sleeper, but for some reason he doesn't like going to sleep. Some nights he'll go down just fine,but for most nights, he likes to put up a fight. But I guess I can't complain cause he's sleeping from about 8:30 to 6:00 for me already. Then he'll go back down around 6:15 and sleep till 8:00. There's a night here and there where he'll wake up at 4, but for the most part he's sleeping through the night.

He loves to play on the floor. Especially with his little friend, the frog. Todd lowered him last night and Everett started grabbing him. We've been trying to teach him how to grab things, but he'll always clench his fist, but not last night. It was pretty exciting. He's even starting to begin rolling. He's not quite there, but I wouldn't be surprised if he gets it soon. This little boy is a kicker. Constantly moving non stop. Most of our pictures are blurry cause he wont stop.

A lot of Everett's day is spent in his carseat, if he's not on the floor. He's in it to and from work, and then while at work he plays in it. I was walking back from the kitchen one day and saw the car seat moving, he was kicking so hard that he was rocking it back and forth.

This boy LOVES to be naked. One night he was crying and crying. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I tried everything,but when I went to change his diaper I just took his onesie off. Well low and behold he stopped crying. He spent an hour playing on the couch like that. I thought he was cold, but if I dare wrapped him in, or even put on him, a blanket he'd start crying again. So now just before we go give him a bath he gets a little naked time.

Along with everything else Everet loves his bath time. We use to have a little net thing in the tub and he'd just lounge and hang out. Well, we finally took the net out and he has sooooo much fun. He kicks and talks. It's pretty entertaining to watch him. There's a little hump at the bottom that makes he so he can't really slide down. Well, since he's constantly moving and sliding the hump sometimes doesn't always work for him. Pretty soon we'll probably have to move him to the regular tub!

We can't get enough of Everett. He brings so many laughs and smiles to our faces everyday. He brightens my day every time I look at him. He'll just start smiling. If I'm ever frustrated that's all he has to do and I cave into him. I'm pretty sure he knows that already too. He's getting so talkative and his personality is starting to really come out. Each day is a new and fun adventure!

Trip to Provo

For the Halloween weekend we headed down to Provo to spend some time with our good friends the Bates. We had a blast to say the least! We left that Friday, and Everett was great in the car. Both ways.

Friday night we went out to dinner with some of my old friends from home, Todd's brother Troy, and the Bates. Then we went and hung out with Alma and Jessica. It felt like old times. They use to be our neighbors and we'd usually find ourselves sitting out on the balcony till way late just talking. I miss it, and that weekend made me miss it even more. I don't think we left their place till close to midnight and Todd and I haven't stayed up that late for quite some time!

Saturday morning we went and had breakfast at the Bates. They made us some pretty tasty crepes. We had fun trying out how each of them usually make theirs. Then we hung out for awhile and just talked. Well, Alma and Todd ended up playing computer games, while Jessica and I talked!

That afternoon we headed out for our Halloween festivities. We first went and enjoyed some Del Taco. I have to say it is way better than Taco Bell. Anyway, along with out tacos we had a Strawberry Cheesecake Dipped Apple. MMmm... So good. Then we went and worked it all off! Alma and Jessica took us to this place called Jump On It. They have a ton of tramps through out the whole building. Todd realized he is getting older. I saw him jump from tamp to tramp and then all of sudden he fell over. Later he said he back started hurting and gave out. So he watched Everett for awhile, while I took my turn. We had a pretty good time.

After our time was up at Jump On It, we headed up to Midvale to visit Todd's friend Dave and his family. Their ward was putting on a trunk or treat so we took Kaitlyn and Everett and dressed them up. Kaitlyn was a little angel and a pretty cute one. We dressed Everett up in his little bear outfit.

Then we headed off to Chipotle. Chipotle was on a list to do all day. Todd loves Chipotle and any time he has a chance to eat there we do. Well, this night was a different night. On Halloween if you dress yourself up as a burrito you get a free one. Everyone was going to do it except for me. So the boys went and got tin foil and they started covering themselves. We later found out that all you had to do was wrap a piece around your waist and you were pretty much covered. There was another group that had a ton of tin foil so they let Shelly, Jessica, and I use some. We went in and with just a piece of tin foil around our waist we got our free burritos. The boys were pretty decked out though! I wish I had gotten some kind of picture, but unfortunately didn't. We ended our night playing some games and just having fun hangin out.

Sunday we had plans set to go back and see Alma and Jessica before left, but our morning didn't start quite as planned. When Todd went out to start loading the car he found that we had been booted. Apparently we didn't park in a visitor parking space, but we later found out that even if we had we still would have been booted. We were staying at a friends condo and apparently you can't park there after 1 am on Friday. Weird I know. So we decided to just head out.

Despite the damper of being booted we had a really fun weekend. We wish Alma and Jessica, and all our other neighbors that left, still lived by us. We had some pretty good times. But at least we're close enough now that we can still go visit each other!

Pumpkins

Well, I finally found a place to take some cute pictures. It wasn't a pumpkin patch, but it worked. Some friends of ours told of us a place they go so I thought I'd check it out. It ended up just being someone's house. They bring some pumpkins up from their field to sell and then they had some cute displays. Worked for me!

My parents bought Everett some Halloween onsies while they were here. Then a few weeks ago they sent up a package with a beanie and some socks. So I put his outfit together and we headed out. He did pretty well, except the sun kept shinning in his eyes. I think the pictures turned out pretty good. We still don't have a great picture of all us, but oh well. Maybe while we're in Denver over Thanksgiving we'll get something done there. Who knows....

Who does he look like?!?

I finally found our cds with our old pictures on them. So I thought I'd try and see who Everett looks like. They're not the best pictures, but the best I could found out of what we had.

I'm not sure how old Todd and I are in these pictures. Everett is a month old. There are some pictures where I can see me in Everett and some where I see Todd. We think he's just a really good mix of the two of us.

I was trying to find one of us where we were newborns. This is the best! I'm screaming and you can barely see my face. The only other one of mine, my brother Scott was holding me and half my face was covered. So this one will have to do.

2 Months Old

Everett's two months old today! He's getting so big and is changing everyday. We go in for his two month check up next week so I don't know his stats yet. I do know that as of 3 weeks ago he was already 10 pounds and 21 1/2 inches long. So it'll be interesting to see how much he's grown since then.

We are still loving his different expressions. It's fun now cause he's really starting to learn our voices and is able to distinguish other people. When he hears a new voice his eyes get real big and you can tell he's trying to see where it's coming from. When we do something goofy, or just something with him, he sometimes gives us this look like "these are my parents". It's pretty funny.

He is smiling more and more everyday. I especially love that now he smiles at us, not just the wall! He'll look and when we talk he'll start to smile, sometimes he'll respond with some noises. He is getting very vocal! We bought him a little play mat and when he leave him on there we can hear him making all sorts of noises.

He loves playing. Well, I guess his way of playing:) When we have him on the floor he is constantly moving. His legs never stop kicking. He's going to be a busy body when he gets mobile.

I love when this little boy sleeps. He just looks so precious. He can fall alseep in the most awkward positions. Sometimes when I get ready for work I set him in the corner of the couch. I'll come back and he's passed out. I will admit on most days he can fall asleep pretty quickly. Just need his pacifier and a blanket. Once the blanket's over his head his eyes start closing!

We have been loving every minute with Everett. Two months have already gone pretty quickly! I keep thinking that I can't wait till he gets bigger and more active, but we're truly enjoying the stage he's at cause we know it'll most likely be over soon.