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.