and now.... Christmas 2008!

So last night on Christmas Eve. My mom, Brittany, Evan, Aunt Donna & Olivia went to the childrens' mass at St. Casimir's. Evan had a great time talking to the little boy in front of us. After that, Brit, Evan and I walked over to Aunt Wanda & Uncle Larry's to go "caroling". I then drove to Atlantic City to pick up Mike from the train station. We got back to my parents and walked over to Aunt Ella's for dinner. There were like 20 people crammed in her house and Evan stole the crystal baby Jesus from one of the nativities. We all walked home 5 lbs heavier. When we got back to my parents' house, Evan put out milk & cookies for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer. We read some Christmas stories, said our prayers and woke up to presents on Christmas morning! Aunt Ella walked over for breakfast and Josh came up later in the day... My mom made dinner for the entire family. We all played Apples to Apples (Aunt Donna and my mom's team cheated and still didn't win). Right now it's the day after Christmas and we're all in a sugar coma in our pjs, still shoving down cookies and chocolate covered pretzels. Everyone but Mike that is. He went running on the boardwalk. It's been a whirlwind so far, but that's how our holidays usually are and I wouldn't want it any other way!

Christmas Eve:



Evan is so tired here. Too much Christmas Cheer.


Cookies and milk for Santa, carrot for Rudolph


Christmas morning!



Time for nap!


Okay... Now it's 2 days after Christmas. My parents left for vacation at Charleston, SC and Evan, Brit, Mike and I were supposed to have left, but we all decided to stay to take advantage of the warm weather. Today we went to the boardwalk (Evan and Josh too). Josh left for NY this afternoon. Tonight Mike and I went on a date at the Lobster House because we had gift certificates from Aunt Ella and because it's one of my favorite places on earth. We then walked around Washington Mall, went through Congress Hall and had a drink at the Ugly Mug. Brittany watched Evan and the two of them had a few visitors... Aunt Wanda, Sarah and Becky all came over to play. This is what we found when we came home, courtesy of Becky...

Very cute!
Here's another pic that has nothing to do with tonight, but it's so cute that I had to post it...


And this is another random one. This is what Evan does when you ask him to show his muscles. He actually starts shaking! We often wonder if he's having a seizure or not.

Storybook Land

Brittany, Jessica, Olivia, my mom, Evan and I went to Storybook Land one night. Evan puked in the car on the way so we all smelled the whole time, but it was like a blast from the past going through it. We went on the choochoo and saw most of the fairy tale things. They were just as creepy as I remembered, but Evan loved it all. Plus the Christmas lights were so neat.

Jessica looks like a midget here. She's just sitting funny.





Monday, Evan and I visited Santa. It was awesome. There was no line so Santa was able to focus solely on Evan. He even complimented Evan's momma. "I was thinking what a gorgeous kid this is and now I see it's from his mom". Awww, Santa - thank you!

Then last weekend we took the train to NYC and stayed this awesome hotel called The Empire right in the middle of midtown Manhattan. It was very swanky and I wish we had some pictures, but we forgot the camera. Maybe it was for the best. The bathroom was the coolest part and I think Evan spent most of the time in the shower. The only trouble we had was Saturday night when Mike, Brittany, Ev and I went to Rockefeller Plaza and FAO Schwartz. It was a total mob scene and absolutely freezing. Evan just sat in his stroller wrapped up in 6 layers of clothes with two huge, bewildered eyes peeking out. A few hours later when we stopped to get him some dinner he had had enough. He only ate half of his pea soup and only wanted his Aunt Brittany's chocolate cake. Also, when we got there he was crying because his hands were so cold that they hurt when we touched them. They were bright red and felt like little icicles and he kept saying "ouch. hurts". The only redeeming thing for him that night was when we saw Cookie Monster and Elmo on a corner. That's the first time he broke into a huge grin "Hi, Melmo!"

Our hotel had a swanky rooftop bar. From the rooftop bar (which was indoors), you could step out on the roof, which we did. There was this beautiful view of the city while we stood under the huge, glowing, red "The Empire" sign. We only stayed out there for a about 5 minutes because it was so cold and icy. There was also a very crowded restaurant next door where Evan hi-fived everyone at the bar when we had dinner there one night. In the morning we would get Starbucks where Evan always ordered a "coffee" which is actually a short cup of steamed soy milk. Mike and Evan had walked to a diner one morning while I slept in. Evan was all excited to get a waffle, but it took them a long time to get there because he had to stop and play with the snow, fire hydrants, etc.. When they finally got there, it was a Belgium waffle, not the little Eggos I serve. Evan freaked out and said "Whoooooooa!". It was his most favorite waffle ever and he had such a great time spending some mantime with his dad.

We had so much fun and I felt of twinge of sadness when our train pulled up to 30th Station in Philadelphia. Our little city seemed so... little. I think Evan would have such a great time living in New York, so I'm trying to convince Mike we should move.

Some Christmas miscellaneous stuff...

Rocking the leg warmers.




So sleepy

Decorating Grandmom & Pop's tree



Washing dishes

Hanging with Aunt Doris

More Christmas Highlights

A new blog post - what?! Well, Mike just got me a new computer for Christmas... It is so Beautiful!!! So now I'm able to update the blog again - yay! Mike and I have gotten tons of complaints because we haven't done anything, but it's not our fault. My old computer was on it's last leg. And everyone gets mad when I type too much of a story and don't put enough photos up.





So our little family sort of goes nuts on Holidays like this. Evan's Christmas pretty much started at Thanksgiving visiting the Giffords, Dudas and Mima & PoPo. Here's PoPo, Jack and Grandpa Gifford.
And Paul, Sue, Granny, Gramps Gifford, Evan and Mike...


The cousins drink in front of the tv. Such men.

We also visited the Air and Space Museum.

Mike, Evan, Jack & Mike Gifford.

Christmas Highlights

Mike and Evan's Godfather Dan took Evan and Elizabeth to the stadiums to see the "Phanticlaus". Unfortunately, the line to see him was super long and it was super cold outside, so they bagged it and instead visited Swoop the Eagles mascot that had no line at all. Mel and I met up with everyone at Chickie and Petes and from there we went to Macy's light show, a Christmas village at city hall and the cool stuff at the Comcast Center. We ended the day with dinner on Walnut Street in Mike's old neighborhood. It was so nice to see his old building where we used to spend weekends. Awww!

Now we spend our Fridays on Main Street at a Mexican restaurant because the guacamole is so yummy and because Evan loves the waitresses.




Here's Evan and Elizabeth playing at a little kiddie field.

Spending time with his Godfather.

Swoop.

Spending time with Aunt Mel.

All bundled up after visiting Comcast.

Dinner! Evan ate nothing. Maybe 4 bites of tuna fish and a tiny bit of tomato bisque.


THE END

Food updates

I'm sorry this is so long-winded and I get a lot of complaints when there's a lot of talky talky and not enough pictures, but I wanted to give any update to everyone who hasn't seen Evan in a while.

Once again we're having computer problems and I can't upload my photos from the card. So here's blurry picture from a month ago...
I know he's had his food issues in the past, but hopefully they're long gone. He still chokes a bit and spits stuff out often, but I'm hoping it's all behavioral at this point and that nothing is physically wrong. Despite that, you might even call him chubby now! Also, Evan has been using a spoon and fork very well. I think he'd rather use utensils instead of getting food all over his hands. Here are some of the foods he likes..

CAKE/candy/cookies, really anything sweet
orange juice
oatmeal w/ bananas and soymilk
waffles w/ banana and maple syrup
PIZZA PIZZA PIZZA (but not bad pizza, he Hates the mall stuff)
sliced apples
pumpkin bread & zucchini bread
broccoli
corn on the cob
soup
peanut butter crackers
nutrigrain bars
tuna fish
tilapia
bananas
peanut butter by the spoonful
spaghetti w/ red sauce
grapes
black beans

Things that he'll eat on occasion (if the moon positioning is right)
salmon
raisins -I think he overdosed on these
goldfish crackers -He'll eat them, but they're not his favorite
mango
rice

Things I'm sad that he won't eat anymore...
avocado
strawberries
blueberries

Things that I've tried over and over and he refuses to eat them:
Tofu
veggie burgers

Some non-food updates. We all know that Evan's been taking toys apart for months and I really think he has his Pop's genes for his mechanical abilities. The other day he unscrewed the wheel off of one his wooden trucks (one of those really nice, natural, non-toxic, indestructible ones). I really don't know how he could've done it without a screwdriver. He also took some parts off of my mom's treadmill. In the past, he's opened childproof containers. The other day he was laying on his back under the jogging stroller, messing with the parts, like he was fixing a car. Speaking of cars, he loves playing with the wheels and he always looks like a mechanic when he's done with his hands and fingernails black. Evan has the dirtiest fingernails of any child I know.

The other night Mike was away and Evan and I went to the library to see some animals that one of the museums brought over. I had taken him there in his stroller and on the way back we stopped at the playground, then for pizza. It was dark by the time we ate at the pizza place... and very cold. Evan asked for his dad, since that's the time he usually comes home from work. So I said "Dad's in NY". Evan then said "Aunt Brittany New York?" I couldn't believe he put two and two together... Anytime NY is mentioned in a book, or song, or in pictures, or whatever, I always say "where Aunt Brittany lives". And he remembered that! So I said "Yes, he and Aunt Brittany are in NY". Then I felt like I should say something like "but not together". Then I realized his comprehension level wasn't that high and he probably wouldn't be suspicious at almost 2 years old.

Evan now knows his colors without prefacing them with green first. What color is that? "Geen!". Noooo. What is it? "Pink!". Now he'll just say the color upfront. He doesn't know brown and white very well and he mixes up pink and purple sometimes, but other than that, he knows his stuff.

He also has an Elmo obsession. We listen to the same Elmo cd over and over in the car. Elmo actually sings Evan's name throughout the disc, so Evan will answer him and sing along. We pretty much listen to it all the time unless I'm very sick of it. In that case, I tell Evan that Elmo is tired and is going to sleep so we'll have to listen to the radio. There's this one song that's about a word made up out of the alphabet. Elmo pronounces "abcdefghijk..." so it sounds like a really long German word. Then it's hilarious to hear Evan trying to sing it too. He honestly sounds like he's speaking German from the back seat! I really have to record it because it's so funny.

So tired

Danielle sent me this from the party last Sunday. From the left they are Kitten, Avery, Mike & Evan. Awww... they're all so tired after the Daly's Halloween party. Evan's sporting a spiderman bandaid on his forehead.

This weekend Brittany and my mom came up to take Evan to the new Please Touch Museum while Mike and I attended a preschool event through this mom's group that I found out about from the park Evan and I go to all the time. The new museum was moved from downtown to about 10 minutes away from our house in this awesome old building that was created for the World's Fair. It was awesome, but very crowded since it was a rainy weekend. They have some hilarious photos and video, so I'll post some of those soon. The preschool thing was very informative, but all but 2 only accepted kids 3 and over, but whatever... we're just doing some research early. I'm also considering joining the YMCA that the event was held in. It's a 2 minute drive and all the mommies I know have joined and their kids all love the babysitting area. Anyway, mom left Saturday after the museum, but Brittany stayed through tonight (Sunday). In fact I dropped her off a couple hours ago at the bus station.

oh yes! BREAKING NEWS!!! Evan had his first kiss/hug from a girl (other than family and family friends) at the playground today. Her name is Lauren and she too was born in January 2007. They were both climbing up the equipment at the same time and they were smiling at each other. Then she hugged him. Then she kissed his face! And Evan had this enormous smile on his face! She did it again later. Brittany and I were besides ourselves. It was so romantic, with the red sunset and yellow autumn leaves all over the place (the kids were jumping in them). Then it got dark and Evan started yelling for the dinner I promised him "Popeye! Popeye! Peas". Which means pizza please. So we took off.

BTW, all potty training has come to a screeching halt. Evan hasn't gone near it for nearly a week. I have no idea what happened, so I'm going to give it a rest for awhile. Before this time, we were getting about half his poops in the upstairs toilet and about half his pees in the downstairs kiddie potty. We have this little potty downstairs sitting against the wall under the steps. When he would pee in it, he didn't want anyone to touch him and he would put his hands against the wall and lean over it to do it. It was a complete balancing act. Now he won't do it at all... Except, now he doesn't mind peeing in Starbucks. I have no idea why... He asks me to hold him up to pee after I go to the bathroom. Oh well, if he's anything like me, he'll be potty trained pretty late. I think I stopped wetting the bed at like 9 or something. hehehe

Well, we miss our Brittany. Evan will definitely be asking about her for the next couple of days.

CREEP IN THE DEEP

To thank his Mom for planning and executing the best wedding Evan has ever attended, the young lad recently set up a day of decadence for his mom - a morning at the spa, followed by an afternoon shopping spree in the city. As this was the Saturday before Halloween, Evan asked me to take him to the New Jersey Aquarium's Creep in the Deep event while Mommy was away...

As you can see, this was no place for the faint of heart - yes, we are in two sippy cup territory now. The skeleton hanging overhead underscored that we had passed the point of no return, the final threshold, headed ultimately towards the briny deep - who knows what terrors await us, what raging fire shall flood the soul? We would find out just beyond the face painting stand and gift shop!

The snack bar was guarded very well by the aquarium's hippo mascot,Bert. It's safe to say Evan was not a big fan of Bert. Here, you can see Evan whispering in my ear what he would to to Bert if I would let him down. I decided it was in Bert's best interest for us to keep moving.


Evan really liked the penguins! I think they were the first creatures he saw that were smaller than him. He liked the seals too, because their pumpkin said "Boo" on it!



Here is our boy checking out the fish. He would play with these fish for a while, walk over to the water fountain and play with that for 10 minutes, come back and play with these fish....it was his day, so he could do whatever he wanted to do!