I'll pump... YOU up!

Anytime Trevis works out he can ALWAYS find a helping "hand" come his way. Easton is either going to love pumping iron or rollercoaster rides are going to be his thing :)

Dancing King

While we were getting ready for Krista's wedding in the bridal suite, all of her young and "hip" bridesmaids/friends decided to teach Easton some new moves. This happens to be Easton "wopp-ing". As we got into the limo bus to head to the church, my child decided to keep babbling "WOP! WOP! WOP! WOP!" and bouncing anytime he heard music. A week after the wedding and anytime Trevis or I say "WOP!" or play the song and his eyes light up! Uh-oh....

Rain Rain Go Away

With all the rain we've been having in South Louisiana lately you would've thought that I'm punishing my boys the way they have been feeling "cooped up". With the threat of Tropical Storm/Hurricane Isaac on our heels, I'm having a feeling that this will be a familiar spot for the 3 of them...

Nanny gets married

Easton's nanny was married August 17, 2012 and Easton was the ring bearer. It was a beautiful day in which Krista married Ben and became Mrs. Love. Yes, "Love" is Ben's REAL last name :) Trevis was a groomsmen and I was the Maid of Honor so our family of 3 certainly had a busy day!!!

E trying on his tux at the store

My two handsome men!!!

Leaving the hotel! Easton was pulled in his wagon down the aisle by the flower girl. Thank goodness we had this at the hotel to carry all the heavy flower arrangements!

Blurry but our happy family of 3. Well...Easton was "over" the idea of pictures at this point :)

10 months old!

Where has the time gone? Seriously! I can't believe my little 7 pound 3 ounce baby boy is now 10 months old! We went to the doc the week he turned 10 months to find out that our little boy is definitely still little- despite that the fact that I believe he weighs at least 50 pounds. Trevis brough him so he couldn't tell me how long he was but he's still in the 25% with weight at a whopping 20 pounds. Now anyone who holds Easton thinks I'm lying because he's SOLID but alas... he's a "skinny" 20 lbs.

With 10 months comes some new milestones. He's quickly progressing OFF of baby food and bottles and more to food he can feed HIMSELF and sippy cups. Sometimes the independence frustrates me as I see peaches in his hair and think "I just cleaned you off!" but watching my baby grow up has also been so rewarding. I love that he has mastered the pincer grasp. I love that he points to things now (even if sometimes he points IN my nose). I love that he's "soaking it all in". Being Easton's mommy has certainly become even more rewarding than I could have ever imagined.

His favorite things involve being outside and anything with animals. The wagon is his absolute FAVORITE thing as he holds the side and just looks out into the world going by.

He has completely REGRESSED from the attempt to walk as he doesn't really enjoy standing anymore and would much prefer to bounce up and down on his knees. It's all about convenience and laziness for Easton- he'll do it IF it suits to help him get where he wants to go and IF it's not something we are trying to make him do. As other parents in this age group relish in the "he/she is cruising and pulling up on everything!!", I've taken the "I'm just relishing him crawling and not growing up too fast yet" approach.

Loving ice water out of the sippy cup.

Afternoon snack! Snowballs and popsicles are some of his favorites!

Bumping up and down in my little red wagon :)

Chubby Bunny

Have you ever played the game where you stuff as many marshmallows in your mouth as possible and say "Chubby Bunny" without spitting them out? My son seems to love that game but with pacifiers instead.....

First big pool swim!

At the end of July, we stayed with my sister in Baton Rouge for the weekend. She and I were going to the YMCA to swim some laps when I noticed that they have the cutest kids pool there too! We turned around to grab Easton and Trevis and headed on back, only to find that the kiddie pool was closed because the pump broke :( I couldn't NOT put Easton in the water though.

I put my feet in first and felt the FREEZING cold water. Oh well... the baby was already in his swimsuit and lil swimmer's and he wasn't looking back. As soon as I put him in the water he LOVED IT!!!

 

Pay no attention the random faces that I make with the freezing water- Easton seemed to not even notice!

 

Getting acquainted with the water/mommy warming up to the idea of putting her whole body in

Happy swimmer! He started kicking the minute I flipped him to his belly.

I thought most kids didn't like their face in the water? Yeah... Mine decided to try to drink the whole pool. Krista was taking these (and the videos) but when she got in we did a "throw Easton to each other" game in which his face often went in the water. He laughed the whole time. I'm thinking he's going to love swimmin!

Family pic! Easton was too enamored by the kids playing with the noodles to look at the camera.

 

Bathtub butt

I've blogged before about how much he loves his baths but if you aren't fast enough with filling up the water, getting him undressed, and getting him in the tub...this is what you get. We could NOT pass up this photo op. This will come in handy when he starts dating!

Olympics 2040

Usain Bolt who? Remember the name "Easton Olivier" people... he's obsessed with my running shoes.

 

Now, I do believe Olympic athletes have to be potty trained and release the "noonie".....

Sharing

Most moms would be so proud of there child sharing. This mom is "over" the idea of trying to get her son NOT to share. Why would I ever not want my child to share? Well because his favorite thing to share is FOOD and his favorite person to share it with is the DOG. It goes a little something like this....

A little watermelon for me....

 

 

A little watermelon for you.....

 

 

Then it goes back in Easton's mouth for a little while before it's transferred once again to Kota....

"Oh Easton...you are eating a cookie? Well I'll just wait right here patiently, until you want to give me some."

 

 

 

 

But our dog is VERY excited about this new sharing phenomenon. He figures since Easton shares his food with him then the LEAST Kota can do for Easton is let him share his "house". And so it goes....

Easton crawls in and closes the door on himself at least twice a day.

This is going to make it quite easy if we ever have to evacuate for a hurricane right?

Yep.... you see that right.

Handyman E

Easton is all boy I tell ya. The dirtier he gets during the day, the happier he is. And the more he gets to follow his daddy around and do "boy things" the happier he is too! I captured one of their "adventures" together as Trevis decided to install a window unit AC in our sunroom. Easton had to be in on the action- touching every tool dad was using, and looking through the window to "make sure Dad was doing it right". Love watching them "work" together!

"Hey Dad- I threw my noonie out there in case you needed it!"

 

All done!

 

Mommy gets a new job

July 16th I started a new job as the Anesthesia Coordinator and Project Development Head for Anesthesia Associates of Louisiana. I was really sad to leave my old job but I knew it was "time" for a few different reasons. I do love my new role and all the exciting things that have come with it but I certainly miss some of my girlfriends from work. The night before my last day, they had a small dinner for me to show their friendship. I'm looking forward to staying friends with these girls even though we won't work together anymore.

9 months old

9 months old and still loving the bath tub. We certainly love our big, bright eyed little boy!

Dating in childcare????

Easton LOVES his new sitter...but I'm starting to think it's because there is a special little girl there that he just adores. Stella is 1 month younger than Easton and her mom and I are friends (her mom also happens to be my hairdresser!). Anytime I go pick Easton up, I always find him playing with her and now that Stella has learned kisses... well let's just say I'm glad they are chaperoned ;)

Uncle Jon spoils Easton

My Uncle Jon is very special to me. He and I always hung out when I was little and formed a very special bond. On his end, it was more of using me to attract "hot chicks" and when they mentioned that his daughter was "so cute" it was his in to say "oh... this is just my niece! I'm single". He did, however, spoil me badly- even to this day and with the arrival of Easton, nothing has changed. He brings Easton SOMETHING every time he sees him and Easton seems to love every single thing he gets from Uncle Jon (probably because it's normally something obnoxiously loud ;) ). On this particular visit, Uncle Jon sat down and made newspaper hats with Easton- just as he did with me when I was little. It was so special to witness that from the "mom end" this time :)

Chatting with Ne-Ne

We have dinner with Ne-Ne at least every Tuesday and Easton loves him some Ne-Ne. They go back and forth with "conversations" with each other. Well this particular night, Easton decided to just make random noises at Ne-Ne and she reciprocated by making random noises back to him. After about 30 minutes of it I had to grab the video camera and see what I could capture.....

Clapping

E's favorite song is between Pattie Cake and Itsy Bitsy Spider hands DOWN! He's now also begining to understand that when we are happy or proud of him we say "Yayyyy" and clap. So he's decided to be a copy cat so as soon as we say "yayy" he decides to clap. He's also doing "SOOOO BIG" when he lifts his hands to the ceiling (Haven't been able to get that on video yet.... work in progress). I never realized what a sponge he is right now!

This was the very first time we realized he did it!

Another Milestone

Easton has now conquered a new milestone... one in which scares the day lights out of me because it means he's getting so big!!! He has decided to pull up and climb EVERYTHING including ME! If I'm sitting with him on the couch, he is climbing his way to the top of me and laughing the entire time. He's already gotten some bruises from the sitter as he has decided to be a little over adventurous with his climbing abilities. Our baby is growing up...

One of his favorite things to pull up on because he can play with the things on top

"Look what I can do Mom and Dad!"

The Olivier's go to a luau

We attended a couple's shower for Krista and Ben a few weeks ago that was a luau theme. Easton LOVED playing in the basket full of lei's and with the other kids on the floor. I was "that mom" that let her kid crawl all over the floor and who's kid was FILTHY but you know what.... I was also "that mom" who's kid couldn't have been happier so all "is good" :) It's getting VERY close to Krista and Ben's August wedding!!!

Ready for the hula competition!!!

A family picture. Of course Easton is making his "mushroom face" as I call it. I think he resembles the mushrooms off of Super Mario Bros with this face :)

Happy First Dad Day Trevis!!!

What an incredible man my husband is. I always knew he was the best husband but watching him with Easton has made me fall in love all over with him in a completely different way. We love you so much Daddy!!!!

My two handsome men on Father's Day

REUNION!!!!

June 15-17 Houma hosted the annual Steubenville on the Bayou Catholic Youth Conference for over 3000 teens from all across the United States. It's always an AWESOME event that Trevis and I both enjoy volunteering for. Well, the volunteer part has gotten even "sweeter". One of my favorite friends from SOPHOMORE year of high school is a youth minister at his church and brings a group of his teens every year and we get to visit!!! This year he got to meet "Biscuit", as he calls Easton, and visit with us a little while. Kyle lives in Oberlin so we rarely get to see him but everytime we do it's THE BEST TIME!!!! Kyle and I met at a Hugh O'Brien Youth Leadership Conference during 10th grade. We were both the first people at our table that had a big "M" on it and got to talking. We laughed and got to know each other pretty well only to find out that Kyle was at the WRONG TABLE!!! He thought the groups went by last name instead so we were then separated :( We hung out a little over the weekend but all through high school and college we traded written letters and then eventually emails. He is such a great person and I'm just so lucky he's still in our lives!!!!

We are never buying toys!

As a new parent, you always hear the proverbial "you'll have more toys than you'll know what to do with" or "give the kid the box instead". Well we are certainly no exception! Easton much prefers playing with my cooking spoons over any of the milllions of toys he has!

Notice all the toys around him... yeah apparently neither does he.

8 months old!

Easton was 8 months old on June 11. How in the world we have an 8 month old I have no idea because it seems like JUST THE OTHER DAY we celebrated his awesome birth!!! It's certainly been a fantastic 8 months though and it seems as if it just gets better and better with each new milestone that comes :)

Although he goes to sleep with no pacifier, in the mornings we find him with at least 5 pacifiers around him!!! Normally one in the mouth and one in each hand too!!! Silly kid!

"Good morning mom!!! I'm 8 months old!" (notice the right hand-pacifier in place!)

A family affair

Easton/Daddy got a new "toy" a few months ago and it's been a GREAT addition to the activities that we love to do as a family. We can be found biking on any given evening (unless it's so hot that the rubber on the tires is melting before we can pull out the garage!). Easton is hysterical! He crosses his ankles and just stares out the "window" the whole time. When he sees something he likes he'll call out or laugh out loud. As you can imagine, we get plenty of looks going down the road with this tote behind us :)

Daddy normally "pulls" E behind him.

"MOM!!! The sun is in my eyes! Let's move it!"

Room for two! Maybe Kota can go one day ;)

Life with Easton (7 months)

We have definitely enjoyed all these milestones with our little guy but 7 months has been SO much fun!! He's surely getting into "life" and coming along with us alot easier than when he was a baby. Now that he's able to sit up it's such a joy to have him and he's meeting lots of "friends" as we go on these outings :) As happy as we are to have our baby boy growing up it also brings some sadness knowing that gone are the days of little bitty baby boy....... We love our little man!

Eating out with E is so fun now!! He eats what we eats and "chats" with restaraunt patrons.....

"I'll sit here while you fold clothes Mom! No problem"

"You said we're going to pick up babes in the diaper aisle?!?!"

Memorial Day

We took Easton camping with the in laws for the Sunday prior to Memorial Day. He LOVED it! He swam for 2 hrs in the mid morning, ate lunch and took a nap, then woke up for 2 more hrs of swimming!!! It was certainly a great day spent at the campground with Maw Maw and Paw Paw!

Easton's rules

We tell everyone about how much our son likes to "explore" his vocal range when we are at home. He'll be serious to very light hearted laughing. He has mastered the fake laugh, the fake cough, "DaDa", and "Hey". Well he's ALSO mastered fussing Kota. I caught him mid "fuss". I didn't pan over but the "thing" he can't keep his eyes off and is "talking" to happens to be Kota lying at the other end of his playmat. I can about imagine what E is telling Kota here....

Eating time!

We are slowly introducing Easton to the concept of eating "table food" to get him adjusted to textured foods. My grandmother started this when I was working in her yard and came in to find her feeding Easton jello with whipped cream at 6 months old.... From there she decided to introduce him to teething biscuits (which he LOVES) so I figured why not jump on the train.

He LOVES being able to hold his own foods and shove them into his mouth. We are currently practicing our pincer grasp by cutting up small pieces of banana and giving him some "baby crack puffs"... all of which he can't seem to get enough of. The list of foods includes.... turkey, bbq pulled pork, oranges, pineapples, green peas, cucumbers,


                                                                      Corn on the cob (1st time)

Corn on the cob (350840598609 time- he's a pro now)

Watermelon

Lemons... yes... lemons. This was his initial face but he ate TWO of them and did not enjoy when we took them away. Side note: his dad also eats lemons ALL the time so another "like father like son" moment I guess....

When you eat as much as this kid you have to also drink from a big boy glass....

Easton's First Swim

With the onset of summer, only one thing could be imminent- SWIMMING!!! Trevis' Aunt Melanie was so nice and bought Easton a pool for Easter so we blew it up, put on his Easter swim clothes and had at it in our own backyard. He LOVED it and has gone "swimming" several other times. The kid has gone 2 hours playing in the pool without a single whimper... I see many family beach vacations on the horizon. And yes... we promise we'll get him a new swim shirt since he's already outgrown this one it seems....