Krista and Iza!

I went to the gym tonight to discuss the plan for next season with Krista's trainer and the head of the club. Iza is Krista's beloved trainer and is very unfortunately leaving our club. We are SO sad about this. Iza is an amazing gymnast herself (from Georgia, a country where rhythmic gymnastics is practiced at a very high level) and is such a talented coach as well!! We were SO spoiled this year to have such dedication from Iza. She spent so much time and effort this season training Krista and the results were clearly visible! The progress Krista has made this year is amazing and it is thanks to Iza. Tonight I took a few photos of them together. It would be a miracle if for some reason Iza decided not to move. Oh how I have my fingers crossed for this!!!

Let me put this translation up for Iza...Who knows if it will be logical since it is an automatic translation....

Я пошел к сегодне вечером гимнастики обсудить план на следующий сезон с тренером и головкой Krista клуба. Iza тренер Krista любимый и очень несчастливо выходит наше клуб. Мы НАСТОЛЬКО унылы о этом. Iza изумительный гимнаст себя (от Грузия, страна где звукомерная гимнастика напрактикована на очень высокопоставленном) и такая талантливая карета также!! Мы были ПОЭТОМУ баловали этот год для того чтобы иметь такое посвящение от Iza. Она потратила так много время и усилие эта тренировка Krista сезона и результаты было ясно видимо! Прогресс Krista делал этот год изумитен и спасибо Iza. Сегодня вечером i приняла немного фото их совместно. Было бы чудом если по какой - либо причине Iza решил не двинуть. Oh как я имею мои перста быть пересеченным для этого!!!

Evan at 4 Months

Here's the little man at 4 mos. So far he's off to a good start! Last night he slept 6.5 hours in his first stretch, followed by 6 hours. This seems to be the schedule lately, so I'm happy with that :) He's grabbing toys and putting ANYTHING and everything into his mouth now. He's also drooling up a storm so I think we'll have an EARLY teether on our hands. I took these photos a few days ago. He's getting to be so fun now with everyone- laughing and smiling. We don't have our next dr's appt until June, but on my baby scale he is weighing 8, 150 g so he's one BIG guy!

Kaitlyn's 3 Year Portraits

I did a little 3 year photoshoot of Kaitlyn... Here are a few shots!

Long eyes!

I just updated Evan's 3 Month report (a few posts down) so you can read that if you're interested. I'll be posting his 4 Month report soon considering he turned 4 months on Friday!

Today Krista headed off for a 2 day field trip to the mountains with her class. We bought her a sleeping bag and rain boots a few weekends ago so she was all set for this a.m! She is really looking forward to her field trip. The will be back tomorrow night, so tonight it just the three. She took her new camera *an early birthday present, so I'm sure we'll have some wonderful pictures when she returns!

The "long eyes" is a funny story. Kaitlyn keeps saying how Baby Evan has such PRETTY, LONG EYES!!! She'll come up and say "Look at his LONG eyes Mommy, they're so pretty!".... So I decided to take a few pictures of his long eyes. He has the longest eyelashes for a baby his age. When he was only a few days old he already had long lashes, but there was ONE single eyelash that was at least twice as long as the others..it was really funny. Now that they've darkened they are really beautiful. I tried to get a few close ups while he was sleeping.

CLICK photo to see for yourself!!

Newborn Portraits

These are some of my favorite newborn poses of Evan. I've been going back through my January albums this week and reminiscing a bit. I took these when he was 2 weeks old. He is SO small and new in these pictures. I have taken so many shots that it is hard to find my actual favorites, but from this particular day these are my top pics. I SO enjoy shooting newborns! I will post more if I find any that I can't resist sharing.

Weekend activities

I'm just having so much fun with Evan now. He is my savior at the moment!! I have Erik and Krista who are at each other's throats for 1/2 the day, then Kaitlyn who is entering the "Terrible Three's" and then my SWEETHEART Evan!!!! Ahhh. He is really my sunshine...all dressed in yellow too....and I forgot to mention, he pulled 8.5 hour night-stretches all weekend. HOOORAY for sleeping babies! :)

We had a nice long weekend here in France, although it wasn't Mother's Day here yet. I believe Mother's Day is the 1st of June this year, so it is coming up. Frodau was Victory Day (1945 over Germany) so it was another long weekend here in France. I think 3 out of the 4 weekends in May are 3 day weekends. We managed to get the yard in shape (mowing trimming, sweeping), get some clothes shopping done for the kids on Saturday, and yesterday Toomas put in the new fancy lights up for the entry-way. They are the same post lights that we have on the terrace. The electrician's passed by on Thursday to put in the lines. They look great!

Evan is a SITTING boy!

The little Evan man loves to sit up now, just like a big guy! Amazing to me that he is striving to do this already. Wasn't he just born? (like last week???!!!). Anyway, he has been doing these little crunches for about a week now. He'll be in a semi-lying position (on the boppy or bouncy seat) and he will crunch up to try to sit. In his bouncy seat he will grab the bar and pull up to sit. I put him on my boppy pillow yesterday (lying on his back) and he pulled himself right up to sitting. He's so happy now!

Blog Book and Labels

I'm really really happy to have found a wonderful site that will help me turn my blog into archival books! Blog2print.com is just the EASIEST thing under the sun. It will upload all of the contents of your blog into a book in minutes. You can then choose paperback or hardcover. I LOVE it. I've been wanting to have a keepsake of my blog and now I can easily do it!

Currently I'm in the process of adding Labels to past posts also. It is a fun way of going back and reminiscing the last few years. It is in the left hand colum-bar for those interested. My blog's THIRD anniversary is coming up, believe it or not!!! So far the fun labels include: VIDEOS, PORTRAITS, as well as holidays. It will take me awhile to get it finished, but it will eventually be up-to-date. For now I'm working on 2006 memories.

As far as the blog printing goes, I am compiling books for each year of blogging at blog2print. If you are interested my 2006 blog book will look something like this!

Click link below to see my 2006 blog book:
2006 Blog book

Evan- 3 Months

Evan at 3 months is a total JOY! I love this little baby to pieces :) Evan is learning and growing so quickly now. It is amazing how subsequent children seem to breeze through all of their developments much faster than firstborns (or secondborns!). This month he has started to crunch up to a sitting position. He is working those little baby abs pretty hard :) When you sit him in the swing or bouncy seat he will try to pull himself forward. He has NO interest in tummy time. AT ALL! He hates it actually and at this point (near the end of 3rd month) can only lift his head up about 45-60 degrees...and then he starts to fuss and I come to his rescue.

Evan does not like movement either. We own 2 baby swings...one full size and another travel swing. The travel swing has only been used a few times. He does not like the position of his legs in it so he immediately lets us know! For the big swing, he does enjoy sitting in it, but just not moving! I'm happy about this because motion can be an addictive thing. This guy is laid back!

At his 3 month exam he got his 2nd round of Infanrix (Polio, DPT, Hib) and this time escaped with only a very slight induration (small, hard swelling). No redness or pain on the leg this month thankfully! He weighed 7.6 kg and was 64 cm. He is again topping the charts on weight. The doctor was mightily impressed. ESPECIALLY since Evan doesn't eat at night. Evan goes to bed at 9:30 and will wake up (on average this month) at 6 a.m for his first feeding. Then he will sleep again until 10:30 or 11!!! His average eating time is 18 minutes (I have an Itzbeen). Somehow the little man manages to maintain his solid weight on such few feedings. During the day though there are times where he will eat twice in 3 or 4 hours. This doesn't bother me as long as we are home..and when we are out he seems to forget he is hungry!!! He LOVES being out and about, and LOVES being in his little baby carrier seat. This is favorite (non human) spot. Being in the stroller on his carseat! Absolutely tops! :) He is SO transportable, this little guy. I can take him anywhere (as opposed to his 3 year old sister who I can take anywhere, but end up regretting it! )

Smiles and laughs. Evan loves to smile, but not as much as his big brother Erik! He is a little more posessive of his smiles and you really have to beam at him to get one in return. But when he does smile he is a heartbreaker!!! He also can't resist laughing when you lift him up into the air...that is too much fun!

So I think I've covered it...nursing, sleeping, shots, weight, likes/dislikes...Stay tuned for his 4 month report which is JUST around the corner seeing I've delayed this post for way too long :)

More Birthday Photos

Here are a few more birthday photos. I still have not downloaded the evening birthday photos, but I'll share those soon. We are enjoying the last few days of vacation before the kids start school again. TWO weeks is a long vacation. I hope we'll get back into the swing easily. We've been enjoying later nights than usual with Krista and Erik lately. "Movie night" has been a lot of fun. So far over the vacation we've watched 2 new movies: the new Disney "Tinkerbell" (last night) and Disney's "Cars" last weekend. I must admit I really enjoyed both of them. The weekend before that was the new Barbie movie "Thumbellina" which was honestly really great! I think the Barbie films are up there with Disney/Pixar these days and the kids love them! Speaking of movies, on Friday Erik went with his friend Quentin to see "Monsters vs. Aliens" at the cinema. He absolutely LOVED it! I've pre-ordered it on Amazon and that will be on our family movie night list too. Now that the kids are older it is fun to stay up late with them (Kaitlyn is still too small) and make popcorn and watch a movie together. It is almost as good as going to the theatre!

Me with little Evan-man. He is getting to be so much fun these days. I keep getting comments on how he is looking more and more like Erik. We'll have to wait and see if their 'brotherness' will show or not. I tended to see him as looking more like Krista at the start, but now I'm seeing more and more of Erik...