Swing into Fall

Last week when we were house-sitting, E and I got to play in the Dean's HUGE backyard. We really lucked out with this gig since the Deans have several grandchildren of their own and are fully equipped for little ones. The perfect evidence of this is the way neat-o swing set in the backyard. Since the weather has been so beautiful, sunny and not nearly so humid and hot, I took Everett outside for a little swinging time and the kid had a blast! As the pictures show, a swinging baby is a happy baby.

The original bucket seat.

We, fortunate though we are, were able to get quite of few of these up close and personal shots. Keep scrolling down for more...

Does this face say, "Well, Mom, what are you looking at?" to anyone else?

E's serious, contemplative look.

"Weeeeeeeeeeee!!!"

He may look pretty relaxed, but check out the death grip of his right hand.

And as fun as it was, Everett's attention span is still relatively short. He's already looking for something better.

Everett practicing his Santa "ho, ho, ho"

"I'm not going to look at her..."

"I'm not going to look at her..."

"Yup, I'm definitely not going to look at her."

"Alright, Mom, party's over. I'm hopping outta this joint."

He's Baaaack!

Mr. E is back in all his grinning glory. After a week-long sabbatical of house-sitting (oh yes, we have pictures), we're back at home and back to blogging. Thank goodness, right?!!? :-)

Here's our little guy showing off his two bottom teefies. The top two are in the midst of poking through his gums, so I'm sure we'll have some pictures of that momentous event very soon.

And what playtime is complete without playing with Dad's golf ball? Seriously, it's become one of his favorite things to play with. And by play, I mean slobber all over and try to eat, naturally.

Our little cutie pie totally posing for the camera.

Drivin' Along in Mom's Automobile

Every so often, in our errand-running, fun-having filled days, Everett decides to call it quits and enter Snooze City right there in his carseat. In an effort to capture the moment, I've taking to snapping pictures of him enjoying his little catnaps.

There's a reason he doesn't have any clothes on in this picture.

I mean, I'm positive there's a very good reason.

I just wish I could remember!

Ahh, it is a talented baby indeed who can continue to tightly grasp his orange ring AND noisy ball and still catch some shut-eye.

Notice the tuft of hair on top. Just more evidence to me that although it sometimes appears otherwise, yes, his hair is growing.

Only 10 months old (as of yesterday!!), and already they're naming streets after him!

Sleepy Time is All the Time

Will and I have been extremely fortunate in that Everett absolutely LOVES to sleep. As a shower present I received the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. It is awesome! I highly recommend it to any parent, especially those with children who don't seem to be sleeping well. I've tried to be diligent about Everett's sleep schedule and the combination of my diligence and his natural propensity to sleep have developed the following scenario:

Wake Up Time: 6:30 a.m. - 8 a.m.

1st nap: 2-2.5 hours after wake up time

2nd nap: 3-3.5 hours after wake up from 1st nap

3rd nap: Sometimes - usually 3 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Bedtime: 5:45 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

We certainly are lucky to have such a good sleeper on our hands - a fact that almost everyone who hears about how much Everett sleeps is quick to point out. We snuck in on our favorite little guy last week because he'd been asleep over 2 and 1/2 hours (his 1st nap) and while we love him to sleep, sometimes errands need to be run. When we crept into his room, this is what we saw:

In his favorite sleeping position: In the far corner of his crib, on his stomach, hands under his tummy, bum in the air. Doesn't look very comfortable, but this is the positon we find him in 99% of the time.

We love you Mr. Sleeps-All-Night-And-Half-The-Day-Too!

A is for Apple, B is for Bear...N is for Nicaragua?!?

That's right, folks, Will, Everett and I had the AMAZING, WONDERFUL, FANTASTIC, AWESOME opportunity to take a little trip to Nicaragua - "the land of lakes and volcanoes". It was a dream trip and we are so thankful to Will's Aunt Wanda for inviting us to tag along. Everett had to get a passport for his first trip outside the United States (and he's only 9 months old!), and let us just say, it is darling. We left on Monday, the 14th, flew into Managua (the capital) and flew back home on Friday, the 18th. A whirlwind adventure, to be sure, but oh-so-cool and exciting.

We made our way down south with the purpose of Will providing Wanda with Spanish interpreting. Wanda and her husband, Larry, own a beautiful beach house on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua. And since Wanda no habla espanol, she asked Will for help. Everett and I simply went along for the fun. By the way, Wanda and Larry are looking to sell the beach house, so if you know of anyone who might be interested in owning a fabulous piece of beach property in a beautiful country, send them our way (Did you like that plug Wanda?)!

So without further aideu, here's a photographic play-by-play of our week of fun and sun. We can't thank Wanda enough for her kindness and want to tell her again how much fun we had! Please let us know if you need our ("our" used very loosely) help again. And for anyone else out there who has need of a translator and you're willing to fly us somewhere cool - we're available!

Houston Airport: Everett wasted no time finding the ladies. These gals oohed and aahed over him enough to keep his attention for a good 5 minutes.

Our flight from Houston to Managua - he finally fell asleep and in his newly purchased NASA onesie, no less. (Note to self: Always pack TWO extra outfits in the diaper bag, not just one)

"To the beach house we go..."

"To the beach house we go..."

"High-ho the merry-oh, to the beach house we go!"

The front of their beach house

The a-maz-ing view from out the back "doors"

I love the coconut trees that line the pathway to the beach. And if you look closely, you'll notice the ocean in the distance.

The housekeeper, Juana. She's using a machete to cut us a coconut or two. Did you know that's what coconuts looked like when they're fresh? I sure didn't!

Yum, yum, coconut juice

One of the neighboring homes. Something like they're turning it into a small hotel and restuarant?

The neighbors' relaxation area. Cool thatch roof and hammocks, no? And not to mention the view!

Mom and Everett - our very own relaxation area. I'm sure Wanda's neighbors would be SO jealous of this hook up!

The next day we went to Masaya so we could peruse the market there and buy neat handicrafts. Will bought yet another hammock (current count: three. Current trees in yard: zero. Come to think of it, do we even have a yard?). We also bought a neat-o vase and a cool serving dish - both made of wood. All that shopping sure worked up our appetites, so we ate at the market cafe. The following is a photo of the BEST meal I've had in quite awhile. It was so delightful that I'm now salivating and lamenting the fact that 1) I'm not in Nicaragua and 2) I haven't really planned anything good for dinner.

Thin flank steak covered in chopped onions, tomatoes and green pepper served with a fried plantain and mozzarella cheese.

Enjoying said meal.

Everett did very well in the umbrella stroller. As long as he was fed, he was pretty much fine.

Everett lounging in our market spoils. Cool bracelets, huh?

The next day we did some more sight-seeing. We decided to be bold and visited one of the active volcanoes just south of Managua. Here's a picture of some of the dried molten rock:

Wanda barreling full steam ahead up the side of the volcano. To truly paint a picture, we had the radio blasting some 70's rock song and the road wasn't exactly what I'd call smooth.

Looking down into the middle of the volcano. It's active, but hasn't erupted in something like 10 or 20 years. It does, however, emit that wonderful sulfuric steam though.

One of the guides who told us some more info. Check out the cross in the background. The Catholic Spaniards made their way to this site, where they promptly put up the cross, baptized the volcano, and then named it "The Mouth of Hell".


Nothing says love like a photo of you and your sweetheart with sulfuric steam rising up around you.

Our family of three.

The view from our volcano to the mountain in the distance.

Everett and his great-aunt Wanda, with whom he had a great time riding in the front seat. I know, I'm a horrible mother, but it was easier to have him in our laps than to fuss with a third-world car seat.

"Everett, where do you think we should go next?"

"Laguna de Apoyo? That sounds like a great idea!"

Overlooking the thatch roof of one of the restaurants at the water's edge. Restaurant is a very relative term, as you will see below.

Ta-da! The restaurant.

We were a bit sketchy, but how can you go wrong with a bottled Coke? Hey, it was either that or a Fanta naranja.

One of the 9,678,345 stray dogs in Nicaragua.

A very male spider monkey. Trust me, it was definitely male.

Will enjoying every last bit of mango.

But all good things must come to an end. Here we are surviving the first of two flights home. Everett gobbled up the baby goldfish like a champ.

And so, one international trip, two countries, and four flights later, Everett received his wings:

Whew! Are you as tired as we were?!?!