one month down (and two months behind)

Evan turned one month old at the beginning of week 47, which meant that it was time to break out the monthly stickers I had gotten for him. I was hoping for better results than when I had tried using the "Brand New" sticker... That time, at one week old, I stuck it to his onesie, and he proceeded to crumple and claw it before I got very many pictures taken. With this one, I decided to use the chair in the nursery as our backdrop—showing his size better—and Steve suggested I put the sticker on the chair instead. That worked much better, although I still took a few with it stuck to his onesie at the end. Evan mostly cooperated for our photo shoot, but he demanded the pacifier for a lot of it.

323/366 one month

The next day, Monday, Bruce and Bonnie watched Evan in the evening so Steve and I could go out for dinner. (We had already planned to go out the next Monday, but since Bruce and Bonnie offered, we added a second date to take advantage of their babysitting while we still could.) So I met Steve downtown after work, and we walked over to Zero Zero. We had pizza and pasta, and I got to have a fancy cocktail again, since I wasn't pregnant anymore. Because our dinner reservations were early, we walked around downtown for a while after. Unfortunately, it was a little too late in the evening to see the kittens in the Macy's Christmas windows. They were already in boxes, on their way out for the night. And the Shreve & Co. Christmas windows were gated over too (jewelry store). That left me with fewer options for pictures, so my shot of the day ended up being from the portion of the Macy's windows that wasn't intended to feature live animals.

324/366 believe

Evan's birth announcements finally got mailed that Tuesday morning. I had been waiting a while for the Pixar stamps that I had ordered to arrive. I figured if I was going to have to buy a bunch of stamps to send the announcements, I might as well get cute ones. I just didn't think they would take two weeks to get to me. At last, the stamps were delivered to Steve's office that Monday, I stuck them on the envelopes after getting home from dinner that night, and I took a few pictures before sending them off with Steve on Tuesday morning. Mission accomplished.

325/366 announcements

Around this time, I got into the habit of propping Evan up on the Boppy after his morning feeding. He would look around, mostly at the windows, and I would be able to sit on the floor in front of him while eating my breakfast. That Wednesday, I got out my camera for a few pictures of him there. This was actually one of the first pictures of Evan in which he really looked the way I was used to seeing him. So many of the other photos just looked a lot different to me; this was probably closer to the angle I saw while burping him.

326/366 stare fest

Thursday was Thanksgiving, so I got to get out another of the holiday stickers for a picture. I also got to dress Evan in his special Baby Gap outfit, which ended up being a little too big for him. (It was 0-3 month, and he was still borderline newborn size then. It fits great now.) Poor little guy looks a bit splotchy here too... He had some baby acne and cradle cap going on.

After the pictures, Bruce and Bonnie came upstairs for a while. Evan got to take a nap with his grandma while Steve worked on his contributions for the big dinner: mashed potatoes, dressing, gravy, roasted vegetables, and roasted mushrooms. Carmen did the turkey, and we ate downstairs, as is our tradition. This was the first year that Bruce and Bonnie were able to join us, since they had one week left in their long visit (for Evan's birth). Evan got passed around some that day, but he graciously took a nap in Elsa's crib while we all had dinner.

327/366 first thanksgiving

Friday was pretty low-key in comparison. Steve and I took a quick walk to Walgreens with Evan, just to pick up more of the usual supplies that were getting low. It certainly wasn't your typical Black Friday shopping trip. On the way back, I spotted a random tricycle on the sidewalk, and I decided to use that as my picture of the day instead of yet another baby picture.

328/366 red tricycle, black friday

Last, we have some photographic evidence from Evan's first brunch outing. Steve and I wanted to take Bruce and Bonnie to eat at Plow before they left, so Evan got to come along for the ride in the Baby Bjorn (after the ride to Potrero Hill in the car). We killed time by walking over to Big Daddy Antiques for a look around—and a couple pictures—and a table was ready for us by the time we made it back. I shot some of the food again, but I also had Steve pose with Evan on our way out. And that's how Steve got his last profile picture!

329/366 baby's first brunch

a few more firsts

Almost two weeks into the new year, and I'm finally caught up with posting pictures to Flickr for the first time since Evan was born. This blog is a different story, though... It's still stuck in mid-November, so I should probably chip off another week.

The picture from Sunday, November 11, is of Evan drinking his first bottle of milk. Technically, it wasn't really his first bottle ever. They made me give him about an ounce of formula in the hospital when they were trying to make sure his blood sugar was normalized that first night, after the gestational diabetes. Luckily, he still nursed like a champ, so we didn't really have to worry about the bottle interfering with him learning to latch. Nevertheless, we waited until he was three weeks old before we gave him a bottle again. Now we just do it about once or twice a week so that we always have a usable bottle in the fridge, in case I need to leave Evan with Steve for a few hours.

316/366 first bottle

On Monday afternoon, Bonnie and I took Evan out for a walk to Craftsman and Wolves. I hadn't been there in a while, and I felt like I should get out of the house and take some pictures that didn't feature baby stuff. I got a cute little cube cake, which Steve and I shared after dinner that night, and Bonnie got a couple caramels to share with Bruce when we got home. It was crowded enough in there that we didn't stay, so I took a picture of the jars of pate de fruit on the counter, rather than sitting down and shooting my cube cake for my picture of the day.

317/366 craftsman and wolves

Tuesday's photo was a return to the baby, since he was dressed in one of my favorite outfits: the newborn one with the whales on it. It was one of the first outfits that he outgrew, so I had to take advantage while I could. He was chilling on his blanket on the floor in the nursery, staring at the windows as he liked to do. I learned at his last pediatrician visit that this pose with the arms is actually a reflex to prevent accidental rolling. That explains why he did it so often.

318/366 whaling

We got lots of exercise the next day, with a walk down to the paint store and a walk up to Noe Valley later. We needed more bathroom ceiling paint to cover the spot that Bruce had patched around our heating register, and then we "needed" some frozen yogurt from the place in Noe Valley. Bruce and Bonnie had discovered Easy Breezy while they were house sitting for a friend of Carmen's nearby, and they turned into quite the regulars for a while. This was my first visit, though.

319/366 fro-yo fiends

Feeling less inspired on Thursday, I took a picture of the books on Evan's shelves. Since then, he's gotten several more, including the rest of the Mo Willems Pigeon books.

320/366 evan's books

On Friday, I made my first trip out of the house without Evan. I got a haircut downtown, and Evan got to stay home with his grandparents for his afternoon nap. He slept most of the time I was gone, so they didn't even need to use the bottle that I had left in the fridge. Before heading back, I walked around downtown a little and took some pictures. It was a slightly rainy, but it was a nice outing. Maiden Lane was especially charming with the Christmas lights up already.

321/366 maiden lane

And then there was Evan's first real bath. We actually did it the day before he turned one month old, which was probably kind of late. Between wanting to make sure that Steve and the grandparents were all there to watch and wanting to make sure there would be enough light in the kitchen for pictures of the event, it got put off for a week or two. (We gave him an extra sponge bath in between.)

I took the picture below right after we put Evan in the tub's sling. Then I handed the camera to Steve so that I could do the bathing. Evan was not a big fan of the bath at first, possibly because I started by washing his face. He screamed while I washed the rest of his front, and then he suddenly peed on me and the floor. After that, we decided that another more strategically placed washcloth was a good idea... Once I sat him up to do his back and his hair, he calmed down considerably and looked around.

322/366 first bath

That wraps up week 46, as well as Evan's first month. More to come!

week of the sleeping baby

There was a definite theme to most of the pictures from week 45: sleeping baby. Since that's how Evan still spent the majority of his time at 2-3 weeks old, my choices for baby pictures were somewhat limited. Also, I wasn't feeling terribly inspired to do anything more creative.

First, we have Evan napping along with his grandparents on a Sunday afternoon. This might have been following an early morning of Bruce and Bonnie babysitting Elsa, in which case they had good reason to be tired.

309/366 group nap

And more napping on his grandpa on Monday afternoon... This was getting to be a habit. There was a warm spell around this time, so Evan got to wear onesies that day rather than his usual wardrobe of sleepers and rompers.

310/366 sleepy monkey

The warm weather continued through Tuesday, so I put Evan in the short sleeved Tea Collection romper. It was the other of the two outfits that I had bought at Fiddlesticks right after finding out we were having a boy. Unfortunately, it hasn't turned out to be terribly practical, since it's 0-3 month size. When I put it on him the day of this picture, it was a little big; now it probably fits perfectly, but the weather is colder.

311/366 warm day

Yet another sleeping baby picture for Wednesday afternoon, but this time Evan was napping in his crib. Afternoon naps in the crib were actually less common those first few weeks. He slept in there most mornings while I showered, but he usually spent afternoons either in the bouncy seat, being held by one of his grandparents or occasionally being worn by me in the Sleepy Wrap.

312/366 afternoon nap

Thursday's picture was of some of the laundry that I often did while Evan was sleeping. Almost every day there was a small load of burp cloths, bibs, outfits, and swaddling blankets. A couple months later, the story is pretty much the same, but I often fold everything while he's awake. It gives him something to watch while he sits in his bouncy seat, and it lets me do other things when he's asleep. Like edit pictures or write blog entries from two months ago.

313/366 the (near) daily laundry

I'm not a big fan of the picture for Friday, but I had surprisingly few choices for the day. I wanted to get a couple things at Day One across town, so Bonnie and I took Evan for his first stroller-to-car outing. Of the things I was looking for, we were only able to get the bibs that I wanted, but it was otherwise successful. I took the picture when we got back home. Evan was still sleeping, so we left him in his car seat for a while. I think I used the weird angle for the shot in an effort to make his hat look less like it was too big for him... It had looked okay when I put it on him, but it started looking a little strange when the car seat got involved.

314/366 bundled

At last, on Saturday, I took a picture of an awake Evan. We're calling this his first real tummy time, although I tried a couple minutes of it with him a day or two before. He lasted much longer and actually held his head up for a while that Saturday. The lighting was pretty terrible, since it was in the evening, but I didn't have many other choices for pictures that day.

315/366 tummy time