triathalon

dan did his very first triathalon last year at lake lure, and i was very newly pregnant with donovan. throughout this year dan has done other triathalons, and he just came full circle back to lake lure for the 2nd annual. this year of course was a bit different.......first of all i felt much better, and second of all holy cow i had to bring alot of stuff!

dan met his goal of finishing in under an hour and a half and in the top 20%. and donovan met his goal of being the happiest baby in the world with a marathon day of no sleep. i have talked in past blogs of donovan being very social...he does not want to miss a thing and he constantly proves his parents wrong by being socially appropriate in public and saving the meltdowns for the confines of his home. this trip was just another example. and so donovan collected his medal for the happiest baby with the least amount of sleep on his way out of town. and his parents prize........he slept until 9am the next morning.

a night sans donovan

i had my first night away from donovan. some of my oldest and closest friends still live in asheville and i have been looking forward to a girl's night with them. my wish was granted by my fabulous husband who showed no signs of distress about a guys night with donovan. part of this confidence comes from just being a good dad, and the other part comes from dan needing to be the best at everything. this means that if anything went less than perfect i would never hear a thing about it, and means that he cannot reveal any feelings of doubt....or at least that is what i tell myself. i benefit from dan's competitiveness in obvious ways of throwing him a challenge and he accepting without a flinch, and in other ways i have to compete with him....like being the best mom.

much like you may expect guys weekend went on without a hitch, and to top it off i came home to a clean house and dinner....again, do i compete with this or sit back, enjoy, and hand out more challenges? the pictures are pictures that dan sent me while i was a way....you know to prove the ease of the night.




you may be wondering how the night in asheville went and all i can say is it was fabulous......and what happens in asheville stays in asheville :)

rice cereal

at our 4 month appointment we got the green light to begin rice cereal. i have looked forward to this since he was born. with donovan's milk allergies i was quick to want to get out of the milk only diet and move on to solid foods...and so we have.

rice cereal is one of those parent milestones. i remember hearing my mom friends talk about their kids having cereal and the excitement of the event. i was super excited and got everything ready so when dan got home we could enjoy the first solid food experience. wow-- and then it hit me like a ton of bricks that donovan will no longer be a bottle only baby.....he is on the way to sippy cups and pb&j's and it is all happening so quick. i distinctly remember during those dark dark moments of newborness me saying "i cannot wait until donovan is toting around a pb&j and a sippy cup"....and so i am reminded again how important it is to stay in the present moment...you miss less that way.

in a matter of minutes donovan was finished with his first cereal experience and ready for a bottle. i sat looking at a cereal covered baby that needed a bath and a bottle, dinner that needed to be cooked, a husband i wanted to spend some time with and a clock passing quickly. as my shoulders began to tighten as they do when i stress out and my head became wrapped up in how this whole solid food thing has added a whole new dynamic to our night time routine i had to remind myself to marinate in the moment before i found myself eating my words again by wishing away the time.

4 months already

i cannot believe my little boy is already 4 months.....and i cannot believe that i just said that. as i get older i feel like time goes much quicker, but add a kid into that and things seem to go even faster. we took donovan to his 4 month check-up and his current stats......

15.8 lbs which puts him in the 55%
42 cm. head which puts him at 50%

and the kicker............
26in. which puts him in the 88%
i mean that is crazy when considering his parents never fell into the 50% for height!

going to the dr. is so bitter sweet for me because i love to see his stats and show him off, but dr. means shots....and i hate shots. i have always been terrified of needles and i do not want to pass that down to donovan. at each appointment i have to talk to myself to show no fear in the hopes that i pass down the matter of factness of shots in life. i start the appointment with all the confidence and brevity in the world and then the crying starts and i am mush. donovan has started to put his arms around my neck and especially when he is upset, and this trip to the dr. ended with a big hug....and inconsolable screaming.....oh well the hug felt good.

**if you notice the picture...that i do not know how to turn around....he has band--aids on each leg. and yes that is a smile.

meeting seth

my cousin seth is in law school in oregon and just had a few weeks off to spend in burnsville. we were able to spend some time with him as well...and of course we got to show donovan off. i guess technically seth and donovan are second cousins once removed.....but that seems a bit distant. seth, matthew and myself grew up together so introducing donovan was a big deal. i have to say he was a natural with the little guy....and the little guy loved him and the bounty of gifts :) especially his organ ducks parafinalia........

guess who went swimming

donovan has loved the water since his first bath, and we love watching him love the water. we have been excited to put him in a "real" swimming pool. i say "real" swimming pool because we have created pools for donovan all summer. like all other parenting advice there seems to always be conflicting views and the views holding me back from the pool was when can i use sunscreen? and when can the little guy go in chlorine? after a gazillion conflicting views we could not hold ourselves back any longer.....or keep donovan in the pink duck any longer. the trip did not disappoint.......

what a big boy

i mentioned earlier that donovan seemed to hit 3 months and he just grew up. it seems that donovan gets happier about his life with every bit of independence that he gains. he has never been a baby that likes to snuggled and held horizontal. he likes to be held straight up so he can take everything in. now that he has really good head control he more than ever wants to be held vertical. although i love to hold the little guy...he is getting very heavy which is not good on the back. a couple weeks ago (when donovan was 14 weeks) i thought we would try the bumbo which is a baby chair that holds him in an upright position...it worked. although he does not stay anywhere for long the bumbo is one more thing to occupy him ....and frankly it is adorable!





and in the same week we had a few friends over for dinner and i dressed the big guy up in an outfit we were given as a gift....i say given as a gift because it is one of those outfits that dan would never let me shell out the cash for, but is adorable. we put it on to show off. and he proved ot be a perfect angel with our guests. they passed him around in his outfit and he smiled and took it all in. i think he has dan's love of the limelight :)

big weekend in burnsville

we had a big weekend recently. this was a weekend that i had looked forward to since donovan was born. on the first full weekend of august burnsville has the craft's fair. you may be asking yourself what is the big deal, but as an uprooted burnsvillian i have to say it may be the biggest weekend of the year. the craft's fair is exactly as you might think...craft's, food, and tons of people. the tradition is to buy more nick-nacks to dust throughout the year, and to see how many people you can see that you might have not seen since high school. then you spend the rest of the weekend showing off your nick-nacks and talking about who you saw. i am finally feeling back to normal so i was looking forward to the trip. i wanted to stretch out donovan's time with family so donovan and i went to burnsville on thursday morning...which was the first overnight without dad! when dan is home from work he is all about donovan which is a huge help to me and also super fun for donovan. we missed having dad around that night but were able to keep ourselves occupied with excited family members.


this year was a big year at the fair because we were showing donovan off. the fair is crowded and hot and as you can imagine parking is a nightmare, but i was hellbent on him making an appearance at the fair. our feet hit the floor saturday morning and i had everyone on a time schedule so we could hit the fair before it got hot and before all the parking was gone. i successfully rushed breakfast and stuffed donovan into an uncomfortable outfit to be out the door. we snagged a great parking space and got donovan settled in his new stroller for our big debut. we were able to shell out for a craft, introduce donovan to one of my girlfriend's daughter lila, and get dan to his t-time. i was able to spend the afternoon napping and talking with the women folk and having a visit from my girlfriend amanda and her son max.


and the biggest accomplishment of the weekend was......wait for it.......donovan was dedicated at church. dedication in a baptist church is when the baby is introduced to the church. we did this at my home church so donovan was able to meet lots of key people in my life and be introduced by the minister that married dan and myself. we were amazed yet again by donovan. our plans were to have him dedicated within the first few minutes of the service and then bolt before his morning meltdown, but donovan had different plans. he was introduced and was walked around the church by the preacher taking it all in, and then sat on dan's knee during the entire service not making a peep. and as if that was not amazing enough he was kind enough to endure the photo shoot after the service complete with all smiles. he has a way of amazing his parents around every turn.