Look at him go!

Here is a pretty good video of him walking around. I think what is most amazing is that he can turn while walking (and yes, he is an ambi-turner). He really likes to pick up heavy things and carry them around, like cushions, juice bottles, and textbooks. He never seems (too) discouraged when he continually falls because of the awkwardness of his burden. He just stands up and tries again...and again...and again.

Fall and almost One!

"Get Nina"
"Get Daddy"

9 1/2 months

Still crawling. But almost walking. Yesterday he was standing at Joe's knees, turned around and looked at me (about 4 feet away), and tried to walk to me! After about 3 steps he lost his balance and then crawled the rest of the way. Vaughn is also a champ at rolling his "r"s now and making all kinds of other babblings.

Here are just a few other pictures from our Summer, now that it's almost Winter.

Going back in time to: Vaughn the Cheetah

I had started to make this blog post well probably about 5 months ago but it was taking me too long and then when I came back to it, it was gone! This happened a couple of times and so I guess I just gave up. But - I just found that google had actually saved as draft for me and so I'm just now posting it. Here it is:

This weekend Kim and Aaron visited and it was great. We laughed, we cried, and ... Well actually just Vaughn cried, but not the whole time. And it was more like he moaned and groaned. This was in part due to his little digestive system being a little backed up after having eaten some banana the other day. You might say it drove him bananas. After not pooping for a day his diaper was probably 3 times the fullest amount it had ever been previous; ten THOUSAND times more than he could have hoped to have dreamed for ;) Hahahah. Anyway, he's feeling a little better now - and he won't be eating bananas again for a while.

Vaughn Videos

We moved. We're fairly settled. And here's what's happened in the mean time.

For some reason I keep getting this dang tonsilitis thing. After 3 1/2 weeks and two batches of antibiotics, I'm really frustrated because it's crept up again. I felt that I'd conquered sickness for good during the last three years, being cold, flu, etc. free. This leads me to Joe's theory: I'm being punished for having become too prideful of my good health. Maybe there's some truth to that. But I think that nursing is perhaps the greater culprit. So I've been improving my diet the last few days and have come up with a defensive plan. For those who are interested, read on: 1. Gargling salt water or Biotene multiple times a day. 2. Meal plans, seriously. 3. Even more water. 4. Bedtime no later than 9:45pm. 5. Cutting out sweets (for the most part). A few weeks ago we decided to make homemade brownies. One thing led to another and we ended up having to not double, and not triple, but quadruple the recipe. (And then we realized we were short a dozen eggs, on Sunday.) Well...I don't think that helped boost my immune system.

Also, (I'm out of time)


Baths.

Twins. Just look at them.

Bumbo. He eats his rice cereal sitting in this now.

Sucking BOTH thumbs.

Kalleen, I know you don't remember what the sweater looked like. That's ok. Here it is and look at how cute he is in it for church! :)


While visiting her children in Rexburg for Mother's week, Kathleen came by on just the right day to teach us some tricks for naps. It was great - She should be called the Baby Whisperer. Despite Vaughn's feelings about napping he still shared some smiles and laughs with her. It was delightful.

Here are a few short video clips:

Hear Vaughn's concerns

This is how Vaughn converses lately. He loves being listened to but also knows how to take turns in conversation. I actually just read the other day that that is something special about human babies - that they are born with the ability (to some extent) to take turns.

Just ignore the clicking on the soundtrack, and enjoy!

The "Celestial Tux"

I love this picture. According to Rex* (as in good friends, Rex & Cassy Pully), Vaughn has my eyes and eyebrows, and Joe's eye sockets.

Well, 6 weeks have gone by without an update. And I'll never get this post up unless I'm brief. Things have been great. Rexburg has turned over a new leaf (well, probably many more leaves than just one) with 50 degree and even one 60 degree weather day! Not bad. The flip flops have come back out and Vaughn has caught a glimpse of the outside world.

He's doing just great. He communicates more all the time with new voice inflections and sounds, chuckles and stares at himself in the mirror, sucks his thumb occasionally, and if you make eye contact with him when he's upset he'll moan more than cry - it's too cute to bear sometimes.

As you can see he's getting bigger. 3 Weeks ago he was 11 pounds, so I think that means he's probably almost 12 pounds now. And some of the most exciting news for me: Baby Vaughn has been sleeping 7 and 8 hour stretches in the night without having to wake up and eat!!! Yay!

Also, about 4 weeks ago Joe blessed Vaughn and it was a really sweet occasion. Grandma and Grandpa Evans along with his Aunt Daisy and her family and Uncle Sam with 3 of his kids all came to Rexburg for it. We enjoyed the afternoon with our self-proclaimed magic burritos (well... the burritos don't proclaim that - I'm sure the meaning is clear), some spinach-artichoke dip, and death-by-chocolate-cookie-brownies. Sam, a seasoned bean-eater, complimented the beans, which meant the world to us. I think his exact words were "So what's the deal with these beans?...cause I've had a lot of beans in my life..." It put a smile on both mine and Joe's face, and made Joe even more hopeful of someday opening up a successful Mexican food stand.

I know it just seems so... improper to talk about something as vain as clothes in regards to the more important blessing itself, but what mother couldn't help be** excited about dressing her newborn in a little tuxedo - coat tails and all? Dubbed by the Niemans: " The Celestial Tux," and sewn by Vaughn's Uncle Nathan's Mom, a very talented seamstress, it was much appreciated.

And more pictures...

* To see who Rex is go to http://www.byui.edu/, and there is like a 1/5 chance of seeing a picture of him on the front page. If it's a guy with red hair, it's him.

** Is it "Couldn't help", "Could help", "Couldn't help but...", "Could help but...","Couldn't help but to be...", "Could help but to be..."? These words are starting to look like another language to me.

Weeks 5 & 6 - Vaughn's Daily Activities

Well, he is a growin'! First, I just want to note what a good boy Vaughn is. We were pursuing a swing for him for a while, but he cries so seldomly that we feel now it would be an unnecessary expenditure. He pretty much only cries when he's fed up (usually with hiccups) or not being fed yet.

As you might notice from the pictures, he is smiling more. He used to only smile when he was falling asleep, but he would also go through all the other facial expressions as well. Now we will talk to him and make faces and he will smile back (sometimes) and make cooing sounds at varying pitches (sometimes). It is ridiculously cute.

Vaughn...

bathes,

wears foot rattle socks for parties (thanks to Carl and Belinda!),

and regular socks for sleeping,

smiles,

and slips into a baby trance.

Weeks 2-4: Getting To Know Each Other

Vaughn seems to be getting to know us. Besides smiling & even chuckling in his falling asleep phases of the day, he's almost responded with a smile, fully awake, to us several times. He's also been getting used to certain unpleasant events that happen repeatedly, even though he doesn't like them, such as diaper changes, getting in the car seat, and needing to burp after eating. The diaper change is still pretty challenging for him sometimes because it's a little cold in the office where he gets changed. But instead of crying he squeals like a little dinasaur. I think that it'd be like jumping into really cold water for me - kinda hard to breath.

We just can't get over the facination that there's not only a new little human body that...remarkably... grew from microscopic 9 months ago to an adorable little boy now , but a new person in existence on Earth; thinking, deciding, and acting on his own. I think that I used to sort of have this feeling that my future children would only do what I made them do, like little dolls. But you can only try to influence them, teach them, and negotiate with them. It's nothing short of miraculous.

But we sure can try! (Vaughn hates the straight jacket - but after a short struggle he does seem to calm down and and fall asleep)

Here is an attempt to catch his falling-asleep-expressions (photos taken from one second to the next), especially a smile, but we still haven't really caught it yet.

Thanks to Mathew Thomas for the super cute clothes.