New Pics of the New Man!

"Are you talkin' to me?, Are YOU talkin' to ME?" Ha! Well, I'm really wanting to get some more cute pictures of Preston and Evan together, but Preston has had a little cold this week - so we're trying not to have him smooching all over his little brother. I feel so bad, cause I know Preston just wants to hold him so bad. Preston is so good at helping with him. He just loves looking at him and talking to him; it's very sweet. He is a great big brother and it's amazing how much he loves him and dotes on him.

Evan is still doing really great. We think he is going through a little growth spurt because he is a Hungry Man these days! He'll wake up from a dead sleep very angrily hungry! Hee! You can hardly get the bottle in his mouth fast enough... simmer down little man, we won't let you starve. Erick and I are such goofballs when it comes to quoting movies and TV... so for all of you Seinfeld buffs... there is an episode where George pretends to be a marine biologist and he saves a whale by removing a golf ball from his blow hole. Anyway, when he's describing the story to Jerry he uses a line, "the sea was angry that day, my friend". Well, we find that pretty fitting when Evan is letting us know that he is hungry... "the baby was angry that day, my friend". I know, we're dorks and we watch too much TV - two facts we have never denied. Erick also likes to call him a "rude customer" because he just doesn't want to wait, doesn't want to get a clean diaper first - he wants what he wants immediately please. So we oblige little Evan - hey, he really doesn't ask much of us. He's such a cutie pie. We caught a little grin in the picture below... he really is such a happy and easy to please little guy.

When I was pregnant I got him this little sheep called a "Sleep Sheep". It makes noises like rain, the ocean, a heartbeat, etc... anyway, he loves his ocean tunes. You'll turn that thing on and he just goes into this trance - hey, maybe he'll be a marine biologist one day! Erick said he's going to be very disappointed when he grows up and finds out we don't live on the beach! Seriously, he loves the white noise... and that's good, because our house is rarely quiet. And we definitely don't tip-toe around like we did with Preston. Evan should be able to sleep through anything! He also loves looking in the mirror at himself. He gets the cutest little look on his face and starts wiggling his arms and legs around. Who is this devastatingly handsome kid I'm looking at?

And he does love his pacifier - although he doesn't need it to sleep - so that's good. In fact, when he's ready to fall asleep he will actually take his hand and push it out of his mouth - as if saying, "I'm done with you, be gone now". He also does the same thing with the bottle... when he's done he'll take his hand and knock it away... again, "rude customer". Hee hee! He is also just like his brother as far as the "swaddling" technique that he prefers. They both like to have their arms free. At first, Evan just insisted on his left arm being free... now he likes both free and normally has them both over his head while he sleeps - just like big brother did. You can see him "chillin" in the picture below.

He does love it when you talk to him. He'll just follow you with his eyes and just hang on every word. It's neat, because he'll open his eyes wider when someone new comes in to talk to him - especially Daddy and Preston. They say they recognize the voices from hearing them in utero for so long? Wonder if that's true?

Enjoy these new pics of our little man... and Happy Trick-or-Treating tomorrow - whoo hoo!!! Candy, candy, candy!

P.S. This last picture is one of our dogs, Toby, checking out Evan. Both dogs actually really seem to like him... they have both offered their approval by licking his head! Toby is really anxious for Evan to share his bottle. And Tucker offers his sympathy to Evan... whenever Evan cries, Tucker starts howling. Crazy dogs!

A Monumentous Day For Evan

Today marks a very monumentous day for Evan... what was it? Well of course, it was his first trip to SUPER TARGET! He will indeed spend many hours strolling through this glorious place with us for years to come. Hee hee! I meant to get a picture of him for this so very important occasion... we will remember it always. Oh, Super Target... how do I love thee, let me count the ways! (Or rather, let them count all the ways that they love me... there is some executive at Target and we have helped put his kid through college I'm sure!)

Here's to many more special times at Target!

Little Toby Turns One

Our sweet little puppy turned one year old today! We celebrated with a yummy cupcake and lots of loving for Toby.

Toby is a toy poodle/rat terrier mix and he is the sweetest little dog. I met him at a friend's house last year just before Christmas and I fell in love. I immediately went home and told Erick that he is what I wanted for Christmas! Erick just rolled his eyes - another dog?!? He wasn't so sure, although I could tell that he didn't really mind... well, he fell in love too the moment he saw him.

Toby is the "instigator" around the house. He's all of 7 pounds, but he thinks he's a tough guy. He's got a tiny little bark, but he'll let you know if he's upset. He is a playful puppy and loves getting attention. He loves snacking on bird poop outside (hee hee) and picking on his older brother - Tucker! We've always said that if Toby could talk, he'd have the voice of the baby on "Family Guy" - "Stewey".... always has something to say and is never satisfied!

Tucker and Toby have probably 10 bones/toys in their basket - but they like to wrestle for this one white bone that they have chewed down in the form of a shank. We joke that they will use it to escape from their crates one night! They will literally fight over this bone for hours. If Toby has it, then Tucker will just idly wait until he's not paying attention and take it from him... but if Tucker has the bone and Toby wants it, then he is like an annoying little brother. He will chew on his tail, sit on him, put his rear in his face - anything to bother him enough to walk away! They are quite the spectacle.

Dogs are great and we love having them in our family. Happy 1st birthday, Toby! (Or as we call him - Struedel)

Out And About With The Boys

Well, it's hard to believe that Evan wasn't even due until today - October 26th. WOW! We've already enjoyed almost 3 weeks with our sweet little man... still trying to come up with a nickname for him though. We have been showing off Mr. Evan a little bit around town the last few days; here are some of Evan's first outings.



Let's see... our first outing (besides to the doctor's office), was to Stonebriar Mall. No doubt a place where we will venture many more times. Daddy took the day off and we went and had some pictures taken of Evan at just 8 days old. We were able to get some really cute "naked baby bottom" pictures. We've chosen some of them for the birth announcements actually. Then after taking pictures, we strolled around the mall for a little bit and had lunch at the food court. Of course, Mommy forgot to bring her camera to get a picture of our first outing... so one of our next outings was to Best Buy where we bought a small lightweight camera to carry in the diaper bag - no more excuses because we won't be able to leave home without the diaper bag for the next couple of years!



Our second outing was to the pumpkin patch (everyone should have guessed this one if you know me)... oh, it was so beautiful and we got some sweet shots of Preston and Evan. Mom goes a little crazy in the Fall with all the great pictures (okay, Mom is a little crazy all year). But the camera gets a hefty work-out at the pumpkin patch. Preston loves going to the pumpkin patch(es) every year and was excited to take his little brother. Evan was so impressed; he napped the whole time - but that did make for easier pictures though!



This past Saturday we took Evan on a very special outing - to see his big brother play a soccer game! Oh, Preston was so proud to take him to the game; it was so cute. He was so anxious to show his little brother to his coach and to his team. He is such a proud and excited big brother. Then after the game, we thought Evan needed to go see the house under construction... it was his first time at the house (besides all the times that I waddled around with him). We thought he looked so cute and tiny sitting on the floor of our one-day kitchen. Again, Evan enjoyed napping during our stroll around the house.



Then Erick actually took another day off last week and we went by the baby store... Babies 'R' Us, to pick up a couple of necessities. Why don't we have one of these in Frisco yet? We have to be one of the baby capitols, seriously! And then afterwards, we went by Mommy's absolute favorite restaurant in the whole world - EL FENIX! The boys will have to stand to take me there many times over the years. Yummy... cheese enchiladas! Yet another thing that we need in Frisco... you can never have too many Mexican restaurants in my opinion.

Evan really seems to be a trooper so far and just comes along for the ride... he protests some when I have to wake him to take/pick-up Preston from school every day, but he stops complaining once he's all strapped into the car seat and warm and cozy. Hopefully he'll stay mellow... cause we know we'll be toting him around everywhere really soon!

I'm sure we'll be torturing him with lots more photo shoots and all sorts of fun stuff (okay, maybe fun isn't the word for photos). Oh, we were actually able to get some footprint plates done last weekend with Preston and Evan's footprints side-by-side... Evan was not too happy with cold, wet paint on his teeny toes. What a tiny little foot.... Preston's foot looked ginormous (a favorite word that was added to the dictionary this year) next to Evan's teeny foot. In general, Preston looks like such a huge kiddo now! My little baby is growing up. I can't wait to see the relationship that grows between Preston and Evan. We pray that they will be great brothers and great friends.

Happy Fall everyone!

P.S. You'll have to excuse me if I truly ramble on during these blogs... but I'm kind of using them as a journal for the boys, so sometimes I may add a little too much for my memory's sake!

Waiting For Evan

This picture above is Evan at 28 weeks in utero... I e-mailed this sonogram picture, but wanted to include this amazing picture on the blog! This is a 4-D sonogram picture and we can't believe that this was Evan two months before he was born! What a miracle. It's so neat how he already looks so much like the little man that is with us now; a beautiful little boy (and he still loves having that left hand up by his face)... And now on with the blog!



So I'll warn you... this particular blog will probably be very long-winded and detailed, so only the truly bored need read. This entry is more for me and my journaling... so don't be surprised to get half-way done and be sick of it already. Ha! But here are a few of my thoughts as we awaited the arrival of Evan.

Evan was almost three weeks early, so I didn't get a chance to blog about Evan's wonderful baby showers and the wonderful ways that we celebrated Evan before he was even here! He was loved beyond measure the moment the test was positive!

So, just a little reflection... about 2 1/2 years ago Erick and I had "the talk" about whether or not we wanted anymore children. Well, we came to the conclusion that we were perfectly happy with a family of three... we felt very blessed and didn't really have that "urge" for another baby. We didn't want to have another child just because everyone says you should have more than one. And so what did we do - of course, we got rid of every baby item that we had been storing in the house (I mean, this stuff was taking up valuable closet space)! We had two garage sales, gave a bunch to friends and then donated the rest of our baby gear. We were done having kids! Or, so we thought...



Then a year passed and I honestly began to feel in my heart that we weren't done after all... I just pictured us with another member of our family. I even began to picture two boys growing older and having their own kids and us having these great family holidays... I honestly wanted lots more kids all of the sudden! And that feeling didn't go away; it only got stronger. Well, Erick was up for anything, so another child it was - or at least we'd give it the good ol' college try! We had actually thought about moving to a little bigger house where we could have a playroom... so we put our house on the market and decided we'd start trying for a baby in a few months. Talk about a life change! In February of 2007 we sold the house and found out we were pregnant! What an exciting and truly amazing time for our family.



It really was fun being pregnant again... the maternity clothes were so much cuter six years later. Hee hee! Pregnancy is just such a miracle - I mean, that you are growing an entire human being is just miraculous - truly the greatest gift from God. It's a concept that overwhelms my little brain; such a precious honor to be given a child - whether you birth a child or are blessed and generous enough to raise and care for a child that you did not bear. Having children just makes you feel purposeful, like you are carrying on God's plan for this world. We only hope that we will walk the path that God has chosen for us and raise Godly men in Preston and Evan. It just makes you want to have a whole bushel of kids. Just kidding... we are blessed with the two we have... we'll see what the future holds. But I really tried to enjoy every moment of the pregnancy, it does go by so fast. I already miss it. But I don't miss the heartburn or sleepless nights. I am actually getting way more sleep now with a newborn. Of course, I got as big as a house (as you can see)... a big, round, baby boy belly again.



So in May we found out we were having another boy and we were so happy - Preston would have a brother! So now, we really needed to start getting ready for a baby in the house and we had absolutely nothing! Preston was just about to turn six years old and we were literally starting all over again. Were we crazy? We were going back to sleepless nights, diapers, bottles, baby food, the terrible twos (and threes and fours I might add!)... but honestly, I was so elated and couldn't wait for it! And it is as wonderful as I could have ever imagined; having two boys is a pure joy. God is good.



So with nothing for this little man we were expecting, we had great friends that wanted to throw showers for us. The first shower we had was given by my four best girlfriends - Susan, Tasha, Sue and Kim... it was just for the girls. It was so fantastic having all my friends and family together to celebrate Evan's upcoming arrival! We got so many great things for him; everyone's generosity is truly appreciated. Our apartment is literally cram-packed with all sorts of fabulous baby gear for Evan. Thank you so much!





At the shower, I meant to take a moment to introduce all of the hostesses and tell everyone about our friendships, but it was a whirlwind and before I knew it people were having to say their good-byes. So, I'll take a moment now to introduce my four greatest friends who hosted my wonderful shower. All of these friends are so very important to me and I feel so lucky to know them all:


Pictured Above: Susan, Sue, ME and my belly and Tasha (Kim will be photo-shopped in!)

Susan: Susan is the sister that I never had, but have now. We have been friends for over 11 years now. We met while working together at a dental insurance company and were friends from the first moment we met. She was my Matron of Honor in our wedding, she is Preston and now Evan's God Mother and she has been there for us no matter what. I couldn't ask for a better friend. Before kids, we used to work out together, do dinner, do date nights with the husbands, and we have all sorts of traditions. Every year we do haunted houses together, go to First Monday in Canton, go see Christmas lights, try to go to the Fair, stroll Northpark during the holidays. Susan and her family are really our family. Whenever we get a chance to go out with Susan and her husband we always have the best time and just laugh about the silliest things - we affectionately call some of them "Susanisms". These days, we spend our time taking the kids on play dates and watching them grow up together. We still squeeze in a few date nights and girls nights though! Susan and I both got into scrapbooking last year, so we love going on scrapbook retreats whenever we can. We've taken vacations together - twice to Vegas with no kids and then to Florida with the kiddos. Together, Susan and I did the 3-Day Walk for breast cancer last year; I can always talk her into my crazy ideas! She is the one person (besides Erick) that I can truly be myself around and I am always completely honest with her and lean on her for just about everything. Susan is my best friend and I wouldn't trade her for anything. We love you, Aunt Susan.

Tasha: Tasha and I actually met through our husbands. Erick and Tasha's husband (Travis) were roommates down in College Station. So, I actually knew Tasha's husband before she did! But Tasha and I met 8 or 9 years ago. Then we both started building houses in Frisco and joined the same church and started forming our own traditions. We both found out we were pregnant with our first children within weeks of each other, so we bonded being pregnant together. Preston and her oldest, Mason, are just five weeks apart and have always been great buddies. Tasha actually kept Preston when he was young while I worked part-time. Tasha is an amazing Godly mother and wife and she is always going out of her way to do things for you. She is also the person that got me into scrapbooking and I have since become addicted! She is my scrapbooking buddy and we also go to retreats and shop for goodies together as much as we can. We take our boys on all sorts of playdates together - you name the play place and we've been there together. She and I are always up for taking the boys somewhere fun... we actually all went to DisneyWorld together this past Spring. We still go to church together and have lunch afterwards every Sunday. Tasha and I confide in each other for so many things and we have a really special friendship that I know we'll have forever. Thank you for everything, Aunt Tasha.

Sue: Well, Sue and I met through a MOMs group when our oldest were born... so six years now. Wow, it seems like yesterday sometimes. Her oldest, Avery, and Preston have been such great friends and have truly grown up together - I'd probably consider Avery Preston's first best friend. They would take turns spending the night at eachother's houses and we consider her one of the family and tote her around for all sorts of fun stuff - their favorite is Chuck E. Cheese. I just can't say enough positive things about Sue - she is the kind of person that you aspire to be like, really. She is so kind and generous and would just do anything for you. She is also the busiest woman that I know. She works full-time as a Nurse Practitioner and has 3 girls - ages 1, 4 and 6. She lives on literally 3 hours of sleep every night and is a religious runner. She is so very smart, which sometimes makes me bug her with silly medical questions - but she is always happy to answer them! Sue does so much for her family - both immediate and extended. She is always planning some great adventure or party for someone. She honestly puts other people first. Preston just adores Sue and her husband, Eric. They are such great people - we don't spend nearly enough time with them. But we do have our MOMs night tradition still going strong... once a month we get together for pedicures, dinner and a movie or shopping. It's a great night away to catch up. I hope that 30 years from now we'll all still be here in Frisco and be able to say that our kids have literally known each other since birth and are all still good friends. I know that Sue is my friend for life.

Kim: I also met Kim in the MOMs group when Preston was born. Kim, Sue and I have become great friends over the last six years and our kids genuinely love each other and we have all spent lots of great times together. Kim is my creative genius girlfriend. She is always creating some masterpiece - her specialty is decorating. She is always re-creating rooms in her gorgeous house and a few years ago started her own decorating business. In fact, she and I have partnered on a couple of jobs and had a great time being creative and spending time together. Kim moves at the speed of light and always has a full plate. She is a hairstylist and decorator by profession and has two beautiful boys - ages 6 and 3. Kim really loves life and is so much fun to be around. Kim is a shopaholic like me and we're always calling each other about great "finds". There is nothing fake about Kim, she is simply herself and great. She makes you feel like a better person because she tells you how great you are everytime you see her. She has such a contagious personality and is there for you no matter what. I know that I could call Kim at anytime with anything. She even sees movies with me that I know she doesn't want to see! Hee hee! She is one in a billion and I don't ever want to know life without her.

So, I have great friends and my friends are definitely my family. And although I didn't grow up with a stable immediate family, I will say that there have been family members that have always been there for me and I was so honored that they were at the shower - pictured below: My Aunt Linda, cousins Tiffany and Erika and second cousin, Chandler. These ladies are so very special to me and I enjoy every moment I get to spend with them. I was also so extremely happy that my foster mother, Glenda (Mamaw), was there. I honestly think of her as my mother and I would not be where I am today without she and her husband. They are my heroes. And though she's not pictured, my favorite person growing up was my cousin, Carisa. She and I would spend summers together goofing off - I have so many memories, including watching "Grease" a few thousand times and dancing to the "Thriller" video just as many times. I loved seeing her at the shower. Thank you all for coming and making the day so special.



All of my friends, thank you. Thank you for the gifts. Thank you for being my friends. Thank you for your prayers, the meals, the calls, the e-mails. Thank you for all the wonderful times we've shared and the times we have yet to share with each other. Thank you for everything. You are all so special to me. If I had the time, I'd write about each and everyone of you in this blog! I know that you will all play a special part in Evan and Preston's lives. We love you.

Well, I did say we had two showers, didn't I? And the second shower was just as special and thrown by Daddy's friends... his office! The girls in his office were so very, very sweet to host a shower for Evan. It really meant so much to us that they would go out of their way and plan such a party. We had another great pirate-themed shower (Evan's room theme) and of course, were showered with great gifts, food and friends. And this shower was extra special because Preston came to this one and got to share in the celebration of his little brother... and of course, they all showered him with big brother presents. He's loving this big brother thing so far! Thank you GPP for the awesome shower and all of your continuous support and love for our family. I love hearing about all of you everyday when Erick comes home (we do get to see him on occasion when the tax seasons are over). Ha!



Well, you definitely deserve a special thank you, "true friend" award if you made it through this blog entry. My mouth (fingers) runneth over! Much love to all!

Welcome Home, Evan

Well, we've been home for a little over a week now. I am hoping that time will slow down and Evan won't grow another ounce. They are only this small for such a short amount of time - you just want to hug and kiss on them all day. There is nothing much sweeter than the smell of a little baby. He is just a little cuddle bug and loves it when you talk to him. He is very easy going and very easy to please (oh, please continue with this one). He is very alert and just grins all the time... I know it's just gas, but still cute. Hee hee.

He is such a cutie pie and just so much fun to stare at... he makes the cutest little faces and sounds. And he looks so much like Preston as an infant, it's really remarkable. There are pictures that I have of Preston that look just like Evan right now. You'll definitely be able to tell they're brothers. I'll have to mark the pictures for future reference.

Evan is doing so amazingly well. He really doesn't fuss about much of anything - except maybe an occasional argument with a diaper change. Like his brother - he'd rather just sit in the mess than be bothered with a clean diaper. He wasn't too happy for his first bath, but now he's starting to enjoy the warmness of the water... oh yes, he enjoys it so much that it seems to be a great time to "relieve" ourself. And the diaper change is a great time for this too - as all of you parents of boys can remember I'm sure... once the cold air hits it - you're in for it. Ha.

He is sleeping in at least 3 hour stretches at night, but he did a 5 hour stretch the other night... oh, it was nice. Although I must say that I was sleeping so horribly at the end of my pregnancy that the 3 hour stretches are heaven because they are still solid sleep. I think I'm so much more relaxed with the second little one - I don't find myself waking up for every little peep... just the big peeps. And he literally wakes up to eat and then goes right back to sleep. He loves eating and is a burping machine. I'm sure he'll be a chunky monkey very soon. He loves being swaddled, but he insists on having his left arm loose... the same hand that we saw by his face in his 28-week sonogram. We have to keep little mittens on him all day because he likes scratching that cute little face.

We've had a couple (okay, three) photo sessions already (in addition to my constant snapping of the camera). It's so great that photographers will come to your house to get those teenie weenie baby shots. I'll post some of those pictures soon. But we did take Evan for his first outing this week... for what, photos of course. We went to Stonebriar Mall and got some really sweet pictures done and then strolled around the mall for a little bit. We're waiting a few more days before we take him to church or have him around big crowds... but it won't be long before we're toting him around everywhere. Oh, and we did have to make a trip to the pumpkin patch this week too... there's no way that I could let his first Halloween go by without a ton of pumpkin pictures. And soon we will try on our Halloween costumes (yes, there is more than one). We'll fill up a flash card for these pictures I'm sure. One of Evan's costumes is a Superbaby costume... then we've got Preston as Superman and the dogs have their "super" costumes too. We'll see if we can get that picture... oh, Dad is so excited he can hardly stand it... right.

Since the October 15th deadline is over, Erick has been able to take off a couple of days this week. It's been a lot of fun hanging out with Daddy. And even though I have been up and running around since we got home from the hospital - Daddy has been really great about taking Preston to school and helping out so much. Thank you, Daddy. And Preston is such a good helper and very proud big brother. He thinks Evan is just adorable and says he's so glad we have a little baby. When Evan is sleeping, he's constantly going in and checking on him.

Well, that's our first few days at home... pretty uneventful, but that's a good thing. Thank you to all of our wonderful friends who have called and e-mailed and come by to visit. And thank you so much for the wonderful meals, gifts and cards that we've received. You have no idea how much this means to our family. Even though I feel guilty for taking the meals, we have thoroughly enjoyed them - thank you.

As of today, we are still in search of a nickname for Evan. In our family, we are rarely called by our actual names... so it's kind of weird actually calling him Evan. We're sure a good nickname will pop into our heads soon.

I will post again soon about our little family and hopefully get some birth announcements out soon too. Love to all.

Introducing Evan Wilson...

October 8, 2007 at 9:47am... Evan arrives.

We can't believe he is finally here. It is so weird to look at a little person and realize that just minutes ago they were wadded up in a ball inside of you. What a wonderful miracle and gift from our Lord and Savior. This is truly one of the most wonderful times of our lives... we feel very blessed that we have been honored to welcome this new little man, Evan Wilson Cutler, into our family. We hope that we will make him proud, as we are already so proud of him.



Well, we were wondering how he would make his way into this big world. He was due on October 26th, but we knew we would meet him sooner. First, the little guy wouldn't turn around and we thought for sure we were going to have a c-section on the 17th, but then at almost 35 weeks he flipped himself around (well, with the help of a special herb from the doctor; which is definitely a funny story within itself) ...But whoo hoo he was turned around. But then he was measuring really big and we still thought maybe c-section, but definitely we'd have to induce him even earlier on the 10th to be sure Mommy could get him out... Oh, but as we knew he would... Evan has a mind of his own and he decided to come on his own time two days before my scheduled induction. (Yes, of course he decided to come before Erick's huge October 15th tax extension deadline. Nothing like giving Daddy a few gray hairs early on.)



Early on Monday morning, October 8th, my water broke while I was sleeping (it took me about 10 seconds to realize what had happened). I looked at the alarm clock and it was 4:47am and we were having Evan today - yippee. What a surreal moment. I just barely said to Erick, "my water broke", and he was up and running around; a cute Dad moment. I was of course set to pack my bag the next day, so we just grabbed what we needed and took off. Honestly, as long as I had my camera, there was nothing else that I needed... but I must have every necessary photo for scrapbooking you know. Of course, there have already been several moments where I have smacked myself for not taking a picture.



My OBGYN had actually been out of town all weekend, so we were so happy that Evan waited for him to BARELY get back into town. Funny enough, we had said to ourselves Sunday night, "it sure would be great if he came tomorrow on his own"... we had no idea he was listening (we hope this listening trend will continue throughout his life; doubtful). So we arrived at the hospital about 5:30am and they confirmed that my water had indeed broken... a fact that I was pretty sure of, I haven't had an accident in a few years. Hee hee. Anyway, I was already at 4cm when I arrived so labor moved along pretty quickly. I think I got my epidural around 8:30am and quickly moved to a 7cm, then 9cm and they were calling the doctor to come deliver. The doctor arrived at about 9:35am and Evan was here at 9:47am. He was ready to come and came out with very little help from me.



We were pretty sure that he was ready to come out - even though I was only 37 weeks and 3 days pregnant... but he was "done cooking". He came out very content and perfect. He weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long (maybe he'll be a tall guy like his older brother). We were very glad that he wasn't the 9 lbs. they suspected.



It was a very special time waiting on Evan to come. Erick, Preston and I headed to the hospital together at the crack of dawn. Preston wasn't sure if it was okay to miss school, but we convinced him that this was a good enough reason to miss a day of school. We called my best friend Susan right before we left home and she was there by 6:00am to wait with us and help with Preston at the hospital. We all waited together for Evan to make his way out... we wondered how long it would be. It was really important to me that Preston was there for his brother's arrival. Even though I knew he would have to wait outside with his Aunt Susan during actual delivery, he got to be there for the rest of the labor and I hope it's something that he will remember as a special moment in his life. He was so patient and such a big brother. I will say that has been a great advantage of having my two sons six years apart... Preston has been a part of everything and he has understood about his brother on the way. He was there when I told Daddy I was pregnant, he went to just about every pre-natal appointment, every sonogram, felt Evan move around inside of me and anxiously asked every day when Evan was coming and how big he was that day. He prayed for him, that God would help him grow every night. He was so excited to meet his "sweet Little Evan" and to "finally be a big brother"... Preston's words. I know that we have lots of great adventures ahead of us with our Cutler boys. We love them both so much and can't wait to watch them grow together and love each other.

Thank you to all of our family and friends for their thoughts and prayers. They were heard and we are so blessed and fortunate. We know that you will each touch Evan's life in your own special way and we are looking forward to introducing him to all of you! And thank you to so many of you who came to visit us at the hospital. It is truly overwhelming that you would take that time to spend with us. We love you all. And thank you especially to Preston and Evan's Aunt Susan - we could not have done it without you. Thank you for always loving us and ALWAYS being there for us. We can't imagine our lives without you and your family.

And a huge thank you to Dr. Jacoby, who delivered Preston and Evan. What an incredible doctor to have for such important times in our lives. I am so glad we found you! You've always made everything so easy and stress-free. And you've delivered us two healthy baby boys! We trust you so much and we can't thank you nearly enough for all the great care!

I will post again soon about our first days at home... but I wanted to get these few "first pics" up for everyone.

P.S. This last picture is Evan with his namesake, Wilson Manuel, who is affectionately known as "Papaw". Papaw is truly like a second father to me and is a wonderful Godly man. I pray that Evan will learn from him and come to know Jesus and wonderful examples of His love at a very young age.