Evan Almighty

Well, you can probably tell from the pictures that our little Evan is one HAPPY baby! He is all smiles and laughs all the time. He is just a little piece of heaven here on earth and truly an amazing gift from God. And he is the apple of his big brother's eye. Preston could not be more proud and could not be a better big brother! Preston made Evan laugh at him the other day and Preston was so proud - it was precious. He is so proud of Evan and all of his new accomplishments; he just gushes over him all the time.

Evan had his 4 month check-up and besides having to get 4 yucky shots and a little dry skin, he is doing just beautifully! He is almost 15 pounds and, as you can see, doesn't miss many meals! His favorite thing right now - his hands! I think he is going to be our little thumb sucker... you seriously cannot keep him from putting his hands, fingers, thumb into his mouth. He was even trying to put his foot in his mouth the other day - he'll figure that one out soon I'm sure!

We can't believe that he is already 4 1/2 months old and just not our little newborn anymore! On February 9th he rolled over for the first time. He loves being on his tummy and looking all around the room, so he rolled from tummy to back first. Then, last weekend, in the middle of the night I heard him grunting and went down to check on him and he had rolled himself from his back to his tummy - and of course, now he loves sleeping on his tummy just like his big brother did. As soon as they can flip, they'll just sleep however they want! I try not to worry... although the doctors really want them to sleep on their backs, you just can't control it after they can roll. And it's a little scary because SIDS incidents increase at 3-6 months of age, which is when they start rolling! It just makes you check on them about 12 times a night! And boy, is Evan a sleeper - he's sleeping about 10 hours a night now and wakes up just talking and smiling and sooo happy. And he is so patient to wait for his first bottle until after the hour drive to take his brother to school! I am so thankful for his patient and relaxed nature.

And another milestone this month was solid food! Yummy! You can start them on rice and even baby foods at 4 months now, can you believe it? We haven't ventured to baby food yet (maybe next week), but we have been eating rice for a few days and we LOVE it! And Preston was so excited that Evan can now eat baby food! He is so ready for Evan to jump up and run around with him. Below is a picture of a happy boy getting to eat yummy rice! And the next picture is the very first time he tried rice - he was so intent and serious, can you see him saying, "just give me the bowl Mom!" That is good stuff, he would not let go of the bowl! Then the next time I fed him he kept trying to grab the spoon, so at the end I just let him go to town with the spoon and he licked it clean! It was too funny - he is such a big boy. He and I will sit and relax on the couch and I'll pick up the remote to change the channel and he'll reach out to grab the remote and starts pressing all the buttons and changing the channel! Oh, that's trouble! Soon there will be three men all vying for the remote!

Oh, this rice stuff is so delicious!!

Just hand over the bowl Mom!

Mom tried to deprive me of the morsels of rice that were left on this spoon, so I just grabbed it from her!

Oh, and this is Evan when the rice is all gone.... so sad! Good thing we had a bottle ready!



He has got the cutest little giggle and loves being tickled on his belly and his sides. And he loves being kissed under his neck and getting undressed - they will all get a laugh! Something about taking his clothes off just makes him laugh, it's hilarious.... and he still LOVES being naked and taking baths. He is not at all bothered by things that you would think normally bother babies - he loves baths, loves having his diaper changed, and doesn't even mind when you suction his nose - he's just very content.... well, most of the time! So when does he get upset?? When he's tired!

He reminds me so much of Preston - not only does he look sooo much like him, but they have the same personalities. Preston was such a happy and content baby too. But also got cranky when tired (of course) and fought the sleep! Now, most times he'll just go to sleep when he's tired, but sometimes he will just fight the sleep and put up a fuss until he finally conks out! And when he's asleep, it's best to just let him sleep - like Preston, he's not that happy when you wake him from a good nap. And he loves sleeping in the car, that'll always put him right out. And he loves sleeping in his swing - although with the positions he gets himself into, like the one below, it doesn't look all that comfortable to me??



Oh, and that's a burpy above his head - you always need one of those close, he is the Spit-Up King!

We are very excited for Evan to get his own room and to be able to spread out more in the house. I'm not sleeping all that well because I'll wake at every little movement during the night. And unfortunately, we've all had little colds this week. Erick and I felt pretty yucky this weekend, but Preston and Evan really just have a stuffy nose and have felt great, so that's a blessing. Preston lost another tooth and is enjoying his rewards from the tooth fairy! I think he's lost 7 teeth now??? And he is reading really well now and just enjoying Kindergarten so much.

He is such a fun kid and a great friend. He's never met a stranger and is very social. He is so kind-hearted and is always making cards for friends and teachers and would give them his last nickel if they asked for it. I know that God has such special plans for Preston's life and his compassionate heart - we pray that we are great parents to our sons. I pray they always walk in the truth and know our unconditional love for them. Preston just loves Jesus and the Word of God and I think he is coming close to the age that he will really understand what it means to live with him in your heart. Erick and I just want him to know that all by himself, to have that private relationship with Jesus and accept him all on his own - not just because Mommy and Daddy believe it and take him to church.

Alright.... now that I'm getting all sappy!

Here are some pictures, enjoy! Hopefully we'll be closing on the house March 10th - so, this may be the last update for a few weeks. I guess I should probably start packing! Enjoy these pics! I also got some cute Valentine's pics of the boys done - I'll post those soon!

Yep, still working on this spoon... I'm going to get every last drop!



Boy, you guys are funny!



I AM WAY TOO CUTE to be a Longhorn!



Naked boy equals happy boy!



Don't you wish you could just lay around in your underwear?




Just enjoying some time on the big bed!




Oh, man - Mom put me in this great new invention called the Bumbo! It lets me sit up like a big boy and I just love it!!!



I love it so much that Mom looked over and I was slowly drifting off.... don't worry, Mommy moved me to my bed, a more comfortable position!



I love hanging out in my Daddy's arms.



Ta ta for now!

Three Months Old Already

Our little man is three months old and just growing like a weed! He's got these cute chubby cheeks and chubby thighs too (we're up to 3 rolls), and he is getting so long! I was sad to pack up his 0-3 month clothes today - they're just too small.

Well, you just couldn't ask for a sweeter, more content little baby. He hardly ever makes a fuss at all (not that he'd be any less great if he did!). He just loves "talking" to you and he tells you all about it with the sweetest little noises and faces. Such sweet sounds and gurgles; he gets so excited and will just carry on a whole conversation with you. He loves sticking his tongue out and he LOVES his hands! You can't keep the boy from putting his hands in his mouth... it makes a nice, wet mess! But he loves it. Actually, he loves putting anything in his mouth - his hands, blanket, bib, burpie, sleeve, whatever... and he just grins when you take it away. And he loves being on his tummy and looking all around. His vision and coordination are getting so good.... he can really follow you around the room (and sometimes gets upset when he sees you leave) and he is starting to reach out and touch and play with things. He still loves diaper changes and baths - really. He's got the sweetest smile and his whole face lights up when he smiles. He's starting to laugh a little, almost giggling. It won't be long!

He's still a good sleeper. We've still got him in the bassinet in our room, but we need to move to the pack-n-play because he's getting so big. It will be so nice when he has his own room and bed! He loves being really warm and snuggly at night. They've got these great "sleeper gowns" that we call "baby in a bag". Hee hee! They are thick and warm and are like a sack that just zips up! They're fantastic and keep him really warm!

We are so blessed and couldn't imagine our lives without this new little one. And big brother is so very proud... Evan and I went and had lunch with Preston last week and Preston was excited to once again show off his little brother at school. Preston is always talking about the things that he is going to teach Evan when he's older.... oh, boy - I'm sure we'll appreciate EVERYTHING that Preston teaches him! Hee hee! The joy of boys!

And here are just a few more cute pics of Evan...



Daddy and Evan admiring this cute baby butt!



Male bonding... two sweet brothers.



"What's up with you?"



"Blabber, blabber.... I like making a slobbery mess!"

You Might Be A Redneck

If...... you accidentally hit your mirror on another car and your husband tapes it back on! Yep - we're officially rednecks. I did it - there was this huge truck (like an F-950 or something, seriously) and while it received no damage, just my barely hitting its mirror in a narrow space knocked my mirror completely off. And since it was Christmas time and the dealer was booked - my husband thought.... let's duct tape it! Why - what a great idea! Oh, I'm always so proud to pull up in the carpool line in the truck! Need to get that fixed... it's on my list.

I Can Read

What an exciting few months as Preston has been really learning how to read! And although he's been able to read some for quite a while, he has really become a good reader these last couple of weeks. And he loves it; he's always very excited to read his books every night. Praises definitely go to his wonderful teacher, Mrs. Wonsang. She did not pressure them to read when they first started school - instead, she has been teaching them all the basics and skills so that they can all learn at their own pace. I'm telling you, helping Preston learn to read has really taught us how hard it is to learn English... words sound the same, but are spelled differently, or you've got one letter that can make like five different sounds - and then letters that sometimes make a sound, but are sometimes silent and are just stuck in a word for no good reason! Ha! But it has been great! He has an awesome class with still only 15 kids in the class! Preston still loves going to school every day and he especially loves working on the computers, going to the library and RECESS! Oh, yes - he loves recess, and has ruined three pairs of jeans already at recess... we'll add them to his tab!! Ha!

Our big Kindergartner also loves playing "Tic Tac Toe" and "Hangman" and really any game. He is still our little comedian and loves playing "cranks" on everyone and making people laugh (especially making himself laugh). Yep - he's normally laughing hysterically before he can finish the joke or prank because he's so cracked up with himself! He loves building Star Wars Legos, drawing, and he's really getting into music these days. He's gone back to saying that he wants to be a construction worker again, although "Rock Star" did come up too one day. Hee hee! He's also said Paleontologist for quite some time. We go in phases. And speaking of phases - we are officially out of the "little kid" TV shows. He doesn't want to watch any cartoons really except for SpongeBob. Instead, he enjoys "Drake & Josh", "Hannah Montana" and "The Crocodile Hunter". He loves the physical humor in the first two shows and then of course, he loves anything about animals - especially crocodiles, sharks and snakes.

Oh, and Preston also lost his 5th tooth this week and he's getting a new set of molars! So..... that's one boy with no teeth yet and another one that has already lost five!

And just a little cute story - after the Tooth Fairy gave Preston $3.00 for that tooth he decided that he wanted to take his $3.00 and spend it at school at the "toy cart". So, like a big kid he stuck his money in his pocket excited to spend his hard earned money! Well, then he came home that afternoon and still had $2.00 and no toys?!? So I asked him what he got at the toy cart? He said, well - we didn't get to stop at the cart today, so I'll buy something tomorrow. And so I asked him where he spent the $1.00? And he said - Mom, I gave $1.00 to Mason today (a friend from school). Mason is always really nice and I thought he deserved $1.00. So sweet. I'm always so proud of how generous and giving Preston is, even to strangers. So.... even though there are times where you feel like you're banging your head against the wall because your six year old just won't listen or is as stubborn as a mule, it's times like these that just make you smile because they truly are wonderful and inspiring.

Toby in the Tub

Oh, isn't this just the most pitiful face you've ever seen. He looks like the cat on Shrek with those big, sad eyes - please help, someone!

So Toby needed a bath and I just had to grab a shot of this sad dog.... "Oh, please Mom, I promise to never get dirty again if you promise to never give me a bath again." Ha! Oh the perils of being a dog... yea, right. What a life!

Happy Holidays From Our Family

Love To All!

Sweetie Pie

"Well, hello there! Where did you come from?"

This is my new favorite picture of Evan... he's growing too fast.

This one below is another favorite too... just trying to get some burpies out of Evan, we call this the "monkey boy". Just love his little head, you just want to rub all over it and "suck up the fountain of youth" as Erick would say!

Merry Christmas

"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:11

Well I can't believe Christmas has already come and gone. It was extra fast this year!

It was a little different I have to say because all of our decorations are in storage and even our stockings are packed away - so Santa couldn't fill them! But honestly, those are just small things... it was still a wonderful time and an awesome feeling to celebrate with our two healthy, amazing boys.

Every year we spend Christmas Eve with my family over at my Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob's house. It's an all day affair of eating, presents, playing, games and more eating! We get there around lunch time and hang out all day. There is always way too much food and way too many presents (you can see the way too many presents a few pictures below)! My Aunt Linda does a stocking for every single person there - all 25 of us. And of course, our boys were showered with wonderful gifts and love. We all love spending time with my family... Preston loves playing with his cousins and being quite the comedian around the family. Preston got all kinds of Star Wars stuff and Legos. And Evan got clothes and some neat toys he'll play with soon. I got a beautiful necklace from my Dad - a surprise, thank you Dad.

Here are some pictures of the whole family... can you tell we're a feisty bunch!?! We always take one good picture and one goofy picture... can you see Preston showing you his backside - nice... oh, we've taught him well.









After presents the boys were found outside playing a game of football and Preston was enjoying playing Nerf Dart Tag outside with his cousins. The weather was absolutely beautiful... we had to take off Preston's nice Christmas shirt because it was so warm! A Texas Christmas for sure! As some of the boys were outside, the rest of us were inside playing games as my family loves to do! We are all pretty competitive and love a good game - there's not a quiet moment in the house... good thing Evan has learned to sleep through it all.







This picture is Evan with his Popee (my Dad).

Christmas Eve night we came home and read a few of our favorite Christmas stories, left cookies for Santa and then it was off to bed!



As I'm sure everyone with young kids did... we woke up EARLY Christmas morning, and to a Star Wars Christmas! That is all Preston asked for from Santa and that is all Santa left... everything Star Wars - light sabers, characters, books, puzzles, toys... all Star Wars. And for Evan he left some books and a talking parrot for his pirate nursery!



After Santa, we spent a lazy morning playing games and hanging out in our pajamas. Then after lunch we got ready to go to the Bradleys for our traditional Christmas dinner with them. For several years now we have spent Christmas afternoon and evening with them and we all really look forward to just hanging out. The boys ran wild, we ate a yummy steak dinner and then the boys watched movies while the grown-ups played games and visited. Thank you Tasha for hosting Christmas for us again. The Bradleys are really like family to us and it's nice to just hang out and relax with no worries.





We hope that everyone had a blessed and memorable Christmas. We wish you a safe and prosperous 2008!

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." Luke 2:14

Baby's First Christmas

He is our sweetest and definitely best gift from God this Christmas - Evan. And our best gift from this newest addition - definitely the 7-9 hours of sleep every night - whoo hoo!

These are a few pictures from a photo session earlier this month... our Santa Baby, newest Aggie and All-American baby!

Our Dedication

"I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of Him. So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD." 1 Samuel 1:27-28 (This is the verse that we put on Evan's announcement, and it was the first verse that came to mind today.)

Today was a very special day. We dedicated Evan at our church today. Our sweet and wonderful pastor, Wayne, prayed over him as we promised to raise him according to God's word in front of our congregation. Evan's Godparents and Preston were there too and along with the congregation promised to help lead Evan to God in His time. Our friends, the Bradleys, also had their youngest son dedicated today. It was special to have them on stage and to pray for each other's children. Our oldest boys are so close... now we've just got a couple new boys to add a little extra joy (and noise!).

We pray that Evan will know Jesus at an early age and that he will grow into an inspiring man of God. We will do everything that we can to teach him and lead him.

We are so thankful and honored to be raising this beautiful boy.

Christmas Fun

Just wanted to share some of our pre-Christmas fun!

First, Preston sang in the children's choir at our church. They put on a really sweet Christmas program and we were so proud of Preston for learning the words and hand movements and having so much fun making a joyful noise! And just one week later Dad sang in the adult choir for a beautiful Christmas performance.



We are pretty involved in our church and are especially grateful for our church LifeGroup. There are 10 families in the group and we get together every other Sunday and study the bible and fellowship. It was hard to get a good picture (below)... but there are 20 adults and about 21 kids I believe - yea, it's crazy, but awesome. We have all become really close and we are a great support to one another. And the kids love playing together during our get togethers - they are all great friends. So for Christmas we had two "parties" for our LifeGroup. The first one was for the grown ups... we all found sitters and got together for a potluck and White Elephant game. It was such a fun time and I got to get rid of some of my old maternity pants for the White Elephant game! Ha ha! Sorry Darren! Then a couple weeks later we all got together again with the kids and sang Christmas carols, ate together and heard the story of the Christmas candy cane - very interesting by the way. These are very special memories for our family - and they really helped get us into the Christmas spirit.



Another tradition is getting the kids together from my MOMs group... there are 3 of us that have stayed really close... me, Sue and Kim - and together we have 7 kiddos that have all literally grown up together and are great friends. Us moms get together every month for our monthly moms' night, but with school and sports, work and everything else - the kids just don't get to see each other as much as we'd like! But for Christmas we are always sure to make time... so of course, they ran around like maniacs, opened their gifts... and we even had time to make a gingerbread house! I love these two families and couldn't imagine our lives without them. We have all made a pact to never move away!







So, we got season passes to Six Flags this year and we thought - let's go to Holiday In The Park! So we made plans and met the Bradleys out there for a fun evening at Six Flags.... well, I guess everyone else had the same idea because it was the most crowded that we had EVER seen Six Flags! It took us 45 minutes just to get in the park, and then once you were in you could barely navigate a stroller... craziness! So unfortunately, we left as quickly as we came and settled for a yummy nice dinner out. Maybe next year!



Another fun tradition every year is our "mall tour"... we try to make it around to all the malls to see the Christmas decorations! Stonebriar, Willow Bend, and especially the big tree and ice skating rink at The Galleria. They are all so beautiful during Christmas!

And even though he's not in all the pictures... Evan was definitely there for it all (just hanging out in the background sometimes.)

Thanks everyone for celebrating with us! Merry Christmas!

Who's Here?

WE would love to hear from anyone and everyone who is tuned in to our blog!! Please post us a comment so we know who's so kindly reading this exciting, flying by the seat of your pants blog! Oh, the suspense... what will happen next in the Cutler house?!? Stay tuned...

Okay, so I'm pretty sure your seat is still in your pants... so at the end of each blog you'll see " COMMENTS... and all you do is click on that and it will pull up a box for you to post a comment. It used to make you register with Blogger.com to post a comment, but I think I disabled that feature, so you should be able to just put a quick comment without registering. If you don't have a Google ID, just post your comment as a "nickname" or "anonymous" comment.

We'd love to hear what you have to say! Much love to any and all who are reading!