Flashback (again)

Because we started this blog when Kellan was about 7 months old, and because I was once again reminiscing as I sorted through some old photos, I thought I'd post a few from the "early days". Just for fun.

This scan was from our first "non-emergency" ultrasound. He's sucking his thumb. Funny because in real life he has never been a thumb or finger sucker, though he can out-nurse any three year old I know!



My last day of work. Just over a week before Kel was born. It was supposed to be three weeks, but didn't turn out that way...



So much for that all natural water birth. Induction due to pre-eclampsia. At least I'm still smiling!



Our brand new baby boy. There are some better photos from his very first moments, but I'm afraid that my insistence on immediate nursing and skin to skin contact means that they are a bit x-rated for the blog.





These come quite a bit later on. A random assortment of Kellan and his early admirers. Here he is meeting his Uncle Patrick (Nic's younger brother) and Aunt Janet for the first time.



Kellan and his godfather, Alan.



Kellan being manhandled by an assortment of my friends at the pub. This was just before he completely lost it. Poor Chris didn't know what to do!



Kellan and Paul. His real dad. Come on. Everybody knew.




Ok, just kidding. Here's the real thing.



Kellan meets Auntie Amanda (my younger sister) for the first time. Happy days.



Hanging out with the family up north.




I'm not entirely sure that Kellan's obsession with trains could have been helped. Here we are using our infant son as an excuse to go on the Teddy Bear Picnic railway outing!




Another ride on another train. This time with Auntie.



Some random cute shots. This is Kellan at exactly one month of age.


Kellan's first Easter. Our own little Tony Soprano!





The changing mat was mysteriously the background for quite a few photos...






The family visiting us in Gloucester. Kellan was three months old.



A few more random happy Kellan shots. It was fun seeing these again.

At the zoo

These were taken last week during a visit to our local zoo.

Last weekend we celebrated Nic's 50th in Chicago. Wonderful weekend all around. We went to Lincoln Park Zoo, Navy Pier, the Morton Arboretum, the Shedd Aquarium, and lots more. The highlight of the trip for the boys was attending their first White Sox game. As Kellan calls them, "My Sox". They beat the Yankees in the culmination of a fabulous day of birthday celebrations. (No photos due to the fact that my camera eats batteries and I wasn't willing to cart a dead camera and accessories around Chicago for twelve hours each day in the hopes that I may have captured one or two fun moments prior to BOTH sets of batteries meeting an early demise. I NEED a new camera!)

Fun with mommy's new car

A future career in car sales? Or modeling!





A beauty, no? The new Toyota Yaris. You won't find gas mileage like this anywhere else. And, for the price, you'd have to drive your Prius for about 30 years before you broke even. Not to mention the true environmental costs of a hybrid vehicle. Its not all in the fuel consumption! Nic will be driving the trusty Hyundai from here on out. This one is ALL mine!

Summer Haircut

This is a haircut with a story, but a story that does not bear recounting in full. Simply imagine the clippers, the neckline hair that you trim into a nice straight line, and the three year old who suddenly doesn't want you anywhere near him with those same clippers, throwing his head backwards with a resounding scream. Get the picture? The horror of that bald stripe going up the back of his head. What to do? The "haircut store" was requested by the boy and quite frankly, for at least the next year, the "haircut store" shall have my money when he needs a trim.

He did need his summer "buzz cut", but the bald head was a step further than we usually take it. But hey, its kind of cute and fuzzy. It reminds me of his infancy and that year of total baldness. It is going to put my mother in law right over the edge. She hates anything other than long 1970s style waves. Still, it grows fast, and until then, he doesn't have lice, he isn't a hooligan, and, honestly, its starting to grow on me...

Sleeping Beauty

Flying Kites on Mother's Day

We spent all of last Sunday (Mother's Day) outside at my request. Nic wonders if I have a problem, like an actual house phobia. If the weather is nice, you won't catch me indoors for days on end. My answer is simply to see the post below. It is called "being from California". I grew up outside. My mom, being from the UK, refused to let us in the house on a nice day: "Its too nice to be inside" was her year round motto. And only now that I have lived in other parts of the world can I truly understand her need to treasure every moment of a perfect sunny day. They are to be enjoyed. Outside. There are enough awful housebound months in this place to drive a person mad. Nic might argue that I'm already there.

And so, on Mother's Day, we flew kites and played at the park, went to the zoo and hung out in the backyard. Anything that didn't involve being in the house. And it was lovely.

If only his dreams were a reality...

Kellan flying his plane to San Diego. He was in the middle of the beverage service when I took this photo. Notice the red cup.





Kellan talking about being up in the "AA airplane" (we always fly American!) on his way to San Diego. Notice the t-shirt. I'm not sure that I can place all of the blame on his three year old imagination. We definitely have two hearts in the household who are better suited to sunny southwest climes. I am a Californian by birth. Kellan is a Californian because he's just a darn smart kid. Now, how do we turn the third Evans to our enlightened point of view?

Chatting on the "Phone"

In these photos, Kellan is chatting on the phone about the tickets that he needs for his upcoming trip to San Diego. Which we actually need to book in the coming weeks, but we generally do that online. Though, if booking via toy telephone means that we can pay with toy money, I'm all for it!

Flashback

I was going through some old photos on the computer recently and uncovered the ultimate in flashbacks. A couple that I scanned in years ago just in case something were to happen to the originals. Especially the mini-kilt, I worry about something "happening" to that one!

Behold the young Nicolas Evans. 50 next month. The little boy who grew up to be my loving husband and Kellan's loving father. Most of the time!







Click on the montage for a larger image. The younger boy in a couple of the photos is Nic's brother, Patrick.

Ah, Springtime...

I am seriously in need of a decent camera. Seriously. Honey, are you listening?