Likes and Dislikes

As Everett nears his ten month birthday at the end of this week, I thought I would post his "likes" and "dislikes" at this stage of his life.

Likes:

1. Standing- his # 1 for sure, he refuses to sit anywhere, always wants to stand!
2. Balloons
3. Animals/toys that talk to him
4. Having books read to him
5. Mommy and Daddy
6. Climbing the stairs
7. Chewing on anything electronic (tv remotes, blackberries, digital cameras)
8. His "Everett" stool

Dislikes:

1. Having his nose wiped!
2. Being held by a person other than mommy and daddy when mommy and daddy are in sight
3. Getting buckled into his car seat
4. Santa

And he's off!!

Well it was a long time in coming, but Everett is finally mobile!! On Halloween night Everett crawled for the very first time. He has such good form, don't you think? Here is a video of our little crawler. Love him to pieces.

Six Year Anniversary

Ben took me to the Sanderling Resort in Duck, North Carolina for our six year anniversary! Ben always does such an amazing job planning our anniversary trips. On past trips we have visited to Maine, the Northern Neck of VA, Miami, Spain and Hawaii. Of course our trips must be shorter these days, so we just took one day to celebrate and left Everett with his Grammy and Pap Pap for the night. We had a great time on our trip, got to go on a walk on the beach (the weather was amazing!), visit the spa, had a romantic dinner, a delicious breakfast and hit some of the local shops. With life being as busy as it is, I do not tell him enough, but every single day I am thankful for the amazing husband I married. I am so proud of the man that he is and the life he has provided for Everett and I. He truly is my best friend and I am so looking forward to all the things we have in store together. He always has a kind word to say or a helping hand to lend. And what I honestly like best about him is how much he loves me. I hope he knows how much I love him too. I am truly blessed in my marriage...sigh :)

Halloween 2008

We are not sure if Everett truly enjoyed his first Halloween, due in large part to his costume. I could not resist the elephant costume when I was browsing through a magazine a few months ago. Also, with it being election year and all, I figured why not? Well it turns out Everett does not like to wear anything on his head, let alone a big hat with huge ears and tusks and a long trunk. That however did not stop me from dressing him up and parading him all around town to various Halloween festivities. On Thursday night before Halloween, we went to the annual Taylor Halloween party. Wow have these parties changed from a few short years ago :) Now it is full of kids and everyone leaves for bedtime around 8! Everett did have a great time with his buddy Gabriel (the bat). On Halloween itself, I took Everett back to Cox Farms with my mom's group. We had a ton of fun and got to ride on a great hayride. Everett LOVED it. We also went into my work to show off his costume and then finished the night by handing out candy to the neighborhood kids. All in all, a great 1st Halloween. Here are some pictures!

Big Guy!

Well yesterday we confirmed what we have always known is true, Everett is a big boy! He had his nine month appointment yesterday (wow how time flies) and weighed in at 25lbs (95%) and is 29 3/4 in. long (90%). He was not too happy about his shots or his finger prick, but quickly got over it (he is easily distracted!). At least now I can feel better that it is not becuase I am super old that my back kills me after spending the day with him! Poor Grammy had to see a massage therapist three times after watching him for the weekend. We cannot believe how quickly the past nine months have gone. Everett has changed our life so much for the better, he is our joy and inspiration. We love seeing his shiny happy chubby face when we get him up in the morning. We look forward to what each coming day brings and we are so happy he is our little (I mean big) boy.

Pumpkin Patch 2008

We took Everett to his first pumpkin patch this weekend at Cox Farms in Centreville, Va. It was quite a production! We could not believe all the people there and all the fun things they had to do for kids (hay rides, goat world, corn mazes and slides galore). Everett had a great time and even let us dress him in his adorable elephant costume for a few minutes (he does NOT like the elephant hat!). Here are some pictures of our special little man-- the love of our life!

Let's Go....... Mountaineers!!

It is a requirement in order to be accepted in the Caldwell family to be a WVU football fan. With Grammy being the #1 WVU football fan in the continental states (heck, probably all 50 states), we knew that Everett had to get in on the action early. We took Everett to his first WVU game (well, technically not his first, he went in utero last season!) the first weekend in October. We had a great weekend, capped off by WVU's win over Rutgers, and got to spend a nice few days with Grammy, Pap Pap, Aunt Emily and Uncle Matt. Everett was under the weather the whole time, which was very sad (his first real cold), and he did not much like the game itself (too loud!), but we made it through halftime before nap time came calling. We told Everett he better get used to games in Morgantown, Grammy won't let him play ball for any other team. Here are some pictures from our fun weekend.