"mmmmmmmmmhhh".....the sweet sound I hear as my lil' angel, Evan comes toward me for a kiss......love it, every single second of it, especially when even when he forgets to close his mouth and it is slobbery.  This is Evan's newest "word". 

He is getting so expressive.  Chris and I are eating it up!  His "favorite" word right now is "uh-oh" after he has catapulted something across the room or overboard.  We are having a time  fun trying to teach him that "it is not an 'uh-oh' when you throw something, Evan." 

Today, when Chris came home from work at lunch, Evan looked up at him and said "my dada"....so clearly, it melted Chris' heart!

Evan is scooting ALL over the place and FAST, it is amazing!! It is very interesting to Chris and I that we have babies that don't crawl, just scoot on their bottoms....I guess they prefer to face the world upright and head-on....I admire what that can mean!

Weaning.......not as methodical as it was the first time....with Brady I knew I was going to nurse until he turned one or it didn't work out for all involved anymore, whatever came first.  With that in mind, things worked out fine so I planned on wrapping it up at one when it is "safe" to replace breast milk and/or formula with cow's milk.  I gave my body one week for each of the four feedings he had at that point to adjust and dry up so I would not be in pain or get an infection or anything.  With four feedings, I started a month before Brady turned one...dropping one feeding per week.  I nursed him the last time the morning of his one-year-old wellness check-up, which was the day after his birthday, then discussed introducing milk with his pediatrician and we did it that afternoon and DONE...nursing was over....methodical, neat, orderly, just like I LOVE things and with no resistance from Brady!  I went into the arena of breastfeeding with Evan with the same mindset...."if it ain't broke, don't fix it", right?  Feeding has gone wonderfully with Evan, no formula needed.  He eats whole food GREAT!!!  I did not start the weaning process 4 weeks out as planned for a variety of reasons, things going on, etc. but I did start 2 weeks out thinking: we will end up about 2 weeks past turning one, big woop!  I dropped the afternoon (after nap) feeding first, gave it a week.  Then I dropped the late morning (after morning nap) feeding, gave it a week.  This was going fine..he was turning one and I had two feedings to drop....after dinner/before bed and first thing in the morning.  First thing in the morning feeding was going to be last.  Just as I was planning to drop the before bed feeding he started having a REALLY hard time with not nursing after he woke up from his afternoon nap....he would cry, like REAL TEARS not just fussing, and dive his head toward my chest with his mouth open, so sadly.  It broke my heart...this was new to me....too sad for me.  I thought he was just hungry as he was used to eating at this time of day so I increased his snack, that didn't change anything.  He sat in his high chair eating while crying with tears streaming down his face looking at me so sadly....it was like I was rejecting him or something.  I decided to nurse him after afternoon nap in place of the bedtime feeding...it is working.  It is still just two times per day and it is not associated with sleeping, since it is the two times per day when he wakes up...in the a.m. and after nap, this is good for later weaning...not needing nursing or ME to sleep.  He eats whole food so well that he seems to get plenty to eat at dinner to sleep fine at night and still sleep his 12 hours per night.  So for now, at one year and 2 weeks old, he is still nursing two times per day.  This is not exactly what I planned - "Many are the plans of a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails" Proverbs 19:21 - but it appears to be what he needs right now and it is not harming him, myself, or others in my family so I am still "doing my job" here in the Stidham household!  There is something sweet about him needing that special time with just his mommy still, I must admit!

BRADY MAC finished his first year of school......I can not believe it.  Tuesday was his last day of school - the 25th - and we all went up there for a picnic outside his school with his class.  It was fun but hard to believe his first year is already over...what a quick 9 months that was!  Our very first summer vacation is here...so many fun things in mind for summer.  Last night Chris gave Brady his "summer cut"...we did it last year for the first time.  It makes him look so "grown" to me...he is so handsome!!!