"Hands "...a moment of reflection

He stops and turns to wait for his brother-

The one with eyes of blue.

In a moment,an outstretched hand appears-

Eager to join, too.

The year old boy is on a mission

With an unsteady, but determined gait.

His chubby feet quickly pad across the floor..

Nothing can make him wait.

In a moment he has reached the goal, 

His brother with eyes of brown.

And without hesitation he grasps his hand, 

Like a lost treasure that's finally been found.

Together they enter a world of play-

Of race cars that will soon land the moon,

Of pirates that moonlight as mechanics

Who fix everything with a spoon.

Capes will soon be requested-

They're needed in the older boy's plan.

The superhero wants a sidekick

And deems the drooler a worthy man.

The tot has no words of protest-

No declaration of dismay.

Though he cannot form any words as of yet, 

This is what I think he would say...

"I know that I am little

And there are some things I cannot do.

But give me some time and meanwhile you'll find

I"ll always stick by you."

Legos are spied and the bases of airplanes

Quickly start to form.

One attempts to build the landing gear

But it soon meets its demise to the floor.

The older soon stops to assist

 His puzzled little friend.

And guides the eager little fingers

Till a jet engine is made in the end.

Deep concentration soon gives way to

Giddy bursts of glee.

They fall to a laughing heap on the floor-

Their joy is tangible to me.

I can imagine how things will be

A few years down the road.

The Hot Wheels will be put away-

And they'll have real ones of their own.

The eyes of brown will hold out his hand

And the younger will toss him the keys.

Then they'll disappear down the drive-

All cares fading away in the breeze.

I can hear their laughter now..

The sounds are deeper and grown.

Their faces may have traces of scruff.

And I'll wonder how time has flown.

For the moment, my fingertips can gently 

Graze the tops of little boys' heads

But I know there will come a time

When they'll look down at me instead.

The girls who before were deemed

Mere pawns in games of tag and play-

Now have the power to turn the boys' heads-

And make them forget what to say.

One of these days, that girl will come

And capture his racing heart.

He'll realize that she fulfills his dream

And he'll never want to be apart.

The doors swing open and there he blinks-

Staring at his bride.

The suited one with eyes of blue

Is standing at his side.

No words between the boys are spoken-

There is simply an outstretched hand.

He gives his brother the glittering ring

To place on top of her band.

And maybe there will be kids in store-

Eyes peering over their cribs..

Wanting to be just like their daddies..

Tiny hearts full of love within.

But for now, I have to focus 

On the more important task at hand..

For I'm playing the role of the villain

And my heroes have saved the land.

My castle is made of Lincoln Logs

And  their den is out of toys-

We all cheer for their bravery..

And I love-oh how I love these boys! 

Wyatt turned 3, Hayes is now 1...and I'm a terrible blogger!

Wow.  So, I realize my last post was when Hayes was 5 months old..and it's already been 2 weeks since we celebrated his 1st birthday.  (!)  Ugh!  Well..I won't inundate you with the exciting life happenings around here (most often I am laying on the floor assembling Hot Wheel tracks)..but here's just a glimpse of what's been going on...

Wyatt turned 3 on September 21...I can't believe it!  We had a fun day at the park with friends and had the theme of the party as "Under Construction".  And let me say, that my engineer husband pulled off lots of the party decor himself.  He was like MacGyver with the Play-Doo and toothpicks!

I love this stage where the boys are finally playing with each other and giving me some time to get things done!  The clouds have parted!!  I love that the boys are so different but each look so much like their dad or me.  Wyatt says he has "black" eyes like his Momma and that his skin is "brown"...unlike his brother who has "white" skin!  I am always getting comments from random strangers like.."He must look just like his dad"..when they see me with my blue eyed, blonde baby. 

Hayes turned 1 on December 1st..(!)  I can't believe it has already been a year since we barely made it to the hospital to welcome our 2nd boy into the world.  LOVE our Mr. Hayes!  Both boys love the new gift from Grandma and Grandpa!

And...to end this brief update....Wyatt has been really proud that he can write his name on his own!  He wanted me to take picture of the proof.

We Are Family...(cue song)

I was taking 5 month pics of Hayes and realized that Wyatt took his 5 month pics in the same outfit.  I had to compare and see if there were any similarities.  They definitely share the same kissable cheeks along with thick (and at times crazy) hair! 
                                                                         Wyatt 

 
                                                                          Hayes 

We rarely ever have a chance to take a pic of the four of us...someone is always down for a nap...but you can easily see which parent the boys look after.  I don't really see any resemblance between Hayes and me.  He is a complete clone of his dad.  I sure am crazy about my little guy!

Wyatt has the dark eyes and hair like his momma.  It's like I'm looking at a mini version of me!  I love this 2-1/2 yr old and his entertaining personality!

Matt and our boys -   I am immeasurably blessed to have these three boys in my life!  Truly can't ask for anything more.

3 months,RSV, and life

Yes..our little Hayes turned 3 months on the 1st...and also got RSV. It was horrible to hear such a little guy have such a terrible cough and I hated to see him sick. On top of that, Wyatt became sick and is currently on a 10 day antibiotic regimen. For a while there, I spent days without ever stepping outside, and it was driving me insane. Alas, we are getting better and there is light at the end of the tunnel..Phew!
Even though Hayes was sick, he still was in constant smiles! (Note: I didn't pose him like this...!)
There has to be motivation (usually in the form of Goldfish or a lollipop) for Wyatt to pose with his baby brother. I have to be quick with the camera and usually can only get one pic in. Wyatt is finally getting around to acknowledging that his baby brother exists. For the past few months, his method of coping with Hayes has been to ignore. It's been really cute lately to see Wyatt lean down to Hayes' eye level and show him his race car and then ask him if he needs to go to the hospital...(Every time we sit down to play with his race cars, aliens, dinosaurs, etc..one of them will inevitably need to go to the hospital at some point. One of their fellow alien/dinosaur friends will perform the operation..(which is usually to the head)..and then prescribe them a treatment of going to Subway for a roast beef sandwich.
Wyatt playing with his rocket ship. Notice that the robots are reclining on the upper floor. They are recovering from a traumatic head injury that was caused by a space truck falling on them.
Matt was reading from the airplane book at bedtime the other night, and both boys seemed to be transfixed!
Loves his baby!
I'll save another post for the little things that I want to remember and record about Hayes during his first year. There is one thing, though, that is huge and has helped me get back a piece of my sanity......
Hayes is sleeping through the night! (insert Hallelujah chorus, the clouds parting, etc.)
He goes to bed at 7pm at the latest and then wakes up around 6:30am. With Wyatt, I had to rock him to sleep for a long time and with this one, he is already out before I can even get a song in. Granted, he doesn't sleep much at all during the day...but I'll take a full night's sleep over not being able to get much done during the day.

Sittin' Pretty

So..Wyatt has been talking about using a potty for a while..but he doesn't really seem to want to try and instead likes to simply sit on his potty with his clothes on and just pretend that he's using it. He tears pretend toilet paper, makes a flushing sound, and even reminds me that he needs to wash his hands. I am proud that he has the hygienic aspect of it down..but I wonder if it's really necessary to wear my shiny flats while he's doing it. For some reason, he feels that in order to be privileged enough to sit on a throne, one must be dressed appropriately and have the shoes to match. What does it matter if they happen to be on backward?
In other news...Hayes turned 2 months on the 1st! I'm slowly getting more sleep and once I transitioned him to the crib a few days ago, he has been sleeping awesome at night...(8 hour chunk last night..and then went back to sleep for another 3 hours..!) He is super smiley and is always cooing and laughing. Don't let me fool you into thinking things always go smoothly. We still are having crying episodes every night and his naps during the day are becoming sporadic and not really consistent. I sure do love him, though!

Say Cheese!

I'm sure that most of your kids smiled at this age..but this is all new to me since Wyatt simply scowled for the first few months. It's the best thing..to have my little guy break out into a huge grin when I am talking to him. Even better is when his smile is accompanied by baby laughter.
His smile is also causing someone else to be more drawn to him. Wyatt usually chooses to simply ignore the baby, which is understandable. He doesn't want to hug it, give it any extra attention, or talk to it too much. Tonight, though, Hayes was in my lap and Wyatt was sitting next to me when Hayes broke out in smiles. I told Wyatt that Hayes was so happy that his big brother was with him, etc...I watched Wyatt and he immediately started smiling and couldn't take his eyes off of his little brother. It was one of the few times that Wyatt seemed to be interested in Hayes. When Hayes stopped his smiling session, Wyatt got closer to him, and eagerly whispered, "Again!"

Hayes is 1 month!

Wow!..I can't believe a month has already gone by since the whirlwind arrival of our little Hayes. I forgot about this period when Wyatt was a newborn...The days of when it's exciting if you ever can make it out of the house and get out of your pajamas and you feel on top of things if you are able to brush your teeth before 3 in the afternoon. But of course, he's definitely worth it!
Wyatt has been acting really sweet toward his little brother. Although many times, he chooses to ignore the latest addition to the household, I often catch him trying to give the baby a rattle or a pacifier. I think he's warming up to the idea of having a little one around.

Hayes David Evatt has arrived!

Our baby boy is here! Well, he actually was born on December 1st, but I am just now getting around to posting about it. We are over the moon about our latest bundle of love and feel tremendously blessed that we have another boy!

Fastest Labor...Ever!
Really. From my water breaking to Hayes being born was not even an hour and a half of time. Let me relay the short details of the craziness of that evening...
I hadn't had any contractions for a week or so and I was pretty confident that I wasn't going to go into labor until closer to my due date of December 15th. Well, Matt went to the grocery store on the evening of the 1st..and I was at home watching football..when all of a sudden...I heard this loud POP and then the unmistakable realization that my water had just broken. I mildly panicked and called Matt to tell him to come home NOW...and then I called my doctor. When I called Matt, it was 9:22pm.
We live in Socorro and my doctor is in Albuquerque..which is about an hour and a half away. I wanted to have the baby in Albuquerque since they have better facilities and I wanted my doctor to deliver Hayes. He had reassured me from the beginning that it wouldn't be a problem for me to make the trip to Albuquerque. I jokingly told him that I didn't want Matt to have to deliver the baby on the side of the road. When I called him after my water broke, he reassured me again that everything would be fine..and that we just needed to get on the road as soon as possible. He asked if I was having contractions, and I couldn't tell since I was starting to panic and didn't know if it was just my stomach in knots that I was feeling.
Matt arrived about 2 minutes after I called him and we hit the road after my friend came over to stay the night at the house with Wyatt (who had a mild fever). I don't even think 10 minutes had passed after Matt came home and we were able to leave.
The ENTIRE way to Albuquerque, I was definitely having contractions..but I was in complete denial about it. I kept thinking that the contractions should be a few minutes apart or something..but my contractions were mere seconds apart. I didn't say a word to Matt that I was having contractions, because I didn't want to believe it myself..and I didn't want him to get worried. But I did tell him at some point to please turn on his flashers and go faster. Matt started driving about 100mph after that. We made it to the hospital in record time.
*Note* I wasn't able to put on pants because my water was still leaking..so I was wrapped in towels in the car. Nice.*
Matt parked at the ER entrance and ran to get a wheelchair. As soon as I sat in the wheelchair, I was having excruciating pain. I still had towels wrapped around my lower half and was wearing a Siggie T-shirt that I had worn all day. We weren't sure where to go and I asked a nurse on her way out where we needed to go. She took one look at me wrapped in towels and whisked me away to the Labor/Delivery area. They asked me a bunch of questions at the admissions desk and I told them that I couldn't talk b/c the pain was so bad.
The nurse immediately wheeled me into a labor/delivery room and asked if I was needing to push. I realized that I did and she said to wait until my doctor arrived. She helped me onto the bed and I asked if there was any time for an epidural. She laughed and said that the head was "right there" and I was already dilated. The doctor comes in and asks again if I need to push. I do...and a few pushes later (along with blinding pain) Hayes arrived! I wasn't even able to get an IV. I was hoping for the cute family photo in the hospital where my hair is done and I have a glowing look about me...but our photo consists of me still in shock..with my T-shirt on that has holes in it from the dryer. Not quite the family photo that I imagined, but it definitely makes for an interesting story. Hayes David Evatt was born at 11:03pm at 7lbs 140z and 20-1/4 inches long. We love him so much! Wyatt is becoming a great big brother!
Wyatt and Hayes involved in a deep discussion.

Looks so much like Wyatt in this picture!
He definitely looks more like Matt!
Everyone is exhausted around here lately!

Seriously..he's a mini-Matt.

Slightly panicking!

So...I still need to post about Wyatt's 2nd b-day and Halloween, but I have other things on the brain at the moment. This is it...

My due date is December 15th..and things have been pretty crazy since we moved into our new house last week. There are boxes that still need to be unpacked and the nursery is still in a total disarray. Seriously...the crib just got put together and the mattress is still in it's packaging.

I wasn't too worried since my due date is about a month away and that seems like plenty of time to get things squared away. Well...I had an OB appt today and my doctor told me that he definitely doesn't think that I'll make it to the 15th. In fact, he said that he doesn't even think that I'll make it to December...(!!!). So, my original plan of driving to Abilene for Thanksgiving is out. The doctor thinks that I will go into labor fast and obviously doesn't want me to be stuck in the middle of nowhere without being able to get to a hospital. So..I am going to try to take it easy and try to curb this baby coming too early..but there is a MILLION things that I need/want to get done in his room...and I'm not the best about taking it easy and relaxing.

So anyone who has been in a similar situation where the doctor thought they would go into labor anytime..and they ended up having the kid weeks (plural) later....would be greatly appreciated!

Wyatt has some Big news to share!

Can you guess what it is?



Still wondering? Well, maybe actions speak louder than words...Although, I think my voice in the background probably gives it away.



That's right! Our family is growing and Baby Evatt #2 will be making their debut in mid December. It's a BOY!! We're super excited and Wyatt is already getting ready for his role of big brother, as you can see.

I still need to post updates on what we've been up to lately (our road trip to Idaho this summer for one thing)...but I'll get to those at some point!

Catching Up

So I know that Wyatt is almost 21 months, but I feel the need to go back and take note of his 18 month checkup stats. I have the exact numbers written in a notebook somewhere (for those of you that know me...this shouldn't be surprising)..but I know that he was 90th percentile for height, 55th for weight, and 75th for head circumference. I am sure that his days as the tall kid are numbered (take a look at his parents)..but it's still interesting to have people comment on his height all the time. They ask if his dad is exceptionally tall...(and there may be a few people in this town who wonder who his dad is..since Wyatt used to have the tendency to wave and yell "Daddy" to random strangers at the store...Literally, he would frantically wave and yell until the guy turned and looked..and then Wyatt would smile as if his mission was accomplished.) Some would call it cute...I just find it totally embarrassing.
A few weeks ago, we had a picnic with some friends up in the mountains, and the kids had a blast.
I won't post a bunch of pics from Easter b/c most people don't want to see them and then honestly, we couldn't keep our little man still long enough to get a good pic. We'll have to settle on an action shot. He was all business when it came to looking for the eggs.
He's also pretty serious about getting dirty and making messes. On this day, he was looking cool in his onesie and tennis shoes. He reminded me of the era of legwarmers and leotards...(All of his shorts were in the washer and I figured he can't pull of the onesie that much longer..so he better show it off while he can.) The filth is from the tires. He likes to label and point to everything at the moment. The point must have turned into a rub on this one.
The other night, I picked up Wyatt to do our nightly ritual of singing together and saying prayers. I started to feel his little hands gently pat and rub my back and I couldn't help but feel immensely blessed by this wonderful boy God had given to us. I later realized that he was simply coloring on the back of my shirt. I still feel blessed by him, but on his part, he was just trying to make my drab gray shirt a bit more colorful.
While Matt was on a business trip, Wyatt and I visited my parents in Texas for a long weekend. It's always good to come home. And I will say that that was the last time that I will have Wyatt as a lap child on the plane. I know I can squeeze a few more trips that way until he's 2..but it's absolutely miserable. Remember, Wyatt likes labeling things..and felt he HAD to touch the spiky hair of the man in front of us..while trying to loudly whisper/shout..."Hair!" I finally was able to distract him with the idea that he could play beauty shop with my hair for the first several minutes of the flight. No, I don't have pics...but again...he will have his own seat next time.

Anyways...Wyatt is still really into music and dancing to all kinds. My dad loves to sing and we found out that Wyatt likewise loves to dance to his songs. He has good taste!



We love Mr. Potato Head at our house!

The soccer field is a definite favorite! Wyatt is always trying to join in the games that are going on. Whenever a player runs by, he yells "Hi!" and waves. I think he is trying to make a good impression so maybe one day he will get called in.
And this happened just yesterday. I went inside to check on laundry for a second and when I came back outside, I found this....(Note: I had just filled with water..so I felt it was OK to take a quick pic before I explained that bowls were for dogs, etc..) This boy cracks me up!

And so it begins...

Let me start off by saying that as a child, the minor emergency clinic was a place that I visited often. There were the stitches in my lip from falling off of a horse. (The stitches went great with the bad perm that I had as a 3rd grader). The stitches I had to get in the back of my head were the result of my fantastic front flips into a pool gone awry. There was the black eye from a gymnastics incident, nerve damage in my arm from a Crack the Egg game on the trampoline..(I couldn't move my right arm for a few months...but it was all worth it when I was excused from P.E. and didn't have to do the chin up exercise competition that was going on and reveal to everyone that I could not do any..not one. I still think I am hindered in the chin up department..but I regress...

That being said..my husband is the opposite and has had a relatively accident free childhood with no stitches, or broken bones in his past....and I sometimes wonder who Wyatt is going to take after. Will Wyatt give us the same anxiety as I am sure I gave my parents a time or two..(or ten)?

Well, I think I received my answer about a month ago..(I know..I've been horrible about updating)..when Wyatt was running on the tile floor, slipped, and hit the front of his head on the leg of dining room table. A HUGE goose egg quickly came up and for the first time, I really panicked. After numerous calls and watching Wyatt like a hawk for anything out of the ordinary, my fears subsided and life went on.

Fast forward to 1 day later...and Wyatt is running on the same floor, slips at the same spot, but hits a different part of his head. Seriously?! This one wasn't as bad as the first, but it left a lovely bruise.

We took these the night of the 2nd incident.
Check out that profile..(!)

So I knew that Wyatt took after his Momma in the obvious things like his dark brown eyes...but I guess this could be the beginning of our little man taking after his mom in other ways.
Here we go!!

17 months already?!

OK..so my New Year's resolution to post more often hasn't started off so great. Here's hoping that my one entry a month streak will improve for the rest of the year.
So...here are some of the things that our big boy has been up to...

He absolutely LOVES anything with wheels...especially motorcycles. I don't know why, but he calls them 'googles'. He will see one drive by and he starts screaming and pointing..."GOOGLES!" He called bicycles by the same name..until this week. Now..he is saying things more clearly and saying "Sic-kle". I have to bring the 'Things that Go' book to church that has all the pics of cars, trucks, etc. He gets so excited about them though..that he starts getting so excited and wants to point at every wheel, etc. I try to quiet the storm until after a few seconds..his shouts of "Car" can't be quieted anymore. I am a regular in the Cry Room..since I get paged every Sunday when I try to leave him in the nursery. Anyone else out there have the same problem??

He likes to point and label the different parts of his and Mommy's face. He talks about the eyes, nose, etc. He was sitting on the bed after his morning nap one day last week and was going through the routine of pointing at my eyes...and saying "Eye!", etc...Well, I am not one of those envious people that has great skin all the time and I happened to have a blemish on my chin..and Wyatt almost seemed alarmed and kept pointing at it and threw his hands up in this questionable babble of.."What is that?!" I told him it was a Boo-Boo..and after a brief pause, he started to point at all of the Boo-Boos on my face... And laughing at the same time. Nice.

Right now he wakes up between 6:30 and 7:30am..and takes his first nap at 10:00am. I'm trying to take out his second nap (which he takes around 4:00) b/c it's so much easier for him to go down at night without it. Some days he's fine without, but other days (like today)..he is so cranky in the afternoon..that I give in.

He is wearing 18-24 months to size 2T in shirts and size 18-24 months in pants. I haven't taken his height or weight measurements in a few months, but the other kids at the park that I think or his same age...are always 5 or 6 months older.

His personality is coming out all the time. I like watching him on the playground with other kids and see him willingly share things with the others. I know there will probably come a day where I am constantly having to remind him to share, but for right now..everyone is his friend.

Matt and I both love it when we carry him and he will sometime gently pat our backs with his hands. He doesn't do it all the time, but we absolutely melt when he does.

He loves these ABC flashcards that have a picture on each side that begin with the same letter. I wasn't surprised that his favorite is the U card with the unicycle on one side..but I was surprised to see that the girl on the G card instantly brings a grin to Wyatt's face..and sometimes the unicycle is dropped and the girl is his new best friend. He likes the ladies and likes to wave at most of them that we encounter at the grocery store, restaurant..everywhere. If his wave doesn't get a reaction, he yells..."Hiiii!"...and then if they pass silently down the aisle without a glance, he shouts with determination...."Byyyyyeeee!"...hoping to get a reaction. When they finally nod or smile, he turns to me and grins with such pride in his pick up skills.


What can I say? The boy loves to play with sticks..or in this case a broken branch. If it doesn't pose some sort of risk, he's not interested. Lucky me.
Wyatt loves to play guitar with Daddy.

So..Wyatt got into my bag of things from college and pulled out a hat from a Siggie rush. The boy loves hats and always puts it on when he goes outside.