Amy and I just returned from a GREAT trip to southern California for a friend’s wedding (Amy's college roommate Traci) and a couple extra days of R&R. We were blessed to have Grandma Karyn, Aunt Casey and Aunt Grace come to Louisville to take care of (and spoil) Evan while we were off gallivanting around the wine country.

We flew out to Los Angeles very early on Thursday morning. Evan stayed the night with Gramma and Papa since our morning started out around 4:00 am. As usual, Amy slept most of the flights out there. I took the opportunity to catch up on newspaper and magazine articles (no laptops on this trip). We actually landed at LAX around noon local time. We rented a little Jeep SUV and headed north on the six-lane Interstate (ugh).

Santa Barbara was beautiful and sunny! Amy had booked us a room at the Hotel Santa Barbara, right in the middle of the downtown shops and restaurants. We took advantage of the location and hit the streets for a little window shopping and happy hour bar specials. We managed to tip our glass at three different establishments before the night was over. We had an excellent dinner at Seagrass Restaurant and finished out the evening with a calorific helping of ice cream from Cold Stone. Yum!!

We packed a full day of activities in on Friday, including coffee on the road, a beautiful 3-mile canyon hike, lunch at a 100+ year stagecoach stop, two wine tastings, cheese/wine shopping and even cleaned up in time to make the outdoor rehearsal barbeque. Thank God for internet planning, Google maps, cell phones, the GPS unit and a little impromptu flexibility.

Traci and Jeff did an amazing job planning the perfect wedding weekend. The entire resort was rented out to wedding guests and family. The setting for the wedding was picture perfect and the weather seriously could not have been any better. Traci and Jeff are blessed to have such wonderful family and friends (present company included) to surround them and take part in such a special event.

Amy and I had a small little cabin to ourselves at El Capitan Canyon Resort. We enjoyed sleeping with the windows open and snuggling down under the blankets by morning. My liver is still recovering from the endless flow of wine and my bathroom scale is not talking to me now because of the dietary impact from my overindulgence of rich foods. Still, I greatly needed a break from the diet routine and loved every minute of our vacation.

Thanks to great family and cell phone pictures, we were never too far away from Evan and knew that he was in trusting hands (even for the late night emergency room visit and the dinner next to Mohammed Ali). That said, it was a wonderful feeling to get home to our little man (except when I almost knocked Amy over trying to beat her in the door). We missed him a ton! I’m ready for another vacation, but it might be a while before we are ready to leave Evan behind again.

Growing Boy!

Evan recently passed his 7 month milestone and is doing great! At his 6 month doctor checkup he weighed 15 lbs (30th percentile – little peanut!) and is 24 inches long (50th percentile). Doc says he’s fantastic (ok, those are mom’s words)!

E started daycare in early February. He’s getting the hang of it and seems to like it, although he has decided to boycott naps. He only gets about an hour’s worth (total!) of naps a day. They try but he just won’t go to sleep. Guess there is just too much new fun stuff to check out. He’s also gotten his share of the daycare germs already – has had a runny nose (among other things) since about day 1. Oh well, guess it comes with the territory. Brad and I sure realize how easy we had it with Gramma watching him every day!

He’s getting to be such a big boy. He’s rolling all over the place now and is starting to figure out how to scoot a little bit and maybe even trying to figure out how to get up on his knees. It’s pretty cute watching him try to figure it out. Looks like he’s analyzing his form and trying to remember what he sees his friends at day care doing! He’s sitting up like a champ too – almost doesn’t need any support behind him. He has adopted a cute little dance too that looks like he’s doing the jive with his head. Definitely his mommy’s boy! He’s eating all kinds of fruits and veggies now – the latest is asparagus and cauliflower. He’ll eat just about anything but would take any fruit in a heartbeat – and you can’t give him the fruit too early in the meal or he’ll cry if you try to give him the veggies. Little stinker!

Brad and I are having a blast and enjoying every minute!

First Day at Day Care

Evan officially started day care this past Thursday. We have been blessed the past 3 months to have his grandmother watch him during the week. However, now that he's becoming a big boy, it is time for him to start going to "school".

Amy did a great job preparing Evan for day care. Everything has been labeled and tagged with his name (kind of like the military). Extra diapers and wipes have been purchased and delivered to the little shelf with his name on it.

Amy was also very strong when we had to leave him in the classroom for the first time. Evan, on the other hand, was completely fascinated by all of the new toys and sounds. I'm not sure that he even noticed when we left the room. According to his report card (and the redness in his eyes), his naps have been a little limited these first few days.

Mr. Big Boy

Evan is rapidly becoming a big boy these days. He is no longer content with just lying on his back and rolling around. Now he prefers to sit up like his big cousin and play with toys. This farm animal piano thing is one of his favorites.

Everyone tells us that they grow up fast. I am starting to believe them now. After a week away, my little baby is now my little boy.

Holidays and Milestones!

It’s been a fast and furious couple of months in the Keller house. Brad and I had a blast celebrating our first Christmas with Evan. I think we now have more toys than Toys R Us, but hopefully they’ll last him a while. We did a lot of celebrating over the holidays this year – from hosting our first Christmas Eve dinner in our new house, to a road trip to Illinois for a visit with the Henderson/Ferguson families, to yet another road trip to Ohio for a visit with the Ault/Parris families over New Years. That was all in a little over a week! Evan was quite the trooper and handled all of the travel and being away from his bed very well.

On top of all of that, we were blessed to celebrate Evan’s Baptism last weekend and made all of our family come back for yet another round of visits and celebrating. The weekend was fantastic and Evan’s celebration, which happened to coincide with the Baptism of our Lord, was truly special. He looked dashing in his baptismal gown, which was hand sewn for him by his Great Grandma Earl. (I had to promise Brad that it would be the last time I made E wear a dress). We are so thankful that everyone could join us.

Evan is growing by leaps and bounds too! He seems to have hit several milestones lately. He has just crossed the hurdle of rolling over onto his tummy (although so far he can’t figure out what to do from there and gets frustrated so we have to help him flip back over). He’s eating tons of veggies and is starting on fruits. He wasn’t sure about them at first but he’s catching on. He’s also sitting up much better and loves to “stand up” on his legs. He thinks he’s pretty cool with his new perspective on the world. Our big boy will be 6 months old next week – we can’t believe it!