Changes...

I was looking at old pictures and am sad Evangeline's long tongue disappeared in at the end of May (when her first teeth started popping up).

We don't see this kind of tongue action any more :(

So sad...

But yay for cute new teeth :)

We do have fun...

So I am bad at blogging. Life has really felt crazy and someone (whose name starts with a J) started complaining that our blog has turned into a monthly post of Evangeline. And it has. Oops. To show that we do have fun as an entire family here is a photo dump of May activities...

We went to Salinas and visited a cute organic farm ironically called, "The Farm". 

 Evie LOVED looking at all the animals...

 It had huge cardboard cut outs and they have cute kid activities. I definitely want to go back when they have a tractor ride :)

 We also went to Monterey...

 And Evie laughed at Mama the whole time we walked down the street.

 And Evie got people on the street laughing too :)

Yay for family fun!

6 months older and wiser too...

So I wrote this when she turned six months but I never posted it. Things have been a little crazy over here during the month of June.

On June 3rd, 2012 Evie Mae turned six months.

 

I can’t believe it’s been six months already! I just try to enjoy every little moment I have with Evangeline because I just know it will go by way too fast. I’ve just loved having my little baby with me all the time.

This month has been full of changes and our baby girl just getting bigger by the day.

In May Miss Evie Mae:

- got to eat homemade pear baby food and sweet potato baby food (pears where definitely her favorite)

- she thinks she is ready to eat with a spoon, so I let her try (and watch her carefully) but usually it ends up with the spoon flicking food all over her face

- her poopy diapers started being spread out to one every three days but now she’s back to two sometimes three in a day (we’re hoping this doesn’t last)

- she still can get upset really fast (like she’s done since birth). She is very skilled at going from 0 to 60 in a matter of seconds and sticks out the bumper lip first ALWAYS.

- she learned that she didn’t have to eat every time she woke up and would still go back to sleep when Mama would lay with her in bed.

- had a stuffy nose that made it hard for her to sleep

- Mama was still enjoying “the family bed” with Miss Evie (it was especially nice when she had a stuffy nose and had a hard time sleeping)

- she was still waking up every hour or hour and a half until we went to bed at 10 or 11 and then she could sleep well with us for a couple hours and sometimes three hours.

- learned to fall asleep on Mother’s Day after being given Eskimo kisses

- LOVES snuggling with Mama before she goes to sleep

- LOVES cuddling with Mommy and Daddy in their bed

- still starts getting sleepy and yawns when she hears me sing her bedtime song “Rurru”

- we started sleep training again after her stuffy nose was gone completely and it worked! Hooray! We just found that the faded extinction method was the right fit for her.

- decided she’d make kissing sounds at Grammy and Papa Chris

- began giving Eskimo kisses

- started reaching for Mama and Dada when she wanted to get picked up (either when she was unhappy or scared). Once it happened when I turned the bathtub facet on with her in the tub. She was so scared she kept reaching both arms up towards me to get her out of there!

- perfected her page turning skills on board books and does it in one smooth motion

- LOVES reading, especially non-fiction books with real photographs (this was new this month)

- her favorite songs that calm her down are “I Love to See the Temple” and “Love is Spoken here”; she also likes the Kindermusik songs “Boom Pa-Pa Tango Cha-cha” and “Dance a Baby Diddy” and “1,2 Tie My Shoes”

- her favorite toys now are whatever Mama and Dada have in their hands

- she still likes doing whatever Mama and Dada are doing

- she is still a talker and very loud, but by the end of this month she started babbling saying, “la la la” and “da da da da”

- she has gotten better at riding in the car and will sit in the back by herself just talking away to herself

- she loves to blow raspberries still and still gets herself soaking wet

- she still licks everything and loves sticking her tongue out as far as she can, which is pretty far (it passes her chin a little…apparently she got Daddy’s tongue)

- Papa Chris calls her a “little toad” but Daddy prefers to call her a “froggie” because of her tongue

- she has gone to lots of places in CA in the car like Napa, Sonoma, Ukiah, Jamestown, Colombia, and Sonora

- she still laughs all the time but LOVES when Mama just says “boo” to her in silly voices (especially when she’s not expecting it and she jumps when I say it)

- she also laughs hard when Mama pretends to walk away without looking at her and then jumps around and scares her (especially in her swing)

- she started becoming interested in bath toys and will play games and laugh with Mama during bath time

- LOVES tags on all toys after her Aunt Hannah gave her a Tagable toy car that is her new favorite toy

- has gotten very good at object permanence and seems to understand when I’m hiding behind a blanket that I’m still there

- has learned a lot more about cause and effect and can push the magnets on her game to hear the animal sounds

- continued teething but was less whinny sounding

- loved using Mama’s Camelbak water bottle spout as a teether (I could never take a sip without her wanting a sip)

- her first tooth came through the last week of May

- LOVES playing any game with Daddy because he always makes her laugh

- she gets so excited and kick, kick, kicks her legs when Daddy finally comes home to see her

- she still kicks her legs like crazy when she is happy and still swings her legs when we swing her in the air (it is so cute – like she is saying, “Wee”)

-still loves being naked right before her bath (she squeals once her diaper is off still)

- stayed up past her bedtime and saw the 75^th Anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge fireworks show (thanks to Daddy who talked Mommy into it). It was amazing and we were all grateful Daddy said it’d be okay to stay up late because she loved her first firework show. The best was when the fireworks fell off the bridge like a waterfall. Those were our favorites.

- learned to sit without falling over this month and by the end of the month she didn’t even need to lean forward to keep from falling

- she never used her arms to sit up, which always looked funny as she’d topple/roll over – arms tucked in tight beside her sides

- LOVES sitting more than laying on her tummy now

- had her first trip to the library (Noe Valley) and LOVED touching all the non-board books (of course)

I have LOVED my special time with Evangeline this month, but we are excited to start the new phases in our life with her (that hopefully include more sleep :) )

 

We love you Miss Evie Mae and we are so happy you were born :)

5 Months

Our Little Miss Evie Mae turned 5 months on May 3rd...

 She is our favorite little girl ever and we love her more and more everyday.

I'll post more pictures soon from her photo shoot on her five month b-day with more details of what we've been up to in April...

Evangeline we are so grateful you came to be a part of our family!

Four months older and wiser too...

So on April 3rd Evie Mae turned 4 months.
It was definitely a day to remember for her...

Evangeline woke up with a cough and stuffy nose. Poor girl had the worst night sleep the night before too. So that day...oh that day for her was rough. We literally waltzed around our front room to Brahms' Waltz in A flat to help her get her mind off her troubles. She loves dancing and it worked like a charm. We worked on our counting, "1,2,3 1, 2,3" and our opposites "Down, Up, Up," but my favorite memory of that day is just being cheek to cheek with my baby girl and knowing that just for a moment I was helping her. It was pretty magical and it's one of those moments I hope I dream about later. Do you ever have fond memories that you dream about again? I love it when that happens. I hope this memory comes back to me again in a dream. So sweet.



Before the sickness really hit, the day hadn't started off so bad and I thought Evangeline could handle a picture shoot. She did fine, but I realized it was a little too early (bad lighting as you can see).

But it was a good thing I snapped a few because by the time we had perfect lighting, we did not have a perfectly happy baby.

The rest of the day consisted of Evangeline having a hard time napping (20 minutes at most), which resulted in me finally deciding to hold her while she napped. She was able to sleep for 2 hours while I held her. Poor baby.

Here was take two from the next day when she felt better...
p.s. - I'd done laundry so don't worry she's not wearing a dirty shirt :) It's just such a cute shirt from Grammy!

This month Evangeline has...

been grabbing EVERYTHING!

And look at her tongue in the picture below...
She still is licking everything!

She's grabs my plates and pulls them towards her, my hair, my face (this is her favorite right now - she reaches up and touches my mouth), strings on her hats or other people's sweatshirts, and toys.

Evangeline figured out how to pull the handle on her bouncer and is delighted to hear that music plays when she pulls it. We'd been showing her at the beginning of the month how she could grab it, but Evie had never done it on her own. It scared us the first time she did it because all of a sudden the music started playing while Jeff and I were talking, ha ha. It was so fun to realize that she'd figured it out on her own.

And on the day she turned four months, she decided she was a big girl. She even grabbed my big hospital water mug by its handle and held the other side with her other hand. It was precious. She'd seen me drink out it and noticed the straw going to my mouth, so I handed it to her and she totally took it :) She sure thinks she's a big girl now!

Evangeline loves...

- her lion toy that Aunt Hannah gave her and it still is the must have in the car for car rides (she can even fall asleep in the car when someone shakes it for a while)
- her Sweet Pea baby in a pea pod Natalie gave her...she doesn't care for the pod (which surprised me because I thought it'd be a hit since it's lime green) but loves holding onto the baby
- still loves her doggie rattle from Grandma Rainy
- found a knew love for her animal blankies this month, especially her caterpillar one from Grammy's friend. The day after she'd turned 3 months that caterpillar was her best friend
- doesn't mind tummy time if she can stare at the warning label in her pack and play
- loves touching her Mama's face when she looks at her upside down in the crib :)
- LOVES being rocked to sleep as her mama is singing to her (and she even sings along...it is so precious and sounds sooo sooo sweet
- LOVES talking to herself when she is "alone" (in her car seat when I'm driving, in her crib, in her swing, or when she is laying in the middle of our bed)
- still LOVES Kindermusik lessons with her mama
- loves when you hold her above your head and smile at her - it makes her belly laugh and giggle and giggle
- LOVES looking in the mirror at herself when you are holding her and will just smile and smile
- is still bashful when people smile at her and she'll smile and turn her head away - it is sooo cute!
- LOVES, LOVES, LOVES (I can't say it enough) this Kindermusik song called "This is my dance." I can just say the chorus that starts off saying "Boom pa pa Boom pa pa Tango cha cha..." and it can calm her down almost instantly in car rides, at home...seriously, she loves it. Now Dad on the other hand...let's just say it's probably his least favorite song ever. And what a lucky guy, he gets to hear it ALL the time.
- she kicks up her legs and swings them side to side when I lift her high in the air as we dance to "This is my dance"...so cute!
- has gotten really good at sitting in her Bumbo for longer periods of time (instead of slumping to suck and lick the sides), but within the last couple weeks has started getting a little crazy in the Bumbo. She basically tries to jump out. It's wild...
- also has gotten wild in her bouncer and tries to roll out of it (even though she's strapped in) within the last week too
- she is pretty good at recognizing her name when Mommy or Daddy call her and will look up at us
- LOVES playing with her bestie, Eden, who comes to our house to see Evie each week now.
- started wearing her Fuzzibuns this month (non-disposable diapers)
- now only has 1 poopy diaper a day and sometimes only has one every other day
- naps only about four maybe five times a day for 30-40 mins (usually on 30)
- has started wearing bibs a lot at home (like her cousin Kaden) because she's been a "happy spitter" lately and has been drooling a lot more.
- has lost almost all of her hair this month :(
- has a pretty good concept of turn taking in conversations with Mama and Daddy
- LOVES when we kiss her belly or blow raspberries on it
- LOVES when we kiss her feet
- LOVES cuddly and will nuzzle and rub her face on Mama when she's tired
- she LOVES her toys on her Little Einstein exersaucer and finally figured out that she can touch the bottom (for a while she'd just try to hang - silly girl). This is brand new and happened a day or two before she turned four months.
- graduated from her bear bassinet to the next level in her crib/pack n' play the first week of March
- she ROLLED over! I had been working on rolling over with her for a while. At tummy time in her crib and on our bed, I'd show her how her body could roll. In the middle of March, I was showing her and when I put her on her tummy she rolled right onto her back almost immediately. I was so excited, but I could never get her to do it again when Jeff was there. Because it was such an isolated event, I decided maybe it didn't count. But then conference weekend, I'd put her on her tummy in her crib and went to grab something. I heard her make a noise and I walked back in to see what happened, and she was on her back! I got so excited I flipped her over and after a few seconds she rolled right back over onto her back. The next day at tummy time, she did it again. Twice in a row! She was a rollin' machine :)

She really is such a special, sweet little baby.
And this month we learned that even more.

I was really sick for four days this month. It was bad...really bad. I got way too dehydrated (even though I was drinking 70 oz of water a day)...it was so crazy. I got so scared my milk was drying up and poor Evangeline would just start getting frustrated when she ate because the usual amount (if anything) just wasn't flowing. Thank goodness for IVs! We all hope we don't have to relive that experience. But because of that experience, we learned how sweet our Evie really is :) Jeff has been studying for the boards, so when it was his spring break and I got sick, he still had to study. Evangeline is used to being with me all day, so she'd get sick of Jeff holding her while he looked at flash cards. Jeff would bring her to me and Evangeline would just lay in bed with me for hours and talk to me and look at me, which she would NEVER be willing to do normally. She'd get way too bored. This sweet girl was so willing to just lay with me so we could be together. What a cutie!

Happy four months baby girl!
We love having you in our family and you make our lives better every day you are here.