Christmas!

Wow. Let me tell you, when you work for a church, have a sick nine month old, are dealing with 6 inches of snow, planning on moving the church, trying to figure out a trip to the East Coast, and only have one car-Christmas is thrilling and magical but at the same time crazy busy and a lot of work. I love Christmas and I'm one of those weird people who actually like it in part because of the busyness, but this year is one for the record books. There were so many issues surrounding me, threatening to overwhelm me, it took a couple of good conversations with close friends, some much needed tears, and a lot of prayer to keep bringing me back to reality-this is not about me and it is definitely not under my control. As I sat and watched my kids (and by my kids I mean the 20+ children that I worked with for our church Christmas Eve service) I felt such a sense of peace and honor to know that I was part of something bigger than myself. It's so easy to go through life focused on yourself and what you're dealing with. You let it define and control you. When really the events that surround us are not who we are, rather they are part of God's plan to reveal who He is-through us. There is no plan B. Where I am now is where I am meant to be. Years ago I learned this lesson in the hardest way possible. And much of the time when life is very stressful I am able to look back at that lesson and the truth learned carries me through whatever I am facing. Sometimes though I need a few extra reminders, which was the case during the last several days days. While talking with a friend I was reminded of the story behind the famous hymn, It Is Well With My Soul (find story here: http://christianmusic.suite101.com/article.cfm/hymn_it_is_well_with_my_soul ). Years ago a friend of mine and I used to say to each other, "This isn't what I thought my life would be like." I think many of us can say that at some point in our lives. The problem with that thought is that if you think it once it quickly becomes a mantra that poisons your perspective. It's like a cancer that grows over your eyes only far more dangerous than any other cancer, this one kills your soul. It's scary to me that after learning that lesson once in such a painful way, it still only takes me a few days of doubt and feeling ungrateful to bring me right back to where I was 6 years ago. Fortunately the reverse is true and once I refocus on who God is, not who I am, and the amazing blessings I have, not what expectations aren't being met, I am healed. Healed of doubt and fear, healed of frustration and stress. My physical realities were all still there, but as my friend reminded me there are many good ones to be thankful for. Yes, I worked a lot of hours this last week, including many on Christmas Eve, but I was also honored and grateful to be part of helping children encounter Jesus. And it thrills me to have been a part of their Christmas memories, ones I hope they will treasure forever. We had a great visit with family afterwards, not necessarily family that I am physically related to, but family nonetheless. Yes Evelyn was sick (still is) and that resulted in loss of sleep, stress, and a canceled trip to see family. But she wasn't as bad as she could have been, she still was in great spirits and I think she had a wonderful Christmas. She certainly liked eating the bows off her presents! It was so much fun to give her stockings and packages and watch her play with them. I loved eating Dutch Baby Pancake with her on Christmas morning, continuing the tradition that Bard and I started, and nothing was better than visiting with friends and family all day-watching as she was loved by everyone. The last few days we have spent relaxing together as a family and I am so grateful for this time. As I look back on the week, I can see all the ways God cared for me. There are lots of meanings to Christmas, but this year I think the true meaning of Christmas for me is the blessing of being grateful. Grateful for what I have been given and grateful for what I have not been given. I guess what I have learned is that when we start to pick and choose what we are grateful for, we lose the whole beauty of being grateful. And I can truly say, I am grateful.

Evelyn with Baby Doll on Christmas

Childhood Staples!

Yes it's been snowing, not sure how impressed Evelyn is, but she sure looks cute!

So in the last few weeks Evelyn has eaten two childhood staples-mac n cheese and a grilled cheese sandwich. Many of you know that cheese is the ultimate comfort for me, if all I had were cheese and brownies, life would be so good. So I had a fun time making cheese dishes for her, especially because I enjoyed them both so much when I was a kid. However, these cheese dishes are very different from the ones I ate! First of all, I always wanted "the blue box", yeah, you know the one! I did eat mac and cheese out of a blue box, but it was Albertsons store brand blue box, not "The" blue box. And that always drove me crazy! Bard can attest to the fact that sometimes even now I'll actually buy a box of Kraft mac n cheese and eat it-even knowing that I'm probably not eating real cheese but some chemical conglomeration! And yes, my mom did make home made mac n cheese, but of course I didn't like it. Sheesh, chemicals taste good! ; ) Anyway, Evelyn eats healthier than anyone I know (Bard and myself included) so for her mac n cheese I had organic whole wheat pasta that I mixed with some shredded (Tillamook of course) cheddar cheese and breast milk. Just like the blue box, right?! She was pretty fascinated by the noodles and I'm not sure how much she ate, but it was fun for me.

The next week we tried a grilled cheese sandwich (of course she eats maybe a quarter of it) and she loved it! I haven't made it for her since then and probably won't for a while cause she can be getting her protein and carbs without all that butter-in fact it was the first time she ate butter! But I had fun because I ate grilled cheese sandwiches all the time when I was prego. I didn't crave them, they were just the only thing that sounded good. So it was pretty funny to see how much she liked it!

Feeding her overall is fun because it's interesting to try new things. So far she seems to be the unpickiest child ever. I can mix anything together-chicken, peas, carrots, and applesauce, and she'll eat it! She hasn't turned anything down yet and I'm trying to add more and more to what she eats. Lately I've been adding seasonings-cinnamon on applesauce, oregano or garlic on chicken because I read that one reason why children may only like bland food is that that is all they have when they're babies. Makes sense. She doesn't ever have things with added sugar or salt, but there are a lot of fun flavors out there that we can try. If my dad has his way, I'm sure she'll be enjoying food seasoned with red pepper flakes before I know it!

Cue our favorite whooshing sound, it's Evelyn's back story!

Evelyn has started making some fun sounds lately (yes, one of them has to do with LOST for all you smarty fanatics out there, I’ll get to that in a minute!)

The one that really cracks me up is her growling. She did this quite a while ago but then stopped. For whatever reason she has picked it up again and loves to just sit on the floor playing and growl. What is hilarious is that her cousin Henry was pretty infamous for his growling. So we figure it is a Collier gene, which will come as a surprise to no one.

She also now likes saying “Oh.” Except she doesn’t just say it short like that, she drags it out, “Ohhhhhhh.” She is very serious and it’s just as if she is taking in everything around her!

Last week I was reading my friend’s blog and she has twins who are a few weeks older than Evelyn. She was commenting on how her daughter said “duck” the other day and now loves to say it all the time. I thought that was so odd and random, and really pretty impressive. So imagine my surprise when a few days ago as I was changing Evelyn, clear as a bell, she said “duck”! Weird. She hasn’t said it since then, but it was unmistakable. So, all my linguist and speech therapy friends, is that some common sound formation? I don’t think she has ever seen a duck and she doesn’t have any duck toys, so the word has no meaning to her, but it sure was strange! What are the odds of that? Peer pressure starts young I guess. ; )

But by far her favorite of favorites is a whooshing sound that she makes all the time. It kind of sounds like Darth Vader breathing but without the “kuh” sound. If that makes sense to you, congrats, you’re weird like me. What it REALLY sounds like is the whooshing sound from LOST before they go into one of the character's back stories. Now, if you have no idea what I’m talking about, stop right now, go watch the first 4 seasons of the best TV show ever and then come finish this blog. Okay. What is so funny is that I had never seen this show until after she was born and people kept recommending it to me to watch while she was nursing (you have a lot of time where you’re just sitting and can’t do anything. I also read over 100 books during 5 months so don’t think you can give me a hard time!) You can watch LOST free online so I figured I would give it a try. I was hooked immediately and watched all four seasons in a very short period of time. Seriously, it is so good! You guys know that Bard and I watch barely any TV and it’s kind of funny cause our friends are always talking about shows and we have no clue what is going on, but this one is a keeper. Anyway, naturally since I was nursing her, she was right there with me and heard all the sounds (if you want to debate whether or not this is good parenting, please send me an email, but only if you have nursed a baby for nine months or more). The whooshing sound is pretty common and I am absolutely convinced that she learned it from LOST! You might think that would dismay me, and no, we don’t plan on letting her watch TV for quite a while and even then it will be pretty limited (our family TV spent most it’s time in a closet which I hated then but now think was pretty good). But I’m ecstatic! Yes, the show is just that good : ) By the way, if you’re not doing anything January 21st, we’re having a kick-island party, so let me know if you want to come! Sorry Chris, this was another long blog, but you gotta admit, it was worth it!

Houston, we have a tooth!

Yep, it finally happened! Every day I stick my finger in Evelyn's mouth (much to her dismay) to feel if anything is there. And yesterday there was! She has just the tip of a tooth on the bottom right side. I'm sure she'll be ready for steak in no time! I'll let you know about nursing. . .

Happy 8 Months Evelyn!

Milestones

Evelyn has gone through some fun milestones during the past few weeks and I wanted to share them with you. I also just posted a bunch more pictures, which I hadn't done in a while, those are on the lnk to the right.

The first that I need to talk about, obviously, is Thanksgiving. To be honest, Thanksgiving has never been one of my favorite holidays. I know, I know : ) Maybe it's because I'm not a huge fan of turkey. Maybe it's because I'm a huge fan of Christmas and so I'm too focused on what's coming next. Either way I've never been very excited about it. But this year was different. Even though she won't remember her first Thanksgiving and even though she actually had chicken for lunch, and even though she slept through the actual Thanksgiving dinner, it was still a great milestone! Experiencing her first Thanksgiving really made me think back to last year's Thanksgiving and ponder (yes, ponder-that's my East Coast husband influencing me) all the amazing changes since Thanksgiving 2007. I have so much to be thankful for and I think most of all I am grateful that Evelyn spent her first Thanksgiving, as I'm sure she will many to come, surrounded by friends and family who love her. We started off the day at out church's annual Turkey Bowl-watching Bard play flag football and hanging out with friends in the cold, drinking yumminess from those pretty red cups. We went over to Josh and Latisha's house, visited with more friends and family and ate great food while seemingly dozens of babies and toddlers ran around looking cute. We said goodbye to my parents, who even in the midst of this chaos are flying to Mumbai and then taking a train into the country to help impovershed children. And then we stayed up late, like the die hards we are, watching LOST at Josh and Latisha's house, which is one of our favorite weekly rituals. All in all it was a wonderful day and I am so thankful that Evy will grow up with so many amazing people supporting her and us. We are blessed.

But this is way too short for one of my blogs, so we can't end here!

Another milestone took place about week or so ago. As many of you have seen, when Evelyn gets excited she often flaps her arms up and down, looking of course, like a little birdie. So the first couple times she just used one arm I didn't think too much of it. But soon I realized that she was waving! She loves to wave now and will wave back at you if you wave at her. When she is in the car she can see herself in a little mirror that is hung on the seat in front of her and she has lots of fun smiling and waving at the super cute baby waving back at her! She gets very excited with everyone's enthusiastic response and the first few days that she waved I just about screamed (okay I did scream) every time which of course resulted in lots more waving! Now, you may think that this is only blog worthy due to the cuteness factor, but actually it's the smart factor! According to those who know, Evelyn is waving early, by at least 2 months! Yes, that's right, she is a genius. At the same time she has mastered the fine art of clapping. Unlike a while ago when I posted that she was clapping and missing her hands half the time, she now has it down and claps whenever I say "Yay!" or copies me as I clap. So between waving and clapping we have quite the aerobic work out. : )

Sleepover!

Friday night cousin Henry came over and we had a sleepover. Henry is 9 months older than Evelyn and they are really starting to be interested in one another. Evelyn watches Henry and shrieks with laughter at whatever he does. Henry gives Evelyn toys and then takes them back, which oddly, doesn't bother her! We had a fun time playing, it was a very busy time, I'm not sure what I did, but all the sudden it was over. : ) They both love reading the Very Hungry Caterpillar, so enjoy the video-it's probably the cutest one ever made!

I guess I'm a mom

I've now done two mom things that really bothered me when I would witness them in other moms. And, let's be clear, they still bother me!

A couple of weeks ago I started realizing that Evelyn did not have very many clothes. This seemed odd to me since her closet and dresser were full of clothes. Well, I finally went through all those clothes, packing away the ones she had grown out of, and sure enough, it was slim pickins! This bothered me on several levels. One, as you know, I hate packing away her clothes because it means she will never wear them again and that she is growing up so fast. But besides that, of course this meant I needed to get her more clothes. Now, do we have the money for that expenditure? Of course not! And it's right before Christmas! And I hadn't thought that I would need to buy her clothes for her first year. Well that is hardly the first thing I've been wrong about since becoming a mom, but it's kind of a pricey mistake. You may not realize this, but baby clothes are often more expensive than adult clothes. Which seems rather absurd when you think that they only last three months. But here we are. So I decided to go to this little consignment store. I had bought a few things there for her before, when I needed a few pieces for Halloween. It's a nice store, but I had kind of envisioned buying my daughter clothes for the first time in a slightly different way. It's odd really, whenever I'm at any store and see little girls clothes, I can hardly resist buying some, which does not bode well for the future if I'm having a hard time saying no to new clothes before she is even asking me herself! Anyway, I bought her several cute outfits, all in great condition and she looks adorable. Getting to what bothered me. I really need new clothes! You would not even believe it if I told you how old some of my clothes are! I can't remember the last time I bought new clothes-not counting maternity clothes cause I really don't feel like wearing those anymore. But I had to spend money on clothes for her, so no clothes for me. Over the past years I've talked with several moms who have complained about that very same issue. And I always thought that would be miserable and not really a sacrfice I would want to make. But here we are.

On a lighter, but just as shallow note, Evelyn has started eating table foods. This is fun, slightly hilarious, convenient, and very messy! She has little pieces of bread or rice cakes and manages to get them to her mouth, where they mostly stay. She still keeps her little fists clenched most of the time, so it's lots of fun when I open her hand after feeding her and find a piece of bread that she has been squishing for ten minutes. Now, something you may not know about me, but I hate discarded food. Loading dishes grosses me out and I really hate touching food that's left over. I've worked with kids most my life and I've always thought that part was just, well yucky. I've always seen moms wiping food off their baby's faces with their hands, picking up food that's been chewed, and cleaning up barely recognizable, partially eaten, mush. I would watch them and just be grossed out and never want to do that myself. So of course I was more than a little surprised to find myself picking up half chewed pieces of toast and throwing them away, with barely a sigh.

Hmmm. . .this seems like a good blog to print out and read to her when she is older and mouthing off!

More!!

Okay, so get yourself a cup of coffee and settle down for another marathon blog!

We've been practicing signing with Evelyn and yesterday she started signing back! When I'm feeding her, before I go to give her another bite, I say "more" two times while doing the sign with her hands. When we were having dinner she signed more in between bites. At first I thought it was a fluke, so I tested her by pausing longer in between bites. Each time she repeated the sign! She is clearly a genius : )

Speaking of dinner, it's so fun now cause she is really eating a lot of different kinds of food. She had turkey for the first time yesterday, getting ready for her Thanksgiving of course! She is eating lots of finger foods-cheerios, bananas, corn bread, and rice cakes. She also has had some rice and baked potatoes and loved it. It's really nice because now we can start giving her some of what we're eating for dinner, which makes mealtimes more fun and family oriented. Still no signs of teeth but she gums her food just fine!

Another new development is that she is standing holding on to furniture or her crib now. She started this last month, not pulling herself up yet, but she is able to balance there without my help. She still doesn't seem to have much interest in crawling-the average age babies start is about 8-9 months, so we'll see. . .

A big change in our daily routine is Bard's new job. Many of you know that after five years at World Vision, Bard just began a new job for a local company called Noteworld. We're hoping that this is a good move both for Bard professionally-as he returns to finances and market research (his second love, behind me and the baby!) and good for us as a family because it means less travel. However, it also means he is no longer working from home three days a week. That means no quick trips to Target for me while Evelyn is taking a nap and Bard is working. No more calls for a hand with diaper changing or lunch time. It also of course means that she is seeing him less because he leaves right after she wakes up in the morning and gets home at about 5-5:30. So that is hard too, but I think overall it will be a very good move for us.

Partly because of that change, Evelyn is coming to dance more with me on Fridays. She had come with me a few times before, but many times I left her at home with Bard. Much to the delight of the 6-10 year olds I teach, I bring her with me every week. She loves it and sits during class, watching and talking to the girls. She is so fascinated when the music is on and they are moving around. And they spoil her rotten (like everyone!) by falling all over themselves to get near her and play with her. They love offering helpful hints like telling me that I should have brought her binky or saying that she wants her bottle if she makes the slightest fuss. What is it about 8 year old girls that make them instinctive mothers??!!

One other fun development before I let you return to your life : ) is her favorite books. In an earlier post I wrote that the first book I ever read her was the classic, Brown Bear Brown Bear by Eric Carle. It is now her favorite! She responds differently when I read it to her, quieting down faster, sitting still, and smiling as I turn each page. She also shows disappointment when I'm done-resulting in me reading it two or three times in a row. In fact, I walk around the house with the rhythm of the book repeating itself in my head!

That's all for now, off to load the dishwasher and do a load of laundry!

Amazing Love

I’m forgiven because You were forsaken,
I’m accepted, You were condemned.
I am alive and well, Your spirit is within me,
Because You died and rose again.

Amazing love, How can it be
That You, my King, would die for me?
Amazing love, I know it’s true.
It’s my joy to honor You,
In all I do, I honor You.

I’m forgiven because You were forsaken,
I’m accepted, You were condemned.
I am alive and well, Your spirit is within me,
Because You died and rose again.

You are my King, Jesus You are my King
You are my King

Amazing love, How can it be
That You, my King, would die for me?
Amazing love,I know it’s true.
It’s my joy to honor You,
In all I do, I honor You.

The Election for Baby

Goodbye Mr Kitty

Well, as some of you already know, yesterday we had to put our kitty, Kona, to sleep. I got this cat from my aunt over five years ago and he was a wonderful pet. The first year I had him was the worst year of my life but through it all my little kitty was always there for me. He was never the regular cat-anti social and never around. Whenever I came home he would always run to the door and greet me. Whatever room I was in, he was there too. In fact, he was a little too close to me, the reason he was declawed was that he would climb up my legs and hang from my skirt or pants as I walked around the kitchen getting ready. He ruined three skirts and two pairs of pants that way! If people were over, he was always in the thick of things, jumping up on people's laps and even trying to steal their food like a dog! And every night he curled up on my bed and slept with me.

When Bard started coming around, he wasn't so sure of him. But Bard won him over and soon Kona would curl up in his lap too. My pregnancy was hard on him because he couldn't sleep on my lap and Bard didn't want him on my side of the bed because of the whole cat disease thing. Kona would just try and try until we finally had to kick him out. Poor cat, it's not like it got better after we brought Evelyn home! For the most part he was not impressed with our decision to have a baby! He pretty much steered clear of her and still was not happy that she took up my lap. But after a while he got my lap back and started sleeping with me again, so all was good.

I'm sad when I open the front door and don't have to watch for him to shoot outside. I miss him jumping up from a sleeping position, tearing around the room and then laying back down again. I wish he would run up to the door one more time when I come home, and I wouldn't even mind hearing his incessant meowing as he begs to be fed!

I wish he would have lived longer so that Evelyn would be able to remember him, but we have pictures to show her. And I'm sure we'll get another cat, and even a dog if she begs her father enough! I think it's great for kids to have pets growing up. It provides companionship and teaches responsibility, and then there is that whole great thing about animals and unconditional love. I'm sure whatever pet we have next, Evelyn will love and play with, and dress up in little hats and dresses.

Goodbye Mr Kitty, we love you and you'll always be part of our family.

Happy Seven Months Little Ballerina!

Fun Firsts

So yesterday was our church's Annual Fall Harvest Festival. It was a long day for me because I am in charge of this event, but it was also very fun because for the first time I was able to experience it with my own child. Everything went great from the professional side-we had tons of kids, bounce houses, carnival booths, cotton candy and more. It takes over 70 volunteers to put on this event and everyone had a great time, yay! And from the personal side it was so fun to be there with Evy, Bard had her try golfing at one of the booths and was disgusted when she put the club in her mouth. She was a trooper, being there for two hours getting a bit tired and cranky here and there but like the ham she is, always lighting up with a smile and cooing every time someone paid attention to her. Which of course was all evening! All in all it was a fun event, one that we'll do every year and I can't wait to see her toddling around next year (dressed as a ballerina) and playing the games the year after that (dressed as a ballerina!) Plenty of kodak moments! This is just one picture, of us with Amy and Asher, we have another party on Friday at a friend's house, so I'll post all the pictures then.

She had a couple of fun other firsts this weekend. She has always stood really well, bearing weight on her legs - while holding my hands of course - since she was just about a month old. This weekend she stood holding onto something else, by herself, for the first time! She can hold on to her crib and can stand holding on to the couch by herself too. Now, she can't pull herself up to it on her own yet, since she seems to have no desire to move around! But it's still pretty cute to see her standing there!

Also, she is learning to clap, which is hilarious. I'll clap with her, saying "Yay!" or doing pattycake. And then she'll clap after I let go of her hands. She has done it a few times on her own too. What is hysterical is how focused she is. Half the time she misses her hands or they're turned sideways. She'll just look at them, studying them with this serious expression on her face. You can almost see the wheels turning as she learns that she can control her body with her mind. Yes, the force is strong with this one.

Reaching, Cloth, and Other Baby Info

So I forgot to share the sweetest event that happened on our trip to Cali last month. On our flight down, we took turns holding Evelyn, and towards the end of the flight when she was awake, she started to get a little wriggly. She was about to eat and Bard was holding her, she was squirming around in his arms and I turned toward her and was talking to her when all the sudden she leaned toward me and reached out her arms for me to take her. It's the first time she has ever reached for me! It was such a sweet moment (although I think it made Bard a little sad!) I felt connected with her and it was as if she knew, trusted, that I would reach right back and hold her. I know as she gets older she'll reach for me many times and I will respond with open arms. I also know that she'll go through times of not reaching for me, and in fact reaching away. During those times (let's guess from age 14-18) I want to hold on to this memory and pray that I will always enjoy a beautiful relationship with my daughter.

Okay, now to do a complete subject change. Today, I put my baby in cloth diapers. Yup, she is green ; ) As many of you know, we had been planning to put her in cloth at three months but she was such a poopy baby I couldn't do it! Well, her super pooper days seem to be behind us so we ordered a diaper delivery service last week. I think I'll use the service for at least the first few months and then buy my own. So today I was all excited as I changed her into her first cloth diaper. Now I was just a little less excited 2 hours later when I changed her and she was poopy. That's my daughter! I was even less excited a few hours later when she was poopy again and let's just say I was cranky, cranky, cranky when she was poppy a third time by then end of the day. That's my daughter.

So today when Bard and I were eating lunch we were talking about, of course, politics. You would think we would be sick of the election, and we are, but we still like to make fun of the candidates. How can we help it when they give us so much good material? So Bard was asking Evelyn who she was going to vote for and he answered for her (she is not talking just yet!) saying that she would vote for Obama because she was young and young people vote for Obama. As quick as me I said no, she would vote for McCain because she was bald and bald people vote for McCain.

!

I know : )

And yes, I did just write "as quick as me."

Anyway, I have Evelyn's Halloween costume-she is going to be a baby ballerina! Original huh?! I wasn't sure but I was chatting with a few dance teachers I work with and they were so excited about the idea that I caught their enthusiasm! I got her costume together last Friday and I have to say she is possible the cutest thing ever. Ever. No, we're not taking her trick or treating but our church has a Harvest Festival this Sunday that yours truly is in charge of so we'll dress her up for that. Look out for some cute pictures on Monday!

The Weirdest Sight Ever

Okay, so sorry if this is too much info, but it's just so funny I have to share! Besides, you all have read about everything from poop to breast feeding, so I guess there are no holds barred!

So, a couple of months ago I was taking a shower and I look up and see my two month old baby peering down at me. What?! Well, as many of you know, we have a clawfoot tub so the shower curtain hangs from a metal bar that is suspended from the ceiling and they are high ceilings so there is probably a good three feet of space between the top of the curtain and the ceiling. Still, a newborn baby head looking over the top while gripping the shower curtain bar with her tiny baby hands is quite unexpected! Of course Bard was holding her up, she is impressive, but not that impressive! Anyway, this has become a regular occurrence now, because every time I see her little face peering over the shower curtain I just crack up, it's so funny.

Now yes, this picture was staged, but I just had to do it, I'm telling you, it's hilarious. You should all try it with your babies sometime!

The Pumpkin Patch

I think I need to write about something happy since the last blog was a bit of a rant. So, I'll tell you about today, because we went to the pumpkin patch! I'm not quite sure of the point of taking a 6 month old to a pumpkin patch, other than of course the obvious cute photo opportunities, but we had fun : ) Evelyn was very solemn the whole time, which is unlike her, and made both Bard and I laugh. We think she was just talking everything in since so much was new to her. She looked at the goats, the chickens, and especially liked picking peas and flowers. Which was alright because this is a local farm and you can just go there and pick the produce. I liked going to this particular farm-they are organic and locally owned-because when I used to teach Montessori I would take my class there on a field trip. Now I was able to take my own child! We sat her in the pumpkin patch with a pumpkin and looked like idiots for several minutes while we tried to get her to look at us for a picture. She would have nothing to do with us and only wanted to chew on the pumpkin stem. Which of course Bard thought was a little gross and I figured it was fine ; ) Afterward we went and bought some produce, she is going to try some avocado tomorrow! The day was gorgeous, sunny and close to 60 but with that crisp fall air. All in all it was a fun time.

Catch Up, Part Three. . .Three Doctors

Oh my gosh. I don't even know what happened to the last week, it's all a blur! So after we got home from Cali Thursday night, Evelyn was still pretty stuffed up, but slept well that night. Friday she was okay, but Friday night was awful, she was up all night : ( So, Saturday morning since she had been sick nine days, I decided to call the Dr. They said that was pretty long since she is so little, so they had me bring her in. Then, I couldn't believe it, but the Dr said she had an ear infection! I hated it. I've tried to make all these good choices to help her stay healthy and not get sick, and of course it was our choice to fly knowing that put her at greater risk for an infection, but still, I was pretty frustrated. So, we were both out of sorts all day. She had to go on antibiotics which was even more sad for me cause I don't like the idea of her being on medicine when she is so little. We kept her pretty much quarantined for several days, figuring that the rest would help. She had her 6 month appointment in the midst of this, which I attended by myself for the first time since Bard couldn't take off work. I decided I like it better when he is there! But by Wednesday she didn't seem better, and in fact was acting worse! She was up all night, cried when she took her bottle (sucking puts pressure on her ears which hurts) and was constantly pulling at her poor little ear. So, I called the Dr again. They told me to bring her in Thursday morning, so we went in the middle of her nap time. She was a trooper though and stayed fine up until about 9:45 (45 minutes after she normally goes down) then she started to lose it a bit and fell asleep in my arms five minutes before the Doctor came in to check her out. Thankfully the Dr said both her ears were looking good and that she was probably extra sensitive because our weather just changed and the pressure drop hurts their ears, especially when they already have an infection. Who would have thought? She also told us to try giving her ibuprofen-she is just now old enough-because that is anti inflammatory and helps better than just tylenol. At this point my desire for some peace and rest (and for my daughter to feel better!) is outweighing my discomfort at giving her more drugs. She did pretty well the rest of the day, but was definitely fussy in the evening, so we tried the ibuprofen when we put her down. I don't know if it worked or not-she still woke up, but not as much as before. Still, four times is four times too many! I don't know what I'm going to do if I don't get a good night's sleep again, it seems like this has been going on forever. (Kind of like this blog!) Anyway, it's now Friday, she has been on the medicine for almost a week. I figure I'll give her til Sunday night and if she is still waking up I'm going to lock myself downstairs and sleep where I can't here her and just see what happens. Doesn't it seem like everything happens at once? Both Bard and I have a ton of job stress, she has been sick, fussy, and not sleeping, which means I'm not sleeping, which means all other stress is compounded. What a viscous circle. Oh well, at least I don't bank at Wachovia or have life insurance through AIG : )

Catch Up, Part Two

Okay, so here is part two of my marathon blog catch up! See below if you want to read part one, which I know you do because who wouldn't want to read about Evelyn?!

As some of you know, a week ago Wednesday we made the last minute decision to fly down to California. We knew it would be a very crazy whirlwind of four days preparing to fly with a 6 month old, taking time off our jobs, and getting the house ready, but we figured we could get through it. So the first day after we bought our tickets, she came down with a cold. I couldn't believe it, I'm exclusively breast feeding-she is not supposed to get sick! but get sick she did and by Friday morning I was on the phone with the nurse to ask about flying with her being stuffed up. The nurse said it would increase her chance of getting an ear infection, but if she was nursing or taking a bottle during take off and landing, she should be fine. So we went on-after putting a humidifier in her room, elevating the head of her crib so she wasn't flat on her back, and beginning the daily ritual of sucking mucus out of her nose-an experience that is less than pleasurable.

The next day the cat got sick. Now some of you know that I've had this cat for years and got him during a hard time in my life so I'm pretty attached to him. You also may know that he seems to like to get urinary tract infections at the most inconvenient times. So, Bard went down to the basement to get his carrier so we could take him to the vet. And discovered that the washer had broke and flooded our basement. I know. I had a huge work training the next day that I was trying to get ready for, and we were flying out in two days. Bard also had a very stressful work situation come up and we were both trying to deal with that added pressure. Fortunately after a laugh and a cry with some good friends, I was reminded that with Christ I am "more than a conqueror" (Romans 8:37) and that I may be "hard pressed on every side, but not crushed" (2 Corinthians 4:8). So, we went on.

The training went well, I had left at 8:30am on Sunday morning, got home around 5pm and then started to get everything ready to fly out the next morning. Josh picked us up and we got to the airport without a hitch. Everything went well and Evelyn did great on the airplane. The flight attendants loved her and she slept well at the airport and on the plane, taking a bottle for take off and landing. Whew! Although, I do have one little poop story for you! So halfway through the flight I took her back to change her diaper. Which is fun to do in the world's smallest bathroom. She was a little poopy, which was fine. I cleaned her, put a new diaper on and stood her up to go back to our seats. She promptly spit up on me and the bathroom floor (it is not easy to bend over in a tiny bathroom while holding a squirmy grabby six month old). I cleaned that up, stood up again, and heard the unmistakable sound that tells me we have another poopy diaper to change. She smiled at me. The funniest thing is that my mom has very similar story about me potty training on an airplane. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. . .

Our first afternoon in Californian she did fine, she met her Aunt Genevieve and Grandpa David for the first time. She also got to see Grandee (Bard's mom) again and meet Grandpa Steve. Then came nighttime. She woke up absolutely screaming. I can't remember her ever waking up like that and by the time Bard and I got her calmed down, we were exhausted. Unfortunately for me she proceeded to wake up ever few hours for the remainder of the night. Morning came and I felt like I had been run over by a train. How did I do this for weeks after she was born? Unfortunately again, Bard had to go into the California office that day. The poor little thing was just not herself all day. On the plus side, she is so mellow and good natured that it was probably hard to tell that she didn't feel well. But I know my little girl normally smiles and laughs at everything, talks up a storm and generally has enough energy to solve our dependency on foreign oil (oops a little politics popping in there!) She had her first ferry ride, which normally would have fascinated her, but she was pretty quiet. I know, no daughter of mine is normally quiet! She also didn't nap as well, which was too bad for me cause I could have used a nap!

However, by evening she seemed to be doing better and we had a family dinner with Grandpa Steve's two daughters, who both have children just a little older than Evelyn. So that was nice and I had high hopes about sleeping Tuesday night! She did great and Wednesday was much more her normal self. Still pretty stuffy, but in general happy and chatty like normal. The weather was beautiful and she especially enjoyed nice walks with Grandee where she tried very had to put all sorts of pretty leaves and flowers in her mouth. She also became friends with Grandee's and Aunt Gen's dogs, which I think was her first time ever seeing a dog. She wanted very much to grab and poke them!

Wednesday we had dinner with Grandpa David, Bard's Dad, as well as Evelyn's great grandmother (Great Gam) and Aunt Gloria, Aunt Susan, Uncle Kevin and cousin Hobie, who were all seeing Evelyn for the first time. And we discovered something. Evelyn Joy can work the crowd. (Yes I can hear all of your smart aleck comments about where she got that from!) We sat her down at the table and she just went to town. She looked around at everyone, smiling, laughing, and squealing with joy! It was hilarious. Bard and I just looked at each other and said, "uh oh!"

The next day we were able to have just a bit more time visiting with family before flying out. Everything went fine at the airport but as we settled in our seats, I smelled something rather disturbing. I asked the flight attendant if I had time to change her. She said and I quote "Well, we're trying to get going but if you want me to hold the flight I will." I know. Now, as many of you know I don't do well with challenges like that, but for Bard's sake I just gave her the look (you know the one) and sat back. however, after three minutes had passed and we weren't taking off. I picked my daughter up, marched to the back of the plane, looked the flight attendant in the eye and said "If you have to hold the flight then that's fine but I'm changing my daughter!" She was lucky to get off with just that! Imagine, telling me to have my baby sit in filth for the next half hour! Sheesh : ) Anyway. I changed her and sat down. And then, they made the announcement about turning off electronic devices. And then they did the safety demonstration. And then, 25 minutes after I had been told I would hold up the flight, we started taxiing. I know. Well, my slight conniption fit aside, the flight went fine, Evy slept again and was happy to smile and laugh at everyone who walked by us on their way off the plane. We got home safely and she went to sleep, sleeping well through the night, all of us glad to have visited family but happy to be home again!

Stay tuned for part three. . . oh yes, there is more!

6 Months Old!

Catch Up, Part One

Wow, I have a lot of catching up to do! I apologize for being AWOL, it's been a fairly stressful and chaotic three weeks. Even for me there is too much to write for one blog, so I thought I would break it down a bit : ) I also posted a bunch of new pictures (see albums to the right).

On the fun side, Evelyn can do so many more things for herself now!

*A few weeks ago she started holding her bottle by herself, totally surprising me because she doesn't even have a bottle that often.

*She also can sit up on her own! Although her cute little noggin throws her off balance pretty easily and over she goes, but still, she is a lot stronger.

*She is eating regular food now! I blend up peas, bananas, sweet potatoes, or pears, and she eats them with her cereal. Sweet potatoes are by far her favorite, but we'll see if that changes as we continue to introduce new foods.

*The weather finally changed and so I am putting her summer clothes away. She finally is growing into her fall clothes, which is of course fun and sad : ( but she looks really cute in them!

*She turned 6 months last week and goes in for her check up on Tuesday. I can hardly believe it's been half a year. In some ways it seems like we always have had her, I can't barely remember what I did before she was here. Maybe sleep more : ) But on the other hand the time has just flown by. I was talking about her labor story (I know, you would think I would have blocked that from my memory) the other day and I remembered it like it was yesterday. Surrounded in a sleep deprived and painful haze, the memories of those early days are so precious to me, I will always treasure them.

*We've started teaching her sign language. At 6 months babies can start picking up simple phrases. So we've introduced 2-all done and more. We'll use them every time we say the words and gradually introduce more. I'll let you know how it goes!

*She started drinking from her own little cup. She had water for the first time and doesn't seem too impressed, but drank some nonetheless. The sippie cup is different from her bottle nipple and that is taking some getting used to, but she looks like such a big girl!

Whew, well, there is part one, I'll post the rest over the next few days. It's been a pretty long week, so I need to go eat a brownie!

Goodbye Charlie!

Well, last week Evelyn said goodbye to one of the "08 Babies" (see previous post). Good friends of ours, who we went through birthing class with, attended church with, and enjoyed summer BBQs with, moved to Indiana last week. Their little boy, Charlie, is just two weeks older than Evelyn, so it's been very fun to go through those early life stages together, especially since Charlie came to work with mom Ashley at our church office! The copier room served as the perfect nap area : ) I know Evelyn won't remember Charlie, but it's kind of sad for me because I loved the idea of them growing up together and as I'm a pretty relational person, I like to hold on! This is a good move for them-bringing them close to family, so I'm happy about that because my own family is so supportive and such a big part of Evelyn's life so I know how nice that will be for them. All through her life Evelyn will make new friends and lose some old, such change is just a part of being human. But today, in this moment, we are missing Charlie and wishing them a happy new home and lots of new memories to make in the days ahead.

Home Again!

Well, Bard arrived home safe and sound late Friday night-really late-1am! As many of you know, he was gone all week on a business trip to Ireland. It was my first time being alone so long with the baby. Overall it went pretty well. There were only a few times that I wanted to scream, cry, or run away. She was pretty good all week, only having one bad day, Monday. But in all fairness that day sucked for me and I think she mostly picked up on my emotions. Of course, a good week for a five month old still means that I had to feed her several times a day, change her, get her dressed, put her down for her naps, carry her around, and in general be there for her 24/7. But, having gone through this I can say how much I admire all my friends who do this on a regular basis, either becaue they are single moms or because their husbands travel a lot. And most of them have more kids than I do! It also really reminds me of how lucky I am to have a husband like Bard. He is so comfortable putting her to sleep, feeding her, soothing her when she is sad, and yes ladies, he even ASKS to change her diaper. What a man! I'm so blessed that Evelyn will grow up having a father who is truly engaged in her life. I love the relationship they have now and I can't wait to see how it evolves over the coming years.

Who Would Baby Vote For?

Ok, let me just say right off the bat that this blog might be a little controversial and it's definitely very long! But, you do know I'm feisty, so nothing should be a surprise! So, I haven't decided who I'm voting for yet. I know, I know, I can hear all my friends (both conservative and liberal) screaming "What?!" Well, calm down, and please don't give me your reasons why I should vote for the right or left, I know all the reasons, remember, I'm married to Bard-I can't remember the last time we DIDN'T talk about politics and after the election we'll probably just sit and stare at the wall : ) Anyway. There are things I like and things I don't like about each candidate and so far it's been a pretty unique and fascinating race. And that only increased exponentially with the introduction of Sarah Palin. Which brings me to my blog. . .

As you've probably heard, Sarah Palin had a baby in April. Guess what, so did I! So that right there interested me, but when I heard the baby had down syndrome and they had known about the diagnosis early on and decided to keep the baby, I really paid attention. As many of you know, we faced a scary time when one of my tests came back with what is called a positive marker for a very deadly disease. We had to decide if we wanted further testing, which could be inaccurate, or just to wait and see. The risk with getting the test was that there were many occurrences of the results being positive for down syndrome when the baby did not actually have down syndrome-a false positive. So, we might go through the rest of the pregnancy thinking the baby had down syndrome but not knowing for sure. We ended up deciding to get the test because I wanted to know for sure if the baby had the more deadly disease and felt like the uncertainty of down syndrome was better than the uncertainty of a more serious illness. Obviously the test came back negative and Evelyn is fine. But there was a time of unknown. And during that time I questioned myself. I had wanted a baby for so long. If the baby I finally had wasn't the one I had imagined, how would I respond? Would I be able to care for her? And most scary, could I love her in the same way? I was terrified that I wouldn't love her as much as she deserved. Then we had her and she was just so perfect and beautiful I couldn't believe it. But I remember very clearly, one day when she was about a few weeks old, looking at her as she lay on the changing table. I remember thinking, "She is perfect." I know then and there that it would not matter if she had a disability because she was my daughter and she was perfect. When I heard Sarah Palin say about her son, who is two weeks younger than Evelyn, that when she looked at him she only saw perfection, it resonated so strongly with me. Now, I don't think that makes her a good politician and while it helps me relate to her, that doesn't necessarily transfer into voting for her and McCain (oh I mean McCain and her, heh!) But I do think it makes her a good mom. Whether or not I vote for her will be based on her (and really more McCain's) stance on the issues-if I feel I can trust them to help the economy, help with health insurance, resolving crisis in the middle east, helping those around the world in need, and helping our country deal with povery and the education system. How I vote will have nothing to do with her family.

During the past few weeks I've been disgusted, but not shocked, with all the controversy that has been generated because a woman, a mother of five, a mother of a baby with special needs, a mother of a pregnant teenager is running for Vice President. Oh wait, let me rephrase that. Controversy over a woman running. Plain and simple, the rest does not matter. If she were a man the other labels would not even be part of the discussion. Was Bush ever asked if he could be a good father to his young daughters while being president? Was their young and influential age ever brought into the dialogue? What about Kerry's children? Gore's? Do they even have children? I don't know - because it wasn't an issue. Yet news reporters on top rated morning news shows seem to see fit to ask whether or not Sarah Palin can be a good mother while racing to the White House. They are asking if she considered how her children would be affected. Every mother I've ever met agonizes over every choice she makes regarding her children. Everything from the type of labor you want to have to where you send your kids to school, if you work, how much you work, your relationship with your spouse, where you live, what kind of car you drive, everything, big and little, is questioned for how it will affect your child. To ask if Sarah Palin can be a good mom while running for VP is to insinuate that she is not a good mom because what you are saying with that question is that she hasn't asked herself that. And she is really the only person who needs to ask that of herself. Her and her husband. And no, just because she is a public figure does not give us the right to ask-Barack Obama put it best when he said children were off limits. No one has the right to tell me to breast feed or use formula, to work or to stay at home, to put my children in public or private school, to spank or not to spank, what age I should allow dating, what my children should wear, or any number of other decisions that a parent must debate. And I certainly do not have the right to tell another mom what to do. And certainly not to judge her if she does something different than I do. We need to stop focusing so much on what other people shouldn't do and start focusing on what we ourselves should do. Care for others. Provide for those in need. Love the people around you. Be a good neighbor. I hope that all this controversy has died down and the media will focus on issues such as the war and the economy, health care and education-things we should really be talking about, not things that are none of our business. A former presidential candidate once said that it takes a village to raise a child. With the new vice presidential candidate we've certainly learned that it also takes a village to judge the mother on how to raise that child.

She Pulled Her Own Flutterfly!

She what? She pulled her own flutterfly! Okay, so, she has this toy that I got from a friend and it hangs on her carseat. And yes, on the package it is called a flutterfly, not a butterfly, no I do not make these things up! When you pull the little pink star the wings move and it makes a whirring sound. Bard and I have been pulling that little pink star for five months now. I had just kinda thought in the back of my head that she would be quite a bit older before she could pull it on her own, maybe not into college, but it does have a tension that makes it hard to pull : ) So yesterday when I was putting her in the car I hear this familiar "drrrrrrrrrrrrrr" I couldn't quite believe what had happened, but sure enough, she has proceeded to pull it on her own many times since then. I was astounded! She is brilliant. You may or may not be thinking that this event was blog worthy, but I assure you, it's probably the single most amazing act any child has ever done.

Don't read this if you're eating. . .

Well, the other day when I wrote I would let you know how solids affected her poop, I had no idea I would be writing so soon! By the way, if you think it's odd that I blog about my daughter's poop, you're right, it is, but I've been sharing it with you all for five months now and I don't want to let you down!

So this morning I was getting ready to go and Evy was still in her PJs (which by the way she looks adorable in!) I started to notice that her diaper was leaking, but I was almost done, so I waited a minute before changing her. I took off her PJs and there was poop everywhere! Seriously, it had come out of the back her diaper and it wasn't like it was just a thin layer, there was so much and it went most the way up her back! She, meanwhile, is in a great mood and just giggles away while I am trying to remember why I had a child and wiping poop off her arm. Who even knows how it got there? I think I should burn the pajamas. I couldn't even handle rinsing them off so I actually had Bard take them outside and hose them down! I should have had him do the same with Evelyn too : ) They're hanging on the deck right now-the pajamas not Evelyn. That was yesterday and this morning when I woke up I could swear I smelled poop and she wasn't even in the room. When I changed her she was just wet, but I'm not sure. . .I think it might be stalking me!

I think I'll take my diploma and hang it over the diaper pail. It will either be an encouraging reminder or the ultimate irony.

Cereal, Sick, and Some Ramblings

Well, it finally happened. . . Friday night we gave Evelyn her first solids-rice cereal. I had been planning on waiting until 6 months, but lately she has been wanting to drink up to 10 ounces and a bit more, which is a definite sign she is hungry for real food! She did really well (I'll put the video up later) and was very cute-trying to grab the spoon and pull it into her mouth. Of course since she doesn't know how to eat, half of what we gave her she spit out, but we just put it right back in, it's not like she cares! We're just feeding her once a day, in the evening, for now. We'll add twice a day pretty soon and then start introducing all sorts of fun things like bananas, sweat potatoes, and carrots. She'll be eating McDonalds Happy Meals before we know it! (Just kidding honey, of course we'll never let our daughter have fast food, what was I thinking?!)

Anyway, it was a pretty fun milestone, although one that will add some inconveniences into our life-such as more laundry, more time, and multi-colored poop. Don't worry, I'll be sure to give you updates on our little super pooper!

I plan on making most of her baby food by mashing up fruits and veggies and then freezing them until needed. So we'll see how that goes. I like the idea of knowing exactly what she is eating and not having to worry about any additives. And sheesh, is baby food expensive!

On a more depressing note I've been fighting a nasty cold all weekend and am worried that she might be getting sick too. I missed church yesterday, my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary party, and watching Lost with friends (oh yes, the best show ever, gotta love Saywer!) She seems a bit stuffy and has coughed some, but doesn't seem really sick yet-knock on wood. (Just a side note, while I've been typing Bard brought me a fruit smoothie, yes it's raspberry, yes I'm sitting in "The Chair" and no, none of it spilled! If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you better go read the posts regarding escrow, lazyboys and poop!)

Besides that, I'm going into a crazy work week-just a lot going on with fall around the corner-but even with that Bard and I are trying to spend a lot of time together because on Sunday he is abandoning me to go to Ireland! Okay, well, less abandoning, more going on a work trip, but still he will be gone Sunday through Friday and to put it plainly, that just sucks. What's really frustrating is that for a while we were planning on me coming too and of course bringing the baby. I was very excited about that since I've never been there, love Europe, and am mostly Irish (no Irish temper comments needed, thank you!) However, for a couple different reasons we decided at the last minute that it would be better if I stayed. I'm totally depressed, one cause he gets to go, two cause I'll be on my own, three cause she won't see him for a week, and four cause I haven't had a vacation longer than a weekend since our honeymoon. So, with a vacation promised to me next year, and the guarantee of a nice present from Ireland and lots of chats via Skype, off he goes. I know I'm very lucky and have lots of people to support me, but I'm still sad : ( So if you feel like babysitting me and Evelyn next week, give me a call!

Happy Five Month Birthday Evelyn!

Am I Marge Simpson?

Okay, yes, that is a ridiculous title! But this episode of the Simpsons keeps coming to my mind-Marge is sad because Bart and Lisa are growing independant of her so she goes to check on baby Maggie. Maggie is asleep and doesn't need her either, so she pokes Maggie until she wakes up and cries, then Marge can pick her up and comfort her. Yes, that is a pretty blatant display of codependency and whole college courses could be taught on the unhealthy family dynamics of the Simpsons (in fact I think there are some college courses on the Simpsons!) However, when I first saw that episode, probably several years ago, I laughed and thought it was funny, but now-sadly-I can relate to it!

This week I was almost in tears as I put my baby to sleep. Which is odd, because normally I'm very happy to put her to sleep. But this time she had dropped a feeding and a nap, so she is only nursing every four hours now and taking three naps a day instead of four. What that means is I feed her around 7:30pm, then she is up for another hour or so, and then I put her down for the night. So on Monday, I read her a story, sang her a song, and laid her down in her crib. She looked at me for a moment, eyes wide, and then turned her head and went to sleep. Every other night since she was a baby (Ha! I know she is still a baby!) I've nursed her right before she goes to sleep, she would normally fall asleep while eating (Yes, I know "they" say not to do that, but I only did it at her night feeding, so "they" can kiss my. . .oh wait. . .I mean I respecfully disagree) and then I would lay her down. With the exception of the ninety five degree days which made nursing a four month old baby incredibly uncomfortable, those moments at night were precious and I treasure them. That night I came downstairs and looked at Bard with sad eyes because it seems like every time I turn around, my baby is growing up in some new way. And while that is exciting, the constant process of letting go is just a bit heart breaking.

Remember in Father of the Bride when she tells her dad that she is getting married? He looks at her and sees a little girl in pig tails saying, "Daddy, I met a man in Rome and I'm getting married!" He can't quite understand how this seven year old could be talking about getting married because he doesn't quite believe that she has grown up. I get that. And last night as my daughter lay in her crib, falling to sleep on her own, part of me wanted to reach out and poke her, then scoop her up in my arms and rock her to sleep. But I didn't. I let go.

Tickle Monster!

Baby Vignettes

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted, sorry! I put up a bunch more pictures and here are some snapshots of what has been keeping us busy:

*Sports Camp: Our church put on a week long sports camp for kids in the community last week and I was in charge of a lot of things. I worked extra hours and it did get pretty stressful, but I still was able to spend a good amount of time with her. It was just time spent running errands and that type of thing, not hanging out at home as much as normal. I took her to camp with me every day for the first half and she loved it! We walked around with her in the front pack and she had a great time being outside and seeing all the people.

*Four month check up: on the last day of sports camp we had her four month class, which was good but made for a long day. Based on what the doctor said I'm going to go ahead and just keep nursing-waiting to introduce cereal until 6 months or when she starts acting hungry. She now weighs 15.6 and is long! She also had to get three shots and she screamed, I felt so bad! It was nice to be in the class with everyone, and fun to see similarities and differences. One four month old already has a tooth! Another is still sleeping in bed with parents (which I think is fine if that's their choice, but the doctors sure give you a hard time for it!) And another couple said they haven't been out on their own yet without baby-which surprised me since Bard and I go out almost every week!

*She did fine the afternoon following her appointment but then appeared to get a nasty case of indigestion from the oral vaccine. Unfortunately I was at camp and couldn't leave just yet, she cried and cried with grandpa and then grandma and finally fell asleep. Poor baby, and poor grandparents! She is all better now, thankfully!

*Bard took this week off work to work on finishing our basement, which has become quite the project. I haven't really been able to take Evy down there because of all the concrete dust, but when it's finished it will be a great place for her to play. And cool. . .

*It's been in the 90s and really hot all week. I think it's hard for her in the evenings and we've all been sleeping downstairs. Today it's cooled to a nice 85 and I am so glad! She doesn't seem to mind the heat too much, but in the afternoon and evening it's really too hot for her to nap upstairs so she is down with us which kinda cramps our style ; )

*She is down to five feedings a day now (from six) which is really nice and I think I'll be able to drop it to four pretty soon. It's great because it means that the time in between her feedings and naps are stretching out which makes life a lot easier for me! She still naps really well and sleeps through the night-from about 8pm to 7am MOST of the time!

*She has found her feet and loves to play with them (again, why do I buy her toys?!) She also loves putting her entire hand in her mouth and recently has sucked on just her thumb a few times, we'll see where that goes. . .But the funniest thing she has started doing is screaming. No, not in sadness, that would not be funny! She just has really discovered her voice and will lay on the floor talking and screaming to herself. When I have a minute I'm going to make a little movie of it and put it online cause it's pretty hilarious!

Well, there is our life in a nutshell : )

Definitely not communist. . .

The title may surprise you unless you know/remember that I majored in and did grad work in Russian/Soviet history (yes so did Bard, awww isn't that cute?!) So I have a lot of analogies regarding communism that constantly run through my head. And last Friday I had a baby experience that made me think of communist Russia, so here it is!

My friend Amy and I went to Babies R Us with Asher and Evelyn. She wanted some pjs for Ash and I wanted some toys for Evelyn, I feel bad since she doesn't really have any! Neither one of us really needed anything, shh, don't tell our husbands! Anyway, since Evy decided to be a stinker and start teething early, I thought I would pick her up a teething ring or two. I went to the toy section to look for one. By the way if you've never been inside a Babies R Us they are roughly the size of Vermont and have everything you didn't know you needed until you found it existed. So I was pretty surprised when I couldn't really find teethers. I was wandering back through clothes and decided to look by the bath toy aisle and see if they had anything there. Well, I realized I had been looking in the toy section when I should have been looking in the teething section because they have two whole aisles of teething toys! Yes, on either side of you for a good ten feet and from floor to about 6 feet up, they crammed teething toys. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry! They had wooden teethers, clothe, plastic, ones that vibrate, light up, make noise, and stick to tables. They had teethers that "stimulated the auditory senses" "encouraged visual learning" "developed tactile senses" and probably one that taught how to fill out college applications. Seriously, it was insane. Amy and I just stood there laughing. It must have taken us ten minutes to pick out two teethers-I just went with ones that she said Asher liked. Only of course I bought the pink version, let's be real here.

So why communist Russia you ask? In the Soviet Union shopping was made simple-either they didn't have it or they only had one kind. One kind of TV, one kind of cereal, one kind of ball, you get the picture. Now, I can see how that could get a bit annoying, especially because their items were poorly made and often broke! But really, I don't know that we need to go so far the other way! Try an experiment, go to babiesrus.com and type in teethers-there are three pages of items! Let me tell you, BabiesRUs is capitalism on steroids.

And you may wonder, after all that, what is Evelyn's favorite teether? It's a toss up between her carseat strap and her bib. Sheesh!

; )

Oh Happy Day!

Amazing! Spectacular! Astounding! Phenomenal! Angels are singing a chorus. Yesterday my own sweet daughter went all day without. . .you guessed it. . .a poopy diaper! I held my breath those last few moments before midnight and then popped open the bottle of champagne. Okay, so I was sleeping at midnight and don't even like champagne, but as you all have gone through the trenches with me on what a super pooper we have (although I don't see any of you changing her!) I think you can understand my elation. : )

And yes, when my daughter is 16 and giving me an attitude I fully plan on showing her how her mother blogged about her poop for four months and counting!

I'm Four Months Old!

This month I amazed my mom and dad with several firsts. In one week alone I rolled over both ways, grabbed and held an object with both hands, started laughing (I had laughed before but now I do it a lot), dropped one feeding (much to my mom's delight), and started teething (much to my mom's dismay!) I can almost sit up, but flop forward and I love to talk. In fact, I lie on the floor and talk to myself for ages, even when no one is around! I'm not sure why I love to talk so much, both my mommy and daddy seems so quiet. . . I also love to read books. I sit in mommy's lap and read 2,3 ,4 books in a row! Mommy is now sick of all my books. But I don't mind and besides, books are very tasty to chew on too! Yesterday I also went to dance class with mommy for the first time. I was very good and loved listening to the music while mommy taught and all the little girls danced around the room. Well, okay I was good up until the last five minutes when I got fussy cause I remembered that I was hungry, but I'm just a baby! And a very cute one at that. : )

Diapered

I cannot believe the amount of diapers my daughter goes through-and if you've read the previous posts, you know why! Sometimes when I know she needs to be changed, I really want to put it off, dreading the process of pulling out yet another diaper and going through the whole changing ordeal. However, recently I've been thinking of diaper changes in another way-with gratitude. I have clean diapers that I can change Evelyn into. I don't have to worry about stretching her diapers out, making them last, and wondering if I'll be able to afford the next pack. (Just for a frame of reference, a week's worth of diapers is between $12 and $15)

My new found gratefulness came after Bard and I helped at a local food pantry that provides people in need with groceries. When we arrived, a few minutes after the scheduled opening, people were lined up around the building. As the people come in, they fill out a pre-printed "menu" marking the items they need-fruit, pasta, soup, toilet paper, etc. Then they turn the menu in to us, we put together bags with their requested items, and call their number so they can come retrieve their groceries. It's really a great system. As I said, we arrived just after they opened. There was a package of diapers available to people,and each person who requests diapers receives three or four in their bag. The diapers were gone within minutes. For the rest of the evening when mothers asked for diapers we had to tell them no. Apparently this is very common, as diapers are very expensive so the food pantry does not normally have enough to meet demand.

As a mother, I simply cannot imagine not having a clean diaper to put on my child. Even if you are not a mother, I'm sure you can picture how miserable that would be. If you go to Discovery Church, you've probably already heard that we are doing a diaper drive to help stock the food pantry's supply. And I encourage you to bring a package of diapers, any size to church this Sunday. But even if you don't go to Discovery, I can guarantee that wherever you are, there are mothers in need of help. Maybe you think it's because they made bad choices, and who knows? But I hardly think their little babies deserve to wear dirty diapers just because of some bad choice made in the past. Can you do me a favor? Go right now and add a pack of diapers to your grocery list. Then, just look up a local food closet and drop the diapers off there this week. I know there are people all over the country reading this blog (not because of me, I just happen to have a very cute baby!) and wouldn't it be amazing if food pantries all around the US experienced a mysterious influx of diapers?! Don't worry about the religious association of the food pantry or if they are a worthy organization. Simply give and know that you are helping a mother, and a baby, in need.

Some poop, drool, and other random thoughts

Well, I know you all have been anxiously awaiting an update on how my daughter is doing with all her pooping. ; ) (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, see previous posts!) To avoid any further suspense, here you go-she is driving me crazy! I seriously thought we would have switched to cloth diapers by now. I'm waiting for to stop having so many blow outs, but I'm beginning to think we'll be sending her to college in poopy diapers! The last several days she has come out of her diaper, onto her clothes, and onto me- pretty much once if not twice a day. I'm telling you, I have post graduate work under my belt and my life is reduced to scrubbing poop from little pink dresses. Sheesh. So there you have it, I hope you weren't sitting down to dinner anytime soon!

The last few weeks she has also started leaking from another area (as if the issues above weren't enough). Now she is a little drool monster! I can still be very thankful that she doesn't spit up, so I guess I shouldn't complain, but I'm going to anyway. She can literally soak the whole front of her dress, I don't know where all this drool is coming from. Her favorite activity seems to be to put her hand in her mouth and then move her hand across her face, spreading drool everywhere. She also likes to drool on my arm, shoulder, and clothes. If you check out the recent pictures, you can even see drool in motion falling from her mouth to her blanket!

She is becoming so aware of her environment, it's adorable. She can reach out and grab objects held in front of her. Well, okay, she can try and grab it, sometimes succeeding-the hand eye coordination is developing slowly but surely! She loves the patterns on her crib bumper and will stare at it fascinated-which is actually a problem because I want her to go to sleep! She loves a mirror toy that she has and will sit for long periods of time-even up to an hour-staring at the mirror, talking to that baby she sees in it, and reaching out to smack it with little clenched fists. It's so cute!

And, I saved the best for last-for all of you who read through my long blogs : ) She rolled over for the first time just an hour ago! She was on her tummy, looking at her mirror toy, with Bard and I sitting on either side of her, when all the sudden she just pushed herself up and rolled over! It's really the most amazing thing any baby has ever done. Bard and I couldn't believe it, we just stared at each other and then looked at her. We put her back on her tummy and she did it two more times. Crazy. I wasn't expecting it all. Every milestone is such a big achievement and I feel so proud of her, what a great baby : )

Summer baby

I'm so happy the weather has been warm lately. When I was pregnant and knew that she would be several months old during the summer I had all these visions of taking her on walks, sitting outside on our deck in the sunshine (except she has to be in the shade), and meeting friends at the park. Seeing as how it snowed the first week she was born, we had record cold temperatures in June, I couldn't walk for more than ten minutes the first 6 weeks of her life, and she cried when I put her in her stroller-I was beginning to despair of seeing those visions become reality! But the weather has been great and every day I have such a fun time picking out a cute sundress for her to wear : ) We sit outside on a blanket in the front yard and read. Well, I read, she watches the leaves dancing in the wind. We walk up to the coffee shop and get iced tea or Italian sodas. She sits in her bouncy seat while we BBQ on the deck. She is not old enough yet to sit in a swing or go in the wading pool, those will be highlights of next summer, I'm sure. But this summer has already started off with so many fun and peaceful experiences that I'm just reveling in the fact that something I imagined with a slight tint of Romanticism has actually come into being exactly the way I pictured it!