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!