Busy Bee

Easily bored, Evelyn is staying true to her explorer Sagittarian nature.  A new cabinet door opens?  She sprints over to grab what new and exciting objects she can before the door has a chance to close.  Refridgerator? An opportunity to practice her "climbing and clearing" skills.  It's all heartbreak and tears when she is blocked from entry to these new places.  Toys?  You mean the colorful and musical objects that Momma has so lovingly selected?  Yeah, those are simply a ruse to try and distract her from what she really wants:  the phone, the remote, the brimming coctail glass, hot coffee mug, prescription glasses... 

We agree with everyone who tells us: It's a fabulous age. She's getting more independant, but still LOVES to cuddle and be carried around.  She is starting to communicate with hand signals; loves to play "SOOOO BIG!!" with her arms stretched up over her head.  Loves to wave "Hi!!" and "Bye!" 

Getting tall tall tall -- had to buy a new car seat and position all the straps at the "toddler" setting. Crazy. Speaking of crazy, I didn't realize car seats could be fully loaded with options (infant seat was borrowed from friends so this was the first car seat shopping trip).  Cup holders, mini-coolers, iPod cubbies...was looking for the pop-up DVD screen just out of curiosity but they must not sell those at Target.  Evey didn't get the pimped-out toddler ride; she got the pared-down edition.  Has all the right straps and safety features. She's not old enough to protest the decision.

Double digits

Evey enters her 10th Month today... 
She gets more amazing and lovely every day.

All the little things

An inventory of my favorite little things that I don't ever want to forget.

• the way she breathes in her sleep, with soft little huffs
• how I have to trim her nails so carefully while she's sleeping
• how her head heats up so warm when she's sleepy, and how she torques up so hot that she sweats while she sleeps
• the fascination she has for Jack and how she lights up when he comes near and she can get a hand on his muzzle
• her love of paper and tearing it into tiny little bits
• her collection of lip smacking noises and raspberries
• how she laughs when you cough and then imitates you to make you laugh back
• the way she tracks Tag with her eyes, and when he turns to make eye contact with her, how she breaks the biggest smile across her face with her eyes bright as blue spotlights
• the magical way she can find the pacifier on the bed without even opening her eyes or moving anything but her arm, and then popping it so pertly into her mouth
• how she allows me to clean her ears with a Q-tip, her mouth open as she focuses on the sensation in her ear
• the loud, shameless grunting and growling that accompanies her bowel movements
• how she can charm smiles out of strangers at will, even the scowly faced grumps in line at the post office
• how the daycare teachers play favorites and "steal" her away from class so they can cuddle and play with her
• the methodical way she moves through all the items she can reach in the pantry, carefully examining each item and then tossing it to the side, scrambling over the pile of cartons and bags to reach the next elusive item at the back of the shelf
• and how she always plants one precious little foot on my shoulder when I'm nursing her or cradling her to sleep in my arms

Circles....

To keep myself organized, I have a file folder that I drag around with me to hold my to-do lists, documents, bills, etc.  I've been managing the estate of my late friend Lori, who passed away a year ago.  To close the estate, there were a few final aspects to address, and I've had to keep certain legal papers with me, including her death certificate.  Incidentally, I've also had Evelyn's birth certificate with me so we could order her passport.  I opened my file folder the other day and there was Lori's death certificate on the left, and Evey's birth certificate on the right.  It was so surreal.

Lori was always telling me to "Go have a baby, you need a baby, and I don't mean adoption, you have to go through the whole thing, the pregnancy and all that."  I never got to tell her that I was pregnant.  She included me in her will, and my intention is to put the inheritance into a 529 fund for Evey's future education.  Lori would approve.