23 weeks

Best Darn 23 weeks ever.  Personality is really coming out now. 

We took her to the Memphis Symphony Orchestra "Picnic in the Park" performance on Saturday evening.  Everybody sets up picnics on the lawn at the Dixon Gardens and enjoys the musical performance of our fabulous symphony.  Everybody, that is, except those circling the Graham picnic -- they were all engaged with our flirty little show-off who would roll across the blanket and arch backwards to charm her "fans" on the right, and then roll back the other way to giggle at the fans on her left.  All eyes were on her and she ate it right up.  Boy, are we in for it.

Katelyn, who's been taking such great care of her, leaves town in early June, and daycare is looming right around the corner.  These two are really going to miss each other.  They have quite a happy bond.  I believe Evey's well adjusted personality is due in part to Katelyn's gentle, humored care.  She will make a tremendous mom someday.

We've started tasting Rice Cereal -- I say tasting because I'm not sure any of it actually made it to her stomach to be considered "eating" rice cereal.  Evey stares at us while we eat, and especially wants to drink out of any cup/mug/glass that she sees us raise to our lips.  So I said, "fine," and decided to let her try cereal before her 6th month (it was my goal to wait until 6 months).  At least she had fun taste testing...

I look back at her early photos and can't believe the dramatic changes in her size.  She's quite a chunkster these days (wow, really, you should see her calves...we're talking herculean).  Cuter than anything I can think of.  I am madly in love with this child.

Springing back memories

Last year at this time I was secretly pregnant (we told the boys and our parents on mother's day).  Crazy to think about...so much has changed!  Last year, I juggled priorities at work (we were down a man all year) and made it through my first trimester without anybody knowing (hard to do; I was so exhausted that I would almost fall asleep sitting upright) and then I learned in July about the passing of a dear friend and, as power of attorney, I needed to help manage her estate.  I didn't even start setting up the nursery until probably October.  It was all so incredibly surreal.  Now I'm sitting here with Evey beside me, entertaining herself by pulling a blanket over her head, smiling and squealing.  Love it love it love it.  Such a cool journey this has been so far.

Tag is Evey's favorite person -- she never fails to give him the biggest smile her face can accomodate.  They play tickle games and Evey laughs and laughs -- adorable.  I never get tired of watching them together.

Katelyn has been Evey's caregiver when I'm working in the mornings and she's so great with her.  Very gentle, always amused at Evey's goofy singing and playing, and impressed by Evey's progress each week. Such a God-send.  We'll miss her when she goes back to school out east.

My parents, "Oma & Opa", have been covering caregiver duty for me also, and it's so great to have them nearby.  Evey is going to have so much fun playing in Oma's kitchen, building camp fires with Opa.....but for now, she gets nursery rhymes sung to her in dutch and Opa's renditions of  "I've been workin' on the railroad" and "Rub a Dub Dub" (he is soooo cute with her -- she adores her Opa).

Evey and I like to take trips to the grocery and the garden nursery -- she seems to enjoy a daily venture out into the world.  She quietly takes in the views and never fails to give the gift of an apple-cheek smile to a friendly cashier or fellow shopper.

I've been asked if she's a redhead....I don't think so, but it sure seems like it at times.  I think it's because her scalp sometimes glows pinkish...  But maybe she'll end up like her cousin Graham, with a full head of wonderful RED hair!

My friend Karen was telling me how her boys retained the personalities they had as babies -- if that's the case with Evey we're going to have a houseful of singing, chattering, activity and adventure!  She's discovered her toes, and her favorite way to wake up in the morning is to sing and yell, alternately grabbing her toes and arching her back, working her way across the mattress until she can bury her head in a pillow, which brings on gleeful squealing and leg kicking.  Quite the morning workout routine.  No signs of crawling yet, thank goodness, but when she decides to she can worm her way across the floor on her back -- I guess it will be a while before she grows hair on the back of her head...

Hands Full

 

Can't believe it's been a month since the last post -- Time is FLYIN' !!

I've had my hands full, working from home, tackling some last projects on the homefront, and trying to sort out the best daycare situation for Evelyn when I go back to the office full-time.  By some miracle we got into this great little church daycare that will give Evey a nurturing and loving environment when we can't be with her. Huge relief.  I can sleep at night now.

I'm not even sure where to begin on the updates -- You would not recognize this little go-getter.  Evey is a bundle of energy, and she uses it in Full Effect.  The universe has definitely sent a counter-balance to the generally quiet ways of Evey's momma & poppa...We are in for some excitement with this little one.

Talking?  Non-stop chatter, cooing, squealing - you name it, we sing that tune.

Sitting up?  No problem.  Got it mastered.  Except when she decides to suddenly, and for no apparent reason, sling her body backwards - in which case she either bonks her head on the floor, or is saved by the strategically placed boppy (momma's a quick study).

Standing?  Scary, but true, she LOVES to practice standing.  All we have to do is hold onto her hands and she stands firmly, huge gummy grin spread across her face, with some hip wobbling thrown in for drama.  She will stand up from a seated position (5 months old and already doing impressive squats.  holy moly), and gets very frustrated when we don't figure out that it's "standing time" and try to lay her down somewhere.

Everyone who meets her falls immediately under her spell -- she's a total charmer.  Even the photographer was cooing over her (she wanted to grab his camera, but opted to get a grip on his finger instead).  We'll see what happens when she hits the "strangers are scary" phase (around 9 months I guess?).  We're in no hurry of course -- these past 5 months have been too much fun -- trying to soak up every precious bit of it that we can...

4 Month Stats

Had our 4 month visit to the pediatrician's office today. 

Evey is 13 lbs 11 oz (50th percentile), 24 inches long (50th percentile), and her head is 40 cm (25th percentile).  Healthy healthy healthy!  (just like her momma...although I'm probably in the 95th percentile...not sure if I'll have pants that fit when I go back to work full-time in May...hmmm)

It's so wonderful to know that she's right on track. I can't imagine what a parent must feel when they're told their child is not developing properly or has some health issue...  I pray that I never have to find out.

The doctor visit went well at the start, of course.  Evey loved tearing up and mouthing the crinkly paper on the exam table, rolling every which way to take in the full view of the examination room. 

She charmed Dr. Ziebarth (he loves babies -- he dotes on her as he does, I'm sure, every one of his little patients). 

And she charmed the Nurses.  So much so, when the Shot Nurse administered the vaccines into Evey's chubby little thighs (3 shots) the Nurse got all teary and distraught at having made sweet Evey cry and I felt obliged to comfort her with a one-armed hug (I was trying to comfort Evey with the other arm).  I actually managed to get through it pretty well (I knew better what to expect this time), but poor little Evelyn felt completely betrayed and was so angry and upset (and hurt!) that she wouldn't be consoled.  I tried to nurse her to help calm her down, but she wasn't interested and instead turned into herself and fell asleep.  She's still sleeping, as a matter of fact, and we've been home for over an hour.

I'm sure glad that's over.

Who IS this dynamo baby?!

Talk about growing up fast, she'll be 16 weeks on Tuesday and Evey is suddenly rolling over, grabbing things and manipulating them with deliberate gestures, starting to laugh, and using her legs like she's ready to up and run across the room!

What's your hurry little one??! 

She now enjoys playing under her "floor gym" (there's so many new terms with all this baby equipment -- I'm sure I get them wrong, but we know what we're talking about).  She gets so excited that she'll kick her arms and legs and SCREAM! and then go right back to yanking and flinging the dangly toys.

They all go in the mouth -- she's extremely determined about that.  Even the ones that don't exactly fit (this is a source of frustration for her...we're still learning the basics of mass).

She's also discovered her feet.  They are fun to pull on, though she hasn't figured out yet that they might also reach her mouth... 

Her legs are always going-going-going and she LOVES the jumpy seat that hangs in the doorway to practice her bouncing skills (I laugh so hard I cry, it is the funniest thing to watch - I posted a video on my Facebook page that you can check out) -- amazing to me how she can sit herself up fairly well already.  I watch her in wonderment...

Suddenly the walks are too long (she gets bored in the stroller) and just setting in our lap is not acceptable -- we must hold her up so that she can demonstrate her standing abilities by bee-bopping up and down on our legs, grinning at us the whole while. 

Such a hoot.  I love it.

She is so fun !!!

Loving the 3 month stage -- Evelyn is so smiley and interactive. Loves to chirp and shout out her funny syllables, anticipating winning someone's attention, and when she gets the eye contact she was hoping for, HUGE smiles - so irrisistable!!  Very fun game.

Her hands are always busy - When I'm driving and reach back to put her Nuk back in, these little hands come up to help me direct it into her mouth.  She can even pull it out and put it back in all by herself (with a few detours and quite a lot of mouthing...but it ends successfully more often than not.  Impressive, I'd say). 

Toys have become much more interesting to her and she can entertain herself while sitting in her bouncy chair for a good fifteen minutes before she looks for somebody to interact with (that's when the chirping strikes back up and she's all happiness when somebody lifts their head to check in with her).

Oh, and Tag's denial about his habit of napping with Evey?  Caught 'em again!!

The Ever Evolving Evelyn

Only 12 weeks on the earth and Evey has developed quite a bag of tricks!

She's been busy strengthening her neck and back muscles and loves to practice sitting up and arching her back during tummy time.  Another favorite is "standing" on her stiffened legs while momma or poppa hold her up. Her hands are always busy, which is nothing new, but now they grasp the pacifier and pull it out of and then push it back into her busy little mouth!  I had to pick her up some new toys so she can practice her gripping and handling skills. They all end up in the mouth, of course, and drooling has reached a whole new level (drool bubbles have become something of an artform at our house).

We're way past cooing now and full into vocalizations which include an odd extended sort of grunting (?!?) that either means she's frustrated or working on something "down below" (we can usually pretty easily guess which one it is...). Her awareness of her surroundings is fully developed now and she loves looking at herself in the mirror, watching basketball on TV, and watching the world go by through the vehicle window. 

It takes a bit more to entertain her now and we're having fun introducing her to new objects and people. We took her on her first plane trip this past weekend, up to Michigan to meet Tag's family and Evey had a ball meeting everyone -- it really wore her out and she slept for basically two days after we got home.  She was a perfect angel on the plane and received many compliments on her good behavior from the other passengers.  We are quite the proud parents!