Snow Day !!

The snowsuit I ordered for Evelyn on-line came in handy today!  All the schools and many businesses were closed due to several inches of overnight snowfall.  We wandered out into the white and up the hill behind our house to sled with the other neighbor kids -- Evey's first toboggan trip down a hill!  Being the fearless child that she is, she never once cried out either in surprise or fear. We actually weren't sure if she was into it or not.  After reviewing the photos we can see that at the top of the hill she was loving the idea. I'm not sure she was convinced it was such a fun idea about midway down...Not that she ever complained.  Tag and I had fun anyway.   We even built her a rather impressive snowman.  Too bad she didn't much enjoy that activity either (she was, in fact, about an hour overdue for a nap and her participation called for sitting in the cold snow). 

Next year I'm betting she'll take that sledding hill by storm.

Happy Start to the New Year

At thirteen months, Evelyn has made the transition from crawler to toddler...  She definitely prefers walking now and gets right back up after a tumble to continue on her wobbly path toward the object of her interest.

  It's startling to turn my head while working in the kitchen and find a tiny little person approaching me on two legs.  She's usually grasping some interesting object (wire whisk, half-eaten cracker, long roll of wrapping paper...), stopping occassionally to hold it up high and study it, almost flopping backward in the process, but recovering and then staggering forward with a big two-toothed grin spread across her face.  She has a row of swollen gums where four top teeth are still tormenting her, but the corner of one of them seems to have finally poked through.  I am certain we will notice a difference in her mood when she gets relief from all this teething. She'll go from happy with occassional fussiness to happy in excess!

Evelyn is becoming more opinionated (making distinct choices and letting us know when we failed to meet her request) and more directly affectionate.  I recently watched her softly lay her face against Tag's head (melted my heart).  She leans forward to "kiss" you and giggles when you kiss her back.  She'll reach under your shirt and "tickle" you with her tiny fingernails, laughing hysterically when you squirm and squeal (I am VERY ticklish). 

Bathtime is a favorite activity for her - she loves sliding and slipping around in the tub and blowing bubbles in the water.  I'm looking forward to watching her in the pool / at the beach this summer; she loves water.  

She watched me cover my face in my hands once when I was laughing loudly at something, and now she throws her hands over her mouth when she believes something is hysterically funny.  It gets me going and we both end up dissolved in laughter, smacking our hands over our faces and laughing some more. 

The appetite she picked up in Michigan has remained; she eats all sorts of things, in mass quantity. Yesterday for breakfast she ate a huge bowl of oatmeal, an entire scrambled egg with cottage cheese, and a jar of fruit. It's strange how completely gratifying it is to watch a child eat.  She's a very healthy girl.  Tag and I watch her eat and think about how amazing God is.

Music continues to be a central focus for Evey.  Loves music, rhythm.  She'll stop whatever she's doing if she hears a good baseline in a television commercial, for example, and bee-bop up and down, smiling.  In the car, she'll do this funny little wriggle up and down when she hears a rhythm she likes.  I love that about her.  All the musical exposure while she was in utero paid off.

Keagan was home for Christmas break and Evelyn enjoyed having an extended audience. They spent quality time together playing a favorite game: "talking" on the telephone!

hello?  is that you keagan?

I wish I could capture all the little moments, gestures, sounds that make life with Evelyn so entertaining and rewarding. Tag and I are absolutely and completely smitten. It's a fun life.

clearing out the pantry for the puppies....







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having a pantry party



Family Holiday

Our energetic and adventurous 1-year old survived a 12 hour drive up to Michigan to spend Christmas with my brother's family -- she actually managed it better than I had imagined.  I was envisioning screaming fits, for hours on end, with long breaks at odd truck stops to try and satisfy her need to explore.  But she was a trooper, man.  Not exactly thrilled about being strapped into a car seat for an entire day, but as long as we fed her at appropriate intervals, handed her interesting objects to explore on a continual basis, put in a Baby Einstein video on occassion, and held onto one of her feet to ease her into sleep, she was cool.

The trip was totally worth it -- Evelyn had a ball up in snow country with Uncle Paul (professional goofball - who can resist?), Aunt Lisa (loving provider of chocolate spread for breakfast - Ev will be begging to spend summers at Auntie Lisa's), and cousin Helen (knows her way around a toy store and shared all the cool toys with Evey).  Oma & Opa made the trip up also, so the Sachs' clan spent the holiday as a complete unit. 

Favorite moments:

1) Uncle Paul making Evey laugh with his goofy faces

2) Opa getting air on the sledding hill ramp, riding down on his BELLY (fearless, I tell ya)

3) Evey tasting Nutella chocolate spread for the first time (BIG eyebrow raise on that one, which means "YUUUUM!")

4) Evey diving in, mouth wide open and eyebrows up, for a second sip of warm maple syrup (yes, she drank a shot of straight maple syrup.  apparently that's a Fogle tradition at the Sugar Shack)

5) Playing (losing at) Hearts the second night in a row, using Uncle Paul's Hooter Girls playing cards (oddly distracting)

6) Racing Uncle Paul around the backyard pulling Helen and Evelyn on sleds

7) Opa flapping (on his belly again) on the floor of the dining room, imitating a mermaid to win a point for his team in Cranium

8) Paul singing and playing his guitar with Helen, who got a beautiful (pink!) guitar from Santa

9) Helen and Evey taking a bath, Helen calmly putting up with Evelyn's happy screeching and splashing (and unladylike biological functions...)
10) Hearing the story of "Great Big Bear" (aka Hollywood) and finding a way to squeeze the entirety of him into the back of our vehicle for the journey home.

A year of transformation

I knew this journey would be full of amazement and joy as we witnessed the emergence of our daughter's personality and engaged with her as she started to explore the world around her.  I also anticipated lack of sleep, stress with juggling all the tasks that would demand daily attention, and uncertainty about properly caring for a teeny tiny person.  What I didn't anticipate was the depth of transformation that I would go through...

I feel like my spirit has plumped and rolled and snuggled up inside me to tuck up against all the little spaces that I didn't know were empty.  Where I used to easily lose my temper over minor delays or inconvenient disruption, I now seem to have more room to breathe and gain perspective.  (insert disclaimer: yes, Tag, I still lose my patience, but won't you agree there's a significant shift in intensity?).  Where I thought I might be overly protective or controlling, I seem to take a relaxed and easy stance.  It seems that joy has moved in with such a commanding presence that petty frustrations have moved off to the side.  I am a more friendly driver (!).  I am a kinder grocery shopper.  When a debate or argument fires up, I don't seem to take a scrappy defensive position [Tag, again, you are my sometime exception only because you are so fun to scrap with ;o)].  Evelyn has inspired me to take inventory of my priorities and shift my thinking to allow for greater compassion, better balance, truer emotion.  She's going to make me a better person.  What a gift it is to be allowed to care for one of God's precious precious children.

As I reflect back on the past year, it's confounding how much has taken place; how many small but incredibly potent moments add up to build this beautiful story of Evelyn.  She is so full of happiness and energy.  So eager to meet a new face or greet a familiar one.  She practices her "frankenstein steps" regularly and seems to now prefer the perspective on two feet over all fours.  How is it that this incredible child is mine?  I still look at her sometimes in complete disbelief, as if I'm watching a movie, and I have to reach out and stroke her head to convince myself that she's real.  And of course, she never fails to turn her eyes up to look at me and smile, babbling and giggling, as real and solidly present as the ground below me.

Magical Birthday

We kept it simple, and enjoyed a truly special One Year Birthday celebration for Evelyn.  We attended a family luncheon at her school, and they planned a little suprise birthday party for her right in the middle of all the action - it was super cute.  She sampled the potluck goodies for lunch but mostly just enjoyed the extra attention from everyone and having Tag and I there in the middle of the day.

In the evening, Oma and Opa came over as well as Sandy and her daughter Maggie.  We toasted Evelyn with champagne (and sparkling cider) and sang Happy Birthday as we presented her with a mini-double-layer pumpkin cake that I baked.  She was totally into it, and instantly decided that cream cheese frosting with pink sugar decoration was FAB-U-LOUS.  She tore that cake apart. It was awesome.  She was willing to share some with others, including the dogs, but especially Sandy who braved Evey's pumpkin and frosting coated fingers to allow cake to be shoved into her mouth.  Totally hilarious.  Loved it.

Evelyn got two sets of very fun balloons (she loves balloons) and an amazing little Zebra scooter toy that makes all sorts of engaging sounds and music -- perfect toys for her special day.

Now I can tell people I have a one-year-old... Crazy. 

Birth....Day

It was at this exact time last year that I officially started labor contractions.  It was the beginning of the journey through the most amazing day of my entire existence.  I get chills looking back and remembering the excitement, the disbelief and yet absolute certainty of the event.  Tag remembers it as the beginning of the longest 28 hours of his life (!)

And now, we blinked and it's a year later. We celebrate her first birthday tomorrow.  Tag sent me the most tender text message today -- "Congrats my love.  It's as much her birthday as it is yours.  Birth....day."  It doesn't get any better than this.  My heart is full.

Here are some images from our visit to the Children's Garden this past weekend.  Evelyn loved playing in the various forts and garden houses -- Come spring she'll be trotting around through the flower beds on her two strong legs.

Putting away the Pump

It's been a long run, but with the recent battles of cold, flu and tonsilitis, my body couldn't keep up with baby milk production and my days of nursing are officially over.  I won't miss the pump.  I'm actually happy to retire that awful contraption.  Loathed pumping.  But it did allow me almost 12 blissful months of nursing my sweet baby girl even when I had to return to work.  Proud to have made it this far. Gave her the best possible start I could give her -- My gift to my growing, healthy Evelyn.  Good job Ta Tas.