May 2013

Hanging in the "baby playground" at the school near our house

E borrowed one of my sweaters and wore it to school - a big baggy turquoise wool with the sleeves all rolled up.  Her teacher asked, "why the warm sweater on such a hot day?" to which she replied, "cause it smells like my mamma even when she's not here."  That just melts me. What a lucky mamma I am.

We've been enjoying the pool at the Sully's. I picked up a life jacket for Evelyn so she can be more independent in the pool (and so Tag and I don't have to endure being constantly used as an orangutan buoy).  She did amazingly great, playing with Lilly and the older kids in the pool, getting braver and braver.  When we learned that she could touch the bottom in the shallow section, we tried it out sans life jacket and believe it or not, she started swimming! Well, almost swimming - she's working on it. We've got her in lessons at the club, and she's doing just great. She ought to be swimming like a fish by the end of the summer.  Which is great because she absolutely loves the water.

 

Our little bit is now the size of sweet potato. We got the blood work back, and confirmed with the anatomy ultrasound, that we are going to have a boy....Gosh, that makes for interesting discussions for Tag and myself.  We were ready for another girl -- I mean, we've conquered our fear of pink and we have a full wardrobe ready and waiting, and room for another bed in Evey's room.  But a boy?  Didn't we already get our dose of boy with Keagan and Dylan (!)?  Jury is still out on that one.  But there's no mistaking it.  Evelyn will have a baby brother.  She took the news better than we did, by the way. A bit of a disappointed "awww!" when she learned that her visions of a sister are foiled.  But she moved on immediately to say "I can't wait for my baby brother to come!"



April 2013

Oma planned a great weekend Sachs reunion in French Lick Indiana -- a perfect meeting spot between Holland MI and Memphis TN.  We stayed in a large, cozy cabin, the Wise Old Owl, and Evelyn had the BEST time with her cousin Helen.  We took hikes, the girls did some coloring and blew bubbles, there were campfires and marshmallows, guitar playing, and a trip to a nearby waterpark (where the super rapid slides gave Opa a bit of a flip...).  It feels good to give Evey time with her cousins - although poor Ruby had to tolerate some overly-aggressive moves from Ev who isn't that used to little ones yet. Ev can't stop talking about how much she misses Helen. Looking forward to getting these girls together again.

 

Beautiful Flower Girls, with fresh bouquets for the breakfast table

Corn Hole on the lawn with Oma

A wander in the woods

 

The Reunion Crew in French Lick, IN

Ev and I hit the Down to Earth Day at Shelby Farms and had so much fun.  There was an amazing little feeding/petting zoo with unusual petting zoo creatures like huge turtles and baby pigs, there were pony rides, fancy face painting (glitter!), and a crafts tent.  Evelyn is so energetic and open to trying new things - and she's big enough to really get into it now. With the exception of a particularly painful bouncy house collision, it was a perfect day.

Earth Day at Shelby Farms - So fun

 

And last but hardly least, the news is out: I'm 40 and pregnant (!!) but it wasn't the suprise I had anticipated when telling Oma & Opa.  Apparently Evey spilled the beans weeks before...

The plan was to keep the pregnancy a secret until we could be sure that things were going alright.  Tag and I agreed not to tell Evelyn until it was okay to tell everyone.  Well.  She and I were driving along one afternoon when she suddenly started to sing-song to me “mamma…you have a sweetheart in your tummy….!” And I was totally taken off-guard.  Did Tag tell her? What is she talking about? “What’s that babie?” I asked her. 

“You have a sweetheart in your tummy.” 

It felt good to start talking openly about it, so I agreed, “Yes, you are going to be a big sister!” And we had a very exciting conversation around the whole notion.  Looking back, I have to admit that she seemed surprised by the news.  She had tricked me, albeit unwittingly. I thought Tag had let it slip.  But apparently I was the one who couldn’t seem to hold back.  So anyway, I told her that it was a secret and that we couldn’t talk about it outside of me, her and poppa.  She happily promised.

When we finally did announce it, after receiving a beautifully healthy ultrasound, Oma had the funniest reaction.  She knew already! Weeks before, Ev had told her there was “a baby in mamma’s tummy but that it was a secret so we weren’t supposed to talk about it.”  She is Too Funny.



The first good peek at our baby on the way...

March 2013

She's a mover and a shaker -- and when bored at the golf store waiting for Poppa while he researches some new clubs, it's a full on dance routine on the putting green, complete with break dancing on the turf.  Not sure if the clientele appreciated what they were witnessing -- this is a future stage performer and they got an exclusive preview!

Driving along one afternoon, Evelyn and I discussed what our life goals might be. She shared her aspiration with me in glowing detail: "Make the world beautiful. And Warm. And healthy."  I think that's pretty darn cool.

We had a fun adult outing with all the parents of the "favorites" (the Heartsong group). The kids had a pajama party while the parents went to dinner and then decided to go bowling.  I happened to be in a dress and boots, not prepped for bowling, but I bowled anyway, in a dress and striped rainbow socks, nearly 3 months pregnant (still a secret of course). The kids had a blast and partied until they crashed at about 10:30 at night.  We picked up Evelyn, drunk with sleep, and safely nestled her into bed at home...

Is that not one gorgeous girl?

A successful egg hunter this year.  She has declared Easter her favorite holiday.

Think she's having fun?

Decorating eggs at the Feinstones

"Mamma - Don't take my picture!"

super fun birthday party for Sammy at Memphis gymnastics

Loves her Poppa - I can't get enough of these two.

February 2013

Haidyn came for a play visit

 

LOVE the sounds of a play date -- the conversations between two happy 3 year old girls are hilarious.  And I get to sit back and just enjoy.  It rocks.

January 2013

Dress up with best friend Lilly in her spectacular playroom.

In the princess tent...

Miss Super Pink is Super Fabulous

Expert make-up application, with the Cinderella vanity from neighbor Cathy.

 

January was tough.  I had my longest work trip ever -- traveled Europe for 2 weeks (UK, Greece, Belgium).  I've never been away from Evey (or Tag for that matter!) for that long, and it was extremely tough on all of us.  Tag did a tremendous job on the home front and sent me loving messages and videos to keep me connected. Staying busy and seeing the awesome sights on my travels kept my mind off of what I was missing back home, and I traveled in good company, but I hope not to travel away from my family that long again.  When I finally arrived home, Tag and Evelyn met me at the airport -- she came running across the floor toward me, a bouquet of flowers in her hand, huge happy smile on her face yelling "Mamma!" and I hugged her so hard I think I suprised her.  She was curious about the tears running down my face but I couldn't speak, so I just hugged her some more.  Missed her so so so so much.

Very First French Braid !!

Microphone gift from Nanny Ruthie and Poppa Graham -- a rock star is born

Christmas 2012

This Christmas was truly magical.  Evelyn was excited about the concept of Santa Claus, and starting to understand what his visit means in terms of Christmas morning excitement.  It was totally fun.  She got a bunch of gifts from Santa - including a doll house with all the cool furniture to fill the rooms up with.  I'm going to enjoy playing with her toys too!

Her favorite toy is the doctor kit - we all got check ups and (the best part) SHOTS. Super cute.

Opa enjoyed her gifts too -- the Dora guitar (thanks Uncle Paul) got a fun test drive from Opa.

December 2012 - The Big Three

Ev planned her entire birthday party: she invited her "heartsong friends"(Sammy, Abigail, Conner, Addison, Haidyn, Marshall and Adrian, and also her buds Lilly and Chloe. And bonus: Her old teachers from Heartsong, Nessa and Erin, also came. She wanted to do a "project" so I asked an art teacher friend for ideas and she came up with a great construction paper "stained glass window" craft.  Evelyn also wanted flower cupcakes, cheetos, pizza, and freeze dancing (how perfect is that?). Oh, and of course balloons. I have to say, it was a fantastic party. The weather was so nice, everyone headed into the backyard afterward for some spontaneous fun in the warm Memphis-in-December air. She has great friends.

Dearst, loving Erin

Awesome teacher (and play buddy), Nessa

 

Three is pretty amazing.  Evelyn can do so many things for herself now, and she's smart as a whip, so figuring things out doesn't take long, though she is pretty impatient with herself.

 

Tag has trained Evelyn well.  She can spot his preffered beer as we tool down the grocery aisle, stopping me to point it out.   Once, after a quick run through to pick up some essentials, E lectured me loudly as we left the market "but poppa needs more bicycle beer!" (aka Fat Tire). I can't say that she was wrong either - what was I thinking?

 

We like to meet friends up at the club on Thursday evenings for Italian Family Night.  They have a clown lady there, Miss Sally, who makes balloon animals and does face painting.  Ev loves it.

 

We love singing together. Any old song I can pull out of my memory from girl scout camp or sunday school ... one of our favorites is On Top of Spaghetti (sung to ....Old Smokey).  She's really quick to pick up songs, and the more animated the better.

 

Another love -- Costco visits -- especially the pizza and hot dogs from the cafe.  She's not quite brave enough to try out the samples that they offer around the store, but she loves the idea of accepting the little cup and spoon, so I end up eating everything.