Evie's Favorite Things in July

1. Walking: She loves to hold onto fingers and walk. If you set her on the ground she won't sit but will reach up for your fingers. She gets crabby if she can't walk. It appears that any day now she will be taking her first steps. I think if her legs would cooperate she would be doing it already. Which leads me to another favorite: standing. Her friend Emma had a square standing toy that she spent tons of time at this weekend. So when we got home we bought her one of her own with money from her Grandma/pa Volker. She loves it. She would prefer to play standing rather then sit.

2. Sippy cup: She loves to suck from her sippy. She carries it places and gets excited if you set it in front of her. Right now it is only filled with water.

3. Pacifier: Of course. She has loved these from the start. This weekend her and Emma took turns stealing each others. It would appear she is not specific about what pacifier as long as it fits in her mouth. I am thinking of letting her use all the other ones she disregarded at 2 months.

4. Little Quack: He is still very much loved. She makes sure to give him hugs throughout the day and even drags him from room to room. He was getting a little dingy but we didn't realize how bad until we had him washed. He is now brilliantly white. I am sure that will last all of 1 week as much as she drags him on the floor or pushes him along the floor.

5. Dogs: She giggled like crazy meeting Andrea's dog, Maggie, this weekend. It seems that dogs in general delight her in ways that we will never be able. I doubt that she would shriek and giggle if I licked her face the way she does when dogs do. Don't worry, I won't be testing this hypothesis.

6. Remotes, batteries, phones, paper: Everything that is forbidden in other words. This will be a theme throughout her life.

7. Stacking cups: She loves to pile them up. Take them apart etc.

8. Balls: She gets excited trying to throw them to us. She usually manages to chuck them about 2 inches and then squeals with delight.

9. Water: She splashes, giggles, screams, shrieks, and plays in all water. Dog water, bath water, swimming pool water, it doesn't really matter the depth or the temperature.

10. Mom & dad: And why shouldn't she?? But it does make our day when she smiles and calls us by names.

11. Hugs: She is a great hugger. They make bad days into good. She also shares great big kisses, which are just as delightful if not a little slobbery.

12. Talking: We sure wish we knew what she was saying. She sure does have a lot to say. Here is what we recognize: mama, daddy. That's about it.

13. Animal crackers: She got her first taste this weekend from Andrea. She ate several down all the while smiling like we'd given her something really special. Yesterday I gave her some while shopping and she had this smile like I'd given her a million dollars.

14. Emma: She was super excited this weekend to meet Emma. She talked and yelled at her. Then she tried hugging her a bunch. Emma was not thrilled. She cried a lot and probably wished we'd just take the little pest away. By the end of the visit, however, she was much more open to Evie's exuberance. I can't wait to watch their little friendship develop over the years.

15. Books: She loves to turn the pages. She can spend a lot of time looking at the pictures. Touching the pages. Turning them back and forth. She definately is into exploring things. Dropping items, turning pages, moving toys. One of her toys has a wheel that turns and she spends a lot of time holding it from spinning, letting go, watching it etc.

Things Evie Hates:

1. Not getting her own way.
2. Taking naps unless SHE thinks she needs one
3. Eating: She is really picky these days and is not eating well. Sometimes she eats great other times we can barely get a bite or two into her. We've determined she eats better when she can feed herself.
4. Long car rides: We really cannot blame her.
5. Not getting her own way.
6. When we take things away from her.
7. Diaper changes and getting dressed.

No and other thoughts

It's starting to occur to me that there is a word in my vocabulary that I will soon come to loathe. This word I am sure I will repeat thousands if not ten to one hundred thousand times in the next 17 years (and 1.5 months). Already this word makes me unpopular as a parent and leads to some temper tantrums. The word: NO. I am not sure she understands what it means yet but it is something she is getting used to hearing. And we have to say it all the time. To things we never thought we'd have to say it to. It's like comedian Bill Engvall who said that he never thought he'd say it with "please don't bite the dog" following. We've said it to: please don't touch/crawl by the toilet, please don't play with the dog water, no, you can't suck on those batteries, no you can't have that toy. I am sure that her anger with this word will only compound with age. She has a serious fit at 1o months when you take something away from her and I am sure as she gets older her "tantrums" will be followed by the sentence "I hate you!" I wish that was a sentence we could prevent Evelyn from ever learning. I loathe that day. But if I never hear it then I must be doing something wrong as a parent. Then comes the words that I will be forced to say: "because I said so." I loathe those days as well. I have to say...sorry, mom and dad, for giving you grief when you said it to me. I admit now and only this once that you were right.


According to the news today there was a baby boom in 2007. More babies born that year then ever before. I find that interesting. I wonder what that means for Evie as she gets older. Bigger class sizes for one I suppose. They are not calling it a baby boom like in the 50's because during that period there was greater number of babies per the number of people. Now there is just a lot of people and a lot of them are having babies. I know that it seemed like a lot of people I knew were expecting. Thinking back there were 6 of us. And 5 of us had girls...only one boy. Pretty crazy. Now I know 3 people who are pregnant. Though only one is due this year. I am expecting (no pun intended) for that number to increase.

Evie had 2 new teeth break through less then 2 weeks ago and she appears to be teething again. Except this has to be the most painful ones ever. Or she is getting the rest all at once. I barely got any sleep the night before and she has been whiny, fussy, crabby and all of the above. She has even had a little bit of drool. I am hoping the tooth will break through any second. Poor thing has been crying like crazy. We hope it's a tooth anyways. We can't find where one is coming through but we a blaming all her symptoms on it. Shawn thought he detected it last night. It looks a few days off. I figured out there might be something going on when she pulled her pacifier out of her mouth and threw it across the room. It is so sad and funny at the same time. She LOVES her pacifier. She crawls like mad to it or gets all goofy if she sees it that throwing across the room is so out of character. The poor thing. It drives me nuts however, because one minute after she flings it she is going to want it so I spend all this time retrieving them. I pray and hope the other ones like this one do not cause as much problems. I want my happy baby back. And I want the pain for her to stop. And I want a decent nights sleep again. No more 6:30-7 am risings.

I am sorry these posts are far and few between lately. It's hard for me to post without a picture. Until the computer is up and running again though that's all you are going to get. Hopefully, we will have the funds soon to get that done. I am sure Shawn is as sick as I am a lugging the computer back and forth from the office. I can't wait!! Until next time...

10 years

Most days I feel pretty young...despite what my gray hair is telling people. But it is still quite a shock that I graduated from high school ten years ago!! Me? Can you believe it?? Where has the time gone? This weekend was my reunion but I, along with most of my closest friends, decided to skip it. Why? Well for one I am still really close to all of my friends, therefore I already know what they have been up to. Second, the cost was $30 per person. That's not too bad you say EXCEPT it was for appetizers only! Very expensive. Instead, me and a few friends went out for pizza (delicious) and caught up. It was a great time. Here is the picture as proof (thanks Sara):

Kisses

Everyday I give my Evie kisses. Up until now she has asked for more on her forehead OR has given me a fish kiss. Today she gave me a real kiss when I asked. It was the sweetest thing. In addition, it appears she may be saying mommy and daddy. Shawn got home last night and he said "Hi, Evie" and without missing a beat she said "hi, daddy". Of course, it was quite that legible but that's what her baby talk sounded like. When I have been out of her sight for as little as 20 minutes she crawls to me saying, "mama, mama". Also not quite that clearly. But we are quite sure she is saying those sweet words. We love it.

Mama, daddy, and sweet Evie kisses what could be any better??

10 months old!

Are you as shocked as I am at how quickly time has passed?? It amazes me most of the time that I'm even a mother much less of a 10 month old. I'm sure though that I will never get over the shock of time passing. These entries will continuously have the same theme i.e. she's 11 months, she's a year etc.



Evelyn is so fun at this age. She is interactive, chatty, smiley and such a joy. I was able to pick up her 9 month photos yesterday and thought I'd post a few so you can enjoy our little beauty. In person, of course, is so much better. She loves to experiment with things: books...toys...her parent's reactions. She loves getting into trouble which these days is the doggies water dish. We've had to create an obstacle just to keep her out of it. Otherwise she would play in it for hours I'm sure. It is so easy to forget oneself and just watch her for hours. Of course, she is always wanting attention so that makes it easy too;o)



It's amazing how so little time can result in so many changes. She had her first cracker yesterday. She loved it. I am going to get her some teething biscuits soon as well. I loved them as a baby and I'm sure she will to. I want to let her enjoy that part of childhood. We've had to put a white noise machine (aka the part of her swing which made noise) into Evie's room. She is such a light sleeper that any noise was waking her up. She was getting up 3-4 times a night. Sometimes every hour. It was getting exhausting. Hopefully this provides the miracle we are looking for. The last two nights she slept much better. Last night I was only up once. We'll see. Last time we thought we had a new normal it only lasted 2 nights. We'll see if it was once again a fluke;o) We are crossing our fingers and praying that it's not.

We have been having computer problems which is why it has taken so long to post. We will be heading to GR for the 4th and I hope we can get the problem resolved. They thought it was my picture program so they deleted the whole thing. It turned out it wasn't the program but now my photos are without a home AND I had them all organized according to Evie's age. So I dread all the work entailed in organizing them...again. I have in the mean time been working on my scrapbooking. I am in scrapbook heaven. I have done about 15 pages in the last 2 weeks. Unfortunately the are incomplete because I cannot print any journaling out. The computer no longer recognizes my printer. It is frustrating. It makes you realize how much you use the computer. I wrote need first but that's not the truth. We could easily live without it. It means talking to people instead of emailing, reading a newspaper, and writing my journaling thoughts instead of relying on the neat printing in Word. I say yes to a least the first. I will wait on my computer though for the last two. It's sooo much easier;o)