Jen's blog

Monday night library date

2012-01-27T13:28:00.000-06:00

Forget Fridays, we took over a quiet corner of the Maumelle library and spread out this past Monday.

Evelyn kept herself occupied with my keys.

I kept myself from thinking about key germs by browsing parenting books and admiring the pretty library.

I love going on dates with these fun kids.

Then we picked up cheap pizza on our way home.

It was a perfect night.

Yesterday afternoon

2012-01-26T10:55:00.000-06:00

Hey, do y'all want to watch a grainy video of a shaggy-haired baby eating a toy frog, pulling toys out of a box, trying to eat my knitting, then putting a pacifier in her mouth and then pulling it out--all the while talking, drooling, crawling, and pulling up on furniture?

What kind of a silly question is that?

Of course you do.

Watch it all the way to the end. That's when she does my new favorite thing while making my new favorite face. She does this all the time and I love it.

The Capitol in the sunlight

2012-01-25T10:43:00.000-06:00

January 24, 2012

Today's pretty dark and ugly, but yesterday was nice.

McClard's pictures and captions

2012-01-24T08:23:00.000-06:00

Nearly all photos by Jessi. And one by Jeff or Faith. Here we go:

Evelyn wore pigtails for the first time ever for this event!

This is her trying to eat a French fry, probably moments before choking on it and throwing up. She was fine after that. The incident only added to her reputation among our friends as a hardcore party girl. "Puke and rally!" we told her. She complied.

Jarrett's half-spread. Evelyn kept sticking her fingers in the meat.

She had to make do with her banana baby food. I ate ribs.

If they have a picture slideshow at their wedding and this isn't included, I just don't know what I'll do.

Jarrett, still eating. Evelyn, still reaching for people's BBQ and glasses of water.

And still just getting bananas.

Adventure-lovers.

Sadly, they'd turned off their sign. So no pictures of that. But here we are in front of the wall!

We loved it! Even Evelyn! Promise.

Cody and I went on a date

2012-01-23T15:31:00.000-06:00

We took Evelyn to her Gram's house and ate at a fancy Italian restaurant we've passed a million times in the past 3 years. We've always said "We should eat there some time" and then we wouldn't because it's expensive. But we wanted a date and so we went and it was delicious. And yes, expensive.

I wore my date dress and Cody wore an ironed shirt. He had a glass of wine and we laughed and talked and I think I might have even tried to flirt. Then we picked up our girl and I picked up some coffee on the way home.

We also celebrated 8 years of being together.

Baby.

Pork chop.

Coffee.

Settling in for the night with Downton Abbey on DVD.

There was a lot to celebrate, and I'm glad we did.

It's been a big year.

(Obviously.)

We've had a baby, bought furniture, and enjoyed the good things in life much more than I thought we could.

Things like a baby, a cozy home, and coffee dates make life very good indeed and make me glad I've spent the last 8 years with Cody. I look forward to many, many more.

Happy anniversary to us!

friends and family

2012-01-20T12:22:00.002-06:00

I intended to write a post about Evelyn's first trip to the legendary BBQ joint, McClard's, last night and I was going to tell you about our madcap efforts to get there barely on time and how much fun we had and how much we loved it but then I looked through some of the pictures (most of which were graciously taken by Jessi because my hands were smeared in grease and sauce) and I got a little teary looking at this:

Evelyn and Jarrett playing with a cereal container at Starbucks.

I'll write up a whole funny post about last night at some point in the near future. Really.

For now I just wanted to say that we love our friends who love Evelyn like we're family.

Because we are.

We're so glad you enjoy being in Evelyn's life.

And thanks to Uncle Jarrett for spending his last night in Arkansas playing peekaboo and discussing the important matters with a certain baby who couldn't leave his hair alone.

You're truly the best.

Wednesday traditions

2012-01-19T11:12:00.000-06:00

We live across the street from tornado sirens.

Every other Wednesday, they are tested for 2 or 3 minutes at noon.

It was something I'd forget and try to put Evelyn down for a nap and then they'd go off a few minutes later. I learned to remember pretty quickly.

If she's already been sleeping for a while, the noise doesn't even wake her.

If she's nursing, I just put my hand over her ear and we smile at each other.

And yesterday?

(I should write posts all the time about how great ear protectors are.)

Taking lovely stock

2012-01-18T11:11:00.000-06:00

Last week I played with Evelyn's toys.

And this weekend I played with my yarn.

I searched around and realized, sure enough, that I played with yarn around this time last year.

It's fun to see how much of last year's yarn is or isn't in this year's pictures, and to make plans for what I still have. Plus, I just like recording my inventory and it's fun to arrange everything prettily. I don't know if I just need to see pretty colors during the ickiness of January, or if we just have too many pretty things. Either way, this is the dumb stuff I do when Evelyn naps and I feel like taking stock of our treasures.

I hope you liked it, because I did.

Obviously.

We'll see how things look next year.

Evelyn June is 10 months old!

2012-01-17T10:40:00.000-06:00

Oh Evelyn. She is so big.

There's been a lot of peekaboo-ing and clapping this month. Lots of sitting up better and standing up stronger and eating more tidily and lots of adventures.

She met Santa Claus.

She had her first Christmas.

She got a new sleep schedule.

She's started wanting to read books herself. I'll sit with her in the pile of books she strews everywhere and try to read a book and she'll take it for herself. She'll play in her pile of books for a pretty good chunk of time.

Part of it's her increasing independence, and part of it's because she more well-rested, but she's not so clingy these days. Yes, she'll follow me into the bathroom every single time I need a break but she won't cry while she does it anymore.

She's done a lot of cute things this month, but I can't photograph it as much these days. She spots me and then this:

quickly turns into this:

So yesterday, when she just sat in her dad's lap and chattered to him and did adorable things with her hands, I sat and enjoyed the scene. It's so fun to watch her be with people she loves. She's an effusive girl. Things and people that make her happy usually bring on a round of applause. So she's not only a happy girl, she's a celebratory one. Clapping makes everything a little more exciting and festive.

She still grunts and growls and whispers, but her sounds seem more articulate. When she jabbers these days, she says a lot of "Dadadadaadadadadada." When she's fussy or hungry or unhappy, she says a lot of "Mamamamamamamamama." Everything else yields an "Oh!" She says "Oh!" in a lot of different ways. They're all pretty emphatic and adorable "Oh!"s.

Thanks be to God, shrieking has subsided a lot.

She understands "No." and hears it a lot. I feel like we're a lot closer to the toddler stage than I thought we'd be. But she puts things on her head, and she constantly puts her hands over her eyes until we say "Where's Evelyn?" and surprises us with her face. She dances to music and has certain favorite books. She tries to climb up the back of our couch and our window.

She loves watching cars drive by, pieces of cereal, pacifiers, and drinking water from our glasses. She can turn pages in her books like a champion. She looks a little chubbier these days and I'm not-so-secretly hoping she's not gearing up for a growth spurt because she's just so lovely at this size.

I know she's getting bigger and stronger (and holy smokes, she is strong!) and smarter every day, but she's just so lovely right now. Just as lovely as she can be.

It's the beginning of a long weekend

2012-01-13T14:24:00.000-06:00

And I'm starting early--with my mood, anyway.

I couldn't think of anything to tell you, so I'm just going to relax instead. At least, in this sense of the word while listening to this.

Happy weekend to you!

When Evelyn sleeps

2012-01-12T09:50:00.000-06:00

Cody and I have been working on Evelyn's sleep habits for about a week now and it's actually going really well. I had some ideas and he had some ideas and there were a few library books and a few arguments and a few "Well, if that's how you want to do it then you'd better do it yourself" remarks tossed out there and a few attempts and ta da! Nighttime and nap times are much more peaceful affairs. Evelyn is a light sleeper (we don't understand the how or why of that), and she seems to sleep better if she falls asleep in her crib instead of falling asleep (while nursing or after being rocked) and is then carried to her crib. So while she sleeps solid naps and through the night we, her happy and rested parents, can do things we want to do or need to do.

Yesterday while she napped right through the testing of the tornado sirens across the street from us (she's acclimated to that sound), I changed out of my work clothes, ate some leftovers, and pulled out her toys and arranged them by color.

Because, really, why not?

Maybe today I'll mop the floors or dust or do one of those other projects I've intended to do while she naps that I haven't done because we've had a hard month of almost no naps without the aid of a moving vehicle,

but yesterday I was feeling happy and playful and it showed.

Thank God for naps and for sleeping through the night (both her AND us!).

And for rested and happy babies who laugh at things like this.

And for a life so filled with pretty toys that I had to make a separate pile for the multicolored ones.

And for rested and happy parents who can actually play and enjoy things when given the chance.

Goodness knows I have done a lot of thanking (and playing) this past week.

So lovely.

And fun.

Book list for 2011

2012-01-10T08:10:00.000-06:00

Evelyn has probably spent more time with these books than I have. She's a very tactile reader.

I nearly forgot about this! I was just thinking the other day that I hadn't made a post for December (I re-read Frank Herbert's Dune) and then I realized that I hadn't done my yearly book list.

It's a little short this year. I've been busy. But here it is, just in case you were really missing it.

Lady Oracle. Margaret Atwood.

The Gentle Art of Domesticity: Stitching, Baking, Nature, Art & the Comforts of Home. Jane Brocket.

The Hound of Baskervilles. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Eco-nomical Baby Guide: Down-to-Earth Ways for Parents to Save Money and the Planet. Joy Hatch and Rebecca Kelley.

Dune. Frank Herbert.

The Knitting Circle (CD). Ann Hood. Read by Hillary Huber*

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (CD). Stieg Larsson. Trans. Reg Keeland. Read by Simon Vance.*

The Girl Who Played With Fire. Stieg Larsson. Trans. Reg Keeland.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Stieg Larrson. Trans. Reg Keeland.

The Night Bookmobile. Audrey Niffenegger.*

Eats, Poops and Leaves: The Essential Apologies, Rationalizations, and Downright Denials Every New Parent Needs to Know and Other Fundamentals of Baby Etiquette. Adam Wasson*

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary. Simon Winchester.*

To the Lighthouse. Virginia Woolf.

Knitting Without Tears. Elizabeth Zimmerman.

Some thoughts on this year's selection, in no particular order:

Yes, I did the Larrson trilogy. I think I liked it. The books were an easy read, and I was able to get through most of them while nursing.

Eats, Poops and Leaves made me laugh in a sad and resigned sort of way.

The Gentle Art of Domesticity introduced me to Jane Brocket and I loved looking at the pretty pictures while--what else?--nursing.

The Professor and the Madman was sad and interesting, and I love Winchester's work on the OED.

The Eco-Nomical Baby Guide was a library book that was so helpful that we went out and bought our own copy.

Lady Oracle was a lot funnier than most Atwood novels.

Listening to The Knitting Circle made me want to join a group and learn a new stitch or project every month or so, but made Cody sigh and ask "What horrible thing happened to this character?" every time he heard me listening to it.

The Night Bookmobile was sad and unsettling and beautiful in a lonely sort of way, and it met my apparent 'read a graphic novel every couple of years' quota that I didn't know I had.

The Hound of Baskervilles, Dune, and To the Lighthouse were as great as I remembered them. Or maybe better. It was nice to think about these books, know what a good story was waiting for me, and then re-enjoying them even more than I thought I would.

And that's it! I'm currently reading 3 or 4 books right now, and I'm hoping that 2012 will see a few more completions.

What does your 2011 book list look like? I'm assuming you kept one and that you read more than I did.

She read the ending, told me about it, and ruined the whole book for me. DO NOT invite this girl to your book club.

Baby's first Jane Austen

2012-01-09T10:47:00.000-06:00

I was searching through my purse/diaper bag/Mary Poppins-style everything carrier the other and realized I'd taken Evelyn's copy of Pride and Prejudice to work with me.

Of course she has a copy of Pride and Prejudice. I thought all the cool babies did.

Okay, I have to fess up: aside from the days when I'd read bits of Beowulf aloud to Evelyn when she was too small to roll away from me, I've completely neglected to introduce British writers to her. It's the sad truth. I know you're disappointed in me for raising my child in such a deprived existence.

Lucky for us, her Aunt Jessi saved the day with a glorious Christmas present of Pride and Prejudice in this counting-centered board book!

Yes, there is a Pride and Prejudice board book. May wonders never cease.

Aunt Jessi immediately read the book to Evelyn (and to me). Then the three of us read it again. And then she said I had to write a blog post about it.

So here you have it:

Evelyn's favorite page. I try not to worry.

You know it's a Jane Austen book when there are marriage proposals all over the place.

The book combines a lot of Evelyn's favorite things--counting, bright pictures, lots of pink, uh...rich gentlemen (?!), and chewable pages so we read it a lot. It's a really pretty book, and a fun little play on the highlights of the story.

It's never too early to start your baby on her first Jane Austen novel.

Libraries and crafting and babies (oh my!)

2012-01-06T12:18:00.000-06:00

Last night I went to the Argenta Library's very first knitting night! Several people showed up, with varying degrees of experience. There were even crocheters! The night was declared a success and I'm told it will happen again next month--only they're changing the name to include all yarn crafting enthusiasts.

I know you're just here for the Evelyn stories, though, so let's get to that part.

I took Evelyn with me, obviously. I brought the sweater that I'm working on for her, and some toys. She was more interested in pulling up on chairs (fine) and pursuing a stray crochet hook in the floor (not fine). One of the librarians seemed to prefer babies to casting on (it's universal: everyone hates it!), so she volunteered to play with Evelyn and they had a blast!

The first picture is mine, and the next 4 pictures are from Kathy's phone. Who is Kathy? One of the librarians who Evelyn always gives big smiles to, and a lovely person who emailed me these cute pictures.

PS: I cut my hair.

When the date is set for next month, I will definitely be posting about in advance in case you want to go. I love libraries, librarians, yarn things, and knitting opportunities that don't take place in the middle of a weekday. Yay!

I think I said I wouldn't post this, but I am so oh well

2012-01-05T09:39:00.000-06:00

Cody made cheese over the weekend. He's been meaning to for a while, and he promised someone from his work that he would. Here's how it went.

He started with heating up milk.

Then he added vinegar to separate the curds from the whey.

Then it drained for a few hours.

Then he added some chili flakes because his co-worker said she and her husband like spicy things.

He stirred it in, packed it away in the fridge, and took it to work the next day.

Then he came home last night and said she liked it!

But of course.

(Here is another story about Cody cooking.)

Grin and bear it

2012-01-04T08:49:00.001-06:00

She already knows to be embarrassed by puns.

I found the camera cord and now there are pictures of Evelyn in a bear suit to share with you. Rejoice!

Evelyn isn't that fond of her bear suit because it restricts her movements and she'll bring up her arms and search frantically for her missing hands. And then I laugh at her and ignore her fussing because she's warm and adorable. Just grin and bear it, big girl.

And, because I'm so generous, here's a video of her enjoying 'her' fountain. She loves going by this thing and smiles at it and gets so excited even when we're walking up to it.

First post of 2012

2012-01-03T14:50:00.000-06:00

Hello and Happy New Year!

I know it's late.

I hope you had a good time.

We went to bed around 10ish and I got up with Evelyn once or twice.

Then I took down our Christmas decorations and we stocked up on baby food and bought a TV with Christmas money. Also, I pitched a mild fit because the donut store was closed and donuts are supposed to bring you good luck on New Year's Day. Also, I love donuts.

We had some the next day.

I enjoyed my extra day at home. I didn't document much of it and it wouldn't matter if I had because I left the camera at home and (pray for me) have misplaced the camera cord. How exciting.

I did some shopping and a lot of feeding Evelyn--both milk and baby food--and some walking around outside while the weather was pleasant. Once the weather was unpleasant, I put her in a snowsuit that makes her look like a little brown bear and we still went for an evening walk.

We both need our daily walks to stay pleasant and sane.

There are pictures of the bear suit. They're all adorable.

Cody made cupcakes with the mixer and told me to do it myself when I told him he wasn't using enough icing on them. I'll take care of it tonight.

Cody also made cheese because he told a waitress at work that he would. Then Evelyn was born and he didn't get around to it. I took a few pictures of the process, but it wasn't a step-by-step thing because Evelyn and I had a walk to take. When I would take a picture, he'd look at me nervously and ask "Are you going to post about this?" Apparently cheese-making is not something he wants me to talk about much.

Evelyn was sometimes pleasant, but not as much as usual. She wasn't feeling her best and sleep was hard to catch, even when she wanted to. So I found myself doing things like sitting in a Target parking lot for nearly an hour because she'd fallen asleep on the drive there and I didn't want to wake her (glad I brought a book), or holding her while I sat on the couch....and fell asleep myself. She was a little more rested since I was there to soothe her back to sleep every time she jerked awake too soon.

Don't judge. Just think about how bad you felt whenever your braces were adjusted. I'm sure she feels worse.

The saddest part is that she still has nothing to show for her suffering. I thought I saw a tooth in Wal-Mart and freaked out, but it was just a spit bubble on her sad gum. On the plus side, the nice couple behind us are her new best friends. She was seriously talking to them and waving a lot. Such a friendly girl. She also grinned a lot at the ladies in the yarn store.

She does this thing now when she wrinkles her nose so her grin can be even bigger. I don't have a picture of it yet, but it's cute.

Don't worry, when I do get pictures of that big ol' smile you'll see it on here.

Just as soon as I find the camera cord.

It's comforting to know that some things don't change too much in the new year, right?

Sure.

Last post for 2011

2011-12-30T13:11:00.000-06:00

2011 is nearly over and I couldn't be happier about it.

It was a really, really good year.

We had our health, our wonderful friends and family, and there was a super special baby girl making everything a little bit harder, a lot slower, and indescribably more beautiful.

Also? A bunch of bad/stressful/ridiculous stuff. Too many deaths (some I wrote about here and some I didn't), the stress of knowing loved ones were hurting and not being able to help, and--of course--a tree fell on our house.

(I promise I'll stop carrying on about it when I manage to clean all the plaster and ickiness off of our stuff. I always think I'm done, and then I find more. It's like a really exciting game!)

Regardless of the year's content, there was way too much of all of it to talk about in one little post. And I certainly don't have the patience or foresight to write several. And even then, it would be wholly inadequate.

I tried to draw a succinct, key-word list to review the year. I could have even included links. But then I noticed Evelyn sitting on her feet like she thought she was a five-year-old and I don't know when she started that. I don't know when exactly she stopped sleeping through the night, or when she was able to lift up her head when she played on her tummy.

I don't know when I was able to hold her on my hip without her sliding off. I don't know when I started counting my co-workers as friends or when I stopped thinking I had to have the entire apartment clean by noon on Saturday.

Big and little changes took place gradually, or at least without my notice. The world we live in, both in the current events/nightly news sense of the word and our tiny little lives, is vastly different than it was in January 2011.

And then, of course, there was Evelyn. She's such a big deal.

Having a baby changed us and our lives. We expected that to happen, but then there were other changes we didn't see coming. Priorities and responsibilities and viewpoints just slid around and re-settled while we were busy taking care of her and working out routines and then we turned around and noticed that everything had shifted and tilted and things were just different. I'd try to explain it more, but it's disorienting to even try to think of a way to put it in words. Part of this is because the change is so great, but mostly I think it's because I'm very, very tired. I live with a baby, you know.

I don't think we're doing anything on New Year's Eve. I'm oddly excited about the idea of going to sleep (fingers crossed it's at a decent hour) and waking up to a new year. I'm looking forward to a fresh start. I'm starting the year out as Evelyn's mom, with a lot more confidence in my job and where it's going, and with an ever-growing desire to try new things.

I want the 3 of us to take a day trip and do something fun. I want teach Evelyn how to blow bubbles this summer. I want to do more freelance work and I want to knit and sew useful things and I really, really want to sleep through the night.

I've got a whole year to try it, so I'm hopeful.

I'll see you then.

Bad pictures of a cute baby really aren't that bad at all

2011-12-29T08:45:00.002-06:00

Sometimes you have to use the flash on your camera. It's not pretty, but sometimes it's necessary and anyone who tells you "I either use natural light or I don't take the picture" is stark raving mad because I would be missing out on a lot of adorable Evelyn pictures if I stuck with that. I love natural light as much as the next mommy blogger--probably more--but the days are dark and I'm gone some days and our couch blocks part of the living room window and things happen at night and girlfriend moves quickly and I want to catch her being cute.

So rather than bemoan my fate as a not-rich blogger who has never had professional photos taken in fields (sometimes for free!), I'm going to remind myself that all the solar flare shots in the world will not change the fact that none of these women have children with hair as awesome as Evelyn's. And that it's never once occurred to me to criticize people's old family photos in albums that use the flash because it's not that bad.

So now I (a chilled out mom and blog-writing person) give you (a very understanding and sweet person who's probably here for pictures of Evelyn, no matter what quality they are) pictures of Evelyn (and some other people) with the flash.

Enjoy!

I know I did.

Hanging out with her Uncle Charlie. Even when her eyes are closed, it's cute.

Wearing this adorable hat and reading books for quite a long time.

She crawled in there and got stuck. I thought it was great.

Her dad lets her do stuff like eat washrags when it's his turn to give her a bath.

She likes to eat most of her animals, especially the monkey.

Sidenote: she's so good at sitting!

Prunes. She loves them. Promise.

Being a pensive Christmas present.

I dressed her up as Levi for his birthday! He bought her the hat, and then he bought with coveralls with Chad and Sara.

And her Granddad bought her the work shirt. And shared his hat with her.

Bye bye. That's it for now.

Our first Christmas

2011-12-28T08:00:00.001-06:00

Oh man.

Christmas.

Following a month of inadequate naps, late nights, and/or frequent awakenings, it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. Evelyn was overwhelmed and overstimulated and got pretty fussy pretty quickly, but most of the time she was incredibly entertained and interested in everything and everyone around her.

And Christmas Eve? I have pictures...on film.

I went to a party on Friday and brought my camera. I didn't use my camera, but I took it and then lost it under the seat. I thought I left it at home, and so there are no pictures of Evelyn rocking out with my family on Christmas Eve. When we left to go to Dicy's for Cody's family's Christmas, I called him and told him if he couldn't find my digital camera he'd have to bring my 'real' one.

So he did.

So you'll see those pictures after I see the fine folks at Walgreens. For now, you just have to trust me when I say that Evelyn loves her grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins and eating wrapping paper. And that I am good at decorating cookies.

(We both know I'm not.)

Christmas morning was a pretty low-key thing. After a late night, we slept too late to join my family at church and decided to just take it easy. There's video of Evelyn looking at her toys, and of Cody opening a stand mixer from me, but they're both so underwhelming I'm not going to post them.

How underwhelming? Well, I was there for both events and I'm so bored thinking about them that I haven't even bothered to watch them.

Cody and Evelyn are not big on wild demonstrations of joy.

Actually, they are. But not for Christmas. I don't know when or how Cody infected Evelyn with his affliction, but I will get him for this.

Here are Evelyn's presents!

This is her haul from Santa.

Santa can get into homes without chimneys if you have a Santa key. It works even if you have the key INSIDE your house. Don't ask me how, it's just magic.

These are her presents from Cody and me. Her stocking holds a toy car and--what else?--socks.

See how happy she is?

Behold: Cody's surprise!

The instructions. Or the list of available accessories. Either way, oh my goodness.

She was just humoring us with her little shoes. She actually didn't like them because she has my warm feet.

If you had told me last year that Christmas morning would have looked like this, I probably would have died for joy. Just look at them. They're so great. He kisses her. She waves. They smile at each other and they smile at me. It's a glorious day in, day out, thing. I love it so much.

Then we celebrated Christmas with my side of the family at Sara and Chad's house. Some of these pictures are mine, and some are Sara's. (Hint: the good ones are Sara's.)

Mandatory picture of a child wearing a bow at Christmas.

I didn't win, but at least I beat Laine! Sara beat us all.

Men. Doing manly things, like watching Pawn Stars.

Evelyn and Laine. Doing Evelyn things like eating jewelry and cereal.

Chad. Hiding from my camera. Always.

Sara and Chad, looking pretty for church!

Laine and Robert!

Us. Evelyn is a giant!

I think they were supposed to pose like this with Levi, but Mom wanted Evelyn instead for some reason.

I hope you and your loved ones had a very Merry Christmas!

Once more for good measure:

Birthday post for Levi Alton

2011-12-27T12:52:00.000-06:00

Levi is 23 today!

I don't know why. He just is.

For some reason, he is not 17 even though a small part of me consistently believes that Levi is 17 and Spencer is 15 and they are young and our little brothers are little. Never mind that our little brothers have not been little in a decade or so (at least when you compare them to me). I just like the idea.

But no.

I turned 29 a couple of weeks ago, and that means that Levi would have his birthday just 10 days later because there are only 6 years, 10 days, and 2 sisters between us.

Levi really is the best.

He talked me through buying a computer online. And he bravely did not say anything while I drove (while hungry!) around central AR on my due date even though he was practically twitching in his seat and obviously praying that I would ask him to take a turn. He did, however, very adamantly shoe me away from the pesticide aisle of Home Depot that day and had to sit with me when I had to take breaks from walking around a furniture store that day.

I believe Evelyn is one of his favorite people, and I'm sure he's one of hers. He has facial hair and wears a cap. He is tall and raises her far above his head.

He bought her a board book copy of Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. He makes her happy and tries to comfort her when she stays unhappy.

He told me last week, "I don't mind when she spits up on me. I just, you know, try to keep her from playing in it. That's the hard part."

Levi does cool stuff like take spit-up in stride, and buy ear protectors in the smallest size he can find in case Evelyn wants to shoot guns or go to a concert (sometimes we put them on her when the tornado sirens across the street are being tested).

Or buys her Carhartt overalls.

Or onesies.

Or books.

Or hats.

(I want to tell him to stop, but I love the things he gives her!)

He has known how to skillfully lock Evelyn in her car seat since she was a couple of weeks old.

He refers to her almost exclusively as "big 'un", which I love.

He's also done a lot of freelance work, and then got himself a job being an awesome wrap installer guy. If you've seen a vehicle for a business that seems covered in advertising, there's a very good chance that Levi had something to do with it.

He makes my parents happy by being around.

He helped me move this year--twice. And used his truck as my own personal book storage unit.

He does 'big' stuff with Dallas (because it would seem that Dallas is no longer 3 any more. What is wrong with people?!) because, well, Dallas is a big kid and Levi can pass as a responsible adult.

My sisters and I think that he's the best brother ever.

I'm pretty sure you'll agree.

Happy birthday, Levi!

Uncle Levi!

They're really good friends!

The ear protectors. She loves them.

'They' say you can tell a lot about a man by the company he keeps. So there's that....

He even lets her drive his car!

Positive role model

2011-12-23T12:34:00.000-06:00

Evelyn has a lot of people she likes, and now I think she's found someone she'd like to be.

It started pretty quickly after we met Santa.

I had knitted a festive hat for the day before, and when the wind picked up I put it on her. Normally she tries to pull off her hats, but this time she left it on for hours.

And yes, she is pretty jolly.

And yes, she has a nice belly.

This picture always comes to mind when I think of jolly and chubby.

But jolly and chubby babies in hats are fairly common, so I didn't think too much of it.

But!

Then, a couple of days later, Cody called me into the room when he was giving Evelyn a bath.

You could say she liked the beard her dad gave her because she wants to look like him, but I think she has someone else she's trying to emulate.

If you see her creeping around your house tomorrow tonight, give me a call. Please?

Thanks, and Merry Christmas!

Evelyn's Christmas gifts

2011-12-22T11:04:00.000-06:00

Just in case you were wondering, here's a rundown of what Evelyn is getting for Christmas. I'm hoping to take a picture of her presents (that have yet to be wrapped) all laid out and beautiful on Christmas morning, but if I forget to tell you what she got after the fact, I at least have this little list to look back on. (I think there's a page in the baby book where I'm supposed to write about this. Now I can just copy it off of this post!)

In keeping with my pared-down Christmas approach, Evelyn's first Christmas is going to be pretty low key. She's likely to be confused anyway, so there's really no need to go crazy.

Plus, we don't feel like going crazy. I thought I would, but if Evelyn's not going to be that impressed I'm not seeing a need.

What I have felt like we needed were quality presents. In this day and time, I'm not asking for heirloom-level stuff she can pass down to her own children. We're a little too poor for such wild expectations. But it would be nice if she had some items that could at least last through any of our babies to come after her, and maybe even a few cousins. So we searched around and then realized that we'd be keeping Christmas pretty low-key because it's nearly impossible to find something at all, and then find something that isn't prohibitively expensive.

I wasn't as eco-friendly and patriotic as I'd hoped, but I think this year's haul is a 50/50 mix of quality and mass-produced junk from China.

So, between Cody, Santa, and me, here's what we've found:

Made by the nerds at Mental Floss.

From Holgate Toys. I bought it at Whole Foods. I am absolutely buying some birthday presents from these guys.

From Happy Green Bee.

Also from Happy Green Bee.

From Ten Thousand Villages.

Not pictured: the Olivia book I bought for a car trip to distract her and never needed to use, and its accompanying little hand-sized Olivia pig in a cute red jumper. And the little hat I'm going to knit for her. And the little slippers I found for her that have Pooh Bear heads at the feet. They're far too big for her (even though the tag said they were for 6-12 months), but they have rattles and who doesn't love a good Pooh Bear-related gift?

And socks. This girl needs socks. Socks with grippers on the bottom.

So: Whole Foods sells Holgate Toys products in their store, and I had to get the fire truck because red is nice and Christmas-y. Also, because we love fire trucks in this family. Also, I think the fact that this old fashioned company has a website straight out of 1998 is very endearing.

We bought the basket from Ten Thousand Villages, which is basically our way of supporting jobs overseas....but the right kind of jobs.....or something. I don't know. We bought a basket for Evelyn there when I was pregnant and it holds the toys in her room. We wanted a smaller box for holding toys or Evelyn in the living room.

Happy Green Been clothes are made from organic cotton, and are fair trade (and made in China).

The little pig and book come from Target, and were made in China.

The Winnie the Pooh slippers came from Babies R Us and were probably made in China.

The little baby hat I'm making will be made by me, most likely under fairly human working conditions.

Birthday post for Chad

2011-12-21T11:27:00.000-06:00

Chad never reads this, but today is his birthday and I'd be remiss if I didn't say something about it.

Chad is another year older.

Every year, he shares his birthday with the shortest day of the year.

It hardly seems fair, but he's a good sport about it.

I don't think I have any pictures of Chad and me having a great time together, even though we do have a great time together.

I think he's great and I'm glad he's such a good husband to Sara.

Evelyn also thinks he's great.

She has a WONDERFUL time with Chad because he lifts her above his head and wears green shirts. She absolutely loves those things about him.

Sometimes Evelyn is on Chad's tall level.

And sometimes he gets down on hers.

So happy birthday, Chad! I hope your day is wonderful!

When milestones are actually fun

2011-12-20T12:58:00.001-06:00

I knew it was that time of year, but my brain didn't really make the connection that this was something to affect me.

It started on Facebook before it started in real life. Status updates would announce that someone was taking some child to see Santa at some mall or whatever. Images of children immobilized by fear, or scream-crying hysterically, or sleeping, or (very rarely) smiling in the lap of a beleaguered-looking man began to flood my newsfeed.

"How terrible," I'd think, "That looks like the least-fun thing ever." Then I'd go on with my day.

But then it crept into conversations.

"Are you just about ready for Baby's First Christmas?" someone would not-really ask. I have decided this is on par with the question of "Is it hot enough for ya?" in the summertime. I'm not really required to answer. I just have to smile and offer up an equally banal phrase like "Oh, we're gettin' there."

And then they would shock me out of my social vagaries-induced stupor. "Has she been to see Santa?"

Wait, what?

My Evelyn? Who is clingy? Who tends to be tired or fussy at inopportune times--like anytime I have out a camera? This year? This squirmy child who goes between stealing glasses from strangers to refusing to let relatives hold her?

The answer to all of these questions was apparently "Yes."

Yes, people thought I would go to the mall, wait in line, and then pay money to foist my child off onto a stranger while she screamed in terror, and then treasure the photograph of the ordeal forever.

Oh. Cool social conventions, you guys.

Of all the holiday traditions I'd dreamed of celebrating with my child, this one never took up much space in my brain. Maybe when she was old enough to have a gift request, or to actually want to meet Santa, we would. But not this year.

But, but....meeting Santa! It's apparently something you do! Or whatever! I worried I was being a laidback-to-the-point-of-negligent parent again. Then Cody said he didn't care about Evelyn meeting Santa either and we decided that agreeing on the matter meant we were right and this wasn't a crucial Christmas activity.

BUT:

(of course)

I read that Santa would be a mere 2 blocks from home on Saturday and that photographs would be free as long as you brought your own camera.

When Santa gets that close to your house during such a busy time for him, it would be rude to not go say 'hi'.

So.

What could it hurt to go by and just look at him?

On Saturday morning, after washing some clothes and getting dressed and walking around a little and just generally doing things on our own time, Evelyn and I went to the trolley (because that's just how they do things around here) to meet Santa and Mrs. Claus. I wore Evelyn in the wrap, tight against my chest. We stood in a very short line and she stared at the signs on the walls, the lights on the windows, and the little boy behind us wearing an owl hat.

When it was her turn, they were thrilled to meet us. They told Evelyn she had a very pretty name, and very blue eyes. I tried to pass her to Santa once and she pulled back. So I kept holding her. We talked for another minute, and then tried again.

Success!

Yes, she had to be bribed with bright candy in a crinkly wrapper.

She is still looking at the little boy with the owl hat.

She is checking out Mrs. Claus.

And now the man himself.

And this one is just my favorite because I love it when she looks like a cartoon.

That's right, folks! I took 5 adorable, non-blurry, non-screaming baby/Santa photos in natural light! And I love every one of them!

I feel like I won Mommy Christmas.

Ahem.

And Evelyn?

Well, she was happy to be passed back to me. She gave Santa a smile and then chewed on the wrapper of the candy cane for at least an hour because she liked the feeling of the cellophane on her little gums and the sound of the wrapper. Then she dropped it on the ground and I threw it away....and then noticed that the candy cane had somehow gotten wet and was oozing out red baby slobber, which had at some point run down part of my white and blue?/black?/gray? striped shirt. I have a nice pink line along the collar that I didn't bother to rinse or treat, and the shirt (some ten-dollar thing from Old Navy that I bought because nursing requires a wardrobe of button-up shirts and V-necks) is probably good and stained now.

I can probably cherish that forever, too.

29

2011-12-19T11:22:00.001-06:00

Cheesecake and coffee in a wine bar, Saturday night.

I had a birthday over the weekend and now I'm just one year from my 30s.

It feels good to be older. I like who I am and I feel okay about who I'm becoming.

I know I can grow a baby. I can keep that baby alive and entertained. I can teach her things. She responds to the tone of my voice and the look on my face. I have people who know how special this girl is and who help me and support me in raising her. I have a life partner who is better and funnier and smarter and kinder than I'd ever dared hope for. I have a job, and interesting hobbies, and a raging caffeine addiction.

I'm not embarrassed by my terrible taste in music. I smile politely when strangers give unsolicited baby advice that usually doesn't apply to our situation. I am paying down debts and attempting to cut back on impulse spending. I can occasionally be a good listener to a friend. After 4 months or so, I learned to handle the work/life balance. I still love being really, really mean. I am the blessed recipient of Evelyn's biggest smiles. I stayed home from work Thursday and let Cody sleep in. He told me I was the best wife ever. I'm not feeling like we have to anxiously buy a lot of things in order for people to know we're excited about Evelyn's first Christmas.

I thought I was mellowing with age. Cody thinks having a baby made me give even less of a flip about things than usual. I don't give a flip about which it is.

I can cut my own hair.

I can knit more than a scarf.

In the past week, I have pulled a nickel, a push pin, and several socks out of Evelyn's mouth.

I haven't printed photos in about 3 months and I'm not even bothered that I don't know when I'll do that.

I love The Good Wife and Masterpiece.

I'm learning to let go of things that aren't worth my time and effort, and to take on new challenges because I can trust my abilities.

You know, just the growing and changing stuff you do every now and then.

On my birthday, I got up twice in the night with Evelyn, made a pot of coffee, washed 5 loads of laundry, walked across the Main Street bridge for a gyro, saw the sights of downtown with my baby, took a trolley ride home, ate lunch with Mom and Levi, did some Christmas shopping, visited with Dad, put away those 5 loads of laundry, went on a date with Cody while Casey watched Evelyn, and then comforted Evelyn to sleep when a full day with only an hour's worth of naps caught up to her and she had a screaming meltdown for her uncle.

Cody and I watched, well, some Masterpiece Mystery on DVD and were in bed before 11. Then he was in charge of getting up with Evelyn, and I slept the sleep of someone who walked over a mile in inappropriate footwear and forgot her daily Mountain Dew.

It was a good birthday.

29 is a good age.

Evelyn partied with me all day.

This is where I'm at right now. It feels like a really, really good place to be.

New developments every day

2011-12-16T12:31:00.000-06:00

Evelyn loves playing in her room. I don't know why I don't dump her in there more often. Maybe the fact that she doesn't play in there very much lends to its appeal. Most of her toys are in the living room, but she likes the novelty of pulling books and toys off her little bookcase, pulling up on her crib, and staring at pictures of animals on the walls.

So she was happy and playing in there last night while I loaded the dishwasher, until she wasn't. She started fussing and calling for me. I hadn't heard her fall down, so I wasn't really sure why she'd need me.

I went in her room and saw this:

(Please ignore our beautiful Home Depot bucket full of dirty diapers.)

There she was, my skillful little climber. I'm not sure how she got herself into the laundry basket full of dirty clothes, but she did. I did know, however, that she'd probably be trying to hop out for a while before she realized that she needed me.

So I did what any reasonable parent would do. I laughed at her and ran away in search of my camera.

She understood. See?

Evelyn June is 9 months old!

2011-12-15T13:08:00.000-06:00

9 months is a very long time.

You can do a lot in nine months' time:

Learn to make peace with your messy house.

Discern when to nap and when to grab some more food and caffeine and take care of pressing matters.

When to go out and look at everything and run errands, and when to stay in and cuddle and enjoy everything familiar.

And some other stuff I'd remember if I wasn't so distracted with Evelyn. (Ha.)

We don't have the time or space to go into detail about all of the things that she's learned to do in the past 9 months. But I can attempt to cover all the things she's learned in the past month!

Just like every one before it, it's been a big month.

She moved up to more nine-month clothes, she pulls herself up on nearly everything (yay?), she celebrated Thanksgiving, she learned to sit herself down (yay!!!), and there's a lot of baby food-eating these days. She really likes dry cereal because she can feed herself. She tries to feed herself when I feed her baby food, and tends to get angry when I don't let her hold the spoon unassisted, even if she can find her mouth. Last night, she fed herself a few boiled chunks of sweet potato and clapped for herself.

She'll crawl a few paces on her hands and knees, but belly crawling is still her preferred method of transportation.

She really loves to look at the baby in the mirror and will now wave at mirrors. And at people. And street lights. She loves lights.

Is anyone surprised that she loves Christmas decorations and gets really excited when she sees our wreath covered in glitter? Anyone at all?

This has been the month of 'da da' and 'bah bah'. I can only assume the latter is 'bye bye' because she hears that a lot when we're trying to prove to strangers that she can wave. She seems to be saying "Mama" with some intention these days, especially when she's hungry.

She's been a little more reserved these days, but she still smiles at people and sometimes 'talks' to them. If they stop and look at her, she gives a big grin.

She loves books and standing up at the coffee table. She likes crunching on her dry cereal and I think I can see a tooth under her sad little gums. Sometimes she sleeps through the night and sometimes (most of the times) she doesn't. She doesn't always need to nurse at night, though. Sometimes she just needs a diaper change and a pat on the back. I'm sure she should be able to self-soothe and fall back to sleep on her own (and sometimes I think she does) by this age, but she's quite a people person and believes that she needs human interaction nearly all the time. Besides, crying it out is for people who don't live in apartments.

She loves rattles and bells. She loves signs and dogs. She seems to love sitting in the sink for her baths these days instead of laying down in her baby tub.

She grows and changes every day and these monthly posts don't seem to record nearly enough, but it's all I have time for when she does so much.

I tell her all the time that she's the biggest girl, and she really is.

Happy 9 months, big girl!

Funny list time!

2011-12-14T10:41:00.000-06:00

Since it's been nearly a year since I posted any funny lists, here is one for you today!

Accessories are important
Jen: What are you and Evelyn going to do? Wear matching tutus and crowns?
Sara: Maybe. I guess I could share a crown with her.
Jen: How many do you have now? 5?
Sara: I think so, yeah.

Levi takes boxes very seriously
Mom: You wanted a baby swing? What are you going to do with that?
Jen: Uh, put the baby in it.
Levi: Mom! Look at how happy this baby on the box is! And it goes where you go! And in Spanish!

Dad takes play kitchens very seriously and has been taking them seriously for over a year now
Dad: I saw a lot of great play kitchens! I really think the baby needs one.
Jen: Let's wait until she's old enough to enjoy them. Or be born.

Every time
Laine: Oh, Evelyn let's play with your little hairdo and have a photo shoot!
Evelyn: Blank stare.
Laine: I think we're great friends. Just the best of friends!

He really does
Levi: I love adopted people!

When you consider her second-degree sunburn, this time was not a success
Sara: Was it really that bad?
Leah: I only go to Bonnaroo for iced lemonade and drugs!
Jen: Not for bands?
Leah: No! And this year they didn't even have iced lemonade!

The Burt to everyone's Ernie
Mom: It was so funny. You just marched your little self down the stairs and you were so mad. And you told me, "Don't ever give Laine medicine with--what was it?"
Jen: Codeine. It winds her up. She was literally trying to walk up the wall at 2 in the morning.
Mom: Right. You were so little and so mad! It was funny.
Jen: I was 15.
Mom: You were little at 15.

Cody does love his 80s pop
Spencer: How does it make you feel to know that all of the good 80s pop has already been made and there won't be any more?

I find this odd, yet flattering
Jessi: Would you think it was weird if I had a framed picture of Evelyn in my office?

Book nerd after my own heart
Jen: So this girl said on Facebook that her daughter was having a sleepover and her plan was to stay up past midnight and then do a silent reading!
Jessica: What? How old is this girl?
Jen: I don't know. 7ish?
Jessica: Is she homeschooled?

It's meaningful
Jen: I just hope some day you'll care enough about a girl that you'll put AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long" on a mix for her.
Jarrett: I pray for that every day.

I give great Christmas presents
Spencer: Whoa, this is a legit book about unicorns.

She was advanced, even at a week old
Jen: So, she went to her first party ever and was dragged screaming incoherently out of some guy's bedroom she'd just met that night, wearing different clothes than the ones she showed up in and with her own vomit in her hair.
Jarrett: Wow, you were really a hot mess there. We all hit low points. You're just getting it out of the way early. 5 days--it's all uphill from there.

He'd only known her for 3 months
Evelyn: [spits her pacifier on the floor]
Jen: Can you pick that up for me?
Casey: Here you go. You might not want to put that back in its mouth.
Jen: Did you just call her 'it'?
Casey: No. Of course not.....

It does explain a lot
Jen: Kelly said she was trying to get John to eat more vegetables, but that he wasn't always into trying new things. She said, "He'll tell me 'This was good, but there's no cheese on it.' and I'll be like, 'That's because it's Chinese food.'"
Sara: That's why I don't like Chinese food.

Whatever, y'all are jerks
Laine: Jen, I was imitating the way you dance in the car on the way over here.
Leah: She looked just like you. It was awful.

Cody cares about baby fashions, part 1
Jen: And Mom was laughing because you were freaking out over changing Evelyn and cleaning up the mess and she said you said "I had her in the cutest outfit today" and--
Cody: Hey! Hey! I always have her dressed cute! Isn't that right, girl?

Casey also addresses Evelyn as "Girl"

Casey: Wow, girl, you're really chewing on that fist. Maybe you can get your whole fist in there one day, and you'll be cool.

Levi is sneaky
Levi: Okay, Mom, here's your coffee. Dad, here's your coffee.
Levi: [pause]
Levi: You shouldn't hold the baby with the coffee. I'll take her since I'm the only one with free hands.
Jen: You're a giver. Did you plan this?
Mom: I think one of us can keep holding her.
Levi: Don't. burn. Evelyn. I'll take her. Just let me have the baby!

Wait, he's met Cody

Jessi: I just realized that people have probably thought we were a couple all day....
Jen: Do you want to keep wearing Evelyn anyway?
Jessi: Yeah! Hi, Chad!
[A month or so later]
Thomas: So you guys know my friend, Chad?
Jen and Jessi: Yeah, nice guy.
Thomas: He asked me the other day, "So your friends, Jen and Jessi......are they......?"
Jessi: I knew it!
Jen: Oh, it was the day we ran into him when we wore all the plaid and went shopping together.
Jessi: We did not have our act together. You'd think we'd never left the house with a baby before.
Jen: And we've taken her places tons of times!

Cody did not pass for 18 even at 18
Jen: And then guy goes "So, how old are you? 17? 18?" Ugh. I was holding Evelyn and paying with a debit card and there were family photos of us all! So what if I was 18?
Cody: Wow, he must have thought I was a real perv.

Jen and Jessi and Evelyn in Barnes
Jessi: Oh hi!
Jessi's co-worker: This must be Evelyn!
Jessi: Uh, I might talk about your daughter a lot at work.
Jessi's co-worker: Wow, that hair really is long!
Jessi: And I show people pictures on my phone....

Like I said
Jen: I was listening to the game and they were doing so badly, so I dressed Evelyn in her Razorback clothes during the half-time and they won! So I've been dressing her in Razorback gear for every game and they've been winning.
Sara: I know, I realized they lost the game on the day I forgot to wear my Razorback underwear. So I've been wearing it every game day and they win.
Jen: Why do you have Razorback underwear?
Levi: Why do you not?
Jen: I don't even know where you buy something like that.
Sara: They sell it everywhere!
Jen: I don't think we shop at the same places.
Sara: They even have it at Victoria's Secret!
Jen: Yup.

Cody cares about baby fashions, part 2
Jen: Oh, look at the little butterfly on the back! So cute.
Cody: Congratulations, girl! It's your first piece of clothing that calls attention to your butt. Great.

Makes sense
Cody: I had a dream that we went to a religious conference--you, me, and your parents.
Jen: Me?!
Cody: Yes.
Jen: Was I sedated? How did you get me to go to a religious conference?
Cody: Free food.
Jen: Are you serious?!
Cody: Yes. You went for the free food there.
Jen: Was it good?

Well, yes
Jarrett: I'm sorry, I wasn't listening to you. Evelyn was making funny faces. I'm sure that happens to you a lot.

Borderline nostalgia

2011-12-13T11:27:00.000-06:00

Because I'm tired and don't have much to say, here's a video of Evelyn from about a month ago. She was trying to put off taking a nap, and just scooting around in a diaper and college sporting team accessories. It's fun to watch this and hear her little sounds, and see how much better she's gotten at pulling up and--even more importantly--getting down.

Enjoy:

Laine's pictures are usually better than mine

2011-12-12T07:56:00.000-06:00

It's true. One day I'll show you all the pictures Laine took of newborn Evelyn in the hospital with my camera, and then we'll compare them to the pictures she took with her phone. You will weep for joy at the absolute perfection in Evelyn's tiny facial expressions and then you'll ask me why I don't have a Droid and then I'll go on some unfortunate rant about cell phones.

So for now, please just enjoy her lovely phone pictures of our lovely December Family Party last weekend.

Our incredibly festive cake.

Sara's partied up table.

The banners!

And now, just more pictures of Evelyn.

She looks like she has her aunts' long torso in this picture.

I'm not sure if there's anything more adorable than diaper booty. If there is, you don't have to tell me. I'm not sure I can handle it anyway.

Oh wait, maybe this is cuter.

O Christmas ornaments

2011-12-09T13:04:00.000-06:00

This is what the tree looks like when decorated:

A toy wand makes a nice star.

I put out an ornament Dad brought me from Holland, a wax angel I made with Mom and Laine, our First Married Christmas ornaments, and that little toaster oven ornament because it's just so cute.

Also, there's a snowflake made by Mamaw.

Clockwise from left: Evelyn's ultrasound photo in a 2010 ornament, a snowflake crocheted by Mamaw, a Rudolph ornament from the year Laine (and Cody!) were born, a suncatcher Dallas painted for me a few years back, and a Santa ornament crocheted by Mamaw.

Left to right: reindeer booty, an ornament Jessi made for Evelyn, a Santa magnet made by Mamaw and EA that I turned into an ornament, a weird cattle-themed ornament that Casey gave us a few years ago that I like because it has 3 cows playing--just like us!--and two Fisher Price ornaments from Mom. I don't mind if Evelyn can reach them because they're toys and they're sturdy.

I put a few Christmas-y things at the base of the tree. You can also see Evelyn's Baby's First Christmas ornament from Mom. I need to put a picture of her in there.

That's my sock monkey ornament right next to Evelyn's first sock monkey ornament

(that's also for her first Christmas) from Sara.

Oh, and here's Ms. Standing Girl herself!

Please note how happy she is to be uncrushed by the tree.

I've already found another ornament for Evelyn and placed it on the tree since I took these pictures earlier in the week. There's also two ornaments of Cody's--one that he made, one that he got the year Spencer was born that says "Superstar big brother" with a puppy hanging in a basketball hoop (???), and one that's a truck with his name carved as the load. We also have an ornament of a train because I just think trains are Christmas-y, and a lamb ornament given to Evelyn as a gift at my first baby shower.

And that's it! I have a few other Christmas decorations out and that's really all we need this year. The baby gate spread across one wall and the toys covering half the floorspace in the apartment keep things looking festive enough as it is. I'm enjoying the pared-down look.

Birthday post for Mom

2011-12-08T10:08:00.000-06:00

It's Mom's birthday today!

She's lovely.

She deserves all your well wishes and more.

At first, I didn't know if I should write "Mom" in the title of this post, or "Gil," because Evelyn is here now. That makes Mom "Gil" and me "Mommy", and ohbytheway, did you know it sounds weird for your parents to call you "Mommy"? Because it does.

I decided to type "Mom" rather than "Gil", though, because this is my blog and Evelyn can't read. And because Mom is my mom.

This is fairly obvious, but Mom has taught me a lot about being a mom this past year.

Stuff like: having a baby is no reason to stay home and miss out on everything, but sometimes it's a very handy excuse if you need it to be.

She also showed me how to bathe a baby without getting its awful little umbilical cord wet, or letting it slip away from you like a wet bar of soap.

She reminds me that I didn't cut a single tooth until some time around 10 months, and that Evelyn's little gums are so pretty.

Also, she comments on my blog, and I love that.

She tries to teach Evelyn nursery rhymes, and how to clap her hands--two things I'd honestly forgotten that I was supposed to care about as a parent until I saw Mom and Evelyn having a blast doing them together.

Evelyn starts laughing whenever she first sees Mom, because this girl loves her grandparents and knows when she's about to have lots of fun. Mom and Evelyn always have lots of fun. I made a whole photo book about it and gave it to Mom for her birthday.

It's been fun and strange and reassuring to watch Mom be a grandma this past year. I know I've talked about it before, but I love seeing how well-loved Evelyn is. Cody and I rely on a lot of help and encouragement from our families, and Mom is Evelyn's main baby-watcher when we're not around. They both seem to love seeing each other so often, and I love it too.

Happy birthday, Mom! We hope you love your day!

O Christmas tree

2011-12-07T08:00:00.002-06:00

I put up our Christmas tree! It's pretty small this year. And flat.

December was approaching, and people were ramping up the same "Your baby will pull a tree down on herself and get hurt and ruin Christmas" speech they've been giving since I was pregnant last Christmas, and I was just not feeling like finding a place for our tree this year.

Cody and I talked about putting a little 4 ft. tree on our table, but then we wouldn't have a table to use. I thought about putting our tree on top of the coffee table, but then Evelyn started pulling up and I realized she'd be able to reach the branches.....and then pull the tree down on herself and get hurt and ruin Christmas and maybe even--gasp!--mess up some of my ornaments.

Neither idea seemed appealing and I didn't want to spend a month pulling my nine-month-old away from something so pretty when she didn't understand why she couldn't eat it. But I didn't want to skip having a Christmas tree altogether, even though a small part of me is still burnt out from when I had a tree up for the entirety of 2010 just because I felt like it.

(Looking back, that was a bit much. I'm not sure why I did that. I don't think I'll do it again.)

So last week, I was nursing Evelyn and thinking, because I have a lot of time to think while I do that. I was considering some cute papercraft version of a tree on the wall when I realized that I have a lot of granny squares.

As in, two decades' worth.

Any time I have spare yarn, I usually make a few granny squares just to stockpile them. And then there were the squares I made for Evelyn's afghan before I changed my mind and did something different. And then there was my stash of green yarn and.....well, you can see where it took me.

Evelyn fell asleep, and I pulled out my existing granny squares and started making designs in the floor. I realized pretty quickly that rows of 1 square, 3 squares, 5 squares and so on would make the tree pretty big and I wanted to keep things small and simple and relatively free of fuss. So I picked my spot on the wall and took some measurements, and set to work on crocheting a few more green granny squares for rows that increased by one.

I finished up at work the next day and laid out my design:

Then I sewed the squares together with the weave stitch, and sewed the rows together. I even added a little brown square at the bottom for the trunk because I think I'm so clever.

On Saturday, I pinned the tree to the wall with push pins in each outside corner of the tree because we're totally not getting that security deposit back after everything else we've pinned to the walls.

I realized (too late) that the wall would have the outline of a weird triangle after I took down our tree (because I said I wouldn't leave a tree up year-round ever again, remember?), and I started to feel like this was silly.

Then I took pictures of the tree anyway:

Then I pulled out our ornaments and decided which ones would actually make it to the wall.

I thought I'd feel some regret at keeping some things put away. Then I remembered that Cody is one of the least-sentimental people I know, I'm tired of these ornaments from last year, and Evelyn is a baby.

Then I felt fine.

Evelyn, meanwhile, played with a Christmas bracelet made of bells. It was festive. Then she ate dry cereal.

Then Cody came home and we chatted for a little while before he glanced over, smiled, and asked "Is that our tree?" Yup, dear. That's our tree.

Evelyn's hand dexterity is quite good.

2011-12-06T08:00:00.000-06:00

Evelyn looked so cute eating dry cereal last week that I was compelled to record her sitting, eating, and talking for nearly 5 minutes and nearly all of it was adorable!

You just have to trust me.

Or you can watch the video and see for yourself.

Parties, parties, parties

2011-12-05T11:50:00.000-06:00

Alternate title: Mommy wants a nap.

For the past 3 evenings, Evelyn has been the most festive girl at a different party every night.

For real.

I documented it.

I didn't document it very thoroughly, because I was usually holding a baby, and because my batteries started to give out toward the end of the weekend.

Wild stuff.

Let's begin!

#1: Brook's 4th (5th?) Annual Ugly Sweater Christmas Party

Auto-timers can be difficult.

Evelyn's sweater wasn't actually ugly, but it was seasonally appropriate. She was fascinated with Brook's festive headwear, and enjoyed visiting with all the friendly people wearing bright, shiny, and sometimes jingly sweaters.

I promise you she was not harmed by her Cindy Lou Who hairstyle. Promise.

Also, her socks that look like shoes were a big hit. Everyone was jealous:

#2: Alana's Birthday Party

First, a series of photos featuring Cody being taught by a two-year-old how to play games on an iPhone. In other news, Ben apparently feels very comfortable with Cody.

Everyone, including the laughing birthday girl, was very amused by this.

Evelyn was held by nearly everyone, but I don't have many pictures of that. Which is a shame, because there was a lot of cute visiting going on when Evelyn wasn't feeling clingy. Rainy fronts are not our friends. They lead to messed-up naps, increased clinginess, and general unhappiness.

BUT: I did take some very happy pictures of Alana celebrating her birthday! She got a bike!

She also has a puppy! His name is Charlie and she thought it would be really cute if she took a picture of him in the basket of her bike. He thought he should try to jump out and give us heart attacks.

Maybe that didn't go as whimsically as it could have. But I think spring time is going to bring us some great pictures of these two. Maybe they'll have matching hats and a bouquet of wildflowers in the basket.

Or maybe he can run alongside her while she bikes. Either way, big adventures await Alana this year!

Here is at least one picture of Evelyn from the night. She's pantsless. It happens.

#3: Toy Story/Princess Party for Most of the Family

Mom, Chad, Levi, and I all have birthdays this month, so Laine and Sara decided to throw one giant party!

Then Sara decided that we needed a theme and this is what we got:

If you can't read the banners, one says "Princess Party" and the other says "Ready to Play" with Toy Story characters.

It was a lot of fun! The whole family, including Leah, was together, we enjoyed the decorations and goody bags, AND there were hats. At least for the princess girls like Mom and me. And Evelyn, just because she's so fancy.

Speaking of fancy, Evelyn is not wearing the cute outfit I brought her because her Aunt Laine gave her a princess shirt to wear to the party! I could talk about how dumb I think all the Disney princess marketing stuff is, and it probably warps little girls' perceptions about beauty.

Or I could show you my adorable child in her princess shirt.

And her princess hat.

It didn't last long on her little head, but wasn't it cute while it did?!

And here are all of the birthday people:

We just threw in Evelyn for good measure and she has to be in nearly every picture we take now. She wasn't all that interested in helping me open my presents, so I'm not sure what Christmas is going to look like with this girl. We shall see.

So, there you have it! 3 parties in 3 days! No cards, 4 gifts, around 40 photos, and a few costume changes. It was a fun weekend, full of laughing and talking and seeing people we love.

Parties, parties, parties.

Portrait of the Creature

2011-12-02T08:00:00.000-06:00

Evelyn growling and clawing her way over Chad's legs. Photo courtesy of Sara's phone.

There are days when I watch Evelyn try to use a spoon or turn pages and wave 'bye bye' and I feel like she's a little baby person growing into a 'real' person. And then there are times when I feel like she's something wholly different.

Guess which way this picture makes me feel.

Cuteness in everything

2011-12-01T08:50:00.000-06:00

After 2 nights of glorious, back-to-back all-night sleeping, Evelyn fell off the wagon.

To be more accurate, it was more like she jumped right off the wagon and then found the horses pulling it, and gummed them to death. Then she kept climbing over their slobbery dead bodies while squealing and grinning.

She's an odd one, that creature.

She skipped her afternoon nap, and fell asleep more than an hour later than she usually does.

Naturally, this happened when I was really tired and not feeling so great.

I fed her and put her in bed at 10. Fine.

I got up at 1ish and fed her and put her back in her bed. Fine.

I got up at 4 and fed her and....took her to our bed.

It happens. Especially when it's evident that she's not feeling all that sleepy and I am the very embodiment of sleepy. This backache is not my friend and the positions I've been assuming to sit and nurse this squirmer lately have not been helping. So I went to bed, got at least a little more rest that I would have if I'd been on the couch, and fed and snuggled Evelyn (who, thanks to her gums, isn't feeling her best either).

Then I overslept.

The upside to this whole thing?

This:

I like that they're sleeping with their arms in the same position. They're so lovely together.

Also: I was completely prepared to hit "publish" on this post before I remembered that there are actually a few things Cody prefer I not have out there for the Internet to see. So I sent him a text to ask if he minded if I put a picture of him sleeping on here. He immediately wrote back that it didn't bother him, but he did want to check with Evelyn to see if she was okay with it.

A minute or two later, he texted me again to say that she said it was fine.

Well, good.

Because I thought you needed to see them being all adorable.

Animal adventures, pt. 4

2011-11-30T10:22:00.000-06:00

Thank you for joining us once again as we chronicle Evelyn's ongoing adventures with any and all animals.

Last Friday, when Evelyn's festive Razorback clothing failed to ensure a win for the Hogs (as it usually has), she sought fun and excitement with her Granddad and some new friends.

She was bundled up in an ill-fitting cardigan I crocheted for her, and off they went!

She was excited.

First, a calf!

She was intrigued.

They are obviously friends!

She even petted the calf before Mo barked and the startled calf ran back to its mom.

Mom, aka Lindy. She's a calf-having pro.

Then, another horse! Evelyn likes horses. A lot.

Tuff didn't mind at all when Evelyn tried to put her little hand up his nose.

But wait, there's more!

It was time to play with Murphy! Murphy is a Pyrenees, and they usually herd sheep.

"I am not a lamb, Granddad. Tell this dog he doesn't have to look after me."

"That's probably Mo's job anyway."

Not pictured: Evelyn fearlessly checking the chicken pen for eggs with my dad's 'help'.

I'm sure she stared right into their deadly yellow eyes and laughed.

Or did her fake cough.

Tune in next time, when Evelyn will probably pet a hippo or a wildebeest or a cat!

Part 1.

Part 2.

Part 3.

Baby's first Thanksgiving(s)

2011-11-29T08:00:00.000-06:00

Baby's First Thanksgiving #1:

12 noon at Cody's Aunt Becky's. I forgot to bring Evelyn's cute turkey bib and then I ate turkey and ham and dressing and something with sweet potatoes. My pumpkin pie was sub-par this year. I don't know why. I'll try again next year.

Evelyn, wriggling around in her Memaw's lap.

Cody and Dicy, actually willingly posing in one of my pictures!

Learning classical music from an educational toy.

This is usually Lainey's story-telling face.

Spencer was not avoiding my camera on purpose. Regan looks nice, though.

All the cool kids wear plaid.

Cody's grandma and her kids. And a great-grandkid thrown in for good measure.

Then it was time for Thanksgiving #2:

Supper at Sara and Chad's new house.

I brought flowers.

And my bright and shining face.

The meeting of Evelyn and Zoe.

I also brought these decorations.

Evelyn and Zoe are looking at each other.

Evelyn also really liked looking at the baby in the mirror.

Evelyn with her Uncle Chad.

And with her Aunt Sara.

It was such a great time and we loved both of our Thanksgivings.

Did I mention that I'm thankful? I am thankful. For just about everything.

Foodie fail

2011-11-28T15:39:00.001-06:00

Prunes.

A few hours after I wrote that last post and bemoaned my fate as the mom of a kid who would only eat rice cereal, we trucked out to Target and spent a great deal of time in the baby area. I picked up some khakis and some little boy blue jeans for Evelyn. (Girl blue jeans have pink stitching on the hems and pockets, and I didn't want the pink to clash with her non-pink clothes. Important fashion purchases over here!) Then, because it always comes down to food with us, we wound our way over to the baby food aisle. On my mom's advice, I grabbed one of every fruit-type baby food and then some weird little cereal things that will contain 10% of your daily....kale serving or something....if you eat almost 100 of them. Infant finger food is weird.

At the last moment, Cody declared that prunes would be something Evelyn liked because he just "had a feeling." Cody rarely has feelings (ha!), but when he does I trust them.

And so, because Cody and Evelyn are inherently sneaky people and weird ones to boot, Evelyn's first successful enjoyment of baby food was prunes.

Not simple bananas, not the local pumpkin I roasted and mashed for her, not the organic pureed peas in a jar that smelled disgusting because it was peas, not mashed up carrots mixed with milk, not whatever else we'd been trying. I could have eaten all those bananas myself!

Prunes.

Prunes mixed with corn starch and preservatives and I don't know what else because I didn't read the label.

Cody mentioned to Evelyn that his dad enjoyed prunes occasionally, so maybe there's something genetic. He fed her about half of a container of scary-looking prune....gloop and then she was done. He was really excited to give her the rest of it today.

(I have noticed that Evelyn seems to enjoy/not-resist-so-much eating rice cereal and baby food when Cody is the one feeding her. It's like she already knows that food preparation is her dad's department.)

Alas, I did not take any pictures of the prunes-eating experience because my sweet child looked like she had a mustache and goatee made of chocolate pudding and I was unsettled. The transformative power of prunes can be unsettling at times, though.

Prunes.

So, to change the subject from my confusion and mild disgust, here is a (very) brief video of Evelyn last week.

There's not much to it other than her odd little smile and some messy hair, but I think that's enough.

Remember me?

2011-11-27T11:57:00.001-06:00

Hey there, remember when I didn't write anything for about a week and a half and you probably forgot I existed?

Wasn't that awesome?

I thought so.

The time hasn't all been busy, but it has been full and I've been working on things and doing life. Just doing life can be pretty involved and fun when I'm not thinking about how to tell you about it later, or trying to catch everything with the camera.

Just life is usually enough.

Time spent blogging is time I don't spend making presents, loving on Evelyn, or loading the dishwasher. So lately it's been the first thing to go when I'm desperately trying to make some more time for this life business. And I've liked that.

But Evelyn's napping right now, and I felt like telling you that things are just fine over here.

Evelyn had her very first sleepover with Dicy last weekend and Cody and I had our very first night without her. Everyone had a blast!

Evelyn at Dicy's, fake-coughing and enjoying CMT. She's wearing her "I [heart] Going to Grandma's" pajamas.

Sometimes, Evelyn eats little pieces of cereal. But that's about it. Yes, we have tried many things. Please do not offer suggestions. I know about rice cereal. And boiling fruit or vegetables and mashing it with a fork. And that I can freeze it in ice cubes. This is just going to take some repetition. Soul-numbing, fruitless, time-consuming, messy repetition. In the meantime, I'll be eating and drinking everything in sight.

Speaking of eating and drinking everything in sight, Thanksgiving was a lot of fun! We had Thanksgiving #1 at Cody's Memaw's house and Evelyn was a friendly and sleepy girl--she skipped her morning nap because she was just so excited about the big day! Or something.

Also, half the people there held Evelyn. So she had a really great time!

Thanksgiving #2 was our first big holiday at Sara and Chad's new house! Evelyn and Zoe the Dog are now best friends, and I remembered to bring out Evelyn's cute turkey bib for this event.

Evelyn and Zoe were in constant motion.

Sara the Hostess. And our lovely spread.

Evelyn's seasonally appropriate bib....and my dirty lens.

Did I ever tell you we bought a new bed for Evelyn? We did. It turns out her weird sleep issues were almost entirely mattress-related. Silly girl. I'll tell you all about it sometime, especially once I take some pictures of the bed. Which I haven't done yet because the light is never good in her room, or anywhere else.

It's cloudy and dark all the time! Walks outside have been too few and far between these days.

In addition to grabbing those little rice puff thingies, Evelyn can pull up on things (everything) and stand like a big girl! Alas, she hasn't figured out how to get back down most of the time. So she either falls down and cries (but not always) or we eventually just sit her down on her booty and she cries (again, not always).

Standing up makes her look astonishingly tall.

Cody and I are fine as well. A little sleepy, a little frazzled, but enjoying the holiday break from work. And we're enjoying Evelyn. She's a likeable little thing, usually, and she seems to like us back.

Also, I have a lovely dental crown that looks very natural and slightly coffee-stained. It's a beauty.

So. I think you're caught up now! I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving.

Here we are, being just great.

Evelyn in hats, part 1

2011-11-18T15:34:00.000-06:00

Well, here we are

2011-11-17T14:38:00.000-06:00

Hey there. I just wanted to let you know we're alive and mostly well over here. Neither Evelyn nor I are the biggest fans of our gums, but we'll survive. My temporary crown is fine, and I'll have a real crown on Monday--just like I've wanted ever since I was four, but completely different! I've only taken ibuprofen once and now I'm fine. Evelyn is climbing on things and chewing on everything--the couch, her bouncy seat, the Boppy pillow, my face. Yes, she is both climbing and chewing on those things. She's quite the the puller-upper these days.

Here are some pictures of her pulling up this weekend.

And here is another picture of today's amazing hairdo (and Evelyn's wary-eyed look that she gives the camera sometimes).

See you around.

Evelyn June is 8 months old!

2011-11-15T17:52:00.000-06:00

Eight months.

75% of a year.

Nearly the length of the average human pregnancy.

3 seasons.

The age of my baby.

Whoa.

Evelyn is fussy from teething, the rainy weather (she gets this way when it rains and I don't know why), and the lingering effects of her very first stomach virus.

She is trying out her pincer grip all the time, and does lots of strange little things with her fingers. This morning I think she was either making metal horns because she loves nursing so much, or attempting to tell me she's a Longhorns fan. It better have been the former.

She belly crawls. She gets on her hands and knees and straightens her legs and looks like a tiny gymnast. She still loves rice cereal, but isn't always thrilled with mashed up baby food. She jabbers and loves riding in the car most of the time. She loves socializing, and freaks all the way out when she sees her grandparents--she laughs and waves her arms any time she sees our parents.

She can blow raspberries to express her excitement.

This is also the month she became friends with every dog she encountered.

And on this, the anniversary of my child's birth, I have broken a tooth, spilled Mountain Dew everywhere, and participated in a fire drill in the rain.

It is always so lovely to come home from a day like today to nurse and cuddle and play and wrestle. She's been the best part of my day for the past 8 months.

Happy birthday, pretty girl.

Sweetie [pie]

2011-11-14T10:11:00.001-06:00

I don't have much to post about this weekend because Evelyn was getting over her Very First Stomach Virus and we were taking it pretty easy. But this is Evelyn last Monday, looking very collegiate and stylish with her vintage-style tee, boot cut blue jeans, and beanie.

Oh, how we love this stylish girl.

More Evelyn adventures

2011-11-10T12:30:00.001-06:00

When I took Evelyn out to Romance this week, she played with/attacked Mo.

Photo by Mom, then emailed to me by Dad.

She also played in her walker.

She ate some pumpkin.

I think some of it found its way to her tummy. Maybe.

And went for a ride in her red wagon.

She and her Granddad had a blast.

It made me think of the first time he took her for a ride in her wagon.

Late March. Cody was so excited about that wagon, you would have thought Dad gave it to him as his birthday present.

She eventually grew to enjoy her wagon.

She's such a big girl now. And she loves playing with her family.

It seems like she loves almost everything (except leaving her grandparents' houses).

And this is probably my new favorite picture of her.

I don't even remember what was happening, but she clearly loved it. LOVED IT!!!

There are no pictures and I thought I'd post something substantitive. It happens sometimes. Rarely.

2011-11-10T10:42:00.000-06:00

I know I don't talk about feminism overtly very often (at least on this blog, anyway), but I wanted to share this link because this sums it up so perfectly for me.

Having a feminist viewpoint is important to me. It affects how I filter through the stereotypes I see in the news, on television, in advertising, etc. It affects how I divvy up responsibilities with my husband. It affects how we raise our daughter. I think it's a positive affect.

Being a feminist often means reminding myself that I don't have to dumb down, or doll up, myself to keep from being seen as threatening to men. It helps me remind myself that that I can feel bad about how my hair (clothing/chest/make-up/clothing/home/legs/skin) will never look like the ideal presented to me in commercials for a fraction of a second, and then move on and call it a load of nonsense.

("Nonsense" has replaced another word I like to use when Evelyn's not listening, but I'm trying to get in a habit of saying "nonsense" all the time.)

Being a feminist means encouraging my daughter for being so strong and curious, instead of just praising her for being pretty. Even if I talk about how pretty she is all. the. time. It means my husband has a right to fuss if there's not a changing table in a men's bathroom. It means speaking up when someone says "And you know how women get...." as if there are two types of people: women, who are hysterical and emotional, etc., and people, who are reasonable, right all the time, and in charge.

Being a feminist means a lot of things, and that article addressed a lot of them. I thought I'd pass it along.

Enjoy.

This fall, part 1

2011-11-09T10:14:00.000-06:00

These are some of the pictures I've taken of this year's fall colors. So lovely. I love November.

Weekend

2011-11-08T13:02:00.000-06:00

On Saturday, Evelyn and I went to the library sale. We met up with Jessi, who wisely grabbed a box for us.

I overdid it this year.

And I can't even pretend they were gifts or for Evelyn! The majority of the purchases were for me. I found a lot of books about different types of editing, and that almost never happens (at library sales or otherwise), so I grabbed nearly all of them.

"Throw them in the box" Jessi would command me.

We'd meet up every so often to compare notes and for me to throw more books in the box. I carried Evelyn in the wrap, picked up books, and fended off the help of volunteers who seemed to want to play with my baby even when she was sleeping. Jessi wore the backpack and carried the books.

We most definitely did not have our acts together, but we had a fun time.

It was only later that Jessi realized that people seemed to think we were a couple who'd obviously never tried to leave the house with our baby until that very day.

It probably didn't help that I typically refer to Cody as "her dad" in conversations, rather than "my husband" and this happened several times while I was talking to strangers.

Or that we were wearing (nearly matching) plaid shirts.

Or that Jessi sometimes likes to pretend that Evelyn is hers, and we took turns wearing her.

I mean, why would anyone look at Jessi with Evelyn and think she loves this baby like her own?

We had to show Evelyn the fountain after book-buying and lunch.

See?

I don't know what this face means. I just like it.

We had to take a family photo. I like how it's equally unflattering of all of us.

Not pictured: the hat Jessi made for Evelyn. It's a little large, so it would fall off every time Evelyn had to look up at something. Which was often. The girl needs to look at things.

Later on, we went home and Evelyn didn't nap and I didn't make a list of books like I usually do. We played and I read/watched a little TV while Evelyn squirmed everywhere to look at books. She only ripped one cover, and I think it was by accident! Besides, it was Zola's Germinal, which I was probably never going to read. Evelyn was extra growl-y, which was nice after a period of not-so-much growling. Cody came home and looked at the books and we had a happy little family night in with the books and the squirmy girl.

"Research sounds really exciting, Mom! Read about it to me!"

Um, then I left all the books in the floor. And that's why you're seeing them in Sunday's pictures. They were some pretty great baby-entertainers.

Baby's First Tom Clancy Novel.

We went for a walk later in the afternoon. It was fun.

I love being able to dress this girl any way I want.

They're ready to conquer some neighborhood sidewalks.

And that picture is of some onions, tangerines, beets, and probably something else mixed with some vinegar and other things and served over arugula. Cody found this recipe in The Joy of Monastic Cooking because he is Cody and that's just the sort of thing he does when I buy him beets because that's the sort of thing I do.

And those are some of the more entertaining things that happened during my weekend. I hope yours was lovely.

Evelyn June, the curious little monkey

2011-11-07T11:56:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures of Evelyn in a literal monkey suit (tangent: how adorable would she be in a tux? Oh man). Her grandma Dicy saved the day, as grandmas generally do, and emailed me the pictures she took of Evelyn on Halloween.

Behold, our own little Curious George!

And in case you were wondering if Cody's love for this costume was apt, I just thought I'd let you know I pulled her out from behind a chair 3 times this morning, away from the kitchen once, and away from the bathroom once or twice.

Evelyn and I were only together an hour this morning before I left for work. After that, she and the man without a yellow hat were off to their own little wrestling matches/slow-speed chases.

Also, did you notice her sitting up like the biggest of big girls? I love how she always likes to have her arm on something. It reminds me of her dad and makes me laugh.

It's that time of year again!

2011-11-04T11:11:00.000-05:00

The library sale is this weekend.

Be excited.

I am.

And I'm shopping with my little reading buddy.

She really loves reading.

And she loves library sales.

From this summer. Look at how short her hair is!

The first time Cody ever felt Evelyn move around in my belly was at the library sale.

We were standing in front of the classic literature section.

Lovely.

(Actually, Cody was a little underwhelmed. It turned out feeling a baby move didn't make him any more excited about or impressed with the process because he was just that happy. Plus, her movements at 23 weeks were nowhere near as horrifyingly powerful as they were in the third trimester. Scary girl with her scary movements.)

I plan to move around shelves and shoppers with about the same amount of grace this year because Evelyn is still pretty clingy these days. So in the wrap she goes! Also, I'm just not ready to eat my words about people who bring strollers into the sale. People with strollers are so clumsy and obtrusive. But not me! I'm different!

I'm actually worse. Strollers are difficult for me.

Ahem.

So anyway, the library basement sale is going to be a lovely weekend event and I think you should go because the Razorbacks have an evening game this Saturday.

And please, if you see me all frazzled and falling down under the weight of my potential purchases, remind me to put some things back on the shelves.

Please.

Animal adventures, pt. 3

2011-11-02T09:54:00.001-05:00

It's no secret that Evelyn enjoys animals. She laughs and touches and babbles any time she's around one. And it's no secret that every living being on the planet wants to be around her.

A certain English mastiff is no exception.

Mo has been freaking out over Evelyn ever since we took her out to Romance at 4 weeks old. Something about her fast heartbeat winds him up and freaks him out and he clambers around trying to get close to her. Until recently, my parents have had to push him away and get on to him and try to make him sit quietly on his pallet so he wouldn't get dog slobber on her tiny baby blankets and little skin and hair.

But now she's a bigger baby and I've been plopping her down in the floor to play with Mozart for the last couple of weeks. And they love it! Yes, Mo probably wants to smoosh her and lay on her and keep her 'safe' from everyone, but we're not going to let that happen.

I try to be an easy-going mom, and I like that Evelyn isn't afraid of animals, but I'm not going to let a creature that weighs 220+ pounds get as smooshy and cuddly as he wants. (Certain large men, like oh-I-don't-know-HER-DAD, are different.)

Evelyn, however, gets to do whatever she wants and that includes touching Mo's feet. He hates that. Hates. It's a big deal for my dad to trim his nails. But Evelyn can touch his feet all she wants (she's very interested in feet) and he'll just twitch.

Want to see for yourself? Of course you do. So here you go:

Post for November 1

2011-11-01T13:37:00.000-05:00

Happy All Saints Day!

Remember when I said I'd give you Halloween pictures?

I lied.

Sorry, these things happen.

And by "things" I mean Cody taking Evelyn to his mom's house and leaving our camera at home, thus negating the whole "take your child to some family members' homes and take pictures after work" thing. His mom took pictures, but they were indoors, may be dark, and I haven't gotten them in an email so I'm assuming they were. Yes, he could have taken her outside. No, he didn't because he hates sunlight.

There was no hope of salvaging my plans for our Baby's First Cute and Relatively Low-Key Halloween. Especially when we went over to Maumelle a second time, whiled away the hours (not literal hours) sitting in rush hour traffic because Cody doesn't drive during normal times like a normal person and forgets about the entire concept of rush hour and schedules a coffee date with his brother at 5 and then we show up 30 minutes late, and then it's too late entirely to take Evelyn around in her costume because she's cranky.

So cranky, in fact, that we didn't even dress her up at home. Instead, I ate dinner while she played in the floor until she whacked her forehead with her tin butter cookie container and cried. (I'm really hoping it doesn't leave a mark, but I don't think it's going to happen.)

Also, we had NO trick-or-treaters whatsoever, so now we just have a big bunch of Halloween candy sitting on our coffee table.

Oh wait, I forgot this was supposed to be a complaining post.

(Number of Kit Kat minis in the bag I bought for Cody: 50. Number of Kit Kat minis Cody has eaten: 0. Number of Kit Kat minis I have eaten: shut your mouth.)

We can file this year's Halloween in the same category where I file incidents like "That time I believed Evelyn's birthday was on the 17th for months," and "The time I thought Evelyn only had 3 fingers on one hand because I saw a picture of her hand and that's how it looked and I wouldn't check even though she was sitting in my lap, wearing a little mitten-sleeved sleep sack, because I didn't want to wake her/face the truth of having a Muppet daughter".

BUT: all of my minor yet especially glaring idiocies (I constantly forgot her name for about 2 months, and only recently started using it in everyday conversations with her) have yet to put a dent in her ability grow and thrive and check off developmental milestones with precision and flourish.

Which is why I'm showing you pictures from Sunday:

Boom.

She'd just recently started pulling up when she's on her knees playing. Dicy mentioned her pulling herself up this past week when I talked to her on Saturday and then looked at my face, and somehow tried to make it seem as if my firstborn had not actually pulled herself up without my presence. She had, though. There's no way around it. Nothing holds this girl back!

And then she pulled up to the couch Sunday morning, just to grin at her very startled parents.

And then!, mere hours later, Cody was playing with her and stood her up on the counter. (Of course while I wasn't looking.) I heard him exclaim something and ta da! I'm glad the camera was in reach.

He thought he'd just pull his hands away for a moment to see what she did.

She didn't do much other than stand up like it was her God-given talent and she's the best stander ever!

Yes, that is a bread machine propping her up.

Yes, she is the biggest girl in the world.

Yes, Cody did get a new Captain America t-shirt. And a haircut.

No, we don't know where she got her balance and physical prowess.

No, we don't know what we'll do when she starts walking or baking bread all on her own.

Yes, we're very proud.

And wait! Here are Halloween-ish pictures after all!

Whoa flash!

Evelyn's new favorite toy is her glittery Halloween card from her Aunt Laine.

And yes, I'm very proud of her glitter love as well.

Yes, we do know where she got that trait.

Outtakes from a photo shoot

2011-10-31T16:00:00.001-05:00

I'll have Halloween-y pictures later, but here are some more pictures of Evelyn (and others!) from last week.

Have a happy Halloween!

Little punkin

2011-10-28T14:35:00.000-05:00

I took some pictures of Evelyn being a beautiful little girl in the fall.

Father/daughter, August through now

2011-10-27T09:31:00.000-05:00

Did I ever tell you about the time we went to the fair?

2011-10-26T08:08:00.000-05:00

We went to the state fair a couple of weekends ago. Cody had passes and we'd made plans to go, but then he changed the plan and suddenly asked me "Do you want to go today instead?"

Did I want to go to the state fair?

This man doesn't know me at all.

So we dressed Evelyn in overalls that we later removed because it was so dang hot, threw the stroller in the car, and off we went!

I didn't take as many pictures as I'd planned because I typically had to push the stroller because Cody says it's "too short" for him.

AND: we didn't take her to the FFA Children's Barn because we're bad parents and didn't check out that part of the fairgrounds and by the time I remembered it we were on the other end of the layout and we were about to leave because she was asleep but after the fair we went to Cody's Memaw's house and in addition to seeing family she met her Memaw's dog, Maxi, and her Aunt Julie's horse, Patrick, so at least there's that and here are pictures as proof:

Well, that's just a picture of her meeting Patrick because I just remembered that Martha told me to delete the ones of her, Maxi, and Evelyn because she didn't like the way she looked but she never said anything about this one. But Evelyn was great friends with Maxi and Patrick! Really!

Man, I feel bad about skipping the FFA barn. They have ducks. And sometimes a buffalo or something.

But we did walk through the cattle barns and Evelyn was not impressed with the cows. She did love the fans that were blowing in the barns, though, and stared at them with an enraptured look she usually reserves for streetlights and anything that involves running water.

We also walked through the Starr Barn because I wanted to check out the broiler chickens, which were not there. Phooey. But there were some ornamental chickens and a really big turkey! Evelyn was mildly interested in them.

There was an incubator full of hatching chicks! Evelyn loved the sign on the incubator.

Evelyn was politely attentive to the rooster.

We love chickens!

Cody loves....us, and that's why he was in a chicken barn. He also loves lemonade. It was delicious.

Giant turkey.

Tiny baby chicken.

We also saw these.

I wish I could un-see them. But I can't, so I had to share the horror with you. Featherless chickens. The sign on their box said they were miracle chickens, but I'm not really sure what's so great about birds that can't keep warm and look scary enough to make me want to cry and don't they need tail feathers for balance? I don't know. I just know they'll haunt my nightmares for years to come.

After I shuddered and yelled "So gross!" like the mature seven-year-old that I am, we headed over to the arts and crafts building because we love arts. And crafts. And canned goods. I was able to take some pictures there.

Best Baby in Show 2011.

Evelyn was unimpressed by the giant watermelons.

Obligatory southern state art entry of The Last Supper.

The wine competition was ongoing while we were there.

Very Important Lady Gaga Art.

And the quilts. Oh my goodness, do we love some lovely quilts in this family. We were in awe.

I'm sad this came out blurry. The pattern was so busy that it looked fine in the camera.

Cody really liked this one.

I think I forgot to take a picture of the winner! It featured state flowers, and was hand quilted. I was a little confused as to why some of those quilts were machine quilted, but I pretty much remain confused on why any quilt is machine quilted. Hand quilting is just so much prettier!

Then again, I've just hand quilted one small baby quilt. So maybe I should be quiet.

Here are some more arts and crafts.

More quilts!

And this! If you could tell me what it is, I'd be very grateful.

Enthralled kids, right there.

Evelyn fussed quite a bit at different times and we had to carry her more than we thought we would. Also, I accidentally bought a hog leg instead of a smoked turkey leg and it was a little gross. And there's the guilt I felt about skipping the children's barn. BUT: we had a lovely time overall, I successfully changed a dirty diaper in a barn (I'd always figured I could), the lemonade was perfect, and our child was too young to ask for prizes or rides.

I'm calling it an adventure, and a really good one at that.

Baby in a walker

2011-10-25T13:06:00.000-05:00