Another swimming adventure

We took Eva out to Aunt Billie's pool last Friday, which was Travis's Memorial Day. She fell asleep in the car on the way there, so we were able to soak up a little pool time by ourselves before Little Miss decided to grace us with her presence. It took her a little while to wake up and see that the pool was there, but she eventually caught on and got in. She wanted to play in the pool so badly last Sunday when we were there celebrating Memorial Day, but it was still a bit chilly. So, we were expecting her to practically cannon ball in. She didn't quite do that, but she did enjoy cruising around the pool in her floatie. I think she and Mama will be hitting up the pool a lot over the next few weeks!

Congrats to Jesi and Tim!

On Saturday the family went to see Jesi Mandle and Tim Housby get married. Jesi is Evalee's babysitter, and Tim is, well, the love of her life. For the last 9 months of her life, Eva has visited Jesi and Tim every day, played with their daughter, stolen her toys, ate a countless number of their puffs, and even snuggled on days she just wasn't feeling well. She's like a 3rd parent. So, it was fun to be a part of their big day!
The wedding was outside on a relative's GORGEOUS property. The weather was a little humid (okay, a lot humid) but the rain cooperated for us. Eva was really excited to be outside and to see her friends she hadn't seen all week, so she wasn't in the mood to sit through a wedding. She did let me sit long enough to watch everyone walk down the aisle and to have a pointing match with Ashlynn as she made her way down. After that, we stuck to the back and roamed free. Eva was so excited to see Tim. She kept shuffling through the crowd of people to find him and pull on his leg. And even though it was his wedding day and he had 101 other things to do, he always gave her a hug and talked to her for a bit. After the ceremony we stuck around for a bit to socialize and eat, but we left around 6:30 because Evalee was getting sweaty and crabby. All in all, great afternoon. Congratulations guys!!

Ashlynn found Evalee in the crowd!
One happy Housby family

Ashlynn giving Eva a little sugar
Jesi's kids, minus Ashlynn, she watches -- Kylie, Steven, and Eva

Eva in May

Evalee had lots of excitement and growth in the last month. It was the last month of school for me, which meant lots of obligations with the senior class, last minute grading, and stressin'. Some of all of that went away when I'd get home and Eva and I would go out and play outside. She loves to run around in our backyard, swing in her swing, and pick grass.
She cut two more teeth, one molar on each side on the bottom, bringing her total teeth to 10. This week, she also started cutting a molar on the top. She did very well with this round of teething, except for her need to bite whatever was closest. This meant the occasional biting of an arm or chin of a loved one. Not cool.
She has also taken a liking to new foods. Her favorite breakfast right now is Daddy's french toast. She also goes crazy for banana yogurt and any squeezable fruit pouch. When we go to Grandma's for dinner, she will also eat some asparagus, which was pretty alarming for me to see.
Another big change going on right now is she is falling asleep all on her own for both naps and bedtime. I admit, this was a big weakness of mine. I love rocking her to sleep and cuddling up in our big chair after her bath so much that I personally didn't want to give it up. But, I knew it needed to happen. I tried a couple of months ago to start letting her cry herself to sleep, and it was distressing for both of us. She would cry for over an hour, and I would physically ache from it. Then she got sick so often I put it on the back burner and promised myself we'd try again when she was healthy. Once summer started, I started laying her down awake for naps. She would whimper for a minute or so, and then settle down and sleep. No fights, no fuss. The last couple of nights we tried this at bedtime and she did the same thing! I am so proud of our big girl and am now convinced that I did the right thing. The only drawback is that she has been waking up in the night crying now, needing some love. Hopefully that'll settle down in a couple nights.
We have been working on saying a few words, and she is getting better every day at communicating. She says "outside" and does the sign for outside when she wants to go out to play, kitty is getting more and more clear, and she can also say Mama and Daddy pretty well. She can also identify more animals in the bathtub. She's getting so smart! :)

I've been trying to hit up the yard sales this season, and I have had a blast doing so. I saved up all of our change and random loose cash throughout the year, and pooled in together for some "guilt free" shopping at yard sales. We have found a lot of great things that Evalee loves -- Sesame Street guys, lots of books, a plastic picnic table, lots of outfits and shoes for the coming year, a booster chair to replace her high chair, and lots of other little things.Playing out on the sunporch with her tiny little chair from Grandma.

Showing off her little ponytail Jesi put in her hair.
Running around after her bath, escaped from the clutches of drying off and pajamas!

The sight of this vat of animal crackers was a little overwhelming at first.

Beautiful baby Amelia Marie

Last weekend, we got to drive down to Springfield to meet Miss Amelia Marie Kershaw. We were really excited to meet her on the day she was born. We got to Springfield a little earlier than the rest of the family was ready, which worked out because then we got to go pick up a present for Amelia. We thought it'd be cool for Evalee to pick out a new "baby" for baby Amelia. She found a bear she loved -- loved so much, in fact, that she wouldn't even let go of it so we could scan it. Needless to say we gave in and got her a bear of her own as well.
Then it was off to Chili's for lunch, where Eva was NOT interested in being seated or eating lunch, but mainly just running through the restaurant. After a couple of stops at a couple other places, we made our way through the hail and pouring rain to the hospital to meet our little niece. She was almost the exact same size as Evalee when she was born, but my mind could not wrap around that idea. I remember when Eva was born Adam and Molly both said they could not remember Alex being that small and I remember thinking, "How could I forget that?" Well, story checks out. The entire time I held her I thought, "Something about her must be smaller than Eva -- her head size, SOMETHING!" But in the end, that's probably not true. Our little girl was teeny tiny, and now she's a giant. I guess time really does fly.
Our day started with picking out a new Baby for our new baby. Eva picked out one for herself as well.
She's so very tiny!

Uncle Travis

Aunt Sara

Alex giving Evalee kisses

We brought some hair accessories to start her out right

I think he likes her :)

Eva needed to get up close and personal
She looks suspicious. I'd be suspicious of our family too.
I think we'll keep her.
Evalee giving kisses and making sure she's doing them correctly.
Needing to get a good view.
Mama Aunt Molly and her babies :)

On My Own...

Evalee has really started to show interest in communicating in the last couple of weeks. It started with more pointing and now she can respond to several questions and even gives us her own version of a few words! Of all of her milestones she has achieved thus far, this has been the most exciting for me.
We can now give her the following carefully asked questions:
"Evalee, would you like to read a book?" This will be followed by an almost guaranteed "boom" of her dropping whatever she's interested in and heading over to her bookshelf, where she starts searching through acting as though she's trying to pick one. But in the end, we always settle on Brown Bear or The Monster at the End of this Book.

"Evalee, is it bath time?" This is followed by not only an enthusiastic sprint for the bathroom, but tonight her jog was also joined by a couple enthusiastic "Bath! Bath! Bath!"s thrown in there.

"Evalee, would you like to go outside?" A grin and a totter for the sliding glass door.

"Evalee, are you thirsty?" Eyebrows up, eyes searching a cup, mouth already open and ready for it.

"Evalee, can you find the kitty?" A determined brow. Eyes searching the chairs, the top of the fridge, the top of the bed, all their popular loitering posts. Finally, when she finds them, a determined finger and a nodding "keeeeeeey."

She can also, when she wants to play, correctly identify Elmo, Ernie, Big Bird, her bathtime best friend Monkey, and Monkey's favorite pal Penguin. She is getting very good at getting her shapes pushed into her ol' Tupperware shape sorter, although she does occasionally have a toddler tantrum when the squares won't jam into the circle holes. My goal is to get some items from around the house or whatever to start working on shapes and colors in the bathtub, as it seems like that's where focuses and learns best for some reason.

Keeping on the independence/growing up theme, she has a renewed determination and vigor in feeding herself with her OWN spoon, thank you very much. Unfortunately she does not understand how to hold a spoon and that it's different than a fork in that you cannot jab at the applesauce and bully it onto the spoon. And don't even think about trying to show her how to do it herself. The minute your hand reaches for hers, panic ensues -- eyes go shut, the head goes thrown back, the face turns red, sometimes there are even tears. So the result? Twenty minutes of watching her stab her applesauce, trying to cajole it into her mouth using reasoning, furrowed eyebrows, and an unrelentless determination.

A little pre-church Mother's Day photo shoot

Evalee's cute outfit from our family friends, the Volgelsangs. The beads were her idea :)

In Honor of Mother’s Day: The top 5 things I’ve learned in my first year of parenting

I 1. Being a good mom doesn’t mean necessarily being prepared for every situation, despite what my first attempts at a diaper bag might have reflected. Instead, it’s finding a way to roll with the situation and lowering your own expectations for yourself. It’s taking a deep breath and saying, “Yeah, it’s fine. She can just wear her diaper home.” It’s fashioning umbrellas out of blankets that have been in your car since the Clinton administration. It’s making a toy out of old receipts and a zipper. That’s being a good mom.

2. . 2. Be positive to other parents, especially new ones. Even though you are tempted to say something snarky to people that are expecting or that have a newborn about how hard it is, don’t. Ever. There is no couple in the world that wants to hear, “Oh, just wait. You’ll never sleep again!” in response to, “We’re having a baby!” By the same token, telling someone you were up at 1, 3, 5, and 7 a.m. does not always warrant a, “Welcome to motherhood!” comment. I’m not sure why anyone thinks these are helpful, nice, or even appropriate things to say and yet, every single day new parents hear them. Instead, offer help or words of encouragement. That’s usually what we’re all looking for at times when we’re all feeling down, aren’t we?

3. 3. Sleeping in until 11 a.m. IS kind of a waste of the day. I can’t remember the last time I did it and I know I would feel guilty if I did. Don’t get me wrong, I love sleeping with a passion that has only begun to burn ever since my daughter was born. But sleep really isn’t everything, and sometimes being tired is worth the quiet time you are awarded at night because you cleaned the house all morning.

4. 4. The entire dynamic of your day to day changes dramatically when you become a parent in ways you can’t even imagine until you there, including how /when you take a shower, the time and manner in which you dress yourself and wear your hair, the order in which you eat your food at dinnertime, how often and quickly you can manage to pee throughout the day, and even where you store your paper towels. This is amusing at best, challenging usually, and occasionally frustrating and upsetting.

5. 5. Being a mom means sacrifice. You no longer have some of the luxuries you had pre-motherhood, like the time you’d need to give yourself a manicure and let the polish completed dry, the ability to “just run in” to any store, or the ability to eat your meal while it’s still hot from start to finish without having to get up or feed someone else for 15 minutes. Those sacrifices are real. But they are truly nothing compared to the indescribable gains that you cannot get from anywhere else. The warmth of a strong hug, the pride in watching your child demonstrate their ability to do something that YOU taught them to do, and the love that exudes from every attempt at saying “Mama” they give you are worth every single sleepless night and cold hamburger.