"Where's my purse?"

Eva likes to find her diaper bag and dig out her diaper pod and carry it around the house with her where ever she goes. We thought for a while it was because she likes how the strap felt on her teeth, but now that she's not really teething that theory is out. So instead, we've decided that she just likes to carry it as a purse. And she does, every time she lays eyes on it. She may play dropsies with other items, but not that thing. She always has a Vulcan death grip on that thing. It makes it convienent for changing her diaper in public, as it's one less thing we have to carry to the bathroom. :)

Busy, Busy weekend

Last weekend was a busy but great weekend. On Friday, Evalee and I did a bunch of shopping and then decided to meet Daddy at work for some dinner. She enjoyed getting lots and lots of attention in the newsroom, as usual. Then Saturday we tried to take advantage of the warm weather by cleaning out the garage. Eva enjoyed playing her in pack and play (for a while, anyway) playing with toys and watching us buzz around. Then Saturday night Travis and I went to a trivia night for the children's museum and Grandma was in Chicago, which meant Eva and Grandpa had a night together. Things started off on a funny foot because she woke up from her nap spooked by something and then we had to leave shortly after, but once she got settled the two of them had a fun night together. We had a fun night too, even though I found out I can't spell nearly as well as I thought I could (but I did know the names of the characters on Sex and the City, so I contributed.) Then on Sunday we went to church, took a quick nap, and then headed to Happy Joes to celebrate Eva's friend Ashlynn's 2nd birthday. She was so, so excited to be there, as there were lots and lots of kids around her age to play with. She was zooming all over the place and, I think, a little jealous of the speed the walkers had over her. She even ate her first piece of pizza (and only choked a little once!). Right after the cake Eva and I split to head out to Dixon for a baby shower for Aunt Angie's nephew. She was a little crabby in the car on the way there, but eventually took a short nap that made her feel better. Once we were there, she was FULL of energy once again, racing around the floor and playing with anyone shorter than 3 foot tall she could find. Jesse and Ashley got a lot of great stuff for baby Alejandro and we are very excited for Aunt Angie. If the shower made one thing clear, it's that that baby will be loved to pieces. When we got home, it was a fun night filled with lots of belly laughs, fun in the bathtub, and snuggle time with Mom and Dad. I love weekends :).She wasn't sure what to think of those candles.
So, she did what she thought best. Turned to Jesi and said, "Hot. Hot."
Eyes on the prize. Aka, that big hunk of Dora.
I know you can't tell, but these two are actually friends.
Jesse and Ashley opening their present train.
Evalee chasing Angie's little cousins.

What a ham.

PEEK!

Peek-a-boo has been one of Eva's favorite games since she was barely sitting upright, but lately her love for playing has reached epic proportions. Early last week, she started covering her eyes with her arm clear up to the elbow and pulling her arm up really fast with a surprised look on her face, as if she is pulling the most clever trick out there. We say PEEK! every time and she giggles so loud it echos through the house. (Of course, as soon as we try to get it on camera she stops. Not a performer, that's for sure, haha. Doesn't matter though -- that's a laugh you can't forget about!) She will vary the amount of time waits to surprise us, adding to her cleverness, and will sometimes even change up the face she hides underneath. Ever since that started, she has taken to covering her face with anything she can find: blankets, kitchen towels, the shirt I just took off of her, pillows, her Bert doll -- doesn't matter, it works for Peek-a-boo for her.

A Furness family wedding

A few weekends ago, we journeyed South to Mt. Sterling to see Cody and Aby Lee get married. Travis was a groomsmen, so we left Friday night as soon as I got out of school. We had to drop Grandma and Grandpa's car off at the airport because they were coming back from paradise, so it was a time crunch. We made it just in time, though, and everyth
ing worked out great. We got to talk to Casey and Lexie a lot and catch up with them over dinner in between baby duties on both of our sides of the table.Eva was all sorts of hyper when we got back to the hotel, so we decided to take her swimming hoping she would wear off her energy quickly. As soon as she hit the pool, she became a scared spidermonkey, clinging to my neck like it was her own salvation. After a few minutes, however, she warmed up to the idea and was kicking and splashing with a smile on her face. Aunt Terri brought a baby float that she really loved to be in, so she MAY be getting one for her birthday. We'll just have to see :). That night we all got a terrible night's sleep, as we usually do when we are sleeping in unfamiliar territory. But the next morning we had some breakfast and hit the pool one last time. This time she was all smiles from the start and had a great time. We'll definitely be hitting up the pool this summer!
Then it was time to eat lunch, so we headed to a local diner where we happened to meet up with Great Grandma Furness and her sister and brother in law, so we got to eat with them. I even got to order a horseshoe from a menu for the first time. When we got back to the hotel, the rest of the family started showing up and the boys had to leave for their groomsmen duties, leaving the rest of us to get ready. The wedding was in a beautiful winery and everything went very smoothly. The balcony of the place had a little seating area with a couple padded chairs and a wicker couch, so we snatched those up as ideal spots for the kids, which worked out perfectly. Then the night was spent eating, wining, dancing, and catching up with cousins. All in all, it was a great weekend.

Cody and Aby Lee's first dance
A pouting and tired little girl at the end of the night.
Evalee was really livin' it up on the dance floor with her Uncle Trevor

Sharing a "smile wit ya eyes" moment with Paxton.

Our family

Having a giggle with Aunt Molly before the wedding

Grandma and her grandkids

Playing with Alex in the hotel room before the wedding
Showing off my fancy swim cover up with Daddy


Someone come save me from this water. Seriously.


Lovin' the water

A big catch up

So much has happened since my last post! Some great, some not so great. We had to say goodbye to my last remaining grandparent a couple weeks ago, which made it a hard week to get through. I knew it was celebration -- she lived a long and love-filled love and was no longer enjoying her days in the nursing home, but it's hard to let go no matter what the situation. I will choose to remember the smiles that day, as Evalee's unfailing one lifted everyone's spirits even in the most somber of moments. She was such a good girl all through the visitation and the funeral, and I was very proud of her.

Playing with the gorilla Grandpa gave her from Great-Grandma's nursing home room. She would have been so happy to see how much it made Eva giggle to stick her finger in the gorilla's belly button.

I could tell, however, that something just simply seemed off about her, so I decided to call the doctor's office (or rather, have Travis call for me because it's hard to reach them after school) and we found out we could call the next morning for a first come/first serve type of appointment on Saturday. So, that's what we did. We were of course running exactly on time and slightly late, depending on the stoplights, when we realized that we had left the diaper bag sitting in the garage next to the empty hole where the car had been. It was also around that time that we began to smell a full diaper. This is when we knew things would get interesting. After lots of brainstorming aloud and a little freaking out on my part, we decided that Travis would drop Eva and I off at the doctor and run home to get the bag, as we had a few more errands to run after her appointment. I was expecting to hear she had some sort of respiratory infection, as her cough has just been brutal for weeks. However, she instead had her first round of ear infections - one in each ear. One ear was so full of wax Dr. Moen had to use a little tool to clean it before he could even see inside (let me tell you, that scream was one for the books). After a day's worth of doses of medicine, you could already tell she was starting to feel more like herself.

We also got a bit of happy news from the Dr. on our visit. Since we won't see him (God willing) until after Eva's birthday, I asked him his opinion on turning her carseat around once she turns 1. He asked me a couple of questions about her weight and abilities and then told me, "She sounds ready to turn around anytime." And I said, "Anytime? Like, now?" and he said, "Sure! Anytime." She was ecstatic on that first ride turned forward. She is in such better spirits being able to see us and what is going on now!






Uncle Eric and I fetched my old wooden rocking chair out from Grandpa's shed when he was home, and she has really enjoyed playing with that. She doesn't understand how dangerous it is to stand on the seat of the chair, so it does bring about a certain amount of tantrums when I don't let her use it as a stepping stool to see out the living room window. Perhaps a stool should be in order for her soon.




We have to watch her closer than ever these days. She's getting too smart for her own good. She likes to use her teeth (she has EIGHT of them now!) to get the lids off of canisters and explore them, so things like the can of cashews she found (insert panic attack!) and the hot chocolate she snuck out of the cabinet are no longer safe. Nothing is safe in our house anymore.


Caught in the act -- she had gotten to the hot chocolate and was going for the Crystal Light when she was busted.

We've been expanding her culinary horizons lately as well, letting her try some of the Gerber toddler foods we thought she could handle. So far, she seems to like spaghetti rings and meatballs the most. I let her try to feed them to herself one night and the spoon was abandoned and exchanged for some eager and orange stained fingers.




We also took a trip down to watch the Orion Chargers boys basketball team play at Super Sectionals. The game was a true heartbreaker, as the boys lost in overtime after having a 9 point lead in the 4th quarter. Evalee was in her element at the game -- a large, loud gym filled with hundreds and hundreds of people to smile at. She was wound up, for sure.

Sporting her new Orion Charger hoodie for the game!

The following week Evalee really started to make some impressive progress and gave me a lot of hearty laughs. One night she pulled her socks off, as usual, but instead of hiding them she decided to try to get them back on. She attempted time and time again, getting the top stretched just right but just not being able to get that darn foot to cooperate. Finally, her solution was to carefully place the socks on the tops of her feet and not move, as if she were wearing them. She looked up at me when she was finished with a look on her face that said to me, "Ta da! You may applaud me now!"



Feeling optimistic about the task ahead. Maybe even slightly big-headed about it.
Realizing just how delicate of a process this really is...
Getting distracted because let's face it, socks taste delicious.
The final solution.




She has also started showing an interest in walking and making an effort to attempt fairly often. She has no interest whatsoever in walking to people, so you can't prompt to walk even if you try your hardest. She is only interested in walking toward whatever toy she is interested in, calculating her trip from the coffee table to the chair with a studied, serious look and a furrowed eyebrow before taking one or two steps and landing safely at her destination. The most steps I have seen her take on her own was 3, but she can usually only make it two before she leans over in her excitement toward her target and tumbles to the ground. I think she realizes she will be able to travel faster if she walks, so I think she'll be pitter-pattering around this house very soon.