Anniversary party

This weekend we attended my Aunt Sue and Uncle Larry's 50th anniversary celebration. My Aunt Denise was hired to take family pictures and candids and such for the events, so she had her lights and stools and the whole works there. Evalee was smitten, especially with the stool. She liked to spin in a slow circle saying, "Weeeeee" the whole way around. Then once she faced the camera (or her audience, she wasn't picky) she'd say, "CHEESE!" She wasn't excited to do this when Denise was snapping shots, of course, but she did manage to cooperate for a couple for Travis. She and Daddy buddied around all night, which was very nice because then I got to catch up with cousins I don't get to see often. It doesn't seem like there is going to be a fish fry this year with all the construction going on at my parents' house, so this was our chance to see each other until... well, probably next summer. Oh, busy-ness.

Evalee lately August 2011

Eva has been up to a lot of new and funny things lately. She has really started taking a liking to her crayons, although she likes playing with them more than coloring with them usually. She was a little rough with her normal sized crayons, so we put them up and took advantage of lots of back to school sales and got some Jumbo crayons that her little fists can't break. She has ventured into trying to color things she shouldn't, but thankfully so far it has just been her own toys and not the walls.
She has also started pretending a bit lately. A few times now she has found her nail clippers and she brings them over to me and insists on my foot so that she can "clip" each and every one of my toes.

Clipping her toenails...
... and clipping mine.

She doesn't like clothes very much at the moment. Any chance she gets, she slides out of her shorts and tugs on her shirt to get it off and over her head. Sometimes, when I'm feeling particularly tired, I oblige her and let her run around in her diaper.





About two weeks ago she started regularly counting to 3. She says it "wuuuuuh, two (clear as a bell), weeeeeee". She almost always expects something to happen on 3, so sometimes I find myself thinking fast to appease my audience. I know she understands what she is doing too because when she's playing by herself she will point and count her toys (starting over once she gets to 3) or the holes in her hungry caterpillar book (where it all began). When we do the stairs she always counts each step and when she gets to 3 she often just repeats 8 until we get to 8. Then she applauds herself. It feels so cool to watch her do such a "big kid" thing as counting, even if it is just to 3.

We sing the ABCs a lot because she LOVES the Super Pig alphabet song on Super Why. She likes to dance to the song and says a pretty good "A, B, C" at the start of the song before just grooving along.



She still loves music, most especially the music on her favorite PBS shows: Super Why, The Cat in the Hat Knows a lot about That, Curious George and Sesame Street. Just t his afternoon she was watching The Cat and started singing "Go go go go go..." along with the theme song. She also occasionally will spout out noise during hymns in church or along with the music in the car. Booty shaking also usually occurs.

There is a dog at her new sitter's house and he has become her best friend. From what I understand, she doesn't do a lot of interacting with the other kids but she and the dog are side by side all day. It cracks me up that she went from being absolutely terrified of dogs to loving them, wholly and with a little too much might. Luckily, this dog can take an "Eva pat" or two and is a good sport with her. The cats, for the record, still hate her.

This is Gizmo blending in with the furniture and praying to not get noticed.

She has also gotten to be fantastic with her shapes. She can easily identify a circle, triangle, square, and star. She can say circle and star if you catch her in the right mood. She can get every shape in her Tupperware shape sorter finding the right spaces with little help, and a few times she has put every single one in with no help at all.

Surgery #2

We took Eva in to get her tubes in and her adnoids out on Thursday. She was the 3rd youngest patient of Dr. Ragheb's that day, so we didn't have to arrive at the hospital until 8:15. The sleeping part was okay (although Eva was still up wayyy too early), but she couldn't eat or drink anything after 3 a.m. That part was pretty rough. She was such a brave little trooper through her pre-surgery exam, even though she hates stethoscopes and white jackets. We were surprised to see that Eva's 2nd cousin, Brady, was in the room next door getting his tubes in right before her. They were running a bit behind, so one of the nurses brought Eva a wagon to play in until they were finally ready for her at 9:30. Luckily her nurse had been playing with Eva and talking with her a bit, so when she took a turn pulling Eva in the wagon, Eva didn't think twice. She wheeled all the way to surgery without one peep of protest. Thank God.
The surgery took about 45 minutes and she was awake and back in our arms around 10:40. She was a pathetic sight to see -- her voice was hoarse and she refused to drink apple juice, so we were a bit concerned. Finally her nurse decided to bring her a popsicle to try, and she attacked that thing like it was some sort of contest. Her eyes were half open, her body was limp, but man were her little lips working hard. When the popsicle was done she immediately started wailing and her loving nurse brought her another. By the time we left we had a re-energized and sticky little girl that was dyed Oompa Loompa orange.
The rest of Thursday was largely spent napping. We watched Tangled as a family when she woke up, which is the first full length movie we've ever seen her pay so much attention to (goin' on the Christmas list!) and she fell asleep for the night about an hour and a half earlier than usual.
Friday morning she woke up super cranky and super cuddly, so I had a hard time leaving for work. Nothing hurts more than having to walk away from your hysterical child with both arms outstretched for you. But Travis assures me she calmed down right away and she was off to spend the day with Grandma. She was quite the trooper with Grandma too, although she slept a big chunk of the day there too. By nighttime, she and Grandpa were running around eating Reeses Pieces and exploring the addition as usual.

If there is one thing I have tried to take from this experience, it's that I need to remember to be thankful that she is happy and healthy at times when I am annoyed or frustrated by her overwhelming energy. Holding her in that hospital chair, I would have given anything to hear her suggest an activity or even crack a devious smile. That has to be the moment I remember at times when I am ready to pull my hair out when she is attempting to see out the window by climbing on a rocking chair or banging on the door for another outdoor adventure. That child is one to be cherished.

Back into the swing of things

Last week was the official start of the new school year. I was a bag of mixed emotions about it -- sobbing thinking about Evalee starting a new daycare for a full day after our glorious 10 weeks together. Other days, while Eva was screaming and banging on cupboards demanding a new snack two bites into the one in her hand, I thought, "Yeah okay."
But regardless of my emotions, the day came and we had to reckon with it. And we've been surviving. The first couple hours home are always a little tricky; Travis isn't home yet, I'm trying to make dinner, and Evalee wants to be held and to eat every snack she can find. But then when the dinner is cleared and the dishwasher is loaded, it's pretty freakin' great. We are both there to read her books and help her with her shapes and "find" her in the closet. I get to cuddle with her while she drinks her milk and Travis gets to lay her down to bed. It's the normal I have always wanted.

I am bummed about summer slipping through our fingers, but I'm trying to focus on all the fun fall events to come: our annual trip to Tanner's Apple Orchard, pumpkin carving, choosing Eva's Halloween costume, eating cheeseburger soup, and being comfortable in jeans again.

a few random moments captured

Eva likes freeze pops. Eva eats freeze pops all by herself. Eva gets messy.

Grandma and Grandpa came over recently for dinner and cards. Eva likes to join Grandpa when he goes out to the porch so she can show him her stuff and tell him stories.



Eva likes to hide in cabinets and closets these days. Problem is she is not as good at it as she thinks she is.

Amelia's baptism

This weekend we were very excited to drive down and see the family for baby Amelia Marie's baptism. Eva had playmates right from the start since Thomas and Thomas were already there - so Eva, Alex, and Thomas were off. We had a nice relaxing few hours and then headed up to the church for the baptism. Amelia took a cue from her brother and wasn't feeling the best, so she got her traditional baptism day Tylenol dose :). Somehow in the shuffle of picture taking I ended up holding that little angel when church started, and it was pretty cool to hold her and be a part of such a special thing. She didn't make a peep the whole time the church's eyes were on her.
Then it was some toddler craziness through church -- kids were getting passed from pew to pew, distracted by books, and stuffed with yogurt melts and snacks. Uncle Adam thought it looked more like a playground than a church!
After church we had an amazing dinner where everyone ate a bit too much and the kids enjoyed playing on Alex's swingset and taking turns carrying around his leaf blower. The next day Grandma, Papa, and Aunt Angie came back up to Williamsville to play with the kids for a while before it was time to head back home! It was nice to see everyone, and before we know it it will be time for Casey and Chris's wedding and we will see them all again!I swear she loves us.

Eva was excited to hear Aunt Molly's version of one of her favorite books - Peak A Who. Amelia received it as a baptism gift. I'm sure she'll like it too.
Snuggling with my snuggle bunny. The two of us had a few nice chats over the weekend.
I do love this family.
and this niece.

End of the summer and ear blues

As summer draws to a close, I have slowly tried to accept the fact that my adventures with Evalee are coming to an end. This summer has been truly amazing and I have tried to soak it in as much as possible.

Looking back, my little baby has grown up so much in the last 9 weeks. She has developed such a hilarious personality -- where she's pulling her shirt over her head and acting like a monster chasing you or bringing you a bib, fork, and determined look when you tell her she has to wait to eat dinner. She can put her shapes in her shape turtle without any guidance from us, buckle herself into her booster seat, and if you ask her she'll tell you she can put her own shoes on. She's learned how to give her kitties treats, even well after they aren't interested in them.

Unfortunately Eva has still been battling problems with her ears and runny nose all summer. It feels like we are seeing the pediatrician every other week (which is actually pretty accurate). We went into today and met with Eva's ENT and he recommended that she get tubes in her ears and an adnoidectomy. He said her swollen adnoids are the reason why her nose has been running, and removing them will lessen the chances of continued ear infections in the future. With the two procedures happening at once her recovery time will be a little longer, but they say she'll be all shiny and new again about 4 days later. Her surgery is scheduled for August 18, but we won't know the time until the day before. I'll have to take a day off of school, but that's okay. I'm not going to be able to focus while she's having surgery, no matter how routine it is.

My goal is to savor this last week we have together as much as possible - starting with a weekend celebrating my beautiful niece's baptism!