Little Laughs

No matter how bad your day is, this has to make you smile. :)

Goofy candids

We had some fun this weekend taking some random goofy pictures of Evalee I thought i'd share. Her hair is long enough for a Pebbles-style ponytail on top, so we had to get that captured. Plus, she watched her first Bears game in her first Bears outfit with Daddy!

Annual (we've decided) trip to Tanner's

Last year Travis and I went to Tanner's Apple Orchard because a friend of mine went on and on about how great it was, despite the little bit of a trek it is to get there. So finally we were convinced and went to see what it was all about. We had such a good time last year we were already planning this year's trip before we had left, imagining how fun it would be to bring our then still unimaginable little baby with us. We wanted to catch Honey Crisp season because we missed it last year, so we knew we needed to go in September. So we decided to go for Grandma Ruth's birthday on Saturday. We all had so much fun (even though the Honey Crisp season was over -- missed it again!) and we loaded up on apples and other things that are terribly bad for you but have apples in them so they must be at least sorta okay. :) We had to stop on the way down for lunch, so we ate at a park we found and couldn't resist taking Evalee on a few of the park's features. She wasn't as excited as we were, but next year maybe we'll have to make the stop again...
It was a little chilly in the morning before we left, so I decided to dress Evalee in jeans for the first time. We thought she looked so old, but so cute. Sounded like a recipe for a photo shoot.

Lovin' my Bert

Evalee has taken to a big Bert doll we found for her that has been standing in her room since before she was born. For some reason last week, he caught her eye and she has been in love ever since. If we read books in her room before she falls asleep, we have to keep him out of eyesight because if she catches him she is finished with the book and needs his nose in her mouth pronto!

5 Months Old

This week Evalee turned 5 months old! I'm not sure why, but 5 months old just sounds so old to me. She's growing up so fast! Her personality has really started to shine this month. She likes to laugh with her daddy and have long serious talks with me on our drives home from the sitter's. We have been working on sitting up on her own, and today she could sit by herself for a good 20 seconds or so until she lost her balance. She has also learned to throw things on the floor to have us pick up, which is only occasionally cute. Her more patience-trying habit she has developed lately is grabbing people's faces (necks, hair, beards, noses, lips, eyelashes... she's not picky) so hopefully that will be a short-lived phase. She is getting more and more independent, learning to entertain herself and allowing other people to hold her.
Loves she has developed lately have been for the bathtub and her mesh feeder. Every night I give her a frozen peach inside her feeder and she sucks and gnaws at it like we haven't fed her in days. She is to the point now where she sees the feeder and starts getting excited. Then it's off to the bathtub, where Friday we laid her on her back - sort of by random chance for a second - and the water was shallow enough that she could lay there without the water getting near her face. She had an absolutely awesome time scooting around in the tub on her back and entertaining her mom and dad (all while washing the soap out of her hair). So, that is how we have been giving her baths all weekend and she couldn't be happier. I'm thrilled she likes baths this way because it is SO much easier than the way we were doing it.
This last month has been the most exciting month of all so far, watching her grow and change into a little person with a cute giggle and a sense of humor. She has yet to fail to amaze me one single day.
Here are some pics from the day she turned 5 months old!

Labor Day

Labor Day weekend was jammed packed full of friends and family. On Saturday, we had some of our friends from college come out for a hotdog/marshmallow fest. When we thought of the idea, our theory was it would inspire us to get our backyard finally looking nice (having a baby hasn't exactly made yard work easy or a priority) but unfortunately we all got sick the weekend before and ended up not leaving the couch much. Best laid plans of mice and men...
But, we still had lots of fun! There's nothing quite like sitting around a fire to lift your spirits and tell you fall is in the air :).
Then on Sunday we had some more Kershaw family bonding hanging out with Trevor and Ashley all day and then Grandma and Grandad in the evening. We ate at Chili's together before Trevor and Ashley headed out and then spent the night and all day Monday hanging out with Grandma and Grandad. Grandma and Eva got some good smiles in eating some carrots (well, Eva was the only one eating the carrots. But you get my point).

Patience and bath farts

Getting into the swing of things these past few weeks has definitely been a challenge. Travis and I have never been on such polar opposite ends of the schedule spectrum, and I've never missed him more. With Eva waking up sometimes one, sometimes six times in the night, I tend to go to bed as soon as I can at night, which means it is even less likely than before that I will be awake enough to have a short conversation with Travis by the time he gets home. This means we only get to talk while one of us is at work during the week, which isn't exactly the best recipe for a quality conversation. I know many, many families deal with this kind of thing for years and years. I know even more families deal with it "in the beginning" as we have. I also know that God is providing for us exactly what we need right now. But I've been praying like crazy that this "phase" of our lives is over soon because I feel like we are missing out on so many family moments together. Stupid things too, like tonight for example. I was giving Eva her nightly bath (which is quite the process by myself, I still think!) and she experienced her first under the water bathtub fart. That's right, it's an experience. Her reaction was hilarious - memorable, and the first thing I thought was, "Man, I wish Travis was here." But I remind myself of the bright things -- we are both experiencing time alone with Evalee, which is quite different than time with her when others are around. We are both learning to do things that need to be done while still taking care of her (I haven't loaded the dishwasher with both hands in a long time!).

Despite my own inner struggles, Evalee is doing brilliantly. She seems to really enjoy her time with Jesi, her babysitter, and she's learning to interact with the other little babies there. She plays very well on her tummy now and rolls over when she's done with ease. She likes to jabber and make faces and gets very excited if she steals your attention away from something with a silly sound. She's getting better and better at eating every day -- some days almost polishing off two entire jars of food in one sitting. She is still quite the astute observer and needs to have a view of us at all times, even if we are just eating dinner or cleaning up the living room. Her love for books is growing more and more, and she is also enjoying playing with some new toys. She has one of those knobby puzzles I found at a yard sale, and she loves to take all the pieces out of their holes and then bang them against the board they set into. Once (by a fluke, I know, but still...) she even picked up a puzzle piece and slid it right where it was supposed to go!

I have even started making our own baby food a little bit. Last week I tried bananas and sweet potatoes, and this week I braved up enough to make some pears, carrots, peaches, green beans, and squash as well. Not only does the coupon-cutting penny-pincher in me enjoying the savings ($7 worth of fresh produce probably made me over $30 of baby food), I get an odd satisfaction out of making the food on my own.

Tomorrow is Friday, and I am so looking forward to the long weekend with friends, family, and hopefully a couple of cuddly naps.