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18 August, 2012

Real Talk. Lately.

It's been about six weeks since I seriously blogged. I am okay with it.

I needed a break.
I needed to spend time laying on the floor playing with my baby.
I needed to spend time NOT reading other people's blogs and comparing myself to them.
I needed to spend time building a website for our youth group.
I needed to spend time preparing myself for the up coming Confirmation season.
I needed to spend time supporting my husband through a systematic company staff reduction (aka he's getting laid off in November).

I've also been taking care of me.  Setting a bed time and sticking to it. Sneaking in bits of cardio here and there.  Being more intentional in what and how much I eat.  Not taking naps.  Not spending the whole day surfing the internet, but reading books.

I've been battling a bit of "back to Confirmation" anxiety.  Sleepless nights.  Heart palpitations. Happens every year as I get the year rolling.  New parents. New kids.  New drama.  I get so bogged down in the details of planning that I forget the joy and transformation and grace that happens in the kids over the next 4 months.  Sigh.  I am *such* a pessimist.

We've also been up to exciting things.

My sister is getting married in April and we've been out dress shopping, going to wedding shows, and talking about photographers.

Evie's growing up!  We've been out playing, visiting family and friends, and working on new skills.

Eric and I are headed to Ireland on Thursday.  We've been busy planning our trip and making all the preparations to leave our baby girl with family for 10 days (eeek!).

My girls bible study continues to be a source of spiritual growth.

My couple's bible study has made me feel so "grown up".  We have a sit down dinner, discuss Sunday's gospel, pray for intentions, and close out with dessert.  My face usually hurts from laughing by the end of the night.  From stories of potty training kids, to the struggles of job loss, we've shared it all.  I've needed these new friends and I didn't even know it.

Other things.

We steam cleaned the carpet. It looks so much better.

Evie is finally "crawling".  She looks like a bulldog.

Evie had her 9 month check up and she is off the charts: 24.5 lbs, 29.5 inches. 100th percentile.

My parents took her to North Carolina for a few days while I buckled down to get the year kicked off, and Eric negotiated his retainer period.

Because Eric's been home more often and Evie was gone, we had a nice breakfast date and hike the other morning.  It was exactly what we needed.

I've mostly given up on making baby food.  Let's be real.  I hate peeling fruit for myself.

I am kind of addicted to Amazon Prime.  One day I ordered three different things.

Dawson's Creek.  Epic.

Hopefully I'll write before we leave, but if not, catch you after Ireland!

13 August, 2012

Monthly Evie: Nine Months


Measurements:
Weight: ~24 lbs
Length/Height: ~28 inches 
Eats: 3 solid meals & a snack each day: purees, finger foods, 30-32oz forumla
Diapers: no change
Clothes: 12 and 12-18 months, 18 months in sleepers

Firsts for Evie
new foods: cottage cheese, mac & cheese, pork, whole peas, combination purees

July 12 - Johnny Jump Up!

July 16 - bought big kid toys
July 20-21 - Full weekend at Grandma & Grandpa's

August 2 - Trip to Catch Air

Milestones
Out grown many of her "baby" toys - took a trip to Toys R Us to get a few carefully chosen toys for Evie to play with


Graduated to stage 3 purees and does really well feeding herself solids

Does great in the bath tub and would play for hours if we'd let her

Still not crawling but she gets around sideways, backways, reaching

Super chatty, talks to her self, her toys, or us all the time

Spent a day or two clicking her tongue

Blows raspberries

Says things like, "mamama" and "dadada" a little more clearly. And has added "geeggle-geeggle-geeggle" to her vocabulary.

Only spends a few minutes in her Exersaucer while she eats an afternoon snack, but spends almost an hour each morning in the Johnny Jump Up.

Can feed her self a bottle, glass or plastic.

Can sometimes find her pacifier in the crib.

It takes a few tries but she can go from sitting to crawling position.

Started standing with help or when propped up

Gives open mouth kisses at will and on command.

Drinks from a straw like a champ.  Her sippy cup has a straw, but she also grabs for mine and drinks from it.  She really likes iced coffee! Oops!


Likes/Dislikes
Likes:
Spending time with grandparents
Playing with Spike
Sophie & Delaney & Glowie (they always get a big smile)
Her new toys
Watching the Olympics
Playing with cousin Zachary (isn't this picture hilarious?)

Dislikes:
Naps after falling asleep in the car
Eating a lot of breakfast
Having a wet diaper at night


Other
Evie is so big!  We packed up her 9 month clothes, small bottles, baby toys.  She's moving from baby to toddler.

She's active, chatty, and curious.

Evie will find the tiniest crumb or speck and pick at it or play with it on her pointer finger.

She's really starting to reach, squirm and play.

Does baby yoga! She does a plank, downward dog, and cat-cow.  Obviously she doesn't know was she's doing, but we find it amusing.

Her daily routine:
7:30 am - wake up, solids (oatmeal & fruit), play

9:30 am - 8oz bottle & nap (about 1.5 hours)
11 am - play time, solids (stage 3 combination purees, yogurt/cottage cheese, etc), play time, errands/walk
2:00/3:00 pm - 8 oz bottle & nap (about 2 hours)
4:30 pm - Exersaucer for a snack (puffs, yogurt melts, cheerios), play time
5:30 pm - solids (usually a little bit of what we're having and a jar of purees, usually something home made), play with Daddy
7:15 pm - bath
7:30 pm - books and 8oz bottle with Daddy
8:00 pm - prayers and bed time
2 or 4 am - diaper change and 4oz bottle


What they say...
"Does she ever cry?"
"She's only nine months?"
"You guys should make more babies just like her"
One night I combed her hair straight up to get some cradle cap out, and it dried that way.  We called her Jimmy Neutron for a day.
We are...
Interviewing nannies for our co-op this school year
Wondering where the time has gone! She's been out as long as she was in!
Wondering when she's going to crawl, but okay with her still only being slowly mobile
Loving watching all her big girl skills and helping her practice new ones, like standing, waving, crawling, clapping, etc
(I know this picture is blurry but I love it because it's just like how I see her WAY too close up right before she gives me a big wet open mouth baby kiss)