Almost Ten Months Old

It's been a wild ride in mommy land lately. E's development comes in leaps and bounds followed by pleateaus, and we've been in the midst of a giant leap. As many others will attest, these developmental charges lead to lots of sleepless nights. I'm tired. A few weeks ago she slept through the night 4 nights in a row. Last night I was up for hours. It's so interesting to see how she's changed, though. Right now she's incredibly into cause and effect. She likes switches, buttons, etc. She likes to turn things on and off and see what they do. The first thing she does in her room now is turn her music on and then go about her business playing. She doesn't need me to show her. She knows. You can see the little wheels turning in her head when she's trying to figure something out. She's "talking" constantly to herself, and making new sounds. Her vocabulary has stalled at mama, dada, hi, no, and kitty, but I feel some more are on the horizon.

Hubs and I have been doing a good job of splitting duties. He's not working right now, so he takes care of the baby all day 2 days a week, and the other three he has her half the day, and my mom has her the other half while he looks for jobs and goes on interviews. He's ready to hand her over when I get home from work, but that's OK. She's a handful, and I am ready to cuddle when I get home! He's doing most of the house work, and wakes up with her most weekend days. I get up with her in the middle of the night, watch her most of the day on the weekends, and have her when I get home from work. But he's ready and willing if my kidneys have tired me out and I need a nap, and yesterday I got to go see The Hobbit! We have family playtime before bed sometimes, and he insists on wrapping her up in her towel after I bathe her. It's a nice system. It's great that he's so involved and that he wants to be there. I don't think he needs to be around her quite the same way I do, but he wants to be, and that's pretty awesome. We fought the other day over who got to comfort her when she was crying. He picked her up and I was mad because he'd been with her all day, but really my mom had had her and he'd been looking for jobs, so he won that battle. Little miss is lucky - we fight over who gets to hold her when she cries!

It's been a while, but we're finally settling into life with a baby. It's harder but more amazing than I could have imagined. Andy's getting more and more confident in his skills, and I'm getting more confident in him. I can't wait until it's warm again and we can take her to the zoo and the aquarium and all of those things we've been looking forward to. I'm very lucky. I don't forget this.

She's pulling herself up every chance she gets. She stands really well. Actually just before I took this, she let go, balanced herself, then grabbed back onto the handle. She's getting better at standing alone. She closed her eyes here expecting a flash. She loves the camera and now she giggles when she sees it!

One of her favorite things to do is pull all the books off her shelf and "read". She likes to turn pages and look at the books and feel them. She picked this one herself. It's from when I was 3!!! Momma's girl.

We went to the mall to buy shoes for her Christmas dress. It was nice out so I decided to take a selfie!

The sun is like a halo. She should probably have one because she's an angel.

She has the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen. They're like.. turquoise. And huge. Note to mothers of baby girls: jumpers are so impractical. I had this on her for like ten minutes and had to take it off. Every time you want to put her in a car seat, stroller, high chair, etc., it bunches up. And her butt is always sticking out because they ride up. Jumpers are for babies who walk!

Hammin' it up for the camera.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like... A One Year Old!

I can't believe that in less than 3 months my daughter will be a year old. She had her 9 month appointment on Monday and she's grown so much. She's now 18lb 3oz, which is still only the 38th percentile, but she's 28 inches, which is the 71st percentile for length! I was waiting for that to happen as tall as I am.

She's really become a pro at getting to a sitting position on her own, and we often find her sitting up playing with toys when we get her after naps. She pulls up on everything she can get her hands on (except her crib for some reason). She's still really wobbly, but she does pull to stand. She can crawl some, but doesn't like to. She prefers to roll around. She's been so incredibly talkative recently. She has always been a talker, but now it's getting even more fun and word-like.

Her sleeping patterns have been crazy for about two weeks. She spent 5 days waking up a lot, then 5 days mostly sleeping through the night. And the last three nights she's woken up a bunch very early. She goes to bed at about 7:15, and last night woke up at 7:45, 8:30, and 9:30. The last time I just peaked at the monitor and saw she was OK. She cried for maybe a minute and then went back to sleep. I usually give her some time before going in to get her because she tends to fall back asleep on her own, and I distract her too much.

I've been worrying about getting the house done in time for her birthday party. We still don't have real countertops and it's starting to make me nervous. I have so many ideas for her Bubble Guppies theme and I want everything to work out the way I see it in my head. And that requires having the house done. At least we're painting next weekend.

I've gotten her so many toys for Christmas, and I'm excited about the world of possibilities that opens up for her birthday. It's the end of February so it'll be almost time to head into Spring, which means I can get her outdoor toys (like a slide, a water table, and a ride-on giraffe!). Plus she'll be a year old and I can start getting her into things like Little People which are SO cute!

I just can't believe how fast time is passing by. It feels like I like every new age she hits better than the last, but I still miss her being a tiny baby. I was looking at pictures yesterday of her as a newborn and I can't believe that was this year. She's growing up so quickly and I'm not ready for it. Of course this has brought talk of baby number 2, which we're planning on transferring next Fall. I really want E to have a sibling, and I want to be pregnant again, so we'll see how that goes. I still need to lose 50lb and get my kidneys under control. I keep thinking I have time, but then I look at how fast this year has gone and think "Wait a minute. Next October is only 11 months away!".

We're gearing up for the holidays and I'm going to post some fun pictures of the house after this weekend. For now, please enjoy my little girl in her reindeer sleeper! Apologies for the second one being blurry. She was moving a lot but it was SO cute I had to post it!

9 Months

Yesterday was a big day for us. Not only was it Thanksgiving, but it was my birthday, and E turned 9 months old.

She's such an amazing child. We spoke yesterday about things we're thankful for, and my husband pointed out that he's thankful for E, and for Me for carrying her, and explained that he really had no idea how much he could love another person. "I thought I loved you" he said to me, which illicited laughter from the family. We knew what he meant.

At 9 months she's still the happiest baby. She's begun sleeping through the night and happing well. She says "Mama, dada, no, and kitty (dit-dee)". She can crawl a bit, though she prefers to roll, she pulls up on shirts, hands, and legs (but only part way on furniture). She loves music and dancing, when I pretend to eat her fingers, and puffs. She loves puffs. She still doesn't have any teeth, and therefore isn't eating a ton of foods. She likes things that can get easily mashed, so we're building up to more things. It's nearly impossible to change her diaper these days. She's learned how to sit up without help, which just makes things even more difficult.

Every day I love her more, and I don't know how it's possible when I look back on how much I loved her the day before. Every fiber of my being aches when I'm away from her at work. I feel like my life's purpose is known - to be her mommy. I never imagined having E in my life could be this amazing. She's the best thing, by far, that has ever happened to me, and I will do anything and everything to make her life everything she wants it to be. I truly believe my daughter is perfection. She is a beacon of joy to everyone around her. She's so incredibly easy to fall in love with because she's so incredibly amazing. In just 9 months she's done so much for my family. I will never, in a million years, be able to express to her, or anyone else how I feel about her. The words that describe my love don't exist. That's the most I can say.

I can't believe that in 3 short months my tiny girl will be 1. All I can do is thank her for giving me purpose.

Here are some pictures from yesterday's trifecta of awesome.

Here she is with my dad. He still has a blood clot in his leg after 9 days in the hospital, so he couldn't move around much but he was so happy to hold her.

She loves my camera. And I love her eyes. They're so beautiful. They always look brown but they're decidedly not brown, as you can see here. They're grey and amazing.

Flirting with daddy.

Making uncle Matt and aunt Jo want kids.

Chillin'. What?

Here we go with the eyes again. They're like a gorgeous blue here.



Catching Up

As usual, it's been a while, and there's a lot going on in our house. Evangeline is developing so quickly these days I fear she'll be in college before the next time I blink my eyes. She's pulling up some and sort of crawling and with mobility comes hilarity when you're talking babies.

Last night, I helped her to stand. She still hasn't perfected pulling up (you can see below that she's pretty close), but she loves to stand. I have to hold down her play table because it's not particularly sturdy. After a few minutes I felt a tiny little hand on mine, pulling it up and off of the table, then dropping it. At first I thought she was just curious. I then realized she was making a very clear statement with the motion, which was so delicate, yet so incredibly filled with distaste. I imagine that in her little baby head, the thought was something like "Excuse me, mother, but this is my toy, and you do not have my permission to touch it!" (which I imagine in a brittish accent even though I'm not sure she's ever heard a brittish person talk).

It was hysterical, and she followed it up by letting go of the table and just standing. Not wobbling... just standing. Then she grabbed it again and continued on her way.

Sleep has been interesting. She was afflicted by the 9 month sleep regression last Friday, and has had myriad troubles since then. I attribute this to her new skills. We find her sitting up in the crib on her own, or crawling around instead of sleeping. Last night we made a lot of progress when she slept until 4:15am. Except that when I woke up, she was not on the video monitor, and I had to run into her room to make sure she was OK. She was just hiding (damn that mobility) but it woke her up. I think we might have made a full night if it weren't for her clumsy mother.

Her favorite thing to do aside from standing is grab my eyeballs and scratch the shit out of my face with razor thumbnails (no matter how often I trim them!). This part can end whenever it would like please.

She's still hellbent on saying "Dada" but the "Mama"s are coming a little more often. The other day Andy handed her the phone and she said "MAMA!!" but mostly she says it when she's feeling needy. She also shakes her head and says "no", and eats puffs like a champ. And she said "kitty" but people would debate me on that. I would if I wasn't there to see the cat jump up on the couch, Evie lunge for her and scream "DIDDY!!". She hasn't done it since, but she did it once prior when my parents' dog (who is the size of a cat) walked in the room.

Here's last night in pictures.

Happy Halloween!

Finding My Way

This little darling was 8 months old on Monday. I can't believe I have an 8 month old. I can't believe I have a DAUGHTER. She is so amazing in every way. I feel so silly to question God. Of course he knew what he was doing! She's the perfect child for us!

Husband and I are still having growing pains. We're still struggling a bit to find ourselves in our life after baby. Plus he's without a job right now which is such a struggle for him, and our house is still a mess and unfinished. We love each other very much, though, and I'm glad we have all of our previous struggles to carry us through this. I know that sounds strange, but it's like each step was a preparation for us to be able to work through this time. I don't know if we would know how to support and encourage each other and deal with our shortcomings if we hadn't had trials and tribulations of an important nature before. Just another strange way I see God working in my life. I will continue to pray that we find our strength and work together. We both have things to work on but we are committed to and love each other and our gorgeous girl.

One of the things I've been struggling with is me and finding myself. Andy is having difficulty communicating/connecting to me these days. He says I am "Mom" where I should be "Erika, who is a mom". If that makes sense? It's very deep. I like being mom. But I realize that as E gets older, I need to have interests to share with her, and also to keep me busy when she decides that mom is just SO lame. I guess he's afraid I'm losing part of myself. I always see it as gaining a new part, but I have completely neglected myself as well. Being a mom can be very isolating. Most of my friends have abandoned me and it's depressing. It's hard to be a working mom, so I want to spend all my free time with her. But that leaves nothing for my husband, and I have to have time for him so we can build the best relationship to be the best role models for E. And I need to take care of me and encourage my own wants and needs as well.

I think one of the big issues is my kidneys. I'm so tired all the time that I put E to bed at 7:30 and I'm asleep by 9. I wake up at 7 and go right to work. In that hour and a half I have to shower, eat, and get ready for bed. I barely see my husband. 10 hours of sleep should be more than enough but I'm still exhausted because of my kidneys. We're going to talk to the doctor about that. I feel like if I could combat the exhaustion and get 7-8 hours a night I'd open up so much time for other things! And it's not like E is a bad sleeper. She normally goes down at 7:15, sleeps until 2:30, is back asleep by 3 and wakes up at 7. I think I need to exercise and get healthier as well as do whatever the doctor says so I can go to bed at 10:30 or 11 and have some time every night with Andy.

I'd also like to start doing things again on weekends. Either as a family, or with my friends. I want to take E to museums, the zoo, the aquarium, play dates, the park... all sorts of things. I can see friends and involve her in all of my interests. She gets bored easily in the house so it will make both of us happy. I need to spend time doing things I love, but I'm not willing to sacrifice time with E, so I'll bring her. I want to get into photography again. She and I can go on nature walks and go to the city and shop and I can bring my camera. She's such an easy baby there's no reason not to go have fun with her and pursue my interests. I feel like that might bring some spark back to my relationship with my husband.

I also miss music. Music was what connected Andy and I in the beginning and it's like I don't have time for it, and he feels like he's lost part of me. I don't like that.  I always wanted to share my love of music with my baby. I always thought about playing her music and singing songs and taking her to outdoor concerts. I still want that. I guess I'm just trying to find my new self. Trying to balance "Erika" with "Mommy". Mommy always comes first. But I still need parts of Erika to show E who her mommy really is. And to teach her the things I grew up loving. So I guess my plan is to allow me to be me a little. And to bring E into my world of music and photography and nature (I love nature) and exercise. We can bond and get healthy and I can show her a healthier lifestyle and some fun hobbies.

I do need to make more time for my husband, so this kidney thing needs to be fixed. He deserves a wife that's there, and not asleep. And E is going to deserve a mommy that's not exhausted all the time too!!

I guess I just needed to get this out to think about it. In all honesty, life is doing ok. I have the most amazing child, a loving, supportive husband who wants to work through issues with me, a great support system in my family... I need more friends, but that's OK. E is enough for me. She really is. I just need to be the best me I can be for her.

It's been another set of interesting weeks. My OCD crept up on me and I have been very stressed. Hubs and I were constantly fighting so he took a few days to go home and see his family and we've been doing better since. I really need to never miss my OCD meds! And he needs to chill out. I'm glad we're doing better. We celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary last week! We did basically nothing, but it was still cool to know we've made it three years and we love each other as much as ever. We may go through rough patches, but I'm so glad my husband is so interested in working hard to resolve any issues we may have.

E and I went on a number of adventures these past two weeks! We went shopping for some 12 month clothes for her (even though when I came home the other day she was in 0-3 pants. Yes, she turns 8 months old next week). She can still wear some 6m clothes, but the 9m stuff fits her OK. I just want to be prepared with a few things because I think she's going to be tall and I don't want t have to run out at the last second. She does have a number of 6-12 things from the Gap. I totally don't understand sizing that covers 6 months at this age, but it's so cute I HAD to buy it. This onesie, skirt, and these tights are from there.

And I bought her this hat because it was SO cold that day and she didn't have a hat!

We also went on an adventure with her friend Ben. She looks so tiny. I think he weighs 20lb and is 3 weeks younger!

She has a new favorite toy. I caught her mid bounce. She bounces up and down and giggles when she plays with it.

And A's mom bought us this last weekend. She LOVES this toy. She's standing up in it, but she's holding herself up with her arms. She stands normally in it all the time though. I think she could pull herself up these days if she ever had anything to pull herself up on.

She was mad at me for going to work.

This is the seat she has to sit in while I'm getting dressed for swim class. She makes lots of friends this way as it's right in the aisle and they all walk by and talk to her.

Dressed and ready. She's so excited to get in the water and not interested in pictures. I have no makeup on and look like crap, but whatever. She's cute.

I actually have makeup on here. You can't tell, but I do. And new glasses from Coastal. Heck yes! Also, I was stopped. I swear.

We also tried to go to the pumpkin patch last weekend. So much positive karma in that place. My friend Megan (Ben's mom from the picture above) and I were standing in the (45 minute) line for the hay ride to the punpkin patch. This guy walked up and handed us tickets. So sweet! We took the hayride out, but E hates being in the carrier so I had to hold her the whole time and my arms were dying. My friend Nikki carried my lone pumpkin, and I couldn't get any pictures of E because when I put her down she wanted to eat dirt. I forgot to turn auto focus on I was so involved in trying to get her to not eat dirt, so that was a pain. Then she started whining while we waited another half hour for the hay ride back. I'd forgotten water for her bottle, so I had to buy some and THAT line was long. By this time she's crying and I see the woman in the line next to me looking at me and talking to her husband. She asked me to go ahead of her since all I had was water and she'd "been there" (they had a 18 month old or so with them). OMG again. So sweet. I have so much karma to pay forward now.

We're going back to the pumpkin patch with 4 grandparents and a husband in tow this time, so more people to hold E and my mom to run intervention on keeping E from eating dirt while I take photos.

I did hear again that E has my eyes! She definitely favors A, but people are coming around to the fact that she at least has my eyes, which is the one thing I was hoping she'd get!

It's been a hell of a weekend. My anxiety level is at a crazy high, and I really wish I could just take a few days off, but I can't. We had to be out of our old house by last night, but Andy and I got into a huge fight on Friday. We've been arguing a lot, and for a while, really. Y'all know I have OCD, but he has severe ADHD, and so he says ridiculous things all the time and so do I, and we end up hurting each other and upsetting each other by accident. I know I'm tough to handle. Especially when my OCD is at its worst, and I didn't have my medication for a while, so our communication level just dropped to basically nil.

Fortunately, we are both pretty good at fixing things when they get broken. Right now we're pretty broken, but we're working hard.

Back in January of 2010, Andy was diagnosed with a pituitary adenoma, and he STILL hasn't taken care of it. I told him he needs to take care of it because I'm not going to sit around and have him get irritated every 14 seconds when he might very well be a lot calmer if he didn't have a giant tumor on the "master" gland. He's going to do that, and take medicine for his ADHD. I'm going to take my medicine religiously. He's also going to go home for a few days and try to clear his head. Right now our life is in complete disarray. Our house isn't finished, let alone organized, and that really affects him. He needs some time in an organized environment. Plus he needs his friends. He never admits it to me, or he didn't until yesterday, but his mom called him out on how much he misses being home in Philly. I have always known that, but we're stuck here because my job is too good to leave. He'd like to go back, but we can't, and especially now with the baby.

Our life has been so stressful from the get-go. He had to move away from everyone he loved to be with me. Then I developed a progressive kidney disease. Then he got a brain tumor. Then we had infertility. Then we finally got our baby, which is AMAZING, but it is stressful. And the house, a month later, is still in shambles. Sometimes it's hard for us to keep our heads above water with all of this stress. One thing we DO know is we love each other, and we made the most perfect baby there is, and we love her more than anything. We need to work on ourselves individually, and we need to work on our relationship. For us, and for her. We need to get back to happier, less stressful times, and learn to deal better when times are tough.

Andy apologized last night for being difficult. He says I have so much on my plate, and it was honestly really nice to be recognized for that. OCD is a hellish disorder, plus kidney disease, a full time job, and a baby? It's a lot to keep straight and I get cranky sometimes and it was nice to hear that he realizes how much I really do.

I'm making it a priority to try to be as stress-free as possible. I'm joining the damn Y today (I keep saying that but I mean it this time). I'm going to start exercising again. I'm going to see my doctor and take my medicine. I'm going to try to be as organized as possible for Andy's sake, and he's going to try to relax a bit for mine. We'll be ok, we just have to make sure we prioritize the right things in life. Evie is number 1, which is a given. And our individual healths, and our relationship have to be next. We need to focus on that. 

I don't talk about negatives in my relationship much because I don't like to, but the fact is, a lot of couples have trouble coping as they move into new roles as mom and dad. I know it's been 7 months, but it can be quite a transition. I don't know how people who haven't been through as much as we have already do it. I hope things really do improve. I think we're both at a point where we're ready to put nonsense behind us and really start marching forward together. We have fun stuff planned for this weekend and we deserve it. We never get to just do fun things together. I can't wait to be with my hubs and baby girl and go to the Pumpkin Patch!

And in the mean time... we have the happiest baby on earth.

OMG this face

So much has happened in the life of the Sterlachinis. Unfortunately, one of those things is not the completion of a kitchen. Our house is still in shambles, but I did pay our first mortgage payment last night, and it was pretty awesome. We've also had some fun adventures!

E is growing and learning so much. When she gets tired, she puts her own binky in. We got her a new carseat since she was getting too tall for the infant one. I put a closed book on her lap and her binky next to her. 5 minutes later I found her like this. Book open, binky in, looking at me like "Mom! I'm trying to read here!". She's SUCH a big girl now.



We went to a petting zoo on Sunday. She's really too young, but she loves to watch animals, so rather than petting, we watched. Angry baby was angry.

But she cheered up when daddy put her on his shoulders so she could pull his hair. He's wincing, but he's used to it.  

Grandma came to visit. Ohhh boy is she in love. They live in Philly and haven't seen E for a while. She was in her element. E was soooo tired at night, though.

She was happy during the day! She looks like a little elf or hobbit or something, but it cracks me up. She's so freaking cute.

And we are getting better at swimming! She put her face in and didn't cry, and she's starting to pull herself along the wall.

The most interesting thing (that I don't have a photo of) is that she's trying to pull up! She pulls up on my shirt if I steady her. She's like a little gym rat - she's always trying to do sit ups, and rather than getting on her knees and then standing, she tries to just do baby pull-ups. Yesterday she pulled up on a toy and sat there with her butt off the ground. Once again - gymnastics, folks.

She's backed off of saying "Mama" but she still does it sometimes when I call during the day. Still no teeth (thak God). She's been sleeping strangely. For a long time, she slept through the night most of the time. Lately she's been getting up to the point that I have to get up once, which isn't too bad. Last night she got up and cried, though, which she doesn't normally do. Seems to be a growth spurt because she was fine once she ate, and has been napping like crazy. What's strange is if you watch her, she has extremely restless periods at night. Sometimes she wakes up and opens her eyes, and sometimes she just rolls around. She usually is back to peaceful sleeping in a few minutes, but it's so strange to me.

I'm currently shopping for her for Christmas. I can't wait to spend our first Christmas in our new house. We're going to decorate and put tons of gifts under the tree and wake up Christmas morning and open gifts with our little one. I'm feeling very blessed today. I just love my little girl so much. Words cannot express it. Everything is just different now. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I can be stressed, angry, frustrated... but it's hard to be sad with this sweet girl in my life.

Fall and GPOYD

Fall is coming. Fall is so amazing for so many reasons (cool weather, Halloween, long nights, excellent light quality for photography, Thanksgiving, pumpkin spice lattes for those who drink them [I don’t]). This year Fall is even better for me. Fall brings the beginning of the holiday season. Because I work for the government, I get every holiday off (Columbus Day, Veterans Day, etc.). So this year I get to spend all those three and 4 day weekends with my little girl.

One of the things I’ve been excited about with our little family is starting new traditions. Like going to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin. Going to Linvilla Orchards with our friends for a hay ride. Thanksgiving with Family, waking up Christmas morning to open our presents as a family like I used to do with my parents. This year we’re having Christmas dinner at our house, so the house will be filled with the smells of turkey, mashed potatoes, and all the wonderful holiday food. We’ll go pick out a first Christmas ornament for Evie and attend a holiday Church service on Christmas Eve.

I’m so excited to share some of my very favorite things with my own little girl. Now that the weather is getting colder I get to put her in hoodies and dresses with tights, and soon? Shoes! I feel like the luckiest person in the world to have her to do all of these things with, and a husband that loves tradition, too!

A few years ago, Andy and I went on the hayride at Linvilla with his friends like we do every year. We smiled at each other, thinking about the fact that one day we’d be bringing our child with us… and this year is that year. And his friends love her SO much. They’ll get all sorts of joy from seeing her giggling at the hay and the silly witches.

I’m so incredibly blessed.

And gratuitous pictures of Evie

We were told to start giving her juice and water in a sippy. She usually likes to play with it more than drink from it. She puts it in her mouth, but is still figuring out that she needs to tilt it. She's not used to the spout since it's not a nipple, but she'll take water from it.

I stuck her in her crib standing just to see what would happen, and this is what happened. She stood. I'm not touching her here - I was so shocked I put my hand next to her in case she fell.

Pretty Eyes

Being all tough eating her apple peach oatmeal yogurt. Seriously, could you fit another ingredient in the jar?

As evidenced by her expression, she'd rather be playing with toys.

This picture is only here because I really adore this outfit. I'm still trying to figure out her eye color. I think her eyes are still trying, too. Usually they're grey, but sometimes I think they're going to turn hazel and then they don't. It's so strange. She'll be 7 months Saturday, so maybe they're just going to keep changing.

Love.

This sweet girl slept in her crib for the first time last night. I fed her and rocked her and daddy read her a story. Then I layed her down in her crib with her Polky the Caterpillar, her glow seahorse, and her blanky. It took about a half hour, and about 15 seconds of crying, but she got to sleep no worse for wear. She stayed asleep until 3am, so over 7 straight hours before she woke up. We moved her back to the rock n play for the last 2.5 hours, but she did an amazing job for being so in between houses right now. We're finally in the new house for good and she finally has her own room, but it took some time, and she's been an angel.

I'm still all melty and gooey over her smile when she sees me first thing in the morning. Love like this I never imagined. Not in a million years.

Dadadada

I haven't a clue if this work, but if so, yay!

This is the face I make when I say "DADADA". Hopefully a video will follow, but probably not haha.

Update: WHAT? I didn't tell you she says "DADA" now? I'm terrible. She does. Cosntantly. And makes that face. OK now I HAVE to post a video.

Updates

A lot of things have happened since I last posted. I suppose I took an accidental leave of absence. I started posting every little thought on my tumblr and had so little left for here. But today I've been going through and thinking about the last month and everything that's happened. I can't get over how much my little girl has grown... how much she can do... how much LOVE I have for her. I've been missing her a lot lately because I've been so busy (more later) but sometimes I feel completely overwhelmed with feelings.

We finally closed on our house on Monday, so I've been working on that and I feel like I haven't seen Evie as much. I know it has to be done, and that soon she'll have a beautiful new house to call her own, but I still wish I could just spend every moment of every day with her. She's absolutely my sunshine. She's been babbling incessantly lately, and saying all sorts of new sounds and words, though she's not yet putting together "da" with her daddy.

She got a kiss from an older man! My SIL's twin has a little boy and he decided he needed to come snuggle my girl. Who wouldn't, right? It was a sneak attack since she was trying to eat her toes.

She's been fighting naps, so we've been spending a lot of time here, in her carseat. Every so often she'll take a great nap, but more often than not she's screaming before she actually drifts off. This is just for naps. She's been amazing at bed time.

She had her first play date with her friend Ben, my bff's little boy who's 3 weeks younger. They didn't know what to think of each other, and they fought over a toy, but it was hysterical and we were cracking up laughing about it.

This is Evie wondering who this kid is and why she's here. We told them they'd better get used to each other. The first thing she did when I put her down was grab for his hands. She's such a little love bug. But she's never been around anyone her age, so I think she was confused! Actually she and Ben have been around each other a lot, but they were in their car seats. Now that they're old enough to play, there's a whole new level of fun to be had!

She rode in a shopping cart for the first time. She always gets lazy and leans, so we usually put something next to her, but she can sit up like a big girl. I think she's a little spoiled and thinks she shouldn't have to expend the effort.

Foot eating is still in full force.

We're actually moving into the new house this weekend, but for right now I'm splitting my time between work and the two houses. I just want to be with my love, but such is the plight of a working mom. Thankfully this weekend is a 3 day weekend, and we're getting into holiday season, so I'll have 4 day weekends coming up as well. That we can spend in our own house! Where we have tons of room to play and to put up a Christmas tree! I'm so excited.