Happy Birthday, Evelyn Rae!

My Dear Evelyn,

Two years ago at this very moment I had been in labor with you for 14 hours, still with 3 hours left to go until I met your beautiful face for the first time. Although I had felt of your presence for sometime before your teeny life was placed in my arms, there was an instant zing, a jolt, that surged through me when you made your arrival at 1:47 pm on January 27, 2011. Like I had been waiting for this extra power force to be with me my whole life and now that you were here I felt unsinkable. Like everything was complete. Like I was superhuman for having grown you inside the womb and now given you life. Like God knew you were meant for me and your Dad and we were meant for you.

You have been my sidekick the past two years. You have refined me {and your father} in so many ways. You are such a strong yet delicate little gal. You are already forming in to such a lovely young lady. I am so proud of everything you are and all that you are becoming. It has been such a hoot to see you come into your own. I love all of your evelyn-isms. Happy birthday, Evelyn Rae! Let's not make the terrible two's so terrible. Deal? ;)

** photo by Gwen Hawkins Photography

SNEAK!!

Evelyn is a sneak. A lovely, cute sneak. She loves to turn Warner's swing on and I am always having to put her in "timeout" for repeatedly doing so. Lately, when she's going to do something that she knows she shouldn't, she comes and finds me and says "bye! bye!" which she thinks is warding me off but in actuality it is the most perfect warning that she is about to get in to some trouble. The other day she came and found me and said "bye!" and ran into my bedroom. I grabbed my camera to record what kind of mischief she was up to...

*** no children or swings were harmed in the making of this video ;)

vertigo + winner

Last week Ev discovered the magic of a tire swing. She wanted to do it again and again. And by "it" I don't mean the spinning but rather the after effects of being spun - the stumbling, the vertigo. She's a crack up!

Happy weekend!

our little mermaid

A short and sweet video of our little fish.
She's a swimmer like her mama!
Maybe brother will be a pole vaulter like Dad.

stomping in the rain

Tornado warnings and torrential rain storms were our companions this past Friday. The weather over here was caa-Razy. The skies were relentless with their blackened downpours and claps of thunder. We were without power for 2 hours, but luckily it came back on right in time for me to pop a margherita pizza in the oven and homemade breadsticks. While I was making the dough, Ev and Jared went for a little walk during a calming period of rain. As the dough was rising, I went to go find them and I found this happy gal singing stomping in the rain. 

a rainy day with evelyn

the great discovery

Yesterday after dinner, Evelyn's tummy must have been super full and she noticed something was sticking out more than usual. So she pulled her shirt up, gave her tummy a long stare and poked at her belly button. Over and over and over and giggled. Good job, baby girl! You made the great discovery.

It's Party Time!

Candles, streamers, balloons, blowhorns, friends and icing all made this girl very happy on Saturday. Putting on a child's party is harder than I thought it would be considering you have to cater to the food likings of both adults and kids. I was a dimwit and didn't take a picture of the table before hand, so all I have is a sad looking display of what once were apples, homemade scones, crackers, mac&cheese bites and an empty cake platter. Oh well, I guess we were too busy with friends and the birthday girl, which is what mattered most.

Silly Evelyn, though. The girl didn't even touch her cake during the party. After everyone left we went for round two and she was still hesitant. There are few things that she will eat with her fingers these days and apparently cake was not one of them. I had to fork it to her. Once she realized that the stuff was amazing, I let her sit on her own and she was stabbing away. Haha, even toward the end she was licking the crumbs off her plate. I told you little lady it was good ;)

p.s. my mom made Ev's linen birthday dress. She did amazing, especially since she had to eyeball the measurements seeing that we live two coasts apart. I wish these photos showed more of the detail, but thank you mom for making this day extra special! 

Happy 1st Birthday, Evelyn Rae!

Mother. I can't believe I have had that glorious title for one whole year today. That six letter word has forever changed every fiber of my being. When I held Evelyn for the first time, a surge of love deeper than anything I can describe penetrated my veins and burst through my heart. Looking at this tiny soul, I understood completely for the first time the supreme gift and unbelievable power that is harnessed inside us women to bear children. It felt divine. I was never more sure that there was a God than at that moment. And God has continued to manifest himself through her as I watch her grow. Nothing could be this perfect and feel so innately right unless it was heaven sent.

Evelyn, your birth day will always be my greatest gift. You are the gift that keeps on giving. You have completely changed everything about me - the way I view the world, the way I understand life, my ability to love deeper and stronger without bounds, my excitement for learning, the magnitude of your father and I's relationship, the time I get up in the morning and how I manage my day, how excited I get when I see a dog because I am anticipating your joy when you see that furball - you have changed EVERYTHING about me. And I love you all the more for it.

One year ago today you came in to this world completely dependent on me for life. I could cradle all 7 lbs 8 oz of you in my arms and you would sleep peacefully. Now you are walking, eating kiwi and throwing green beans on the floor, splashing in the tub, sucking on my headphones, tearing apart my wallet, squealing for your giraffe, "reading" books, and addicted to water. While times have definitely gotten more challenging as you've grown older, it has equally become more fun and engaging. 

It's been one lovely year, my dear. My heart hurts on one side because you are no longer a baby, but the other half flutters in excitement to see you come into your own. 

Happy 1st Birthday, Evelyn Rae! 

Your daddy and I love you eternally.

You can watch Evelyn's birth day video here.

Evelyn tells a story

The other day when we were waiting in the parking lot to pick Jared up from the metro, Evelyn gave me my very own story time. Dr. Seuss has never brought such a smile to my face :)

I love how when I ask her if the story is done, she gathers her thoughts after being swept away in a daydream and looks at the book as if to say "ah yes, where was I..."

*** if you are wondering if I video everything Evelyn does, then the answer is yes. I have to restrain myself from posting about 5 videos a day.

Have you tried cooking dinner while someone is tugging your leg and screaming their head off?

No, you haven't? Let me tell you it makes for one heck of a party headache. For the most part, this motherhood thing is pretty dandy. And "the most part" is 99% of the time {ok may be slightly less. let's go with 98%}. But man alive, these past three days Evelyn has been in tantrum mode, SEVERELY.  That makes it very difficult to accomplish anything, in particular cooking dinner for a husband who has been at work all day and would probably appreciate a nice warm meal when he gets home.

Yesterday we decided that maybe she needed to get out and stretch her legs. So we went to Costco for lunch, of course, and headed to the mall where we let our child risk her life by exposing her to thousands of germs in that playpen thing. It was worth it so she could do this:

SHE'S A BIG GIRL NOW! 

But not big enough for that play place rudeness. Some little boy full on pushed Ev down and I was NOT having that. Mean kids.

See walking part 1 here. 

walking part 1 {on the verge}

Last week Evelyn received a walker from a wonderful friend at church. She's been using it the past 4 days and we have definitely seen improvement in her walking abilities. Although I know she is hardly ready to go independent with her footwork, here is a debut of her on the verge of graduating from infanthood to toddlerhood. and you can bet your buns there will be another video coming when she actually does walk. I just got prematurely excited and had to post this. 

for the sake of tradition + coupon code

Sometimes I'm a bad wife... Ok, just kidding, I'm actually an awesome wife. But sometimes I'm impolite and impose my traditions on Jared without his consent. A prime example would be setting up the Christmas Tree. This is our first year where we actually have a tree - we have the space, we have a certain someone who is mesmerized by the lights and we won't be traveling home for the holidays. So the night before Thanksgiving I'm making plans to go get a tree the next day. Two things are wrong about that: It's not Jared's tradition to get a tree on Thanksgiving Day nor is it his tradition to get a fake flimsy tree. But it's my tradition. So guess what? He was nice enough to let me have my way! See how spectacular he is?

So there we were at Wal-Mart buying a fake tree when I finally DID do something that wasn't in-line with my Hammer up-bringing. We bought colored lights! We never had colored lights growing up because white was more classy so I felt kinda rebellious handing over cash for my neon pink and blue bulbs. I was totally excited to give my mom the report and have her wail over my unrefined choice. Instead she fanatically responded  "oh, that's great! that totally fits you!" Uh... very disappointing response for someone who was hoping her nonconformity to family tradition would be her last act of rebellion. I guess my radical days are gone. So a-home we drove and up went the tree. Behold the majesty of our $40 fake tree with coarse bristles and iron rods you can see.

When we turn the lights on Evelyn with reach out for them across the room and with a wide-opened mouth say "waaaaaooooww."

Also, since today is Cyber Monday I'm offering 15% off everything in my shop! Just type the code 

CYBER 

at checkout. Good for today only!

a wave and a fit

Trying to make a meal while your baby is asleep is like playing a game of "Operation" but much more intense. "Shoot, I need the largest pot to boil the chicken, but it's under the other 2 pots." Ever so quietly I slide the stack of 3 off the shelf, firmly grab the handle of the top two and lift, slide the large one out and carefully put the others back on the shelf. Opening up a nutrigrain wrapper? I head on back to our closet and rip that baby open.

Evelyn has been so incredibly loving toward us this week. Not by giving kisses or hugs, heavens no. She's not a cuddler. But I think she realized that we were soo tuckered out from sleeping training for 6 months {yes, 6 months!} that the past week she has given us 12 hours of sleep a night! 7pm-7am. Hallelujah! I hope it's here to stay. Here's what this big girl has been up to. 

She is so sweet in the first video. Second, eh, not so much. She definitely is capable of forming her own opinions on things. We've started signing with her this week in an attempt to limit this frustration on both ends. I feel kind of silly doing it for some reason.

leaves

Last year Jared and I were so far removed from color changing trees that we made our own. It's hard to find "fall" when you're living 20 blocks away from the beach. This year I have been so content watching the trees change colors and slowly shed themselves. It makes me so joyous that Ev and I have been collecting pretty leaves on our walks every day and bringing them home like a kindergartener. Here's what I've done with them.

You would have thought she woke up to Christmas morning when she got up. She has been captivated by them all day.

Last night when I was laying in bed I got some stomach twitches that kinda felt like baby kicks in my tummy. For a second I missed that feeling of life moving inside - the wonder, the excitement. But then I thought about how I'm really grateful I can sleep sprawled out on my front and don't have to find a restroom every 2.5 minutes. 

Favorite Evelyn Moments

She redeemed herself over the weekend. We're back to loving each other again. We mostly owe a big thank you to Jared for watching her for me many times Saturday and Sunday. And sorry about all the video postings. Sometimes it's better to watch life than read about it :) I'm in love with her face after she touches ice.

the culprit.

Me and Ev's relationship is on the rocks right now. If you asked her, she would say that it's because I don't hold her enough, I make her take tylenol, and apparently the 3 collective hours I spend rocking her between 11pm and 5 am isn't cutting it. If you asked me, I would say it's because she's driving me insane. No matter how much love I give this girl, she puts on a whiny drama show. I'm worn out. Luckily she has an alibi in the case.  See those two shiny pearls sticking out of her gums?  That would be the culprit behind all this madness. They're barely there in the bottom photo, but boy are they real and coming in with a vengence. I'd say 70% of our days this week have been spent in tears and whining. No one warned me how bad this teething thing is. It makes you want to jump off a cliff. Oh, and crawling. Curse crawling! I hold her more now than I ever have before because she is constantly at my feet and I can't do a thing without her barking up my leg. Sheesh. Months 7 & 8 have been doozies. Thankfully we both find our happy place during bath time.

{oh, and I still VERY MUCH love her. we're just going through a rough patch.}

6 months + Fashion Feature

Before Ev was born, my wonderful friend Rachel gave me a Dr. Seuss book entitled "Oh baby, the places you'll go!" This is the one book that was read to Ev while in the womb, and Jared was the one to read it to her, actually. We were busy moving, traveling and enjoying our new city all during her 6th month and I never got a chance to do a "happy half-way" mark photoshoot. Instead, here's a montage of all the things she did in her 6th month. It just reminds me of that book, because she has already seen so many places coast to coast in her short little life.

- - - - - - - 

Also.

My fabulous friends Monica and Whitney host a site that gives a different spin to the term "fashion blog." You can submit a fashion question and have lovely ladies from all over give you their input! This is perfect for us who have husbands that have their heads down when they tell you you look good.

My inquiry is featured today. Check it out!

not all that tasty

four eyes

If her eyes end up going coo coo, i'm fine so long as she can wear cute glasses on those cheeks.

I have a lot to blog about, but we're busy with Ev's aunt and uncle who have been camping out in our front room for the week. We're going to miss family when we leave in 6 weeks.

Oh, and we found a roof to call home in Virginia! So excited!