Sicky Icky

Maybe Evelyn wanting me all the time isn't as wonderful as I thought. Not being able to put your baby down doesn't leave you much time to get things done. This neediness is due to her wide variety of illnesses she has contracted this past week including pink eye in both eyes, a double ear infection, barking cough, runny nose, diarrhea which caused a yeast infection and a temperature. The pink eye is relatively gone (although I'm still washing laundry, hands and disinfecting our entire house 30 times a day) but we are still dealing with teething and the ear infection pain-not wanting to nap, spurts of crying and wanting mommy. I guess it's a little chaotic to me considering how wonderfully behaved she has always been. One good thing about these illnesses is she's wanting to nurse earlier in the night. Company or not she subtly hints by smashing her face into my chest, pulling my shirt collar down and blowing raspberries on my chest. It's not embarrassing at all!! But this earlier nurse lets us play a little, watch a quick half of The Wonder Pets and Evelyn now puts herself to sleep in crib with a paci, her lovey and her mobile. Hopefully this part keeps up, the aggressive nursing demands not so much.

Walking In A Winter Wonderland

Evelyn has grown increasingly attached to me...and I love it. It's like she only wants me most of the time, and let me tell you, it's a great feeling. So last night Jared was holding her on the couch to look out the window when she looked down and saw me sitting on the floor. She wanted to come to me but we decided she had to do it on her own. So Jared held her about 3feet away from me and she took THREE steps to me!!! I got a little teary-eyed. I can't believe my baby girl is ready to walk! We repeated the process over and over and she continued to take a few steps. She's only 9months, this is crazy!

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I hope everyone had a great Christmas. We had our best yet. Between staying up late on Christmas Eve waiting for Santa Clause to show (which he did at 11pm!) and opening presents for 3hours on Christmas morning, we were pretty exhausted. But it was worth it. Ev got to meet Santa and hysterically cry on his lap, she got tons of presents and most importantly we got to spend relaxing time with our family. It's only going to get better as the years go on. I'm enjoying being a parent more than I ever could have imagined at this young, ripe age of 21. I'm glad things happened how they did. I love my little family.

PS My cameras USB cord is broken and I just ordered one last night so I'll have to have an update blog with pics and videos of the past few weeks. I have some really good pics and some priceless videos.

Yowzuh!!

Ouch. Evelyn's a biter! She understands no, this I'm sure of, but she just can't put two and two together sometimes. She definitely understands no. For instance, if I walk in on her sitting dangerously close to the television, drooling up at The Backyardigans I will say 'No!' and she almost jumps through the ceiling. It is too funny. She knows she's doing something wrong. But when she bites and you say no she thinks it's hilarious. Partly because when I tell her no she begins to pout and her big, sad lip just cracks me up. I guess laughing while saying no isn't the most effective way to scold her. But we're working on it.

Another thing Evelyn understands is the coming and going of company. When someone goes to leave she pathetically gazes up at them trying to convince them to stay. Then we sit on the couch to look out the window and wave bye-bye until they're out of sight. At this point Evey bends forward to look back and forth in case they're just pulling her leg. This is SUCH a fun stage.

Cheap Thrills

Due to FOUR new teeth coming in at once and a smidgen of a cold Evelyn had quite a time last night (waking every 2hours and finally falling asleep 1hour before I had to wake up for work!). We've been sending Oberweis Dairy Christmas cards to all of Jared's customers and Evelyn has grown increasingly determined to get her hands on one. So last night out of pity I let her have one. It instantly turned her frown upside down. The next half hour went like this-Evelyn handed the card to Jared, Jared handed the card to me, I handed the card to Evelyn, we would all laugh. Who knew that was the answer to our problems the past few nights!

We've also used the Christmas cards to encourage her to walk. She has begun standing on her own at only 8months and has even taken a few steps a time or two. It's amazing!

Between her new fake laughs, standing/walking and her great sense of humor we've been having a blast these past few months. I never thought I could have so much fun with a baby!