Weekend Vacation

After a family reunion for my father's family this Saturday, Jared, Evelyn and I enjoyed a few days away dogsitting for my cousin Karen. Surprisingly the dogs warmed up well! Here is a picture from the first morning we were there.

We had a good time. It was nice to be in the neighborhood of other family and spend some time with them. And it was great having some elbow room compared to our little apartment.

Nothing too exciting to report, just a few good pictures.

Grandpa Eli

Tonight as I rocked Evelyn to sleep in a rocking chair built by my Grandpa Eli I was glad she was lucky enough to meet a man like him. I will never forget how it felt to hold my Grandpa's hand, or how he always had lines on his fingernails-something I always wanted when I was younger, just to be like him. I'll never forget his laugh, his smile or the way he smelled. I'll miss pulling into the driveway and seeing him and Holly on the front porch swing listening to their little black radio-a sure sign of Spring. Although most visits were spent sitting silently on the porch together it always felt good to be in his company-I'd wish nothing more than to be on that swing holding his hand right now. I'll miss how he was always in freshly ironed slacks and button downs with his signature hat-the best dressed man in town, and his love for tending to his own lawn. I'll even miss listening to him and Grandma Jo argue. Even though he wasn't always the happiest man on Earth, I know Grandpa deeply loved his family and his life. I admired his strength, pride and mostly his advice. I'm lucky to have had such a man for a Grandfather. I love you Grandpa, I know you're watching down on me and our family.

Father's Day

I have been anticipating Father's Day to come for weeks! I had a great surprise for Jared and almost couldn't wait. After his favorite breakfast of bisquits and gravy, bacon and eggs served to him first thing in the morning I decided to make him sweat it out for a while before revealing my surprise. While cleaning up the breakfast dishes Jared asked where his Father's Day card was. I replied I had not gotten him one due to a lack of time. He argued that I must have gotten him one since I had gotten our fathers and grandfathers cards a week ahead of time. I simply told him I was sorry and I hadn't made everyone else breakfast so he should be happy. While all this was going on Evelyn was nearing the end of naptime and Jared decided to get in the shower-PERFECT timing! When I heard the water shut off I rushed into Evelyn's room where she was already awake, changed her diaper and set up my surprise. Here is what Jared found when retrieving Evelyn from her nap (minus the smile).
We are good! And yes, I made that shirt with Sharpies.

Unfortunately we recieved some bad news after this eventful morning. Most of our family spent the rest of the afternoon in the hospital as my grandfather struggled for breath, his wife of 67 years alongside him, holding his hand. It gave a stronger meaning to Father's Day, a day dedicated to celebrating men like my grandfather-men who have lived wonderful lives and are heroes to their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, men who work hard and put family above all else. Men like my Grandpa Eli.

Sleepy Monkey

[Wipes forhead] Monkey is in bed and asleep! Her naps were a little off track today but I think we're back on schedule. It really worried me that she would be all out of whack. I noticed that since she's been taking these naps she gets fussy between her naps and before bedtime. I'm a little over dramatic about it because I'm not used to her being cranky. I guess it's just a part of life. I was never aware til now.

Father's Day is coming up and I can't wait! It's Jared's first and I'm excited to celebrate with him. For Mother's Day I recieved breakfast in bed, well the day before actually because we stayed in Naperville Mother's Day Eve, and I also recieved a very cute pink giraffe card that transforms into a picture frame. Best of all we spent a night in our pj's on the couch snuggling together-all 3 of us. No present could top that. To return this generous and loving gift I have a little gift of my own up my sleeve. I hope I can hold out. I'm not good with gifts and presents-I always want to give them too soon. I actually already gave Gary his Father's Day card because I was excited to see his reaction. It talks about how great he is and when you open it it sings, "Ya'll ready for this! De de de den den de den det den det." From Jock Jams? Anyone recognize it? Anyways he looooved it. Hopefully Jared will enjoy his Father's Day, too!

Bedtime Madness

Evelyn is doing great with her new napping schedule. All went well again today-until bedtime. Long story short, Evelyn was hysterical for about an hour before finally falling asleep. I tried changing her diaper, feeding her-which she refused, burping her-she burped a bunch and threw up, walking around with her, rocking her, singing, and feeding her more. She wanted nothing. I could tell she was hungry, she would eat a little, cry, eat a little, cry. After filling her pants I thought she would be better but she was still upset. She basically cried herself to sleep by about 9. I brought her in bed with me to comfort her by rubbing her head and talking to her and she finally nodded off. Phew! It was really hard for me to watch her cry like that.

Here's a video from our afternoon trip to Great Grandma's house. It was nearing naptime but she doesn't seem tired, does she?

She kind of sounds like Chewbacca.

Happy Napper

I'm happy to report Evelyn napped again from 10am-1pm today, as well as from 3pm-4:30pm. Yay!-we have a schedule going. But! Jared's grandma was in the hospital tonight due to a hernia (she is fine and coming home in the morning) so when we left at 7:30pm she slept a little in the car, woke up to eat when we got there and fell back asleep at 9pm. Hopefully this doens't interefere with our new little plan we've got going. Maybe she'll just sleep in tomorrow. During her afternoon nap my mom woke her up out of a dead sleep at 4:30 because we were getting ready to leave-she woke up smiling and talking, happy as can be. This girl is a dream come true!

Also, Evelyn is holding her head up better and better everday! Here's a pic of her in her big girl Bumbo-it was taken a few days ago but I just love it!

What An Eventful Day

At 10 o'clock this morning, after being awake for 2hours, I noticed Evelyn yawning. So I thought, "Hmm...maybe we should try a nap." After a quick diaper change and a little nursing I laid her in her crib with her paci. To my amazement, she fell right asleep! She napped from 10am-1pm and again from 3:30-4:30pm. She then went to bed at 8:30 no problem. I guess my cousins were right-laying her down alone in her crib is a much more appropriate way to introduce scheduled napping, rather than letting her fall asleep in my arms. Hopefully she keeps up the routine.

During a little afternap play I realized Evelyn may not have as good control of her hands as I thought. Here she is showing Daddy how she can shake her rattle. (Remember to turn up the volume, folks!) Notice the shock in her eyes when things don't go as planned.

Here she is again playing sing-a-long with Daddy-one of their favorite pasttimes. (Again, don't forget the volume...please.)

Naps, Hands & Angry Grunts

So Evelyn has never been much of a napper but today I decided it must become a mandatory part of our daily routine. I figured after a few hours of morning play I could nurse her and lay her down-nursing is the ultimate sleep aide in this house. Wrong-o! She fought staying awake after her diaper was changed so I'd nurse her some more but she'd jump when I got up to put her in her crib, and so on. My next idea was to just let her fall sleep with me tummy to tummy-her favorite. After putting up a fight and a little crying, she was so exhausted she just passed right out. Everytime I tried laying her on her back she would start waking up, so this is how she ended up.




And I know they're not supposed to be on their tummy, but I was right there the whole time.

Now as I mentioned, Evelyn is becoming more aware that she has control of her hands. So today on our walk she started up a game of peek-a-boo. (Because she's not completely familiar with the rules of the game, there was no speaking.)



I also previously mentioned Evelyn's new skill of playing on her own. So when she was under her play gym tonight and I announced that I had to run to the grocery store, Jared told me to bring her in the bedroom where he was napping. Leaning down to pick her up I wondered if she wanted to stay there or get up-she looked like she was really enjoying herself. My question was answered when we were walking to the bedroom and she let out a loud, "AaaaahhHHGGG!" And it really sounded angry!

She's learning so much so quickly and it really amazes me. She is showing signs of new emotions and new skills sooner than I had imagined. Ahh, the joys of motherhood!

Wade In The Water

Sometimes when Evelyn is learning a new skill she can get very frustrated. Although her current accomplishments include smiling, cooing, blowing bubbles, playing by herself, shaking a rattle, and holding her head up all on her own, she got pretty upset when she failed at her first attempts. For instance, when she first began trying to 'talk' to us it would sometimes end in crying.

Today while Evelyn was spending the afternoon with Grandma Jilly B and her cousins I shared that frustration when unsuccessfully attempting to water ski. Jared was the first contender going up on the first try and skiing for about 10 minutes. Me-not so much. First of all, my life jacket was about a 4x, the skis felt too big, and I have absolutely no upper body strength. But I thought, "What the heck! I love a challenge." The first twenty tries my legs would drift away from each other leaving me with a mouthful of water and disappointment and due to a lack of experience, no one really knew what to do. Although he was trying to help Jareds repetetive, "Lean back and keep your legs together!" just made me even more frustrated. At one point I was stuck on my stomach and could not get myself turned around-I was belly down, legs spread apart trying to swim/roll over, but trying to, I guess roll, all you could see was my rear end pop up into the air and me wading in the water like a frog. Needless to say, I never made it up and the first thing I thought was, "I totally understand."

Play On

Normally when I do things around the house I put Evelyn in her swing or just prop her up on her Boppy to look around. Until yesterday when I realized, Hey! I have an age appropriate toy that I haven't broken out yet-her pink flower play gym from cousin Karen. After setting it up and turning the music on I positioned Evelyn arms length from a few of the hanging toys with her face near the mirror so she could catch a glimpse of herself. I also unhooked the dangling rattle and hung it on her arm so she could hear it while she played. To my surprise she was more than delighted by this foreign contraption. She spent an hour and a half amusing herself while I got some much needed cleaning done. She is teaching herself how to play!

And not just with her gym. Several times during feedings this afternoon she would release her latch to give me a wide eyed smile. Smiling back only resulted in further smiles which led to cooing and flailing. Needless to say, I spent most of the day trying to get this happy little bundle of joy to eat a full meal.

Trauma:Life In The Pediactric Center

Today we started out the day with a brisk walk and lunch with a girlfriend who was in town from Colorado. All was going well until Jared called to remind me of Evelyn's doctor appointment-the dreaded day of first time shots. It had completely slipped my mind-I usually write everything down in my day planner but this particular appointment was on a post it in my car. I was very nervous during the 45 minute ride to her doctor. While sitting in the waiting room I was startled by the cries of a young boy. He was screaming at the top of his lungs and it made me very uneasy. Once we got back into the room I was a little tense. We got Evelyn down to her diap' and had the regular weight and length taken-10 lbs. 10 oz. and 26 inches long. After a quick look from the doctor the dreaded nurse came in. Evelyn was so happy looking up at me and Jared. She held both of our index fingers in her tiny little hands smiling. Then BAM!! Shot number one. I've never heard her cry like that. Her face immediately got red and she was screaming out in pain. BAM!! Shot number two. Crying even harder now. BAM!! Shot number three-hysterical. Even mommy was crying at this point. I was told then I could pick my poor little baby up so I wrapped her in her blanket and held her so close, crying my eyes out. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to watch. She was so scared and I think it really did hurt her-although the nurse said she really wouldn't be in that much pain. As her mother, I know she's never cried like that before, I know it really hurt her. And what's worse is we were right there and the pain kept coming. I felt like she wasn't going to trust me afterwards. After a quick nursing she settled down a little but was still fussy. For those of you unfamiliar with Evelyn, she NEVER cries-not unless she's hungry. And lately she's begun this new shrieking process-she'll squeal a little bit and if nothing comes of it then she'll cry a little. But after this traumatic experience she was horribly upset. She would settle down and then cry a little bit and her little legs were swollen, as well as her eyes from crying, her face was all red. After leaving the office we went for a short walk on the river and for a quick visit to Grandma Jill's house. She had a hard time going to sleep and continued through the night with these little shrill cries-it was as if she was having flashbacks of what had happened. After a dose of Tylenol and some TLC she finally fell asleep in my arms. Because of the horrible day she had I allowed her to sleep in bed with me-Jared was on the couch due to the flu. I had a hard time falling asleep-I couldn't stop staring at her wondering how she felt-Jared's mom said those shots can make you achey like you have the flu. After finally falling asleep I'm relieved to say that she slept through the night and woke up as happy as she usually is. After the rough night she had and the pain I was going through from watching her suffer I was more than relieved to see her smiles this morning. She's a tough little gal.

The Best Things In Life Are Free

Tonight I drove downtown to begin my evening walk. I kept a medium steady pace, returning to my car feeling great about this accomplishment. After circling the route I had just taken I realized I had just walked about 2 miles in 45 minutes. Not too shabby for someone who's done absolutely nothing but sit on the couch holding a baby for the last 3 months! Well, 2 months and 1 week, the rest of the time I was just pregnant and lazy. But back to the story-I returned home with pride, ready to brush my teeth, wash my face and hit the sack. When I walked in the door Jared announced he had just put Evelyn to bed seconds before I arrived and I could walk in and say goodnight to her. I crept into her room to find her contently lying in her crib, giraffe pajamas on, cooing to herself while happily looking around the room. Once she spotted me hovering over her crib to sneak a peak her face lit up with a gigantic toothless grin. After leaning down to kiss her and turning to finish my nightly routine I heard her let out one of her newfound shrieks. I stood outside the door hoping the fussing would subside and she would forget all about it, but after about two minutes she became a crying mess. I opened the door and walked back in and the crying stopped the instant I reached in to pick her up. So, I wrapped her up in her quilt, sat in the rocking chair and had a little one on one with my beautiful baby girl. After letting out a few burps, puking a little on my shoulder-for the 5th time on this t-shirt today, and having a few sucks on the ol' paci, she quietly nodded off to sleep. I found myself tearing up staring at my sweetie's pretty little face realizing that all she wanted in that moment and time was me-to see my face and hear my voice and feel my touch. I realized that one day she'll be grown up and not want to touch or hug me because she's a big girl and it deeply saddened me. I wish I could have stayed in that moment forever. I guess it's true what they say-the best things in life are free.