Cantelope Disaster

Evelyn is so over baby food. She wants to eat like a big girl. Today we shared a lunch of ham, potatoes and carrots. Afterwards we decided to have cantelope to refresh our palate. A few nights ago I gave her a big ol' chunk of watermelon (after I inspected is to make sure it was free of seeds) and she nawed on it with her two little bottom teeth, occasionaly scraping a small shaving into her mouth. We have a handle thing with a net for things like this but I tried giving it to her once before and she was not a fan. My cousin, Sarah, informed me to pack it completely full to keep the shape and it may regain her interest. Anyways, since I didn't have it on hand I just gave her a big piece she couldn't possibly get in her mouth. After sucking the first piece completely dry I threw it away and gave her a second. A few seconds into it she began to choke and started crying her cry of sudden pain. I freaked out! I was so scared. I ripped the cantalope out of her hand patted her on the back hoping to get it down, or up, and it still didn't help. Thankfully I took my CPR class because I learned how to save a choking infant. I held her belly down at a downward angle and slapped her on the back. The piece of cantalope came shooting out. I felt terrible! She was so scared. I think we'll have to use the net from now on. Looking back that was a pretty stupid idea.

My Little Socialite

Woo hoo!! I got a 100% on my Exam today giving me a 97% overall in my class. Thursday is my Final, piece of cake. Even if I get a D, which I definantly won't, I'll still pass. Yay!

So Evelyn totally loves the kids at her daycare. This morning she was sad to see me go. After some kisses and a big hug I sat her on the floor to play and she definantly wasn't into it. I went in the playroom and the instant she saw Garrett and Griffin she was ecstatic. She didn't even notice me leaving. It's so neat that she loves to be with other kids. My little socialite.

That front tooth is still causing some problems-a little fussing here and there. Tonight to ease the pain, we went for a looong walk. I had Evelyn in a one-piece sweatsuit, a fleece jacket with the hood up, a hat, a receiving blanket, a thick snuggly blanket AND a thick fleecey kind of blanket from the couch. Her teeny little face was exposed but due to the blankets tucked in from her toes to her cheeks it was warm the entire time. She took a little snooze and happily went to bed on time. After watching Dancing With The Stars, of course. She refused her night-night nurse to watch the finale with Grandpa.

Daddy's Girl

Due to a terrifying story my Aunt Martha told me I have removed the nakey pic of Evelyn and replaced it with a modified version. Take a look, it's still beautiful.


This weekend Nanc, Gar and I came down with a little bug. I was totally lazy today and felt terrible-pounding headache, a cough that made my head throb, a runny nose and sore throat. Thankfully it was my last day in clinical and this thought alone helped me through the day!! My mom was feeling lazy too. She held Evelyn basically the entire time she babysat leaving her quite needy when I came home to take over. Because she only napped 45minutes all afternoon I was hoping she would nurse and fall asleep when I got home so I could sleep, too. Think again. She was fussy until she ate some turkey & sweet potatoes, fussy again, loved her bath, fussy again, had some entertaining visitors, fussy again, LOVED looking out the window at the trees blowing in the wind* and finally daddy came to the rescue. At 7:15pm he began rocking her, at 7:20 she was fast asleep. Thank God for Daddy's :) This momma's tired and has her last exam tomorrow, final Thursday.

**Grandma Nancy recently showed Evelyn that you can enjoy the outdoors without really being outside. She holds her so she can see out of the back door and Evelyn squeals in delight. She gets so excited. She jumps and rocks and talks, then settles down and whispers to the outdoors. She loves being outside. Hopefully looking out the window will get us through fall and winter!

Nakey Baby

Update! Evelyn slept through the night again and had a good nap this morning, in bed at the regular time tonight. Phew! Two nights in a row. I'm totally going to bed after this. I have a paper to finish in the morning.

On the family note, Jared babysat Evey Bug this morning while I worked a busy busy morning at Sears. Afterwards, I went home to wash the lotion out of my hair and we got ready for pictures. That's right, I said lotion. I mistakenly bought lotion instead of conditioner..the two products were the same brand in all most the exact same bottle. Biolage should really look into changing this confusing similarity.

Anywho, Evelyn did amazing at her pictures! We even got a really good one of all 3 of us. We did Evelyn in 2 different outfits, a few nakey shots and her Halloween costume. They turned out great! Next week my parents, brothers, Jared, Evelyn and I are meeting at Sears for a family portrait. It should be interesting.

Here's a sneak preview..my mom is not a fan. She thinks nakey pics are inappropriate but I think they're adorable-we do them all the time at Sears. Plus I only posted them on here because only my family and close friends read this. I'll be posting the rest tomorrow and you guys can e-mail me which ones you would like-I ordered a million wallets.

Hooray For Garage Sales!

Look who's sitting all on their own!!

She has sat up for the past few weeks by leaning between her legs but while Gary has been babysitting he has placed the Boppy around her for support and all of a sudden she's out on her own. I loooove when she rocks back and forth. Too cute.

Evelyn has been sooo off track since we've been staying at my moms-fussy, not going to bed on time. During a bath last night we realized she has her two front teeth coming in! After some Tylenol and a teething strip before bed the past few nights she has been much better. I thought it was due to new surroundings, letting the poor girl suffer through the pain! I'm sure it's a mixture of both. Anyways, the good news is last night she went to bed at 8pm, a half hour early, awoke at 2am to nurse and slept til 7am. Nice. Mommy needed some rest. Today she took her regular naps and was in bed right on time. Hopefully we're back on track.

Tomorrow are our family pictures and townwide garage sales so we need our beauty sleep. On a walk today we spotted a few garage sales that had already set up shop-both had ALL baby stuff. We scored 4pairs of pants, a few tops and two cozy one-piece outfits (all Old Navy, my fav), a pair of baby flip flops, high tops and little pink Nikes, all for next summer, and a few toys for only $15. At another sale we found a baby Jumparoo for 15 bucks!! I looked online and it was worth $80. Score!!

My mom also found Evelyn a rocking chair.

And here she is with her new roomy/BFF.

A Day of Firsts

The moment you've all been waiting for. The reveal of my Brand! New! Bathroom!!!

BEFORE

And AFTER

In worse news, as a result of a poor decision Jared has made, Evelyn and I will be staying with my mother for a while. It has been a rough adjustment for all of us. Evelyn's schedule is officially destroyed, I had to change daycares after we finally just got a routine down, all of our baby gear AND my things are packed into one small bedroom and it is VERY hard to do homework while handling a baby on your own. Taking care of a baby on your own is very hard work, especially when teething. She has had such a hard time going to bed the past few nights. I am SO frustrated. And with no time to study I am just a mess. Hopefully we will be home soon. I miss my little house. Especially since I have spent so much time and effort making it look so nice. This is Jared and Evelyn's longest stay apart and they are both taking it pretty bad. Hope things shape up.

Anyways..today Evelyn had a few interesting firsts. After eating a large dinner of Apples&Chicken, a little Ham AND some Banana/Pear/Granola (yum!), she was still unsatisfied. I was eating some watermelon and decided to rip her off a chunk. She nawed on a medium sized square and used her bottom teeth to get a few shavings into her mouth. She really enjoyed the juice and the feeling on her hands and teeth. And earlier in the day my mother made some butternut squash. I had never had this before and thought it was amazing! Evelyn was eyeing it, of course, so I fed her a few bites. She ate it very well and was definantly a fan. It's fun sharing food with her.

We also went to the park for the very first time today and to my surprise, she LOVED the swing!! A little small, but she hung in like a champ. We will definantly try this again before it gets too cold out.

Wanted: A Nap

First of all, I'd like to apologize to Karen for totally ripping off your signature 'Wanted' title.

I am my mothers daughter. In 1 1/2 hours I primed and painted 2 coats of paint in my bathroom. I feel wonderful. The walls are half tile, but none the less this was good time. I can't wait to get everything situated tomorrow morning. It's going to look fabulous. I'll post pictures tomorrow night for all of you that are dying to see it!

On account of school, painting and a Healthy Living seminar I attended tonight for extra credit, I have probably spent 3hours or less with Evelyn today and it's killing me. Although she accompanied me to the seminar, it wasn't really time spent with her. I am TOTALLY looking forward to spending a lazy morning with my monkey and plan to put the finishing touches on my bathroom during her nap...as well as clean the bathroom, mop the floor, vacuum and wash her bottles from today. After that, I'll be 'chillin out maxin at relaxin all cool' as Will Smith would say. Ooooh monkey! I can't wait to spend the day together!

Also, tonight I realized I can put my hair in a small, low pony. All in all today was a good day.

Bath Time=Bed Time

Ok, so Evelyn was a completely different baby last night. After napping for a total of 5hours yesterday, her eyes became heavy around 6pm. After a short walk around the neighborhood and a long, splashfilled bath, we settled in on the couch for a quiet nurse. Sometimes at night I nurse her in the living room with the tv on but tonight we made the house completely silent. At 7:15 she was finished eating, suckling like a pacifier-I knew she was out for good. I popped her paci in her mouth, rocked for a minute and layed her in her crib. She rolled over on her side, grabbed her lovey and was asleep by 7:30. Phew! I have a test this morning and really needed the study time and 8hours of sleep I got.

So this morning at 5am she woke up for a diaper change and her breakfast. I nursed her in bed for about 20minutes where she fell asleep. I placed her back in her crib and slept for another 45minutes-she is STILL in bed (at 7:35) and I plan on waking her when we leave at 8.

I hope she keeps up with this behavior because I can't handle another night like my last post. I really think the bath before bed is a great idea. It really seemed to relax her. My mom claims that was the key to putting Rachel and me to sleep. I'm glad I found a cure!

Oh, and Evelyn learned to walk.

Help! I Need Somebody

Because of her new bottom teeth Evelyn has awaken between midnight and 3am the past few nights wanting comfort. I gave her teething rings, let her watch Noggin and nursed her for as long as she would tolerate it. Needing sleep myself I was desperate for a cure and regretfully let her sleep in bed with us two nights in a row.

Yesterday and today she was wonderful at daycare-there was no fuss and no teething problems. Though she has been chewing on anything in sight, nothing out of the ordinary for this girl, I haven't seen hinting of teething pain the past 2days at home.

So tonight at 7:30 after a nice, long walk she showed signs of sleepiness. After a nurse I put her to bed where she immediately began crying. When I leaned in to re-tuck her in or give her her lovey she would instantly stop. Unfortunately I decided my only option was to let her cry herself to sleep. In the beginning I would sneak in every few minutes to check on her. I knew this was a mistake while doing so but I had to make sure she wasn't on her belly which would just create further problems. The crying would stop, then begin, then die down, then start even harder. After 15minutes I decided to check again thinking maybe her teeth did hurt or she had gas, something that hasn't happened in months, and realized there were no tears. I knew I had to be strong and just let her cry it out. After another 10-15minutes she was hysterical. After a desperate phone call to my mom (to give my cousins a break) I decided to give her a bath to relax her, where she laughed the second her toes hit the water. We then sat on the patio with a little bottle. Still awake, I brought her inside and layed her in bed where she put herself to sleep in about 10minutes (at 9pm).

I knew nothing was wrong with her, that she just wanted to be held, but was I wrong to let her cry like that? She smiled and laughed in the bathtub so I'm sure she's not in pain. It's the hardest thing I've ever done, listening to her cry. How do I handle these nights? I can't spend 2 1/2hours every night putting her to bed when I wake up at 5am for school. So stressed! Advice anyone??

Our First Sandwich Fair

And what a great day for it! It was warm and sunny with a perfect breeze!

After napping on the ride there, Evelyn enjoyed the stroller ride through the fair and only nursed once while we were there due to her brand new bottom teeth. She was loving the fresh air and ready to hit the fair festivities.

First stop-Grandma Nancy's quilt which received a purple ribbon, the highest placement. It was beautiful. The woman working commented it was 'alot of people's favorite'. My mom was more than pleased to hear that. (On the way back home we stopped at Walgreens to print out this picture of my moms quilt and frame it for her. She was very pleased to find it waiting for her when she returned home.)After a nice nurse on a secluded bench we met up with Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Gary. Now, in the past I have totally looked down on people who take their children to loud events, but this afternoon Evelyn attended her first demolition derby. That's right, we're white trash-right Karen?
There were 4heats in the event and during the second, two cars crashed so loudly it caused Evelyn to jump in fright and spit out her paci. This is where I drew the line. I immediately took her out of the venue and we found a perfect little spot in a shady area and settled in for a little cuddling. After a few verses of Rock A-Bye Baby she was sound asleep, sleeping through the end of the derby and the whole way home.

Unfortunately, last night she was up from midnight to 3am whining and crying in pain. After several unsuccessful attempts to feed and comfort her, she finally gave in to the Noggin network and fell asleep. Tonight, after a disolvable teething relief strip, she fell asleep at 6pm and will probably be waking up sometime soon so I'm going to try and get some sleep!

Oh Evelyn!

You are just too terribly cute. This morning after breakfast and some bouncy bouncy play time, we settled in for a cozy little nurse wrapped up in the covers of mommy and daddy's bed. Evelyn likes to sleep with her lovey, or sometimes her burp rag as a replacement. She holds on to it and rubs it on her cute little face and cuddles it-it's just the sweetest thing. So when she's getting tired I let her cuddle it while she's nursing herself to sleep. And this is how she ended up. My sweetie.

And yes that's a burprag under her head. I just don't trust her on my bed and don't feel like sleeping in spit-up.

Our First Playdate

I got another A on Exam #3!!!

A friend of mine, Stephanie, had a baby boy 2months before Evelyn was born, weighing in at 8lbs 2oz. She moved to North Carolina shortly after to live on base with her husband, James. They have been in town for a few weeks to visit family and finally stopped by tonight. Their son, Logan, is a chubby little monster! He is much larger than Evelyn. It was so fun to compare the similarities and differences in them. It was great to catch up and talk babies. We ordered some pizza, let the kids play. It was adorable!! Look at the difference in size.

Guess What!!

After a fabulous day of school I finally had an eye appointment and ordered my first pair of glasses in 7years! I forgot what it was like to see clearly. It will be like watching my life in HD!

After waiting in the dr office for an hour and a half I picked up Evelyn an hour later than usual. This worked out because I didn't have to wake her from a 3hour nap she was taking!! We were playing around on the floor as we usually do when I arrive and I was tickling her chubby little neck. Evelyn grabbed my finger to start sucking away when I felt something sharp in her mouth. I opened it up and to my surprise saw two little bottom teeth! I couldn't believe it! I was so excited! I rushed home to put it in the baby book. No wonder she's been having some issues the past few days. Poor monkey. But I have to say, all in all it hasn't been bad! She hasn't been too too fussy. A little here and there but it's usually curable by something to suck on or a little nurse. She is a strong baby..must get it from her dad.

Here's a picture from some afternoon play. If you look closely you can see one of the little toothers under her tongue (although Jared disagrees). I LOVE this picture!!

A few more pics from today and last night.

Lazy Labor Day Weekend

What a great weekend!

• Saturday I worked from 10am-2pm fulfilling the Kodak dreams of parents all across the Illinois Valley. I did awesome for my first time photographing in 4months!
  
• Sunday we attended a casual Labor Day dinner at my moms house. Guestlist-Mom, Gary, Jared, Evelyn, me, Garrett. We spent the entire afternoon in a circle on the living room floor watching Evelyn talk and play on a quilt. Heaven!


• Monday we successfully stayed in our pajamas until about noon. Evelyn went down for a nap and mommy rushed to the mall to find some fall clothes for Evelyn and a fall jacket for herself. (She also ended up finding an amazing Guess pea coat for friggin $15!!!! Amazing!) I also picked up an Adidas track suit for Evelyn. She's been workin out.

(Monday cont'd) I returned home right on time for Ev to wake up from a nap, then we hit the carnival in town for some livestock and corndogs. Evelyn pet her first cow...but was more interested in watching the fans.

Tonight Grandpa Gary, Evelyn and I attended an Amboy Clippers football game vs the Mendota Trojans. My step-brother, Garrett, is the star of the Amboy football team! I swear, every tackle his name was announced. He was great! They won 32 to 12. Gooooo Clippers!! We took Evelyn in her Snuggli so she didn't have to be held the entire time and we didn't have to lug any kind of seat into the bleachers. She loved it! It was an hour long game and she held up through the whole thing, fussing once when she dropped her teething ring through the bleachers-thankfully we had 2more in the bag ;) Supermom!!

And one last thing-Evelyn tried cantalope recently and clearly was not a fan.

Hooray For Hand Coordination!

[Sigh of relief]. Friday!! No school until Tuesday meaning 4days with Bug!! I thoroughly enjoyed spending the morning alone with Ev. We had a super-long wake up nurse, ate some cereal and bananas and lazily spent the rest of the morning lying in bed playing/watching Blue's Clues. A while into the program Evelyn began giving signs of an approaching nap-rubbing her tired eyes, whining between smiles and flailing her arms and legs. Another sign of nap time is yanking her paci out and then popping it back in her mouth. She can totally do this like 30times a minute now. She hasn't quite mastered the correct placement, but it's good enough for her. And me-I can't tell you how relieved I am to not have to get up every 5seconds to put that sucker back in her whining little mouth.



After a little more fuss and another quick nurse she was sound asleep. This was her first nap of the day for a total of 3 1/2 hours of napping. She has regularly been naping 3-4 hours at daycare. Finally!


Other highlights of the day:

• After a 30minute wait at the car dealership we received news that my car is A-okay!
• A short visit with Grandpa Gar and Grandma Nanc.
• Evelyn felt for the first time, and loved, grass.
• We spent a few hours with Grandma Jo including a quick visit from Sarah.
• And Evelyn successfully sat up on her own-with her hands between her legs for support.

All in all it was a great day!! Now work tomorrow and Sunday and Monday will be spent in our pajamas not leaving the house. Yay!

School, Jobs and Sweet Potatoes

I successfully made it through the day accident free! Yay! And no, Lavonne, Evelyn was not involved in either accident-she was in daycare already :) Thank God!!

Now I know this blog was meant for Evelyn, but since I don't talk to most of you everyday I feel the need to update on myself as well :)

I took my second Exam and I unfortunately scored an 86%B. My overall grade is still a 93%A but I really wanted to score all A's on my Exams. Oh well. I'm still doing good.

During school I recieved a phone call from my former employer, Sears Portrait Studio, offering me a position to take photos through the Christmas season. I explained that I am a new mother going to school and frankly, do not have time.. But I do miss my 75% picture discount! So I agreed to work Saturdays ONLY from 10am-2pm until I am through with school. Four hours is not so bad-I won't have to pump and Evelyn will probably be napping most of the time. And on top of that I will still be in the system as an employee and can get Evelyn's 6-month pictures dirt cheap. Plus, I really miss this job. It was terrible when I was pregnant, all the moving around and trying to get kids to sit still. But now that I am a mother I feel a greater confidence in getting the children to laugh and am finally able to move!

Moving on...Jared took Evelyn to daycare this morning where she would not take her eys off of Caroline long enough to say goodbye to him. She reported Evelyn took a morning nap for around and hour and an afternoon nap from noon-3pm. We're back on track and I couldn't be happier. She was very playful when we got home and enjoyed her exersaucer while I ate some quick dinner. We spent the rest of the evening with Jared's step-grandmother, Dorothy, who is such a joy to talk to. We discussed my schooling and she shared her experiences as a CNA. We also looked at my blog together-she is 78-years-old and knows how to e-mail and surf the internet. I was highly impressed. Here is a picture of our trip to her house..before Evelyn ate an entire jar of sweet potatoes and turkey. Piggy piggy. (Keep in mind it was taken on my phone and e-mailed to myself. Not the best quality.)

Impressively sitting in a booster on her own!

Are my posts too long? Lately they've been a little out of control. Tell the truth!

Miss Piggy

Another great morning took a turn for the worse! My car must have a bulls-eye on it because this morning on my way to school, it suffered through ANOTHER accident-as I came to the peak of a hill an older woman pulled out in front of me causing me to swerve around her straight into the guard rail. What a great start to the day! No tickets were issued and we went our seperate ways. The only problem is I never got her information! Duh! I've never been in an accident before and was kind of in shock. Fortunately, only the front bumper is scuffed and the front license plate is bent. Not much damage, but still frustrating.

After another terrible day of school I picked Evelyn up from day care. Finally, relief! She greeted me with a big ol' smile and we came home to relax. We had our afternoon nurse, played on the floor a little, spent some time in the exersaucer and decided to have some dinner. Here is a Evelyn patiently waiting for her din din.



And yes. She is sitting up all on her own....well, with a little help from the high chair, but impressive none the less.

Now with the stage1 vegetables, she usually only ate about a tablespoon. Last night I fed her apples and chicken (stage2) for the first time and she ate about 1/3 of the jar-I started with a tablespoon..then another...and then another! Tonight I warmed up another 1/3 of the jar and she ate it faster than the speed of light. I could barely get the bites to her mouth fast enough. And every time I tried scraping the excess off her chin she would follow the spoon, making it very difficult, but hilarious. She had alligator tears between every bite and before I knew it, I was warming up the last 1/3 and shoveling it into her very hungry mouth. After this she was still unsatisfied and I ended up feeding her about 1/3 of a jar of squash. What an oink! But she never spit up aferwards, and after a walk and a nighty night nurse she is sound asleep. Thank goodness! Mommy has a quiz in the morning.

Good pics from today :)