Sleeping Cutie

This week something sad has happened; Evie has finally outgrown the cradle. It's the same cradle that my Grandpa made when I was born, and it makes me happy that the same cradle has rocked both me and my baby girl to sleep. These pictures are of me on December 29, 1989--the day after I was born:

When my mom came to stay with us the week after Evie was born, she brought the pieces of the cradle and put it together for me. This picture of Evie was taken on March 28, 2011--the week after she was born:

The family resemblance is striking, isn't it? We Jacobs girls are so cute!

In the four months after that, Evie started moving around A LOT while she slept. She'd scoot herself backwards until her head hit the headboard. Sometimes this would wake her up and she'd start crying. Other times she'd somehow scoot herself sideways and end up like this:

Just during the last couple of weeks or so, she's started rolling over onto her tummy while she sleeps. Even from birth, Evie has always preferred sleeping on her tummy, and now she has the strength to get there on her own. Also, she got to the point where she'd prop herself up onto her arms, and then she'd grab the side-rail and pull herself up to look and smile at us in the mornings. That was when we knew it was finally time to take her out of the cradle. She's really enjoyed it, and it's kind of sad to think that this phase of her life is over forever. A few days ago, I got home from work to find that Todd had put up the Pack-n-Play and rearranged the bedroom so I wouldn't have to. But he kept the cradle up so I could get one last picture of Evie in it.

We're hoping to be able to afford to get Evie a real crib sometime soon. But until then, she's sleeping in her Pack-n-Play, and she seems to be adjusting well to the change in her sleeping routine. She loves all of the extra room she has now; we'll find her in the strangest positions in the morning! We also put her in the Pack-n-Play so she has a safe place to play while we're doing other things. She enjoys that, once the solid outer walls are rolled up, the sides are made of mesh so she can see us while she plays. Then we can roll down the sides at night so she can sleep without distractions.

We've closed one chapter in our lives and opened another. The cradle has served two generations very well, and I'm sad that we can't use it anymore (at least until we have another baby), but I AM grateful that we were able to use it as long as we did and that I got to share something special like that with my daughter. Thanks, Grandpa, for making something so beautiful and lasting! Thanks, Mom, for letting us use it for Evie! And thanks, Evie, for being such a sleeping cutie!

Trunk-or-Treat

Tuesday night was our stake's Trunk-or-Treat night! Usually, that means that everyone comes to the church parking lot, people decorate their trunks, and their kids go around to all the cars to collect their goodies in a safe environment. Sadly, Tuesday night was cold and rainy, so we had to pile into the church building instead.
I only worked from 10-2 on Tuesday, so I got to dress up my little munchkin and be a part of her first Halloween! A week or so ago, I got this really cute costume from work at a quarter of the original price:

 

Then Todd and I looked all over the place for cute tights/shoes to complete the ensemble. Finally, Tuesday afternoon, we found them at Walmart. Unfortunately, Todd had to work that night, but I promised to take lots of pictures for him. Just before we left, I fed Evie some peaches, gave her a bath, and dressed her up in her cute ladybug costume.

When we got to the church, my niece agreed to be Evie's candy collector while I tried valiantly to keep Evie's hat on her head. But, before we could collect any candy, Evie threw up her peaches--all over her costume. So I ran her to the ladies' room, dodging my visiting teacher in the process, and cleaned her up as best I could with wet paper towels (because, of course, I left her diaper bag at home). My mother-in-law assured me that she couldn't tell that anything had happened to Evie's clothes, and we resumed our candy-begging. Once we were done, I plopped Evie on the floor so we could relax a little. She wasn't her usual charming self because there were bright fluorescent lights, a bazillion people talking loudly in the hallway, and her tummy wasn't feeling happy. She was still the cutest little ladybug ever, though!

Evie has been trying SO hard to crawl lately. She'll get up on her knees and rock back and forth, but she can't quite get her arms and legs coordinated. She came super close, though, when she discovered an abandoned Twizzler on the floor!

Evie finally got her prize, but I then discovered that it had already been gnawed on one end, so I quickly and sneakily exchanged the nasty Twizzler for one that she got in her bag. She didn't notice Mommy's bait-and-switch, and she started telling me all about her fun new candy:

The entire night, her hat with the adorable antennae kept falling off. I think we need to find a bobby pin or some elastic before Halloween night.

Happy Halloweenie, everybody!

Mommy's Story

A month or so ago, John gave me Margot's old Kindle, which has made finding time to read so much easier. Since it's small, it fits perfectly in my purse so I can read any time I have a spare minute: on my lunch break, at doctors' offices, during car rides, etc. Already, I've read several more books in these past couple of months than in the entire previous year, and it feels good! One book that I read about a week ago was James Patterson's Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas and I loved it!

I'd read it several years ago when I was in middle school and I thought it was great then, but rereading it as a new mother definitely made it hit home for me. This is a beautiful book about a young mother writing a diary for her newborn son, telling him all about her life, her thoughts, and her feelings. It made me laugh, cry, sigh, and snuggle my baby. I think the message is a good one, and several little things resonated strongly with me and helped me connect to the story on a personal level. This might be one of my new favorite books, and it isn't very long, so I was able to read it in a single afternoon. For all of those mothers out there looking for a fantastic and well-written story to read while the kids are napping, I strongly recommend this sweet little book!

Evie's Story

Evie is starting to really make her opinions and preferences known. For instance, her favorite show is "The Big Bang Theory." Every time the theme song starts to play, she whips her head around and stares at the flashing colors with a huge smile on her face.

Her favorite toy is her stuffed giraffe that my mom bought for her, although she does love her teddy bear too. Her favorite food is pears, and she yells at Todd if he doesn't shovel them into her mouth fast enough. Evie likes to clap; Mommy has been teaching her how, and she thinks it's so much fun. Daddy has been teaching her to reach out her arms whenever she hears the phrase "Come here!" And her favorite book is Love You Forever, written by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Sheila McGraw.

I rock her while I read it to her, which she loves. And I know it mostly by heart, so when she looks up at my face I look down into her eyes and quote the poem to her: "I'll love you forever. I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living my baby you'll be." And she smiles and helps Mommy turn the page. When I'm done with the story, she picks it back up and hands it to me again. Todd came home last night and caught some pictures of us reading our story together.

Lately, Evie has been getting very...affectionate. When I put her down, she tries to climb back into my lap; when she sees me, she smiles and reaches for me. We're little buddies; Evie loves Mommy, and Mommy loves Evie!

Evie's Teeth

Hooray! I finally got a semi-decent picture of Evie's two bottom teeth so I can now prove that, yes, she really does have them! And boy, those suckers are SHARP. She likes to grab my thumb and chew on it, and I'm always a little surprised that it isn't bleeding by the time she's done with it. In order to keep her new little chompers clean, we bought her a cute little toothbrush the other day:

 

 It's just the right size to fit in Evie's small fist, and the green plastic and adorable giraffe match the rest of her jungle decor. While we were still in the store debating over whether to get this one or the cheap and basic one, she decided that this was the one she wanted and she carried it tightly all the way to the register. Once it was paid for, we gave it back to her and she immediately popped it into her mouth. Still in the package, of course, but at least she had the right end in her mouth. Sadly, she caught her bottom lip on the plastic hook of the package and hurt herself. I could see what was about to happen, but my arms were full of her and I couldn't adjust her in time to stop it.

 Yesterday, after her bath, we brushed her teeth and she seemed a little concerned at first. But soon she was holding it herself and chewing on it like an old pro!

Naked Mornings

Most mornings, Todd will get the baby out of her bed, give her a bottle, and then put her in bed with me. Yesterday, he went out to finish working on John and Margot's car while Evie and I played until she fell asleep. She was so sweet curled up on Mommy's pillow, so I just let her sleep while I showered, got dressed, and dried my hair. She woke up well rested and ready to play:

 

On my days off when I get to stay home with Evie, I like to let her play naked for an hour or so in the morning. Usually, we keep her diaper fitting tightly so it doesn't leak, but then it leaves red marks on her skin. So on my mornings off, I take off her pajamas and diaper, clean her bottom, and let her just play on a blanket.Yesterday, I stripped the baby and plopped her onto her blanket so I could run upstairs and get her food, and she immediately started playing:

When I got back, Evie was in the middle of...leaving a deposit! So I hurried and cleaned her bottom again, and switched out her blanket for a matching one. While she was still naked, I fed her the strawberry/banana mixture that I mentioned in my last blog post so she could get all sticky without staining an outfit. Evie liked "helping" Mommy spoon up the food, so in these pictures, she has stickiness all over her face, belly, and leg.

I used a wipie to remove the worst of the mess so she could play a little longer before her bath. With a full tummy, Evie is so much fun to be around!

Finally, it was bathtime! Evie loves splashing in the water and painting Mommy's arm with bubbles.

Often, she decides that her baths are over and she tries to climb out of the tub before I even get a chance to wash her hair, so I have to keep putting her back.When she's finally clean and her bath is really over, Evie loves being wrapped in her cute duckie towel.

Finally, it was time to put some clothes on the cute naked girl. I put this adorable elephant outfit on her for probably the last time; she's growing out of all of her 0-3 months clothes. Evie loves looking at herself in the mirror, so when I put her up so she could see her reflection, she started flirting with herself!

Evie is such a cute, funny, sweet little girl, and she brings such joy to my life! I love being her Mommy!

Homemade Solids

Last week on my last day off, I went grocery shopping and got tons of fruit for Evie. She loves the jarred pears that we give her and I thought it would be fun to get her the real thing, but they still need to finish ripening before I can do anything with them. I also got strawberries, raspberries (but those were for me), peaches, and organic bananas. When I got home, I blended strawberries and bananas together until they were smooth and poured them into empty baby-food jars that I'd cleaned and boiled. I made six jars, but we were down to the last two this morning:

Evie really likes them! The mixture I made is a little thicker than the store-bought stuff--almost gelatinous--which makes it easier for her to keep it in her mouth. We also finally bought some rice cereal for her, despite everyone's insistence that she would hate it. However, she actually really likes it. Of course, that's probably because I don't give her straight rice cereal! When I first mixed formula into a bowl of rice cereal, the smell almost made me puke and I decided that if I couldn't stand the smell, I wasn't going to force my baby to eat it. So I mixed in a jar of her pears. She gobbled it all up! In fact, she got grouchy that I wasn't spooning it into her mouth fast enough. She's been doing that a lot lately, actually, with all of her food. Today, I made her a bowl of rice cereal mixed with applesauce, and she kept crying for more while she had entire mouthfuls still in her mouth; I seriously couldn't keep up no matter how hard I tried.

I'm looking forward to when the pears are finally ripe so I can blend them for her and see how she feels about "real" fruit. I'm so excited that I get to share new things with my sweet baby, and see how she reacts to everything. I look forward to helping her expand her palate and experience fun tastes, especially during the coming holiday season. I think she'll really enjoy things like pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, sweet-potatoe pie, cranberry sauce, maybe even a little turkey. I'm really trying hard to give her an unbiased taste of the world, unaffected by my own likes/dislikes, and Thanksgiving will give me an excellent chance to act on that since I only like about half of the "traditional" dishes. I think she'll have a really good time being passed around to everybody and being fed tiny bites of fun food!

More Posts Coming!

After several days of 8-hour long shifts, I finally have a couple of welcome days off today and tomorrow. Make no mistake: I love my job, but after lifting strollers/car seats up and down all day, I'm definitely sore and worn out when it's time to go home and I want nothing more than to kick off my shoes, stuff some sustenance into my mouth, and unwind with my little family. So even though there is lots of news about Evie, I haven't gotten a chance to collect it all together on my blog--sorry. However, that will hopefully be changing tonight and tomorrow as I try to play catch-up. Hold on to your seats, everyone, and keep your fingers crossed!

Recipe for a Sweetie-Pie

Begin with a base of sugar, spice, and everything nice* and combine with one beautiful little spirit. Pour in a large splash of joy and blend thoroughly. Slowly stir in a handful of giggles and allow to simmer. Mix with a few toothless grins and fold in just a pinch of mischief. Add a generous dollop of love and sprinkle liberally with snuggles. Envelop entire mixture in creamy smooth skin and seal it all with a kiss.
Bake at 100° for nine months, or until sweetie-pie is perfect.

*This recipe is for a girly sweetie-pie and may be adapted for individual needs.

Little Laundry Lady

Saturday is our laundry day. Yesterday, Evie was sitting on the floor while I folded laundry, and she was so interested in what I was doing that I dumped all of the clean underwear on top of her so she could participate. She was thrilled!



Every morning since she was born, when I pick up Evie from her cradle, she hooks her thumb into my undershirt and pops it into her mouth. She has fun with the silky material and I think it feels good on her gums. So, surrounded by our underwear, the first thing she did was grab one of my tops and jam it into her mouth. In addition to the pictures, I also got a couple videos of her "helping" me fold the laundry:

Then, this morning, I sat Evie on the floor to play with her bear while I turned on my computer. When Todd walked by, he whispered to me to turn around. I looked behind me to see Evie playing with the laundry basket full of unfolded clothes and towels.


 
This afternoon, Todd pulled our sheets out of the dryer and Evie decided to help him fold them:

Evie is now our cute little laundry helper, I guess!

Evie and Daddy

I want to dedicate this post to my sweet husband and our perfect daughter. I can't believe it has taken me this long to do this; all I can say is that now I have more pictures to post! Todd has adored his little girl since he first saw her little face:Todd got to hold Evie just minutes after she was born, and the look of absolute love on his face touches my heart every time I see it.

When Evie was brand-new, she and Daddy spent lots of time together, napping and bonding.

My little family sure cleans up cute!

Evie is not as fond of naps as she used to be, but she still loves playing and telling jokes to her Daddy. They like to laugh together all the time.

Todd enjoys sharing the world with Evie, and he loves teaching her new things. He really has fun when we take her to the zoo and go on other adventures.

Evie and Daddy are buddies. Evie is a daddy's girl, and she has Todd wrapped around her little finger. I love watching the two of them play, laugh, learn, and grow together!

My little family is beautiful, and I love being a part of it!