Another month flies by...

It seems that I will be lucky to find the time to sit down and update about once a month. Last time I was sitting here it was August 5th and I had written about our car accident. This is what the car looked like:

On the one hand it could have been a lot worse and this doesn't look terrible, but it was very scary and I am glad we are done with it. Not thrilled to have two car payments now, but you do what you have to, right? So, after the accident and our friends, Jer and Michelle, were here we had a three day break and then it was wall to wall visits in August. Justin, Chris' best friend, was here for a week and then my brother, his best friend, and my niece and nephew all came in to town for the rest of my break. While it was WONDERFUL to see everyone, I was literally falling down tired by the time they left. I needed a vacation from my vacation!

In terms of Evelyn- she is 5 months old! August 12 was her 4 month check up. She did fairly well, although she cried at her doctor for the first time. I am sure she was very tired because she normally adores Dr. Bodenstein. I think the other thing working against him is that she is showing very strong preferences for the people she knows. Not to brag, but Mommy is currently her most preferred person with Daddy a close second. The other day Chris started laughing because Evie was cranky and sitting in his lap. I walked out of the family room and into the kitchen and she started to cry (not a real cry, but the annoyed and cranky cry). I walked back in the room and she perked right up. I give her another year before Daddy takes over being the favorite, though. Toddlers have always loved Chris and I know our girl will be no exception.

But, I digress. Her doctor appointment went very well. She still continues to be the flat average for her age group. :) 13 lbs. 5 oz. and 24 inches long when we went in. Not too thin, not too fat, and cute as can be!

She can sit up now for short periods of time, although she is still a little shaky. And she has flipped from her stomach to her back once (although it was so fast the sitter couldn't get to a camera fast enough!). This past weekend we watched her go from her tummy to her back for the first time and it was a surprise for all of us! Everyone cheered and she seemed to like that part quite a lot. Evelyn loves to talk and so we spend a lot of time laughing with her while she plays on the floor:

And we have also started "getting" the concept of eating solid foods as well as laughing at Mommy while she eats.

In addition to the wonderful world of eating we have all learned how to sleep without being swaddled in blankets! Well, Evie sleeps without being swaddled and Chris and I have learned what it is like for a baby to sleep for 11 hours a night on the weekends (on weekdays I end up waking her up around 6:45am because I have to get her dressed and dropped off to the sitter before work)! I was so worried that it was going to be hard for her to really settle in and sleep when I tried her unswaddled. That special swaddle blanket settled her right down and I kept worrying that it was a trigger for the night time. I was anticipating getting up at least three times that first night. Well, I couldn't have been more wrong! The first night I laid her down with just her sleeper and covered her with blankets and she slept 12 hours! You could have knocked me over with a feather! This is the happy baby on that first morning:


The crazy look on her face is thanks to the camera flash. Notice the clutching of her pajamas? Also note the she is 180 degrees from how I put her down. This is quite normal for her now. The pajama clutching has been avoided through giving her a lightweight blanket when she first goes down to sleep. The constant flip-flop all over the crib is still going on. It's as if each day I will find her in a new surprise position. The only constant is the smile I get. I am still so thankful that Evelyn is so even tempered and good humored. I know it must have something to do with how much Chris and I delight in every moment with her and how much the two of us seem to laugh together, both before and after she was born. Still, she is always reminding us that beneath the cute exterior there lies a little hint of devilishness:

Although, here is a far sweeter take on that one:

Finally, this one where her face is cut off a little, but she is too cute with that smile:


And finally, I will leave you all with a video of her newest skill: putting the pacifier in her mouth without our help. Music is courtesy of The Beatles

Morning Smiles

Video Taken on the morning of July 29th with music courtesy of The Beatles. Evelyn is always happy in the morning and talks a little to me when I first come in. She has a little mirror that I sometimes leave in the crib for her to look in to.

New Bouncy Chair

Although Evie loves the little monkeys and lions that hang from the chair we also found she liked just bouncing in it. Before we got the camera out she was A LOT more animated, but this is still pretty standard as far as the "laughing" she does which is really more like screaming. Music is John Mayer...

July in Pictures

The beautiful quilt our friend, Michelle, made for Evelyn


Don't you wish you could sleep like this?


Fourth of July Fireworks at the fairgrounds


Three months old and we start early with the patriotic clothing for July 4th


July 3rd at the Durham Bulls game with the Big Blue Monster


Hiding under the covers on her lounging chair


Little Miss Diva


Cutie Pie in the Fish Dress

Back To Work

It's been nearly a month, which I had not intended when I went back to work. Then again, once July 1 hit and I was back at school I shouldn't have been surprised that time would run away from me and it would be the first of August before I got the chance to sit down and write. It's been a busy time for me and for Evelyn.

In the last month both Evie and I have gotten used to our new schedules of getting up and going to work and Evie spending her days with Jeannie. She seems to have adapted well and I have to say that I think I have too. It's tiring to be back at school and teaching all day. The one thing I noticed was how much my throat would hurt at the end of the day! I had forgotten how much you talk as a teacher and how much I did not talk nearly as much when I was at home with Evelyn. We talk a great deal, the baby girl and I, but not nearly as much as I talk to 25 fifth graders.

In the last month Evelyn has had some adventures! We went in on July 17th for a hip ultrasound to make sure that her hips were fine (they were) and we also had a CT Scan of her head done because of the dip in her skull on the right side. We had the scan in order to go see a pediatric neurosurgeon in order to make sure that everything was fine and that her skull thing was just a small fluke that she will grow out of. So, this past Tuesday we took a little trip into Durham to Duke Children's Medical Center and met with a doctor there (who was really nice). He took a look at the scan and assured us what we already suspected- this is something that she will eventually grow out of and the little dip will eventually correct itself. Her brain looked good and the skull looked good on the scan and so we have nothing to worry about. Evelyn, ever the superstar was Miss Congeniality to just about everyone she met that day and was proclaimed to be such a good little baby.

In the last few weeks Evelyn has begun to show more personality. She is still the easy-going baby she was at birth, but has moment of complete annoyance. She will suddenly cry really hard and calm down as quickly as she started. Usually it has to do with being a little tired or frustrated. It's funny when it happens and hard not to laugh when she gets mad. She has also started to grasp our fingers and try to pull herself up into a sitting position. When she gets there with our help she always straightens herself and sits up so straight and looks around like she is so proud. Evie is also starting to "talk" more as well. When I am on the phone she will usually start to make noise and smile a lot. It's been fun watching her develop a little more personality- she likes to really take the world in and she loves when you sing to her.

We also have started her on some baby food- sweet potatoes and apple sauce. We tried some rice cereal early on and she wouldn't have anything to do with it, but the fruits and veggies she seems to like well enough. So now, once a day, we give her a little bit of "real" food. She isn't quite steady enough sitting up for us to go out and buy a high chair just yet, but she does okay in her little lounging chair. It's hard to believe how big she is already! When we went to Duke she was 13 pounds and 24 inches long! August 12 is her 4 month appointment and I am assuming she will still be around the same size. Even so, I am realizing that I have to sit down and go through her closet and dresser and pack away all of her newborn and 0-3 months clothing.

The only bit of bad news recently was that Chris and Evie were in a car accident on Friday, July 24th. They are both fine, but the Mercury is totaled. Chris was heading home from picking Evelyn up and was turning left into the gas station (at a light). He was hit by someone who was trying to beat the yellow light. Thankfully Chris and Evie are fine as are the people in the other car, but it was a scary experience for all of us. The other good thing was that Friday was my last day in school before I started my three week break. If we had to be without a car and down to just one this was the perfect time. We won't get any money for the Mercury, which is unfortunate, but at least everyone is fine. We bought a new car, with the help of my brother, in Michigan and he will drive it down to us in a week. So, this time next week we will be the owners of our first brand new car (a Dodge Caliber SXT). I wish it wasn't under these specific circumstances, but I am still excited.

That's about it for now. I will post pictures and maybe a video later today or tomorrow.

Some Holiday Fun

Happy July 4th weekend everyone! I'll write more later, but I wanted to post the best of the weekend:

Fireworks at the Fairgrounds (in which Evelyn fell asleep and then slept through the display)




Talking with Evie...well almost:

Where Did June Go?

Well it has been a while since I last wrote! We have gone to Evelyn's two month check up, I talked last time about the Komen Race and I have gone back to work over the last few days. Very busy around here now that Summer set in and I am gearing up for a new class full of kids! It's not hard to believe people when they tell you how fast time moves once you have a baby....they are right of course!

A few weeks ago was Evie's two month appointment and it went fairly well. At that time she was a healthy 10 lbs. 15 oz. and 22 inches long. She is still comfortably in the 50th percentile for height and weight and her head size is also flat average. She had to get two shots and one immunization by mouth. We gave her the little syrup first and then came the trauma of shots. I don't know if I am some sort of cold mommy, but the baby getting shots doesn't bother me the way some of my friends said it bothered them. Don't get me wrong; I do not like that shots make her cry. I guess I look at it as a necessary evil and she is so little that she recovers pretty quickly once I can pick her up and love on her a little. Plus, I always have a bottle ready so she can eat immediately and that always calms her down. This time the first shot was okay- not too much crying. The second shot, though, was terrible. There was a full 10 second pause as she worked up to the scream and cry. In fact, by the time she started actually crying I had already picked her up and was heading to grab the bottle. She calmed right down.

While we were there the doctor checked her hips. Apparently they check hips a lot with babies who have been c-sectioned and many times recommend getting a hip ultra sound to make sure that the hips have popped into the joints nice and tight. So, on July 17th I will be taking Evelyn down to Wake Med to have her hip ultrasound. Chris and I also noticed that on the right side of her head her skull is different. It's still a little lopsided, but as she has grown we noticed there is almost like a ridge. It's hard to explain without sounding alarming. It's not huge, we weren't overly worried about it. It was simply one of those things where we thought it was odd that it didn't correct itself after a few months (taking into account her entire face was lopsided because of how she was stuck in me). So her doctor looked and sent us to get a head x-ray. He called back and said that everything looked normal, but one view on the x-ray was hard to read. He basically said: "DO NOT WORRY. Everything looks normal, but since I can't see the one view I would rather be safe than sorry. " As a result, we are now going to see a pediatric neurosurgeon at the end of the month. Not implying she needs surgery, but that he is a specialist and will be able to tell us what the deal is. So, on the same day as the hip ultrasound we also will have a head CT scan for Evie because that's what the peds neurosurgeon needs before he can see us. I will keep you updated, but I believe it will all be fine in the end and we aren't worrying about it here. Evie has been growing and hitting all of her developmental milestones right on time.

In other news, I went back to work for the first time in two and a half months. Teaching year round school means that the last day of June was the last day of school and my last day of maternity leave. On July 1st I dropped Evie off to Jeannie and went to work. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The worst part was that everyone asks you "How are you doing?" when you first see them because they know you just left your baby for the first time. They mean well, but the more people who ask the worse it is because you have a hard time forgetting! Thankfully we were pretty busy and there was only about 30 minutes when we all had breakfast as a staff that people constantly asked me. I didn't cry, although I had a few moments later in the day where I felt like it. But going in on Thursday was much easier and I felt like I was back in the swing of things. Then I hit the wall at 2pm and thought if I put my head down on my desk I could easily fall asleep! Not nearly as much energy as I had the day before. Still, I survived the day and I have today off. We have one more work day on Monday and then my new class of kids comes in on Tuesday. I'm excited to be back, but there is a huge part of me that wishes I could be a stay at home mom and we need my income to pay the bills.

So, Evelyn is doing fantastic with Jeannie. She sleeps a lot and comes home pretty happy. She's been sleeping through the night for nearly a month now, which is so nice since I started back to work. Chris and I noticed that, in general, she is a pretty happy and easy going baby. Of course she has her moments like most babies, but overall she is easy. My favorite time of day with her is in the early mornings because she is always so happy and full of smiles. We get up, eat, play for about 45 minutes to an hour and then she goes back to sleep for about an hour or two. I know I shouldn't wish her to be big too fast, but I can't wait until she is just a little older and she can sit up on her own...now that will be fun!

Midway through the Komen Race




Hanging out in the kitchen


Just Chillin' Out