Eve's Highlight

A while ago a friend of ours pointed out a cute little highlight on the top of Eve's head. I was surprised that we were not the first ones to notice, but what can you do? Apparently she has a birthmark on her head, and that is what is causing this little patch of hair to be without color. (says google) It's becoming more noticeable now, and we think she has a second one in the front of her hairline, but it is a little too blonde to be sure. It's funny, it actually sticks up apart from the surrounding hair. I think it's really cute, but I hope it's not something she hates later. Oh well, a few highlights can blend it in nicely right?

Sunday in the Park

Sunday was great, our little family went to Waveney Park to enjoy a little sunshine and fresh air. Some friends of ours joined us later for some boccie and hanging out. It was fun to just get to enjoy time with Eve and watch her experience a few things for the first time. She is finally getting to the point where she enjoys tummy-time, and she is getting pretty good at it.

Just having a good time hanging out with daddy, I like that she is still fascinated by the camera, so I can almost always count on her looking at it. However, smiling is hit or miss.

I can't get a good picture of the two of us for the life of me. I try, but either I have a weird face, or Eve is mad, I can usually get great ones of she and Braden. Anyways, just making lemonade out of lemons.

First time really feeling grass on her feet, she wasn't a big fan at first but then seemed to like it.

She is gumming everything lately, doesn't matter what it is, it goes straight in her mouth. I have definitely become more aware of what is around her, blankets, toys, etc.

 I love that she is such a happy baby!!

Eve got pretty tired out after we played boccie, I have no idea how she could fall asleep in the snugli while Braden played with us, throwing the ball, and the momentum caused Eve to be rocked around quite a bit. her ability to sleep anywhere, under most all circumstances is always impressing me.

Wardrobe Malfunction

The notion that men have a harder time with fashion and matching things has become more of an anomaly these days as the metro man is becoming more and more popular. Well I definitely married a man's man. There is nothing wrong with either, but I am finding out that it means I have to pick out Eve's outfits, and apparently give instructions on how to put them on. I thought it was actually really cute, Braden went to get Eve dressed, being the helpful husband that he is, I came downstairs to this little number.

Now in his defense, sometimes in baby clothes the buttons are in the back. But not generally when there is pretty embroidery around them. Oh Braden, I love you so much! An easy fix, but a really entertaining moment for me :) Thanks Love, I will never forget it. It's as if Eve knew it was on backwards, look at her expression :) she is her mother's daughter that's for sure.

Daddy's Girl

As I was saying before, Eve is a really big fan of her dad. I am so lucky he's so helpful and such a good father. Sometimes she will be home with me, and kind of fussy and restless, but then Braden will come home and it's all smiles! No matter what her mood, she will always greet him with a grin and legs just a kicking! It was funny yesterday he came home and she was sitting on my lap, he was at the table eating some supper, and she would not take her eyes off of him. I wish I would have timed it, because he turned it into a staring contest, first to look away would lose. It felt like it lasted forever, especially for a baby who's attention span is rather short. After about 5 mins or so of straight staring, Eve finally got a little bored and looked away, but then went right back to the staring game!

 Just last night we went for a little ice cream run to the Dairy Queen downtown. It's one of those DQs that is only open in the summer, it's basically a little hut sized place that only sells ice cream. We had lots of fun people watching and enjoying good company. But Eve doesn't last long past her bedtime, so she slept quite soundly the way home. I can't get enough of these two!

Father's Day

This little one became a daddy's girl quite early. She may have inherited that trait from  me, as I am one myself. I am very happy that she is so fond of her dad, because as I was told all growing up "You're dad is the only man that will never let you down." And it really holds true. So this year for Father's Day, we tried to make it a special one. Eve helped me make Braden's favorite breakfast, and by that I mean that she sat contently in her swing watching Princess and the Frog while I made blueberry crumble muffins.

So as they were baking in the oven, I put Eve back in bed with her dad to hopefully wake him up. Well, she just started rubbing her eyes and fell asleep next to him, I guess that is just as good if not better. I was just so antsy to give him his Father's Day gift because it took forever! It was a big project, and I don't know if you know this about me, but when it comes to gifts I am terrible at keeping them a secret because I get so excited about them! So the snuggled up for a while, then we all had to get ready for church, so their little moment was sadly interrupted.

She'll even snuggle him when he's making fun of her! Haha, she was pretty tired at this point of the evening.

The Voyage into Solid Food

At Eve's 4 month appointment with the pediatrician I was told that she is ready to start on some solids. Basically I can start feeding her rice cereal for the next month or so before introducing her to a more colorful menu of food. I originally thought that you don't start babies on cereal until 6 months, but apparently because our situation turned us to bottle feeding Eve, she can start a little sooner. So I measured the instructed amount of cereal in a little bowl, mixed it with her formula, had Braden ready with the camera to take a video of this momentous occasion. Well, things didn't go as planned. I was ready for this adorable little video of her enjoying her first bowl of cereal, staying moderately clean (I did expect a little mess) and being so cute throughout the whole thing....after a little bit of a power struggle, and a big mess, we were left with this little ticked off baby. She was not happy at all, as you can see in the picture.

A few days went by of her resisting the cereal, but she came around. And now, a few weeks later, and she loves it! You can't really see it in this picture, but she will put her hand on the one holding the spoon and try to push it in farther, as if to get more in there or something. It's really fun to feed her now, she gets really excited and slurps it off the spoon really fast.

You can see her hand trying to pull mine closer, I am getting really good at dodging her grip with my last 3 fingers.

(I know it's a nasty shadow in this picture) After her cereal, and she is ready for bed, these are actually her favorite pj's. Those little bunnies on the feet keep her so entertained, it's actually kind of a distraction at night. When she lays in her crib you will hear little thumping noises from her lifting up her feet to play with the bunnies and then dropping them back down. It's really fun to listen to, you will hear her just talk and babble to herself and play with her feet before she falls asleep.

Entertainment

Eve has become a big fan of her feet, she discovered them a while ago, but has recently found that they are quite entertaining. At Wal-mart I found these little bracelet things, that have little rattles in them. One is a chicken and the other is a cow. I put them on her feet one morning, and she went nuts! She loves them, they were the best $3 I ever spent. She is now able to put her toes in her mouth, I am still a little grossed out by that, but she loves it. Anytime I need to do something and need her to entertain herself, I can strap on these little critters and she's golden for around 20 mins or so. It's enough to grab a shower, or put in laundry etc.

Eve's Little Friend

Eve has found her first friend. This is Kerrigan on her lap, and she is the little girl of my good friend Lindsey, friend with a big F if you will. Eve spends a few days a week over at their place while I go save the world one mouth cleaning at a time. She has become very fond of Kerrigan, not many people can successfully lay on Eve's lap and get a good hair stroking. It is so cute how the two of them interact, Eve just can't take her eyes off of Kerrigan, and just loves to smile at her. It is funny how almost every time Kerrigan wakes up from a nap, or hears a knock at the door, she says "Ebie" (Evie) she is always very excited when Evie gets to come and hang out.

 

This one is a little bit older, around 2 months or so

This was just this last weekend at the hotel, Eve and I stayed with the Stokes' and Eve was up first, and she woke Kerrigan. While I was getting ready, I came out and found these two snuggled up :)

Night Time

Braden and I made the decision to start allowing Eve to put herself to sleep. I have heard mixed reviews, I know some people agree with it, and some don't, but we decided that she was ready and that was best for us. So the first night I was preparing for this heart wrenching experience, we made sure to start when Braden was going to be home for bedtime for a stretch of nights and everything. So we did our little routine, she ate, got her gums brushed, story, song, and got her goodnight kisses from her dad. So I laid her down, and went to the basement to listen to the monitor. And to my surprise, she didn't cry. She just talked to herself, I could hear random babble and squeals. After about 10-15 minutes the babble just stopped, and she was asleep! So thinking this wasn't normal, the next night I was expecting the crying etc. Same thing, she just chatted herself to sleep! Tonight is the 3rd night that we have done this, and she was great. Her first nap of the day she usually puts herself to sleep, she just drifts off while she is playing. Her long nap of the afternoon she needs a little help to go to sleep, we will get to this one eventually. I am so proud of her, she is such an awesome baby!

I love this picture, she has learned how to grab hair, and successfully pull it out. While this was being taken, she had grabbed and pulled my hair so I turned my head away, and Braden snapped the picture. It looks like she's punching me in the face...I just think it's funny

4 Months

This little lady is now 4 months old! She turned a few days ago, but today we had her pediatrician appointment to see how she is growing and developing. She is now 13 lbs 12 oz in the 50th percentile, and 25.5 inches long in the 90th percentile! Can you believe that? 90th percentile! I was certain she would inherit the short genes from me, but things are looking better for her. Her head is average, and she is developing just fine. She is close to rolling over, and holding her head up well. She hasn't laughed out loud yet, but she has definitely found her voice! She chats a lot to herself, it's really cute.
The pediatrician told me that she is ready to be started on solids, just rice cereal for a while, and to slowly introduce them into her diet. I guess bottle-fed babies are ready to start sooner than breastfed babies, I didn't know that. So sometime in the near future we will start that whole process.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day this year was exactly how I pictured it. It was sunny, minimal wind, surrounded by friends and great food. The Francia family was nice enough to have us over to join their festivities. We had a good time, we got to go kayaking, pedal-boating, and battled each other in Band Hero. Basically a recipe for a good time. And although I did not achieve the sunburn I was expecting, I got to enjoy some of the hot sun. Eve had fun watching all the people and doing what she does best, chewing on everything and playing with her feet. Kayaking was so fun, Braden and I went together out to Peach Island, and I somehow made it back semi dry. I was sure I was going to get tipped or dunked, but he had mercy on me this time.

Kerrigan getting into the water, her diaper was so big when she came back in, it was pretty awesome. She loved the water though, she's a little fish.

 Braden and Jared heading out on a little kayak adventure.

Wicked

So since we moved out east we have wanted to go see a Broadway show, but our financial situation hadn't yet allowed us to go, and then we had a baby, and you all know how frequent dates are after that. we were lucky enough to have Braden's mom in town to watch the baby. Anyways, most every time we went into the city for whatever reason we always made sure to go to the Wicked theater to try our luck at the "Wicked Lottery". This happens everyday at 11:30 am and 5:30 pm. People line up, usually anywhere from 50-150 depending on the day, and they write their name down on a piece of paper as well as they want one or two tickets. Two is the maximum you can request. Anyways, at noon and 6 pm they draw out 12 names and those lucky individuals get front row seats for $26.25 a ticket! We had tried four times prior, and this particular time we went to the city to go to the temple, and were totally prepared to just see if we could find some cheap nosebleeds to some show. So Braden suggested we at least go try to win the Wicked Lottery. Second name drawn out was Braden!

We were so excited! I had never seen a Broadway show before, and was thrilled that my first experience was going to be front row! The show was amazing, I didn't know a thing about it other than it was some form of a "pre-quel" to the Wizard of Oz. It definitely lived up to all it's hype, I had such a good time.

We got this sweet little souvenir as we purchased our tickets, as well as many envious glances, and rightfully given! I guess 5th time's a charm. So for those interested in seeing Wicked, try your luck out at the lottery. It's disappointing if you don't draw out, but when you do, it's totally worth the previous let-downs.