New Toy

Well a birthday gift came for Eve a few days early. We like to say Eve just couldn't wait, but the truth is we were the ones that just HAD to open it. She absolutely loved it! We can't wait until we have a little more space for her to ride around in :)

Day #1 of Bottle Removal

Eve turns 1 year next week, and has recently been showing some interest in her sippy cups, so after many debates, Braden and I felt it was time that she was taken off the bottle, and with Eve's personality we decided to just go cold turkey. Earlier, we slowly switched out her formula so the milk wouldn't be a big shock, especially going from Soy to regular. That went well, but now the hard part kicked in. 
Day #1 - Eve did surprisingly well, kind of whiny and frustrated, but she stuck it out. Naps were difficult, but she had the hang of it by bedtime. But here is where we ran into a problem, she now doesn't want milk. She'll drink water or diluted juice, but she won't drink milk cold or warm. Any suggestions? Do I just make sure I'm giving her enough yogurt and other dairy options? When switching to a sippy cup, do you no longer give them a drink at nap/bedtimes? Moms, I need some help! How did you get your babies to take good amounts of fluids from a cup?

Walking!

 Can you believe my baby's walking?! Last Friday was the big day, she took her first steps. I am so grateful that she waited until a Friday so I could be home :) I had a feeling it was coming that day, so during the day I kept sitting her down so Braden could be home to witness the big milestone. I don't know if I've had a bigger "proud mommy" moment....it was magical. My little girl is getting SO big, I have a hard time accepting it, and I know it only gets worse, right? Anyways, now there is a bit more baby-proofing to do :)

11 months

My baby is 11 months! She's growing and developing quickly, trying to keep up with her is getting increasingly difficult. She's all over the place, and falling a lot, poor thing has become pretty resilient to bumps and wipe outs. She's thinning out a bit, but somehow manages to keep those chubby cheeks! I am not complaining, I adore them, its just funny. Here are a few updates:

-Stand alone, but only when she doesn't realize it, when she figures out she doesn't have help she sits down..chicken
-Really fast crawler and climber
-12-18 month clothes, sz 3 diaper
-Almost 20 lbs
-Can now say dog when she sees one, but it sounds a bit like "gog"
-Doesn't like the idea of a sippy cup....any ideas how to help with this?
-only two teeth
-likes to watch Angelina Ballerina
-Still wants to do everything like a "big girl"
-LOVES the bath

Favors

Ok, who out there is really intimidated by flying with a baby? I AM! Well I was I guess I should say. Eve had a pretty tough time with the flying the way up to Canada for Christmas. I tried it all, having a bottle ready, having snacks, toys, my phone for her to play with, everything.  So on the way back I decided to make little favors for the people surrounding me on the plane. I made about 30 of them, (I had 2 legs of flying) and people loved them! In them I put some earplugs, a few mints and chocolates. And the note said "Candy and earplugs for any inconvenience I may cause," Signed by baby Eve. The people were so appreciative of the gesture as well as the earplugs. I had one guy say "You know, when I saw a woman with a baby sit behind me I was disappointed, but now it's ok because I have earplugs!" Yes, it is a little awkward when the baby fusses and you watch the people all put in their ear plugs, but it takes away some of the stress and guilt. The last leg of our way home, Eve conveniently "did her business" right before we took off, so I couldn't change her for about 20 mins. One funny guy I saw put his earplugs in his nostrils...it was hilarious! Anyways, a little note and a few treats in a bag, tied with a ribbon and voila! people don't hate you on the plane :)

New Years Resolutions

HAPPY 2011!!
Resolutions have never been my thing, I always end up getting disappointed in myself. I guess the big problem is that I make unrealistic goals and I am not a great finisher, there, I said it. But that is what I want to change. This year I am going to make realistic resolutions, and follow through. Some are pretty generic, lose the last 7 lbs of baby weight, be more diligent about daily scripture study, eat healthier, exercise more, be more patient, be a better mother, etc. But one I am really excited about is I have decided to make 2 new recipes every month. Then by the end of the year I will have a nice stack of new recipes for my recipe box. So if anyone has some good recipes, I'd love the help! Feel free to email me at megedwards0@gmail.com

Canadian Christmas with the Watsons

 It was a Canadian Christmas this year! We had such a blast, I just love my family. We are so far from perfect, but we have fun together. Christmas this year was full of games, laughter, cards, food, pranks and more food. This was my family doing the Nativity...we tried to take it seriously and this is what it ended like.

My brother Peter thought it would be funny to put Eve's soggy diaper in bed with my younger brother Mark, he's petrified of diapers. Needless to say it was not a happy wake up call for him. But for the rest of us it was a great way to wake up Christmas morning.
Braden's family is pretty quiet during the holidays, so it must have been a bit of a shock with so many people in one place, especially so many competitive people! We don't get too competitive to where it makes others feel uncomfortable, it's all in good fun. We all have relatively "big" personalities and none of us are shy, so it often gets really loud and to others, chaotic. When we play spoons, lets just say we have strict rules, no wedding rings, bracelets jewelry of any kind. And somehow we still had a few scraped, smashed fingers and Braden was bleeding a little. But with a few games of Yahtzee, Balderdash, Hearts, "Scum", Uno etc he got a good feel of what Christmas at the Watson's usually went like.
And luckily we got snowed in! Here's the weird part, it was because of the snow dump in New York that caused Braden to get to stay an extra 3 days. I always figured if he was stuck a few more days it would have been from the Canadian winter, either way it was a Christmas miracle!

Ahh one of my favorite Christmas traditions is the Christmas Eve pjs. My sister did such a cute job with them, all of them had the "Hello, my name is..." tags ironed on. All the granddaughters had pink ones, and the adults had navy tops and matching bottoms. She even custom did the font on them to look like our handwriting.

 Eve was not a fan of the cold weather. It wasn't too bad, about -5 Celsius or 23 Fahrenheit. Perfect sledding weather!

 Eve always had someone that wanted to play with her, my sisters girls are 8, 6 and 3. So here she had multiple little girls that were always playing games with her and entertaining her. They were so good with her, they had so much patience even when Eve would wreck their game or eat their toys. Eve needing to take naps was such an inconvenience.

 Oh Braden always had someone to play with too, my nieces love him. Especially Piper the one in the middle, since we started dating she has just loved Braden. Funny little thing she said, she wore a shirt that said "My heart belongs to Daddy" and when I commented on how cute it was, she said "Braden's a dad too, so its for both"

 Eve was often smothered with hugs and kisses,

 She clearly didn't have any fun at all with her cousins