Friday, June 24, 2011

The Best Bag Ever

Now I'm not exactly an experienced mother, but I do know bags.  I am the kind of girl that has to completely avoid the purse/bag section of Target because I can't walk away without buying a new bag (usually only slightly different than one I already have...but I somehow convince myself I need it).  When I originally chose our diaper bag, I picked it because it looked like it had lots of space and pockets, it was black and quasi-manly (for Dan), and it was cute.  It lasted about 2 weeks before I started looking for something new because I HATED it.  The pockets on the outside didn't zip, so everything fell out, and it was super bulky when you put barely anything into it.

Enter, my new favorite bag ever.  Armed with my new super-Mom knowledge, I started searching online and in stores for the perfect diaper bag, and I found it...

...the Columbia Outfitter!
Don't let the simplicity of the picture fool you, this diaper bag is the bomb!  It is super light weight and not bulky (even with a million I'm still a new Mom and think I need to take everything with us things in it).  It also expands, which will be great when we use it for traveling cross-country.  It has tons of pockets - all with either zippers or velcro - and with the changing pad, there's a "messy bag" to keep messy diapers when there's no where to trash them, and an insulated pocket on the side for a bottle...or for the breastfeeder in all of us, a camelback for Mommy.  It also has a snap closure that lets you attach it to the stroller handle without having the bag hanging down and banging into your shins!  Seriously, the best bag ever.

This concludes my first Mommy blog coupled as a product advertisement. :-)

Thursday, June 23, 2011

NBA Draft Night

Tonight is the NBA Draft, one of Dan's favorite nights of the year.  I learned this the first year we were dating and I called while it was going on.  When I asked him a question that required more than a yes or no answer and received a yes as an answer, we got into our first fight because he wasn't paying attention to our conversation.  His excuse of watching the NBA Draft wasn't one of his better excuses for ignoring me. :-)  Of course, I now take every opportunity that I can to remind him of this momentous occasion every year when the draft comes around!

I tried to get some shots of Evelyn for her Dad...they weren't the best because I was trying to take the picture, keep her upright, and keep the ball next to her at the same time!

She kept trying to eat the basketball...

We enjoyed watching Boilermaker JuJuan Johnson be drafted in the first round (drafted by New Jersey, traded to Boston) - and E'Twaun Moore was just selected by Boston as well...we may become quasi-Celtics fans now!  Evelyn was known as E'Twaun Robbie until we found out she was a girl.  She's probably glad she was a girl (much like I was when I found out my Dad wanted to name me Cleatus).

In other news, here's what she and I did this afternoon...I had some grading to do, and she wanted to be held.  So I propped her on my chest with my laptop on my lap.  She fell asleep and I didn't have the heart to move her - so we worked like this for a couple of hours!  

Sweet.
Precious moments I'm going to miss...this is going way too fast!!!

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Gym Time

Evelyn is starting to notice things that are around her more and more, and starting to respond to some stimuli.  It's especially fun to see her when she play with her little gym and starts reaching for and hitting the toys.  I know she has not yet connected that it is her little hand that is hitting the toy and making it move, but it's fun to watch her develop from exercising her reflexes to voluntarily moving (sorry Ev...this is what you get when you have a Mom who teaches motor development for a living...).  

Here's a video of her today...although I didn't catch the best of it - she was starting to get bored at this point and was more hitting the toy out of frustration than conscious effort!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

A Weekend of Firsts

Evelyn was introduced to some of our favorite things to do this weekend.  Everyone has told us to utilize this time while she is not mobile to still pick up and go.  I've been wanting to see Pirates of the Caribbean-On Stranger Tides since months before it came out (it's one of my favorite movie series...).  We had plans to go see it with some of my colleagues, but Little Miss E decided to join us 5 days before it came out.  We actually watched the third movie (At World's End) while I was in labor.  On Friday, we decided to give the movies a try, so we packed Evelyn up in her moby wrap and headed to the movies!

Evelyn's first movie!

On Saturday, Evelyn experienced her first Corpus Christi Hooks game.  Anyone of you who have been following us on this blog for a while know that this is one of our favorite things to do in Corpus.  Our friends David and Leah joined us for the monumental occasion.  I did learn that Corpus is way too hot to nurse your child in the restroom of a baseball park (with automatic toilets and no ventilation...), however I did find a nifty little lounge with rocking chairs that worked much better.

Dan, Evelyn, and I at the game

Heading into extra innings

Getting close to eating time again...this game needs to end!

And a short video of trying to get Evelyn into the dancing action between innings!



Today we're experiencing our first "Mommy and Baby are both sick" day.  I was up most of the night with some sort of stomach bug.  She seems to have gotten it today, as she is pretty clingy and I can hear her little tummy rumbling.  She has puked a few times, but she is a puker so I don't know if it's related to not feeling well or just her normal self.  She doesn't have a temp, though, so we'll just lie low at home.  It's a good day for naps and cuddling...and blog updating while she's tucked in her moby snuggling in and sleeping on my chest.  I'm headed that direction soon...

Monday, June 20, 2011

Faces, Tummies, and Purdue Pete

Some videos of Evelyn at 3 weeks (2 weeks ago...)



Warning:  This video is pretty much what we do for fun these days - sit and watch her make faces.  It is entertaining to us, because we are her parents...but she's so cute! :-)

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

One Month Already!

It is so hard to believe that a month has already passed since Evelyn was born!  I have always heard people say how fast time flies - now I'm beginning to understand it!  She had her one-month check up today as well, and is doing great!

Her 1-month statistics:
Weight:  8 pounds, 13 ounces (13 oz since 2-wks, 5 ounces over her birth weight) - 50th percentile
Length:  20 1/2 inches (1 inch since 2-wks, 1 3/4 inch since birth) - 25th percentile
Head circumference:  I didn't catch it this week (Evelyn peed all over when she was measuring this, so I was attending to that!)

She also had to have her second dose of the Hepatitis B vaccination today.  She took it like a champ!  When the nurse gave her the shot, she scream-cried for less than 10 seconds, then quivered her bottom lip for about 10 seconds (while looking at me as if to say, "why did you let them do that, Mom?!"), then took a big 'ol sigh and was content as could be.  I, on the other hand, was doing everything I could to hold it together so that I could get to the car and bawl!  I am so not looking forward to next month when she gets 4 new shots!

Being Mom of the Year that I already am...I completely forgot to take a one-month picture of her today (we are doing weekly shots each Sunday, though...so I feel a little better!).  I did take this one early in the day to send to my parents for their 37th wedding anniversary...

90210 is something my parents have taught each of us as a relationship/life principle...always give 90% to take 10%

I had planned on taking a better 'hey guys, I'm one today' picture later in the day, but Evelyn was pretty fussy and sleepy after her shot.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Visit from the Brzaks!

Dan's brother, Ed, and his family (Sandi and Jacob) came to visit us this past weekend.  They live in Colorado Springs and were driving down to South Padre Island for a family vacation.  There aren't too many places where a night-stop in Corpus Christi is going to be on your way to wherever you are going - fortunately, SPI is one of those places!

 Evelyn with her cousin Jacob

 Evelyn and her Aunt Sandi

Evelyn and her Uncle Ed

It was great to have them here, even if it was a quick overnight trip!  We're looking forward to seeing them again when we go to Colorado for Christmas!!

Here are some other 4-weeks old pictures we took on Sunday morning...

who doesn't love little piggies!?!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Belly Shot Review

I've been working on Evelyn's baby book this week, and came across pictures from early on in my pregnancy.  I was amazed to see how I grew across the 9 months.  I am bummed that didn't have any pictures from when I found out I was pregnant...we started taking belly shots at 14 weeks.  I'm anxiously awaiting my 4-week(ish) postpartum appointment next Friday, hoping to get the green light on running/working out again...I'm going a little stir crazy doing nothing!

Here's a peek at the progress across the months!

14 weeks

20 weeks

25 weeks

33 weeks

34 weeks

38 weeks
(the day before she was born)

And the "little" one taking up all that space!
All 8 pounds, 8 ounces of her!


Birth Announcement

Modern Baby Girl Birth Announcement
Shutterfly has 100's of personalized baby announcements.
View the entire collection of cards.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Good to be in the House of the Lord

Yesterday was Evelyn's first day to go to church with us!  It felt like we had been gone for months, but it had only been 3 weeks.  Our friends, the Schaubs, also have a newborn - so the four (well, six) of us migrated from the front of the church to the back where we were quite comfy rocking our little ones.  We also had the privilege of serving the Lord's Supper for the first time as a family of three.  I am always humbled to serve in this capacity, and it was extra special to introduce Evelyn to a ministry so dear to my heart in such a sweet way.  It's good to slowly be getting back into our (new) normal routine, although I am looking forward to a quiet week at home this week as well! :-)


My first normal picture with my baby girl 
(by normal I mean not in a hospital gown/just out of the shower/having not showered/etc...)

Sunday evening Dan was found doing what I anticipate will be one of his favorite things to do with Evelyn...watching basketball.  She likes watching the contrasting changes on the TV, which her Dad is convinced is her watching the game intently.  Don't let the half open eyes and drooping head fool you!

Watching hoops with Daddy!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Sister Surprise!

My sisters pulled off quite the surprise this week!  I was fast asleep on Tuesday night when Dan woke me up.  He told me that my friend Leah had called, was really upset, and was coming over because she wanted to talk to me.  As I came downstairs, not only was Leah there (not upset in any way), but my sisters were sitting on my couch!  They had orchestrated the entire surprise with Dan's help on this end.  Knowing it was late when their flight came in, yet not knowing I would actually be asleep, Dan enlisted Leah's help to pick them up from the airport and get them to our house.

During the mornings, we pretty much slept in and had some lazy mornings around the house - which I'm sure my sisters enjoyed since they don't get to do it often (my older sister has 4 kids, my younger sister has 3 kids).  Dan took the afternoons off work so that he could help out with Evelyn while they were here.  On Wednesday, we took her and went shopping for a bit.  We almost bought matching sister shoes, but they didn't have the right sizes for all of us.  Thursday afternoon, Dan stayed home with Evelyn and the three of us went to the beach.  I didn't think my little 2 week old was ready for a beach day, so she enjoyed her time at home with Daddy.  Friday, we went for pedicures and had planned for them to fly back that evening, but their flight was cancelled.  I wasn't too sad about it because it meant another day for them to be here with us! :-)  They ended up flying out on Saturday morning.

It was so nice to have them here - I miss being close by to them and seeing them often.  And sisters are the best when it comes to giving you advice that you need and want for your newborn.  I learned lots of mom tricks that are making things easier on Evelyn, Dan, and I!  As always, we laughed a lot...from my younger sister thinking she was being attacked by seagulls (aka, the lawn chair tag), and giving Evelyn her first nickname ('Lil Pete...Little Bo Pete, One-eyed Pete, Stinky Pete...) - it was lots of fun!

Evelyn with her Aunt Aug (Angie)

Evelyn with her Aunt Lisa

And a sister picture!
...with the international sign for pooping...
...because Evelyn makes this face every time she's pooping...

For those of you wondering about the 'Pete' nickname:  
My Grammie's name was Evelyn Peterson, and we called her Pete Pete Grammie.  So Pete comes from that...and Evelyn has a little of my Grammie's orneriness in her!