Precious Sleeping Girl

When Evelyn sleeps at home, her room is kept pretty dark.  We have hurricane shutters on the outside of her bedroom window, so we keep them closed to help her sleep.  At my parents house, though, the room is pretty light...so I took the opportunity to get some pictures of our little sleeper!

This is one of my favorites...she was sleeping like this, even though her right eye looks a little creepy!

Play Date with Charlie

Today we got together with one of my childhood friends, Stephanie, and her family.  Stephanie and I grew up about a block away from each other, back when the street and houses behind our houses were still a huge field that we snowmobiled and sledded through!  We fought like sisters (hair pulling, rock throwing, the whole works), but spent endless hours playing together.  You can imagine our surprise when we found out we were both pregnant and would be having our first babies within days of each other!  Doug and Stephanie had Charlie 4 days (I think, it might have been 6!) before I had Evelyn.

We spent the time catching up with the little ones played.  It was amazing to see how different they were from each other when they are so close in age!

Charlie and Evelyn with their respective teething toys!

I always forget how small she is for her age!!

Sweet babies!!

Stephanie and Doug, thanks for coming over and bringing your sweet boy to play!  Let's not wait so long to do it again! :-)

Jalepeno Poppers

Dan had a tragic encounter with a jalepeno popper today at lunch...

Yes, that is a BLISTER on his LIP!!!!  We ate lunch at a pizza buffet place, and he grabbed some jalepeno poppers as well.  They had sat on his plate for a good 3-4 minutes and he barely bit into this one (you know, the half bite that you give something like that so that if it's hot, it won't burn your mouth).  Apparently these babies were filled with molten hot lava cheese because it burned his lip.  The blister formed almost immediately - it was crazy!!

Spending Time in Colorado Springs

We made it to Colorado!!!  We left Kingsville around 4:30pm on Friday evening (after the poor Mommy smashing Evelyn's head to the ground debacle!) and arrived in Colorado Springs, Colorado around 9:00am on Saturday morning.  Evelyn did amazing!  We were actually only about an hour off of our record time (it's how I keep an 18 hour drive interesting!)...which was mostly spent when we stopped to eat dinner.  Evelyn slept for most of the trip, waking only a couple of times through the night when we were slowed down going through a small west Texas town or two.  One of the Mommy groups that I am a part of suggested pulling her car seat shade down as if the sun were shining in to keep the city lights out of her eyes.  I think that helped a lot!  I drove for the first 4 hours, then Dan took a 7 hour stretch through the night, which was awesome because I got to sleep most of that time.  It worked out pretty well.

In Colorado Springs, we stayed with Dan's brother, Ed, and his family.  Ed, Sandi, and Jacob had come down to visit in June on their way to South Padre Island for a vacation, we had also seen Ed and Sandi during both October trips to Colorado, but they were amazed at how big Evelyn had gotten.  We spent most of the first day napping while Ed worked, then had dinner at Rudy's with them.  We love Rudy's...we have one here in Corpus, and it's one of our favorite restaurants.  

I can't quite get through this post without mentioning the saddest news of the trip.  On Saturday, we found out that one of the kids in the youth group I worked with in West Lafayette was killed in a car accident.  This kid was one of the sweetest, most sold-out for Jesus, high school (now college) kids I've ever known.  We were planning to see him for lunch the week we got back from Colorado (his parents live in Texas, and they always take a day or two trip down to Corpus when he comes to visit).  He had such a servant's heart and truly exemplified a Christ-like walk in life.  I can't imagine how God wanted him home in Heaven over winning this generation for Christ...but I know he's doing what he was created to do now - worshipping with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength.  We miss you terribly, Cody!!

On Sunday, we geared up to watch the Broncos-Patriots game...well, at least it was a game in the first quarter.  Sigh.  Then had Ed's yummy lasagna (our favorite...I look forward to it every Christmas!).  We ended up driving to Wray on Sunday night instead of Monday morning because there was a pretty big storm moving in.  Thankfully we did, two of the roads we would have driven were closed on Monday due to blizzard conditions!  Here are some pictures of our time with the Brzaks...Sandi and Jacob, how did we not get any pictures of you two??!

Evelyn playing with Uncle Ed

Evelyn and Mommy watching the Broncos game

She still isn't quite ready for Broncos cheering.  On the Broncos' opening drive, Tim Tebow scored a touchdown and we all cheered...Evelyn cried.

Getting in a nap with Uncle Ed

Uncle Ed serenading Evelyn with the ukulele

Thanks for having us, Ed & Sandi, we loved spending time with you guys!  And Jacob, it was fun to see you again...praying for you as you get ready to start this new chapter in your life!  (Jacob is joining the Navy!)

Mom of the Year

We are on our way to Colorado!! We've been on the road for 13 hours, and we're still in stupid Texas (and will be for another 52 miles, but who's counting?!). I used to think that driving the 8ish hours across Kansas or Nebraska was torture, but this lonely west Texas road has them beat on the 'I want to drive off a cliff' scale. Every time we make this drive, I get that Caedmon's Call song, 40 Acres, stuck in my head. I think it's the opening line of:

Out on these Texas plains you can see for a million lives.
And there's a thousand exits between here and the state line.

So tonight I pulled it up on the 'ol iPhone to listen to. Caedmon's Call songs are the kind of songs that are catchy, so you learn them fast and they get stuck in your head easily...but if you don't stop and really listen, you miss the point of the song. 40 Acres is one of those songs I've "known" for a long time, but "heard" for the first time tonight. What a great reminder of the HOPE this Christmas season brings as we celebrate redemption through the most unlikely of places, a dusty stable in the middle of nowhere. Kind of like roads in west Texas, I suppose. Out here hope remains...

Here are the lyrics to 40 Acres.. I couldn't find a good video of the song.

Totally not what I intended to blog about...I love it when God interrupts our thinking! What I wanted to share was that I have pulled through and won the prestigious MOM OF THE YEAR award!! Look what I did to my baby girl :-(...





(disclaimer: these are iPhone pictures...while trying to get her to sit still!)

Evelyn and I drove to Kingsville to pick up Dan from work so we could leave straight from there and save a little time. I had the car all packed, and rather than disturb the delicate balance of getting everything in and in a place where it can be reached if necessary, I decided to just carry her in to give her some out of the car seat time and change her diaper. Well, the first step into Dan's building is just a little bit taller than a normal step, and I clipped it with my toe. In the fastest, yet slowest 2 seconds of my life, I tried to get my hand up to protect her head, but only got as far as her back as my knee, and then her sweet head, smashed into the concrete. I sat on the step crying and telling her I was sorry over and over while she (rightfully) screamed for about 5 minutes. Poor baby! Dan had to convince me that she was ok, these things happen, and we don't need to prolong our departure to take her to the ER. I can still hear the sound of her head hitting the concrete. Praise God it was only a little ways that she fell, and she seems to be doing fine...other than the big 'ol goose egg and bruise that popped up almost immediately! Sigh. Sorry other Moms...I've got this year's award wrapped up!

Thankfully she's doing awesome on the trip, she's slept most of it! I have a feeling she's going to wake up pretty hacked off to find she's still strapped into her car seat! But for now, I'll just enjoy the peace of the moment and reflect on the Light of the world piercing the darkness to bring us redemption. Fitting, as the sun is just barely starting to light the night sky. And we just passed the Texas line...there IS hope out here!

Location:Grenville,United States

Seven Months Already

Seven months.  It just doesn't seem possible, baby girl!  You have sprung to life in the last 4 weeks.  Not that you weren't a joy before, but your personality is really starting to develop and you are starting to really explore this crazy world around you!  You hate facing in when Mommy and Daddy are holding you because you want to see what's going on around you.  You also aren't a huge fan of being in the car seat in a shopping cart, you would rather be in a stroller facing out or in the Moby facing out.  You rolled over from back to front for the first time on your own this month, and you are much more comfortable being on your stomach.  You still don't like to stay there for much longer than 30 seconds or so!  You have started eating a lot more solid foods...this month you added peas, carrots, apples, squash, pears, bananas, and peaches to your repertoire.  You still don't care much for the green vegetables, so we have to hide them in the ones you like!  You now eat both lunch and dinner with solid foods.  You went to Indiana for the first time this month, which brought along a lot of other "firsts" for you.  You had your first Thanksgiving!  You met a lot of people for the first time:  your Uncle Mike, Aunt Kendra, and cousin Micah...your Great-Grandma Bea, Great-Aunt Jackie, and Great-Uncle Ronnie...a lot of Mommy and Daddy's friends...and let's not forget your future husband, Henry Jay!  You also had to wear a coat, socks, and cold-weather clothes for most of the trip...this wasn't your favorite thing in the world! Towards the end of the month, you surprised Mommy and Daddy and slept for 10 hours straight...3 nights in a row!  This ended after those 3 nights, but those 3 nights were heavenly!  If Mommy could figure out what we did differently those nights, she'd do it every night!  You also graduated to the big bathtub this month.  We still keep you in your infant tub, it's just in Mommy and Daddy's bathtub instead of on the kitchen counter so that you can splash around a little more.  You get more and more smiley every day, and you've started "talking" more.  One of Mommy's favorites is when you sigh and then kind of groan out loud for about 10 seconds.  It's really cute.  Your feet are still some of your favorite toys to play with (which is probably why you hated wearing cold weather clothes!), as well as Sophie.  You still do not have any teeth...we keep thinking it's going to be any day now!  Sweet Evelyn, we love you so much and thank God for entrusting you to us.  You make every day so much brighter!  We can't wait for this next month and getting to celebrate Christmas with you for the first time!

Our First Family Christmas

Dan and I typically celebrate our family Christmas a couple of weeks early.  We usually are heading to Colorado at least a week before Christmas Day so that we can spend time with his brother before landing in Wray to be with my family.  It's kind of nice to spread it all out!  This was (obviously) our first year as a family, so we were excited to do Christmas with Evelyn.  She is at such a fun age where everything goes in her mouth - and everything excites her!  If you are reading to your kids/letting your kids read this - stop now. :-)  It was such much fun to play Santa for the first time!  We set everything up on Friday night so that when she woke up Saturday, we could have Christmas.  We've decided the best way to get to let her have Christmas here before we go home, is to tell her that Santa makes a special stop here because he knows she'll be in Colorado.  It's all a big farce anyway, we figure we can make up our own story! :-)

Our little Christmas corner - just after Santa stopped in!

Of all the bells and whistles toys we got for Evelyn...she liked her stocking stuffers the best.

Rubber blocks and plastic cups!

Opening her first gift from Mommy and Daddy...of course she loved the paper and bows!

Yummy!

This was the first time she actually ripped the paper on her own...so cute!

And we're back to the bows...

An ornament her nanny made for her

Reading her card from Mommy

Her favorite new book from Daddy

I got this for Dan and Evelyn...she's not quite big enough for it yet, but it's her first basketball goal!

She also got her jump-a-roo from us...though she's not quite big enough to touch the ground yet!  We ended up putting a phone book down so she could jump away!

And some shots we took that night...everybody loves a cute Santa baby!

Saturday afternoon we were going to go see Santa at the mall.  As soon as we drove into the parking lot, we realized what a terrible idea that was going to be.  So we decided we would try to see Santa in Wray when we are there next week.  After church on Sunday, though, our friends David and Leah called to tell us that Santa was at our HEB (grocery store).  So we headed over there so we could get Evelyn's picture with him.  It was actually perfect...closer to home, no line, and we can take our own pictures so it's free!  Thank you, HEB!  She loved Santa, she was mesmerized by his beard (pulled it a couple of times) and smiled the entire time.  She was just a little apprehensive when Dan handed her off, but got over it within seconds.

Now it's time to get packing for the 18 hour trip to Colorado...oh boy!

Christmas Cutie

My Mom has been really busy at work, so she hasn't been able to blog about me. But she did take this cute picture tonight...

Six Months Pictures

Here are Evelyn's 6 month pictures, taken by the fabulous Cat Herndon!  We absolutely love, love, love our photographer...I think you can see why! :-)

6 Month Appointment

Evelyn had her 6 month appointment today.  She has gained some weight, but is dropping in percentiles, something that is concerning her pediatrician.  She was in the 84th percentile when she was born, then dropped to around the 35th-40th in the first week or so...and has steadily stayed around 20th-30th since then.  This month, she was at the 14th.  Fortunately, her pediatrician is very supportive of breastfeeding, and isn't making us full-on supplement.  Instead, we now have to fortify each bottle that she has, which means we add about a teaspoon of formula to each bottle she has.  Evelyn is still a little stinker and only nurses at night when she's half asleep, so all but 1-2 feedings day will be fortified.  The fortifying adds some calories to her diet, which should hopefully catch her up on her weight gain.  Hopefully with this and the addition of more solids, she'll be back on track - we go back in a month to find out.

Her 6 month statistics:

Weight: 14 pounds, 4 ounces (1 pound, 13 ounces since 4 months) - 14th percentile

Length: 24 inches (1 inch since 4 months) - 3rd percentile

Head Circumference: 42.5 cm (1 cm since 4 months) - 44th percentile