Eva's Favorite Part of the Day

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 Eva smiles and laughs to see all of us in the mirror when Elijah brushes his teeth.  She is very impressed by the electric toothbrush.

Roll Over Evangeline!

Eva rolled over! She got a hugely proud grin on her tiny face, too.

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Sent from my mobile phone

self-portraits: capturing the moment

Sometimes I just want to make sure I remember these little moments.

Spending time with two happy kids, sometimes I catch a glimpse of us in the mirror in our living room and see how happy I am, too.

"Let's take a picture of ourselves in the mirror!"

Click! Capture!

Will you be our Valentine?

A heart on our glass door greeted David when he came home from work on Valentine's Day.

As did the three of us, dressed in red.

our little rosebud

Blowing kisses

Blowing bubbles

The gorgeous flowers David brought home for me.

The absolutely delicious chicken Marsala we made together.

Eva's Friend

Eva has a good friend who was born a day after her she was born. Averlee and Eva from an early age seemed to hit it off together.

Just a little Star Wars fun...

We were invited to a Star Wars party with David's co-workers.
A little work, a little Internet surfing, even a little sewing and we were outfitted for the occasion.

Our little man LOVED that we were all dressing up in costumes.  He announced to anyone that "I Anakin SKYWALKER!" He was thrilled to discover "rocket ships" were involved with his costume. He had no idea who Anakin was, of course, but that didn't stop him from having fun.

 Baby Yoda sat patiently in her Bumbo while young Anakin was getting his robe.

Handsome Han Solo complete with tool belt holding a toy drill, the closest thing we had to a gun. We made his vest by cutting down an old t-shirt.  Anakin, of course, carried his monkey.  Baby Yoda wasn't so sure about her floppy ears.

I made Eva's hood from one of David's old shirts, cutting off the collar to be the ears, and using the bottom of it to make a hood. Both kids wore our cardigans, which were long enough on them to be robes.
I was Shmi Skywalker, Anakin's mother.  Don't be impressed, I had to Google her name.

Just in case people didn't know who we were, I made name tags.

I had a little fun with Yoda's name tag.

Everyone looked amazing!

Young Anakin Skywalker (Elijah), Han Solo (David), Yoda (Eva), Anakin's mother Shmi Skywalker (Jamie), Queen Amidala (birthday girl Mandy), Princess Leia (Melody), Jedi Knight (Malik), Jedi Knight (Nathan), Attendant to Queen Amidala (Kelly)

May the Force be with you.

Friend

Told Elijah that he and Eva will be good friends, just like Uncle Jeremy and I are friends. He told me, no, Uncle Jeremy wasn't my friend, DADDY was my friend. UNCLE CHRISTY is Uncle Jeremy's friend. Awww! Now that's sweet.

P.S. Still working on "Uncle" and "Aunt." :)
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Sent from my mobile phone

Evangeline at 4 months

Evangeline Elizabeth at 4 months in a "Bumbo" seat
12 pounds 4 ounces
23 3/4 inches tall

Eva loves to be upright, and part of the action. She loves to stand supported in our laps.  

Her eyes follow the comings and goings of the family, but she is especially interested in Elijah.  She beams when he gives her toys or greets her with a "Hi Little Sister! I your Big Brother!" She is quite strong, nearly rolling over.  She can rotate like a clock, and can scoot across the floor by lifting her legs up and down.  We say that she "thinks she's a big kid."

Eva falls asleep with her eyes covered by her blanket, paci in mouth.  She now has a new white-noise maker and falls asleep to the sounds of the waves, or crickets, or whale songs, you know, to block out the sounds of Legos or train track being dumped gleefully on a wood floor!  We love the huge smile she gives us when we come to get her when she wakes up. We think she is going to be a very social creature!

Eva's naps are becoming more consistent.  This has been a wonderful development for us all as we have a general guide of what to expect in the day.  I have noticed Elijah does very well knowing a general routine to when Eva sleeps, and that he will have my attention during those times.  Sometimes their afternoon naps line up, which is wonderful, but I also enjoy special one-on-one time with Eva when Elijah is sleeping.

remembering the wails

I feel like with each post I announce, "Eva's doing so much better. She's crying so much less..." and indeed she is, though by degrees.

At the start of her life, Eva spent her waking time nursing or screaming.   Loud, ear-ringing, heart-clawing screams.

We discovered she had thrush, poor baby.  When that cleared up she was significantly better, but still screamed, and often. 

Then we discovered she has a dairy sensitivity (possibly an allergy... it's too early to tell).  When I cut dairy completely out of my diet, she improved to an amazing level.  Dairy is hidden in so many places, and though vigilant, I've accidentally had dairy several times.  Once I drank coffee with some non-dairy creamer, assuming that to be safe.  No, non-dairy creamer can contain a dairy derivative, which I discovered later. I'm learning I have to read the ingredients!  Poor Eva had a horrible day that day.  Another day I had a grilled sandwich, not thinking there would be butter on the bread.  Another rocky day.  It amazes me that such slight amounts of dairy can upset her stomach, but they do.  My diet used to be yogurt for breakfast with cream in my coffee and milk in my cereal, cheese with my lunch and often with dinner, and sometimes ice cream for dessert. No wonder she had such trouble!

With eliminating dairy from my diet, she was so much better, but Eva still fussed a lot.  We still were having a rough time.

I'm pleased to say that we think Eva may have turned a corner.  A week shy of her 4 month birthday, Eva has stopped screaming (only exception is her car seat, which she can't stand.) The screaming has been gone for a week.  People have told me that colic often "magically" disappears around the 4 month mark, and I have been hoping this would be so.  I really hope this is the case.  The Eva we see now melts hearts with her smiles and intelligent eyes.  She is napping and nursing regularly.

David and I joke about how we have been  selective with our pictures, posting the smiling ones... not wanting to record the screams and the tears.  One night, though, in the spirit of remembering (and with a healthy dose of humour) we snapped some shots of Eva screaming, on the chance that we ever moved past this stage.

Because it's very, very hard to think that "things won't always be this way" when you're in the moment of trying to comfort a screaming child.

Here she is, poor baby.

Eva's classic "pout"... the face that comes before the scream...

A tear... those sad eyes...

I can just hear the wail, looking at this face

Here it comes...

The screams.  Her little body tenses, and her hands shake.  Her face goes red and she gets sweaty. We'll be here for a while.

Evangeline's Baby Dedication

Today Evangeline Elizabeth was dedicated to the Lord in church.
We dearly missed our family and many close friends being present.
The family of God is so special that prayers and blessings are not limited by distance.

Pastor Ron Giese... we think he looks so much like our good family friend Tom Giese!

Our church has baby dedications three times a year, so we stood with other families and sought God's help in raising our little ones.  

our friends Tom and Deanna with baby Averlee

spontaneous kiss for his little sister

The way to get a decent family picture?  Give the two-year-old a cookie.  Yup. He'll be much happier.

Evangeline Elizabeth... We dedicate you to the Lord.  You are His daughter.  We will raise you to know the Truth, that you are deeply and totally loved by God, His creation entrusted to us.  We ask for God's strength, grace and wisdom as we guide you through life, and help you as His plan for your life unfolds. Evangeline, your name means "Little evangelist, teller of Good News."  Your middle name, Elizabeth, means "God's promise."  We pray that you will grow to be a Teller of God's Promise to love and redeem those who find shelter in His Son Jesus. God bless you, Little One.

little friends

David and I have a goal of going on more dates this year.  Just us, no kids.  We joke about going on a date-plus-two when we go out with the kids, and Eli and Eva are really good about being in restaurants, but it is still not the same. The focus is much better when it's just the two of us! David and I have started to do a date-swap with some good friends of ours.  They watched our kids while David and I went on a date, then we watched their little Averlee while they took a date.

Averlee is the sweetest little one, and we had fun putting her with Eva and watching the two little girls interact.  Averlee would reach out and grab Eva's hand or foot, and Eva seemed to think this was pretty fun.

Of course, this became a photo-shoot of the little friends.

Eva and her Daddy

Beautiful Averlee.  Look at those gorgeous eyes.

Eva attempts some "tummy time." Averlee looks on sympathetically.

Eva grimaces.  Tummy time is hard.  Averlee watches with pity in her eyes.

Don't they look like best buddies?

Tom and Deanna?  We'll watch your little girl any time!!