Leah's Seventh / Evie's Golden First Birthday Party

Your "golden" birthday is the birthday when your age matches the date of your birth.  Evelyn turned one on the first, so this year was her golden birthday!  (Grace is miffed that she has to wait until she's THIRTY to have her golden birthday). We had our usual big family party in the back yard, and Leah was excited to have a shared party with a sister, since Grace and Avery always have a party together, too.

The Birthday girls:

Jane and cousin Leanna:

Lots of overly-helpful sisters to open gifts:

Leah with cousin Kip presiding:

Our family with our two new electronic dogs (the dogs are girls, too!)

Every kid in the family gets one of Aunt Candy's bear cakes to smash on their first birthday!

What a twenty-first century cake smash looks like… complete cell phone documentation:

Jane got impatient and decided to show Evie how it's done:

Leah got Frozen stick-on nails that made her feel like Aunt Becki!

Back to School

She's ONE!

Today we celebrate the gift of one whole year with Evelyn Rose!

This has been the fastest year of our lives-- does that mean this next year will go by even faster??  Evie, you're the happiest, most-kissed, "cutest baby in the world" (as your big sister Grace would say).

You are jabbering, taking long naps, and will be walking on your own before long.

You are just about done with bottles, still love to eat, and only have two bottom teeth!

You get so very excited when you see your daddy and sisters-- your feet start twirling,

you wave your hand, and you yell at them (a happy yell).

We are so blessed that you came into our family-- the best surprise ever.

Well, Jane was the best surprise ever, too.  Daddy and I really love our surprises!  

Evelyn at Eleven (months)

Evie is probably our happiest baby, and at this point in her life she's our best sleeper. A double-whammy!

She loves to cuddle but now she also loves to be on the move.  She can climb stairs (it still scares her a little, though) and can cruise along on her little feet if she's holding on to furniture.

When she's tired, she sucks one thumb and plays with the hair at the back of her head with the other hand.  If I'm cuddling her and she's tired, or I say "night night time', she'll suck her thumb and play with  MY hair.  I love that.

Evie loves to give kisses.  She'll pucker her lips and say "MWAH!" every time.  Other loves include but are not limited to: drinking from a straw, eating anything and everything, baths, family members, crawling, and sleeping.

She does not love: being carried in a sling or baby carrier, sleeping anywhere other than her crib, being confined to a walker or exersaucer or any other mommy-saving device.

She also loves to wave, still, and now points to people and waves to get their attention.  She's also beginning to repeat words that she hears!  Too cute, especially coming after Miss Jane, who was a late bloomer there.  Some words we're hearing:  Mama, Daa, Mom Mom, night, bye, more, banana, and the "p" sound.

Steve's Six Ladies!

It took many tries, but we managed to get a Mother's Day picture of me with all the mint green girlies!

Nine Months Old

Evelyn is on the verge of doing a lot of things:  getting her first teeth, crawling, eating pieces of foods instead of purees, saying words besides Mama and Dada, maaaaaybe supporting her weight on her feet… but she's not quite there yet!  Although she does army crawl all over the house (pushing with her right foot only) and I think she says some form of "bottle", "up", and "diaper".

She's still very happy and laughs all the time!  Eczema has popped up on her legs and arms-- she's having a bit of a rough time adjusting to solid foods, I think, so we're taking that slowly.  I rub a skin salve that I bought online all over her every night.  It's make from grass-fed beef tallow, olive oil, and essential oils.  Steve gags when he smells it, so I have "beef lotion" duty.  Hey, it helps.

New and exciting skill:  Last night Evie played Peek-a-boo with a blanket for the first time!

#4 and #5