Lunchtime Dance Party

Evie's doing so well with table food, she eats pretty much everything we give her and seems to enjoy it all. Today for lunch she had pasta with marinara sauce, some Cheerios, cheddar cheese (which I think is her current favorite food), and some pureed spinach. Who doesn't love a photo of a baby with red sauce all over their face?

 I am obsessed with Edy's Fruit Bars- they began as a pregnancy craving for popsicles, and I just never stopped buying them. Evie loves to share with me, so sometimes I let her suck on these a little- mostly because the face she makes after every bite is HILARIOUS. She seems to like them, but I don't know if it's the slight tartness of the fruit or the cold that makes her scrunch her face up like this as soon as I take it out of her mouth. But then she's back asking for more! :)

I play music a lot when we're home alone for background noise, and Uncle Matt made an "Evie Mix" for us so I was playing that today and dancing. She started dancing too and it was so cute with her bobbing her head I had to get it on video! Well.... Evie had other plans. Of course the camera always makes her stop whatever she's doing, but her reaction to my question is pretty spot on. ;) (Sorry the camera's kind of bobbing around, I was dancing trying to get her to dance too)

Evelyn Clara: 9 months old

This is how Evie sits all the time now- she kneels and then puts her feet on either side of her bum. I think it is just the cutest. :) I can't believe she's 9 months old already!! She has officially been out in the world longer than she was in my belly.
Evie is still the happiest, friendliest little girl. She smiles all the time and even though she pretends to be shy with people sometimes, she warms up to everyone she meets. She loves to play with books, as well as her new pal "Dolly", a baby doll from Grandma Roy. Evie also loves to play in the kitchen while I'm cooking or cleaning- she especially likes our stainless bowls and the metal measuring spoons, she loves to make noise! It seems that Evie has more musical talent at 9 months than I do now, because she also loves to play with her musical instrument set from Aunt June and Uncle Pat. Shaking the maracas and banging on the tambourine are her favorite. :)
At her 9 month doctor's appointment yesterday, Evie was 16 lbs. 3 oz. and 27.25 inches tall. She is developing right on track and everything looks great. She got her first cold about 2 weeks ago- it lasted about a week, and I think it was worse for me than for her! She was very congested and didn't nurse for 8 days, but we kept her fluids up with bottles and sippy cups, and thankfully were able to return to nursing without a hitch.
We're transitioning Evie to more and more table food as we phase out purees, and she's doing great. Her favorite things to eat right now are bread, pears, Cheerios, and yogurt. She really REALLY likes bread- just like her daddy. ;)
Other things Evie has learned this month: how to open the kitchen cupboard doors and how to climb the stairs. Yay for mom and dad right? ;) Also, she has stood on her own for 5-10 seconds a couple times over the last month, so I'm expecting her to get better and better at standing!
We are so blessed to have such an easy-going, happy baby girl! Make sure you check out Evie's 365 blog to see another 9 month shot from this morning. :)

Bathtime with Evie

Evie LOVES bathtime- especially splashing. :)

Evie's First Snow

Whoever thought it would take until January 3rd for us to be able to take Evie out in the snow!?! This is the first "real" snowfall we've had all winter long- the few inches we've had here and there have melted quickly because it's been so warm. And even this snow won't last, it's supposed to be in the 40's again by the end of the week, so I rushed Evie into a snowsuit to enjoy this snow while it's here. I've been dying to put her in this pink fluffy thing- little did I know it would still be huge on her. :) She didn't seem to mind though- enough talking, here she is!

Hi mom!! 

Hey wait a second.... what is this stuff???

Later ma- I gotta go check this out

I love snow!!

New Photo Project

I want to take more photos of Miss Evie, so today I'm starting a new project/blog. It's called a "365" blog, which means you take a photo every day for the year. So it'll mostly just be a photo of Evie from our everyday adventures. Here is where you can find it- enjoy!

Evelyn Clara: 8 months old

Evie is 8 months old today, I can't even believe it! She is the most amazing little girl, every day she makes us laugh and we are so surprised by how quick she learns and grows. Evie is about 50/50 between army crawling and regular crawling these days, she often starts out in a regular crawl towards something she wants, then at the  end drops to army crawling- it's like her sprint to the finish. :) She is pulling to stand on EVERYTHING, climbing all the time, and she's been cruising the furniture for about two weeks now. Her balance is improving daily, she can stand while holding on with just one hand, and has mastered getting down from standing without falling.
Evie's eating more and more table food these days, she's just like daddy and loves her bread! :) When we go out she sits in the high chair and eats bits of whatever we have just like a big girl- you'd be surprised how well she does since we still don't have any teeth! Her current favorite snack is yogurt melts, and I think her favorite food right now is peaches. We started yogurt and cheese with Evie a couple weeks ago- she loves yogurt (especially peach!), but can't really be bothered with cheese. It's actually the first food I've seen her NOT be interested in, she eats pretty much everything we give her. We'll probably start meat in another month or so.
Evie's new favorite toys are definitely books- mostly because she learned how to turn the pages now. She will lay on the floor with a book for a good 20 minutes or so and just turn the pages back and forth over and over. She especially likes her "Happy Baby Colors" book, I think because it has so many smiling babies in it and she LOVES to look at pictures of other babies.
Evie is becoming a little social butterfly with her other baby friends, she gets very smiley and chatty whenever there's another baby around and she wants to get down and play. She's just starting to show a little bit of stranger anxiety with adults she doesn't know, but if you give her 15-20 minutes, she warms up to pretty much everyone. :)
As you can see above, our photo shoots are getting more and more difficult- she was obsessed with the sticker this time around and I couldn't get a decent photo without her crinkling it. And most of our photo shoot went a little something like this....

I don't know how people do this every single month and keep the photos so consistent!! We tried her sitting up, but that was even worse, she kept crawling away. We'll see how next month goes! ;)

Playdate Madness!

You would think with it being winter time that we'd be stuck at home, but the weather has been unseasonably warm, and Evie and I are taking full advantage! We've been out and about quite a bit lately, and spending lots of time with our baby friends. Evie LOVES to interact with other babies, she gets the biggest smile when she's around another kid! She's usually pretty good too, she doesn't mind if a toy gets snatched from her, and although she's a little grabby with faces, she's very sweet to her friends. Here are some photos of recent outings with Evie's friends!

Evie and her betrothed, Micah

4 babies + 1 toddler = general chaos

Dom and Evie are still friends- even though he may have bitten her nose a few minutes before this!! 

Eli LOVES bubbles

Evie and Emma are destined to be Besties!

I don't know about anyone else, but Tuesday night meetings are getting HARD. It's way past bedtime by the end, and Evie doesn't want to sit anymore, or be quiet. So Steph and I have a weekly "playdate" around 9 pm every Tuesday in the library at the Kingdom Hall. When the girls are just about to lose it, we let them crawl around and play for the last 10 minutes of the meeting. We're pretty sure these two are BFFs already. ;)