Evelyn Clara: 10 months

Evie's tenth month has definitely been a busy one- for her and for mommy and daddy! We have a lot of big things going on, and it's all very exciting. :) Evie is doing very well, she's such an easy-going baby. She is so friendly and warms up to people very fast, she is a pleasure to be around.
Some new things Evie's been working on: standing on her own- she does this more and more, and for longer periods of time. It's funny because she'll stand there no problem... until she realizes that she's not holding onto anything, then she gets down. :) We think she'll be taking steps very soon! Also, Evie has learned to clap, and does it on her own at the funniest times. Most often when she's eating, which is one of her favorite activities these days. ;) She also claps when music comes on, which is super cute. Speaking of music, Evie has also started "dancing" to music- she bops her head back and forth, and if she's standing up she'll bounce up and down. This is her favorite song right now, sometimes we play it ten times in a row! I got a little bit of a video of her bopping around, but I'm working on capturing the clapping.
It's getting harder for me to take photos of Evie these days because she doesn't stay still long enough!! She is ALWAYS on the move, crawling and cruising everywhere. She also is anti-looking at the camera right now, which is funny because a couple months ago she was such a ham looking right at it for me. Oh well, I'm sure it's a phase- there are too many other interesting things to do and see right now!
Some favorite toys include her wooden shape sorter cube and her Fisher Price activity table. She also has really gotten attached to her "lovey" (little pink blanket), so I'm thinking I need to buy a backup now! She also, as I mentioned, loves food, especially peaches, pears, bread, and pasta with red sauce (for evidence, see here).
I mentioned big things going on.... we bought a house!! It's just about 5 minutes away from where we currently live, but we can't wait to be homeowners again. It has 4 bedrooms and a nice big family room (plus a huge garage for Eric), so we're very excited. We plan to move the second weekend in March, so this will be a big change in Evie's life. I mentioned she's very easy-going, so overall I think she'll adjust well. The one thing I'm worried about is sleeping- because she's a little picky when it comes to that. She will really only nap in her crib these days, which is SO nice when we're home, because I can put her in there and she talks for a few minutes and then goes to sleep. But if we're anywhere but home, she pretty much never naps. SOMETIMES, if she's super exhausted, I get 20-30 minutes in my arms, if I nursed her to sleep. Otherwise, she won't nap till we're home. But she's sleeping through the night and taking great naps, so I hope we don't lose that when she goes to her new room. I'm sure it'll be okay, it will be the same crib afterall! :)
I will keep you posted if/when Evie takes her first steps- so exciting!!

P.S. It took me 25 minutes to get the photo above, so yea- you should appreciate it. ;)

Explore 'N More

This morning we went to Explore N More, the children's museum in East Aurora, and the kids had a blast! And since Evie's all tired out and taking a nice nap, I can share the photos with you right away. Enjoy! :)

Getting a photo where all four of them were looking at the camera?? Yea right, what were us mamas thinking. And I don't even want to admit how much of that rice Evie got in her mouth *shudder*

"Aaron J. Saul I am." ~ a direct quote from Aaron. Love it!

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!