Some Projects Should Wait Until Nap Time

A few days ago, I picked up some cupboard locks to keep Evelyn out of the low cupboards and drawers.  It's a never ending battle to keep telling her to put things back and close the door.  The locks I got had to be installed with screws into the door.  I didn't think it would be a big deal to put them on our six doors while I waited for Evelyn to get tired enough to take a nap.  I didn't even get one door done before I realized that I would be much better off waiting for nap time. 

If she wasn't grabbing the to-be-installed locks and carting them around, she was trying to get inside the cupboard.  As soon as I set down the screwdriver, she picked it up and sucked on the end.  When I needed to partially close the door to see if the two pieces were lined up, she wanted to open the door.  When I needed to open the door, she tried to close it.  When I tried to screw in one of the pieces, she came and stood on my leg, and holding onto my shoulder with her head tilted over tried to watch what I was doing.

I decided we would be better off going in her room to read some books until nap time and finishing the project then.  It was a good decision.  All six doors now have locks nicely installed just waiting to be tested out when she awakens.

I Just Needed Some Lettuce

Three days ago, I had the most exciting grocery shopping trip of my life.  It all started in the car on the way to the store.

Evelyn has these old stretched out elastic bracelets that I had gotten at a thrift sale last summer.  She loves to play with them (she's such a girl), and had one in the car.  We were almost to the store when she pulled it too hard and broke it.  Just after she broke it, my phone rang so I was distracted talking and not watching her.  In the meantime, she was shoving those beads into her mouth like candy.  When we finally got to the store, she spit out about a dozen of them along with the string.

Since I just needed to pick up some lettuce for dinner that night, I decided not to grab a cart, but to just carry Evelyn.  I got the lettuce, and then heading towards the check-out I walked past the health food section and remembered that we needed some granola.  I set Evelyn down so I could pour the granola out of the dispenser.  By the time I had the bag full, I looked down and here she was eating raisins out of one of the bottom bins.  I quickly snatched her up reminding her that we don't eat those at the store, grabbed my lettuce and granola and again made my way toward the check-out.

It was just then that I remembered that my sister Katie had spotted the first robin of the year, so I owed her gummy worms.  I decided to just check the candy aisle to see if they had any that she could eat. (She can't have anything with maltodextrin, modified food starch, or that was processed in a factory that processes wheat).  Because I couldn't hold the lettuce, granola, Evelyn, and read the candy labels, I set Evelyn down hoping she would stay close by and look at the other candies.  Nope.  I should have set the food down instead and held on to her.  She took off down the aisle and was at the opposite end in seconds.  She entertained herself by pulling food off the shelves, and smiling at other shoppers.  I finally found some worms that would work and went to grab Evelyn.  The only problem with this is that she hasn't learned to 'come' yet when we tell her to.  Every time we come after her, she thinks it's the "I'm gonna get you" game and she takes off running.  This time was no different.  She had two little snacks in her hands and took off running.  7 months pregnant momma with her arms full of granola, lettuce, and gummy worms chased after her.

We finally made it to the checkout, but because my arms were still full, I left Evelyn on the floor standing next to me.  She eyed a big bin of balls not too far from the checkouts and decided they were much more interesting than the gummy worms I had let her hold.  She dropped the worms and headed for the balls.  I was anxiously trying to watch her with one eye, and wait for the conveyor to be open so I could set my things down.  The man in front of me graciously let me set my stuff down so I could go get Evelyn.  By the time I got to her, she had three balls out on the floor and when she saw me coming, started running away with a fourth.  I snatched her up, and determined that I should NOT set her down again.

A valuable lesson was learned this day: Always get a cart, even if you only need to get some lettuce.

And the count is up to 3 beads that I've found in her diaper from the broken bracelet.

Girl or Boy?

With this second pregnancy, we decided not to have an ultrasound to determine the gender.  That said, it's been a fun guessing game as to which it will be.  I've been thinking pretty much from the beginning that it is going to be another girl.  This pregnancy has been so similar to the last, that I just have this feeling that it's going to be a girl. 
Some similarities I have noticed:
*Very minimal morning sickness
*Similar weight gain patterns
*No swelling in my hands or feet
*My face broke out to the same face wash
*Overall health and feeling well

There have also been a few differences:
*I broke out to my hair gel
*I've had very minimal acid reflux this time where with Evelyn it seemed like I had it every day
*With Evelyn early on, I would wake up in the middle of the night and sometimes have trouble falling back asleep.  That hasn't happened once this time.
*Although my finger nails grow quickly, they are still brittle as they were before pregnancy.  With Evelyn, my nails were super strong.

So, after listing out the similarities and the differences, it looks like there really isn't much different between the two pregnancies.  The things that are different are so small that I don't know if they could be contributed to the opposite gender.  Plus almost everyone I've talked to says that they were definitely sicker when carrying boys.  If anything, I was LESS sick this time.  So it's gotta be a girl, right?

Well, then we went to our appointment with the midwife yesterday.  After she listened to the baby's heartbeat she said that if she had to take a guess, she would say that we're having a boy.  A boy?  A BOY?!? What if we really do have a boy?  This kind of threw me for a loop.  I've been thinking all along that it's another girl, so to think about it being a boy is kind of strange.  It got me really excited to have this baby and find out which one it is. 

If it is a boy, or if it is a girl, it really doesn't matter to me.  As long as there is a healthy baby, I will be overjoyed to meet him/her.  Only 7 weeks to the due date, and the days are flying by.  This little one is going to be here before we know it.

More Birthday Fun!

Sledding with Daddy!

A few days after her actual birthday, we had a big birthday party for Evelyn with the immediate family from both sides.  We were so blessed that everyone was able to make it.  We had sledding in the afternoon accompanied by the Packer game, then dinner, gifts, and cake.  Most of the adults stayed indoors, but those little ones who did venture out, really enjoyed their time on the sledding hill at Grandpa and Grandma Kleven's.

With cousins Gracie and Norah.

With cousin Norah at the top of the hill.

After all of the kids' noses and fingers got cold enough, everyone came in to eat.  We had stromboli and lots of side dishes that everyone helped contribute to.  After dinner (and the Packer game), Evelyn got to open all of her presents.  With all of her practice ripping paper and pulling tissue paper out of bags from Christmas, Evelyn was an old pro at opening her gifts.  We were so blessed by the generosity of our families.

Evelyn with all of her gifts.

With the cowboy hat and bib
from Uncle Daniel & Aunt Ellen.

 I couldn't believe that my siblings all pooled together to buy Evelyn a wagon!  We have wanted to get one for her for a while, but a nice one is a bit of an investment.  I'm looking forward to warm weather to take her outside for walks and rides in the wagon.

After gifts, we headed into the dining room for cake.  My mom made a cake in the shape of a bee.  Evelyn got a bumble bee pillow pet for Christmas which she absolutely adores.  The cake was to resemble that.  It looked so cute and tasted really good too!






The week before her birthday, Kevin and I started working with Evelyn on blowing out candles.  She was so fascinated with the flame that she wanted to touch it and didn't understand what it meant to blow it out.  When it came time for her to blow out her candle, she just sat and stared at it.  I had to blow it out for her.


After the blowing out of the candle, Evelyn settled right in to the highchair to eat some cake and ice cream.  This was the first time that she had eaten an entire piece of cake with ice cream all by herself.  Usually we just give her a bite or two off of our plate.



I was expecting her to be a lot messier than she was.  Maybe it's because she's a girl, or maybe it's because she loves to eat and didn't want to waste a single bit of the delicious cake, but other than having messy hands, it all made it into her mouth.

Needless to say, everyone helped to make her first birthday party a wonderful one.  We look forward to as many more years as the Lord chooses to bless us with with this wonderful little girl.

Birthday Fun!

On January 6th, Evelyn turned 1 year old.  We decided to make her day as special as we could even though we know she won't remember it and it was more for our benefit than for hers.

She started the day off with a yummy breakfast followed by the biggest bubble bath of all time.  Kevin put in a ton of bubble bath stuff and then got his drill with the mixer attachment and stirred the whole tub up.  She really enjoyed trying to find her toys under all of the bubbles, and batting at them while watching them slowly disappear.  I think she even tried a handful or two to see what they tasted like.

After her bath, she was ready for a good morning nap.  Once she woke up from her nap, we took her out for lunch.  She got macaroni & cheese, fruit, and lemonade.  Then, because it was her birthday, they brought her a cookie and ice cream with sprinkles.  Normally we try to limit the amount of sugar she consumes, but because it was her birthday, we decided to let her enjoy it.  We did help her a little bit, but she ate the majority of it all.  When we got back home, we decided to just spend the afternoon playing with her and giving her special attention.  We played with puzzles and read books, and did all of the fun things that a 1-year-old loves to do.

Because of all the sugar she had consumed at lunch, she didn't take an afternoon nap until about 4:30pm.  Normally she would have taken a nap around 2:15pm.  That sugar high sure kept her going and going and going.

By the end of the day, I think we were more worn out than she was, but it was well worth the extra energy to see the smiles and giggles coming from our little girl.

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Evelyn's Recent Endeavors

Evelyn has been growing up so quickly these last few months.  She has started to become a regular sign language user, uses her little pointer finger to point at anything she wishes to have or touch, has started to walk, and listens well.  It is so fun to see more and more of her personality as she is slowly able to communicate and express herself more.

A few weeks ago I had gotten Evelyn ready to go, and then had to run and grab one more thing.  When I came back, she had successfully pulled off her hat, mittens, and socks.  I guess it's much more fun to play with those things than to wear them.

 

Just a few days ago, Evelyn was playing on our bed while I was doing something else.  I wasn't really watching her except to make sure she wasn't getting too close to the edge.  After a little bit she started playing with the window.  I wasn't surprised because she often pulls back the curtain and looks out our bedroom window.  This time though, she decided to try something new - licking the window.  I think there was a little bit of frost on the glass that she was licking off, but at any rate she was really enjoying it and I managed to catch it on video. Sorry it's sideways, I couldn't get it to rotate.

Then this morning, I decided to finally sort through a big pile of beads to make some necklaces for our niece for Christmas.  Just as I had almost the whole pile untangled, Evelyn decided that she was going to help me finish the job.  In the end, I had to untangle them a second time, but it was worth it watching the fun she had playing with them.

 

Overall, we are greatly enjoying each and every day with our darling girl.  She makes everything more interesting, and definitely more entertaining.  I'm looking forward to many more fun and funny things with her!

The Wean: Week 4

As of last Monday, Evelyn has been completely weaned.  The first couple of mornings were a little rough, but we made it through.  Now she gets very excited whenever she sees her cup of milk.  She drags it around in her teeth until she's done drinking it.  I was expecting more difficulty at the end, but I think finally cutting everything completely off helped to seal the deal.  I am looking forward to growing and bonding with Evelyn in different ways now, and watching her grow in her independence.