Expressions

Here's two weeks worth of photos...we were all a little under the weather last week, so I didn't post.

Pretty sunset the other night.

This is Phoebe. She comes to our yard every day and we watch her eating berries. She's the only one we have seen of this type. (a Black Phoebe. Hence her name.) There's also two bluebirds that stick close to each other, some Oregon Juncos, a couple little brown and yellow ones I forget the name of, some cedar waxwings, and this huge robin.

First spaghetti. She mostly threw it over the edge and gnawed on a crust of garlic bread. Kept her busy quite a while.

Saw this Elmo doll (that talks and hugs!) a few weeks ago for half off and couldn't not get it for her. So glad we did.

Is this not the saddest little face you have ever seen? (She just woke up and was waiting on a dirty diaper, haha. I think she would rather have stayed asleep.)

My babies :)

She basically has the run of the living room for playtime now and every so often I lay down on the floor and hide under a blanket. She immediately makes a beeline for me, crawling, and wiggles under the blanket with me. All smiles, and lays her head on my belly and looks at me. So precious. Then she crawls back out after giving me cuddles and continues playing.

Also, she makes kissy noises now. If you blow kisses, or say bye or goodnight, she puckers her lips and kisses back. I've never seen a more affectionate baby. I think I'll keep her ;)

 

10 months old

It's so cute, she is starting to copy what we do...she thinks it's particularly funny when we blink hard and she copies us.

Painting time! She still isn't super interested in it, but she seemed to like it a bit. And despite what this picture looks like, she didnt eat any.

Crawling and scooting everywhere.

I WISH this was a shot of her winking. It's actually halfway through her copying me blinking but I love it.

Aunt Meg and Uncle Josh went back to school this week after the holidays...she will miss playing with them.

When my friend Lauren and I were twelve, our youth pastor and his wife had their first daughter. They now have three kids and they've grown up with me and Lauren as their babysitters. Now she is twelve and going to be Evie's babysitter! She came over the other day to play with us and it was the cutest thing how Evie already loves her.

Evie does this thing where she tenses her whole body and makes a face like she's gritting the teeth she doesn't have, haha. We always can't help laughing and she's figured that out so she keeps doing it and then grinning at us like she's happy she's funny. Goofball.

I built a blanket tent for Evie and she kept sitting still in it then jumping out at me. She loves making people laugh already.

Yes, it is two months till her birthday, but if I don't start doing the crafty stuff for her invitations and party soon, I know I'll end up doing it last minute.

All done! Besides waving hi and bye, and pointing, this is the first sign she has picked up. She knows a bunch of others when I sign to her, but this is the first she has done back.

 

Happy New Year!

The tree on Christmas morning! Evie had fun opening stuff...she already knows when someone is giving her something and she gets all excited. So sweet.

She got so many fun toys...she has always loved her little rubber ducks so we got her a giant one and she kept giving it kisses and she said her first word! Duck :) I actually woke up yesterday morning to her pointing at it and saying duck duck duck over and over.

And just yesterday she said ball...my big girl! Now we are working on cat and dog. :) My grandpa gave her that big stuffed dog on Christmas Eve and she gives it hugs and kisses. And that isn't a real iPhone on the floor there; we got her a fake one cause she loves ours so much. We figured she would see right through one of those colorful plastic kid ones.

Evie and Caesar both go Packers beanies...

Wearing her onesie from Uncle Josh and her cutest-ever converse from Uncle Gus....they are a tiny bit big for her now which is perfect so she can wear them longer. I LOVE them.

...yeah, she can get LOUD.

She points at EVERYTHING now. What she wants, where she wants you to take her, who she wants to go to, everything. If you ask where something/someone is she points at it. Just in the last week or so since Christmas she has gotten really communicative. When she indicates something and it's clear we get what she's saying she gets all pleased with herself for getting her point across.

She can just about slide down by herself now. If you set her at the top of the little slide she scootches forward till she slides down. We spot her just to be sure she doesn't bonk her head but she is really stable by herself.

New Year's Eve! My family always gets together with the Tolson family and this year was the sixteenth in a row we have spent it with them. At one point we were all sitting around the table with Evie in her high chair. She was babbling away, happy to be a part of the conversation. And literally two minutes before midnight she woke up crying so I just brought her down with us to ring in the new year. She got a teeny little sip of sparkling apple cider to celebrate. :)

After everyone left we went to bed. Caesar fell asleep first and Evie sleeps between us so when I laid next to her she rolled on her side to face me, took my face in both hands and pulled me so our foreheads were touching. We both fell asleep like that. She is a mischievous little girl but also the sweetest thing ever. It was a wonderful way to start the new year.

I hope your celebrations were as sweet as ours :)

(Here's the Christmas card that lives on the fridge....)