6 months of evelyn jane

dear evy girl,

happy 6 months! (only a few weeks late...and now a day before your 7th month birthday!)

you have changed a lot this month and are learning so many new things! 

you weigh 14.6 pounds and are 26 inches long.  you finally started to put on some weight (it must be all the middle of the night feedings!).  the same exact thing happened with your sister... slow weight gain until 6 months, then wow... you have chunky thighs and chipmunk cheeks!

you are SO active and are constantly on the move!  you will not stay in one place for very long at all! you are army crawling and really starting to get up on your knees and rock back and forth. you will be crawling any day i bet!  you sit up unassisted fairly well, although you do tip over quite frequently! 

your sleep is pretty inconsistent.  one night you'll make it through the night and the next you're up a few times.  we started letting you fuss in your sleep a little bit because we noticed if we went in to comfort you, you would get SO worked up and nothing would calm you down.  typically you're up to eat somewhere around 3am and again at 5:30am.  

we celebrated your official half-birthday with a few bites of sweet potatoes and you LOVE them!  so far you've tried: sweet potatoes, butternut squash, avocado, and bananas) every morning you have some oatmeal and then some veggies or the "new" food for dinner.  nora loves to help feed you.  as soon as you get in your highchair we cannot get the food to your mouth fast enough!! you are grabbing the spoon to try and feed yourself :) 

you are wearing 3-6 month and 6 month clothes and quickly growing out of a few pieces! i can't wait for the spring to get here because nora had some seriously cute clothes that i just cannot wait to put you in!!

we put you in the exersaucer for the first time this month and you love it! you are entertained by all the toys around the outside and love to jump away!  at first nora really wanted to go in it, but now she loves to play with you while you're in it and show you how all the toys work. i will often catch her talking to you, saying "you know how this works evy? i show you." you love to grab hair and necklaces and put them in your mouth! everything goes in your mouth.  still no teeth, but so much drool.  you are getting a rash around your mouth from all the drool! 

my favorite thing in the world is watching the bond between you and your sister.  you look at her with such adoring eyes.  i hope you always look up to her and i hope she continues to be a good role model for you.  you have no idea how lucky you two are to have each other! 

your daddy and i love you so very much, evelyn.  you are the sweetest, happiest, most smiley baby and we could just eat you up we love you so! 

xoxo,

mama & daddy 

St Patrick's Day 2016

happy st patrick's day, baby girls! 

xoxo,

your part-irish mama 

nora 2.5

nora boo,

you LOVE to say that you are "two and a half"... this must make you feel like such a big girl! you love being a big girl and doing things that "only big girls" do :) then at times, you'll try and act like a baby so you can get the attention evelyn does.  

but oh big girl, we are just so proud of you! every day you amaze us with the new things you are learning and doing.  

you talk in complete sentences, usually pretty grammatically correct, too.  

you can tell us pretty much anything you are thinking, feeling, needing, wanting, etc. sometimes this is good and sometimes this is not so good :) 

you're potty trained! 

you can undress yourself and are working on dressing yourself.

you can put your coat on by yourself, and any kind of boots.  gym shoes are harder, but you're getting good at the Mary-Jane style of shoes... 

you love playing with your little sister and "helping" with anything that you can.

everything is, "i can do it!"
you LOVE puzzles and are pretty good at them. grandma just taught you how to play "memory" and are working so hard at taking turns!
you LOVE to build things... blocks, magnetic tiles, legos... you always want daddy to "make a ball" :)
you are quite the negotiator. you try and negotiate your way into whatever you want.
you're very dramatic. everything is said with a dramatic tone and you use your hands to talk--it's so cute!
you love "putting on shows" for evy with your microphone.
you make us laugh SO hard! daddy and i have to leave the room sometimes because we are laughing so hard at what you are doing or saying.

there are so many things that we love about you, nora. my recent favorite thing is listening to you sing songs to Evy, especially when she's crying. 

you love going to miss kathys and swim lessons. You miss gymnastics, so we'll get back to that this summer.  

you tell me every day, "you're my best friend mommy" and it just melts my heart. 

we love you dearly Nora boo and are just loving watching you grow into an independent, smart, and loving little girl!

5 months of evy girl

dear evelyn,

well my darling, you are 5 months old now! how quickly time passes, especially with the second baby!  don't worry though... there are plenty of pictures of you to show off!

this past month has been a rough one... lots of changes!
you learned to roll over both ways and are constantly doing so!  it took awhile for you to get used to this new-found skill.  you were not so happy on your belly, especially in the middle of the night! which leads to our next change... a lot less sleeping! oh where oh where did my excellent sleeper go?! i'd really like to have her back...SOON!
you sleep 7:45-5:30 (with a wakeup or two. or three.) and take 2 naps during the day.  sometimes these naps are stellar and sometimes they are quite short.  typically you nap longer at home than at the sitter's house.
you found your feet and constantly have them in your mouth... actually, anything you can get your hands on is in your mouth.  dr said no sign of teeth yet, though.
you're grabbing for things and transferring them from and to hand.  you love to play with anything that crinkles or makes a sound.
you still love your kick n' play mat and tummy time is getting much easier!  you're holding your head up well and sitting assisted fairly well.
you prefer being held to being put down, but still are the happiest baby of all time (other than at 3am!!!)
we went to the doctor for your 5 month well visit and you weigh 12 pounds, 8 ounces. and are 24 and 3/4 inches long.  strangely enough, this is the exact same weight nora was at 5 months! the doctor isn't so impressed with the weight gain (or lack there of) this month, so they suggested a few things to add some extra calories and deal with your reflux.  i'm still dairy free, although i do not think it is working.  i'll give it another month or so and evaluate then.
we JUST stopped swaddling you this week since you're rolling over so well and you look like such a "big baby" sleeping unswaddled. i love when you sleep with your arms up in the goal-post position.  you LOVE your lamby paci and it's so easy for you to hold on to and find in the middle of the night.
you've had a cold off and on this month, as well as an eye infection.  it could just be your clogged tear duct, but it seems to be back again every few days or so.
nora is becoming more used to having you around, although she does get jealous sometimes of the attention i have to give you.  she says to me, "you have to hands!" when i am holding you and she wants to be picked up, too! she loves playing with you and you LOVE watching her every single move! nursing you has becoming increasingly difficult if she's around.  you HAVE to have eyes on her at all times.  she loves to lay down next to you and say, "hi evy girl.  i'm nora, nice to meet you", which makes me laugh so hard!
oh evelyn jane, we love you so!  you bring so much joy to our lives, even though they seem crazy and hectic these days!! even though i canNOT wait for you to start sleeping through the night again, i secretly love getting to cuddle with you in the dark quiet of the night.  i know the days are long but the years are short so i am trying to make best of these long days :)
all my love,
mommy

and because there are NO shortage of pictures of you, little evy girl, i had to choose just a few :)

stay small, my little flamingo :)

evy + sophie = true love 

enjoying warmer weather in february! 

5 months of smiles!

first time in the tub with nora! 

valentine's day

happy valentine's day, little love bugs!!! 

we have no shortage of pink and hearts around here (girl house!), so we took full advantage of the week and wore all things valentine's day!
valentine's morning we had a special heart-shaped breakfast and opened a few valentine goodies.
mommy & daddy love you two little love bugs SO much!!

4 months of evelyn

my dearest evelyn jane,

happy 4 months little lady!  this month has brought the most changes so far and we just love watching you grow and take in the world around you. 

this past month we celebrated christmas  and new years and enjoyed our last few days together at home before i returned back to work.  you started at the sitter's house and are adjusting to life away from mommy during the day.  more on that later :)

you are giggling and smiling non stop these days!  of course, your big sister makes you giggle the hardest!  nora just gets the biggest kick out of this! 

you started rolling from back to front and now do so all the time!  it's only a matter of time before we have to stop swaddling you for naps/nighttime.  speaking of naps, you seem to be boycotting them these days.  i remember when nora was in this phase and i was so worried.  you are still the happiest baby on the block, so i'm not too concerned and i know you'll turn a corner soon.  occasionally you'll take a decent nap (longer than 45 min!) but more often than not you're cat napping.  i know a lot has changed in your world, so we're just in an adjustment period i guess!  you're sleeping 8:00pm-7:30am, waking up at 5:30am to nurse and go back to sleep. i guess beggers can't be choosers in the world of infant sleep! 

you're eating every 3 hours, sometimes more often, still and we're still going strong nursing!  you take bottles well when i'm at work, but nurse when i'm home.  you're still spitting up all the time, but i decided to try and see what cutting dairy out of my diet would do for us.  we're about 2 weeks in, so we have yet to see any changes.  i've read that it takes about a month to two months to see any real improvements.  hopefully we'll have more to report on this later!

you are wearing size 1 diapers and 0-3 month clothes.  there are some 3-6 month clothes you fit into and i think i need to start getting more ready!  you seem to be growing fast... those long legs of yours are actually starting to get some rolls on them :)

we took you to the doctor for your 4 month check up and vaccinations.  you weigh a whopping 11pounds 11 ounces (7th percentile) and are 25 inches long. slow and steady, just like nora.

my favorite part of the day is getting you up to nurse in the early morning hours.  the house is dark and quiet and it's just the two of us.  we lead such busy lives between work, family, and chasing after nora that when the two of us have calm, quiet bonding moments together, it just makes my heart swell with love for you.  the sweet smiles, the cuddles, and love are exactly what i need to start my day.   this time is so precious to me and i will never forget our quiet moments together.

we love you deely little lady!

xoxo,

mommy & daddy 

and because i just couldn't decide which pictures to post, here are way too many :)

Photo dump

Our little evy girl... 

Our little photog in training... 

Painting at preschool open house ...