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!