Halloween Spirit

Before Mom and Dad could fill the cauldron with Halloween candy, I figured I'd let them know I'm the real treat!

More Mail for Evie

Evelyn is becoming very popular with the mailman.It's a Halloween card from Grandma!Okay, I'll lose the bink and read it...
Wait, I can't read yet. But I like the pictures!

Evie Gets Mail!

Evelyn received a package in the mail earlier this week.

Ooh! It's from Grandma!

Look, a few packs of onsies to help keep me warm in the fall and winter!

Good thing, 'cuz I pooped in these.

Random Daddy Cuteness

Some of the things Daddy and Evie do together:

Snuggle after getting her hair washed, before her bath.

(Note the faux-hawk!)

Snuggling after bath, before bedtime.

Snuggle while watching football.

Bathtime

Evelyn loves bathtime. She used to get her bath in the bathroom, but we finally got some sense and put her little bathtub in the kitchen sink. And notice who is washing her hair! Her daddy takes wonderful care of her.

Hey, Baby...Let's Go to Vegas!

Matt has always wanted to go to Vegas. I've never been that interested. I would've liked to have gone in the 40s, 50s or 60s, when casinos were beginning to rise in the desert, when they were new and not so much of a joke. I want the Casino version of Vegas. I used to love that movie! I watched it constantly in college. That, and Empire Records. But I digress.

What I really liked in high school was Garth Brooks. I always wanted to go to a Garth Brooks concert. I'd see footage of his concerts, and he was just so into it. There was so much energy and fun! When he did the big free concert in Central Park, I watched it from my mom's house and nearly cried when she said she wouldn't have minded if I had gone. I used to have a tape of that concert, and I'd watch that pretty often, too. I was super bummed when I heard he was retiring until his daughters got through high school. Matt promised if he ever toured again, he'd take me to see him.

Well, Garth Brooks isn't touring, but he IS going to be playing at the Wynn. In Las Vegas. That first round of sold-out tickets? Yup, we got 'em. They are supposed to be acoustic shows, so it probably won't have the same energy as his old shows, but I'll take it. For now.

Slow Down, Baby!

Evelyn's daycare is closed the week between Christmas and New Year's, and neither Matt nor I can take that week off to take care of her. So, his Mom is going to babysit for us. And she is THRILLED! She was telling Matt how she wants to get her a crib and a carseat and a playpen and a bouncer or swing and toys and and and...

I told him she needs to slow down! We can supply her with our Pack n' Play and swing and rocker and get an extra base for Evie's carseat. And I told him to remind her that she is babysitting AFTER Christmas, so if she wants to get Evie toys she should make them Christmas presents, not an entire set of after-Christmas presents. Then I tried to think of where she's be developmentally by the time Christmas rolls around, and my heart broke a little.

By Christmas, my little baby should have better vision, and like things in color rather than just black and white. She'll like to explore textures. She should be able to grasp her toys. (And necklaces and hair and anything else that will fit in her hand.) She'll be able to bring things to her mouth, and will be exploring her world by tasting everything. She'll be able to sit up, and likely to roll over, and she'll be able to play independently for brief periods. It'll be a sorrow and a relief to not have to entertain her all the time. Or not to have to work so hard to elicit a few beautiful toothles smiles!

She's already grown out of her newborn clothes, is growing out of her 0-3 month clothes, and will be growing out of her 3-6 month clothes. My camera can hardly keep up. I'm afraid I'm going to miss something, especially now that she's headed to daycare. She's changing so fast! Slow down, baby!

Oh, What a Night

We had a test run of what our evenings will be like when I go back to work, and it's not pretty. Right now, I get home at 7 pm. Granted, daycare closes at 6 pm so I'm going to have to either convince my employer to let me move my day back an hour, or figure out a secondary transportation/daycare option. If the former works out, I'll have an extra hour in my evenings, which would be FANTASTIC but still not ideal. Nonetheless, starting at 7 pm, my evening went something like this:

• 7 pm - Matt gets home. I have Evelyn while he gets the trash together, etc.
• 7:30 - Start dinner while Matt takes Evelyn
• 8:30 - Finish cooking, but put it aside so Matt can bathe Evelyn while I pump
• 9:30 - Matt feeds Evelyn while I pack his lunch, and wash dishes and bottles
• 10 pm - Evelyn is fed, changed, and put to bed. We finally eat a cold dinner.
• 10:30 - Wash dinner dishes. Whine about hands looking like a crone's. Matt gets in the shower while I blog.

It's our goal to be in bed by 10:30 so we can get at least seven hours of sleep, including waking to feed Evelyn around 3 or 4 am. It's doable, but it looks like we won't be seeing much of our baby when we get home from work, considering all that needs to be done in the three-and-a-half hours we'll have between walking in the door and falling in the bed. NOT a good feeling.

Things I've Learned in the Past Two Months

I love lists, so here's one about things I've learned to make our lives smoother... and things I've learned to just let go!

• The Velcro swaddler is a gift from God.
• Keeping a wet washcloth on baby's tummy keeps her warm and happy during baths.
• Have multiples of everything fabric: bed sheets, playpen sheets, Boppy covers. Otherwise, baby is bound to barf, pee, poop, or do a combo on your only clean one. Plus, you won't have to do unexpected loads of laundry. I only do Evelyn's laundry once a week.
• Don't bother with clothes that are "newborn" size, because baby will grow out of them quickly. Start with 0-3 month clothes instead.
• Keep the tags and receipts for clothing you receive as gifts, and return them if needed. Evelyn received so many outfits, there were a few she never got to wear. (See above.)
• If you want to use a pacifier but your baby doesn't take to it, it's probably just the shape. Try a different brand. (Better yet, register for newborn sizes in a few different brands.)
• Keep binkies on every floor of your house, and keep them in the same spot when not in use. The moment you REALLY need one, you don't want to be searching all over!
• Get baby socks with longer cuffs. The cute bitty ones never stay on.
• Footed sleepers with little bear feet or other cute patterned features means more seams on the inside, rubbing little feet. Putting socks on underneath help. (And see above.)
• Evelyn is indifferent to mobiles, but loves to look at faces. The mirror strapped to the side of her crib keeps her well entertained.
• Get your man a really cool diaper bag and you'll never have to lug one anound yourself.
• A jumbo box of wipes will last months. A jumbo box of diapers will last a week. (So don't bother buying anything BUT the jumbo box of diapers.)
• Diaper "blow-outs" happen. The first time, it's the most disgusting thing ever. Then, you find you don't even think anything of scraping poop out of onsies.
• Buying darker clothes hides a multitude of stains. (See above.)
• Clothes that are stained beyond salvage are fine for sleepwear, especially if the staining activity tends to happen around the same time every day... at least you know what you're in for.
• Take all the time you want with your baby. Let her sleep on you the entire duration between feedings. Ignore the laundry in favor of admiring her tiny eyelashes and toenails. Spend an entire day barely moving from the spot where you feed her and hold her and feed her again. Soak it up. It goes by faster than you think. And you finally begin to understand--truly understand--all the people who told you that you don't get this time back.

Among the Reasons I Love Our Pediatrician

At Evie's two-month checkup, her doctor asked whether she was smiling in response to our smiles. I told him not always, and he reassured us that it's really more of a three-month skill, and to keep in mind she was about three weeks early, and we should give her that extra time when thinking of her milestones.

Matt told him that she smiles at him most often, but because she usually poops when he's holding her.

Dr. K looked at Evie and said, "Don't worry, sweetie. I smile after I poop, too."

The Bee's Knees

Matt was home from work today due to some confusion at work, so I had him watch Evelyn while I had lunch with D at the French Press Cafe. While I was there, Matt called to tell me that the house was being invaded by bees. Apparently, the underground nest that I'd been so blase about all summer had expanded to include my basement and kitchen. Lovely. We seem to have delt with it with some foam insulation and wasp spray. (We both feel terrible about killing bees while honey bee depopulation syndrome/colony collapse disorder is still an issue. But we killed two dozen bees inside the house, and that's a little much, don't you think?)

Meanwhile, Evelyn is still the bee's knees. Though this afternoon, her day went something like:

Walked around the neighborhood with Mommy in the Baby Bjorn. Was happy. Fell asleep.
Was put in the playpen for a nap. Fussed.
Was put on the play mat. Fussed.
Was put in the swing. Fussed.
Was picked up by Mommy. Happy again!

I have two and a half weeks before I go back to work. I wonder how many of those waking hours will be spent holding my little spoiled one. And I wonder how she is going to adjust to The Young School, where she's going to be "free to explore [her] environment" and "viewed as [an] initiator and self-learner" with teachers "trained to be sensitive observers." Meaning no one will be holding her all day. (I don't love this philosophy when applied to infants, so we'll be taking her to a more interactive daycare ASAP. Stay tuned.)

Off to get some Zs... hopefully, without any bees!

Cutest. Baby. EVER!

I do a lot of singing to Evelyn, mostly made-up songs that describe what I'm doing. Like the Bath Song, where I sing about getting all her little bits and folds and creases washed and rinsed and dried. Or "Everybody Loves Evelyn Vianne" where I sing out all the names of the people who love her or have at least admired her.

Mommy loves you and Daddy loves you and everybody loves Evelyn Vianne! Grandma loves you and Uncle Bob loves you and everybody loves Evelyn Vianne!

Since we've been making an effort to get out of the house more often, I may have to add shopkeepers, random shoppers, and even paramedics. We stopped in Einstein Bagels (darn good coffee!) for my yearly pumpkin bagel a few days ago. One of the employees was having chest pains, and the paramedics were called. When they had the woman strapped to the gurney and was wheeling her out, one of the rescuers stopped to admire our baby. Matt and I got a kick out of that. She IS a beautiful little thing. Even if she does look just like her daddy. :p

Little Lion

Evelyn doesn't do much crying (thank goodness) and before she does cry, she has the courtesy to give us a little warning noise. Matt thinks it sounds like the roar of a baby lion. I'm debating which is cuter: her sneezes or her roar.

Here's the roar, though this time, she wasn't cranky. Maybe she was just allowing mommy and daddy to get the footage she knows we wanted.

The Lost Symbol

Believe it or not, I've had the chance to read in between feeding, diapering, rocking, and trying to get some sleep. Months ago, I put a hold for The Lost Symbol at my local library; I got it a few days after it was released.

I find all of Dan Brown's books hard to put down, so I was bound to like this one (though I still like Angels & Demons best). Admittedly, his writing is formulaic, but it's quite the complicated formula, with lots of interesting factoids and curious historic tidbits. So what if the "twist" was predictable, and the doctrine after the climax was superfluous.

I have to admit, some of the things Dan Brown writes about gets me wondering. This time, his provoking idea is that being created in God's image refers to the mind rather than the body; that all men are thus gods; and that if we all put our thoughts towards the same goal, the resulting mental force could create change in the physical world. (I imagine the Institute of Noetic Sciences is getting a lot more web traffic lately.) Think mind over matter really works? I'll meditate over the changing table and let you know!

More Cute Sneezing

Seriously, if I didn't feel so bad for her having a bit of the sniffles, I could listen to her sneeze all day. So. Freaking. Cute.

Though her congestion only lasted one day, thank goodness.

Bless You!

Evelyn was showing signs of her first cold on Friday. She sounded congested and had yucky sneezes. Matt had a cold all week, so it's no mystery where that came from. (He felt terrible about it!) And true to her personality, she remained a content, sweet baby. In fact, Friday was also the day she gave us her first real smiles. It broke my heart, that sniffly baby rewarding us for getting her sick with a big, beautiful smile.

And she has the CUTEST SNEEZE EVER. I haven't been able to capture a good one, but check out the video. She gasps a few times, sneezes, then gives a happy sigh. Love her so much!