Miss Evelyn Rose Christmas

Well it is now a whole week past our baby girl's first birthday... she is such a joy! :) Don't get me wrong, she is a handful... wow walking at 8 months was fun at first, but now after chasing her for 4 months and her endless curiosity and strange affinity for anything "bad for her" I am down right tired! :)  It is a good tired, Mike and I could not imagine our lives without her.  We often joke we have no friends (yes our family is our friends, don't get offended guys) but we really don't do much, but at the same time we are so busy and have like no time... how does that work?!?  I guess it is all perspective. I have been thinking of this a lot lately, perspective. When we were in college we were busy, but it is a totally different kind of busy compared to now, hence the feeling of no friends. Before we did a lot with our friends, now not so much. But now we do a lot with our Evelyn, and we love it.

Mike and I both feel sad after long weekends like the last two holiday weekends, because we get these 4 whole days (twice) with Evelyn, we get to do everything with her and then when it is time to go to work again we are sad because we have to leave her... she is our gravitational pull, we want to be with her and want to watch her and be there with every little thing she does different everyday! It is so fun! Sometimes I tease Mike that I could not handle another child, because Evelyn is a handful herself, but that is a lie, we will have at least one more (not right now, don't jump off a cliff) but we have to see where my future career path takes us.

I often try to think of the best way to describe Evelyn to people who don't know her that well, and often I think CRAZY!  Not a bad crazy, but one of those super active busy kind of crazy people! Since the day she was born she has been alert and active, seriously, the nurses in the hospital commented many times on how alert and active she was for a newborn! :) Those couple of days in the hospital should have given me better warning (now thinking in retrospect) that this little person we created would keep us busy! Well she did follow this pattern by having very strong head and neck support right away, not sleeping long stretches, and needing to eat often (since she burned all her calories). Then she rolled over pretty early, and almost skipped crawling and went straight to pulling up on things and then barely even scooted along furniture and went straight to full walking just a few days after she turned 8 months old. I feel like our life has been a whirlwind this first year of her life, and part of that is probably due to her go, go, go personality. I really don't think she sits ever, the places she likes to sit is in rockers where she can still move! :) She is silly, funny, and curious. I love her curiosity right now, she has become an excellent pointer, and wow if you hold her, get ready to explain everything within her visual field! Mike and I also joke that she is a 1 year old who thinks she is like 5-7 (or 16)... she thinks she can do everything, especially when following her cousins around! :) She is a lover, she will tease you lots, but she is a lover. She loves to hug Indy our dog, I think he gets the most hugs out of anyone! But she will always give me her little love pats when I pick her up, like she is comforting me or something. She has learned to give kisses when asked for them, but she will tease you for a while first, like give mommy two kisses before she gives daddy one! :) She is just the light of our life and we can not wait to watch her grow everyday for years to come! :) Pictures will be added later when I am at home, it is hard for me to choose which ones to share, I love them all!

The first picture on the left is the day Evelyn was born, followed by (left ot right) 1 month, 2 months, and 3 months old.



(left to right) 4 months, 5 months, and 6 months old.



(left to right) 7 months, 8 months, and 9 months old.

(left to right) 10 months, 11 months, birthday party, and 12 months old.