10 whole months

Evelynn turned 10 months old on Thursday. I've been busy helping raise nearly $25000 for St. Jude for the past few days though so this is a little late. 

10 months! I feel like I just got used to saying she was 8 months old. And now she's 10!? So let's see, what has happened since February...

Evie is just a babbling fool.  All day long... "mamamamamama da da ba pfffffftttt!"  And she will come to me and say "Ma Ma" but I'm not totally convinced she knows what she's talking about yet so we don't consider it her actual first word. 

She now has 6 teeth and two more top ones causing trouble on the way in. Those top teeth really seem to be killer for her.  Fortunately I can now see the little white dots so hopefully they'll be in soon and we can have happy baby back. 

At the end of February we traveled to Tulsa to visit Grammy and Grandpa Jay.  Evie's Great Nana and Great Grandpa joined us as well to celebrate birthdays. We had a fun time and Evie was pretty good during the day, but at night she was such a terror we vowed never to travel with her again until she's 9.  But, of course that didn't happen.  On March 12th my Grandmother passed away.  We drove to Texarkana to be with the family and attend the visitation and funeral.  Evie was again, an angel during the day, but a terror at night. In fact, at the hotel in Texarkana she woke up twice in the middle of the night and screamed so loudly we heard doors slamming closed as our neighbors changed rooms to escape the screaming demon child. It was an exhausting and emotional trip and we were all glad to be home. It's taken Evelynn about a week to recuperate and get back on our normal routine.  While we were down there Evie played with her cousins a LOT and unfortunately I think she may have picked up a slight cold. I have it too so I'm not surprised and it really is mild so I'm not concerned. But it is Evie's first cold. Little more than a stuffy/runny nose, no fever or cough, maybe an occasional sneeze. Nothing to be worried about. And it really doesn't seem to be bothering her at all except when I try to wipe her nose (and don't even come near her with that suction thingy!).  She's a bit clingy to me but I think that has more to do with her teeth than the sniffles. 

The big news..... She took her first steps!  On March 15th while we were at Nana and Grandpa's she sort of fell forwards to me and moved her feet to catch up with her head as she fell. By today she could actually take a string of 4-6 steps without falling over. Slowly and balanced and she even walked to Daddy too!  OMG are we ever in trouble now!  10 months and 3 days old and she's walking. Here I was considering dressing her in dresses every day (to slow down the speed of crawling) and that little stinker out smarted me again! My baby is becoming a toddler much too quickly. 

I keep forgetting to weigh her and measure her so I don't have a report on that but she's wearing size 4 shoes and 6-12 month size clothes.  She can even still fit in some of her 3-6 month dresses! Weird, huh?  We are looking forward to spring and playing outside. Evelynn loves spending time at the park. 

Sliding is particularly fun.  Toddler time is over for the month but will start back up again in April so we are excited about that too.  Easter is right around the corner and there is a city Easter Egg hunt this coming weekend.  We plan to take Evelynn.  I didn't think she'd be walking, but by the end of the week she may be running!  I still haven't found her an Easter dress. I've been holding off, not wanting to spend the money.

Evelynn's Daddy still hasn't found work. But he has had LOTS of interviews.  He's had 4 interviews already with a close to local (IE it's a long commute but we wouldn't have to move, at least not right away) company. Only one more interview in the process so....fingers crossed!  I'm hoping we hear something this week and if it's good news I'll buy her the little dress from Gymboree to celebrate.

Evelynn is trying all kinds of new foods. In general she seems to like what Mommy and Daddy are having better than what she is having so we're trying to make recipes that are baby friendly.  She tried Tilapia this week and really liked it. She's also enjoying plain yogurt and cottage cheese on a fairly regular basis. 

Her sleep schedule has been thrown off by all the traveling and the teeth but she usually gets ready for bed at 7:00 and falls asleep by 8:15. She still will not go to sleep on her own and must be rocked.  She sleeps through the night most nights.  But occasionally she wakes up and stands up in bed. At those times one of us has to get up and get her back to sleep either by rocking her or laying her back down in her bed and rubbing her tummy until she falls back to sleep.  Just ignoring it, appearing at the door, patting her head, or all those other things the Baby Whisperer suggests just result in full on rage screaming and prolonged sleeplessness for the whole family. 

Favorite toys this month are BOOKS! YES!!  Her favorites are her Baby Einstein musical book (Thanks Melanie!) and her "Little Hands Love" book (Thanks Kristin!) "Little Hands Love" is almost always one of her bedtime stories and she has her favorite pages that she turns to over and over again and kisses. She also likes books with photographs of babies in them. She kisses the babies too. And the Kitties... not kitties in books, the actual cats. She's constantly trying to give them big, wet, drool covered, open mouthed kisses. They do not like this. Neither do I as pulling cat hair out of my infant's mouth is not one of the most enjoyable experiences for either of us. 

She gives "Eskimo" kisses (rubs her nose with yours) and has invented a little bit of her own sign language. In addition to clapping when she's proud of herself she now tells us she's "All Done" by brushing her hands together in a vertical way.  She will also shake her head "no".  She thinks that is pretty fun. If you nod your head "yes" in response she thinks that is HILARIOUS and will giggle loudly.  It seems I also make some pretty funny faces too, even when I'm not trying, as she often just looks at me and explodes with laughter. I have a very happy baby most of the time.