Time with Evelyn

I've just spent a lovely morning with Evelyn.

Because of some things going on this afternoon I decided to stay home from church this morning with Evelyn so she could get a real nap in. We said good-bye to Daddy and Adeline and started to go about our day. I got Evelyn changed, and I would swear she went out of her way to say "Da-dee" - she even said it a couple of times! We'll see if it sticks, in which case I think it could definitely qualify as her first word (I don't count "mama" and "dada" even though she knows what she's talking about).

We sat down in the living room to play. She went right over to the cabinet that holds all of Adeline and Evelyn's books and pulled one out. A Little Golden Book, "The Little Red Hen." She crawled all the way back across the room, dragging the book with her hand, stood up at the coffee table so she was eye to eye with me (I was sitting on the floor) and held the book up with her eyebrows raised and said, "Uh! Uh!" (I think that means "read" ;-). We read it. She LOVES to turn pages and thinks it is the most wonderful thing in the world. She got so excited to turn the page and she does it very well. We finished the book, I closed it and said, "All done!", to which she replied her hand motion for "all done" (bring hands together then fling them wide open). She then grabbed it again and bonked me in the head with it several times, repeating "Uh! Uh!" We ended up reading the book three times. She wouldn't let me get a new one :).

It was very nice to spend this little bit of time with Evelyn and get to know her a little bit better. I just don't get much time alone with her. I think she liked cuddling with her mommy, too :).

Quick trip to Holland!

The girls and I headed over to Holland for a little 24-hour trip this weekend. Megan, Peter, Amy, Sophie and Abby were coming to town for a surprise birthday party for Peter's mom. (Thanks to flight delays they didn't make it in time for the party, unfortunately, but they still were able to spend time with the DeYoungs.) They took a couple hours out of their Saturday morning to come over and play for a while. We went shopping at Old Navy where Aunt Megan bought Adeline a whole bunch of much needed t-shirts... and they are super cute! Evelyn got a couple of pairs of pants. Then we all went out to lunch together at Panera. 3 Adults. 5 Kids. 3 Cars. It was crazy, but fun :).

We headed back to Amma's house (she's not there - she's in Bhutan!) and I got Adeline and Evelyn all dressed up in the Easter dresses Great Grandmother Katherine sent. I was dying to get some 11-month photos of Evelyn before she turned 12 months! ;-) Aunt Megan had her extra spiffy nice camera with her so we took the pictures outside amongst Amma's tulips and they turned out beautifully! As soon as Megan uploads them I will share. It was very windy, and not a little bit chilly, but it was quite sunny and we got some great shots of both girls - together and separate. As well as a couple with the cousins, too.

It was a fun, albeit brief visit. The next time we see them will likely be Christmas this year, and they will have another family member - or two! The whole family leaves for Zambia in about 6 weeks where they will stay for 3 months (Megan will stay for 4 months). Very exciting!

Pictures will follow soon - I promise!! :)

"for ya!"

Adeline's new favorite phrase: "for ya!" As in...

"I opened the door for ya!"

"I'll get it for ya, mom!"

"I do it for ya!"


Pretty cute.

Walking!!

Okay, well you can't really call it walking, per se... but we're getting there!

Evelyn took a solid first step today! She's taken some little stutter steps and often when you leave her standing she just prefers to slowly lower herself to the ground and crawl. But if she has the proper motivation she'll take a step or two.

We're so proud of you, Evelyn!

Overheard

I posted this on Facebook, but I think it deserves blog space.

Alan and Adeline had a conversation on Easter Sunday...

• Alan: Do you know what day it is?
• Adeline: Easter!
• Alan: Do you know what we celebrate on Easter?
• Adeline: Jesus!
• Alan: Why do we celebrate Jesus on Easter?
• Adeline: His work.
• Alan [with a little bit of surprise]: That's right! What did Jesus do?
• Adeline: HE WENT POTTY!

I'm back

Long time, no see!!

I decided that the only reason I haven't been posting is because it's too time consuming and difficult these days for me to get pictures up. I figured no one wants to read about what's going on unless they can also see pictures of our adorable girls. Well, I've decided it's more important for me to record my thoughts and the wonderful experiences of motherhood bringing up my wonderful daughters than it is to make sure you all get to see pictures. So, while I would love to post pictures all the time, it's just not going to happen. But feel free to stop by every once and a while and just find out what's new with us.

Thanks, faithful readers! (if there are still some of you out there...)

Love,
Meredith

What's New

I apologize for the obvious lack of new posts and photos for the last 2 months. Life is busy with a toddler and an infant, and everyone knows things don't get easier around the holidays! Here are a few dates of significance in the past couple of months:

• November 29: Adeline's bottom right two-year molar came in. We'd been watching for this for a long time!
  
• November 29: Evelyn began scooting around the floor, mostly with her head :)
• Thanksgiving weekend: Evelyn said "Dada" for the first time
• December 3: Evelyn is 7 months old
  
• December 6: Evelyn said "Mama" for the first time
• December 11: Evelyn started clapping. It was kind of out of the blue. I was at the mall and said, "Yaaaayyy!" to Adeline when she did some impressive jumping in the play area, and Evelyn started clapping! For the rest of the day whenever someone said, "Yay!" she would clap. Very cute :).
• December 15-19: Grandma came for a visit.
  
• December 17: Adeline's bottom left two-year molar came in.
  
• Christmas weekend: Must be something about visiting Amma's... Evelyn took up crawling again, this time with more gusto. She's got the army crawl down.
• January 3: Evelyn is 8 months old
• January 4: Evelyn tries puffs for the first time, and takes to them quite well!
  

Here are some slide shows with highlights from Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the in-between and after times around the house.

Clapping - 12.11.09




Too Coy to Crawl - 12.27.09




First attempts at crawling - 11.29.09