Busy Times!

It’s been a busy time for our family lately!

We celebrated Evie’s birthday 3 times.  The first celebration was just Mommy, Daddy and Evie on her actual birthday.  The following Tuesday we had Grandma Rita and Grandpa Tim over for pizza and cake.  The final celebration was the following Saturday at my parent’s house in KY.  Then, a week later, we celebrated my birthday! I think Evie has come to expect cake as a part of her daily life.  She has a definite sweet tooth!

I love my new car!

  

Evie enjoyed a few bites of her mama's birthday cake :)

 I took her for her 1-year checkup and she is doing great!  2l.4 lbs.  29.9in.  The doctor said that they expect to see babies to triple their birth weight by one year and she did that exactly!  Wahoo!  She was so good during her checkup.  She didn’t cry when they drew blood from her foot or when they gave her the chicken pox vaccine.  But she wailed for the other two shots.  It absolutely broke my heart, but she recovered quickly.  Especially since I allowed her to have a lollipop.  We don’t give her much sugar, but she loves lollipops!  We found out during her appt that she had a double ear infection, which was surprising because she had no symptoms.  It was her first one too.  She was on an antibiotic for 10 days.  We thought she was feeling better, but then last week she was so irritable.  She wanted me to hold her constantly, started running a fever and wasn’t able to sleep lying down for very long.  So off to the doctor we went again and sure enough, she still had an infection in one ear.  She started on another antibiotic and thankfully this one seems to be working!  It’s so hard to see my baby sick, but I’m thankful for modern medicine!

I don't feel well :(

Since Evie turned one, we have trying to get her to drink whole milk.  I nursed her until 1 year and she’s also had some formula, but so far we haven’t had much luck with milk.  She loves water from her cup, but milk not so much.  We also been encouraging her to try more table food with mixed results.  Some days, she willing to try anything.  But others, she’ll put it in her mouth and spit it right out.  I don’t know if it’s a taste or texture thing, but we keep trying.  We try and mix some new foods in with her favorites (cheese, yogurt, fruit).  I have to admit that this food/milk thing is kind of stressing me out.  Mostly because I’m not sure if she’s getting enough.  It was so easy to nurse her or give her bottles and baby food.  I knew that it was nutritious and that she was getting what she needed.  It’s been hard for me to switch to table foods because I want to make sure that everything is still as nutritious as it was.  I’m not saying that we don’t give her the occasional treat – we do – but trying to plan healthy meals that she will actually eat has been a challenge.  I still rely on jar food sometimes when she simply will not eat, but hopefully this will taper off with time.  As a first time mom, I found myself wanting to make sure we were doing everything the way we were supposed to do it.  I had to step back and remind myself that we need to do what’s best for Evelyn, and that might not be exactly what the experts say to do.  She not going to drink bottles and eat pureed food forever, but for now it’s ok.  We’ll keep working on the transition and she’ll get there.  Especially when she figures out that her daddy is chef and can make her all sorts of delicious food that is so much better than squash for a jar :)

I won't eat it!

Our family spent Easter Sunday in Kentucky again this year.  We weren’t sure if we were going until the last minute because both Pat and Evie had been sick the week before.  But everyone was feeling better on Saturday so we drove up on Saturday afternoon.  We had dinner with Kiki and Pops at Larosa’s and then watched some basketball.  Evie was all dressed up to watched Ohio State play and everyone was disappointed when they lost.  The Easter Bunny paid a visit to the house and brought Evie some treats!!  She got three baskets!  The bunny brought a basket to Kiki & Pops house filled with all sorts of delicious baby-friendly treats, a fun new toy and two outfits for summer!  Aunt Shannon gave her an adorable turtle basket with another summer outfit and a pair of tie-dye Crocs!  She also had a third basket with more treats, some new pacifiers, and bubbles.  I was excited to blow bubbles with Evie, but she ended up being terrified of them.  She refused to even crack a smile and burst into tears when one of the bubbles popped near her.  We’ve blown bubbles a few times since then and she seems to like them a little now.    Sunday morning we had our traditional brunch with my mom’s side of the family.  It was fun to see everyone.  Evie was a little bit clingy with me and it took her awhile to warm up to everyone.  After brunch, we stopped by my aunt’s house to see G.G. Mitchell, and then we loaded up the car and headed home.  It was a long, fun day!

Daddy helping Evie dye her first Easter egg

Checking out all the dyed Easter eggs

Aunt Shannon and Evie

 

Easter Sunday and all dressed up!

This week Evie had fun hanging out with her Grandma Rita and Kiki & Pops.  Our regular babysitter was on vacation for a few days for Evie's grandparents watched her while Pat and I worked on Wed. and Friday.  We really appreciated their help and Evie was so happy to get to spend so much time with her grandparents!!  She loves them so much.  We love seeing her light up when she sees them!

Hanging out at dinner with Kiki and Pops