November 2, 2011 - Where did 6 months go?

I can't believe it's been a month and a half since I blogged about our little trio and the diva Evelina!  Honestly, six months flew by and now here we are with our 7 month old who is sitting on her own, tipping back a sippy cup and eating some new variety of foods (including scrambled eggs this morning!!).  I really don't even know where to start commenting as this little princess seems to leave us in amazement every minute we spend with her.  She is always smiling and laughing plus lately she is ready to explore anything she can get her hands on!  It really leaves both Mommy and Daddy wishing life had a remote that we could just pause and savor what little moments we feel like we have left with her as a baby!

For exciting news in the last month, Evelina got a whole week with her Nana in October who flew in from Iowa for some spoiling!  By the time she left, Eve was shaking her head "no" and squealing louder than I have ever heard her while in her giggling fits.  The two of them together were so cute and we were really sad to see her go!   But Nana and Papa will be back for Christmas so we are already counting down the days!

Evelina also had her first Halloween and 7 month birthday on the same day!  She officially closer to one year old now :(  But she did enjoy the holiday all suited up in her monkey costume.  We really thought she was going to hate us for zipping her up in that big, fluffy brown suit but her face literally lit up with smiles instead!  She was such a ham for the camera showing off her big monkey feet and enormous monkey ears!  Ahhhh definitely one of those moments we will never forget. 

October also brought a new "first" for our little cookie......her "first snow".  I really thought Mike was joking when we woke up on my birthday (October 29th) and he opened the curtains and said "lets get some pictures of Eve with the snow on the ground"!  He was right!  There was definitely a few inches on the ground and the pictures of him holding her with the big flakes blowing around her was priceless!  She seemed more in shock with the temperature change than with the white flakes of snow blowing in front of her!

Hopefully I can do a better job of blogging monthly about the advacements of our little nut and where her adventures are taking her!  Not only is it helping me with her baby book but I know it is helping our friends and family at home keep up with her too!  Next month I hope I am blogging about some teeth and our little crawler.......we will see!!

September 15 - 5 1/2 months old!

When I started this blog before Evelina was born, I made it my goal to post weekly for as long as possible.  Apparently, I only made it to the five month mark because I've missed almost three weeks of posting blogs about the highlights of our little Eve's fifth month.  And let me tell you.......it has been one CRAZY month!!

Not only are we living in our NEW HOUSE but Evelina is sleeping great in her NEW ROOM too!  I'm a little behind on the picture taking so that may be in a later post.  On top of that, in the last few weeks she has taken a flight to the Midwest where she met some of her relatives for the first time, survived an earthquake, a flood and a hurricane!  But she has handled all of this craziness with traveling, moving, and natural disasters with plenty of giggles and smiles.  That's one thing about this little cookie is that her mood is rarely ever anything other than smiley!

So now for some highlights!  On the day that Evelina turned five months old (8/31) we hopped an early flight into Milwaukee, Wisconsin where we rented a car and drove to Darlington, Wisconsin (where Mommy was born).  There waiting to meet Evelina was her great-grandma Hirsbrunner along with plenty of adoring aunts, uncle and cousins!  She charmed her way through the afternoon by flirting with each and every person that would pay her any attention, it was pretty cute!  I'm even laughing now just thinking about how she sat at my grandmothers table just looking around the table flashing smiles at everyone!    We left with our bellies full of some delicious home-cooked food and plenty of cheese!  And of course Evelina had her fill of kisses to her chunky little cheeks!!  What a great visit!

 This is her great-aunt Judy!!!

 Flirting with her cousins Heidi and Haley

 And Great Grandma Hirsbrunner (I will so cherish this picture!)

Her great aunt Chris giving her some extra kisses.....

 And finally......I introduced Evelina to my childhood doll, Janie.  Apparently by the last picture she really was trying to say that she was done sharing the spotlight with a doll and wanted more of just herself, haha!

From there we headed to Dubuque, Iowa where we met up with Nana and Papa Hirsbrunner in addition to spending a few days with her great grandparents soon to be known as "Grandma Peanut" and "Grand-pop No-Pockets".  That's a funny story in itself!  This 48 hours was pretty much filled with some non-stop cudding from both grandmothers who showered Miss Diva Eve in plenty of kisses, cuddles, and love!  Here are a few highlights of the trip with them!

 Loving her time with great grandma Judy!

 Posing for some cuddles with Papa!!

 Honestly one of my most favorite pictures EVER!  Haha......Great Grandpa Jerry (Grandpop No-Pockets)

 Some words of wisdom in the mirror!  Such a cute picture!!

 Kisses from grandma!!

 I think she loved these arms more than mine for those 48 hours!!

 Sitting with Grandpop........checking out those toes that are continually fascinating her!

 Yep..........completely mesmerized!

Four generations of ladies!!!  Love these girls!!

After Dubuque we were off to the Chicago-land area for my bestie Laura Fisher's wedding.  We got there on Friday night and Miss Eve stayed with her Nana and Papa while we had the rehearsal dinner and some real Chicago pizza (yum!)  Haha poor little Eve I heard was gagging on some green beans in the hotel with Nana though (hopefully she will like some veggies other than Squash and Sweet Potatoes soon).  The wedding was beautiful on Saturday and Mommy got a chance to catch up with all of her college friends that she misses so much!  Another great leg of the trip!!!

Of course we had to do a grandparent photo shoot before we left.......

 Haha......I love Evelina's face in these kissing pictures....she doesn't know what to do with all these kisses!!

 Not happy sitting anymore.....she has to be standing!!

 Yikes.....talk about pinching those chubby cheeks!!  Cool it Nana!!

Well that about sums up our trip!!  I cant wait to post some pictures of our new digs!!!  It seems as if we may be unpacking boxes for days and finding never-ending little projects to finish up but it is looking amazing!  We are so blessed!!

August 26 - 21 weeks old

In lieu of moving, packing and overall chaos on our end.....I missed our 20 week post!! So technically she's not quite 5 months until the 31st.......BUT.......20 weeks still seemed like a little milestone that I missed......and what a BUSY time these last few weeks have been!! Here are a few pictures from our "5 month" photo shoot that Mommy and Eve did this week showcasing "Evelina Ballerina" (as her loving Aunt Minda and cousins would call her......I think it might stick)!

There has been quite a bit of excitement in Maryland over the last few weeks since I posted. We experienced our first earthquake here, which is something I never would have expected to feel in my lifetime! Evelina was at home playing with Mie-Mie when it happened and I doubt she noticed anything different but her grandmother sure did! Even though they say it only last about 20 seconds.....the ground was really rocking around here haha!

We will see if she notices anything different about the storm of Hurricane Irene that they are predicting for us tonight, it sounds like it may be ugly! We were out in Baltimore tonight and there are sandbags lining people's doorways, some with boards over their windows just preparing for this storm. I guess Mommy and Daddy were a little late in "stocking up" for the storm as there were bare shelves where the gallons of water and bottled water used to be in addition to most other parts of the grocery stores! Hopefully we dont lose power because it will probably be our first night in OUR NEW HOUSE!!(she is pretty much done with my photo shoot above, haha)

Speaking of new house......we should be moving some things in starting tomorrow. The furniture we ordered will be delivered in the morning and then we will be moving over essentials to get us through until the moving company delivers the rest next Tuesday! To say that I'm over-joyed, elated, ecstatic, relieved (I could go on and on with adjectives...) would be an understatement! We have been so ready for this house for a while and it will feel good to get settled in as a little family!


In other news......Evelina welcomed her new cousin and soon-to-be best friend, Aubriel Jean Benson, into the world this week! She is only a fraction of the size of our little angel but is absolutely precious!! I actually think that Evelina has gotten more hangout time with Aubriel this week than I have while spending some extra time with Mie-Mie and Aunt Kissy (Misty). I've really been itching to snuggle a newborn again so I'm going to need to sneak some QT in!

I am so excited to see all these little cousins grow up together as her older cousins are not far off in age either! Here are a few photos of the cousins giving Aubriel "some love" the day before she made her debut this week!! Haha, look at those tiny Lily hands poking up from below!!! So cute!



Well........wish us luck in faring this storm tonight and for moving over the next few days! Then it's off to a whirl-wind Midwest trip next week!! We will leave Wednesday and fly into Wisconsin where Evelina will meet her great grandmother Hirsbrunner along with some great aunts and cousins.......then we drive to Iowa to meet her other great grandparents for the first time......then to Chicago for my BFF's wedding (Laura Fisher)..........can wait to see everyone this week and to celebrate this special weekend with Laura!!

August 14 - 19 weeks old

Here we are one week away from our precious girl turning five months old! Where is time going?? Life has certainly gotten busy for our little family and hopefully in a few short weeks we will finally be in our new house. I'm sure we will look back at this month and wonder how we even managed to do all this with such a little girl.......believe me, I am feel like I'm going nuts half the time while our clothes are in boxes/suitcases and our kitchen is all packed up.......but we couldn't be more excited to settle into our new digs!!

In big news for our little cookie this past week she had her 4 month appointment ( a little late!) So, as we undressed her for the big weigh-in, the nurse guessed her at 18 lbs! Haha I was just hoping she was still in the 16 lb range although I had been noticing this past week that her 6 month clothes were starting to fit a little more snug! So her official stats were 16 lb 10 oz and measuring 25 1/4". She is definitely a solid girl but got glowing reviews from the pediatrician so we couldn't be happier with our healthy, happy little girl! I have to say though that the vaccinations hurt me just as much as her! Mike had to hug both of us after the shots were over! I just soooo hated seeing that happy little face break into a squealing cry that I've only heard a handful of times.

With the conclusion of her 4 month appointment we also got the green light to start some rice cereal and stage 1 foods. This may take some work but we've only been doing it for a few nights......haha the faces are priceless and each night seems to go a little smoother! I'm sure when we finally have a kitchen all set up for her, the feedings will probably be going a little better!

August 7, 2011 - 18 weeks old

Over the last few weeks I have come to realize that this may be my favorite age with Evelina so far (if you would have asked me at each point though I probably would've said the same thing about the newborn and one month, etc). It is just so amazing to get so much interaction with her, to see her play with toys and to see that she has obviously started learning how to get some extra attention with her perfected "sad cry". She has "Sophie the Giraffe" with her almost constantly just gnawing on her nose or hooves (if you have a new baby, I would highly recommend this teether......it is so easy for them to chew on for the early teething stages). I am nervous for what teething will bring as far as her mood but for now she is truly the happiest baby! Full of smiles, giggles and plenty of drool and spit-up. Speaking of spit-up......I am soooo ready for her to out-grow that stage! Although I have to admit that the days I go to work with a blotted out spot of spit up on my shirt has me feeling the closest to her because I have her scent with me all day long haha! I really dont have many pictures for this week however I did post one of our biggest challenges over the next few weeks and it is our NEW HOUSE! I cannot explain how absolutely positively ready we are to settle into our new digs! As you can see the outside is shaping up nicely and I will post some more pictures soon of the inside! We have all of the bathrooms tiled and walls painted. They are working on the hardwood this week and after that will be mainly the kitchen and some small jobs leftover! I went over twice this past weekend with Eve and she even seems more giggly once we step in the door! I think she just feels at home in another "pinked-out" room!

In addition to this house.......we tackled another obstacle by purchasing a vacation home in Sebastian, Florida. Mike and his brother-in law Jim went down to do some painting and sprucing this past weekend although I think it turned into more of a vacation weekend for them instead! Hopefully we will have some photos to post of that house soon too!!

This week is the belated 4 month appointment with the pediatrician so we will have some fun Evelina updates after Wednesday..........I am scared to see what the baby scale will read, haha she is chunky little cookie!

July 31 - 17 weeks old

Hanging with my favorite girl! Look at what a drool machine she has become! Haha, oh my!
Hanging with Daddy.....she is always so talkative when she is spending time with him!

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It's becoming a little harder to find time to blog lately so I may just do a catch up of some photos from the week! It's been so tough coming home from working all day! All that I want to do is spend some quality time quickly with her! She is getting earlier and earlier in her bedtimes though so I feel like each day I'm hurrying to get in as many cuddles and giggles before her bath and bedtime stories.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Eve has started playing in her entertainment saucer.....I caught her staring down one of the shiny toys! Haha what a silly girl!

Hanging out with Uncle Derik......looking so serious!
Struggling through tummy time......she is slowly but surely starting to stand it!

Getting a ride from Pop-Pop!

Playing in the entertainment saucer......she actually cries when you try to pull her out of it too soon!