Monday, December 28, 2009

Merry Christmas!!!!!

So, apparently Evelyn, with her 7 short (but sweet) months on earth has proven to be the best little baby EVER because between Santa and her Grandparents -- my little girl was spoiled to the bone on her first Christmas! Oh my goodness did the pumpkin get everything she could have ever wanted...and she doesn't even know what she wants!!! So let's take us through the entire Christmas weekend.....(sit back, this is going to be a long one.....)
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve started off at Evelyn's Nana and Poppa's house (aka - Jay's parents) where we had a great family feast complete with Evelyn's Aunt Jennifer (who's going to be a new mom herself in 2010!!! yay...I say boy.....lol) and Uncle Larry (of course Nana, Poppa, Mommy and Daddy were there too....and let us not forget Cocoa Bean...) While us adults dined on homemade pierogies, ham, etc...we gave the pumpkin little pieces of homemade mac-n-cheese to try along with some canned green beans (up until now Evelyn has pretty much only had the canned mushed stuff)...well, the pumpkin gave it her best effort, but unfortunately after dinner was over and while we all thought she did good with her first table finger foods...when we unhooked her tray we found most of it had fallen into her lap! O'well, practice makes perfect...cheerios here we come!
After dinner we all kind of lounged around and Evelyn and I even took a quick nap together upstairs by the Christmas tree. (it's our little snuggle naps that truly make me tear up b/c I just cherish them so much...she's so precious when she sleeps and snuggles into me....I just love it!) So, when we woke up, we were a little rushed b/c we were running late for our trip over to Grandma and Grandpa's (aka my parents) for their Christmas Eve get-together...plus Evelyn had a play-date with her cousins, Bri-Brin and AJ (who was also celebrating his 1st xmas). So with a quick change into her "special Xmas jammies and Santa's hat we were off!
When we got to Grandma's much to everyone's surprise...'oh my, Evelyn and AJ are wearing the same pj's...they're twins...how cute, how precious...." o'yeah...just the reaction my sister and I were looking for when we planned this out a week ago! LOL :) All the kiddies looked so comfy and cute in their pj's....and little Brianna was just SO excited for presents!!! "Presents for ME!!!!!!" We had a nice time hanging out with the family! Evelyn and AJ spent a lot of time playing on the floor...drooling all over the place...eating and sucking anything they could get their chubby little hands on! At one point, AJ had enough of sucking on his own foot, that he found Evelyn's and thought 'why not!' LOL...they are just too cute!!
Around Evelyn's bedtime it was time to head back to Nana and Papa's b/c that's where we were spending the night. The pumpkin was pretty beat by the time we got there, so after kisses and good-nights from the family it was off to dreamland for our little girl........
Christmas Day
Christmas Day started off a little earlier then I was hoping....'bout 7-7:30 a.m. Evelyn was up and at em'....and hungry! Luckily, I was able to convince Daddy it was 'his turn' so Mommy got to enjoy a few more hours sleep! (A few years down the line and this won't be the case as she's jumping on the bed yelling at us to get up!!) When we all did make our way to the living room, we got some presents in-front of Evelyn and she tore into them like a 5-year old.....ummm.....yeah, right...more like she picked one up and sucked on the corner until the paper was no longer there!! It was too precious. She was all excited though and in good spirits...probably because we were all smiling like fools just watching her eat paper (who knew it could be so entertaining!) Evelyn's first round of gifts included toys that light up and make sounds -- much to her pleasure...and required assembly -- much to daddy's displeasure! She got clothes and even her big girl car seat! After we finished opening up gifts at Nana and Poppa's we relaxed and just enjoyed the rest of the morning/afternoon.
Around 1 or so we headed home where much to Evelyn's surprise...Santa had also stopped there!! But since we had to head to my parents house, the presents had to wait! We quickly unpacked all of Evelyn's 'carry-on' only to re-pack it to head to my moms. Once we got ourselves ready we were back and the sleigh and off to grandma's house!!
Once we arrived, we found out Evelyn's cousin, Brianna, who was so excited for 'presents for me!!!'...well, it wasn't the crazy about presents for her and the tear-open crazy-fest we thought it might be at the Price household that morning didn't happen....No, Bri-Bri would open 5 presents or so then get bored...want to play with her gifts as she opened....wanted to play with her brothers gifts too...needless to say when my sister arrived at my parents, they too still had presents at home that had to be opened! The point of me telling you this...well, usually at my parents house we have dinner first, then open gifts. Well, we thought it best if we went ahead and started opening up some stuff while the final preparations were being made for our yummy prime rib dinner (nice job Dad!). Of course we had to take some pics of the kids in-front of the tree with all the presents!! Mom went way over-board as she always does!!!
So, we opened some gifts....had dinner...then back to gifts...and well, that was enough for pumpkin....next thing I know she passed out in the chair with daddy! too cute :)
By the time we made it through the massive pile of wrapping paper and bows, I swear Evelyn has every toy she could want and an entire new wardrobe...not to mention a whole new line of bath toys thanks to Uncle Tim and Aunt Jenni!
I can't believe how much stuff she has!! (and where am i going to put all of it!!)
Believe it or not...we weren't done yet Remember, we still had to have our own Christmas with pumpkin at our house! But, by the time we got home on Christmas night, Evelyn was done like dinner...so it was off to bed with gifts still wrapped under the tree just waiting for her!

The Day After
The next morning, Jay had to work so I had my own little Christmas with Evelyn that morning (Jay didn't mind...the thought of sitting through pumpkin eating her way through the paper was enticing I'm sure, but he assured me we could go on without him).
So pumpkin and I had our day-after-Christmas morning present-fest and much to her delight...more paper and more bows to suck on and eat were at her finger-tips! We spent the rest of the day going through her now mountain of new toys..making sure to hold everyone...put it in the mouth..then as always, look for mommy's cell phone b/c that is her favorite "toy" to drool all over!
Later on that evening, it was off to Jay's Grandpa's house so Evelyn could see her great grandparents and enjoy a holiday dinner with them! Ok, well we enjoyed dinner...pumpkin enjoyed the few pieces of grape that would make their way into her mouth. (that 'sour' face is priceless!...maybe a little mean....but priceless!) Evelyn got even more clothes which means her wardrobe now exceeds mine...actually i think that happened the day she was born and a flood of pink came into our home...lol.
Sunday
Finally, Sunday rolls around...a day of rest...ha! yeah, right! Sunday was Christmas with Jay's oldest sister, Karen and her family (Hubby Luca, Luca Jr. Lina and Lilianna) along with our nephews Brandon and Cammy (Jay's brother Jeremy's children). Ages in the household ranged from pre-teen to pre-crawl and what a crazy madhouse it was!! Yelling, laughing, playing!! Then came present time....all the kids got their presents lined up in-front of them and it was like ready, set, go and paper went flying!!! As you can see by the picture...even with gifts right in front of her, pumpkin would still rather eat Mommy's cell phone!! lol. It was a great day with family! We had so much fun and Evelyn looked absolutely adorable in her little Bills Cheerleader outfit (although it didn't help them..they lost that day!)
Overall, it was a great first Christmas for Evelyn and for Jay and I with our pumpkin!! We can't thank everyone enough for making it so special! We are very much looking forward to the New Year as Evelyn will celebrate her 1st birthday!! It's unreal that she will be one-whole year in just 5 short months!!! Where did the time go! We are blessed to have such great family and friends and to have our healthy, happy pumpkin in our life!
Happy New Year everyone!!!
Evelyn Rose - Chirstmas 2009 - The Best Gift Ever

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

All I want for Christmas is........



"All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!" And guess what's making their debut this Christmas week!!! One top "toofer" is already visible right through her gum and the other one is one its way!!! By the end of 2009, my pumpkin will have 4 whole chompers!!!
Christmas is almost here!! We can't wait to see what Santa brings the pumpkin!!!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Shots and Sniffles....


Well pumpkin had her 6-month check up on December 11th and boy was it a 'big' event. First off, we noticed she was a little under-the-weather a day or two before we went to the docs...sniffles, cough and down-right not a happy pumpkin-head. Needless to say I was glad we were going to the doctors.

So we arrived at the office and went through the routine questions with the nurse...is she eating? 'yes,' does she move objects from one hand to the other? 'yes,' does she know her name...'ummm...depends...you mean Pumpkin or Evelyn?' lol! How about is she generally a content, happy baby? Of course when I got into my huge proud mommy ramble of how happy our little girl is, how she is always smiling and giggling....of course, she starts balling her eyes out right there in front of the doctor! Great....

The doctor did her routine exam and I'm proud to report Evelyn weighs
16lbs 14 oz (gain of almost 2lbs since the last visit) and she measured in at 28.15 inches (gain of almost 2 inches!) She continues to be in the 50th percentile for her weight, the 90th percentile for her head size (lol) and she has moved up into the 95th percentile for her height....our baby is going to be tall!!!

She checked her reflexes (whatever she really has right now...lol) and listened to her breathing which the doctor noted the congestion due to her cold and looked in her ears and reported noticing fluid building up behind them. Ok, scare mom why don't you...what the h*ll does that mean?? (immediately I'm thinking like water in the ear from her bath...aka I did this to her...that's what your trying to say isn't Mrs. doctor smarter pants...) Well, before my blood pressure and nervousness broke me into a pure panic, the doctor explained that the fluid behind the ears is normal when a baby has a cold (as it is with all people) but we just had to keep an eye out to make sure it didn't lead to an infection....(ok, back to panic mode.) Honestly, why couldn't they just have given us the antibiotics right then and been proactive about the whole thing instead of telling me to wait and see if she gets sicker...let her get some infection which will only put her in pain and make her miserable?! I just don't understand, but I didn't go to med school, so I guess I'm not the expert on this one. But the doctor assured me it would more than likely clear up and drain on its own with her current cold....so OK, I guess.

Well, then it was more "good" news...Evelyn was due for more shots! This time 5!! Yes! Five whole shots my little pumpkin took in one beating. She had her 3 routine shots and in addition the regular flu shot and H1N1 shot, which Jay and I agreed we should get for her since she is in daycare 5 days of the week with a ton of kids who are in school all day where many germs are spread...can't take any chances! So, needless to say, Evelyn was less then thrilled about these 5 shots...in fact, because she was sick, she was an even more sad mess with all her little beat red, snotty face just crying out for help. Afterwards, her little chunky thighs looked like they had to been to hell and back with all the band-aids. My poor baby. I felt awful. Unfortunately, work still called and after the doctors I dropped her off with Miss Kathy at daycare and it turned out Evelyn slept the entire day, only waking once to eat around noon!!

It was later that evening I noticed myself coming down with something so I declared the weekend a mommy-daughter sniffle snuggle fest and after I got home from work on Friday I locked the doors and the pumpkin and I stayed in all weekend just hanging out with our runny noses, cuddling during movies and even getting in a little play time when we both had a little energy to muster!

We are on are way to a full-recover and each day the pumpkin, not to mention myself, are feeling that much better. She turns the big 7 months on Sunday, 12-20-09!!! And we CANNOT wait until Christmas. My daughter is a pure-pro when it comes to posing with Santa as you can see below!

Evelyn meets 'the Claus' 12/7/2009 @ The Boulevard Mall

Monday, December 7, 2009

Happy Holidays!






Evelyn's Holiday Photos! Isn't she just the cutest!!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Turkey Day!



Evelyn's first Thanksgiving has come and gone, but what a busy day it was! We started with Thanksgiving morning at Nana and Poppa's where the pumpkin saw her first parade (on TV) -- the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We watched the floats go by, the singers, the dancers, etc....and then as we waited for the guy in the big red suit to come...well, pumpkin had enough and passed out in my arms....o'well.

Later on, Poppa and Daddy decided Evelyn just needed to have a ride on a deer (a front lawn xmas ornament at their house)...lol...so along with her first thanksgiving, came her first fake deer ride -- because what 6-month could live without one, right?! Heaven help us when she is big enough for 4-wheelers and motorcycles!


While we all enjoyed our Thanksgiving lunch, the pumpkin slept the afternoon away, to which Mommy and Daddy took full advantage of by taking a post meal nap ourselves....

Then it was off to my parents...aka Grandma and Grandpa. When we got to their house, it was already hustling and bustling with the sounds of little feet and baby talk as Evelyn's cousins - Brianna and AJ, were there. Thinking it would be fun for Evelyn and AJ to get in some quality carpet time, my sister and I laid them face to face...to which we then put a toy in between them....hmmmm, not the best idea. Both babies had their little hands on the toy...each kind of pulling while staring at the other...and then it happened...the little lips started quiver, eyes started to water and Evelyn and AJ were in their first sandbox fight over a toy...lol...it was honestly a precious moment. (we actually think Evelyn might have been doing her 'sympathy' cry for AJ who started with the whimpers first...Evelyn has a tendency of tearing up when she hears other babies crying...lol)
During dinner, Evelyn sat in her highchair and enjoyed some sweet potatoes while we all feasted. And I decided it was time for her to try her first meats. I took some turkey and gravy and blended it up (although it was hard to blend b/c i wasn't using that much) and then I let the pumpkin test it out.....not a fan.....or at least I think. The "I'm totally disgusted" face was in effect. My dad however, brine's the turkey over night so it was a bit on the salty side and perhaps this is what threw the pumpkin off. Either way, we couldn't let her thanksgiving experience rest on that, so we gave her some cranberries too, and those proved to be a true pumpkin delight!
All in all it was a great day and we have so very much to be thankful for!

Great Grandma Karcher and Evelyn (11/26/09)