Evelyn's Room

So, I just realized that I never did a post about how I decorated Evelyn's bedroom that I meant to. I really only decorated one wall, but I like ot a lot. So here are the pictures!

Note: these were taken before she was born and before I had her furniture arranged.  :)

Evelyn: Four & Five Months

The past couple of months have been crazy, so I've decided to lump Evelyn's Four and Five Month updates into one!

Every day is an adventure with our little angel! She is growing and learning so much every day, it seriously amazes me!

She has figured out that she can easily get our attention by "coughing." :P

She has definitely found her voice and loves to make noise! 

She is so giggly and smiley. Very often, all I have to do to get a laugh out of her is smile at her!

She loves peek-a-boo. The other day, she was playing it with Ben. She was laying on her tummy on our bed next to him, and hiding her face on her arms, then popping her head up and grinning at him. :D

She has totally gotten the rolling-over thing down. Every time I set her down now, she automatically rolls onto her stomach. 

She can scoot around the room on her tummy to get to her toys.

When she goes down for a nap, she likes to have her binky and be covered by a blanket. 

Her four month checkup was on Dec. 13. The doctor said that she is very strong, and looks very healthy! He said to start her on solids, so we did! So far she has had rice cereal, carrots, and squash. The first time we fed her cereal was hilarious! She couldn't get enough!

She is very curious and inquisitive. She loves to touch things and she tries to get her hands on anything within her reach. If we are holding her close to the floor or near any type of object that seems interesting to her, she will try to dive out of our arms to get to it.

Although she is five months old now, she can still fit into some of her 3 month clothes. She also wears 3-6 month clothes.

She wears size 2 diapers.

She still loves bath time! She got some bath toys for Christmas, and has a blast with them. Every evening when we take her into the bathroom and start the water she gets so excited and wiggles all over the place!

She absolutely adores her Daddy! She lights up whenever he comes home or walks into the room. 

Her eyes are definitely brown like mine, but she has her Daddy's long eyelashes.

She can sit propped up on her hands, and is getting close to being able to sit without support. However, she usually dives to get to something whenever I try to have her sit by herself!

If she is sitting on the floor, and has a hold on my hands, I will lift them over her head and she can pull herself up to stand!

Her stats as of Dec. 13

Weight: 14 lbs. 2 oz 46th percentile

Height: 25.5 in. 80th percentile

Head Circumference: 16.25 in. 47th percentile

Halloween!

Halloween was lots of fun! I went to work that day dressed up as a tiger. It was awesome seeing all the kids dressed up in their costumes. After I had put on my makeup that morning, I realized that every time I would kiss Evelyn my nose would rub off on her! I didn't dress her up during the day, but for our ward trunk or treat/chili cook off that night she was a leopard! It's not a real costume, but time ran away from me and I didn't get a chance to pick up a real costume for her. Ben had to work that night, but he dressed up as a pirate! (I wasn't able to get a picture of him though) After Evelyn and I got home from the party, we watched Corpse Bride and waited for trick-or-treaters. But we only got one the whole night! Overall, I think that Halloween this year was a success. I just can't wait until Evelyn is old enough to go trick-or-treating!

Evelyn: Three Months

I can't believe it's been three months already. It seems like just yesterday we were meeting our precious princess for the first time!

Evelyn talks a lot more now. She coos, laughs, and squeals pretty much all day.

She loves her Lovey toy. It's basically a tiny blanket with a stuffed giraffe head on one corner. She will snuggle with it all day, and I don't blame her. It's really soft and cuddly!

She loves her binky. Sometimes she will pull it out of her mouth and then get mad because it's no longer in her mouth. It's pretty funny.

She can roll over now! She doesn't do it too often, and she hasn't quite figured out how to get her arm out from underneath her yet. 

Just after conference weekend, I had two people point out to me that she only holds her head to one side. I started paying closer attention and saw that they were right. A friend told me that her daughter did the same thing and she had to do some physical therapy. I made an appointment for Evelyn and the doctor said that what she has is called torticollis (I think). And it basically means that her sternocleidomastoid muscle in her neck is super tense. So he gave me some stretches to do with her. And she absolutely hates them. She will scream bloody murder every time I do them with her (three times a day). He also told us to try to lay her down so that the more interesting things to look at are to her left. We've been doing all of those things since Oct. 21, and I have yet to see any improvement. I guess it may take more time though.

Also at that appointment, her doctor talked to me some more about the marks on her head and back, called hemangiomas. He said that up until very recently, the treatment for them was to basically do nothing, and that they should go away on their own. But the week before, he had been to a conference where they talked about a treatment available now that helps them go away and reduces the amount of scarring, if any. He referred us to the dermatologist at Primary Children's Hospital, and we have an appointment on November 25. 

Because we went to the doctor, we also go to see how much she weighed! On Oct. 21, she was 12 lbs, 7 oz, and 23.5 in long. Which means that she gained a pound and grew a quarter of an inch in two weeks! Crazy!

She is still wearing size one diapers, and wears 0-3 and some 3-6 month clothes.

Deer Hunt/Fall Break Weekend

This last weekend was Fall Break from school and work for Ben and I. A long time ago Ben decided that he wanted to go deer hunting. He had never been before, and I had only been once when I was fourteen so I knew I would be no help to him. Not to mention I didn't want to go trekking around in the boonies with Evelyn. So when he put in for the hunt, he put in for the Panguitch area so that we could go down to Parowan and he could go with Shane, Dylan, and Wyatt. We left Thursday afternoon after Ben got out of class.

We got to my Mom's about 10:30. Evelyn was SO happy to see her Grandma, Grandpa, and uncles! I wanted to see how Evelyn would react when she saw Maya, my mom's tiny chihuahua. I stole her from her bed in Wyatt's room and showed her to Evelyn. Maya did a little growl/bark at her and Evelyn laughed! It was the first time she has laughed for real, and I loved it!! We got to bed around midnight. I was a little worried about how Evelyn would sleep, but she did great!

Friday morning, the boys got ready and headed up on the mountain. Josh didn't have to work until 4pm, so we had lots of fun just hanging out around the house. Later that day, we went to visit my Aunt Marcy and her kiddos. They weren't able to come up for the blessing or for Hayley's wedding, so they hadn't met Evelyn yet! They had so much fun holding Evelyn and playing with her while we were there. Marcy measured Evelyn's wrist for a bracelet, and totally made one and gave it to her before we left for the weekend! It is the cutest thing, and looks so adorable on her wrist!

Friday evening I went to Cedar to spend some time with Natalie. It was so good to see her! Her cute puppy Daisy was so curious about Evelyn and Natalie was so worried that she was going to scratch her. But she was so good! We spent a good amount of time just sitting at her house hanging out. At one point, Natalie was telling me about her situation with school, and Evelyn started busting up laughing at her! It was probably the cutest thing I have ever seen in my whole life. All three of us couldn't stop laughing for probably five minutes! We went to Pizza Factory for dinner and shared a yummy pizza. I'm so glad that I got to see Natalie and catch up with her, it had been way too long since I had seen her last!

Saturday morning, Nadine, Lyndee, Matt, Ella, and Brinzee came up for a few minutes. Nadine had a plumb cake to give to Ben for his birthday, along with some pomegranates. A little later, my mom, Evelyn, and I went to my Aunt Julie's house. Uncle Spence was outside building a chicken coop, so we didn't get to visit with him much, but we had lots of fun just hanging out and chatting. I think we were there for about four hours! Julie let Madison play with her hair, and it got just a little out of control. There were ribbons and butterfly clips everywhere! :)

Saturday evening, Ben's dad, Brandon, and Nick stopped by as they were on their way home from duck hunting in Salt Lake. While they were there, my Grandma and Grandpa Adams stopped on their way home from Payson. It was so funny to listen to Grandpa and Larry talk, they have really similar senses of humor. :)

Throughout the weekend, I looked through pictures from when I was little. Ben wanted to see some baby pictures of me so he could compare them with Evelyn. Most of the pictures my mom had of when I was tiny were pretty blurry, but I found one good one, and put it next to a picture of Evelyn.

I can't see any resemblance, can you? ;)

Sunday afternoon, Shane brought Ben home from the mountain.. empty handed. :\ He had a few opportunities to take a deer, but none of them worked out. I felt pretty bad, because Ben really had his heart set on taking a bunch of deer meat home. I did too, but I knew that there was a possibility that he wouldn't get one. He did say that he enjoyed the trip anyway, and so did I. Hopefully he will have better luck next year. :)

Sometimes living so far away from our families is really hard, especially when a visit comes to an end and we have to make the long trip home. But I know that Logan is where we are supposed to be right now. I'm just hoping that we can make a trip down during the holiday season.

Evelyn: Two Months!

Evelyn has grown so much!

At her two month appointment on October 4th, we got to find out just how much she has grown! She weighed 11 lbs 12 oz, just over four pounds heaver than when she was born.

She is now 23 1/4 in long, which is 3 1/4 in more than she was just two months ago.

At her appointment she had to get three shots. The nurse did them so quick that they were over before I knew it. Evelyn did scream pretty bad, but it only lasted for two minutes at the most.

Before she got her shots, when the doctor was checking her out, she said that she is the happiest baby he has seen in a long time! Right when he came in the room she started smiling and talking and didn't stop until the nurse came to giver her her shots.

Also during her appointment, the doctor looked at the birth marks on her head. He said that they will get bigger until she is about six months old, and then they will gradually fade away. He just said to be careful that she doesn't get bumped or scratched on those spots because if they start bleeding they will be really hard to stop.

During the last month she has started to coo and talk a lot more, and she smiles basically all day except when she is overly tired or hungry. 

She rolled from her tummy to her back once, but hasn't done it again. 

I started working at an elementary school for 3.5 hours a day, and Evelyn is babysat by a girl named Cassie who tended my cousins when they were tiny. Evelyn absolutely loves Cassie, and gives her a big grin every morning when she first sees her. :)

We finally got batteries for our swing, and Evelyn loves it!

She also still absolutely loves bath time. She has a bath every night, not necessarily because she needs it, but because she loves it and it helps set up her evening routine before bedtime. 

She has basically slept through the night once, but she usually wakes up two times during the night to eat. 

She loves it when her Daddy bicycles her legs really fast. She gets a huge kick out of it.

She loves it when Ben comes home in the evening. She will grin and laugh and talk to him for a long time. 

We are pretty sure her eyes are turning brown!

She is still in size one diapers, and is wearing 0-3 month clothes. She still fits in her newborn clothes, but they are really snug.

Every day that goes by, I love this little girl more and more.

Happy Two Month Birthday, Evelyn! We love you!

Evelyn's Blessing Day

On September 1, 2013, Ben blessed Evelyn during sacrament meeting. We had lots of family come up for the weekend, and it was so good to see everyone!

Saturday night, we had a potluck dinner and everyone was able to come except my Mom, Shane, and the boys. They got here about 9pm that night because they had to wait for Josh to get off work to come up.

Natalie was even able to come up! I was so glad to see her, it had been way too long.

My mom made Evelyn's blessing dress, and it is absolutely beautiful! It makes me sad that she only got to wear it once. 

The blessing that Ben gave Evelyn was wonderful. He blessed her, among other things, that she would love serving her fellow man, that she would learn the Gospel quickly, and that she will be a great help to me when other children join our family.

I am so grateful that Evelyn is my daughter, and I absolutely love being her mom! 

Here are quite a few pictures from that weekend, in no particular order. :)