9 Months Old!

Evie is 9 months old now--time flies by so fast! She had a good New Year and has been doing all sorts of crazy things--she crawls really fast, babble talks a ton and daycare says she keeps trying to walk there too, but still early stages on all of that!Her 9 month appointment was Wednesday and she weighed 17 lbs, 12 oz with a head circumference of 18 inches and length of 28 inches. This puts her noggin' at 90%, weight at 30% and height at 60%...so she is all over the place, which isn't uncommon. She had fun playing with her reflection:The doctor seemed very concerned about the hives Evie has been getting that always seem to appear after she eats something with milk in it (other than breastmilk). When I called over December several times the nurse line people made it seem like no big deal, but after talking to the doctor we took Evie to get some bloodwork done to do a RAST test for milk and eggs. Apparently hives frequently signify a serious allergy that isn't something that is outgrown (lots of babies have trouble with milk but outgrow it later). Keep your fingers crossed--we really hope she doesn't have an allergy and that it is just a fluke.

Then we all went to PF Chang's to celebrate Holly's 30th...lots of fun. As you can see the Juner was really excited: She played for a while and then completely racked out for the rest of the night.

Evie got her first big boo-boo tonight. She was pulling herself up on the coffee table like she has a million times before and slipped and hit her right cheek on the table leg. It left a big indent for a while and immediately turned bruised and red. You can't see it great in this picture but she has a little purple bruise line from where she took the 'cheeker' into the table leg:(

Evie's First Eye Exam

Evie had her first eye exam last week. She did really well and managed not to cry or scream much at all, although she did squinch her eye closed really tight when the student tried to put the second set of eye drops in. She knew what was coming then.

It is crazy how hard an infant eye exam is. They do all the same tests they would on an adult but they obviously use different methods and lots of cajoling and toys. Here's some of the stuff they did that I can remember:

• tested her eye pressure (air puff of doom test for us) by pushing on her closed eyelid
• tested vision (do you prefer 1 or 2 for us) using cards with series of alternating black/white lines of varying widths which are pre-calibrated to certain prescriptions and by holding refractive lenses up to her and watching her look around
• dilating her eyes and looking into them with a head-band microscope thingy. This looked particularly challenging since she kept moving around
• patching one eye at a time to run tests sicne she can't cover one eye or close one eye at a time upon being instructed to do so
• checking her eye muscles and movement by having her 'track' a fun toy with her eyes but without moving her head (again challenging)

And so on. They did great and so did she--it took a little under 2 hours because of all the trickery needed. The student and attending optometrist were both crawling around on the floor and holding out all sorts of toys and then picking up the equipment they let her borrow that she then kept throwing on the floor and all sorts of craziness. You should totally take your baby (if you have one) for an eye exam because it is good for checking their vision and eye health of course but it is also pretty entertaining watching doctors try to get your 9 month old to cooperate.

According to the developmental survey they did, Evie is doing really well and in most instances is at 12 month functioning:)

The bad news is that we know for sure that Evie was able to see some of the awful happenings during the very tragic OSU-Florida game last night. We are all still very sad. She even wore her lucky socks, which we will now have to retire.

Happy New Year!

So welcome to 2007! We hope yours is off to a great start--Evie's is, Daddy's is and Mommy's will be soon hopefully!

Evie spent her first night away from both mommy and daddy on New Year's Eve--she stayed the night with Grandma V to celebrate both the New Year and Grandma's birthday (which is 12/31 every year...hmmm, how about that!?). She did really good that night but has been totally resistant to going to bed the past 2 nights for us. Last night after about 30+ minutes of trying to get her to stay asleep, I finally just walked away and zonked out in less than 5 minutes. It was a total riot though because you could tell she had been standing holding on to the side of her crib and just crumbled down and fell asleep. Poor baby!

Mommy's got big news--I have accepted a job at OSU that requires no travel and hopefully will be a better overall environment for me. I was supposed to start the new job the day after MLK day but now that has been delayed against my wishes...ask me directly for details. But the good news is still that I have a new job--no travel, less craziness, slightly more $$, so it sounds like a great deal to me!

Evie got loads more presents from Voellmecke family Christmas which we opted not to attend, again ask me directly if you want the full dirt, but it really isn't very juicy news. She is a very lucky baby! We plan to visit the family over MLK weekend so folks can see her since we stiffed them for family Christmas. Hopefully the weather will remain good for a quick trip to Cinti.

Evie is crawling and she is getting to be super fast--we have to really watch her now. No more 'velcro baby' as one of my co-workers calls it! She also has her very first ever eye exam tomorrow. As a plug for the students at my current job, make sure you have your baby's eyes examined. There is a program called InfantSee that is a national program (which our college takes part in) where optometrists can elect to see children for a free first eye exam (as long as you take the baby to a participating optometrist within the first 12 months--unless you are noticing a potential problem they recommend visiting between 8-12). So anyway, free is always good, making sure your baby can see is very good so what's not to love. I'll let you know how it ends up going!

A few Evie pics:Ignore the fact that we look a little weird and focus on mommy and Evie in matching coats!Evie got to hang out with Thyrone and Veronica , two very cool kids!Evie in her zebra hat from Aunt Laurie. The picture does not do this justice, really. It is very fun and is kind of mohawk/mullet-esque!

First Christmas (Evie)!

She's 8.5 months old already so time for Evie first Christmas. We had tons of fun and got way too many nice things for us and obviously, WAY, WAY, WAY too many things for Evie! She is spoiled rotten (although her grandparents will all tell you she isn't).

Before the Xmas recap begins, here's some Evie stuff:

• Evie seems to be allergic to regular formula--instantly gets hives when she eats it so we have tried soy formula for several days now and not only does she like to eat it (hated 'regular' formula) she doesn't get hives!
• Evie now crawls in the more approved method. She started crawling on Friday night--she tends to lead with her right knee and drag her left leg behind her but she also does full-on crawling. She is already much better at it 3 days later!
• She can pull herself up really good--crazy girl loves to stand. She also tries to stand up in the middle of the floor but usually just ends up making a 'bridge' on the floor with her bootie in the air. It is pretty cute and very funny!

We started with her first Christmas Eve...er...Evie with Grandma and Uncle Carl by going to family church service. It was really cute--they did lots of skits and poems and it went by really fast. Evie was fairly well behaved but also charmed all the people sitting around us! Then we all went to Grandma's house and Aunt Reagon joined us and we had dinner and then on to presents! As you can see, the pile of presents was HUGE!

Best picture of the 3 of us...someone had trouble cooperatingEvie with GrandmaEvie with Uncle Carl and Aunt Reagon

Anyways, we had loads of fun and Evie got lots of great things, including some very cute outfits, toys and wonderful books. She also opened a few things on her own since she is such a big girl:

Afterwards we all came home where Nana and Grandpa were waiting for us with Emma, PQ and Ally. We went to bed so Santa could come and drop off presents--and he didn't skimp at our house AT ALL:

Evie and GrandpaNana and Evie (and Emma Lou)By now Evie was a pro at opening her own presents.

It is also worth noting that the strain of so many presents grew to be too much for such a little-big girl. She fell asleep after mommy nursed her on her lap so she was laid on the floor where she slept for almost an hour. Mommy forgot to take a picture but Nana and Grandpa have one!

And then, because 2 Christmases isn't enough we all packed up the car and went to visit Great-Grandma Treboni and Great-Aunt Mary. Where even more present craziness ensued:

Evie with Great-Grandma

Evie tends to be fussy with G-Grandma T and it makes her feel bad. We know it can be hard to be a baby and we tried really hard to get Evie all set to be super fun before heading over. She did pretty good but when we were getting ready to leave she completely won G-Grandma over when she leaned forward and gave her a big wet Evie kiss on the cheek all on her own! G-Grandma said she wasn't going to wash that cheek for a week:) Then we all came home and the Juner went to bed. What an exhausting Christmas Eve and Day!

Do You See What I See?

So last night mommy and daddy were trying to placate Evie, who started the nightly melt-down at 6:15 or so I think. A little too early for bedtime! Anyway, we were each sitting on a different side of the sectional and daddy was behind her while she stood and banged toys on the coffee table. She was doing ok for a few minutes and then she looked over, saw mommy, and started to cry. I told her she knew how to come over if she wanted to, and she turned, took her hands off the table (might have still been brushing against it with her shoulder), took one STEP towards me, stayed upright, took another step with the other foot and then started to crash face-first so I caught her before she hit her noggin'.

Afterwards, I looked and daddy and asked--'did you just see what I saw?' and he said he thought so, and we clarified that we both saw her take her first hands-free step! It was pretty cool and very crazy.

Evie then proceeded to completely melt down so mommy put her to bed a smidge early...and paid for it this morning when Evie woke up before 5 a.m.!