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.!

Big Girl!

Evie is such a big girl all of a sudden. She pulled herself from sitting to standing for the first time for us last week (well, first time to stay upright anyway) and now she's done it like a million times and is a super pro! Even cooler than this in my opinion though is that she can sit up on her own--she has done it a few times from laying down on her back and is really good at doing it from laying on her stomach position. This is really nice because when she does slowly veer over or fall down she can fix it herself:) She is also pretty comfortable with sitting down on her own from standing although her technique could use some work--she hits her tush pretty hard when she just lets go and bends her knees!

Evie also met Santa for the first time. Merry Moppet has a parent dress up as Santa every year and one of the daddies from her class was Santa Claus on Friday. Grandpa went in and took pictures for us and I think he had lots of fun--Evie's teachers said he was very cool and can come back any time! The pictures are cute--Evie just looks puzzled to be sitting on Santa's lap and then she had quite a field day pulling on his wig. Crazy baby! Evie also went to her first zoo lights with Nana and Grandpa...mommy and daddy went too but had been before a few times. She managed to stay awake the entire time and melted down after we had been there for about 2 hours, which was really pretty good. Then Saturday, she got her first doll house from grandma and went to the Melting Pot with the Trebonis to celebrate their 34 wedding anniversary. She did ok with the Melting Pot but was a bit fussy, horrifying daddy. She also made a huge mess of fallen puffs which she kept knocking on the floor:(. Sunday, we took her to the park again to swing--she LOVES to swing and how many days in December can you go to the park--I mean really, this weather is strange!She's still not sure about the slide, even when daddy goes down with her!

We mailed out Evie's holiday greetings last week so hopefully yours will come soon...enjoy!

Evie is 8 Months Young Today!

It is Evie's 8 month birthday! What this means is:

• she is taller and weighs more--she is over 17 pounds and just a bit over 27 inches long
• she is cuter and more huggable than ever
• she eats all sorts of crazy foods--and has learned to feed herself puffs (which were formerly too small for her to grab--look at those fine motor skills maturing!)
• we have another 'deck of cards' photo for you
  
• we are 2/3 of the way there to her first birthday!

What she's still holding out on:

• she still has no toothers
• she prefers commando crawl and rolling to getting up on all fours and using the more regularly 'approved' method
• walking, well duh, right?

But for the first time ever this weekend for her parents she:
Pulled herself from sitting to standing all by herself AND was able to remain standing (before she has slowly toppled over the other direction after pulling herself up)!Here she is on her 'learn-around' playground which she loves. As her daddy says, she is the standin'-est girl!

And here are her card photos. I can't decide on a favorite because they are all fun--although the one on the right almost doesn't even look like her to me (she looks like a doll or something I guess). Unfortunately her mobile status precludes us from getting a great shot of the cards on her chest for growth comparison, but I think these are a still fun--and of course the left-hand photo says--I'm gonna get you sucka!

Evie's First Christmas Tree

As a special present, Nana and Grandpa got us a real Christmas tree. It is Evie's first one ever, and mommy's first one since she was about 5-6 years old! Very exciting stuff and it is BEAUTIFUL!
It looks evern better in person and our house smells pine-licious, which is a new one for me! Pasquale and Emma aren't 100% sold on the tree, but they have enjoyed a few taste-tests so far!

On Monday Evie got sick at school once again, probably because she doesn't like plain meats for a meal--she prefers the mixed meals. She also broke out in hives Monday night which was a little freaky--grandma came over and helped mommy keep an eye on her and they went away after a few hours. We're trying to track those to make sure she isn't allergic or sensitive to anything but are a little concerned that this happened 24 hours after she tried yogurt (last time with yogurt she threw up 24 hours later too). I am thinking we will not be doing yogurt for a while!

Yesterday Evie was a food thief--for some reason daycare gave her some other kids jar of fruits instead of feeding her the jar of sweet potatoes we had left there. Mommy was pretty darn upset and followed up with everyone there today--not sure I am completely satisfied but you can't just switch daycares on a whim. Overall, I know they love the Juner, but especially with her hives and being sick we need to know what is going into her little tummy. Shouldn't happen again, so please keep your fingers crossed that everything goes back to normal there--Evie loves her teachers and it would be easier all around if this was a weird one-time thing.

In other news, daddy and grandpa came back from their Cleveland trip to see the Browns--I think they were good luck charms for the dog pound since the Browns beat the Chiefs in overtime! Made for a great game for them and I am glad they had time to go off and be men together--it has been a while since they had the chance to do that! Next up=Sci Fi Marathon in the Spring:)

We're working on getting the 'perfect' picture of Ms Evie-thing in her special Christmas outfit to send out to everyone...until then no peeking!