Evie Marelle Turns ONE!!!

This year has flown by in so many ways.  However, there are days where I feel like I have always known our girl and can't believe she has only been with us for such a short time.  We are so blessed to have her.  She is the most joyful child and so much fun to be around.

 In case you have not heard, we have decided to make it official that our girl will go by her double name Evie Marelle.  Marelle was my maternal grandmother's name.  I was extremely close to her and have so many fond memories of our time together.  I was thrilled to be able to pass the name on to our daughter as her middle name.  At first, Husband was not on board with the double name and I gave up the name for simplicity sake.  I thought I would be able to let it go, but a year later I was still regretting not going for it.  Over time, Grant has grown accostumed to the name and very open to making the change.  We are thrilled about it and hope within 6 months people will feel comfortable with it as well.  David is doing great with it, much to our surprise!!

 Moving on....
We go for Evie Marelle's one year appointment next week, so I don't have any stats to document just yet.  However, her weight seems to have plateaued and if you look at clothing, I would say she is short for her age.  She is still able to wear 9 month footed pajamas, which surprises me because her brother was always out of his size a month early due to length issues.

This child is a mess.  I cannot believe I am getting to raise a girl with such an amazing personality.  It will definitely be a challenge for me to learn her ways, but there is no doubt she is going to be a blast.  The girl is wild, always moving, so very brave, spunky, sassy, extremely self-aware, and quite communicative considering she has no words besides--Mama, Dada, Hi, and Bye.  I am constantly amazed at how mature she is for her age.  I wasn't all that sad about her one year old birthday because I really feel like she has been behaving like a 15 month old for a few months now.  She is very opinionated and does not take 'no' for an answer without much protest.  I never had to use redirection with David, but it is a must to get us through our days with Evie Marelle.  Her spunk has made her relationship with Big Brother quite funny.  I never have to worry if she is being terrorized without my knowledge because she is sure to tell me from across the house.

EM loves loves loves baby dolls.  It is so cute!!  I so enjoy watching her rock her baby or pat it's bottom.  I actually had to BUY a 3 dollar doll for her from Target.  It was my own fault because I let her carry her around in the buggy to keep her content.  Well, at the register I handed it off with no intent to purchase and baby girl LOST IT.  I was that Mom, who let her infant child get her way through pitching a fit.  It is a funny story now and man, does she looovvve that baby doll.

No true steps taken yet, but she will speed walk if holding your fingers.  She isn't one for standing and still prefers to bear crawl.  It looks like she might be a climber because she loves to get up and down from the sofa after diving off head first.  EM also loves a ride toy.  She puts a death grip on the handle bars and begs to be pushed across the room.  She is still very social and loves some attention, but has become much more clingy on her Mommy and Daddy.  Speaking of Daddy, the girl is obsessed.  It is the most precious thing I have ever seen.  She lights up like I have never seen, arms erect above her ahead, moving, shaking, grunting, fussing until she is in her rightful place--her Daddy's arms.   I am thrilled!

Lastly--working on tooth four and it looks like five and six are not far behind.  The top teeth have been hard on little one, but she is doing great at night.  She still sleeps WONDERFULLY.  I rarely hear from her before 830 or 9 in the morning and she still likes a big big afternoon nap.  We are onto cow's milk and have just about dropped all her bottles--she still takes one in the morning and before bed, but she does great on the cup as well.

Cannot believe I have TWO toddlers.  Life is full.