Like Father, Like Son

This boy loves to cook....just like his Daddy.  There is rarely a night that goes by where David is not helping out in the kitchen.  He loves to crack eggs, crush garlic, stir the pot, add salt, or anything really he will be allowed to do.  I know Grant is thrilled to have a little shadow in the kitchen.  David definitely idolizes his Daddy's ways and is quick to correct me when I leave an ingredient out of the spaghetti sauce.  We are making a good bit of progress in the food department--David now loves carrots, beans, and will eat one or two pieces of broccoli upon request. :)  His newest imaginative play idea is opening a restaurant in our den called "Chicky-D's."  Daddy is proud :)!

FIFTEEN

Hmmm....somehow, I completely forgot to post on Evie Marelle's 14 month birthday.  Oops!!

Our little lady is still holding true to her big personality and wild ways.  She is basically running everywhere and is always on a mission.  If there is a ledge, a parking lot, or a street filled with speeding cars; Evie Marelle will be running straight for it.

Her verbal skills consist of whining, grunting, pointing, and crying.  We are hoping she will choose to use the handful of words she has, but are banking on the fact she will stick to grunting for quite awhile.  Daddy is DaDa, Mommy is Da, and David is DAAAY DAAAYYY in a high pitched squeal like voice.

Speaking of Brother David, she is obsessed with the boy and I have been SO PROUD of how sweet he has been acting towards her.  Surprisingly, they are starting to act like friends.  Baby Girl no longer screams when David touches her and Big Brother no longer swipes every toy from her path.  In fact, Evie Marelle has become more of the swiper in their relationship.  There is hope!  I can really tell that David is starting to adore EM as much as she adores him.....for now, at least.  :)

EM takes after her Daddy in the dare devil area.  She is definitely a risk taker and loves to fly through the air, go fast on any moving object, or flip around on just about anything.  If she is restless in your lap, just lay her back so her head is hanging upside down.  She LOVES it.

Squishy pants has finally fallen in love with books.  She loves them and will actually sit still long enough to read one.  Her obsession with Lamby has been taken to new heights, as has the love for her paci.  Her favorite thing is to sit in my lap and get me to mimic her faces and sounds.  To say the least she is silly.  Baby girl loves older children and is not the least bit intimidated....the only real thing that scares her are dogs.  She can tell you what a sheep and puppy dog say and can point to her nose, hair, bow, and belly.  Her newest trick is throwing her hands in the air after a flip and saying "Ta-Da!"

Happy 15 months of life Lou!!  You are our girl and we love you!!

THIRTEEN

Happy pants is 13 months old and just as sweet as ever!!  

 She took her first steps the week before New Years and is now full out walking about 80% of the time.

We even got some real live shoes and Evie Marelle is obsessed!  She must have inherited her Aunt Susu's love for shoes.

And maybe also her Mama's love for a good bag.  

 Evie Marelle is starting to look more like her Mama and act a bit like her Daddy. 

She loves cheese and is on a vegetable strike.

Baby girl plays so well on her own and just kind of wanders around the house piddling.

Sleep is still her strong suit.  We are currently fighting through some eye teeth and besides a few bad nights, she has done great!

The child loves to dance still and lives for her Daddy to walk through the front door.

She even calls me Dada :).

So far her words are--Mama, Dada, Day Day (David), ba-pa (backpack), book, bow, and baby.  Even though she CAN say these things, she chooses to grunt and point.  She loves her bows and pats her head when she wants you to put it in after a nap.  EM plays rough, loves to wrestle, and is surprisingly coordinated with a ball.  So far, I am guessing she will be a lefty, mainly because her right hand is 100% clean after a meal.  To be such a wild thing, she really has mellowed out lately and just kind of entertains herself.  What a blessing this baby is to us!!

Happy 13 months Sweet Girl!!

(2 new posts below)

Our Boy

I have always hoped for a little boy that wanted to run around town in some sort of costume or super hero cape.  Well, that is exactly what the Lord gave us.  This boy loves goggles, rain boots, hats, capes, and all kinds of dress-up gear.  His favorite holiday is Halloween and you can find him around town as Buzz Lightyear, Batman, or Spiderman.  It is a rare week that his Auburn jersey isn't worn for days at a time pulled over the outfit I have chosen for him.  He lives in his cowboy boots and has turned his pumpkin bucket into a drum major hat.  I love his sweet and fun nature!!

(Here he is conducting the band or as he likes to put it "protecting the band from the football men."  This is a daily occurance in our house and much more so now that he has an Auburn cape, whistle, and band hat.)

Christmas 2010

December was sort of trying for our little family.  Between battling the flu and the throw up bug, we somehow were able to pull ourselves together and enjoy this sweet time of year with our little guy and gal.  I loved watching David arrange and rearrange the nativity scene.  He somehow was able to separate the whole Santa thing from the fact that Jesus was born on Christmas Day.  I loved fielding all his precious questions.  He wondered how we would celebrate Jesus' birthday if he wasn't going to actually be there.  I attempted to explain the whole Jesus is everywhere concept---not sure how that went over exactly.  He fell in love with Rudolph and overcame his fear of Santa.  The following picture was possibly one of our proudest moments as parents thus far :).  (Those of you who have fearful or cautious children will understand, but you spend everyday trying to equip your little one to participate in life, rather than shirk away from new things.  After three years, this boy walked right up to Santa and sat in his lap.  I was ECSTATIC!)

Now Evie Marelle is not afraid of anything, but she is one and right on track to be terrified of strange men in red suits.

We filled the few days we were healthy with all kinds of fun festivities.  There was no shortage of family gatherings, photo sessions, tree gazing, or Christmas light hunting.  This boy loves some Santamation (a word I invented to describe holiday yard decor.)  My favorite new tradition was the live nativity scene at a nearby church in our community.  David was totally in his element, running from animal to animal.  It was hilarious to sit with him during the play--he was very concerned about not being able to see the myrrh.  And somehow the third wiseman missed his cue to enter stage left, which was followed by a 3 year old boy hollering, "I only see one, two wisemen.  Where is the third one!?  Where is the myrrh!!?"

Christmas Day was so sweet.  David was in awe of the fact he actually received what he had asked for--a balance bike--"even though he was a little bit mean."  Evie Marelle jumped right in and seemed way more interested in her actual gifts than I had anticipated.  I wish they could understand the real gift they have received from God Himself.  In due time...

I would have to say that the hilite of David's Christmas revolved around the Auburn marching band.  He is now the proud owner of an Auburn drum major cape (homemade by yours truly), a trumpet, and a homemade snare drum set (made from Domino's sugar cannisters, kudos to Nanny!).

Merry Christmas!!

Such joyful children :).

David & Evie Marelle 2010

(new post below)

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.