Sunday, August 21, 2011

All about Eva

Of course its all about Eva. For the past 2 months she has dictated my sleep, my mood, our schedule and our outings. She's such a precious addition to our family that we haven't minded too much. But now at 2 months we are starting to get a semblance of a life back and so I'm trying to steal a minute to catch up. Remember, this is my journal so if the stories bore you I won't feel badly if you just peruse the pictures.
Eva was only 2 weeks old on the 4th of July so we celebrated pretty tamely. We skipped out on the parade and fireworks but mom did dress her up cute to attend a couple of BBQ's.
As Eva turned 1month that inevitable blessing rash appeared. It was enhanced with a little heat rash from having her nestled against me for nursing and sleeping in the hot July weather. Eva loves to be cuddled, held and carried. In fact that is the only way that she will sleep now, someone must be holding her. Otherwise after a few minutes she starts rustling. She starts with a little wiggle which then her arms moving like a prize fighter. Then she starts grunting and fussing making a sound like she's clearing her throat. It is so funny. She spends a great portion of her day snuggled in the front of mom's cool Moby wrap. After a brief stint in her cradle, Evangeline spends the majority of the night snuggled up with mom in bed. It makes nursing so much more convenient and then I don't fall asleep in the chair with a crinked neck. Eva started smiling just after she turned one month. Her first smile was on July 20th, 2011. They are sooo sweet and she generously smiles at all of our family, but the most for mom. Eva loves her lotion rub downs at night and is beginning to like baths, but just for a minute or two.

We blessed Evangeline on Sunday August 7th, 2011. It was a joyous celebration with our family and friends. Eva was so adorable in her blessing dress. It is the same dress that both Abi and Leah wore as well. Eva was blessed by her father, Kristopher with many family and friends standing in her circle. Our friend Derrick Thompson mentioned that just before Kris started, Eva looked up toward heaven as if opening the conduit. We celebrated with a lovely luncheon at our home afterward.
We quickly rounded us all up for a quick picture of our family.
At 2 months of age Evangeline is still the star of our family. She is growing so big and fast, she even has little chubby rolls on her thighs. At her 2 month check up she was 24 1/4 inches long and 11 lb 14 oz. She is 97% for her height and 80% for weight. She continues to be a fantastic nurser with NO colic, hallelujah. We are starting to settle into a semblance of a routine which I'm sure will get better as the older kids go back to school. She normally takes a 20 minute nap in the swing around 10ish which gives mom just enough time to run through the shower. She has another couple of naps throughout the day, usually while being carried around by mom in the Moby wrap or held by either mom, Abi or Tal and occasionally in the swing. She loves her lotion rub down about 8:30 or 9:00 where she will smile and coo, kick her legs and swing her arms. Then we dress her in her nightgown and nurse for the night. Eva insists on being rocked to sleep and her bedtime seems internally set at about 11:00pm. We're working on moving that up. She sleeps in her cradle at the foot of our bed until about 2:00 am when she wakes up to nurse and gets to snuggle in bed with mommy. She wakes again about 5:00 to nurse and then we sleep until about 8:00 am when her bright blue eyes bing open for the day.
Eva loves to go outside. She smiles and coos as long as I keep her in the shade. In the sun she squeezes her eyes shut and wrestles about trying to get out of the glare. But in the shade she is just as sweet as can be. This day she cooperated and let me capture on of those sweet smiles.