Evie Rae is 3 Months (Well 4 months now)

And... I'm back! I've been on a bloggin hiatus while visiting with my family in PA for two weeks. I was off of my blog and facebook for most of the time and it was refreshing actually! But now I'm backlogged on all the stuff I wanted to record over the last several weeks! One of them being, my baby girl turning 3 months old! So here's her 3 month old picture and she just turned 4 months! So a little behind, but she's such a little button I had to post it anyway!

Your 3 Month Milestones

• You are all smiles!!! Pretty much any eye contact from anyone elicits the most heart-warming grin imaginable! 
• You are making all sorts of cooing noises... oh I love those baby noises. You even make them when you are falling asleep. It is sooo cute. 
• You no longer melt into my shoulder when I hold you, but rather you prop your little head up looking all around the room, not wanting to miss a thing!
• You get the biggest smile when you watch your brother play. It's adorable.
• You discovered that you can hold a rattle and shake it. You look surprised by the noise it makes. It makes Mekonen laugh and laugh. 
• You are SUCH a good sleeper and falling into a pattern of two naps a day, and a cat nap at night around dinner, before going to bed around 7:30/8pm. 
• When we hold you on our laps your legs kick and squirm non-stop! 
• You are almost laughing! You let out these one or two little grunt/giggles if we tickle you or make faces and talk to you. 
• Your brother is the only person who calls you "Eve." It is extremely precious.
• July 9th was your first full night in your nursery, in your big girl crib. It did make me sad. 
• July 11th you started reaching for objects held in front of your face with both hands.
• July 23rd you rolled over from your back to your belly! We were a your Grandma's house in PA and I was in the kitchen with everyone getting dinner ready. You were laying on the playmat on your back. I walked back in the room and you were propped up on your belly looking around. We all missed it! Now you are rolling all over the place and can even scoot and roll yourself right off your blanket. 

And, check out Evie's left eye "wink" and my left eye "wink" when I was a baby. Haha. 

Girly Things

As I'm sure you can tell, I am obsessed with putting bows on Evie's head, and yes, she has several that are larger than her face! She will "love" me for it someday right? :) Haha. It's no secret I am fully enjoying this girl thing. The bright colors the flowers, the fun little summer dresses! Love it all. :)

I needed to find a way to store her bows since we were accumulating quite the collection. So I took an old picture frame from a friend, some ribbon on sale for $1 and a can of turquoise spray paint and this is what I got!

This will be hanging on the wall next to Evie's changing table. All the flowers/bows are clipped right onto the ribbon.

 And here are some cute pics of my girl dressed in some of her bows. In the last one Jon says she looks like Pollyanna. Poor Evie. :)



Happy 4th of July

Finally... here's to the 4th! :) We spent the 4th of July (also our anniversary) with Jon's parents and his sister Lindsay. We had a great time and it was a beautiful day!

My babes: Mekonen & Evie

 Evie & Gramps

 Evie & Grandma Magz

 Mekonen BEFORE the fireworks, looking happy

Then this happened- a REALLY loud high pitched shrill came from the firework that scared all of us, and most definitely Mekonen!

 After that, Mekonen would have nothing to do with these so called fireworks festivities. He kept covering his face. Poor buddy.

 And I kept trying to convince him to hold the sparklers with me. It was a no-go.

So, I played with the fire myself!

 Since Mekonen was not enjoying the fire celebrations :) Daddy, Aunt Lindsay, and I decided to have our own fun with the sparklers. 

 ooooooh dangerous!!!! 

 We had Mekonen salute the flag to make fun of his uber patriotic Grandma Magz. :) 

 fire acrobatics

 Okay, I literally look psychotic in this one, lighter in hand and all.

At the fireworks at night! 

Me and Meko

 Aunt Lindsay & Mekonen

 Daddy & his boy

 Happy Anniversary babe! Wow, 6 years!

 Playin' with Daddy

 So the firework we set off in Grandpa's driveway made Mekonen cover his eyes for the big fireworks in the sky. 

I finally convinced him to take his hands off his eyes and this is what he did...just closed his eyes. Haha. Eventually, we got him to watch the remainder of the show, but he stayed snuggled on Mommy's lap. 

Growing & Letting Go

*sigh*
Evie is spending her first full night in her own crib, in her nursery, by herself. I didn't think it would feel like this. I know, I know, I sound like one of those ridiculous moms. Ever since her first day she has been sleeping right next to the bed, in her own little bassinet. She's already 3 months old and when she is completely stretched out she is almost too big for the bassinet. I just didn't think it would feel this way. I have a panicky feeling- all these thoughts go through my mind such as, but she's so small, her room is "so far away," she can't call for me, what if something is wrong, she doesn't cry, and I don't hear her?" I have a pit of my stomach feeling, and I don't like it. It means my baby is growing up, and too fast at that. Already when I hold her anymore she wants to be upright, looking out over my shoulder or facing forward and seeing everything that is happening. Unless she is sleeping she doesn't nestle into that newborn laying down position in my arms anymore. She is starting to make baby noises and is so close to giggling, like the real giggles. I look forward to these "big girl" moments, but am sad to be missing those itty bitty newborn days.

There are two very specific memories I will never forget that I think of in times like this when I'm sad to see her "getting big." I remember when I first laid eyes on her, the first thing I noticed was her lips. I'm obsessed with them. They are my favorite feature on her. They are the sweetest and cutest things ever... that high peak top lip....oooooh I love it. This is what is etched in my memory...

The other thing I remember is the first time I really held her up to my face, felt her lips on my face. She knew exactly who I was. I could feel it. I could sense it. I will remember that feeling for the rest of my life.

*sigh*
I love this baby girl.

So tonight, I have to let her go, let her grow up a little more, be a "big girl" and sleep in her nursery, so her Daddy and I can have our room back. But I miss her and it's really only been a few minutes that she's been in there. She has slept in her nursery for all her naps since the beginning, but at night she has been in her bassinet with us. I feel sad that I am going to wake up in the morning and not roll over and peek into the bassinet to see her cute little self staring up at the ceiling fan, trying to eat her fist or her blanket, kicking her little feet in the air. I think back to those first days and weeks home when she looked so small and fragile in that bassinet, and now she's all meaty and "chunky." How it was all so new and exciting and how really, I never did mind getting up to feed her, even though I wanted to keel over from being so tired. How I would swaddle her up in her halo sack, and how it only took her a week or two to stop liking that. I would reach into the bassinet and pick her up by the front of her sleep sack, wound up so tightly she wouldn't even budge. Too cute. I know I need to make this move now because I'm becoming more emotional about it every day that I think about it, and we are not co-sleeping, bedroom sharing parents. (I have no problem with those who are, but it's not for us). So far, I'm not crying over it, and I don't really want to get to that... besides, Jon might kill me then. Haha.

With all that going on with Miss Evie, another pit of my stomach feeling starts making its appearance, but one that truthfully, I am not strong enough tonight to dive into, not strong enough today to let myself feel it, or wade through the feelings it brings... that deep ache in my heart that longs to have known my son for those first 8 months of his precious life. To know, feel, see, and experience the depths of his little being in his earliest days. Those feelings, that pit of my stomach feeling is in a place in my heart that I have sealed to an extent. Some days, I let myself go there, but today it is too much. I have never experienced something so strong and so powerful as the love I have for this son and daughter of mine. Oh how I am blessed.

I know I sound crazy, and I'm okay with that. I love this experience of building our family, building our story, of leaving a legacy. I long to soak in every moment, every feeling, every experience. And truthfully, I can't wait to experience all the itty bitty baby firsts again, and also really look forward to all those  "growing big" firsts that seem to come by the day... with both of my growing babes.

So goodnight Miss Evie Rae, sleep tight in your big girl nursery. Mommy misses you already, although as soon as I hit post, I'm walking down the "long" hallway to check on you.

And goodnight Mekonen Jack! I wonder if you know how many times I check on you and kiss your cheeks over and over while you sleep, and how sometimes, I crawl into your bed and snuggle you while you sleep for just a few minutes.

Mmm. I love you my little ones.

Happy Anniversary & Date Nights for a Year!

Happy Anniversary to us!! :) Jon and I have been married for 6 years! Wow. That's weird! Seems so young, but yet so old, all at the same time. :) We got married on the 4th of July and exited our reception through a huge sparkler tunnel ending with fireworks. It was perfection!

6 years ago...

From this....

To this...

Now THAT is crazy. I feel too young to be married, and two kids? Wow. :) 

And some anniversary love...

For our anniversary this year, I made Jon's gift. It only took him 6 years to tell me how much he hates planning social events for us to hang with friends, and really hates planning our date nights. He said it "stresses him out." If I would've known how adamant he was about this, I would've done something about it a long time ago! I do plan our social calendar a lot of times, but I haven't really taken care of the date night stuff. Usually Jon does and I honestly never thought much about it. Maybe it's like that old couple, around age 90, that the husband finally tells his wife after 50+ years of marriage that he hates peas, despises them actually. But he always ate them in large amounts when she cooked them and never said anything different, so she assumed they were his favorite vegetable, and made them all the time! Maybe it's something like that! :) Who knows! 

So anyway, we got into this huge discussion about planning date nights and planning in general about two months ago and Jon was obviously a bit agitated. Then I got a GREAT idea. My anniversary gift would be an entire year of planned date nights!! Now that is not an easy task on a limited budget. But boy was it worth it. And, I actually really had a great time putting it together because I knew Jon would really like it. 

It took me hours and hours to come up with all the dates and organize them. I decided on two dates a month for a year. Each month, I planned one date costing money and one date that was a stay-in date or a no-money date. I made the entire date night can, including the envelopes (which no lie, took me 4 hours to make all of them)! Holy cow! 

The Finished Product!

"A Year To Remember"

Inside the paint can are 12 envelopes, labeled for each month of the year. 

Inside each month's envelopes are two little envelopes. Inside each little envelope is an invitation to date night. 

And that's it! I cannot wait for all our fun dates! I am a little bummed I have to wait so long to complete all of them, but it'll be worth it! 

We are huge, huge proponents of weekly date nights for married couples. Weekly you say? Yes. Absolutely!!! And sadly, most married couples only get time away/out together a few times a year. Unfortunately, many marriages see the affects of the lack of time spent together, alone. Ideally, a weekly date night is best, but our budget is limited so paying for a date night and a sitter is not usually possible. So I opted to plan for just 2 dates a month for this season of our life. We are extremely blessed for a few people in our life who selflessly and joyfully watch our two babes for free so we can get out together. I can't even describe the blessing that is! Need to start date night with the love of your life? Here are some babysitting ideas if you have little ones that make it seem like a weekly date night is impossible. 

1. Sitter swap- do you have friends that live in the same general area with kids? Get 4 couples together and swap babystting. One evening a month, you and your spouse have all 4 couples' kids at your house while the other 3 couples go out. And the other 3 weekends the other couples babysit. This means that each couple gets 3 date nights a months with free babysitting. 
2. Do grandparents live in the area? We know of people whose Grandparents take the kids one evening a week so mom and dad can have some time together. This can be a super great memory for your kids growing up, having their own special "date night" with their Grandma and Grandpa.
3. Do you have an "older" couple/family in your church who might be willing to encourage young married couples by sitting for free once a month? Sometimes elderly, grandparent-like couples love the opportunity to bless your children, or maybe a family whose children are older or already out of the house might love the opportunity as well. 

So let your creative juices flow and bring that hunny of yours on a date night! It will do a lot for your marriage and give you time to reconnect without the kids each week!