Evelyn is 17 months old!!!

Evelyn Olivia 17 Months

7/1/17

Evelyn, you are so wonderful in every way.  You are so sweet, cuddly, silly and cute.  I have been so blessed to have you and to know you.  You bring a lot of joy to me and your daddy, as well as, your sisters and everyone else who knows you.  You are a happy baby unless you are tired or "HANGRY".   

Just this morning, I was reading a blog I wrote on your sister, Ava when she was like 19 months old and I wanted to get across to everyone how busy she was, but in all honesty, she didn't or even still can hold a candle to your level of busyness and curiosity.  
For instance, the other day you were getting the drawer under the oven out and used that as your stepping stool to get on top of the oven.  You crawled up onto the kitchen table chairs to get on top of the kitchen table and were trying to touch the lighting above the table.  Add a few more inches and you will be hanging off of it.  You like to climb up on the couch and try to stand on the back of it.  Thankfully, you haven't mastered climbing yet so it takes you a while to get up on stuff.  Sometimes, you try and try and then give up and move on to something else.  But it is only a matter of time when you will be able to get up on the kitchen chairs and couch with little to no effort at all.  😂

You love hanging with your sisters.  You follow them around a lot.  You get lots and lots of giggles from them and find such pleasure out of making them laugh.  Class clown may be in your future.  You love to put on sun glasses or hats and come in the room we are all in and say "DADA!!!!"   On the flip side, I will find you playing alone, too.  Sometimes you will sneak off to the playroom and I will catch you playing with the bracelets or brushing your hair at the vanity.  You also like to pull books out and look at them or play with the tea cart.  

You still enjoy bouncing in your bouncy chair.  I promise we won't have you bouncing in that when you are a teenager.  But, as long as you are willing and enjoy and aren't falling out of it, it is nice to have around so I can get things done and not be constantly ushering you out of the kitchen cabinets, pantry, bathroom, what have you.  

You are starting to enjoy pool time.  You HATED it at first.  But you are now warming up to it.  🙏 I am grateful for our neighborhood pool and how child friendly it is.  You have two big sisters that are waterbugs, so while you play in the very shallow part and the fountains I can stick with you and still have eyes on the other two and feel pretty confident that they will be ok.  

You love to eat.  You love cheese, bread, yogurt, fruit, turkey dogs, fish, and sometimes chicken.  You are not a fan of peanut butter and most meats and veggies.    Your favorite food is Mac&Cheese.  You will stuff your face with that.  You love pretty much any fruit, especially grapes, blueberries and pineapple.  You tolerate your milk.  
  
You sleep well.  Most days you at least take a 2-3 hour nap, and if you aren't sleeping all that time, you quietly hum and talk to your stuffed animals.  There are some days you get cranky around 10 (depending on how early you get up) and you will take like an hour nap before lunch.  You go to bed around 8:30-9:00 and I usually get you at 8 am.  I hardly ever have to get up with you.  I actually can't remember the last time you woke up in the middle of the night and one of us needed to take care of you. I thank you for that!  

I have no idea how much you weigh, but you are wearing mostly 18 or 18-24 month clothing.  Size 4 diapers still fit rather well on you.  

I actually called your doctor today because I forgot to schedule your 18 month visit for next month and the lady on the phone informed me that I never brought you in for your 15 month well visit.  You are such a 3rd child!!!!  In fact, you eat food off of the floor,  you get squeezed, pushed and pulled to death by your sisters, you are on much less of a schedule than the other two were at your age, you got into potting soil with fertilizer and I didn't freak out, I don't dress you most days (there have been several days lately where we haven't gone anywhere and you are either still in your pj's from the night before or just in a diaper when daddy comes home from work.  You fit right in with your sisters...I  have given up dressing them unless we are going somewhere, because they take off their clothes constantly now, so what's the point!?!? They don't even want to wear pj's anymore!!!!)  

You do ok being handed over to other people.  You will pretty much go to anyone, but you are very excited when we come and get you from church nursery.  I love to be the one to pick you up because you see me and start squealing and it is just the cutest thing.  

There is so much to love about you.  You are a great baby (or toddler)....
It is sad to think my baby days are behind me.  You are a joy.  I know God will use you in His Kingdom to bring others to Him by your radiant joy and love for others.  

We love you, Evelyn Olivia.  

Evie 16 months

Evelyn is 16 months old tomorrow and she is so much fun!  She is quite the little chatterbox and I don't have a clue what she is saying, but she is serious when she talks and she thinks she is telling me something.  It is pretty cute.  It is even cuter when she talks to you with her sideways glance.   She is quite the little explorer, too.  She loves to look at everything and touch everything and move everything and break everything...

She is learning to take her walking to a faster pace called a stumbling-around-really-fast-like-a-drunk-person until I get where I am wanting to go.  It is pretty cute and entertaining.  She still will sit in her bouncy seat for a little while if I need to get something done or just need a break from chasing her.  She loves her new found freedom with all day access to the big girl playroom.  She was barricaded from that but we moved all little swallowable toys up to the loft and so she can play in the playroom unrestricted.  Pretty exciting for her and her big sisters love it, too.  They are enjoying Evie becoming more of a part of their little group.  They look forward to her waking up every morning and are always asking for her to get out of her high chair before she has even finished eating because they want to play with her.

She loves the playroom, but she isn't always fond of playing with her sisters.  They don't leave her alone much of the time.  Today, they had her nailed to the floor and were hugging her very tightly and not letting her go.  She was getting extremely angry (I don't blame her).  She much prefers the times when they are not around where she can play uninhibited by their constant control.

She is a pretty good eater.  She isn't a fan of meat or cheese.  But she loves fruit and will tolerate some vegetables.  She still drinks like three cups of milk per day and will drink some watered down juice.  Her favorite food seems to be grapes and french toast.  She also likes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and goldfish.

She is still taking 2 naps per day for me (usually).  If she misses her first nap it usually isn't a big deal for her or me.  She takes nap every day at 2.  Often she will sleep 2-3 hours for me.  She goes back to sleep for bed around 8:30 and wakes up at 8 in the morning usually.

She loves to play, go outside, take walks in the stroller or wagon, watch Trolls, give hugs and kisses, randomly check in on us, ride in the car, go to church, go to Mimi and PopPops, and then play some more.  She loves to be held and cuddled and she likes to make you laugh.

She doesn't like cold water (hoping she will get use to the pool), being told no, toys being taken away,  getting her diaper changed, getting her hair washed, getting dressed.

She is such a fun little girl, full of herself, the most curious of my three girls, and such a ham.  She is a joyful and active little thing.  I just love her to pieces and am so grateful for her being in my life.  She brings such joy to so many people and I pray that will always be a part of who she is.  I pray she will radiate joyfulness to others.  She is a beacon of light to our little family and to others.   What a great and awesome gift she is.  I can't wait to see how her life reflects the joy of the Lord and how she will inspire others with her joyfulness.

Oh and she has really crooked teeth!  𝩧𝩤𝩥𝩢𝩣𝩡

Evie is 15 months

Evie is such a fun kid!  She is mostly happy.  She finds joy in the small things.  She loves to giggle, laugh and play.  I love her exuberant personality.  She is just super easy to be around.  She loves life and it shows.  

Below, this is a rare moment for her.  She doesn't often get so bent out of shape, here she was distraught over not being able to fit on my lap since there were two other sweet girls sitting there.  

Here she was wanting to be held and she did  get upset when I couldn't hold her in that moment.  Like I said earlier, she doesn't get mad over much, but when she does, it usually involves not being held.  And, I will add, when she does get mad-WATCH OUT!  She has a temper and she will aim anything in her hand at you.

This girls loves to eat.  She eats pretty much anything you give her.  Of course,  her favorites are anything involving carbs.  Overall, she eats pretty much anything.  She still drinks milk 3 times per day, but there are times when she says, "noooo" because she does NOT want that.

She loves her horsey lovey.  She has since she was teeny tiny.  One day I found her in the playroom pushing her horsey in the stroller.  It was pretty cute.

I also watched her stack these rings.  Obviously, they are not stacked correctly, but I was impressed that she was able to do this and get them to stay put.

One night I walked in to check on her before I went to bed and this is what I saw.

I love sleeping babies and how peaceful and serene they look.  I probably stood there staring at her for like 5 minutes.

And how cute is that face!!!

Goldfish is one of her favorite snacks.  

Every time I put her down for bed, we play peek-a-boo with her blanket and she loves it.  Even being put to bed and she is as happy as can be.                                                  

This little girl has been a blessing.  She is absolutely adored by everyone in this house.  Her big sisters think she is the cutest thing and are so loving towards her.

Other info for this month:
-she wears mostly 18-24 month clothing
-she is a chatty kathy.  She says more, bye bye, mommy, daddy, nin-nin (Winston), good, coo coo      (thank you), yuh you (love you)
- she takes mostly one nap per day
-she goes to bed around 8:30 and sleeps until about 7:30
-her favorite thing is her horsey
-she loves to play with her big sisters.

We love you with all our hearts, sweet Evie.  I know you are going to bring great joy to others.  The joy of the Lord will be your strength.  Never lose that radiant countenance.