What A Difference Fifty-Eight Days Makes

Take a close look at the three pictures below. The first and second were taken on January 2nd, the day we went home from the hospital. The third was taken today, exactly 58 days later. It boggles my mind. If you look closely you'll see Evangeline is wearing the same onesie in all three pictures.

Watching Mom Work

What is a little baby to do while mom works on sorting out the laundry? Nap and relax, of course. We have found Evangeline is growing out of a lot of clothes. Quite a lot of what we have in the 0-3month range has already been boxed up and put in the garage. I find it hard to believe an eight week old baby is already to big for anything!

Now's The Time For All Good Kids To Go To Bed

Wow, what a day. Meetings at the church, membership drama, a not horrible commute, and the sweetest baby ever.

Today since I had Evangeline at the office with me, I set up the webcam and Kaia was able to watch her while she was working at the lab. The comedy highlight was the 15 minute stretch where Evie Lu wanted the pacifier, but spit it out as soon as I turned my back. My little girl has me trained very well. Then Kaia e-mailed to ask if I was getting any work done.

A big assist goes to my co-worker Andy who found the pacifier as I was getting yelled at on the phone.

A Day At Work

Apologies to all the faithful blog readers, but I was on the road with Evangeline early this morning for a full day at the church. So here is a picture of the awesome little birthmark she has. The doc said it will fade after six months or so, but for now it is like my daughter decided she wanted a tatoo on her shoulder just like her dad!



Hey look at me!

Just Try Not To Smile

Go ahead. I challenge you. Look at these pictures and keep a straight face.

Hold Your Head Up

Our little Evangeline is getting so big and strong. It seems like everyday she is holding her head a little higher for a little bit longer.

On Saturday she rolled over again and you can see from the pictures below, her rolling over is largely due to leaning her head in one direction letting momentum do the rest.

Sleep Sack

Evangeline has graduated, sort of. For the first seven weeks of her life we dutifully swaddled her and she really loved the kiddopotamus tight swaddle, but our baby is growing. Unofficially we think she is at least 12 if not 13 pounds and somewhere between 23 and 24 inches long. We would try to swaddle her and she would burst out of it.

Thankfully a dear friend from northern Minnesota sent a giant box of good baby stuff and inside was a sleep sack. How cool is this? One of these days I'm going to make a list of all the baby stuff Evie Lu has that would translate well into the grown up world. A version of the sleep sack would make it, I'm sure.

Don't you think she looks peaceful?



Be sure to check out the post below as well.

Eight Weeks Old!

By the time you read this Evangeline Lucille will be eight weeks old. Can you believe it? I am shocked that time has gone so quickly.

One of our minor disappointments has been Evie Lu's diminishing hairline. She was born with this beautiful full head of hair and now it is prime for a comb over. Kaia lost all of her hair and we know lots of babies don't have hair at all to start, but still.

Here is a shot of our balding baby. I like to think Evangeline is saying, "I don't care if you have to get up at 5:30 to get to the church on time. I'm sleeping in."

Evie Lu's Favorite Toy

Before she was born Evangeline was given a wonderfully cool toy. It has a rattle, a mirror,and we think it is a bunny. We also think it is the first toy she has recognized. We get a kick out of how big her eyes get when Kaia brings it into her line of sight. Thank you, Meredith!

You Play With Your Toys, I'll Play With Mine

Friday afternoon found Evangeline and I relaxing a little bit. Ah, quality father daughter time is a beautiful thing.



And as of this posting there are only 37 days, 13 hours, and 49 minutes until opening day for the Cubs!

Friday I'm In Love

Yesterday was the first real "baby trade off" day. Kaia worked until the early afternoon and by 2:30pm I was on my way to work. Kaia and I have both struggled with leaving her, but yesterday worked really well. Evie Lu and Kaia went for a big walk and stocked up on some necessary girlie stuff. Lotions and make-up were the order of the day.

I worked with the bands at church and continued to get back into the flow. There was some disappointment that it was only me. A standard greeting, "Hey Will, did you bring Evangeline? Oh, well it is good to see you too."

When I got home this is what I found: Two beautiful ladies! Can I be any more blessed?

Her Aunt Is In Rome . . .

. . .and Evangeline has decided she wants to be Pope.


That little hat was firmly placed on her head, but I think her new trick of looking one direction and then quickly changing direction caused the hat to corkscrew off.

Another new trick is her ability to tell if I have left the room even for a second. I was trying to take out the garbage today and everytime I left she cried out. I could poke my head into the room and tell Evangeline to look at me and she would settle. It was pretty amazing.

So, I say any baby that advanced deserves to be the pope or at least wear the hat.

Happy Thursday!

I've played enough concerts to understand you have to know your audience, so following the deep post last night here is just a nugget of joy. Evangeline is smiling all the time now. I don't it is on command just yet, but who can tell?

The best is at 3am when I should be all business about changing her and bringing Evie Lu to Kaia, but she'll flash a grin and I'm powerless. She just melts me.

So here you go, let the melting begin.

Ash Wednesday Baby

Her Aunt Megan wrote about sleeping through Ash Wednesday services in Rome, but she is in good company. Evangeline slept through service tonight as well. Although Evie Lu did manage to make it into a church to do her sleeping.

Our debate tonight was whether Evangeline should receive ashes on her forehead or not. Not really knowing what to do we walked forward. Kaia was carrying Evangeline in a sling as she approached Pr. John. Kaia received the ashes and then Pr. John just placed his hand on Evie Lu's head through the sling and said the words, "From dust you have come and to dust you shall return."

Mortality has not been something we have thought a great deal about since we have been home with a happy and healthy baby, but tonight was a good reminder of who we are and who claims us. Evangeline is a child of God and a saint just the same as her great grandfather Ralph on my side and great grandmother Mary on Kaia's side who are no longer here on earth.

Chase The Towel

Our darling Evangeline responds to most anything these days by opening her mouth. If you shake a rattle in front of her, she opens her mouth. If you play peek-a-boo, she opens her mouth. It really cracks Kaia and I up. It seems to us everyday brings us closer to real smiles in response to what we do. We take any smiles Evie Lu gives us, even if they are at 3am and we really should just be sleeping.

One version of peek-a-boo is what you see below. I call it chase the towel.

Work Out Buddy

No matter what your fitness routine is you need help and encouragement and Great Aunt Pam's doll has been encouraging Evie Lu during her belly time.

We can do it together!

I'll spot you.


Remember to stretch afterwards.

No Really, I'm Happy

She's been fed. She's been changed. She has a bath in her future. So why does she have this look on her face? Ten points to anyone who can tell us what she's thinking.

Just You And Me Punk Rock Girl

You'll notice if you look back through past pictures that our dear Evie Lu has less hair these days than she did at birth. We are hoping she doesn't go completely bald, but if Evangeline does she'll be in good company since her beautiful mother did the same thing shortly after birth.

While she does have hair we took these fine pictures. Just watch, everyone will go to their stylist asking for the "Evangeline Unicorn."

Last Pictures

Just before leaving for the airport we snapped some quick family pictures. Not a bad looking group, huh?



Tomorrow is a big day for Kaia, Evangeline, and I. We are all heading to various workplaces. Keep us in your prayers.
(Evangeline doesn't have a real job yet other than eating, sleeping, and filling her diaper so she'll hang with us.)

Goodbye Is No Fun

You never feel so far away as when you have to say goodbye to family. At this moment Montana and Minnesota feel light years away, (we won't even mention Italy, Georgia, and L.A.) We are called to be in this part of the country, so here we are.

These are some pictures from last night which was a hoot. We just stayed in, ordered fantastic pizza from Pagliacci's, and enjoyed each other's company. Evie Lu's first piggy bank was a gift from Grandma and Grandpa along with this cool noisemaker/free weight in the picture below. Also check out the beautiful blanket Grandma Bev made.

One of the highlights was this little trick to make Evangeline smile. I traced one cheek and then the other and she gave me a huge smile. Even better was when it worked a second time two hours later. It hasn't worked since, but I'll keep trying.

So, who else wants to visit and help us love little Evie Lu?

Answers To Questions

Well, we did make it to the early service, but we arrived at 8:40 for the 8:30 service. This was actually a good thing as we were able to sneak in and only 4 year old Jacob noticed us. He blew our cover as he started loudly whispering "Kaia!"

We lingered in the sanctuary as waves of people wanted to see our little girl. A few folks said it was good to see us too, but mostly it was Evangeline.

I lost dad points due to putting her onsie on backwards. You could tell Evie Lu was upset about it. She's a fashionista already.

Too Cool For School

This morning we are all headed to church and the early service at that. Will we make it? Will Evie Lu keep her beautiful outfit spit-up free? Will her dad keep his outfit spit-up free?
Tune in later today!

Talkin' Seattle Grunge Blues

A gorgeous day meant lunch at the top of the Space Needle. It was a great time and we saw everything. The restaurant takes 47 minutes to make one full revolution and I think we did three revolutions. We definitely got our money's worth. A nice side benefit of the constant motion is Evie Lu slept through pretty much the whole deal.




We also took the monorail to the water front and saw this guy. One of many career options we pointed out to Evangeline.

So Much Fun I Got A Headache

I'll let the pictures do the talking as I'm still recovering from a late day migraine.

Grandma Bev on the trail to Snoqualmie Falls.


Evangeline hitches a ride.


Grandma and Grandpa on the trail.


Evie Lu at her first brewpub. Can you spot her?