Happy Birthday Aunt Kaitlin! I'm 8 Months Old!

Evie Lu sends a big birthday shout out to her Aunt Kaitlin!

Don't look I'm hiding.


Look everyone it is a baby in a baby gift bag! As of today Evie Lu is 8 months old. I really can't believe the time has gone so fast. Last night Kaia was looking at some pictures from January and she was astounded at how small our great big baby was when we brought her home.

She's figured out that a really cool sound happens when she strums her lips and talks at the same time. She's figured out how to scoot from a seated position. She's got Kaia and I wrapped around her finger. Happy 8 months Evie Lu!

Look now! Here I Am!

Making A Point

Evie Lu phone home!

I'm not sure when it happened exactly, but Evie Lu has discovered her pointer finger. She uses it for all sorts of nifty things. If you point at her, she's likely to point back at you and want to touch fingers. If you place something that spins in front of her, she'll spin it for ages. It has been a hoot. Sometimes she'll stare at her own hand and extend the pointer finger and pull it back into the fist. Over and over Evie Lu does this and it is like her own magic trick. She's pleasantly surprised whenever the finger comes back!

And for those wondering about handedness, it is usually her right hand.

A Good Lutheran Baby

Actually I'm not crawling yet, but don't I look good?

Several months ago Debbie from Peace Lutheran sent an awesome onesie for Evie Lu. This onesie was from Old Lutheran the suppliers of inside and not so inside jokes in the form of Martin Luther bobblehead dolls and some pretty funny t-shirts. Evie Lu's onesie says on the front, "Here I Crawl (Because I can't stand yet)" a reference to Luther's famous quote, "Here I stand, I can do no other." Well, our little girl is not crawling yet, but the onesie fits and I thought wearing the outfit might just be the prompting she needed to get going.

The rear view


I took her to church to show off the onesie and Evangeline was a hit. One staff member even asked to borrow the onesie when she has kids. Thank you Debbie!

What? I'm not posing. Do I look like I'm posing?

Fashion Show At Lunch!

Should I keep this outfit?

We finally had to go buy a bunch of clothing for Evie Lu. We have been so well supplied (mostly from Minnesota) with super cute outfits that we haven't even given a thought to shopping for Evangeline. In fact, the office staff at the church have asked me if Evangeline ever wears the same thing twice.

So we headed to the mall and found some great sales and great outfits. It cracked me up to watch Kaia try different things on our daughter to make sure they fit. This is just the beginning. Just the beginning.

Ewe Are A Lamb

I love you! Let me eat your face!

Kaia, Evie Lu and I were at JCPenny and Kaia saw I was toting around this little lamb. "Are you getting that?" she asked. "Um, yeah. It is really cute and Evangeline likes it." I responded. Kaia then asked, "What are you going to do when she starts actually asking for toys in the store?"

These ears look pretty tasty too.

I Crawl . . . Backwards

Dad, I can't go any further.


Our darling little girl does move around quite a bit, but she's easy to contain as long as there is something behind her. When I took these pictures, we had only left her alone for a minute and found her in a predicament. Evangeline wanted to keep moving, but something was stopping her.

There's a what behind me?


Trust me, as I watched Evie Lu try to get my laptop cord I knew I was in no hurry for my daughter to discover forward momentum and at the same time it is so cool to watch her try to figure these things out for herself. Kaia asked me today what we could do to encourage Evie Lu to move forward and I could only guess that when she's ready it will happen.

Oh, I'm going the wrong way?!?

Flying!

We've discovered the quickest way to get a grin out of Evie Lu is to take her flying. Hold her up high and she squeals with delight. This is the perfect remedy for any bad day or worries you may be having. Just take Evie Lu flying!

Yoga Or Trying To Crawl?

Evie Lu teased us with almost rolling over for weeks and now she's pulling the same trick with crawling. Our newest game is to place the stack of rings in front of Evie Lu and watch her squirm and wiggle as she ties to get close to them. She mostly accomplishes pushing back, but she is getting close. See for yourself.

Floor Time With Mom

We start with a smile!

Evie Lu does not crawl just yet, but we think she is gearing up for it by pretending to swim. She flips onto her belly and frantically shakes her arms and legs. It is a riot.

Here Kaia is laughing so hard she's crying.


Kaia decided to join Evie Lu in this activity. The best part was watching Evangeline focus on Kaia and when Kaia would start to shake her arms and legs Evie Lu would too. I tried to get the picture the first time, but Kaia was so shocked by Evie Lu's mimicing that she broke down laughing.

Out of focus because they're moving so fast.


Kaia and Evie Lu did this little routine for about 15 minutes. I think it was funnier each time. Evie Lu would look over at Kaia as if to ask, "Are you ready to go again mom?" The best and cheapest entertainment I've seen.

Are we done baby? Yes mom, I think we are done.

A Good Look

Behold!


Out of curiosity Kaia stepped on a scale with Evie Lu in her arms this weekend. From this highly unofficial method we have guesstimated that Evie Lu is over 22 pounds now. My goodness. In the picture below you can see her rolls of stored energy just waiting to be tapped.
She amazes us everyday with new little things she does. She is now putting her toys into the bin where they are stored. Evie Lu doesn't know she's cleaning up, but she enjoys taking them out and then replacing them. (Well, not all of them.)
We went out to dinner Friday night and she spent a great deal of time looking at everyone around us. It makes me conscious that she is surrounded by a lot of white Lutherans all day, so I'll have to get her out a little more to know people are created in different shades, sizes, and speak in different ways.

If I could see over my belly I know there's a ring there.

Aunt Kaitlin Is Coming!!

She's too young to have this yet, but when Evie Lu is a little older she'll get that "I'm so excited!, I can't wait!, Are we there yet?" feeling. She should have it right now because in just three days her Aunt Kaitlin will be coming to live in the area for the next year. (And who knows if we can convince her to stay longer.)

The toughest thing about moving west was leaving family far behind. You know there are times when you just need to see the people you have played, fought, laughed, and cried with your whole life. So our little household is extremely excited to see the awesome Aunt Kaitlin. Can't you tell by their faces?

Bathtime Hairdo

Hello octopus comb.

Evie Lu's hair has been fun for us to play with over the last few months. There is still not a whole lot of it, but we are seeing the curl developing and the wicked cowlicks that are going to frustrate her if Evangeline decides to straighten her hair. My favorite hairstyle as always is the "shampoo unicorn" where you gather all the hair on the front of your head into a horn shape. Little Evie Lu does not have quite enough hair yet for this trick.

I think I'm going to like the new look.


The hairstyle we can rock is the Mohawk. I understand now why balding men sometimes opt to go with the Caesar haircut. Brush what you've got forward and it seems like more. It cracks me up when we spike Evie Lu's hair and see how little is actually there. The more I look at these pictures I realize Evie Lu could be modeling Bruce Willis' hairstyle from a few years ago. Maybe in a few years we'll see in theaters: Die Hard 5 - When Evangeline Strikes.

Look at me, I'm fierce!

Pony Girl

I don't know about this mom. How do I hang on?


Shortly after Evie Lu was born a nurse handed her to me and I looked at my little girl. I imagined what life would be like with a daughter and I knew I had to sing to her. The only song that came to mind was "Pony Boy." Of course I was holding a little girl, so I wasn't going to sing about a boy. Instead I sang, "Pony girl, pony girl, won't you be my pony girl. Giddy up, giddy up, giddy up, whoa my pony girl." The actual song has many more words, but that was all I could think of at the time. I sang this song to Evie Lu over and over while doctors were taking care of Kaia.

Okay, this is pretty fun.


A funny thing was that as I sang to Evie Lu I imagined her riding on my shoulders. I wondered how long it would be until she'd ask for a piggy back ride. After she'd ask, I'd tell her, "You can have a ride, but we need to sing the song." Together we'd sing, "Pony girl, pony girl, won't you be my pony girl . . ."

Look at me! I'm tall!


I guess piggy back rides are here. Let's sing.

Millions Of Peaches, Peaches For Me

I'm going to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches.


From the too much information department: our little girl has been constipated lately. It turns out I've been mixing her oatmeal and barley cereals with not enough water and that would stop up anybody. The nurse I talked to suggested peaches and so without delay I bought the peaches and Kaia cooked them, pureed them, and made them Evie Lu ready.

Finger lickin' good!


Our daughter loves peaches. We served a little bit of cereal along with the peaches, but the star of the meal was the fruit. This was our first experiment with making food for Evangeline and I would say it was a massive success. We used fresh peaches, but I've been told peaches come in a can, they were put there by a man in a factory downtown.

What, I'm not supposed to wear the peaches?


We've not seen much improvement in the frequency of Evie Lu poops, but it does crack me up that we've seen Dr. Ann largely for bowel movement related concerns. Is this the main focus of parenting?

So good, but Dad do you know what would be better? Ninjas!

Just Plain Cute

The pictures below are from Kaia and Evie Lu's trip to Minnesota. I heard from some folks who needed a cute fix tonight, so I hope this helps!

A Beautiful Quilt

Happy Monday!

A very good friend from Minnesota made the quilt you see just for Evie Lu. When Kaia and I were married we received a quilt from the quilting group at church and now Evangeline has her own Peace Lutheran member made quilt. Kaia said it was tough to keep Evie Lu still as she wanted to explore all the colors and the fabric. I wish I could remember the days when I was so easily entertained. A quilt, it is better than cable tv I tell you.

Building Blocks

Kaia and I have been talking about what developmental toys to get little miss Evie Lu and we realized she did not have any blocks. I went to Target and picked out some fine squeaky blocks with numbers and animals on them. Good for teething? Check!



Evangeline likes them quite a lot, but she's not so sure about the sqeaking. Which brings me to a funny story from this week. I was singing "Old McDonald" to her and sang "has a cow" when I remembered we have a little toy that makes a cow sound. I thought it would be perfect and used it instead of singing a cow sound.



This was not a good idea. Evangeline was deathly afraid of this sound. She gave me the giant bottom lip and pleaded with her eyes for me to make the bad sound stop. Maybe it is a good thing there are no cows on her grandpa's farm anymore.

Aunt Robin's Big Day

Here comes the bride

We gathered last Sunday morning at Tumalo State Park to celebrate with Robin and Kurt. It was a gorgeous day and an amazing setting. Kaia got to meet even more of my family and I met some family as well.

By this point Evie Lu was asleep


If there is one thing you need to know as a pastor, it is how to say the important stuff and then stop talking. When you preach at a wedding you know the focus in on the couple and your best hope is to bring the understanding that it is through God's love we have come to this day.

The beautiful couple


Unfortunately we could not stay very long at the reception as the drive home loomed large ahead of us. Evangeline was great on the drive and we have already made plans to come back. Maybe Evie Lu can convince her Aunt Kaitlin to come along to ride horses with her and her Great Aunt Jody.

Evie Lu loves her Great Aunt Jody

Preparing For The Wedding

Cousin Indigo plays with Evie Lu while I write a wedding sermon

Sunday morning found us getting ready for the ceremony and enjoying each other's company. Indigo had a great time playing with Evangeline and Yvonne put out a massive breakfast spread which fueled us up very well. The only bad thing was we needed to jump back in the car right after the ceremony to drive home.

The tight time frame led to the picture you see below. We are packing up and Evie Lu decides it is nap time. She was sacked out like that for quite a while.

Did we pack everything?


Tomorrow I'll give you the pictures for the ceremony and a super cute shot of Evie Lu with her Great Aunt Jody. How's that for a teaser?

Where Did We Go Last Weekend?

Welcome to the first of probably three posts documenting what we did last Saturday and Sunday. We had quite the adventure. The occasion was my Aunt Robin's wedding and it involved a 330 mile drive south.

Great Aunt Jody tends to a horse Evie Lu may ride someday

We have seen Evie Lu's "go with the flow" attitude toward flying and I was glad to see it extend car trips. We only stopped twice during the six hour ride and Evie Lu took two great big naps. This meant she was well rested when we arrived to see my family. Evie Lu played for ages and loved seeing her Great Aunt Jody, Grandma Yvonne, and Cousins Ruby and Indigo.

Grandma Yvonne, my cousin Ruby, and Evie Lu have fun


I've often joked that the reason my family gets along so well is because we hardly ever see one another, but having Evie Lu has changed me. I want Evangeline to know my side of the family because they are really wonderful. And with all the complaining I've done about being far away from family I should remember just 330 miles away I've got flesh and blood.

Tune in Wednesday for details on the wedding and yours truly as the pastor.

Sunlight on the pasture