Playtime With Mom

There are few things that happen in my life that make me smile more than seeing Kaia play with Evie Lu. Here are a couple of pictures from the last week where my wife and daughter are having a great time. I hope they brighten your day.

Standing Tall

You want a pose? I'll give you a pose.


Evie Lu loves to pull herself up to standing these days. Her favorite place to practice this trick is on our ottoman in the living room. Evie Lu is moving so fast these days that it seems like I blink and she has found some new place to explore. She had a bit of a tough day yesterday adjusting to her Minnesota Grandma Bev not being around. It may take Evangeline a little while to warm up to people these days, but once she does you better not leave.

I have no idea what my daughter is doing in this picture.


In other exciting Grandma news, her Montana Grandma Rhonda (aka my mom) is coming out in December. This is because of a wonderful gift from our Aunt Kathy. Thank you Kathy! I think we'll go see the Christmas ships and just have a great time together. Who knows, Evie Lu may be walking by then.

I'm big.

At The Zoo

I'm so tall!


Saturday was a whirlwind day as the morning was a girls only affair with Evie Lu's Aunt Kaitlin and her roomates and the afternoon featured a trip to the zoo. We've got quite a few zoo pictures we'll share this week. Evangeline was a lot more aware for this trip and I think the giraffes were her favorite attraction.

Peek-a-boo? Where did you go?


The most exciting thing I saw was the announcement that flamingoes would be coming in May of 2008. Ever since I heard little Annabelle (happy 2nd birthday!)loved flamingoes I've been wanting Evie Lu to see them. I won't be long.

The zoo is the best!

Now's The Time . . .

. . . for all good kids to go to bed.

No Caption Needed

Grandma Time!

A serious heart to heart.


The weather may be dreadful, but inside Evie Lu is having a great time with her Minnesota Grandma. Why are there not enough hours in the day to play more? There are no big plans other than getting Evie Lu's Aunt Kaitlin back over for dinner and fun. What could be better?

Let's dance!

The Ultimate Temptation

Mmm, what do I want?

There is yarn. Oh, but the needles would be fun.


Forget all of that I'm going for the bag!

I See My Grandma Bev!

Shh. I'm hiding.


After a delayed and bumpy pair of flights Evie Lu's Grandma Bev made it safely from Minnesota. Evangeline was long asleep when the plane finally landed at midnight, but this morning has been a love fest as Evie Lu warms up to Bev.

I see you!


Stranger anxiety hid hard a month or so ago and it is so funny to see our formerly fearless Evie Lu cling to Kaia or I when seeing people who just want to play. It has taken a couple of hours, but Evie Lu and her Grandma Bev are hanging out and having a great time.

Can we play?

I See You

Can you see me peeking?

Anything Evie Lu can hold becomes a tool for peek-a-boo these days. Behind the cup in the picture above Evie Lu has a great big grin. It is moments like this that make the recent crankiness bearable. Evangeline really is a sweet girl, but growing up is tough and she's been letting us know about it.

In just ten hours she'll be tucked in to bed by her Minnesota Grandma. I'm sure sweetness and light will be the theme of the next few days.

Baby Biscotti: Evie Lu Strikes Back

Eureka! I can eat this!


When we left Evie Lu yesterday she was headed for a nap after not having any success figuring out the zwieback toast. After Evangeline woke up from a great nap, it was a whole new story. I strapped my little girl into her high chair and let her go to town on the toast. She really liked it.

Oh, but maybe not all at once.


Kaia and I are not sure if this is an every baby kind of thing or not, but Evie Lu does not take dainty little bites. If anything she eats like her dad and her uncle Jody. There was many a dinner time when we were asked, "Did you taste your food or did you just inhale it?" Evie Lu is on the inhaling it side of the fence. I was very afraid as I watched her shove the entire piece of toast into her mouth.

I need to catch my breath for a second.


The big lesson I learned in all of this was the importance of bibs. Now you ask, "Shouldn't you have learned that already?" Yes, I should have, but when something is called a finger food I somehow translate that into not-as-messy food. Not true, not true. You can see the mess on Evie Lu's shirt that would have been avoided had I employed a bib.

Can I have more please?

Baby Biscotti

Well that just looks gross.


This is the first of two parts on Evie Lu's adventures with zwieback toast. This is a food I had never heard of until Kaia brought it home from the grocery store. I asked Kaia what it was and she described it as baby biscotti or a big baby crouton. I was skeptical at best and as you can see when Evie Lu first got her hands on the zwieback toast the skepticism was shared.

Oh, I eat it? Okay!


Evie Lu first tried to play with the toast like she would any other toy. She put it in her mouth and shook it around. Evangeline combed the carpet with it and then combed her hair. I was afraid zwieback toast was a failure, so I put Evie Lu down for an afternoon nap. What happened next was quite something.

To be continued . . .

Are you sure?

Fridge DJ

Our good friends Brady and Tricia gave us a Fridge DJ in August and Brady informed me that this is a great toy because it lets you know where the baby is at all times. Evie Lu wasn't quite sure what to do with it until this week, but now she is fascinated by the little radio on the fridge. She loves it.

The Fridge DJ got me thinking about other toys that let you know where the baby is at all times and the first thing that came to mind was the Learning Puppy. Evie Lu's Aunt Megan and Uncle Chris sent a gift that frightened our mail carrier, but Evangeline is starting to get the hang of it. So, here's to great toys that function as tracking devices!

Baby snuggles

Evie's early morning wakings have not been welcomed by Will or I. And her recent nursing strike (or is it self-weaning now?) makes me feel a little rejected. But this morning I forgot all of that. At Evie's pre-6am wake-up, she actually nursed a bit, and then snuggled with me in our chair for a while before falling asleep. At that moment, I felt like all was right with the world. That snuggle is why I'm a mom. Oh, that and her scrunchy nose face. It makes me forget the failed labwork I did today and the house that needs cleaning and papers still unread. But I haven't yet forgotten that she pooped on her towel after her bath tonight. And our washer is still broken. Oof. I need another Evie snuggle.

Here are some photos of Evie attempting walking. You can see that crawling is still her favorite way to get around.

Washer woes

When Will can't make it to the gym, he does Evie-presses.

I'm realizing in parenthood, what used to be annoyances are now crises. For example, when Evie was barely a few weeks old, we had so much ice and snow (1 in) that the city couldn't pick up the trash. Pre-Evie, this would have been an annoyance. Post-Evie, this was a crisis. We had to buy another trash can just for dirty diapers. Another crisis happened tonight: our washer broke. With Evie's laundry in it. Including her bedtime stuffed animal, comfort blanket, sleep sack, and all her footie pjs. Laundry was started with plenty of time for washing, drying, and folding before her bedtime. Imagine my horror when I went to toss the load in the dryer and found everything still sopping wet and soapy. I would go into technical detail, but that would mean I know anything about washers. My diagnosis: broken. I fished everything out, rinsed everything in the tub, and realized that everything was still soapy, and I'm not sure it was very clean. So my loving, amazing, man above all men, husband is now at the laundromat down the street, running everything through a washer. At least our dryer works.

What Is Wrong With My Parents?

Please help. They've dressed me in something ridiculous. Save me!


Evie Lu is going through some kind of growth spurt/attitude shift that has Kaia and I scratching our heads. Evangeline seems to be self weaning and expressing her displeasure with pouting and crying. (Didn't I warn you about pastor's kids? They are always trouble.) The pouting and crying aren't so bad since we know all kids go through this, but her latest trick is the 4am, "Hey pay attention to me!"

What does she want at 4am? Heck if I know, but for the last three days Evie Lu has decided to wake us to hang out. I've tried to teach her the musician's rule of waking up which explicitly states you don't really get up until the sun has sufficiently warmed the earth, but to no avail. The 4am wake-up could be payback for dressing her in outfits we think are adorable or funny and parading Evie Lu around.

Now that sounds like something my kid would do.

Yes dad, it has lambs on it and some floppy thing on my head. Are we done?

I Know What I Want

Hmm, silver thing. I want it!


This picture is several days old and in that time Evie Lu has gone from pulling up to her knees to going all the way to her feet. This of course means she has farther to fall when she wants down.

At least once a day now Evie Lu performs the most ungraceful of collapses. (Very similar to my Cubs in the playoffs.) When she lands on her behind, the diaper padding makes it a soft landing. When she falls head first (and with a head that size . . .) it is not a happy time in our house.

I'm sneaking up on it.

I Feed Myself

What? No, really. What?

Evie Lu has become little miss independent. On Friday she decided Kaia and I function merely as waiters bringing the food to her. Evangeline can handle the actual feeding herself, thank you very much.

Evie Lu still needs us if she wants any nutrition, although we are thinking of auctioning off her high chair tray as modern art.

At the Gerber drive thru I asked for the super size. I got ripped off.

We Will Not Speak Of This Again

A three game sweep? That was ugly, dad.


Evie Lu informed me the Cubs were swept by the Diamondbacks tonight. I told her pitchers and catchers will report in February and the boys will try again next year. I also asked her not to speak of this again for several weeks.

The Stats

I threw my ring out, but they still have this dumb chair in my way.

Evie Lu had her 9 month check up today and we've got your up to the minute stats. Evangeline's head circumference is 45.9 cm which puts her in the freaking huge category. (Also known as the 95th percentile.) Her length is 28 and 1/4 inches which puts Evie Lu in the 75th percentile. And the number you were all waiting for . . . Evie Lu weighed in at 23 lbs 1 oz which places her above the 97th percentile. We have a large baby. A very healthy baby Dr. Ann assured us. Evie Lu gets to move on to cool new foods in the next couple of months and I'm super excited.

And now for the bad stats. Evie Lu's beloved Cubs are down two games to the Diamondbacks. It does not look good, but Evangeline reminded me the Cubs are playing in Wrigley tomorrow and that is good news.

Will being cute get me out?

Flower Hat

Okay, take the picture now. I'm posing.


Shortly after Evie Lu was born, we were given a really cool fleece hat with a flower on the top. For the first six months of Evangeline's life it was massively huge and so she didn't wear it, but now it fits just right. This is fortuitous because cool weather has definitely won out in the great northwest. I get a kick out of going to the store with Evie Lu wearing the hat. People do funny double takes as they notice the baby with the flower hat.

There's a what on my hat? Ha!


Back in June, Kim from the office said to me, "Enjoy putting hats on her now, because Evie Lu will take them off when she gets older." That time has come. We try to keep Evie Lu's head warm, but our daughter is far more interested in taking things off her head than leaving them on. I try to tell her how fashionable she looks, but to no avail.

You're dismissed. We're done.

My Grandpa Taught Me This

Grandpa Wayne reads to Evie Lu in February


Our camera usually sits on the table because you never know when Evie Lu will do something funny. I had just taken a couple of goofy Evie Lu pictures and I was showing them to Kaia in the kitchen when we walked out and saw the picture below.

I had put Evangeline in her high chair, but apparently I put her too close to the table because she reached out and grabbed part of the paper. I was glad I had the camera in my hand so I could capture this. I tried to tell Evie Lu the section she really wanted was Sports, but she seemed more interested in local news.

Evie Lu reads to herself before dinner in October

Having A Ball

It is a Dora the what? I don't get what I'm supposed to do.

Kaia and I lead extremely exciting and sophisticated lives. For example Friday night we had some errands to run and decided to have dinner out. This was capped off by a trip to Target! Does it get any better? Actually if you got to hang out with Kaia and Evie Lu like I do, you'd say there wasn't any place you'd rather be. We walked into Target looking only for those things that cover up electrical outlets and managed to walk out with a big bag of stuff (mostly for Evie Lu).

Oh, I get it! I hold it here . . .


One of those unintended purchases was Evie Lu's first bouncy ball. We found an awesome Dora the Explorer ball and since it was made in China made sure it only had a little bit of lead. (We've been limiting Evie Lu's intake of China produced toothpaste and dog food too.)
Evie Lu had no idea what do with her new toy at first and even cried a little when it rolled away from her.

. . . and I can hold it up here!


It didn't take Evangeline long to get the hang of rolling the ball away and chasing it. It is light enough she can easily lift it and hold onto it when you roll it to her. I told her she's good enough to play for the hated St. Louis Cardinals already. (Oh and by the way, the Cubs begin their playoff run tomorrow night! Thanks to Evie Lu's Great Uncle Dan for the support from Brewers country. My team needs it.)

Will you come play with me?