Time Flies When You Have an Evie!

Its been a while since we updated, but Evie (and the rest of life) keep us pretty busy. We enjoyed our recent trip to Florida, but missed our little girl terribly. It is so good to be back with her. She seems to change everyday.
She now has her own language, in a sense. She spits a lot as either a greeting or an invitation to play - or who knows what else. She also does a little blowing or whispering (which I think may be an attempt to whistle), especially when she wants daddy's attention. She uses dada and nana/mama a lot, but we're not sure if she knows what she is saying. She definitely understands "no". She also seems to try to give us kisses, but is sounds more like a pop sound than anything else. When she sits down and opens a book, she "reads" it by whispering a little to herself and then turning the page and whispering some more. It is so cute to watch.
She is also progressing in other areas - some fun and some not so fun. She has learned to play peek-a-boo, mostly with herself. She will take whatever she can find and cover her face, wait a second and then pull it down and look at you as if you missed your cue. She stands unaided quite frequently now and has taken a couple steps before falling, but she doesn't try all that often. I am sure she will get it soon enough, too soon really. On the not-so-exciting side of that coin, she now can pull herself up in her crib when put to bed, which makes that time of the day rather adventurous.
She is also working on her first top tooth right now, so we are having some tiring days. She will put as much of blanket in her mouth as possible and just bite down with all her might. Hopefully, it will be over soon - until the next tooth.
I am sure I could tell stories all night, but I should go to bed sometime. Tomorrow will be another adventure. I feel as though I am just beginning to understand what a wonderful gift God gives when he grants children -speaking of which, we are so excited to be getting a cousin in November from Aunt Ang and Uncle Tim. Praise the Lord!
P.S. Check back soon for a picture of Evie's post-bath hairdo!

Grandmas know all the tricks

I just can't believe how smart Grandmas are - except when they feed sweet potato casserole to a 4 month old baby, then they are just naughty. Anyway, when we were trying to get Evie to eat baby food with meat in it Gramma C tricked her by alternating fruit with the meat which thoroughly tricked her into eating a whole jar of the new stuff. And last night when she wouldn't take her bottle(which I can't blame her for because her formula is gross), Grammy Marilyn put apple juice in it to trick her into eating. Grandma's sure do know all the tricks.
However, Evie does have a few adorable tricks of her own. When daddy comes home, she raises her eyebrows and tilts her head back and then spits at him for lack of a better description. It shouldn't be a surprise because he's been teaching her to spit for a long time. So now we can add funny looks and spitting to Evie's official language. I'll try to get it on video for you because it is so funny to watch. She is also doing a great job of feeding herself her little puffs these days, but you have to be careful because one of her tricks is shoving lots of them into her mouth, usually right before a big sneeze. Her cold hasn't seemed to slow her down much. She has just decided that the best thing to do with things that are in a basket or container of any kind is to take them out one by one and throw them all over. This especially applies to laundry I have already folded. Today she tried this trick on the candy bowl and discovered she really like salt water taffy - still in the wrapper. She has been trying to eat some leftover chocolate eggs from Easter and I thought I had them all out until she climbed into my lap crying and I discovered one in her mouth that she must have snuck in while she was "hiding" under the coffee table. I have to watch her so very carefully! At least she is really fun to watch!

Evie Claps

Evie is changing all the time! It is hard to keep up. She now eats pretty much when we do - she even has her last bottle about when we have our evening ice cream. She has recently learned how to clap and does it all the time. It usually means that she wants some food or she wants to do pattycake. I think its humorous that I have tried so hard to teach her to do please in sign language, but when she wants something and she claps instead.
She also just started getting her third tooth so she currently has 2 1/2 teeth and they are all right along the bottom. She has started eating little rice puff snacks and likes them much better than anything else right now. How do I know? She claps each time she gets one.
She is developing vocally as well. She came home from Gramma and Grampa's spitting and making raspberries - that's what happens when we go see the grandparents, I guess : ) She also says dada all the time when she's happy and mama only when she gets very, very mad. When she wakes up and stands up in her crib she usually just calls out nana. So we are not sure what all these things mean yet.
Speaking of waking up in her crib, she is sick right now with a little cold and woke up several times last night so we both need a nap today. Hopefully she will be feeling well enough for another round of visiting grandparents!