One Year Later

A year ago today we found out that our little blessing was on the way. What a year it has been! Our sweet girl is a joy and blessing in our lives. I can't imagine life without her. Sometimes it's hard to remember when she wasn't with us.

July 24, 2012 - - 5 1/2 weeks pregnant

July 24, 2013 - - Evelyn Ravinell at 3 1/2 months

Memories

It's been 6 months since Chris' great grandmother, Grandma, passed away and nearly a year since she moved from our home to a nursing facility in Texas. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of her. Just this morning I was baking cookies and put them in a container that was once hers. Our home is filled with her belongings. Her cookie jar, her sugar dish, the coffee cups she liked to use, her old sewing box. I enjoy seeing these items day to day and have those memories of her. While our time taking care of her was often difficult, I was blessed by her. I'm thankful to be able to remember the good times and the hard times have become distant memories.

We have an annual meeting this weekend. It was during this meeting last year that Chris and I strongly felt our time taking care of her was coming to an end. Her dementia had gotten to the point where she lived most of her days as a child waiting to go to school or waiting for her Daddy to come home. When she couldn't go to school or couldn't get up to go find her Daddy, she got very agitated and hard to control. She couldn't walk well and she wasn't sleeping well. During this meeting last year, she went 36 hours without sleeping, which only made her dementia and agitation worse. I was trying to keep a houseful of company, prepare food for church, enjoy the meeting, and take care of her. It was exhausting and extremely trying. (I was also pregnant, which we didn't know at the time, but certainly added to the exhaustion.) I spent most of the weekend in tears. Tears of frustration that she couldn't understand that she wasn't going to school, tears of anger at the disease of dementia, tears of selfishness that I couldn't enjoy the blessing of a church meeting, and tears of defeat in admitting that I could no longer care for Grandma. I'm not one to give up easily and I didn't want to throw in the towel just because I thought it was getting too difficult. Thankfully, the Lord's plans are far above ours and He blessed us with the perfect answer just a week later when we found out we were expecting.

I try to tell Evelyn about her great great grandmother and I look forward to many more years of being able to share stories with her. What I would give for just one picture of Evelyn and Grandma together. My hope is that Evelyn would grow up to know Grandma through our stories and she can feel as if she knew her in this world.

5 Years Later

Wedding Day: July 5, 2008

Five years later - wonderfully blessed

3 Months

 

Weight: 14 lbs, 10 1/2 oz
Height: 24 1/4 inches

 

 

Evelyn,

You are three months old today and even more precious than you were a month ago. I love watching you grow and become more aware of your surroundings every day. You are a curious little thing and I have no doubt you are soaking up everything around you.

This has been a big month for you with lots of "firsts." You took your first airplane ride this month and loved it. I was so proud of how well you did during the flight. We took the plane ride to Mississippi so you could meet your Great Grandpa Lester (Papaw) and Great Grandma Kate. They loved you and spoiled you while we were visiting. Papaw especially loved to hold you and play with you first thing in the morning. He would spend an hour or so every morning with you. You gave him big smiles and talked to him. Papaw just loved that.

While we were in Mississippi, you also got to meet your Uncle Isaac, Aunt Heather, and Cousin Lily for the first time. You enjoyed watching your big cousin, Lily, run around and play. You also met your Great Aunt Daphnea, Great Aunt Kimberly, and Mama's cousins. You spent the week getting kissed on and held by everyone. You did so well with it all and only complained a few times.

This month was one for meeting family! You also got to meet your Grandi and cousin Katelynn. They were so in love with you and couldn't get enough of your smiles. You really took to Katelynn and loved to watch her and smile at her. We took Grandi and Katelynn to Disney World. You were like an old pro since this was your third visit.

You also went swimming for the first time this month. Bath time is still one of your very favorite activities, so I wondered how you would do in the pool. You looked super adorable in your pink bathing suit. The water was quite a bit cooler than your bath water and it took your breath away at first. You didn't really kick and splash like I expected you too, but you didn't fuss either.

Tummy time has gotten a lot better this month! Since we found out that you have torticollis last month and have been doing daily stretches for your neck, you are able to tolerate tummy time a lot better. You start out on the floor and do about 5 minutes before you start fussing. Then I put the boppy under you and you are fairly content for another 10-15 minutes. We do this at least twice a day. You like it most if me or Daddy lay on the floor with you and talk to you. You also love your Dancing Ant toy Aunt Heather bought you.

You have started showing more interest in books this month. We tried out your Bumbo seat for the first time and you enjoyed that. I read you several books while you were sitting in it and you stayed interested through about 3 books. I enjoy reading to you and look forward to spending many more hours teaching you to love reading.

In the past week, you have just started becoming interested in your feet more. You love to grab onto your toes and hold your foot in the air. You have also been chewing on your hands and slobbering a ton, so I expect to see teeth popping up in the next month.

My darling daughter, you are very much a joy and blessing to us. I will never get tired of seeing your big gummy smiles first thing in the morning or when your Daddy gets home. Oh do you love your Daddy! The two of you have such a sweet relationship and I can't wait to see it grow.

I love you and can't wait to see what the next month brings!

 

 

 

 

 

Trip to Mississippi

Last week we were able to travel to Mississippi for Evelyn to meet her great grandparents. My brother, sister in law, niece, and Mom were also able to travel down for a visit at the same time. We enjoyed a week of family and Evelyn got even more spoiled than she already was, which I didn't think was possible.

Chris was sick the Friday and Saturday before we were supposed to leave and wasn't feeling great on Sunday, but felt well enough to make the trip. We had planned to leave after church and make the 8-10 hour drive (it was 8 hours when we made it pre-baby, so I was estimating it would take 10). Since Chris was feeling rather lousy, I knew I would have to do most of the driving. Thankfully, at the last minute, we were blessed to be able to fly to Mississippi. It was such a relief and a HUGE blessing! Evelyn did great on the flight. I nursed her during take off and landing, she slept and just played in my lap during the 3 hour flight. It was my first experience in a small plane (6 seater), but it wasn't much different from a commercial flight.

I was a little nervous about how Evelyn would do while at my grandparents'. She is definitely a Mama's girl and doesn't care for many other people to hold her. Thankfully, she did really well and didn't cry too much. She did have a few meltdowns that could only be soothed by Mama, but that's to be expected at 2 1/2 months.

We spent the week mostly staying around my grandparents' house and visiting. My niece, Lily, turned one the week before, so we celebrated her birthday. It was fun to have the cousins together for the first time. Evelyn didn't pay much attention to Lily, but Lily was curious about Evelyn. Of course, my grandparents were so in love with Evelyn. Evelyn especially liked sitting with her Papaw in the mornings and swinging outside with Great Grandma Kate. Thankfully, Chris started feeling better mid-week. My SIL is a doctor and she is pretty certain he had West Nile Virus. While it was icky and miserable for him, we were thankful it wasn't anything contagious and that it wasn't Evelyn who had it. We are going to be even more cautious with her outside now!

Our most important cargo is ready for her first plane ride.

Papaw snatched Evelyn right away

 

Evelyn with Great Grandma Kate

Great Aunt Daphnea getting Evelyn to sleep on the porch swing

 

 

 

Evelyn was awake for more of the flight home and loved looking out the plane window.

We're back home and getting back into the swing of our daily routine and getting ready for company this weekend!

2 Months

 

Weight: 12 lbs 14 oz,84%

Height: 23 inches, 76%

Head: 14 inches, 23%

Baby Evelyn,

You're two months old now and I'm frantically looking for the "pause" button.  I have loved watching you grow and change this past month, but you can stop for a while! You are such a happy baby and a joy to be around.

In this past month you have become more adjusted to the world and are a far more content baby. Mama and Daddy are learning you a little better and our days are going smoother. You have gotten into a fairly consistent routine of eat, play, sleep. I'm noticing that you are eating and sleeping around the same times each day. You are still a little unpredictable as to how often you want to eat, but I don't mind going with the flow.

You have become so much more interactive this past month. I love the time after you eat when you are the happiest. We often lay you on the bed and you will "talk" and smile at us. I also have enjoyed being able to put you in your bouncer in the kitchen with me while I'm working. You will sit there and just watch me do my work as you kick and "talk." I'm usually singing or talking to you as I work and will occasionally stop to make your music play on the bouncer. I love it when you will give me a big smile in those moments.

Bath time continues to be a favorite activity for you. When I first put you in the tub, you make a surprised face and almost look like you're going to cry. But I splash a little water on you and you start smiling and kicking around. You love to wiggle around, kick, and talk to me. I sing and will talk to you about all kinds of stuff. After about 15-20 minutes, I get tired of sitting on the floor and your water gets cold. You let me know that you are not happy about getting out. I let you lay on the changing table and air dry a while before I get you dressed, which makes you happy.

You love your Daddy! You have started being more content and happy when he holds you instead of always crying for me. He plays a little game with you where he kisses you and says "oh boy" and you love it! You give him a big smile and will usually talk to him. I love seeing the two of you together and how much he loves you. He comes right over to talk to you and kiss you when he comes home from work. You turn your head and look for him as soon as you hear his voice.

You have developed great sleeping habits this month. You typically sleep on our walk in the morning for about 45 minutes, then take a longer nap (1-2 hours) around 11, and couple more 30 minute naps in the afternoon/evening. You are usually asleep for the night around 10 or 11 and sleep until 3. After nursing and playing a while, you are back to sleep until 6:30. A few nights this past week you have slept 6-7 hour stretches at night, which is great! I do enjoy our middle of the night feeding. You are usually very smiley and happy, but then get very snuggly when you are ready to go back to sleep.

You have been quite a Mama's girl this past month, but you're starting to let your Daddy hold you a little more. I don't mind that you want me all the time. In fact, just today we were out running errands and you were in your car seat for several hours. When we got home, you were ready to nurse. As I nursed you and held you for a while, I realized that I had missed having you in my arms while we were out and about. Granted, it does get a little difficult to get things done when you want to be held, but we're working through it. I love our special times together when you're nursing or I'm rocking you to sleep. I love when you're happy and playing, but I sure do love your snuggles!

I love you, sweet girl, and I love being your Mama. I'm excited to see how you grow and develop in the next month.

 

 

 

 

One-handed days

I'm typing this post one-handed. I've done most things with one hand today. Today I've been reminded of the countless tales my parents have told about my persnickety sleep habits as a child. My Dad loves to tell about rocking me to sleep, carrying me up the stairs as he tries to miss the creaky spots, and finally reaching my bedroom door. But then my eyes would pop open, my arms would fly out, and I would start crying. According to him, this was repeated several times each night.

Today I kind of know how he felt. Miss Evelyn has fought sleep today more than usual. Just as I get her to sleep and set her down, she pops those pretty blue eyes open. As a result, she's been in my arms most of the day. Even holding her, she will doze off only to wake up if I make any slight move that resembles setting her down.

But you know what? I don't mind. I'm figuring out how to manage. I figured out how to do laundry with one hand, go to the bathroom with one hand, and eat my lunch with one hand. I even wrote a blog post with one hand.

6 Weeks

 

Wednesday marked 6 weeks with our sweet Evelyn. She's getting so big and growing too fast! We're loving the changes she's making each day, the smiles, learning to "talk", and getting more into a routine.




I am starting to loosely see a little bit of a routine to our day. Evelyn isn't a big sleeper during the day. She prefers to take little 30 minute cat naps and generally one longer nap in the afternoon/early evening. She does pretty well at night. She's usually asleep around 10:30-11 and sleeps until around 3. Then she's up for an hour or two and goes back to sleep until 7.



We're very much nursing on demand, which is completely fine by me. She sometimes goes 30 minutes between feedings, sometimes three hours. Generally, I can count on about 2 hours. As you can tell by her pictures, she's a big eater! :)

Evelyn loves going on our morning walks with Sarah and Harlow. She is usually asleep by the end of our street and sleeps the whole time. She also likes being in the Moby wrap as I do household tasks or do the grocery shopping. She will stay awake and look around for a while, but then usually falls asleep. She  likes sitting in her bouncer (that doesn't bounce because I keep forgetting to put batteries in it), on the play mat, or in her rock in play for about 10 minutes at a time. The girl gets bored easily and likes a lot of variety. I'm afraid she might have her Daddy's ADD tendencies.



Some of her favorite things to do (besides eating) are bath time, laying on her changing table, looking at the ceiling fan, being outside, and being swaddled. She also loves being sung to. I seriously need to learn the words to more hymns. I currently sing "How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds," "Child of Grace," and "Just the Same Today" about 20 times a day. They're the only hymns I know all the words to. It's funny because in church I can sing most hymns without looking at the words. But when I try to sing them by myself, my mind goes completely blank.

Evelyn HATES tummy time! She also doesn't care for getting dressed after her bath. 

I'm feeling really good and pretty much back to normal. I'm  back to walking 3.5-4 miles most days and will soon be adding some more exercises to do at home to tone up and drop the baby weight. I'm usually wiped out by about 8:00 each night. We've gotten in the habit of getting ready for bed early and spending most of the evening in bed watching TV and snuggling. I love it!

 

Mother's Day

Yay! I figured out how to create a page using the My Memories Suite software I won in Kerry's giveaway back in March.

On another note, I had a wonderful first Mother's Day. Chris and Evelyn bought me a necklace with our three birthstones on it, a jewelry box, and sweet cards. We had a wonderful day at church followed by an afternoon/evening of spending time in bed cuddling and watching TV. I can't wait for many, many more Mother's Days.

One Month

 One month stats:

Weight: 10 lbs 1/2 oz, 73%

Length: 21 1/4 inches, 50%

Head: 14 inches, 20%

My Sweet Evelyn,

It's hard to believe you are one month old already! Even though some days seemed they would never end, this month has flown by. It has been a wonderfully blessed month. You are a precious gift and we treasure every moment with you.

From the moment I first laid eyes on you and held you in my arms, I was madly in love. My love for you grows more and more each day. I'm sure you get tired of hearing me tell you "Mama loves you," a thousand times a day and kissing your little cheeks. It's hard to resist.

I try to recall some of my favorite moments with you, but it's difficult to narrow them down. There's not doubt seeing you for the first time is at the top of my list. I remember feeling so surprised that you didn't have a head full of dark hair. But your strawberry blonde hair is beautiful and now I can't imagine you any other way. You were so tiny when the doctor placed you on my chest! You definitely let us know you had a good set of lungs right away and you're still reminding us daily. If any of our neighbors didn't know we had a baby, they sure do know by now! Call me a mean Mama, but sometimes I like to just watch you cry. I like to watch your mouth get pouty and you make the funniest faces.

I love watching you sleep. Those peaceful moments when your body is so relaxed and an occasional smile comes across your face are precious. I could spend hours just watching you and feeling the calming rhythm of your breathing. That said, I am thankful you have seemed to turn a corner in your sleeping habits the past few days. Up until this point, you wouldn't sleep more than an hour unless I was holding you. I love holding you, but this Mama needs to get some things done. The past three days you have been taking naps and sleeping in your rock n play, which makes me happy! Last night you slept for 4 hours straight in your rock n play! You also have started liking to be swaddled, which has helped you sleep. I call you my Baby Burrito when you're swaddled up tight.

It took a really long time for your cord stump to fall off, but since it has you are loving your bath time. You just like to be naked in general. You are content and just kick around when we have your diaper off to change it. I think you would be happy as a lark if we never put clothes or a diaper on you. But that might be a little messy.

Your Daddy sure does love you too. Nothing makes me happier than for him to say, "Come to Daddy. I'll make it all better," when you're upset. I love hearing him sing to you when he's trying to calm you down. He loves to kiss you on your cheeks, even when you make funny faces at him.

Some of my favorite times with you are when you've just finished nursing. You're so relaxed and happy. I love kissing you right on your lips. If you've fallen asleep, I just hold you and look at you. If you're awake, I love to look into your denim blue eyes. There's something captivating about staring into your eyes and losing track of time. I'll take your hand and you grab onto my finger. If I put you up on my shoulder to burp you, you often nuzzle into my neck and fall asleep. I love feeling the warmth of your breath on my neck and taking in the sweet smell of your head.

You're a delight in our life. I'm excited to see what changes the next month brings. Until then, I want to soak up every moment of your little life and never let it go.

Mama loves you sweet girl!

Tuesday Talk

A few random thoughts on this lovely Tuesday...

I'm feeling rather productive so far this week. Yesterday I managed to do 4 loads of laundry (all folded and put away too!), run and unload the dishwasher, change the sheets on our bed, make supper, clean up the supper dishes, and work on catching up on my Bible reading. So far today I've made the bed, changed the sheets on the guest beds, washed 2 loads of laundry, sewed my homemade Moby wrap, and worked on catching up on Bible reading.

Trying out our homemade Moby wrap

Speaking of the Moby wrap...I had been nervous about sewing the knit material for the wrap, which is mainly why I didn't have it done yet. I bought the material months ago, but couldn't work up the nerve to attempt it. I put my big girl pants on today and got it done! You know what? It wasn't that hard! So far I like using the wrap and Evelyn fell asleep in it in about 3 minutes.

Our sweet Evelyn is growing like a weed! Her newborn clothes are starting to get too tight over her head. I tried a 0-3 month onesie this morning just to see how it fit and it actually fit pretty well! It's exciting to get to the new size and put all the new, cute clothes on her, but she's growing too fast!

Evelyn and Aunt Tasha

My sister and her boyfriend came for a visit last week. We really enjoyed having them and Evelyn loved snuggling with Aunt Tasha!

Evelyn's first trip to Disney

Tasha and Brad wanted to spend a day at Disney while they were here. We debated for days whether we should attempt to take Evelyn or if it was too much. She slept well the night before and was having a good morning, so we decided we would try it. I was prepared to call it quits and come home at any point.  One of the things I love about Disney is that they have these nice baby care centers at each park. It's an air conditioned building with a room for nursing, changing tables, bathrooms, a play room for older kids, and baby items to purchase. Evelyn and I spent a lot of time in there. We did ride one ride, walked around some, and ate good food (the most important thing), but I did spend a lot of time in those air conditioned baby centers! 5 nursing sessions, 10+ diaper changes, 2 changes of clothes, and one lost pacifier later, we survived our first trip to Disney! Evelyn did really well, but we were all worn out by the end of the day!

There's something adorable about a baby with a pacifier

Evelyn wore this dress to church on Sunday. She also wore it her first Sunday to church at 5 days old. It's amazing how much she's grown in just a few weeks!

Kinley was so excited to hold "Baby Ed-a-lyn" at church on Sunday