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Instagram Eyes

I really need to start pulling out my camera more often because my iPhone pics aren’t as high quality. But, here are snapshots of my life lately, according to Instagram. Sorry there are so many!

Saying goodbye to T.J.

Eva is trying lots of new foods. Bananas are not her favorite.

Hannah had these beautiful flowers and delicious candy for me after I dropped T.J. off at the airport.

First snow cone of the season!

We saw The Pirates! before T.J. left. One of my favorites! It was so funny!

Just “hanging” out.

Almost every night we walk to the elementary school a couple blocks away and swing.

Why buy toys when spoons work just as well? We went through about five of those because she kept dropping them on the ground!

Saw these cute little boys feeding a horse on my Sunday walk. They were so excited they would just laugh uncontrollably.

I went to T.J.’s grandma’s house last night for a Family Home Evening. More than thirty people showed up… it was so fun! We heard about her and her granddaughter’s Mediterranean Cruise, which sounded amazing!

I’m trying to eat a little healthier… so instead of eating goldfish last night as my snack (as usual), I ate asparagus and mushrooms with balsamic vinegar. Mom, you’d be proud.

T.J. started work today at Johnson & Johnson! What a cutie!

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4 Months

Likes

Putting anything and everything into her mouth, most especially her pointer finger. This game where I pretend I’m asleep, then open my eyes really fast and say boo… always gets a laugh. Trying to sit up on her own. Wearing her bunny ears (okay, that’s just MY favorite). Swinging in her bouncy thing. Touching the baby food to her tongue but not actually eating it or letting it get in her mouth. Elliott the Elephant’s crinkly ears. Drooling. Baths. Going on walks. Being sung to.

Dislikes

Bouncing in her new bouncy toy–she just sits there and sucks on the fabric. Trying to fall asleep after the first yawn. Her binky unless she’s about to fall asleep. Riding in the car when no one is sitting in the back with her. Napping. The sun on her eyes. Waiting to be fed.

Diva Eva is 4 months old. 15 pounds. Holy cow, she is getting old and big… well, for a newborn baby.

Some things that Eva is doing… hmmmm… well she doesn’t nap too well. I think the Kentucky trip threw her off. She’s finally taking getting back into the swing of napping longer than twenty minutes. But on the upside, she still sleeps every night from about 9 pm-8 am without waking up.

Last week she was going through a growth spurt I think because it seemed like no amount of food would satisfy her. So, I decided to have her try baby food last week. She liked the way it tasted, but didn’t know what to do with it exactly. We will keep working on that… oh and I will upload the video of her first time trying the sweet potatoes… hilarious.

Eva finally does pretty good in the car if someone else is back there with her. If she has a toy, she lasts about ten minutes max without crying, which also is an approvement. Finally, I don’t dread running errands.

She is quite demanding when she’s hungry… she wants the food exactly then and she will let you know it. Sometimes it sounds like she hasn’t ever eaten in her life, when really she just ate a couple hours earlier. That is precisely why we call her Diva Eva.

What I have enjoyed most about this past month is how she really knows me… her momma. In the first couple of months, you are with the baby nonstop and wonder if you’re even making a difference. But I know that I am now. I love her to death!

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One Year Ago

One year ago, we found out I was pregnant.

We are so blessed.

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Nailed It

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Awkward Situation: How to Correct Someone Nicely

I’ve known my bestie Blair Murphy since 4th grade. That’s a long time, folks. We tell each other just about everything because that’s just what you do with your closest girlfriends. But there was this one time, about three months ago when I realized Blair was pronouncing Eva’s name incorrectly and I wasn’t sure how to tell her.

Let me back up first and say I know Eve is usually the shorter version of Evelyn, which is Eva’s full name. But I just liked Eva more PLUS I really like the idea of having a full formal name, just like my full name is Kathryn but I go by Katie. I also liked the “Evelyn” spelling more than “Evalyn” which my brother has bugged me about a lot. Most importantly, I knew it was going to be a name that people would probably pronounce wrong because there are so many popular names that are so similar to Eva such as Ava, Evie, and Eva-pronounced like Eh-va. It could go on and on.

But we pronounce her name with a long-E:  EE-va

Anyway, back to Blair. I noticed that she was calling her Ava. With a long-A sound. But I didn’t correct her on it the first time, which was mistake because with each phone call, it made it harder and harder to tell her. It’s kind of an awkward thing to correct, ya know? I wasn’t offended at all, I just thought she should probably know what her real name is. Ha.

So, two months later (yeah, it went on for two whole months), we were talking about Blair’s boyfriend who has an unusual name. Then the thought came to me… this is the perfect segue to telling her!

I said something along the lines of this:

Uhm, Blair. I need to tell you something that might be kind of awkward at first. But once I tell you, we’re going to laugh a lot about it.

Okay?

Soooo… you know how you call my daughter Ava?

Yeah?

She actually goes by Eva.

Blair and I immediately started laughing and then Blair said she wondered why we spelled it that way if it was pronounced Ava. Blair also made fun of me for not telling her for two months…

Like I said, I know I had it coming when naming her Eva and I’m never offended when someone pronounces it incorrectly. But I thought this story was pretty funny and my mom thought I should share it.

And just in case you still don’t know how to pronounce it, just copy how Wall-E says Eve’s name (Skip to 1:12). EEEE-VA!

Oh my gosh, I forgot how much I love that movie.

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Reflecting Back

Three months. Three months and my whole life has completely changed. I’ve said it over and over, and I’ll say it again. These months have seemed like a big blur. It’s getting harder and harder to remember specific memories. But there are many amazing ones and of course, many difficult ones too, when I think about it.

I remember when we brought home Eva from the hospital and I cried the whole way home because I was so overwhelmed with emotions. I left my house as a wife and I came home as a mother.

I remember the first couple days at home when we had to keep bringing Eva to the doctor to make sure she was recovering well from the fever she had at delivery. It was like a sudden awakening into adulthood. I was responsible for someone else, someone who fully depended on me.

I remember when my parents left and I wondered how I was ever going to do it without them. How was I going to take a shower? Go to the bathroom? Make dinner for my husband? There are still many days where I wonder those things.

I remember one night T.J. was at school and Eva would not stop crying. I held her on the Lovesac and just cried with her. It was heartbreaking to see her cry so much and not know how to comfort her.

I remember how I was so desperate to get Eva to fall asleep, I put her in her car seat on top of the dryer. It worked the first night, but that was about it.

I remember dancing to Justin Bieber’s Christmas special with Eva in the living room with the Christmas tree sparkling in the room. She just looked up at me with her big blue eyes.

I remember the first (and only) time I was at home without Eva. Our house felt so empty. I hated it and couldn’t wait for her to return with her daddy.

—–

Today was one of those hard days. Eva’s diaper rash is back and as bad as ever, so she was crying from pain a lot. She didn’t want to be put down at all but I was okay with it. I spent the day looking at Eva in my arms and thinking about all the moments we’ve had with her so far and imagining what life will be like with her in the future.

A baby truly changes everything and I’m so grateful for that fact.

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Our Little Lady

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Playing Catch Up

Last weekend was quite busy with lots of socializing and partying! Saturday we headed up to T.J.’s aunt’s house for a baby shower. T.J.’s cousin Annie is having a baby boy in April so we got to visit with a lot of T.J.’s family and eat out with some of them on Saturday night. 

Eva tried out Annie’s baby gift. She told us that she loved it and wants one for herself.

We tried a new Thai place in American Fork. I wish I could eat peanut curry every night!

After dinner, we visited with some of T.J.’s old high school friends. I love this group so much and wish we could get together with them more often.

Sunday we spent the gorgeous day up in American Fork. Look at our little gnome with those chunky thighs getting ready for a walk around the block!

 

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3 Months

Eva has gotten a nickname: Diva Eva. She is our little diva. She’s just as dramatic as her momma, if not more. But because of it, she makes us laugh every day. We joke saying that she is now the queen of the house, she knocked me off the throne and now we have to wait on her, hand and foot. She even loves riding around in her “chariot” throughout the house. Okay, it’s just a stroller. But she loves being in it, so I even push her around sometimes in the house.

Our new favorite game is to throw Eva up in the air a little bit. The first time I did it, I could tell she was a little freaked out. But then she realized she was okay, and gave me a huge smile. I’ll get a video of that soon.

What else is new? Eva is on the verge of giving us a full out laugh. She chuckles and makes cute little coos when she gets really happy, so any day now I’m hoping we get a real belly laugh out of her!

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Excuse Me…

Last Monday Eva got her two-month shots. I know it was a little past her two-month birthday, but I was going to have to do it myself since T.J. is usually always at work or school, so I wanted to wait until Eva was having a good day and we could go early in the morning when the wait is less. Anyway… once we got to the clinic for her shots, I was filling out paper work and Eva was sitting in her car seat playing with Elliott the Elephant, her fav. Then this little girl, must have been about three, came over and wanted to look at Eva. Looking turned to touching.

Uhm. Hello, we’re in a health clinic, who knows what this little girl is in for and I don’t want her touching, or anywhere near, Eva. So, I kept telling the girl, “No touching please,” and moving her hand. But she wouldn’t stop. She was about to get right in her face so I decided enough was enough and so I took her out of the seat and held her. THEN this little girl got Elliott the Elephant (Eva’s stuffed animal that she loves) and wanted to play with it. I took it out of her hands and put it in my purse. I felt rude, but come on! Where is this girl’s mother and why does she think she can just roam around a HEALTH CLINIC touching other kids? Ridiculous. I kept looking around for the mom but she was at the front desk and didn’t care at all. So rude.

Am I in the wrong? Was I being too harsh?

Other than that, the shots went pretty well. The nurse was really nice and did all three shots fast. And fortunately Eva loved the oral dose… probably tasted like candy, I’m guessing. She cried when it happened, which made me cry because I could tell it hurt her. But as soon as I was able to hold her, she calmed down and started to smile again.

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