2 Steps Forward (1 step back?)

Just a quick note to let all Evie's fans know that she is now getting to a standing position on her own in the middle of the floor (rather than first pulling up on furniture or our hands and then letting go). It's obvious that she has more trouble controlling her left leg when she does this. She also took 2 (albeit awkward) steps yesterday. Yipppeeee!!! True to the pattern she's had with past milestones, today she refused to attempt taking any steps. Anytime I asked if she could stand on her own or take steps, I got a shake of the head. I've learned that pushing it does absolutely no good, so I'm just biting my lip and dealing with it, but you know I'm chomping at the bit for that girl to walk! Poor Richard has been dealing with sciatica and then something he did with the physical therapist to help with the sciatica ended up causing his knee to swell up. So, I am the only one who can really lift Evie right now and it's been this way for several weeks so I am VERY eager for that girl to walk! But at least I'm building up my arm muscles! Ha ha!

We got video of Evie taking one step. I'll post it soon.

Snot on My Sweater

You've heard of Rocks in my Dryer. Well, I think I should start a new blog entitled "Snot on My Sweater." It's quite appropriate. This week, "Puke on My Sweater" would have been equally appropriate, but it doesn't have the alliteration and, let's face it, it's pushing the envelope on gross, don't you think? Just a few minutes ago, I noticed some snot on my sweater from where our little girl was hugging me/using me for a Kleenex, and I thought, "Ah, that's nothin' compared to the last several days!"

We've all had a "tummy bug." Isn't that so much nicer than saying, "We've all had various versions of Puking and Diarreahing??!" Sorry. Once you've been thrown up on twice in two days (and done your own hugging of the Throne) all skittishness goes out the window. I think we are starting to get over it. Thank you, Lord! (and in the same breath I say, "Please let it be true, Lord!")

Back to the SOMS blog...Isn't that an appropriate summation of a mommy's (and daddy's) life some days? I swear there are times when I look at what I have on and think, "Where did that come from?!" (That smudge, that snot, that stain, that lack of fashion--okay, I never was a great fashion girl, but you know what I mean)

And since I'm already going nuts with the random thoughts in this post, can I just make a complaint? Have you noticed that in this great technological age, we have not made our lives any easier at all. Now, not only do I need to organize my kitchen, my closet, my little girl's toys, etc, but I now need to organize my digital pictures, my emails, etc. Today I have been working on reducing my 1,000+ emails in my inbox to my goal of 100. Ay Ay Ay!!!

I better go. My inbox is still at 784 items.

Our sweet, sick girl

We have all been sick with various forms of a tummy bug this week. Not fun. I had to brag on our sweet girl though...I had thought that Evie was just about over it (emphasis on thought...as you'll see later in the post, I was wrong). I on the other hand, was really tired this morning, so I shut all doors leading to other parts of the house and let Evie play in the living room (which doubles as a play room since her kitchen is in there). She played and I lay down on the couch to rest. (By the way, I really don't know if this was the "right"thing to do, but I don't know what to do when you don't feel good and need to rest but can't take the day off. For what it's worth, I really think our living room is pretty well kid-proofed and I know I didn't fall completely asleep. There. Disclaimer finished.) Anyway, I drifted in and out to the sounds of her playing and at one point I felt her patting me and when I opened my eyes she was standing right beside the couch with her upper body leaned over me (basically laying on me with her upper body) and patting on me. What a precious girl!! I asked if she wanted to lie down with mommy and I got her "Mm-mm!" response which is her enthusiastic version of yes, which we love. So we rested together on the couch.

Later, needing to get out of the house, we met my mom at El Fenix. Here's where I realized that Evie was not better yet. We got about halfway through the meal and she was eating more than she has the last several meals. Then she started coughing. Uh-oh. This was my warning so I got my napkin ready. Sure enough, she threw up all of her lunch (and breakfast too, by the look of it--sorry). I quickly covered it with my fabric napkin and I think I managed to do it quickly enough so none of the other customers noticed. At least I didn't see any horrified stares. I was certainly finished with my lunch at that point though. So now Evie is napping. I should probably go do the same.

Thank you!

Thank you, everyone, for your sweet encouragements regarding my last post. I really, really appreciate it! I did want to make sure that I didn't sound critical of Evie's PT, because we really do love her. It's so obvious that she cares for Evie and I know the questions she asks are for her good. That said, yes I get frustrated sometimes, but I know where she's coming from. Just wanted to clear that up!

Caring for a "Special Needs" kid

I rarely think of Evie as a "special needs" kid. I think it just seems like such a dramatic label to apply to someone who is able to do so much (not to mention the simple fact that it is indeed a label). But when I stop to think about it, it really is an appropriate description. I can't just let Evie play and read to her and she will learn all she needs to learn. The simple act of getting her to cruise takes a concentrated effort on both our parts.

She had her physical therapy today and some days I come away encouraged; other days (like today) I'm left with discouragement, frustration, self-condemnation and the desire for a good long pity-party. I feel so inadequate for this task. I can barely figure out being a mommy, much less a mommy caring for Evie's special needs. My inner monologue goes something like this: you don't do the PT stuff enough with her; if you did, she could walk by now; you should be spending more concentrated time with her during the day (instead of cleaning or running errands), you're not being observant enough (I feel this one especially strongly on PT days because Lori (her PT) will ask me all kinds of questions like "when she drinks from a straw, does she hold the cup with both hands?" which not only do I not know the answer to, but I'm guessing I probably just hold the cup for her so she won't drop it to the floor which leads to another thought: You do too much stuff for Evie so she's not gonna be able to do things for herself (Which I HATED as a Kindergarten teacher, thinking "teach your kid how to tie their shoes, zip their coat,etc).

I know that I do some things right. I know I have good days and bad days. Some days I just really wish I was better at juggling all my different jobs more efficiently. I wish wonderful things for my daughter and I would hate for her road block to success to be...ME! Thanks for letting me vent.

First Kiss

Evie had a very fun, busy day on Halloween. I'll post more on that later. For now, here's a picture of her first kiss! We went to our church's Fall Fun Festival and saw our friends Mike and Carrie with their son, Mason. He and Evie are buddies and he quickly leaned over and gave her a big ol' smackeroo. He did it several times right on the kisser...Christy grabbed this shot on about the 3rd or 4th kiss. I like how I look concerned about the kiss and Carrie is loving it. In reality we were both laughing about it...not sure if we would still be laughing if it happened at age 13. Ha ha! Although I'm sure Mason would be a wonderful catch for any girl. (They just have to wait until they're 30) :o)

Standing Girl

Evie is standing on her own regularly now. She doesn't really go from sitting to standing on her own, although I believe she could if she put her mind to it. Doesn't she look like she's playing air guitar and singing a tune here?!

The Pumkin Patch

Evie loved the goats and sheep both at the pumpkin patch and at the fair. Here are shots of her with animals at the pumpkin patch:




Evie in the real patch of pumpkins:



Picking out a winner:


Taking soil samples to be sure the pumpkins are really organic:


...and hay samples on the hayride:


Our beautiful, happy girl:




Family portrait at the patch (with the tripod):

Quick Blips

Oh, things have been so busy lately! We just got back from a wonderful visit with family in North Carolina--Richard's sister, Ruthie, and her hubby and 4 kiddos live in Durham. I have so much to blog about. We have been battling colds for about 2 months now! One of us will get over it and pass it on to another member of the family, back and forth, back and forth. I am sick and tired of us being sick and tired! Now we are pretty much well cold-wise, but Richard seems to have a case of sciatica (pinched sciatic nerve). His pain is excruciating and he can't walk without help. Poor guy! So, my point is, I haven't been on the computer near as much lately so I'm way behind as usual on the blog. Oh, well.

Here's something that I found via my friend, Rachel's, blog. I've only read the first two, but they are very good (and convicting)...It's about how you can do sweet things for your hubby and it's written by various women who've been married 20+ years. Hubbies (including mine!), no fair looking at this...you might ruin some surprises we have in store for you!

http://girltalk.blogs.com/girltalk/2008/10/doing-your-hu-1.html


Here's a sneak preview of Evie in her Halloween costume at the pumpkin patch. I imagined she would be a princess or something this year, but we cruised through Wal-Mart one day and when I showed her this Elmo costume she kept saying, "Mo Mo! Mo Mo!" so I figured she preferred to be Elmo. I think I'm gonna stick a big bow on the Elmo head so people won't keep saying "He" to her. They probably still will, but at least I'll try to make the costume more girly. I polled a couple of friends and they didn't think Elmo was a boys-only costume. My friend Christy thought he was "without gender." We'll go with that. :o)

Evie and the Boys

Laura brought Graham and Ethan over for a while on Saturday morning so she and Paul could go see their brand-new niece, Kendall. The boys had fun playing in a fort that Richard fixed up for them and parading around the house with some of Evie's instruments. Ethan's favorite toy, however, was....THE TRACTOR!! It's a tractor that my granddaddy got for me when I was a little girl because whenever he worked on the farm he would let me ride around with him on the tractor and I LOVED it! Evie tagged along, playing cars and generally following the boys as fast as she could. :o) It was a lot of fun to see Richard playing with the boys too. I have to admit, I don't quite know what to do with boys now that I have a girl. Pretty funny!

Oh, you may notice Evie is wearing a patch in these pictures...Her ophthalmologist has us patching her for an hour and a half a day because one of her eyes still tends to turn in a little at close range. When she looks at a distance, her eyes are almost perfectly straight. This isn't too alarming; he seemed to expect it and it's just part of the little corrections we'll need to continue doing in the coming months. We seem him again in December. Overall we are extremely pleased with the surgery!

Fun Girl

Our smiley girl (who is very snotty and drooly of late). As you can see from these pictures we sometimes lose the battle of keeping your glasses on you. But you are very possessive of your glasses. In general you like them, but they also become your tool for expressing when you want things. If you want (or don't want) something and don't get your way, you will whip off your glasses as if to say, "Well I'll show you!" We have had to discipline you for that quite a bit.


Singing (and in the process, showing where you recently bit your tongue--Ouch!!!)


More singing and talking...I think even your tongue is cute--all curled up!


Evie, you are such a fun girl! You LOVE music and are becoming a very good communicator even without words. Last night, as we drove home from Daddy's C.A. Reunion, you kept saying, "Mama, Mama!" until I looked back at you. You then signed, "Please" (often your way of saying "help" or expressing a desire for something). I said, "What do you want, Evie?" You pointed toward the radio, signed "music," and then waved "Bye bye!" You wanted us to change the song. You are very vocal about music you do and don't like. It cracks me up. I didn't expect this until Junior High.

You are now standing up on a regular basis. You don't go from sitting to standing on your own yet, but I can hold your hand and say, "Let go when you're ready" and you will let go and then clap at your success. It is very cute and Daddy and I are thrilled at your progress and growing confidence. We love you, sweet girl!

Evie's Oy-Goy-Goy Language

Evie just cracks me up lately. She has such a fun sense of humor and I don't know where she comes up with some of this stuff. Here is a video of a special language or word that she came up with. It sounds like she's saying "Oy-Goy-Goy." I don't know what it means but if you ask her to say it she gets this sly grin on her face and she will oblige you. Enjoy! :o)

Favorite Books

Evie has always enjoyed her books, but lately she seems more interested in them than ever. She is starting to "read" them to herself when Mommy is busy cooking or cleaning. Here are her 3 favorites: The Rover Book, which is a book wrapped in a stuffed animal dog. Yesterday I read it to her about 10 times (NOT exaggerating) and she still wanted to hear it some more. A "First Words" book which has a photo and one word on each page. The 3rd one is a book I made on a scrapbooking day of our family (I made the book instead of scrapbooking). We call it the "Aunt Juicy Book" because Richard's Aunt, Judith (who he and his sister always called "Aunt Juicy") is on the first page. So, Aunt Juicy, if you are reading this, we figured you'd get a kick out of that. Evie enjoys saying the name of each person on the page (or if she can't say the name, her default is "Dee Dee" which means "Evie"). The other day she even predicted what person was next. As a former Kindergarten teacher who was always trying to get her students to make predictions, that made me very proud! :o)

Friday at the Arboretum

As I said in my earlier post, there were quite a few of us from church at the arboretum today. See all these strollers? There were actually more to my left, but my lens wasn't wide enough angle to get all of them.


Our blanket attracted quite a few little friends, which was lots of fun. It was a hoot to see different kiddos eating each other's food even though their mommies had packed plenty for them. The grass is always greener...



My friend Kim was very kind (and patient!) as she tried to get a picture of Evie and me. Unfortunately, Evie didn't pay a bit of attention to her as she tried to get her to look at her. The times she actually looked were the times that I started talking or gesturing with my hands. Oh well. Thanks for trying, Kim!! :o)




Evie got to play with her friend, Mason. They are buds in the nursery and have "races" in the rocking horses there on Sunday mornings. They are both very laid back kiddos. As you can see, the straw was their favorite part of the pumpkin patch. What a fun day with friends!

Walking with Mommy

A couple of different playgroups from our church met up at the Arboretum today. There was an incredible number of strollers all parked together at lunch! I'll try to post a pic later. My friend, Christy took these photos of Evie and me walking together near the frog fountains. As I told her, it did me good to see these shots. I sometimes get a little down about Evie not standing/walking yet (Since the video I posted, Evie rarely actually stands by herself...she is scared by it and just doesn't seem to want to yet even though she is perfectly capable of it). She is much better at walking along with us holding her hand as you can see in these pictures, but I don't think I've ever gotten a shot of it. She and I dressed in orange to get pictures at the pumpkin patch.

I Love Google!

I haven't been on the computer much lately, as you can probably tell if you keep up with me via this blog or Facebook. I decided to do a random post today about my love for Google. I swear you can find about anything on Google! Here are two random questions I had (on separate days) which I found answers to on Google...

1. Why do I get brainfreeze when I chew mint gum and then drink cold water?
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.cecil-adams/browse_thread/thread/bfbc96bd5c27b590?pli=1
2. Why do my teeth feel weird after I eat spinach?
http://www.fitsugar.com/551249

There you go! So, what are some of your questions that you've gotten answers to on Google?

(P.S.--I promise to blog about Evie one of these days, but we are all fighting colds and just generally busy! Does anybody else feel like they are experiencing almost holiday-time busyness?!)

God's Perspective

I think God has been giving me a glimpse of His perspective these last few days as I have struggled to put antibiotic ointment in Evie's eyes.

1. I am doing something she doesn't like, but it is for her good.
2. If she would just be still, open her eyes and look at me (and trust me!), the trial wouldn't take so long and wouldn't even be that big of a deal.
3. If she struggles so much that I can't put the ointment in, the end result will be much worse (infection!)

This sounds a whole lot like me!

Next-Day picture added

If you already read my post on Evie's surgery and it didn't have a next-day photo on it, check it again because I just added that.

Potpourri of Pics

I haven't blogged much lately, so here is a potpourri of pics that I wanted to post earlier:

Here's Evie's buddy Spencer, aka "Bluh, bluh, bluh" enjoying his 1st birthday cake. Spencer and Evie saw the sights in DC together and whenever she sees him or is asked his name, Evie flicks her lower lip with her finger and says, "Bluh, bluh, bluh!" For some reason, that's just what she calls him. She does the same thing when I show her a picture of her Aunt Bitsy. She also does this whenever she sees my dad because it is his special greeting for her. Funny girl!


Evie watching Elmo TMX in action. She's become quite enamored with Elmo of late (and so have I actually; much to my surprise, he has really grown on me).


Evie enjoying her Little Tikes pool that we got FOR FREE because her Mommy saw it set out for bulk trash pick up down the street from us and shamelessly rolled it all the way down the street to our house!! After a good scrubbing it was perfectly fine! She loves the little slide.


One of Evie's favorite games is to play "Night-Night." She lies down on the floor, says "night night," and waits for one of us to cover her with a blanket and pat on her to tell her good night. It is so cute!

Evie's Eye Surgery

As most of you know, Evie has been seeing an ophthalmologist because her eyes cross. We knew based on what the doctor had said, that she would need surgery. She had that surgery on Thursday. It went very well. The doctor told us yesterday that he was very pleased with the results (and this doctor is not one to pretty things up; he is very straightforward, which is one of the things we really like about him). We still have to wait to see how things go, but it was wonderful to hear that so far, so good. Praise God! We go for another follow-up on October 1st. Thanks again to all the many people who were praying!

Here are a few pictures:

Pre-op before she got the "Loopy Goop" as I called it, which makes them forget the separation from Mommy & Daddy and made Evie goofy and giggly. Here she is playing with her daddy's flip phone (one of her favorite pass times). You can see the crossing some in this photo.



Post-op, in recovery. She was SO out of it! It took a long time for her to wake up enough to satisfy the nurse, so we were there longer than expected. She slept a LOT once we got home that first day, which was good, because we were really tired too (got up at 4:45 a.m. to arrive at the hospital at 6:15). If you click on the picture you can see the little red marks on her eyes. These are from the retractors they used to keep her peepers open. She has extra-small, deep-set eyes, so it was pretty hard to get in there. I'm amazed they can get in anybody's eyes to do anything at all!!


My baby all hooked up to an IV. :o(


We kept sitting her up, trying to rouse her. She'd wake up a little and fuss, but then go right back to La La Land.


With Grandmama. Her face was puffy from the IV fluids and she was sweaty too (a side effect of the anesthesia).

Here's a picture of Evie taken the day after surgery. You probably have to click on it to see much, but she's got redness and a tiny bit of swelling in the inner part of her left eye. It's much less than I anticipated. As you can see, her eyes are tracking together well in this picture. It could be my imagination, but I feel like she sees better somehow and is even doing better motor-wise. She has been cruising and trying to walk (holding my hands on the walking, of course) a lot more today and just seems more "aware" of her surroundings. Who knows? But I'll take it. :o)

Ridin' in Style

Richard, Evie and I walked over to Paul and Laura's on Sunday. Ethan and Graham were riding in their neighbor's Escalade. After Graham took a turn, Ethan drove Evie around in it. It was soooo cute! It was like they were on a little date (but Evie's not actually allowed to date until she's 30--Ha ha!)

Changing stations on the radio (yes, it even had a "radio" that would turn on and off!).

Poor Graham was not too excited that his turn was over!

Riding off into the "sunset"...

Oh My Goodness!

Some friends and I went to a place called Amazing Jakes (similar to Chuck E. Cheese, but with mini golf and more rides). Evie and I were hanging out in the toddler area and I can't remember if I was holding her by one hand or if I had both of her hands, but suddenly she was standing all by herself!! She had to have stood there for well over a minute...I had time for it to sink in that she was actually standing by herself, walk over to the stroller which was about 5 feet away, grab my camera, take it out of the case, take two photos, then switch to video mode so I could take video. In the video you can hear me saying something about her doing a great job standing (and can I just apologize now for my squeaky voice yelling "Evie, Evie!"...I really don't like my voice on these videos!) and shortly after I said "standing" the spell is broken, she's down, and she's crying. She didn't get hurt as she went down, she's just not very gutsy. I'm afraid she's a bit of a chicken like her mommy when it comes to physical stuff (I'm a horrible skier, can't rollerblade unless I'm on totally flat ground, etc. Sorry, Evie girl!) After that I couldn't even get her to crawl. She wanted me to hold her constantly and kept fussing. It was as if she thought I had betrayed her by letting her stand all by herself. What a funny little drama queen!! :o)

Meeting a Blogging Buddy

Mother flew out of Denver Sunday morning and Richard, Evie and I stayed on in Denver. I got to meet a blogging buddy IRL (In Real Life). Her name is Jen. Her husband, Matt, and I were friends in college and after their daughter was born, Jen started a blog. I got to know her through the blog and we have commented back and forth on each other's blogs and emailed a bit for over a year now. They live in the Denver area so we arranged to get together and they graciously offered for us to stay with them Sunday night. After dropping Mother off at the airport, we met up with them at the Denver Zoo. After the zoo we headed to their place and got to spend some great time chatting, playing games (They stomped us, but we are SO gonna have a rematch someday!), eating out on their beautiful deck, and watching Evie and their sweet daughter, Grace, play.

Grace sharing her wagon with Evie...

Jen and I with the girls on the train...

Look who got worn out by the end--surprise, surprise! (I think Evie likes sleep almost as much as her mommy does)

Hanging out in Matt & Jen's beautiful backyard. In this picture you can see Grace picking up a ducky for Evie. Evie was enjoying playing the "Drop it and see if they will pick it up" game and Grace was sweetly obliging.

Two ruffly girls at the pool...

Look how CUTE!!!

A group shot just before we took off for camping in Rocky Mountain National Park...