E's New Bedroom!

We are expecting baby number two in January! The ultrasounds indicated that this baby is going to be a little girl, just like E. Eventually, they will probably share a bedroom, but for now, with E such a light sleeper, we are going to give the nursery to the new baby and give E the guest bedroom. 

I wanted it to function as a guest bedroom as well until the last possible minute so in order to accomplish that I've left the bed in there for now. I'm going to move the crib in next week and let E start sleeping in there to get used to it. 

The first thing I did was paint. I always forget to take before pictures, but you have to imagine that the walls were a light brownish pink, not as bad as I'm describing but not very pretty. I painted a light blue with white ceiling to make the room look lighter (there is only one window.)

Next I took the doors off of the closet. They were the accordion doors that come out into the room. They took up a lot of space when they were open, and E couldn't get them open herself. I found baskets at the dollar store and labeled them for her clothes. She loves going in there now and picking clothes out in the morning!

Next I added a corner book area. It was a really awkward space, and not enough room for any furniture, so I used drawer dividers (also from the dollar store) and screwed them into the wall.

I also made the curtains and am working on a quilt for E to go in the room. If you want to read more about that, you can see them on my other blog, here.

Wow am I behind!

I have far too many things to post about. My last post was about the letter B for E's collection and I'm already done with C and D! Not to mention my baby turned one and is almost walking!  So, a quick recap of the last month.

E turned one. We had a birthday part for her over Easter weekend with my parents, P's parents, and P's brother and sister. Here are some pictures from the party and Easter!

We also got nice pictures taken of her at JC Penny, here are my favorites.

Next, in my ongoing effort to put more art up in the house, I made two new pieces.

The first covers up our really ugly doorbell and thermostat:

The second is a magnetic scrabble board for your wall!

Both of these ideas were from pinterest. You know that bumper sticker that says "I do what the voices in my head tell me to?" Mine should read, "I do what the pictures on Pinterest tell me to."

In other crafty news I made little finger puppets for E's friends for her birthday:

and for my friend's birthday I made a shopping bag that folds up in your purse. I had to learn how to make a french seam, which is a very useful skill!

Ok, I think that's all the news that's fit to print.  Oh, I'm probably not going to be as crafty for the next 8 weeks because I'm taking an online logic course through Coursera. I tried one other course before, but it require reading a book a week for 8 weeks and I just didn't have enough time. This one is a little tricky so far, similar to a course I took in college but that was ten years ago now and I am rusty. The courses are free though and very well done in case you're interested!

11 Months

E has grown so fast. I'm a little late for the 11 month post, and I'm already thinking about the fact that she is going to be one year old in 10 days! Backing up to 11 months though, I have pictures to share!

She loves swimming, she can go under water, jump in, do a back float and swim from person to person for about a foot by herself!

E finally got her first tooth! It happened just a couple of days before she turned 11 month, and now she has two perfect little bottom teeth. So far, she has only bitten me twice.

She is very comfortable pulling herself up onto anything now, and getting back down.

E hanging out at the library before story time!

She loves being pulled around the yard in the sled.

Grandma came to visit. E had a playmate just for her for 4 days!

A is for apple!

Ok, even though Evelyn is only 10 1/2 months old I wanted to start working on her alphabet. I like putting a little bit of structure in our days and giving her different things to play with and think about.  I decided to make magnetic letters for her to play with.  I just finished the first one yesterday and she's already playing with it.

It helps that I put it on the dishwasher and she already loves the dishwasher.  I plan to put different pieces of paper under the magnet with images of things that start with the letter A.  Either that or just let her play. She's figured out that it's a magnet and can stick to certain things, but she hasn't quite figured out how to do it successfully each time.

10 Months!

 Well, my baby girl has hit double digits. She's getting old! She is crawling now, she can climb up stairs, and she is starting to think about pulling herself up. She has so much more energy and enthusiasm about everything. 

9 Months!

Ok, so this is actually only a couple of days after E turned nine months, instead of a month and a couple of days!  E is nine months old now, she has had quite a busy month!  We went to my parent's house for Thanksgiving, a 12 hour drive.  We split it up into 2 six hour drives two days in a row, but still, it was a lot for a little baby!  She did awesome though, she's such a trooper.  She now says Mama, Dada, itty (kitty) and hi.  Sometimes I can even get her to wave when she says hi, it's so cute!  Here are some pictures of us on our adventures this last month!

E got her first tree!

She learned how to drive!

E is a cheerleader now for the packers, sorry Bills!

Our first snow!

9 Months old today, not that she'll let you see the sign.

8 Months!

Somehow I completely forgot about my 8 month post for E, so here it is to be shortly followed by the 9 month post!

E turned 8 months old!  During that time she went on her first mini-vacation to St. Joseph.  The end of October and it was 70 degrees in Michigan!

E touching sand for the first time ever!

She also had her first Halloween.  Since she doesn't eat candy yet we just went to our neighbors houses offering them candy and showing off our adorable baby in her adorable costume.

What?  A giraffe eating a giraffe!?

E also said her first word, Mama!  Unfortunately, she only likes to say it when she is crying and mad.  Here are some pics taken right on 8 months. At least I remembered to do that part!

First Word!

E said her first word last night.  To my great joy and delight, it was "Mama".  Before you go thinking that I imagined it, let me just tell you what happened.

The Notredame game ended up going into overtime and E had gone down for a nap in the third quarter.  When the game was over she was still sleeping, but we had friends over and we had all planned to go out to dinner with E after the game.  I figured she'd want to have dinner before going to bed for the night anyway so we woke her up and all went to dinner.  Well, trying to wait to feed her until we got to the restaurant was apparently not the right idea.  She was screaming in the car, and we were all listening to her cry.  Then, in one of her cries she very distinctly said "Mama."  I was driving and she couldn't see me so she was probably wondering where I was and why I wasn't feeding her.  Everyone just kind of looked at each other and decided that yes, that had actually just happened.  

So, I have three witnesses besides myself and I have to say, I'm a very proud "Mama."  Too bad she had to get that worked up in order to have us hear it!  I can't wait to see what her next word will be, maybe "Dada?"

Here she is in the restaurant right after saying her first word!

7 Months!

A little late, but better late than never!  E is 7 months old now, and it has been a busy fall!  She is so independent.  She is sitting up all by herself and eating cheerios now.  She doesn't crawl yet, but she pivots and rolls until she gets what she wants.  We've done so many great fall things this year, pumpkin patch, making applesauce, trips to the zoo, and lots of football games!