Conversations with Evelyn

This morning, I loaded the kiddos in the car, barefooted and still in jammies - to go get some "donduts". Evelyn has asked for a donut every morning for over a week - and well, I love me some donuts so it was time to cave. The man making my coffee was dressed as a penguin and a certain two year old exclaimed "Yay! Donduts!" Throughout the whole procedure.

Scene: Upon arriving home:

Evelyn: "Donduts are here! I'm so excited!!"

Me: "Mommy is pretty excited too - but we have to eat breakfast first and then we can have a donut, ok?"

Evelyn: "Okaaaaaay Mom!"

Takes a bite of sandwich...

"Mmmm. Delicious!"

Eyes donut as she chews and whispers...

"I'll see you soon, dondut."



Evelyn Rae is two, Liam is almost nine months old

...and Happy Halloween!!

Eight Months

Sweet Baby Boy,

What a month you have had, my little man. You are growing and changing by leaps and bounds, seemingly each and every day. I think that your observant little self takes in much, much more than I was giving you credit for - a few of our grown up friends have been saying that you seem like an 'old soul' ever since you were born, and I cannot agree more. As fun loving and happy a baby as you are, you just seem to know so much more than you are letting on right now.

I fear that I won't be able to keep you in this chair much longer for these monthly photos, but we will get to that. This month you have had a bunch of firsts. The biggest one hanging over us for the last few weeks has been your very first cold. You can thank your sister for bringing home some preschool germs that hit her, you and Mommy all pretty hard.

You have come through it like a champion, with the aid of many, many Mommy snuggles and cuddles - which has pretty much meant we got nothing else done for a while. These Mommy snuggles were usually following your new trick, a little sound you liek to make that sounds suspiciously like "Mama." Well, it really sounds like, "Mamamamamamamamama." Daddy and I are pretty tough on the word front, so we're not calling it your first word just yet - but you sure seem to say it when you are sad and looking at me with the most pitiful eyes, wanting me to snuggle you.

I think you are working on those top two teeth right now, as though your sickiness has passed - you have seemed a little extra fussy the last few days, and again, the hands are constantly in your mouth. You exhibit the signs and symptoms well before a tooth cuts though, if your first two were any indication, so we will just hope these come a teensy bit faster.

You are eating so.much.food. I can hardly believe it. I honestly thought that boys were supposed to wait until they were teenagers before they began eating you out of house and home, but if your appetite now is any indication....we are in trouble. You eat *at least* a one egg spinach omelette (sometimes two), some sort of fruit, a waffle or toast, some snacky baby food item while your eggs are cooking, and usually anything else I can scrounge up from dinner the night before when you are STILL hungry after all the rest of that.

You have started showing a whole lot more interest in books this month, which warms this book ner Momma's heart. To be fair, you haven't really had a chance, as your sister is very very very concerned that every time you pick up a book you will rip it or wreck it. "No, no, no baby! Too little!" she can often be heard yelling. Daddy and I have been more stern lately making sure that she knows the books in your room are just fine for you to play with, and lo and behold, you do!

Your absolute favorite bedtime book this month has been your two Little Blue Truck books, which are admittedly, adorable. I think you like hearing Momma make all of the crazy animal, truck, car and city sounds.

And now in movement news. You are scaring me, my dear moving and shaking son. You are just so.darn.mobile! You are leaps and bounds ahead of where your sister was at eight months, and truth be told, I think it is because you want to keep up with her so badly.

You are officially cruising the furniture, and within a day of figuring that out, you were reaching out to cross over to different pieces of furniture. So, you now cruise from the ottoman to the couch, to the bouncer, to the arm chair and back again. And you look so darn proud of yourself. I can hardly believe it when I watch you do these things and look at me like, "Oh yeah, I do this now."

Along with all this movement though, have come a few really, really hard falls. You go all out, my boy, that is for sure. Your Dad and I like to theorize that because everyone else around you is walking, you just forget that you can't quite do it yet and continue cruising past the end of the furniture sometimes - though...you can't walk, so then you fall. And man, do you fall. You never did like sitting a whole lot, and so you do not do the toddler fall into a sit, thing. Nope, you completely trust fall yourself over. Your poor little head. Your Daddy and I try to catch you, but we have been just short a few times and whew. Those tumbles are real ones.

But, you keep trying. And just recently, as you can see in these photos, you have started pushing things and walking behind them. Like, in the last few days. Let's just slow it down a little bit, m'kay? Mommy can't handle all this business. You just started doing a legitimate crawl all the time! Let's take it one stpe at a time.

But, I am beginning to wonder if this just isn't going to be your personality. Running headlong into what you want, with just enough passion and perseverance to get you through...usually. But, the good news is, when it isn't quite enough - you are never too far behind with another try. You are definitely a "get back on the horse" kind of kid, so far, and should that continue I think you may be the cause of more than a few more gray hairs on your Momma's head.

I love you and that flirty faced mischief making smirk you give me more than I could ever describe. And, as your shirt says, you are indeed "Seriously Handsome." I think I'm in trouble.

All my love,

Momma.


Evelyn Rae is two years old, Liam is eight months old

...and this post is brought to you by a super long day, two rainy drizzly forecasts and almost no natural light for these photos. With the windows open. At noon. Gah. Summer, come back!

And, we have goals. {Update! I'm keeping them!}

We have goals this week! {UPDATED! 5 and 6 month posts are UP!}

My little (teething, perpetually hungry, standing, cruising on furniture, trying to jump from piece to piece of furniture) BABY will be 8 months old in TWO DAYS!

{WHAT?!}

...and I havent posted a monthly update since 2 months.

{Yikes.}

Because, you know, sitting, with a laptop and a memory card sticking out of it while there are children around....

Well, I am gun shy about it.

Why? Because my darling daughter pulled it out once and then it took a few hours for the card to be able to be read again and yeah.

{Many tears were shed in the meantime.}

So, thanks to my daughter and an unfortunate incident with a value sized jar of Vick's VapoRub that should have lasted us roughly ten years (spoiler alert - it lasted two days) I finally got to take a Mommy "business" night out of the house and upload photos! Huzzah!

So.

Today. Three Months and Four Months.

Tuesday. Five Months and Six Months

Wednesday. Seven Months {UP! 10/9}

Thursday. EIGHT MONTHS. On time! The day after it happens!

Those are the goals.

I hope to deliver, and you can watch my little man grow in front of your very eyes.

Much like the last eight months have seemed to me.

Very, very fast.



Evelyn Rae is two years old, Liam is seven months old

...and I think I may start scheduling a regular "Mommy Business Night." It was hella therapeutic.

Idea Girl

If I were a super hero, I think this would be my identity...

{via}

Idea Girl!

Here she comes with more creative projects than she has time! To Do lists that will never be fully accomplished! Wildly ambitious and passionate, she has ideas for everything! Improve! Make it work!

But watch out for that follow through. Or lack thereof.

I tend to get a little, um, stuck once I have a vision in place of how I want things to look or unfold. In the midst of a project I can be totally flexible and go with the flow (because hey! that didn't work? Dont worry! I have another IDEAAAAAAA), but I don't like to let my overall ideas go.

I don't know if that makes sense.

But, it's how I am and it drives my otherwise loving husband absolutely nuts-o.

He is very much the tunnel visioned type who can walk into Target for the one thing that he came for and walk out 5 minutes later with that one thing, and didn't even notice they sold other things.

Whereas I am all about ALL THE THINGS.

"Let's just browse a bit. OMG LOOK AT ALL THE THINGS. "

For example, I have been working on Evelyn's Big Girl Room for almost a year now, y'all. Almost a year. Yes, home projects and designs are continually evolving, blahbity blah. But, I just finished (last night) one of the projects that I knew I wanted in there when I started this whole shebang.

But, it wasn't vital so it kept getting pushed aside for other things, because NEW IDEAS! ALL THE TIME!

{This is why Pinterest is the best and worst thing to ever happen to me. And the rest of the internet using world. You know.}

In any case, usually I keep a pretty good balance between knew ideas and accomplishing those same ideas. BUT, after Liam was born, everything kind of ground to a halt for a while.

I take that back, the accomplishing ground to a halt for a while.

But the ideas? The ideas kept right on coming. Time marches on, yadda yadda yadda.

Thankfully, I am sort of out of ideas? I have a couple of projects that I am ready to pull the trigger on still, but those ideas that have just kept getting moved from one to do list to another are pretty much all accomplished.

WHAT? Who am I? Where am I?

{Which is where I have been while I have been taking my, um, hiatus from this here space that I love oh so dearly. You know and that whole running after two kids thing. Holy crap is it different than one.}

But that's life, right?

Don't worry. I have tons of ideas about balancing all this stuff going forward.

{ha. see what I did there?}


Evelyn Rae is two years old, Liam is seven, almost eight months old

...and I am not even a little kidding when I say that right now as I write this two kids are crying, a dog is barking and there are dishes to be done. Back later. The best laid plans...

Welcome to Crazytown.

Both my kids are teething.

BOTH kids.

Low grade fevers, snotty, whiny, sad babies in pain. Waking up in the middle of the night. One baby wanting nothing but to be nursed all day and the other trying to push him out of the way to crawl on my lap.

At the same time.

I am so le tired.

And yet - and this is how I know I have crossed the bridge into Crazytown, USA - it is sometimes in the most chaotic and babies crying and snuggling and snot covered moments...That I feel most sure that I want more babies.

Is that weird? Some kind of weird immersion psychological syndrome that I am experiencing?

No? Yes? Who knows.

I am so tired. And exhausted.

And I want more.


Not right now.

{God, please, not right now.}


But eventually.



Evelyn Rae is a big , bad, two year old growing some molars, and Liam is seven whole months old growing some tiny, shiny top front teeth (I think).

...and we will try this whole blogging thing again next week.

Seven Months

My Growing (way too fast for this Momma to keep up) Boy,

Well, here we are again. Another month gone by. And you are SEVEN months old. I don't know exactly why, but this just seems so...grown.

Perhaps it is all the mobility that you continue to amaze me with these days. You have gone from standing up against something for a few moments - if we placed you there - to pulling up all on your own! I am still so surprised every time I leave you alone for a second and come back to see you standing. 

You have continued your push up crawl, though you mix it in with a traditional crawl these days as well. It seems that you favor whatever you feel will get you to your intended destination the fastest. You are moving mainly toward things to climb upon, which has made for more than one spill and tumble this month, that is for sure. The other day, you pulled a twelve pack of water over while trying to stand up on it, causing the cans inside to roll all over the floor and around you. Total time I turned my back? About ten seconds, you little mischief maker. I am still not used to you being so quick!

You still love your bouncer and are showing much more interest in toys these days overall. You have always liked them, but thankfully haven't had too many favorites as your sister likes to show you how to better play with the toys that you do gravitate towards. Now you are showing more and more interest in her toys and we have to make sure to keep everything very separate since you want to put all of her play food right in your little mouth...much like the cookie she thought you would enjoy for this month's photo shoot.

 Overall you are enjoying a bunch of real foods too! We still gave you a few purees at the beginning of the month if you got frustrated at meal times, but overall you are rocking out with solid foods. You are a much, much messier eater than I remember your sister being, but I also got to let her be naked most of the time, so that may have had something to do with it.

Now that you have to get to go with me for preschool drop off and pick up every Tuesday and Thursday, we all get dressed right away - at least twice a week. We've only done it twice now, but it is definitely a little harder getting out the door than Mommy anticipated.

You are growing like a weed, thanks to all that food, but you are still a string bean. You have been filling out clothes a little better and becoming more "dense" (as your Daddy likes to say), but you are still a skinny baby. Alas, it appears that I may never get to have babies with those juicy chunky thigh rolls...if you and your sister are any indication. Your feet, however, are definitely taking after your Brawford middle name. They are getting longer and longer by the day!

You are becoming more and more independent these days, especially with all of your newfound rocking and rolling. We have been hanging at the park quite a bit and you love the swings. I love your happy giggling self when you feel that rush of wind on your face. You have started to lean out of my arms more and more, seemingly saying, "Ok Mom, let me explore a bit." Which makes me crazy proud, and crazy heartbroken all at the same time. Bittersweet.

Thankfully, for a little while longer, you seem to be most content close to and hanging out with Mommy, though Daddy is coming in at a close second these days, which I know he is excited about. I know the time is coming that needing to carry you about and hold you all the live long day is only going to be here for another short eye blink, just don't make it too fast, okay?

I love you to the moon and back.

All my love,

Momma


Evelyn Rae is two years old, Liam is seven months old

...and I hope I can keep him in the frame for the rest of this series.

A little ahead of myself.

So, remember how I said that this was going to be my 500th post?

Well, turns out I am a too busy to look at the details, barely glancing at the fine print, kinda gal. 'Cause...it's not.

It's my like 483rd post or something.

The 499 was including all my unpublished drafts, yadda yadda yadda. Turns out I was all stricken with anxiety over my big 500th post ideas for naught.

And, thus ends your moment of Courtney stupidity for the day.

What this means instead is that I can post a whole lot more before worrying about that fun post and that I have more time to figure out how the heck I want to comemorate it.

I am a big celebrator of milestones.

It sort of drives my husband crazy.

{Remind me to tell you about the time that we had been dating for six months and was totally crushed that he thought nothing of it. He later tried to logic his way out of it because "anni = annual = yearly, not half a yearly." Sadly, he still did not win that discussion because it was being had with a 16 year old girl, to whom six months is a BIG FREAKING DEAL.}

ANYWAYZ.

Moving on.

I am super behind on my monthly posts for my darling little man, so those are all coming your way, as well as some plans that I have been working on behind the scenes for this here space, and all those home projects you have been hearing about for years on end and have never been shared (hello Evelyn's big girl room), and you know, whatever else pops into my not-so-little head.

I can say this will all be coming at you with confidence because FRIENDS.

FRIENDS.

Do you know what is great about school?

It helps you achieve NORMALCY and a SCHEDULE.

AND OMG I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

{this definitely merits all caps}

I have alone time with both of my babies scheduled into my week now and all of a sudden there is BALANCE IN MAH LIFE.

...and, that's all I've got this morning.

BBL.


Evelyn Rae is two years old, my darling, bouncing baby boy is SEVEN MONTHS OLD TODAY, WTH

...and yeah. A SEVEN MONTH OLD.