Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

I realized today that there is a tragic dearth of pictures of Evie on my blog, so far this year at least. I'm here to remedy that tonight. But first, show and tell with objects.

Here is a posed portrait of our newest family member, Pearl, newly bathed, brushed, with a clean dress and hair bows. Evie likes to suck on her nose. This afghan is also a recent addition to our home. It was R's as a baby. She brought it, along with a few other things, to lunch last Saturday. I am amazed and humbled that R trusts us with these precious mementos. They are simple objects, but they symbolize the love she has invested in Evie and I am tremendously grateful to her and G for the role they are playing in Evie's life.

This is a dress that R wore as a toddler. It doesn't have a tag, so it might be homemade. It is cute in these pictures and simply precious in person.

Front:

Back:

Get it? The puppy's tail turns into the left strap. :) I'm not sure if the dog is supposed to be a dachshund or a basset, but I'm choosing to believe it's a basset because Phoebe is part basset hound. Her body is much like the dog on the dress, except not covered in pink flowers. :)

This is a cloth rocking horse that belonged to R as a baby. It is about a foot tall and plays "Yankee Doodle" via a music box inside its chest. When the music plays, the horse's head gently traces circles in the air (when I first described it to Josh I said "its head goes around in circles" and he pictured the Ex*orcist rocking horse).

R also gave Evie a pillow with her first name quilted on the front (ETA: it has R's first name, not Evie's), but for obvious reasons I'm not putting that picture up. I think the name pillow is something we'll keep tucked away for later, since it might be confusing to Evie when she's a baby, to have somebody else's name on a pillow in her room. She'll appreciate it when she's older. The rocking horse will probably stay up high for a few years, too, as it has some "not approved for children under age 3" aspects to it, but the afghan will get use right away and the dress should fit Evie in a year or so. Of course I'll snap plenty of pictures when it fits.

Moving on to pictures of Evie. One day last week we got desperate during a crying fit and put her in Apollo's beanbag. She liked it, kinda. It's right in front of the TV, so we couldn't tell whether she liked the beanbag or the soft blue glow of the boob tube. We got a couple of minutes of peace:

After she had been in it, even for so short a time, Apollo immediately went over and laid in it for a nap. To the beagle, everything is more attractive if it has come into contact with humans.

Since Evie was born, I've mostly used my wrap when I want/need to wear her, but this past week I started using my Ma*ya ring sling because it's easier to put on and Evie seems old enough to sit in it comfortably. She's not sure, yet, what she thinks:

By the way, I have no idea if I'm wearing it right or wrong, so if anyone has feedback for me, feel free to comment!

Here's the best shot I have so far of Evie grabbing at her legs and feet. We were trying to air out her bum because of the rash (gone now):

In this next photo she had just pooped, by the way, and it's the first time I've known she pooped not just from the noise and her facial expressions but from the smell. Gah. Her poop has been the strangest colors lately...very odd.

Here she is in her old-school Johnny Jump Up:

As you can see in the above and below pictures, her new habit of chewing on her sleeves leaves them quite...wet:

She's not sure yet what she thinks about the jumper. Pros: eye-level with the dogs, being upright, hand is right there to chew on. Cons: Mommy and Daddy think this is a great opportunity to eat dinner or do the dishes...not authorized!

She did this for the first time today:

I've seen lots of babies sleep this way, but Evie was just gazing at Rabbit, as usual. She seemed to like it, but I moved her out of this and into the traditional tummy time position because I wasn't sure this was giving her any of the standard tummy time benefits. I know, I know, I need to just relax about it. Anyhow, it gives you a good shot of her bald spot and birthmark. :)

Here's what tummy time usually looks like these days:

Although we're not always doing it on the changing table, we're also doing it in her play gym and she's started learning how to reach for toys and play while in tummy time, which makes her a lot more content.

I'll end with an amusing anecdote: we ordered pizza for dinner tonight and the delivery guy knocked tentatively on the door instead of ringing the bell...because of the note I have up for the mailman and Fed*Ex/U*P*S guys. I was so touched! He needed money from us but was still trying to be polite. He must have been a father.