Colouring with Daddy and other adventures

Evangeline is 15 months old!! And enjoying lost of pastimes. One of her favorites is colouring . . . .



Lots and lots of fun :-)



Cheeky Evie Pie tried to steal some wine from Daddy . . . like mother like daughter?




We were also lucky enough to have a visit from Ma and Pa. Evie loved this as there were even more people to play with and to charm into giving her her own way. Sadly for Evie, noone is taken in by this. Poor Evie . . .

But luckily for Evie's doll "Lelly", she now has a buggy for Lelly that can be pushed around the house






Evie's best friends - the little girls next door - have a bouncy castle in their garden and Evie got to play on it. She was not sure about this at first and hung onto Sarah's teddy for dear life. She got a bit more enthusiastic after a while but is not yet convinced that bouncy castles are fun!




Evangeine now weighs around 25 pounds! And talks more than ever. Her recent additions are "poo" - usually said when pointing at her nappy, and "wee" - usually said to me if I'm walking towards the loo, and "tiny" - learned when talkign about Evie's new cousin Victoria! Victoria "Tori" was born on March 4th but was so tiny she had to live in the hospital for 2 weeks. Tori came home today!! But she is still only 4lbs 8oz and really does qualify as tiny! Evie was very excited to see Tori and Uncle Robert on skype today. :-)

J xxx

Bayou Wildlife Park

With Auggie out of town for his best friend's wedding, Evangeline and I decided to go to the Bayou Wildlife Park in League City with two of my friends and their daughters. This place is a weird mix of petting zoo and wild animals and Evie LOOOOOOOVED it. I think she would have been happy to spend an entire week there. It completely made appauling traffic on 1-45 worth while. Note to self. . . get an EZ Tag for the new car.
Part of the entry fee included a pony ride. Evie was brave and went all by herself.



She loved all of the animals but was weirdly obsessed with the alligators. We had to go and look at them a LOT.


It was a great day!

We're also happy that one of Evie's new words for the weekend is "sorry". She's definitely a Brit now :-)

Jane xxx

Evie update

As Nana pointed out to me yesterday, I am way way way behind on this blog! So, here we go.

We're rubbish parents and don't have many recent photographs. But here are a couple . . .


New Year at Nana's


Merry-go-round at Katy Mills ( Evie loooooved this!)

What has Evangeline been up to?

Her new favourite game is the cuddle game. You walk over to Daddy with a huge smile on your face and give him a cuddle, then walk over to Mummy with a huge smile on your face and give her a cuddle. Repeat at your leisure. We don't mind this game at all!!

Evie talks ALL the time. She likes to say "please" and point at things in the hope that the magic word works every time. It usually does! She also likes to say "Kiss" "cat" "alice" "bear" "Safia" and "balloon" among others.

Bath time is still Evie's favourite time of the day. Our least favourite is taking her out of the bath and the fussing that comes with it. I think Evie would stay there all night given the opportunity. Equally fun is discovering that farting in the bath makes bubbles (fun for Evie, that is :-))

I am determined that we will take some more photographs of Evie over the next week so I can post some more. Until then . . .

xxx

End of year review!

I know. We are total rubbish at posting on the blog. Things have been SOOO super busy with birthdays, thanksgiving, visitors at the house and Christmas. But, there is a LOT to update on.

Most importantly, Evangeline has started helping Mummy and Daddy with the housework. She cried and cried when we took away the duster. We are taking this as a good sign.



Second in importance, Evie is ONE! She had a fabulous birthday party with lots and lots of people and even more cupcakes. We will be adding those photos later when Mummy remembers where she uploaded them to. Evie got to see Nana, Papa, Grandma, Ma, Pa and Grandad as well as lots of friends. And no, there was not any eating of cake with hands because Mummy didn't want to clean it up. Poor Evie.

The doctor's comment at Evie's one year check up was "she's certainly thriving" - which we reckon means chunky as Evie weighed in at a massive 22lbs 8oz and 30 inches tall. Hopefully some of the excess rolls will burn off now that she is WALKING!!! After taking a couple of steps, Evangeline started walking on December 17th and has not looked back since.




Evie had two Christmas Days this year - first with Grandma, John, Russ and Olga and later on with cousin Sam the rest of the English contingent. Evie ate so much we thought she might pop. But, we did discover that she really a true Brit, putting away mince pie, figgy pudding, smoked salmon, bubble and squeak, and a pickled onion. We just hope she stays this easy to feed!





More photos to follow (I promise they will be here before March). Evie is sound asleep and I fancy a glass of wine or two . . .

Jane xxx

Dear Santa, I would like a pony

To avoid the distasteful after thanksgiving crowds, we went to see Santa last weekend. Evangeline asked for a pony.



We're getting very very excited about the upcoming birthday party! Evie-Pie will have her own special low sugar cake which she will each from a spoon - no messy babies for me to clean up :-) there will be ample champange and much merriment!

Have a happy Thanksgiving, or if you're in the motherland, have a happy Thursday

Jane xxx

Flower Fairy!!!!

10 Months Old!! And getting cuter by the day (not that I'm biased).

To celebrate, Evangeline spent some more time in the pool. We seriously don't think that there is any baby in the world who likes the water as much as Evie-pickle-pie. She would have spent all day had we let her. The filter fountain is a huge source of fun!







We decided to brave the spa once it had been heated up.



We were lucky enough to have a little visit from Frannie, Erica and Matthew. We had been dying to meet baby Matthew since he was born in April and the babies had a lovely time together! Erica, Frannie and I met at the UNA International Choir so it seems appropriate that the babies engaged in some musical activity . . .







So . . what is Evie up too . .

She likes to give herself a standing ovation. Her standing is getting really good although walking usually results in an impressive face plant

She points to Daddy and says "Daddy" and points to Mummy and says "Mummy". She has also learned to say Papa.

Peep-bo is Evie's favourite game. Polly Dolly is her favourite toy.

Evie's words are: again, Mummmy, Daddy, Nana, Papa, yes, cat, kitty, ball, Safi(her friend Safia), no (!), mine (!!) and, dirty (said at Nana's house, hehehe)

Evie likes to eat whole bananas and doesn't like to wait for it to be mashed, and prefers eat it like a grown up. She LOVES roast dinner and last sunday had custard for the first time. We have also added beef, mushrooms, egg white, kiwi, pickle (firmly against my wishes. why people, why?), and blackberry jam. yummy.

Christmas and birthday dresses have been purchased and we are ready for the rest of the year!! Evie pies is sleeping and we should probably do the same

xxxx

A Few Random Photos

Evangeline was being especially cute the other day so we took a few photos.

She was readying "Fitness" magazine. Good girl wanting to keep in shape! Maybe that's why she likes her fruits and vegetables.





Apparently something was VERY exciring.



Evie went to have her anaemia test today (standard for 9/10 month olds at our docs office). We had been told it was just a finger prick so Nana agreed to take Evie. Anyone who knows Nana will be aware of her track record with needles . . . well it turned out they needed to draw blood from Evie's arm. Poor baby!! Evie was a trooper though and didn't cry at all, and Nana didn't pass out. So all is well!

Evie and I had to make a little detour to our neighbours' house today. We got home to find a swan sitting on the door mat. It was hissing at us and we didn't want to take the risk! Good thing Daddy came home to shoo it away with a broom :-)

10 months old on Monday. Where is the time going . . . . ?

xxx

Grown up baby

Evangeline is trying to be a grown up. This makes us a little bit sad, but it is fun to watch. She can stand without holding on to anything for about 5-7 seconds and is trying to take a step. She spends a lot of time falling on her bottom. Walking around the room with Daddy is a lot of fun for Evie, but less fun for Daddy's back.





She has also attempted counting and walking at the same time. We've been learning "1-2-3" in English and Arabic.


Before Evie-Pie was born, Pa did a nice paint job on Daddy's old rocking chair and he and Ma brought it down from Eden for Evie. She's finally big enough to sit in it and read a book . . . or at least look at a book and pretend to be reading (hmm, her mother's child :-))




Ma and Pa came down to see Evie a coupld of weekends ago. It was a lot of fun although evie was not feeling her best and was a bit grumpy. We are hoping that there might finally be a tooth in those gums. But to be honest, we've been thinking that since she was 3 months old so we're not holding our breath.

As anyone who has met Evie knows, she is quite the chatter box. Her latest words are "banana" and "Papa". We are expecting her to say "shopping" any time now as it is her favourite activity, after eating of course. There are still no foods that Evie won't eat :-) Last Sunday she enjoyed roast chicken with the rest of us for Sunday dinner and she has moved onto whole milk because, let's face it, formula is vile.

Since we can't think of anything amusing to say, that will have to be it for now!

J and A xxxx

9 months old (already?)

It is true, Evangline is 9 months old. We don't understand either.

Evie had her 9 month checkup on Friday. Her vital statistics are: Height 27.5 inches (49th percentile), Weight 19.05lbs (55th percentile), Head 17.5 inches (46th percentile). The doctor says she is a textbook baby. She sleeps all night (6:00pm - 5:45 am) and says "again" "ball" "Dadda" "Mamma" "Nana" "cat" and "yes".

Last Sunday Evie pulled up on the ottoman. I think she was showing off to Grandad who was on the phone at the time. Since then she has pulled up just once - at Nana's house. She spied the blackberry on the stairs and set off at a brisk pace to get it, pulled up on the stair and then had no idea what to do next. If only we could have taken a photo.

As you can see . . . Evie pickle pie has a liking for things she is not allowed to have . . .I'm pretty sure she is not smiling because she's with Mummy.




When not being a little magpie, Evie will probably be found eating. Evie LOVES food. I can't emphasise this enough. She even likes to eat food she doesn't really like. She just LOVES to eat. She is a big fan of anything involving egg yolks, likes lentils and is pretty keen on fish. To be honest though, we could probably feed her anything and she'd like it.

Her other favourite thing is smiling and waving. We make friends everywhere we go now as Evie smiles, waves or points at everyone in sight. If you get close enough, you may be greeted with a far too sloppy kiss which, let's be honest, if more of a lick.




Evie likes us to dance and jump around for her. It makes me feel like a complete twit but she seems to enjoy it . . .



Clapping is a favourite activity . . . high five anyone?



As she's getting closer to walking, we bought Evangeline some shoes. She gave them a good inspection before stretching - maybe she wanted to go for a run? Maybe she was trying to give her parents a hint that they could do with going for a run? Not sure. But she seems to like the nice soft shoes, which is lucky because those are the only ones she's going to have !!



This picture is just plain cute




We are really not sure at all where the time is going. IT will be December before we know it. And then it will be April . . . which is when Evie's new cousin will be born!! They have officially announced it now we can say an official congratulations to Rob and Elisa on their good news. Now they just need to move back to Houston (not pressure guys, . . . really!) as Virginia is too far away for play dates.

And as a closing note - you all know how cheap I am, right? Well today I scored a major victory. Went to Kroger's on Saturday afternoon to see what "managers specials" were on offer:

8 pots of organic, plain yogurt: $1.18
6 organic bananas $0.46


50 portions of banana mash for evie, 100% organic, for $1.64. Brilliant.

night night !

jane xxxx

A very fun trip to Dallas!

I decided to attend an Oil and Gas conference in Dallas and since I'm still feeding Evangeline, she needed to come too. We figured that she might not be all that enthralled by the subject matter so Daddy came along too to save Evie from unitization formulae. This was very fun for Evie as she got two whole days of fun with her Daddy. They took in some kulcha at the Aquarium and the Museum of Art while Mummy learned lots of exciting things about law and was able to catch up with Professor Kramer. fun times!!

Evie got to meet Laure for the first time - our lovely friend from law school. Evie LOVED Laura. We have pictures by the iphone is not cooperating with us so we can't include them here. So you will have to trust us that we had a good time.

The, we got to go and see Vicki and Larry. Evie really loved this as they have a pool - Evie's favourite place to be. She was able to swim around by herself and had a really good time. Evie missed talking to Russ, Tonya, Anthony and Audrey though as it was past her bedtime when we internet chatted! We hope Evie will get to see them next time.

Some photo hightlights . . . .









Evangeline will be nine months this week (!!!!!) She has now been officially out of my tummy longer than she was in it. We can't believe she is so big and grown up!! Her lack of teeth at least makes it seem like she is still a baby!!

Nine month update to follow soon . . . .

Jane xxxx

Happy 8 Month Day Evangeline!!

Evie turned 8 months old today! Time really does fly way too fast! We celebrated by playing some music :-) And tomorrow Evie will be attending a ladies' coffee with Nana where she will catch up with her adoring fans. What a hard life . . . .