Evie can crawl!

Our little monkey does a modified crab type crawl.  She drags one knee along and uses the other foot to push herself along.  It's complicated, but it's crawling.  I would say that it officially started yesterday.  I made my prediction of two weeks on April 10.  So I was really close!  So...what is Evie doing with her new found freedom?  Well, crawling over to ANYTHING that she can pull herself up to standing on, of course!  Because she's still obsessed with standing up.  She even crawls over to me and pulls herself up on my leg.  Which can be difficult when i'm trying to walk away.  But maybe it's because she never wants me to walk away right now!  She's also been standing up in her crib a lot lately.  Which she thinks is just awesome.  But I think it's sabotaging our sleep!  So...how long before she walks?  That's a hard one, because walking is difficult...she already like to 'cruise' around the furniture, so she's figuring out the stepping thing a little bit....I say she'll walk at 10 months, just like her big sis.  I don't think I really want her to, but it's coming, regardless of what I want.  I just don't want my baby to grow up any more right now.  It's happening way to fast.   Before I know it, she'll be just as big as her big sis.  Who has been absolutely adorable these days!  Marea has definitely turned a corner.  She has been so agreeable, and pleasant, and playful, and fun.  Her games have been funny and interesting.  I'm enjoying her company more and more these days.  We've made it through some of the more difficult aspects of being 2 (I think..i hope!) and we're on to bigger and better things.  

 

Sticks, Twigs, Leaves, Flowers, and Rocks

I find them everywhere!  Marea loves to find these things and drag them around with her.  There are sticks, twigs, leaves, rocks and flowers in all the corners of our house and in the car.  She is often carrying around something too.  I guess I could be annoyed that she deposits this stuff everywhere...and sometimes I am...but the bright side is, the kid loves nature and appreciates all the little objects she can find.  And she's perfectly happy to go on a walk and find little things and bring them along.  

She MUST stand!

So I don't know if Evie will ever crawl.  Because a few days ago she figured out how to pull herself up into the standing position and it's all she wants to do now.  And it makes her SOOOOOOO happy.  She just smiles and does her happy screams....until she realizes that she doesn't have anything in her hands, at which point she starts to fuss a little.  But she's digging the standing thing for now.  Will she go straight to walking?  She's also figured out the cheerio thing.  She can get them in her mouth now so she's been having fun with that and it KEEPS HER BUSY for a few minutes!  Because she's pretty needy these days!

Recent Happenings

Last weekend we went to San Diego to visit Mary, Geoff, Jonas and Harper.  The main purpose of our trip was to visit our friends who have been stuck at home battling leukemia.  But we decided to make a weekend out of it and get a hotel room and go to the ZOO!  Before we went, Marea was hesitant about seeing the animals, saying that she didn't want to see some of them.  But as soon as we got there, so was so excited!  She got so close to the giant Orangutan and wasn't even scared.  She says that her favorite part was the giant snakes.  Another fun thing that we did was stay in a hotel.  I prepared Marea for this beforehand so she wouldn't be so surprised.  So we went to dinner and I left early to put Evie to bed.  Marea and Gary returned right as Evie was going to sleep so we hid in the bathroom and ate candy.  Marea had jellybeans in the bathtub and thought that was super fun.

Evie has been working on all kinds of physical stuff lately.  Basically Gary and I area her jungle gym and she practices climbing us.  She is getting better and better every day.  We just sit on the floor with her and she climbs all over us.  She is almost crawling...I say another two weeks.  We'll see if i'm right!  Evie is such a busy girl.  She always has to have something in her hands (and then mouth).  She is constantly reaching for something or looking for something to reach for.  Even when she's eating, her hands have to be busy.  She's also been SO vocal lately.  She has this high pitched scream that she does when she's excited.  It's cute, but LOUD.  I wonder sometimes if the neighbors think we have a loud squaking parrot in the house.  The leg kick thing she does when she's excited is pretty funny too.  She's almost 7 months old now.  I have fallen for her all over again.  It's that magic time!  

Our Week

Monday: Park with the mom's group

Tuesday: Disneyland! with Auntie Sam.  Marea like the Tiki room, Pooh ride, It's a Small World, but cried on the Jungle Cruise.  She enjoyed a giant mickey chocolate covered ice cream bar and most of the frozen lemonade I wanted all to myself!

Wednesday: Coastline class...without Evie for this one, so I could observe her play a bit more.  I'm trying to be more aware of the social issues that are coming up now as she's more interested in playing with other kids.

Thursday: We had to do a bit of shopping because we cooked dinner for Isabella and her family, as our contribution to the 'meal train' to welcome their new baby.

Friday: Dress up play date at Kayla's house, with two Bellas, Chloe, Maddie and the babies.  Marea donned her bikini, mexican bikini cover, sunglasses and lei.  A hawaiian look (ha ha, no princess for me!)

Saturday is the first annual Chili's reunion picnic and Sunday we are vacating the house so Gary can paint our new window seat.  We'll spend the day at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Long Beach where we're having a birthday dinner for Grandma.  And Marea will get to play with Jackie and Emily.

So is it any wonder that with all these activities, along with my usual upkeep of chores and the house, that when I get a few minutes, I forget to write in here?????

Current favorite thing that the kids are doing....Jumping together.  Evie just cracks up when Marea jumps on the couch or the bed. It's the best, and caught on video!

Finally, back to this

I know I said I was going to write more.  Ha!  Well i'm trying!

Evie loves her pretzel sticks.  The super hard ones from Trader Joes.  Perfect for teething.  She just seems to love food.  So far, it's sweet potatoes, apples, bananas, and squash.  Almost time to start something new.  I think i'll try avocado next.  Marea didn't like it till she was older, but it's always worth a shot.  Now Marea will often put down a whole avocado if I let her.  Although I usually only try to give her half.  It just seems so rich, to eat an entire avocado at 2.9 years old!

Miss Miss E

What I often find myself calling Evie these days is either 'miss miss' or 'miss e'.  I am considering changing the name of this blog to 'Little Miss E Pie' to reflect the nicknames of both my  girls, because doing a whole separate blog for Evie isn't possible, I just don't have the time for that.  So this blog will have to be for both the girls.  A lifetime of sharing is in store for them anyways!  

(And for the record, Marea often goes by 'Big M' these days.  Or baby cakes.  Or sweet face.   Or honey pie. )

I've thought a million times about writing in here but just haven't done it. Most of the time I just forget, it's hard.  Or my brain isn't working well enough to put my thoughts together.  But I am going to try harder.  Because I feel this baby-toddler phase slipping away from me, and I don't want to forget any of it!  I love it so much!  

So here's some random stuff going on with us.

Evie just turned six months old!  I really can't believe it.  She still has her serious case of 'I must stick everything into my mouth no matter what it is-itis'.  Mostly this includes toys, although she prefers anything thats not a toy that looks interesting.  Last night we took her to original pizza and she went nuts for some crust.  Everytime we had to take it away because it was getting too mushy or breaking off she would start to wimper and cry till we gave her a fresh piece.   She's sitting up so well.  She LOVES watching Marea and is kind of starting to interact with her.  And Marea has fun entertaining Evie these days.  Evie loves looking at herself in the mirror.  We have a little game where when I stand her up on her changing table, she looks in the mirror and gives herself and me a big old smile and a screech.  I think that's my favorite right now.  She also loves putting her feet in her mouth at changing time.  And she does the Evie bounce.  Any time she gets excited, or wants something, she does this whole body wiggle.  It's so darn adorable. 

Marea just got signed up for preschool and i'm so excited.  I know she's going to love it, and i'm looking forward to being able to share the experience with her since it's a co-op.  Some of her friends are going there too, and i'm glad she'll be able to have them there with her (Maddie, Mia and Sean, Kate).  Hopefully they'll all be lifelong friends.  Marea is still loving her music in the car, and that makes me so happy.  She thinks i'm the DJ though, and that can be hard when i'm driving.  She knows all her favorite songs and will demand them from the back seat.  (You are my sunshine, No strings, Froggy went a courtin, and Little bird which is her absolute fave right now).    I know there's more, but my brain is fried for now.  So i'll be back-sooner next time...to tell more stories about my all time favorite girls.