Tuesday, December 28, 2010

6 Months!!

Evie is 6 months today- OMG!!! She had her Dr. appt this morning and weighed in at 19.45 lbs (90th %), 28.25 inches (off the charts) and 90th % head size. Once again, Brian and I are amazed at how big and healthy our little monster is:) The Dr gave Evie the go ahead to eat anything we eat (except eggs, honey, shell fish, and peanut products). I will begin making Evie's food and substitute jar food when I don't have time. She received more shots today and has had a grumpy afternoon but that could also be teething. She still doesn't have any teeth but is experiencing the symptoms of it - I really want her to cut the first tooth so it won't be so bad for her.

Xmas Photos


Uncle Chris and Evie













Evie, Remi and I taking a nap after all the present opening.





Mollie the Monkey - my present to Evie



Twilight Sea Turle - Brian's gift to Evie


She LOVES the turtle and it's pretty lights!













Monday, December 27, 2010

Amazing Holiday!

The Christmas festivities started December 18th and continued until the 26th and each day was amazing! Our first Holiday season with Evie was everything I could have hoped for and more - she enjoyed all of the lights, sounds, wrapping paper, time with family and of course her presents. My Mom and I took Evie to Rotterdam Square Mall to get her pic taken with Santa on Wednesday. I wasn't going to do this because of how much they charge - $16.00 for 1 5x7 (ridiculous) but I just didn't want to regret not having that moment so I sucked it up and let my Mom pay for it:) Brian and I stuck to our two present rule, which amazes me because I wanted Evie to have everything I saw but the family did spoil her rotten. She has an amazing new wardrobe for a couple of months, a zoo of stuffed animals, books to add to her library and a few other odds & ends. She wasn't able to open her own presents but did enjoy chewing on the paper until it was so soggy it fell off the item. The present Brian bought her is awesome- last night Evie became very cranky due to a teething issue and I pulled out the turtle, which projects stars onto the ceiling, turned off all the lights and enjoyed an hour of quiet time. Evie sat for a while smacking the turtle shell to see if she could find where the lights were coming from and then laid on her back watching the stars on the ceiling. It was a great moment as a family!
Evie has her 6 month Dr appt Tuesday morning along with her 6 month birthday! I can't wait to see how much she has grown but I really don't want to go through another set of shots and seeing my baby in pain. Luckily, Brian is home all this week so he will be spending the day with Evie on the couch, trying to keep her as comfortable as possible.
I believe we will be spending New Year's eve on the couch instead of at the bars and I am so looking forward to skipping the New Year day hangover. I am also looking forward to spending time with Brian and Evie.

Monday, December 20, 2010

X-mas photos

Remi enjoying my wrappings
Grammie and Evie

Grandpa and Evie


Our first family X-mas photo

























Merry Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas! Christmas started in the Vanscoy/Sellick family this weekend beginning with a trip to Johnstown to see my Mom, Step Dad, and sister on Saturday. We spent the day eating way too much and opening a few presents- Evie received a Baby Alive doll that bounces and laughs (needless to say that toy is staying at Grandma's because we are creeped out by dolls:) I received a cookbook on how to make organic baby food, which I am very excited to start doing after the holidays and Brian received the book "Children make terrible pets"- so cute!!
The festivities continued on Sunday when my Dad, Stepmom and Grandpa came over for lunch. Once again, we ate way too much and opened up more gifts (yup, we are spoiled rotten). One tradition my Dad and Stepmom started with Evie is to give her own stocking - in my 31 years I have always gotten a stocking stuffed with cool items and now Evie is getting it too. Brian and I are not very good at the whole stocking stuffing so I am happy Grandpa and Grammie have come to the rescue. Evie also got the Dino ride and stride, a Giraffe slide to stuff balls into, socks, a hilarious stuffed turtle that laughs like a kid and a lot of other cool toys. I had so much fun opening the presents for Evie, showing her what it is, and then playing with them. I think next year a new rule is going into effect though- all toys come put together and ready to play with - I spent an hour putting the toys together while everyone sat around and laughed at me.
Christmas will continue for us next weekend with a trip to Brian's uncle's on Friday night, Brian's Mom, Brother and girlfriend Christmas morning; My Mom, Stepdad, grandparents and brother in the afternoon at our house. We will be extremely busy but it will be so much fun. This will be my first Christmas since childhood that I get to stay home the entire day and I get to be the hostess so I am really excited. It is also our first Christmas with Evie so it will be extra special!!

Friday, December 10, 2010

Teething or Fussiness?

We believe Evie is teething but there are no teeth to prove us right. At times over the past month Evie has been fussy, in pain, drooling, chomping on anything she can find (including my chin), gluttonously hungry and then not hungry at all. We have tried wet wash clothes, dry shop towels, frozen/unfrozen teething rings, frozen fruit in a mesh pacifier, a teething pacifier and baby ora jel. The only thing that will definitely work is Tylenol - it takes away her pain for several hours and gives Brian or I or Marissa a break from the crying/whining and overwhelming feeling of guilt because we can't take her pain away! The pain is so random that we can not predict when she will need the Tylenol and I don't want to dope Evie up for no reason so I wait until I know nothing else will work and she is in full blown screaming mode, which is heartbreaking.
I did find one activity that will keep her amused and her mind off the pain - her bouncer. She has two bouncers- one that looks like a walker and has a bouncy platform for her feet and one that is free floating with a metal frame and she uses the floor to bounce off of. She is in love with the 2nd one, which happened to be a "hand me up" from her cousins. I believe she will love the 1st one, a gift from Grammie and Grandpa, in a month or so - she just needs a little more control of her balance:) She will sit for 30 to 45 minutes, bouncing like crazy, smiling like a fool, and screaming/screeching her head off. It is probably the cutest thing ever and a life saver - Brian and I can have dinner together, do the housework or a project without feeling guilty or rushed.
Evie's other favorite past time is laying on Daddy's chest and talking to him. She will tell him hour long stories and they are adorable. She just quietly ohs and ahs at Brian all while sucking on her hand. They do this almost every night before bed time and I love to watch them. We just bought a camcorder so we will soon be able to share these amazing moments through video.
We are all decorated and ready for Christmas (just a couple more presents to go). We decided to only buy Evie one present from each of us- I picked a Scentsy, Mollie the Monkey and she smells like Lavender to help Evie relax at night time, and Brian picked a turtle night light the projects the constellations onto Evie's ceiling. I have wrapped them up, put them under the tree and explained that they are her presents but she doesn't seem to care - next year the presents part of Christmas will be more fun but this year we are just focusing on spending time with each other and loving Evie so much that she can't stand it!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving:)

Our first Thanksgiving as a family!
Evie with her cousin, Erin.


My little piggy!






Happy 30th B-day Baby!!
Surprise:)

Happy Thanksgiving - A little late:)
We have been so busy lately that I have not found time to update this blog. We had to get ready for Thanksgiving - I only had to bake four pies but that is a lot of work with a 5 month old! We went to my Dad and Chris' house in the morning to visit - of course Dad was out hunting and Evie slept through the entire visit but it was nice to spend some time with Chris and talk about our Black Friday strategies. We then went to my in-laws for dinner and it was wonderful. Evie was able to sit in between Brian and I as we ate dinner and the family loved passing her around. She was a little cranky but overall had a great first Thanksgiving day!
I had to work on Friday but I did wake early and went to Walmart at 6am. I was able to get a wireless printer that we have wanted for a long time at a very good price, I bought Evie two new toys and this great Monkey sleeping bag (we are using it as a playmat for now) and a few other small items. Brian went shopping in Albany and got some great deals on tools and a new, fake X-mas tree for us. I have decided that cleaning tree needles out of Evie's diaper was not for me so we are using a fake tree until we are done having children and they know not to eat tree droppings!
I also had to prepare for Brian's "surprise" 30th birthday party, which was really hard because I couldn't ask him for help because I didn't want to give it away. Of course, he figured it out 3 weeks prior to the party and never said anything to me! I did take the easy route when it came to the food, I ordered subs from Boltons (our favorite sub shop), I did cheese and crackers, chips and salsa and bread with dip. I did make Brian's favorite cake, "the Nick cake", which is a chocolate cake with powdered sugar instead of frosting. We had a lot of very good friends show up and enjoy the evening with us. I drank a bit too much and had to suffer through a hangover with Evie the next morning (have I mentioned she has learned how to scream and screech at the top of her lungs) but Brian was awesome and took over for most of the day. We had a great night and I am so glad we were all able to celebrate Brian's b-day together.
Evie is doing great! She has had a small cold where the snot actually leaked out of her eye (GROSS) but the dr assured me she was OK and that she would feel better soon. She is loving eating solids- she has tried carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, peas, pears, apples and prunes. She has loved everything except the carrots and tolerated them well enough. I am not very good about waiting 3 days to introduce a new food but have stuck to a color scheme, which makes no sense at all but it works for us. I only fed her orange food for a week and we are now moving onto green food:) I have not made my own food yet but plan on doing it after the holidays when she has more options to eat. Evie loves her walker but has not been fond of her jumper. She is still not rolling but is soo freakin close - I sometimes push her over so she knows what it feels like. She enjoys sitting with Brian and I as we watch TV at night- we try to limit the amount she watches but honestly Brian and I grew up glued to the TV and we are OK - so I am sure Evie will be too. I am seriously winging this whole parenting thing and find that to be the easiest and most enjoyable option. I think it is great that some parents are able to research and put the theories into practice but that is just not for Brian and I - we prefer going with our gut, making mistakes and learning from them.