Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Meet my dad...

John Dennison

He’s a handsome one, huh?! This is an older picture of him, but one of my most favorites. He works in construction – and has his whole life. That makes him quite a handy man. He can build anything... furniture, a house, you name it! He just recently made a picnic table for my brother just because. When I was younger he made us kids “play planks”. They were basically like life-sized lincoln logs but were flat instead of log shaped. When they were all set up they made a 2-story fort. They looked something like this:

Talk about hours of endless fun! I never got tired of hanging out in our play plank fort.

My dad is also an amazing water-skier. Check out that rooster tail! He taught me how to ski when I was 10 and I’ve loved it ever since. But I’ll never be as good as him. I’m too afraid to lean to the side. :)

He has taught me a lot of other things too. How to ride a bike, how to row a boat, the difference between a flat head and philips head screwdriver, and apparently how to use a jackhammer too!

And that is just the beginning. More importantly then anything else, my dad has taught me some pretty important life lessons. Our father-daughter relationship wasn’t always easy. We’re too similar to get along perfectly all the time. However, it is because of those difficult times that I have learned so much about life, love, forgiveness and the things that matter most. The older I get, the more I realize how much I admire and respect this man.

Dad - Thank you for always being the best dad you know how to be… you’re pretty darn amazing. 

Happy Father’s Day! I love you.

Weekend Happenings: Enjoying Avocados & a Baby Dedication

This weekend was a big one around here…

Evangeline turned 6 months old and with that came her first taste of solid food.

We started with avocado and she L.O.V.E’d it!

Then on Sunday morning we had her dedicated at church. I had no idea how nervous I was going to be until our Pastor called us up on stage. Man, those lights are bright and hot! But despite being nervous, I’m so glad we were able to stand with such a large group of people and pray for our little girl. 

3,4,5 and onto 6 Months Old

Evangeline will be 6 months old on Sunday. Six months! Each month that goes by is filled with so much joy as we see more and more of our baby girl’s personality shine through. Every new stage is filled with excitement as we get to watch her grow so very quickly. So, before this information is too outdated, here’s a glimpse of the past few months:

3 Months Old:

Evangeline - 3 Months Old

·      You started kicking and splashing a lot in the bath. You’ve always seemed to like baths but this is a whole new world of fun now!

·      Rolling over has gotten easier for you, but you still don’t seem to do it often.

·      You giggle lots and make a funny noise when you’re excited (like if someone laughs really hard and then makes a loud noise when breathing in)… It’s quite a unique “laugh”, and we think it’s hilarious!

·      You have learned how to multi-task quite well – your newest “trick” is batting at two toys and kicking a third all at the same time on your play mat. It gets you quite excited!

·      You are using your fingers more and have figured out how to separate the two dangling rings from the elephant toy on your play mat.

·      You suck on everything. As soon as you can get your mouth on something – my hands, daddy’s arm, Sophie the Giraffe, your own fingers, etc. – you attack it as if I haven’t fed you in hours!

nom nom nom

·      When you are tired but haven’t fallen asleep yet, you’ll often babble quietly to yourself until you fall asleep. So adorable!

·      When you get over tired your cry starts to sound like a siren. Although I can hardly stand to hear you cry (I never expected to be this much of a softy!), I can’t help but laugh at this one!

·      Favorite Toys: Play Mat (especially the elephant with hanging rings), orange mini O-Ball, Sophie

4 Months Old:

Evangeline - 4 Months Old

·      You started making “L” sounds with your tongue.

·      You can grab your feet and quickly learned you could suck on your toes. Now every time you wake up from a nap the first thing you do is kick those legs straight up into the air and play with your feet. So cute!

·   You’ve figured out how to roll from your back onto your side but can’t quite make it all the way onto your stomach. You’re so close!

·      You got your first tooth! It seems so soon – I couldn’t believe it!

Can you see my tooth?

·      You’ve been babbling a lot and your voice is getting louder. I love it!

·      You will do anything to be able to look at a bright computer or TV screen, twisting and leaning to catch a glimpse.

Staring at the laptop

·      You are showing signs of recognizing “your song”, Ma Belle Evangeline. One time Daddy was driving you home from Wednesday night church while I went to the grocery store. You were crying pretty hard until he started singing your song. The only way he could keep you from crying was to sing really loud. You fell asleep before he got you home!

·      Started sitting up on your own while sitting on my lap.

Happy Girl

·      Napping has become our biggest challenge. You get tired after being awake for 2 hours, but I can’t seem to get you to nap for longer then 45 minutes at a time, tops! This means you need 4 naps a day. It’s a little exhausting keeping up with it but I know it will change soon.

·      Favorite Toys: Play Mat, Doorway Jumper, large green O-Ball Rattle, Cloth Crinkle Book, Singing Mirror Snail, Sophie

5 Months Old:

Evangeline - 5 Months Old

·      Started saying “dah”, “nah”, “mah” and “bah”

·      You love playing in your Jumparoo and quickly figured out how to jump around in it. Although, you’re still a little to short to reach the ground so put a roasting pan underneath you and that worked perfectly. Now we’ve moved down to a book and hopefully soon you’ll be able to reach all on your own! You also like to push your feet on everything they come in contact with and can stand on my lap when I hold you by your waist or hands.

·      You rarely take a pacifier anymore, but you love to chew on the edge and hold them as I rock you before your naps. You took a break from sucking your thumb, but by the end of 5 months it’s back, but you’ve switched to the left. Weird!

·      You still love your play mat. You love to pull on the toys and try to get them to your mouth, and you wiggle and scoot and roll around on the matt. We’re definitely getting the most of our money’s worth with that toy!

·      Although you can’t get yourself into a sitting position on your own just yet, you can sit up unassisted for long periods of time.

Look at me momma!

·      At about 5 ½ months I finally packed away all your 0-3 month clothes. You’re getting so big!

·      You’re finally getting the hang of Peek-a-Boo and it makes you laugh and smile.

·      Naptime continues to be our biggest challenge and is getting even harder. You still need a nap every two hours, but this month your crying has gotten louder and longer, and you’ve even learned how to scream. It breaks my heart! No matter what I do, you can’t seem to fall asleep on your own anymore and you refuse to sleep in your crib. You won’t fall asleep without me rocking or nursing you and if I try to put you down those big eyes of yours pop right open and fill with tears. Thankfully, by the end of this month we’ve made some progress and you are back to soothing yourself and napping in your crib!

·      You’ve noticed food! You can’t seem to take your eyes off of people as you watch them eat or drink. It’s been so hard to wait to introduce you to solid food.

Yummy!

·      You love reaching for anything in sight, especially if you are being held and the person holding you has anything in their other hand (food, drink, remote, cell phone, etc.)

Reaching for the phone

·      Favorite Toys: Play Mat, Jumparoo, Cloth Crinkle Book, Singing Mirror Snail, Sophie, Birdie Car Seat Pull Toy, plush toys & your lovey lamb blanket

We love you so much baby girl! Can't wait to see all the new things you learn next month!

Wiggle Worm

Friday morning I got quite the surprise. It was about 6am and I woke up to Evangeline’s typical slightly fussy cooing noises that she makes to let me know she’s awake and ready for a fresh diaper and breakfast. I took a peek at her in the monitor before getting up just to make sure she was fully awake before I went into her room. (Side note: We got a video monitor as a gift when Evangeline was born. It’s one of the coolest baby gadgets we were given and it definitely made the transition to sleeping in her crib so much easier on us. We love to peek on her and many times we’ll catch her kicking her feet or thrashing her head from side to side. Don’t ask me how the girl doesn’t wake herself up!) All this is pretty routine, except this time I was confused by what I saw. I could see Evangeline in her crib in the exact same spot that I put her down the evening before, except for the fact that she was turned a full 180 degrees. Her head was where her feet usually are, and her feet were where her head usually is!

How on earth could she have done this on her own?! Sure she wiggles a lot but how could she turn herself a full 180 degrees without waking herself up? How did she not hit her head on the side of the crib? How is she in the exact same spot I laid her down in, just flipped around?!

I woke Jeremy up. He was just as surprised at her new position as I was, but he thought it was funny. I just couldn’t make sense of how she could have done this on her own! Did I wake up in the middle of the night to feed her, lay her back down that way and just forget about it? Nope. I always put her head in the same spot. We have a sheet protector there in case she spits up so I never put her head anywhere else. And Jeremy was sure he didn’t move her either. But someone had to have moved her. There was no way she could have moved this much on her own, all while fast asleep. Then I remembered we had slept with our bedroom window open for the first time since the fall.

I started to panic. Someone must have come into our house and moved her. I was convinced! So I made Jeremy get out of bed and search our house for the intruder. No surprise, he found nothing. I’ll blame it on the fact that I was still half asleep and a little delirious. Not to mention, I have a strong track record for being a worrywart and thinking of the absolute worst-case scenario.

Looking back, I now realize how ridiculous this was. I guess our little girl really is quite the wiggle worm!

3 Months Old Already?!

Well, they were right. Every single person that told me “It goes by so fast!” or “They grow up so quickly!” was right. And of course, I knew they would be. All you have to do is compare a newborn to a one year old. That’s a lot of growing and changing to take place in 12 months. In fact, there probably is no other time in our lives that we grow and change that dramatically in one year. And although I was given fair warning, no one could have prepared me for how it feels to watch my tiny little baby grow and change so fast! I am so thankful that I am able to stay home with Evangeline. It seems like every day she is learning and adding something new to her bag of tricks! And although many of these “tricks” that make me so proud of her are actually just typical baby development, I wouldn’t want to miss a second of it. I used to think I might get bored or go stir crazy as a stay-at-home-mom, but so far it’s been just the opposite. This is the most fun and exciting job I’ve ever had. (Of course, this wouldn’t be an honest representation of being a new mom if I didn’t mention the fact that I’ve also never been more sensitive, emotional, or had more anxiety then I do these days!)

Evangeline will be 3 months old on Saturday and yes, it went by fast! So, since this is the first time I’ve blogged since she was born, I thought I’d post her monthly photos and a few of her “tricks” to get caught up. I’ve been taking her picture every month in the same place (on the rocking chair in her nursery) with her stuffed elephant and a banner to mark her age so we can watch her grow. I’ve also been writing down the things she is doing each month for her baby book. 

The First 4 Weeks:

Evangeline - 1 Week Old

• You are a very smiley baby. You first smiled at us in the hospital the day after you were born.

Your very first smile!

• When you were first born, you had the most incredibly smelly gas. I had to apologize to the nurses in the hospital a few times because of how stinky our room would get! 
• You love to sleep and have already teased us with a few long stretches. You slept for seven straight hours one night when you were 4 weeks old! Most nights your longest stretch of sleep is 4-5 hours.
• You rarely cry when you wake up in middle of the night for feedings. You just lay in your bassinette and make grunting/fussing noises until I wake up.
• You love taking a bath. You are alway so calm in your tub and you don't even seem to mind when we pour water over your face. Sometimes it makes you wiggle but I'm so surprised it doesn't make you cry!

Bathtime

• When you were 3 weeks old, you rolled from your belly to your back 4 times in a row.
• You get the hiccups at least once every day. It’s one of the cutest things in the world and it doesn’t seem to bother you a bit.
• When you were 3 and 4 weeks old, every night without fail you’d spit up while you were sleeping. Many times out your nose! This really freaked me out because you’d do it while I was sleeping too. I was always afraid you were going to choke and I would sleep right through it. Thank goodness this only lasted two weeks!
• You don’t love being in your car seat awake, but you love riding in the car. It puts you right to sleep.
• You don’t like to be swaddled with your arms down. Every time we swaddle your arms in, you fuss and fight to move your little fists up to your face. I call you my little Houdini because no matter how tight Daddy swaddles you, you still find a way to break those arms out! Once you get them to you face you start to cry until we loosen your swaddle enough for your arms to come all the way out. You usually fall asleep with your arms straight out to your sides or with hands right up by your face.

Sleeping with her arms out and her legs up!

1 Month Old:

Evangeline - 1 Month Old

• Your eyelashes grew longer and seem curlier. You are such a pretty baby!
• You’ve become quite a burp'er. It's pretty shocking he huge noise that comes out of you.
• You had your first ride on an airplane at five weeks old. We went to Seattle to visit family and you got to go to your first wedding. You slept the whole way there and only cried during landing on the way home.
• At five weeks old, your eyes started lightening from a very dark grey to brighter grey-blue w/ more texture.

Check out those dark blue eyes!
I can't wait to see what color they end up.

• Also at five weeks, you started tracking with your eyes when daddy moved a book that had black & white pictures in it.
• When you were six weeks old, you started sleeping in your crib at night and for at least one nap a day.

You're alway such a happy girl in the mornings,
wiggling away in your crib.

• At seven weeks, you started cooing and responding with sounds. Daddy and I love to make noises and watch you mimic us.
• Your hands have found your mouth! You love to suck on your fists. Sometimes you’ll wake up in the morning and the sleeves of your jammies are soaked!
• You grew out of your newborn sized clothes at seven weeks. I was sad to pack up your tiny little clothes, but was so excited about the adorable things we had in the next size up. Picking out your outfit and getting you dressed is one of my favorite parts of the day! 

Packing up the old to make room for the new.

2 Months Old:

Evangeline - 2 Months Old

• You slept over 9 hours at night when you were nine weeks old and 11 hours at eleven weeks. You sleep through the night just about every night now and I am so thankful for that, even if that means you'll rarely nap for longer then 45 minutes!
• You've started squealing when you get excited. Daddy and I do all kinds of silly things to get you to squeal and it works every time! We love how it sounds and can’t wait for you to learn how to laugh.
• Now your hands have found each other! You like to play with your fingers and are getting good at grabbing, batting and even kicking at toys that dangle above you on your play mat.
• You love to sit up and can pull yourself up into a sitting position with just a little help.
• You noticed your feet at ten weeks. You can’t reach them yet but you like to stare at them and wiggle your toes. You get such an intense look of concentration on your face when you do this. We think it’s hilarious!

So focused on those toes!

• You rolled over from your belly to your back again. You haven’t done that since you were three weeks old. Being on your belly sure makes you frustrated though. You kick and grunt and fuss until we finally roll you over onto your back. Then you are happy as can be!
• At ten weeks you started sucking your thumb. I can’t believe it! It’s so cute when you do it, but I sucked my thumb until I was waaaayyy too old so I hope this doesn’t become a long-term habit. I try to replace your thumb with your paci when I can, but you definitely seem to prefer that thumb. (You are stubborn too, just like momma!)

Lovin' on that thumb!

The Nursery

Well, my due date has come and gone and our little Evangeline is still not here on the outside yet. I am now officially 4 days overdue and there really is no sign of her arrival so far. But we’re ready! I’ve read about a dozen books, the car seat is installed, our house is just about spotless, my freezer, fridge and pantry are full of meals and snacks, my mom is here and the baby’s room is ready. I’m feeling quite good still and there is no major snowstorm in the forecast. I really can’t complain! So, since my mom and I are finding ourselves trying to fill the days with things to do while we wait for this stubborn little one, I decided maybe I should take this opportunity to post pictures of her room.

Now, I must preface this by saying yes, I had waaaaaay toooo much spare time during this pregnancy. I had quit my job as a wedding coordinator just a few weeks before we found out we were pregnant (go figure!). I spent a few months working full time as a temp a Jeremy’s office but by summer I had cut back to working just two days a week. I officially became a stay at home mom two weeks ago. Jeremy and I had never had weekends off together and I had never had so much time during the week. So, with all this spare time (soon to become a favorite pastime) we took on a bunch of DIY projects to create a pretty and relaxing nursery for our baby girl while sticking to a budget. We both love how it turned out and are so excited to bring Evangeline home to her very own room! So, here it is:

The crib was a gift from my mom, sister and brothers. I love the clean lines and the extra storage drawer underneath.

The curtains, crib skirt, mobile and russian doll art are all DIY.

The owl hooks were also a semi-DIY project that I turned into hair clip/bow hangers. The little pink top is something Jeremy found at a consignment store!

Jeremy used Illustrator to create a graphic print of a scripture verse (Matt. 19:14).

This changing table was the very first thing we bought for her nursery. It was a $20 find on our local classifieds that Jeremy refinished. He also made the added shelf to hold all the diaper changing supplies. 

My very favorite doll from my childhood, Melissa Sue. She's definitely seen better days but I couldn't resist adding her to the room!

The blocks were another DIY project and once Evangeline is here, we'll replace the floral paper in the frame with a photo of her.

Here is the closet that Jeremy made an amazing built-in for. I love all the added storage and still haven't figured out a use for each of the baskets. I can't believe how much extra storage we ended up with but I'm sure we'll find lots of things to put in there as she gets older. 

I made closet dividers out of wooden letter "o"'s, left over fabric from some of the other DIY projects and sticky foam numbers. I didn't realize how much more organized I'd feel with these until we put them in but I really like having them now!

I can't wait to read books in the rocking chair, peek on her while she is fast asleep in her crib and play with all her toys. Now we just need our baby girl to get here!